stitching my life away...

i can not tell a lie. i want to embroider until my fingers fall off!!! a few months back i began a love affair with embroidered goods and vowed to teach myself the art of the stitch. i purchased a book, bought some supplies, and haven't looked back! here are a few of my most recent creations...

love this song!

some wall bling

indeed!

one can never have enough skeleton keys!

and a little something tough!

any other embroiderers out there? i would love to see some of your most recent work. as i said, i simply can't get enough... so bring it on!!!

get 'em while they're hot!

if you read yesterdays post then you already know just how excited i am about these little guys. i was so stoked about getting them up and in my etsy shop that i painted, distressed, photographed, and edited last night just so that i could have them available today. so here they are, the newest addition to my cast iron collection...

cast iron horse hooks, choose your color

hope you enjoy them as much as i do!

giddy up!

yesterday i spent the entire day unpacking boxes of decor that had yet to see the light of day since we moved into our new home. we had been holding off on putting up any paintings, photos or decorations of any sort until we had fully finished our renovations. with the kitchen still not fully done (we just have a bit of trim work left to do), i could wait no longer! a gal can only live with bare walls for so long.

i came across a few of my cast iron horse hooks that i had set aside for my own personal use back when we were still in our apt. i had left them in there unfinished, rusty state, because i simply couldn't decide what color to paint them. well finally a decision was made...

i've opted for solid glossy white, with a hand painted and distressed background of varying colors.

we have evergreen...

mustard yellow...

and slate blue...

VOILA!!!

i was in serious need of some jewelry organization and these will do the job perfectly! i love the way these look so much so that they are now the color schemes i will be offering up in my etsy shop. be on the lookout for these to be available very soon!

moose spotting!

it's pretty darn rare that i keep any of my cast iron goodies for myself. i fall in love with certain ones, but generally feel kinda guilty if i don't share them with the public. with that said, no way am i giving up this guy! i've never had him before and who knows if he'll ever come into my life again. i just knew from the moment we met that he was destined to hang by my front door for all eternity.

a solid white, high gloss, paint job seemed to be what fit him best.

i can't help but smile every time i look at that silly critter!

i do promise that if ever i stumble upon some more of these on my numerous cast iron hunts, i will share them with the world. he's too amazing to not be in every living room world wide!

yippy skippy!

wooohoooo! ok, i just had to get that out of my system. i'm pretty darn stoked this morning and let me share with you why...

a few months ago i set a goal for myself to break 1000 etsy sales within my first year of selling, and last night i met that goal with 10 days to spare! i've been working my butt off and it's so gratifying to have it pay off. this doesn't mean i'll stop here though. i've got bigger fish to fry in my future and this is only the beginning! watch out world, monkey & squirrel is out to conquer!

with that said, here's a little shop update on what i've been working on this past week. i'm all about the spring/summer accessories these days!

super girly pink ruffle headband... more headbands coming to M&S soon!

it's no secret to you regular readers that i'm currently obsessed with brooches. here are some of my newest...

cotton candy picnic brooch...

romantic blue and cream brooch...

buttercup and cream brooch...

fun fun summer picnic brooch...

oh, and did you know you can pin a brooch to an elastic headband and sport it that way too? i do so love me a bit of variety!

well that's all for now folks. i'm off to enjoy this lovely 75 degree weather we're having today. fabulous weather weekend makes this gal happy!

feeling springy... shop update

perhaps i'm getting a bit ahead of myself with it only being early february and all, but i can't help but feeling like spring is just right around the corner. perhaps its the daffodils (planted by the previous owners of our new home, thanks!) beginning to sprout in the backyard, or the fact that i just purchased a pair of super cute shorts yesterday, but spring is in the air... and i'm loving it!

with that said, i've been working my butt off for the past few weeks on a new spring line of accessories to add to my etsy shop. inspired by the floral wall decor i had added in january, these lovely floral brooches are my newest obsession. so much fun to make, and wear, i just can't get enough. i'm kinda having a hard time not keeping them all for myself...

here's one i made a few weeks ago during a fashion crisis. i had just purchased this oversized shirt dress and when i went to wear it out one evening i realized i didn't have a belt to go with it. flower brooch to the rescue! i had made this little plaid one for myself earlier in the week and had yet to wear it. i attached it to a simply bit of black ribbon, and voila... instant belt! i think it did the job perfectly...

new year, new look!

ever since we moved into our new humble abode, i've been struggling with the perfect spot to photograph new items for my etsy shop. i had no idea how much i lucked out with perfect lighting in our apartment until we moved out. i've tried all sorts of different spots in out new home with no luck. we have a number of insanely large trees on our property which block most of the natural light from coming into our house. great for keeping it nice and cool in the summer, not nice for taking photos though. so finally, with all the new items piling up, i realized that i wasn't going to FIND that perfect spot, i was going to have to MAKE it! enter chalkboard paint! i have to admit that i've wanted to paint a whole wall with chalkboard paint for years now. i thought this would be a great reason to give it a go. i chose the one wall in my studio that gets the most light, (it also is the wall that gets the most light in out entire house luckily) and i dove in head first! it took a few coats to get it fully covered, and it seemed very dark at first. however, now each time i draw on it it holds onto some of the chalk and seems a bit more of a dark grey rather then black. that was my original hope. i also need to use more pops of colors now to make it a bit more interesting. it's trial and error, but at least it's fun!

i'm not totally sure that this is 100% the most perfect back drop for my items, and i'm also not positive that i ever will find a spot that makes me as happy as that little spot in our apartment. but this is loads of fun and gives me the chance to get pretty darn creative with things. i love that i can update it for holidays (notice the current valentines day theme going on) and draw fun little critters for a bit of whimsy. i can also use it to sketch out ideas or leave really large notes for myself when i'm not using it as a backdrop. if i had it my way every room in our house would have a chalkboard wall. for now i think this will hold me over...

the studio in action...

i am in love with my studio! there i said it. i know that having one whole room that i can dedicate to my crafty ventures is a luxury not everyone can experience. and while it's come a long way since we moved into our little home, it does still have a way to go before it's finished. we'll start with the fact that there is still nothing on the windows, and the closet is stuffed full of items in no particular order just aching to bust out. it's a work in progress and a fun one at that. i have dreams of it being fully organized with art on the walls from some of my favorite etsy sellers, shelves everywhere so that anything i could ever need is right at my fingertips, and a great spot for taking photos of new items to add to my own shop. i gal can dream. i don't know if this will ever all happen in this one room, but the simple fact that it is a possibility is comfort enough for me. the one thing that i have zero complaints about in this room of wonder, is my brand spankin' new drafting table from ikea. it's quite spacious and even has a built in light table. i use it almost everyday and have not regretted its purchase for even a second...

painting table...

drawing table...

hair goodies making table...

and possibly what it gets used for most often, a place for juan to lounge in the sun...

with that said, i should probably get back into that room and get to working! these are busy and exciting days here... happy creating!

salvaged cast iron refinishing!

when i started monkey and squirrel, my etsy shop, the idea was for it to be mostly small paintings and picture frames. as kind of a last minute add on i decided to post a few of my favorite cast iron finds that i had hand painted over the previous few months. little did i know that i was discovering an untouched niche in the etsy world... or so it seems. these cast iron pieces have become my best selling items. in fact i would say that approximately 95% of my sales are c.i.g (cast iron goodies, as i've come to call them). i thought i'd share the process with all y'all that each of these pieces goes through.

it all starts with the hunt! there is a huge antique/salvage shop out in the sticks of NC where i find my c.i.g's. they're all sitting outside in piles. some organized, some not. often they are covered in rust and dirt, generally not looking so hot.

once i get them home i sand off all the crud, scrub off the dirt and see what lies underneath. it's amazing how much better they look after just this step alone. i often think about leaving them in this stage and just giving them a clear coat... but i rarely do. then i chose a color, or in some cases two, that best suites my newly cleaned up piece. i paint it and once i've got it looking brand new...

i take the sand paper to it! these really do look best slightly distressed so you can tell that they were once in the trenches! they all get finished off with a clear coating and voila... a lovely little goody for your home! one of them is even featured in an etsy storque article! yippy!!!

it's official!

i can now call myself a southerner! today i witnessed my first nascar race. my husband evan and i, along with my mother and sister in laws, headed out to lowe's motor speedway for the coca-cola 600. technically we headed out there yesterday for the race, but after 9 hrs of hanging around, seeing the sights, and eating sammies, the race was rescheduled due to rain. so like the nascar troopers that we are, we went back today fully prepared for whatever the day may have in store.

with the threat of rain ever on the horizon the race began. i was told i needed to pick a favorite. someone i could root, cheer, or holler for to make the experience whole. juan pablo montoya was my pick! truth be told, i picked him because he shares a name with my cat... juan. well let me tell you, as soon as i decided that he was my guy i was hooked. i felt the connection of fan and athlete. as though he knew i was a newcomer to the sport, and there pulling for him, old j.p. (i can call him that now 'cause he's my fave) did not disappoint! after starting out in 9th (i think) he worked his way up to 2nd after a short 100 or so laps. i have no idea if this is any good or impressive but i was STOKED! with every pass of a car i cheered, with every caution (of which there were many) i waited with baited breath. around lap 227 the red flag came out. RAIN! my boy juan had just taken a pit stop before the caution so this put him back in 8th place. there in the rain we waited, and waited. the dryer trucks came out and still we waited. well after a few hours it became very clear that the race was not going to continue. it was called, due to rain. the final results, someone else won and my juan came in 8th. i'll never know what could have been. what potential was left unfulfilled. but i can now say, i am a southerner, and i am a nascar fan!

GO JUAN PABLO!