Amber Dusick

the seasonal tree is finally finished & I'm taking a break!

I've been working on a seasonal tree prototype for a few months now and I finally got caught up enough to make one for the shop! It is always such a pleasure to making something new and unveil it. I'm always surprised by what things sell immediately and what things stick around in the shop for a while.

I am taking a break until June from woodworking to focus on my family and spending my limited free time doing the important things that have been neglected for the last six months...like laundry and taking showers. In June I'll reassess how I feel about it. The seasonal tree really represents how I feel about all of this...the passage of time means it is time for a change and new growth.

Apartment Therapy...ohdeedoh

I'm speechless over this one!

I've been an Apartment Therapy fan since the beginning so getting mentioned in their nursery section is such an honor!

why yes I've jumped on the gocco train

Last week I got a gocco to get started on some holiday 2008 gifts. Yes, I am starting my holiday gifts in spring. I have a very large family and prefer to give handmade gifts so I must get an early start!

Last year I was pretty overwhelmed come fall and I made some gifts that I really didn't enjoy making. I don't want to feel rushed this year, I'm going to enjoy creating my handmade gifts all summer long instead.

These blank house cards are for my grandmother, and this is her country house on a hill.

The gocco gets a thumbs up so far, I've only made this one simple design but can't wait to do some fabric printing and more complex images! The Woodchuck (which is what I've decided to call my husband after ohtoseethesunset's son asked what kind of animal he was if I'm a woodmouse and my son is a chipmunk, lol...) was very skeptical of the Gocco when I tried to explain it to him before it arrived. "You mean it prints?" "Like our printer?" "So why not just use the printer?" However, when he saw this house print he changed his tune to, "Can I make one?" Another gocco convert!

Sick of Paypal Fees? Check out RME and get $25!

I just signed up for RME (Revolution Money Exchange) and got $25 for signing up during their release. Tons of folks are starting to use this new money exchange site as a Paypal alternative since it is free. Yep, free! I have a feeling it is really going to take off but if it doesn't, well I still got $25 and can just close my account.

Click here to check it out and get $25!

vintage cookie jar & strawberry season

I baked some cookies last week and felt nostalgic for my grandmother's kitchen and her ceramic rooster cookie jar that always held homemade goodies. My great grandmother even collected cookie jars and a few searches on eBay made me realize that the ones she had are highly sought after these days. I then realized that I didn't have a cookie jar. How do I not have one by now? A situation I had to remedy immediately!

Rest assured that cookies now have a place to hang out in my kitchen. I found this adorable red vintage strawberry cookie jar and it suits me just fine!

Speaking of strawberries, here are some ripe & juicy Etsy picks:

1. Strawbunny by Kezzaroo
2. Robert Kaufman Fabric from fabricdivas
3. Strawberry Sachets by simplycheryls
4. Japanese sewing tape from littleapplecrafts
5. Strawberry pin from shelikescute
6. strawberry hat panda ring from Fluffington
7. Strawberry pot holders from inessa
8. Tote from beadsinatwist
9. Square strawberry pouch from samyii
10. Sweet Strawberry mini pouch from Sonya
11. Juicy Glass Strawberry Necklace from KiriandCarla
12. 12 vintage glass cabochons from PepermintSoda

6 quirks tag...

SheerWhimsy tagged me to list six non-important habits/quirks about myself. Here goes...

1. See that beautiful morning glory vine climbing up the wire in the photo above? I break out in a rash every time I touch it. It is the one single thing in the world that I have some kind of allergic reaction to and it is completely covering my studio. I can't bear to cut it back though, so I just avoid touching it.

2. I like to eat ice cream. Often. Especially in the bathtub.

3. I'm a very fickle crafter. One week it is sewing and the next it is jewelry and the next it is wood.

4. I'd much rather be hot and sweaty than cold and shivering.

5. We don't watch TV. Ever. We don't have any TV channels hooked up. However, we own three televisions (people keep giving them to us, perhaps to get us to watch them?) and use one of them to watch DVDs. The other two are in storage.

6. I see the beauty in the details more than on a grand scale. My husband and I will hike to a mountain top and he'll be in awe at the breathtaking view and I'll be sitting on the ground in awe over the tiny colored pebbles at our feet.

I'll tag fellow Etsians: Miranda from ohtoseethesunset and Sara from Woolies and Tamara from BlockParyPress. Post 6 & tag 3!

spring shoe binge: one for keeps & one returned

So I splurged and bought the Absinthe heels from Anthropologie and was totally bummed to find that they are a completely different color in real life. Here is the pic on their site in all their subtle pastis creamy goodness:

Unfortunately, they are really more of a true grass green in real life and not minty at all:

Still very cute, yes, but not what I expected and a total disappointment considering this was the most I've spent on a pair of shoes in a very long time. Back they went. Oh yeah, and the little "cut-outs" detail on the toes doesn't go through, there is the camel colored leather behind it so if you wear purple tights you won't see the purple through the holes which I'd prefer.

In good news, I'm putting the refund money towards my art studio revamp! Money will be much better spent that way so I'm really feeling relieved that it turned out this way. Also, my son's summer sandals from See Kai Run that arrived the same day are fantastic and I'm so jealous of their perfect red color:

a Tuesday walk around the yard in new shoes

The chipmunk and I got new shoes so this morning we took them on a stroll around the yard. Mine are Palladium and his are Ecco booties.

Everything is in bloom right now and even though it wasn't a sunny day (which is rare here) it was still lovely. The chipmunk kept smelling all the flowers and finding random seed pods that he hands me. Most of the lovely flowers are right outside our door alongside our house. I love this time of year.

The photos are (from left to right and down) shoes, poppies, chipmunk picking a dandelion, seeds he handed me, bottle brush tree in bloom, red rose, a magnolia seed pod he handed me, pink rose, sage in bloom, berry bush, yellow datura trumpet blooms, jasmine blooms, smelling lavender, iris bloom and a bird of paradise.