office cleaning

i finally starting cleaning up the office a little bit. at the beginning, i could see about one square foot of carpet. now i can see that, yes indeed, there is actually a floor under all of that stuff. i managed to take down & put away the christmas decorations (before february - go me!) and rearrange the storage closet.

i'm debating on what to do with this ridiculously huge desk we have. it weighs a ton & is a giant pain in the ass to move. i'm thinking we'll try to sell it on craigslist. then i can get something smaller. maybe. i dunno. i'm indecisive.

i'll post before & after pictures of the office once it's done. in the meantime, here's a picture of my little helper to tide you over:

"mmm mystery sock"

myers-briggs test

as i was reading some blogs today, i came across this entry by the fierce beagle (if you get a chance, go read her blog - it's entertaining and poignant). she did a myers-briggs test and talked about her results. well, i remember doing one of these things, either in high school or early college. i don't remember exactly when...it was SO long ago. geez, that makes me feel old.

ok moving on....so i found an online test here and took it. here are my results: ISFJ

you're thinking "wtf does that mean?" apparently i'm Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging. thanks to the fierce beagle's blog, i also looked up an interpretation of my results here...and it was pretty darn accurate. i'm very reliable, feel like i have to do everything myself (but i'm working on that), don't like screaming my accomplishments from the rooftops, have a strong work ethic, and have a few close friends who i am extremely loyal to. i also enjoy using prepositions to end my sentences with. haha! that was a joke. get it? end WITH?

what about you? have you taken a myers-briggs test? were your results accurate?

etsy mini!

good morning! as you can see, i moved around a couple of things here in blogland. to the right, you will notice the brand spankin' new etsy mini - showcasing items from my etsy shop! so you can either click on TamaPress at the below all of the pictures to go directly to the shop, or you can click on one of the pictures & it'll take you to that particular item. i thought it would be extremely difficult to make and add to the blog. and it wasn't. at all. easier than dialing a phone. below that is my handmade pledge sticker and then the blog archives & lables follow.

if you haven't had a chance, check out the shop. i'm working on getting more items up soon!

website update

in addition to posting some books for sale on my etsy site, i also got around to updating my main website, Tama Press. here's a few highlights:

small japanese stab binding books

medium japanese stab binding books

lined journals

blanket stitch books

secret belgian binding books

address books

etsy shop!

i finally have my etsy shop up! there are just a handful of items available right now, but i am working on getting more products up soon. lots of pictures to take & not enough daylight to take them. please go take a look around at tell me what you think!

here's the address: http://tamapress.etsy.com

you can also look at my main website http://www.tama-press.com and click on "etsy shop" in the upper right corner.

blog award

*blush*

my friend brandi at not your average ordinary (go check out her blog - it's gorgeous) passed on this blog award to me :) how very exciting! i never win anything! (except for a super cool photo from mimi charmante) how many exclamation points can i use in one post?! thank you so much!

paper cutter awesomeness

i finally ordered a super cool stack paper cutter. i have a guillotine cutter that is super awesome too - i heart my kutrimmer. however, i wanted to get something else that will cut stacks of paper, specifically for the insides of my books and possibly some stacks of book board. that would save me SO much time, plus be a bit more accurate since there isn't a curve in the cutting blade. it'll be mailed out tomorrow and take about 12 days to get here...i can't wait!

here's a pic of the 50 pound beast:

photo credit

my work is doing well at artique (the most recent gallery to carry my art) and i'm thrilled that they already asked for additional merchandise! bella also wants to try some new products too. and on top of that, i have a handful of custom orders and some more on the horizon! hooray!

pretty day

the other day, the weather was gorgeous! we decided to take vito out for a walk to the inlet with his best friends (and our friend too!) we followed a trail through the woods and it opened up to this:

view to the right

view to the left

what a nice day :)

vito's anniversary!

one year ago today, we happily welcomed our puppy VITO! into our lives. bfff and i visited his foster home and fell in LOVE with this little brown fur ball.


he was clumsy & sleepy, a bit wary of us, and had the biggest tummy. we took him home and life just hasn't been the same since.


some memories of the past year:

*there were a number of mornings that we tried to sleep in...but the second we opened our eyes, vito would pounce on us. sometimes we'd wake up to him standing on the bed, just waiting for our eyes to open.

*he was so tiny we had to carry him up & down the stairs....he could barely reach the sofa cushions when standing on his hind legs.

*we even made a little growth chart for him on our wall. we'd mark his height in pencil every week or two. and WOW did he grow fast!

*the first time he barked, bfff & i looked at each other & went "what in the hell was that??" he definitely sounded like a boy.

*he likes to eat things - cinnamon buns (as of recently), sugar cookies, chicken burgers, socks, stuffed animals, etc. however, when we give him something new that he is allowed to eat (like a blueberry), he'll play with it for a good 5 minutes before attempting to eat it.

one of his favorite activities is watching out the window. he's our neighborhood patrol.

*now he sleeps in...and usually tries to keep us from getting up in the morning by laying on top of one of us. he also snores sometimes.

*vito is VERY affectionate. we wanted him to be friendly and loving. and he will definitely lick your face if you don't watch out.

i can't believe how much he's changed in just a year. he's all grown up!

etsy store

been working on my etsy store today - mostly taking pictures for the shop. here's a few pics (unedited):

large stab binding books

medium stab binding book

side view of stab binding

guest books

back to work!!

ninja puppy

i can't believe i didn't write about this earlier in the week! bfff bought a bread machine recently and we've been making LOADS of bread - cheesy bread, focaccia bread, cinnamon buns, soft pretzels....mmmm. i'm probably going to gain 300 pounds if we keep this up.

so last weekend, bfff made cinnamon buns. and they were AMAZING. i ate 3! i went off to work and a couple of hours later, i get a phone call from bfff. he had been working on some homework in his office and came out to the kitchen to get some water. the puppy looked all guilty, with his ears back, just staring at bfff. after grabbing a water bottle, he turned around to pick up a cinnamon bun and....they were gone. all 7 of them. no crumbs to be found. puppy managed to eat ALL of them, without making a sound!! what a little trouble maker! and i was really looking forward to eating more of them too.

custom orders

just the other day, i was contacted for a couple of custom orders! i'm so pleased that people are looking me up after the craft show season.

the first order will be to repair a beloved cookbook. i've never done any repairs on books before (and i told the customer this) and she sweetly told me that she knew i didn't have experience in this type of work but she has faith in my abilities after seeing my books at the shows. how awesome is that?? so i'll be picking up the book at the end of the week to take a look at it and get a handle on what exactly the project entails. maybe i'll do a before & after photo shoot for it!

the second order will be a custom made dvd holder. i've only done a similar project once for a cd holder, but this will be quite a bit more intense. i had a zillion questions for the customer and now have some more details & direction for the project. oooo i can't wait to get started on this!

this weekend i'll get to work on finishing a photo album & box set order, get my studio cleaned up, and dive into a whole new round of orders...not to mention attempt to get my etsy store up and running. wish me luck!

etsy shopping

yesterday i was following some blogs and caught up on mimi charmante's blog. she sells items on etsy - a couple months ago, i even won something from her shop (a gorgeous photo!) i popped over to her shop and came across the most beautiful (blue) necklace...and immediately knew i must have it. so after a quick message to find out the dimensions, i placed my order. here it is:

photo credit

isn't it gorgeous?? to read more details about it, just click on the photo credit or the picture. and check out her shop too. some very pretty things there. oh, and it matches my new blue shoes too. awesome.

wildlife visit

i ran home today to check on vito and we went through our usual routine...i said hi puppy! and he comes out with a big s-t-r-e-t-c-h, a good strong tail way, and a little hello kiss. we tromp downstairs and i let him outside to do his business. but instead of trotting out like normal, he just stands on the porch with his nose up in the air, sniffing away. i figured a cat had been through the yard & that's what he was smelling. after he hopped off the porch, did his business, he sees something around the corner and stops. then his ears go up, his posture changes, and the little silver streaked section on his tail puffs out...and then the big boy bark! i hurry & get him inside to see what the heck he's looking at.

we race upstairs and i struggle to open the window, since it's been nearly frozen shut. all i can see is a brownish blob. and it's pretty big. finally got the window open and i look down to see a moose laying between our house and the fence. just chillin'.


he (or she?) eventually got up and lumbered over to our backyard, did his business too (lucky bfff - he's the picker-upper), and posed for the camera a few times.



for the rest of lunch, vito & i followed the moose, window by window, until he found a nice little tree to snack on.


what an exciting lunch for the puppy! just another day of life in alaska.

etsy shop project

since it is now 2010, i thought it would be a good idea to start up my etsy shop. really get it started - not posting a few things here and there like in the past. i would really like to start generating some sales through etsy and broaden my customer base. i've been doing a lot of reading regarding how to set things up and information about photo taking, advertising, etc. and to start, i opened a new account with etsy - one completely separate from my personal (shopping) account. so now, people will be able to find my etsy shop by searching for TamaPress (under sellers)! since there is currently nothing up, i'll post the link to the shop later...

i'll post updates as things progress and links to products once things are set up. in addition, i'll also work on updating the Tama Press website with new photos.

thanks to bfff for planting the seed (eons ago) to have my etsy site under TamaPress. once again, his support has helped me take one more step towards making my artwork full time!

happy weekend!

have a good weekend!

eye trauma

this morning i'm sitting at my desk, writing some info in my new little planner and all of a sudden, i have a hard time focusing. things are a little blurry so i look up at something in the distance. and then i notice these weird wavy lines - not in my direct line of sight & not in my peripheral, just somewhere in between. it was almost like looking through broken glass or moving water.

i thought it would go away...and then it didn't. so i'm checking to see if it's just one eye, but it's both eyes that have the weird wavy lines. finally, 20 minutes later, they disappear. so i hop on google & webmd to see if this is something common or horrifically abnormal. the only symptoms i could find that were close to what i experienced were for one's retina detaching. and everything else i read said if you have any strange changes in vision, even if they are temporary, get it checked out!!

so i called and made a doctor's appointment, all the while i'm freaking out thinking of images of eyeballs coming apart.

as it turns out, i had an "ocular migraine" which is basically the aura that some people get before a migraine, but with no migraine following it. and it's pretty common. no known causes or ways to prevent it either. but it's good i got it checked out. plus i have a new prescription so i can finally get some sweet prescription sunglasses. how about these:

thanks to revision eyewear for the pic - go here to check out the details.

the slow readers book club

i didn't make any resolutions this year...however, i am interested in reaching a few little goals. i'm currently working on a list of things i would like to do (i LOVE lists) and one goals is to read more. read real books. for fun. i used to read all the time as a kid. i guess i stopped around the beginning of college - at that point, all of the reading i could handle was in textbooks & articles & homework.

in an effort to help reach this little goal, and to open up my reading list, i am joining "the slow readers book club".


i've never been involved with a book club...in fact, hearing "book club" invoked images of high tea, snooty people, and expensive personal home libraries (i have no idea why those images came to mind). this club is different - very low key and WAY more interesting & fun. i'm looking forward to reading for fun & reading something i normally wouldn't have picked up on my own accord.

the first book we are reading is: Jeannette Walls' Half Broke Horses to be read by March 4th. there will be a review posted along with some discussion of the book on the email list. if you are interested in joining, go here for more information.

before & after - bedroom

i apologize for not getting the pics up over the weekend. the days just flew by! bfff is back *hooray!* and our puppy can't let him out of his sight. it's the cutest thing. it is SO good to have our little family back together. i was scrambling to get the room finished before bfff flew in - so things weren't quite as tidy as i had hoped & not all the pictures were hung. oh well.

i remembered to take the before pictures after some things were already moved around and i had taped the walls. oops. at least i remembered this time. the room is a long rectangle - big, but awkward. as you'll see, there are 2 closets, 2 doors & 1 window, making furniture placement rather difficult.

here's the before pics:

on the right wall you can see closet doors

taken from the closet doors in previous pic

and the after pics:

bfff has been wanting an office area for quite some time, so i made an attempt to set one up, along with all of his "me" wall stuff. the bed & office areas are currently separated by vito's gigantic kennel, but hopefully we won't need that soon & i'll be able to put a shelf there instead.

the white lights were inspired from a picture i saw on design sponge (here). they add a nice little soft glow & looked better than i hoped.

in addition to the paint, i got a chocolate duvet cover (matches the puppy), new aqua sheets, & a little pillow (that vito has already decided is his).

vito posing & smiling for me

bfff's reaction was classic! after we got home from the airport, i rushed upstairs to get vito, plugged in the icicle lights, and closed the doors. bfff eventually went into the bedroom and exclaimed "HOLY ****! this looks GREAT!" hahaha!! definitely the reaction i was going for. i got a little nervous the day he flew with thoughts of "what if he doesn't like it? i don't have time to paint over it!!" i'm so glad he likes it & has a space to work now.

my studio space & office (aka storage room for random stuff) is a mess right now and are next on my list to revamp!

happy new year!

this is my 100th post (WOW!)

so last night, my friend & i finished up the first part of the big surprise project. and i am very pleased with the results :) i can't wait to post some pictures! part two will be in the works today & tomorrow.

what are your plans for new years eve? i'll be going to a nice fancy dinner with friends and plan to get all dressed up. i'm debating on wearing this killer pair of heels i got for christmas:

my quest for aqua blue high heels has finally come to an end.

i think i'm going to need a latte - i'm tired. i used to head out to party at midnight, and now...i'm lucky if i can stay awake that long!

vito says have a happy & safe new years eve!