1,000 Sales Ago…

1,000 sales ago, I was an extremely nervous and busy little paper crafter. I had just figured out my gocco screen printer and came up with enough designs to put a shop together on Etsy. I remember the exact moment - walking down State Street in Madison - when I decided, “I have to come up with one good design a week and I have to build up a small inventory of each.” I actually stuck to it, although - I think I only had ten designs when I opened my shop!

This was the very first of all of the PaperMichelle designs, so she has a very special place in my heart.

I am so happy that PaperMichelle has lasted this long - that people understand my humor - that stores try to SELL my humor (say what??) The most exciting part of it is that it gets better every year. I look forward to what the next thousand (ten thousand, twenty thousand…) has in store. Thank you all for the incredible support in my little endeavor. It is more fun than I can possibly express in a few words, so I will just continue to bless you with lousy puns.

Casa del Mirto - The Haste

Here it is - Christmas Eve - and this is the mood.

ENDED: GIVEAWAY: Are you a boy or a girl?

Yay!!! We have a winner - who has been notified by email!

Congratulations on all of your little ones and THANKS for participating!

I am announcing a little giveaway from my Etsy shop! Yay! Gender announcing parties have been so in this year - I thought I would get in on the fun. (Seriously - is there anything more exciting than finding out if it’s a boy or a girl??)

The winner of my giveaway will receive a set of 10 “A Boy or A Girl” announcements from my shop. I can customize them to show a little blue or pink heart inside of each egg. It is a cute and memorable way to share your big news with friends and family. Please forward the contest to any expectant mommies or mommy blogs you know!

To enter, do any or all of the following:
- Follow @papermichelle on Twitter
- Leave a comment in this blog post
- Include a link to the giveaway on your own blog (let me know you did it!)
- Retweet my tweets about the giveaway, including the tag #papermichellegiveaway
- Add the new design to your “favorites” on Etsy

I will announce a winner on my blog and twitter on Thursday, June 30th.

Hooray for Earth - True Loves

Really loving Hooray for Earth the past few days. The NYC foursome sounds like a cross between Yeasayer and MGMT to me. Their album, True Loves, is out on June 7th - but streaming right now over at Spin. Give it a listen.

Writer’s Digest Submission

Painting/Jean-Michel Basquiat

I have been on this weird kick of entering competitions in writing and illustration lately. This morning I submitted two entries to the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition - one mainstream/literary short story and one rhyming poem. I’m pretty satisfied with both - here’s the poem:

I’m a hip-hop princess
A happy hour whore
A New York City luster
A Jack Kerouac connoisseur

I’m an unlucky lover
A coffee haus cliché
A bluegrass beatnik
And depressive by day

Warhol inspired -
Swish and a little campy
Basquiat admired -
Unapologetic and tramping

I’m a social scene smoker
Abercrombie & FUBU
A little bit cult-classic, my friend –
Who the hell are you?

Happy Easter!

CFCF - It Was Never Meant to Be This Way (x Games Remix)

I can’t get enough of the remix of CFCF’s - It Was Never Meant to be This Way.

CFCF - It was Never Meant to be (Games Remix) from Franck Deron on Vimeo.

Neusteters Dress from NodtoModvintage

The other night, I stumbled across this amazing 1950s Neusteters dress in NodtoModvintage’s Etsy shop. I hemmed and hawed, but ultimately - I could not bear the thought of someone else snatching this dress up! It now belongs to me and it is as fabulous in person as it is in pictures. I can’t wait to wear it to a summer wedding.

SNO-MG!

Mother Nature really laid into us here in Wisconsin last night. This was a blizzard of epic proportions - complete with 24 inches of snow. What better way to deal with hibernation than to make a treasury?

Weekend Vintage: Smells Like Teen Spirit

The 90s were a really amazing time - everything was acceptable; people felt free, fashion was strange and music was phenomenal. It feels like it wasn’t that long ago, but watching an episode of Seinfeld always reminds me just how long ago it was. I will say that I am happy some famously 90s things have not made a return (body suits and round sunglasses, I am looking in your direction,) but the last few years have definitely shown a revival of many 90s fashion favorites. Walking the streets of Brooklyn, you can’t help but notice an homage to the decade of Easy-E and Jane’s Addiction.

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