Two in a series: These lovely folks inspire me to be the artist that I am. We are all small business owners, creatives, and makers. Spend your hard earned money with any of us instead of the big companies! It means a lot when you #shopsmall #shoplocal. Please spread the love and help us all with our dreams! Visit their websites and make a purchase, follow, comment, or share their info. It costs nothing to put-on-a-friend. XOXO
This sweet girl lives in the wood, far, far away. When she started to share her life in her journal writings, I had a sincere interest in being her friend. We are pen pals and keep in touch, writing our thoughts and activities to share with one another. She is a very caring soul and eager to make friends with anyone. She is an excellent baker and has a friendly fox. Her life is very enchanting and she even has a cute little shop you can visit by clicking on her name above. She offers pins, miniatures, and postcards. There are also her journal writings she has been sharing for several years if you want to catch up on what is happening over in Greenwood. You can even find me over there under her Featured Friends webpage. Thanks, Sonya! XOXO
One in a series: These lovely folks inspire me to be the artist that I am. We are all small business owners, creatives, and makers. Spend your hard earned money with any of us instead of the big companies! It means a lot when you #shopsmall #shoplocal. Please spread the love and help us all with our dreams! Visit their websites and make a purchase, follow, comment, or share their info. It costs nothing to put-on-a-friend. XOXO
Vanessa and I were housemates and business partners a long time ago. When I graduated art school I wanted to run a business. She had this cute tote bag she thought we could use as inspiration for our own bag line. That is when “Dos Chicas” handbags were born! She would take the oilcloth to her work at the fire station and hand cut what she could in between emergency calls. Then she brought them home and I would sew the cut pieces together. We had our products on buyolympia for a long time before they moved their business to Portland, Oregon.
She inspired me with her determination to be a writer when she would carve out few precious moments with her busy schedule. When she was writing her first screen play, she used one of my mannerisms for one of her characters. I was tickled my knee slapping made it into her art. I really wanted to highlight her because I understand what it is to work for decades on your craft, quietly, hoping someday your dreams come true. Hers definitely have. Estoy muy orgullosa de ti!! I am so proud of you!! XOXO
Pre-order Vanessa’s new book, “On the Wings of la Noche”. Click her name above to head over to her website.
Have you ever dreamed of traveling? Where was your first international destination? Before I was able to do so financially, I dreamt for years of going to Paris. What sealed it for me was after I saw the movie “Amelie”. A single girl living her life, accordion music, old architecture, popping in somewhere quickly to down a glass of wine. All of the streets to explore, all the food to try, the gorgeous language. I couldn’t wait to experience the people myself. It just seemed like the perfect city for me for my first European travel. I saved my money, (it took years) and I booked my ticket for October of 2014 for about 10 days. And, I went alone because I had to, to prove to myself that I could walk around this world and be safe and I was, that I could be autonomous, and do what I wanted when I wanted. It showed me how capable I am, how lovely human beings can be, how helpful and hilarious, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I won’t lie to you, I had a few crying jags. I was mentally exhausted after a week of thinking in English and working so hard for those thoughts to come out of my mouth in French so I cried. And then I went out and had one of the best meals of my stay.
My first venture out I got lost and picked a small bistro to get my bearings and eat something since I was starving. This sweet establishment had the kindest waitress that spoke English with me which I needed in that moment of jetlag and exhaustion. I really appreciated her thoughtfulness. She told me how much she loved her job because she got to meet people from all over the world, nice people like me. That touched my heart so much I still think about her and I hope she is doing well. I can’t find the name of this place which has driven me crazy all these years. However, I did think to snap a photo before I devored everything and this is what I ordered:
charcuterie, wine, and a respite
My first French meal, a nice charcuterie board with four cheeses, four meats, cornishon, baguette, greens, and yes, a slab of butter. That round cheese was super skunky and I had a hard time downing it. My red wine went very well with everything. Delicious.
After I left this cozy place, I wandered around trying to find my street and thoroughly enjoying the process. As I snapped photos I found a restaurant I made sure to remember for another meal during my stay. The calm din of French voices filled every corner on my walk. Peaceful, relaxing. People enjoying the night air with drinks and food and their friends. I thought, why don’t we do this in the US? These pics were taken somewhere on Rue Montorgueil.
From this angle you can see how shiny the stones are in their various patterns. When I turned around, this beautiful store window greeted me:
I think that is candied fruit on the middle half circles. Yum. I did not shop here. I wish I had.
The variety of cheeses made me say, “Wow”, out loud. I wish I had tried more kinds, but my focus was visiting museums and just enjoying whatever I came across. The entire city is an undiscovered treasure to me and I can go back again and again.
Eating in after a full day at the Louvre: leftover meats and cheese with a fresh baguette and Bordeaux. I gave up trying to eat the stinky one and let it go. I still feel a little guilty about wasting food in Paris, but when I remember how funky the smell was, I’m good. 😀
the glorious croque monsieur
After Mass at Notre Dame,I ordered this cheese covered glory with ‘un cafe’, grabbed a table outside and devoured this exquisite sandwich. I swear, I was the only person eating on the entire street. I’ve made these at home and there is nothing like melted, crunchy cheese on the outside of your American “grilled cheese”. Monsieur Croque, je taime. 🙂 Recipe here: Easy, Cheesy Croque Monsieur Recipe | Jacques Pepin
The author enjoying her first cheesy Croque Monsieur.
It has taken me nine years to share my Paris trip with anyone. In 2024, I promise myself I will spend time in the past looking at, creating art from, and remembering as many wonderful experiences as I can to share with you. I hope it gives you some dreams you would like to make come true, too. You can go anywhere and do anything you set your mind to. I’m living proof. Until next time, keep dreaming. xo
One of my last evenings in Paris at the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t know it was painted brown until I got close to it. The night time light show is insane.
If I were to select just one symbol for each month of the year, which ones would best match which month? If someone were to look at my calendar book, could they tell which month it was by these symbols? Of course my experience of seasons is in the Northern Hemisphere, so I realize everyone south of the Equator does not have the same experience of weather and seasons. I played around with some ideas from journal writings, my own feelings about the months, and came up with how each one has its own personality. The Gaelic calendar year starts in Na Samhain (November). What happens in November? Cold weather; the trees lose their leaves pretty much. The moon is clear in the crisp autumn air, life is slowing down. So November became a leafless tree in front of the full moon. na Noliag (December) Winter begins. Snowflakes were the best fit to go along where the cold, long nights take over. Eanair (January) starts the new year as most of us know it. What better symbol than a beautiful star to represent the dark month.
Symbols for each month is hand drawn and colored with one and two strands of embroidery thread in two analogous colors (next to each other on the color wheel). These then harmonize with the colors of each month next to them.
The New Year, starting in Winter, November, December, and January
Febhar (February) is the month of love and hearts everywhere. But the month is usually very pink and red and that did not fit with the rainbow I was creating. Oh, well. I didn’t want Autumn to be pink. Marta (March) has the most iconic holiday of St. Patrick’s Day when everyone is Irish for a day so that became a shamrock. A Blue one. Oh, well. 😀 And so on, and so, some of the Irish in me came out as a pretty, little handmade book. The entire year then makes a complete rainbow gradation.
I used regular cardstock paper and bound it by hand, sewing it to oilcloth as an accordion book. I made two books. One I kept and one was swapped at Puget Sound Book Artists; make a book, get a book. It went to a lovely person with a matching shirt. 😀
The first installation of this now enormous project “Winter Series” is ready for purchase here: December Birthday Digital Assets for your own projects. Small trees and moons, stars, and snowflakes feature in the background of each. I will continue to work on January assets in time for your projects. To Be Continued…
In this post I share my free PDF on care instructions. This document is updated every six months as fabric availability can change. I also include repeated information from a previous post.
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What is Spoonflower?
Spoonflower is an on-demand, digital printing company that prints custom designs on fabric, wallpaper, and home decor. It is based in Durham, North Carolina and owned by Shutterfly. (Yay, Made in USA!) The Spoonflower community has hundreds of thousands of independent designers and artists from all over the world. We earn a commission from each sale from our shop, usually around 10% of the sale before taxes and shipping. So, when you buy from one of us, you are directly helping us with our creative businesses. Pretty cool, right?
For sewists and their projects, there are numerous kinds of fabrics that you can choose by the yard, fat quarter, or swatch. For those non-sewist, the home decor items are sewn in-house by Spoonflower employees. I have heard that some think Spoonflower’s prices are too high. I absolutely disagree. The quality of the fabrics and the labor time it takes to print and make your items is giving someone a decent living wage, right here in America. I am all about that. They are skilled at their work and deserve every penny they earn. If you want cheaper items and fabric somewhere else, be my guest. But, be warned. There is a lot of design theft and cheap, fly-by-night shops popping up all over the internet. They steal someone’s design they have no copyright to, offer it on products or fabrics, take your money, then disappear. And you just got robbed. Design theft is rampant right now and I will be doing a blog post about that soon so you know what to look out for. So, feel confident when you shop Spoonflower. Know it is a safe platform where you won’t be taken advantage of. I’m there, what more do you need? 🙂
I have found the quality of their fabrics, printing, and craftmanship to be exceptional and have always been very happy with my swatch proofs and purchased items. Another interesting thing to know is that digital printing has very little waste, unlike conventional textile manufacturing. There is less use of electricity, waste of fabric, and they inks they use are water-based.
One of the things I love so much about Spoonflower is that it gives me the ability to share my creativity with the world in a pattern that can then be available to all of you. That was always a Dream and I am making that dream come true by having my own shop on Spoonflower! I started it back in 2010 and I didn’t do much with it until two years ago. Some of my first designs were atrocious, but I have learned so much and absolutely love making fabric patterns with my art. So, if you are ready to dive in, here is my tutorial for finding my designs on Spoonflower for your projects and home. My shop is here: Angela’s Spoonflower Shop. Read my blog tutorial on shopping the platform. Let me know if I can adapt anything: Tips for Shopping Spoonflower
Save and Print this document for ease of use. Please feel free to pass it along, too. I am happy to share it.
In this post I help you navigate the Spoonflower platform so you can easily shop for products.
What is Spoonflower?
Spoonflower is an on-demand, digital printing company that prints custom designs on fabric, wallpaper, and home decor. It is based in Durham, North Carolina and owned by Shutterfly. (Yay, Made in USA!) The Spoonflower community has hundreds of thousands of independent designers and artists from all over the world. We earn a commission from each sale from our shop, usually around 10% of the sale before taxes and shipping. So, when you buy from one of us, you are directly helping us with our creative businesses. Pretty cool, right?
For sewists and their projects, there are numerous kinds of fabrics that you can choose by the yard, fat quarter, or swatch. For those non-sewist, the home decor items are sewn in-house by Spoonflower employees. I have heard that some think Spoonflower’s prices are too high. I absolutely disagree. The quality of the fabrics and the labor time it takes to print and make your items is giving someone a decent living wage, right here in America. I am all about that. They are skilled at their work and deserve every penny they earn. If you want cheaper items and fabric somewhere else, be my guest. But, be warned. There is a lot of design theft and cheap, fly-by-night shops popping up all over the internet. They steal someone’s design they have no copyright to, offer it on products or fabrics, take your money, then disappear. And you just got robbed. Design theft is rampant right now and I will be doing a blog post about that soon so you know what to look out for. So, feel confident when you shop Spoonflower. Know it is a safe platform where you won’t be taken advantage of. I’m there, what more do you need? 🙂
I have found the quality of their fabrics, printing, and craftmanship to be exceptional and have always been very happy with my swatch proofs and purchased items. Another interesting thing to know is that digital printing has very little waste, unlike conventional textile manufacturing. There is less use of electricity, waste of fabric, and they inks they use are water-based.
One of the things I love so much about Spoonflower is that it gives me the ability to share my creativity with the world in a pattern that can then be available to all of you. That was always a Dream and I am making that dream come true by having my own shop on Spoonflower! I started it back in 2010 and I didn’t do much with it until two years ago. Some of my first designs were atrocious, but I have learned so much and absolutely love making fabric patterns with my art. So, if you are ready to dive in, here is my tutorial for finding my designs on Spoonflower for your projects and home.
1. Finding my shop
From your web browser, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Duck Duck Go, etc., type in Spoonflower’s URL address: “https://spoonflower.com” (leave out the quotation marks). Once you are there, at the top of the page in the Search Bar with the little magnifying glass, type in my shop name, “villaparkhearts” (leave out the quotation marks) and hit Enter. See example below circled in red. This takes you to my designs.
The Spoonflower home page changes often, so don’t be thrown off by how it looks when you arrive there.
2. Let’s go to my shop page
These are my available designs. To get to my shop, in the screenshot below notice the red circle and arrow pointing to, “by villaparkhearts”. Click this link. Each design has the same link to my shop, so pick any of them.
Designs available in my shop
3. Yay! You found me! When you see my shop banner and cute face you’ll know you are in the right place.
Notice the page URL address in web browser is https://spoonflower.com/profiles/villaparkhearts. At any time if you get lost, just use this address to get back to my shop. Or type “villaparkhearts” in the Search Bar again.
Villa Park Hearts Main Shop Screen With Available Designs
4. Select a design. Click on any and a new window will open.
I clicked on my “oh, those 70’s daisies” design for this tutorial. From here is where you can shop for fabric options by the fat quarter, yard, or swatch. To get to all finished products, we will follow the link to Home Decor, bottom right of the image, circled in red with a red arrow pointing to it.
Screen with a yard of fabric shown for scale. Select the Home Decor link to shop sewn products ready for purchase.
5. Choose your category item with the design mockup
On this screen you can see all the products with “oh, those 70’s daisies” on them. Navigate to wallpaper, kitchen and dining, bedding, and home and decor options.
Wallpaper with “oh, those 70’s daisies” on the top. Scroll down the page for more categories.
Choose Kitchen & Dining
Kitchen goods with “oh, those 70’s daisies” design. Scroll down for more categories.
Choose Bedding
Bedding with “oh, those 70’s daisies” design. Scroll down for more.
Choose Living & Decor
Living & Decor with “oh, those 70’s daisies” design. Scroll down for fabrics.
Choose fabric. These takes you back to fabric yardage options
Fabric by the yard, swatch, or fat quarter options. This loops back to the first screen with the design on a yard of fabric.
6. After choosing your item, click “Add to Cart”
Then, you can and see product in your cart. Top right below with red arrow and circle. Click the cart icon.
See item in your cart after clicking “Add to Cart”
7. Choose Check out or Continue Shopping
If you are all finished shopping, Click the black “Check Out” button to complete your order. To shop more of my designs, Click the “Back” button twice to go back to my All Products page. Both options are circled in red and have red arrows pointing to them. The “Continue Shopping” button takes you to the main Spoonflower home page, where you can type in “villaparkhearts” in the Search Bar again.
Here you can make changes to your order; Save, Edit, or Remove item(s), Check Out, or Continue Shopping.
8. Fill in Your Shipping Information as a Guest or Create an Account
Fill in your contact and shipping information. Then complete the entire process and voila! Your order is placed.
9. Receive a Thank You Message from me!
Once you complete your order, Spoonflower sends me a notification. If you shop as a Guest, I won’t know who made a purchase, and that is ok. If you create an account and shop I will then have the privilege of knowing you shopped in my store. You will receive an email confirmation that your order was placed. They will give you an estimated time when it will ship. I hope this blog post is helpful. Please contact me if you need help with anything. xoxo
Some of you know that I work in an Entomology lab for Washington state and have been there for over 7 years. My Biology degree helped me get there after I had worked in the food industry in canning and cheese/dairy as a Microbiologist. Even though the lab work is different, I was very comfortable with that. The entomology work has less “clean” requirements, but that doesn’t mean the work is less serious. What we do is incredibly important in monitoring for agricultural pests. Quite simply, we help protect our food supply and family farming. Every day I learn something new about insects and I LOVE IT! Let me tell you about a project I have been involved with.
On the hunt for the Asian Giant Hornet
AKA Murder Hornet. No, don’t call it that. Thanks. Do call it Vespa mandarinia. We don’t know how, but a fertilized queen made it safely to North America, leading to a viable nest. The very first detection and nest was found and eradicated in Nanimo, British Columbia. That then alerted folks state side who noticed these weird looking insects and reported them. That’s when our Pest Program got involved with the Detection phase of our work. Then, after the national news grabbed the story, we went viral as they say, and my boss became a media darling. The world followed our team as we attempted to trap and track hornets with specific bait of orange juice and rice wine. Citizens in Washington became enrolled in helping us and at their own expense by buying bait and setting traps on their properties which was absolutely Epic. We couldn’t have done it without them.
People from around the world submit “sightings” on our public map and I have the responsibility to check those submissions, identify the insects if photos are submitted, and pass along any potential Positives for the field crew to check out. If it t does end up being a Positive sighting, USDA gets involved and the team goes into Detect and Delimit mode. A film crew followed and recorded my colleagues which then became the film on Discovery+, “Attack of the Murder Hornets”.
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the hornets found in Washington came from the nest in Nanimo? That is what we thought, but it ends up that wasn’t the case. Huh? Exactly. We aren’t sure how that second lineage arrived here and never will, but we know they are from a different country because our talented scientists in the Plant Pathology Laboratory ran DNA sequencing on Nest 0 and they came from Korea. The nest in Nanimo came from Japan.
This post includes cybersecurity and tips on protecting your online accounts from “Bad Actors”
I’ve had a love-hate relationships with online platforms for years. You know the ones, I’m not going to spell them out; fb and ig. See my previous post lamenting my life with mindless scrolling here: https://villaparkhearts.com/on-social-media/. I’ve spent hours and hours chasing followers, chasing dreams, chasing some thing. I’m in the hunt for new customers, new opportunities, yet never catching them… all of which has left me feeling empty, exhausted, and unsatisfied. I have seriously considered closing my accounts. But, I haven’t. I can’t seem to pull the final plug. Nevertheless,
I’m also being hunted. Cyber hacks and “bad actor” activity has increased more than you may even be aware of. These jerks are getting really sophisticated at fooling us with spam emails, texts, requests in DMs, and stupid phone calls about our car warranties. They are using company logos and getting better at spelling English. The deceit is deep and they are after me, and you.
One of my design friends, Dana Batho over at Peacock and Fig was the victim of a recent ig attack where she lost access to and was completely locked out of her account for days. She shared as she was going through it in real time on one of our groups and it was horrible to witness; she tried everything she could and still did not receive any help from the platform. Dana wrote about the extremely stressful experience to help others and she has some things for you to think about. What she went through motivated me to write this blog post to show support and solidarity with her. Go check out her blog post about it here: https://peacockandfig.com/2022/04/why-instagram-hurting-your-art-business/. And note that she makes some really amazing art, too!
Cyber security is a constant battle. We just don’t see it. A lot of smart people in our work places, government agencies, and military branches have teams of people working hourly monitoring and attempting to keep attacks at bay. I receive a weekly cyber security news update from SANS Newsbites. You can read them here, or have them sent to your inbox: https://www.sans.org/newsletters/. I’m telling you, Microsoft, T-mobile, Google, Elementor, to name a few, have all been attacked within the last four months. It is up to each of us to be diligent and not fall for the bait (phishing). Here a couple things to keep in mind as you go about your day. Memorize these and do them.
Tip #1: Don’t act in panic. If you receive ANY communication that instantly sends panic or urgency through your body, STOP, PAUSE, and give yourself a few minutes to think. The tactic is to frighten you into instant reaction. Reread the communication, think it through, and remember that if your financial accounts were compromised, you won’t get the information through an email, a text message, or direct message in any one of your apps.
Tip #2: Rethink the immediate need to “help”. Bad actors play upon your sympathies; they aim to take advantage of your good nature. Never click a link in emails or text messages. Never open an attachment from someone you do not know. Read the message or email over for misspelled words, wonky word phrasing, or leading phrasing that is trying to make you panic. Then see Tip #1 again.
Tip #3 Set up all of your online accounts with two-factor authentication. I know it’s annoying when you log in and then they ask to send you a text message or email with a code that you need to enter, but do it anyway. This extra step protects you from getting hacked if someone were to get your password(s). Just do it. Ask Dana. You’ll thank us later.
To wrap up, I’ll continue to encourage people to reach me here on my own website and Spoonflower shop. My power is in my own hands. I’m not chasing anyone to follow me or try to convince them to give a shit about what I’m doing. You are here, and you are part of my circle, and that is enough. I am so grateful to you. Thanks for reading. Now go be safe out there. xo -Angela
Red, ferocious anger blob blob blob. Too much going on. Too much to process. Dopamine addict. What’s next?
What’s next? New!! New!! Shock me!! Piss me off. Swim around scroll scroll scroll. Swipe. Like. Heart. Tweet. It NEVER ends. There is so much I’m angry about So. Much. So much that I can’t do anything about. So much that has nothing to do with me.
The Ocean of Occurrences is too vast to process. Too much water to swim through. Why do I dive in? I’m curious. I see Fish of Hatred. Eels of Judgment. Sharks of Crime dart around. Show me quick glimpses of things that happen. I don’t even need the full story. Then, I react. Then, I feel depleted. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF? It feels like the world is going to hell in a handbasket and we are all going down with the ship.
the red blob devouring my dopamine mind
So, I stop looking beneath the water level, put on my life jacket and tell myself every is fine. And I paint the blob. And I write these words.
Shocking things, gossipy things, political things. I’m sharing what’s in there, inside me. Can you stop your own Dopamine scroll to really read and see what I’m doing? Will you? Join me onboard. Let’s sit in the breeze with the sun kissing our hair and be amazed at the open blue.
