NEWNEW

New notebooks in the shop y'all! Woodpeckers and Air Supply...and lots more to come. Yay!

mel

Cathy Cahill

Andre by Cathy Cahill

Cathy Cahill is a pretty new shop on etsy (she opened in August), but I am still surprised that she has anything left in her shop because I think her drawings are super wonderful! Right now her shop is full of lovely rabbits like Andre up there, beautifully rendered in pastels and pencil. The colors are just perfect, and I especially love the dreaminess of these little drawings. And they are so so affordable, which is like a dream come true. As soon as I can choose which is my favorite I will be ordering it straightaway, so you should probably get over to her shop fast so you can swoop on your fave! And if you are wanting more of the most adorable drawings you have ever seen in your life, click on over to cathycahill.com.

mel

robayre

Etsy Front Page 9/23/08 robayre, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

Hooray, I was featured in an Etsy front page treasury yesterday with one of my mosaic drawings. I was really excited to be in a treasury with some of my very favorite artists like betsy walton, yellena, michelle moode, brandi strickland, heather smith jones, curbside treasure and groundwork; and also to discover some amazing artists I hadn't come across yet, paperwerks, rachel robertson, hells sewing circle and ashmae. If any of these artists are undiscovered by you, click on them right now, I promise you won't regret it. And a big shout out to robayre, the curator of this treasury, who is herself an incredible incredible artists who, I think, really deserves front page recognition because she rocks it out! Thanks!

mel

Allegro Arts

Okay, I just had to share this with you right away! I came upon the Allegro Arts blog and I am loving it! The Allegro Arts etsy shop is filled with lots of gorgeous jewelry, like the bracelet pictured above, so I figured his blog would mainly focused on his jewelry making. Not so! The blog is chock full of reviews of beers! Lots of interesting delicious looking beers. So if you're a beer drinker looking to expand beyond your run of the mill lager, check this blog out!

mel

Japantown

I had a really lovely evening on Saturday, hanging out with my good pal Erin in Japantown. We ate at the always wonderful On The Bridge. If you haven't been there, go, you will have fun, I promise! Then we just kind of wandered, which, at the time, was kind of perfect. Because the weather was totally delicious (cool with a breeze), I walked home and was inspired to whip out my camera and take some photos. I am usually too self conscious to do this, but the street I was walking along was pretty much deserted, so I could stop where I liked for as long as I liked without worrying that people were looking at me. So I got what I think are some really neat images, and I want to share them with you!

mel

Purple then blogs

Click on the pictures for totally awesome purples.

Click the links for total weblog awesomeness.

1. Smosch

2. Camilla Engman

3. ungtblod

4. essimar

5. erinzam news

6. The Small Object Steno Pad

7. Paper and Stitch

mel

ps - i just made all those purples into a treasury over here. Click and say something nice!

400

Ava's cute face inspired the stencil on this little notebook. I am considering making some to sell. What do you think?
I am stressed out lately. There is no good reason why. Things get kind of hard when I'm taking classes because I end up not being home very much. I am really really loving my classes, but I will be glad when the semester is over. At least my saturday class is only 8 sessions, so pretty soon my saturdays will be all open again.
On the good news side, as of yesterday I have 400 hearts! Wow! Business has been super brisk these past few months. I feel like I am finally coming into my own as an artist and an Etsy seller. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way, and to you lovely blog readers!
mel

Fashion Heroes

Man, I can't believe it's Friday again. The days really fly by faster and faster the older I get. It's been a pretty good week and I'm hoping it will be a pretty good weekend. I'm heading to Sacramento to check out the Second Saturday art walk. I'm hoping I'll have time to do another fashion week post later today...but since I don't just now, I'll leave you with some fashion inspiration pics I snapped at the Civic Center Farmer's Market the other day.
Have a great weekend!
mel

FTW

I have been forwarded this blogging award by Katelynjane of Katelynjane's Notebook. Thanks lady! Katelynjane has been super supportive of my blog and my shop, she always has a nice word for me and has been know to brighten up my day. So I'm pretty excited that she nominated me for this. I guess now I pick seven blogs that I would like to nominate as super awesome, so here goes

1. Argyle Whale

2. Elephantine

3. Girl Savage

4. Lucy Player

5. Tonteria

6. Little Doodles

7. Esta Sketch

And these are the rules
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who gave it to you
3) Nominate 7 other blogs
4) Add their links in your post
5) Send them a message letting them know
Thanks again Katelynjane!
mel

On Cats and New Notebooks

Oh yes, you heard right, there is a new goosey notebook in the shop. Hurrah!

So, as I've been saying, things have been a little crazy lately. I'm feeling rundown and sometimes in a funk. Oh, nothing serious, just not feeling quite up to par. I'm sure we all feel that way once in a while. Well, I think I've found a cure for all of us. It's called an adorable cuddly cat, like Mr. Nick Nolte up there. Last night we fell asleep with him all cuddled up in my arms. It was pretty adorable. The result? I feel leagues better today. If only we could send a cute kitten to all the leaders of nations so they could cuddle up to them at night. I think probably the world would be a better place.

mel

(I'm sorry, I think I have used the word cuddle too many times in this post. It's starting to look strange to me.)

Fashion Week!

Clockwise from top left: Carolina Herrera, Proenza Schouler, Erin Fetherston, Marc Jacobs

Fashion week is now in full swing, and I know you all want to know my faves, but it will probably be a day or so before I have time to do a really comprehensive round up. For now I will let you know I am loving loving loving Carolina Herrera, HATING Proenza Schouler (which makes me really sad) and having mixed feelings about Marc Jacobs and Erin Fetherston (though the MJ feelings are more positive and the EF feelings are more negative). Click over to the shoes to check them out yourself. Am I crazy, or do you not love the Mary Poppins hats in the Marc Jacobs show?
mel

Cool Down, Rev Up

January 11th, originally uploaded by Lili's One-a-Day.

Yes, it finally cooled down! Only 69 degrees today.
So...production has been at a standstill at Roska Handmade headquarters. That means there have been no new notebooks to drool over. I'm sorry. Things have been pretty busy lately. I am a little bit tired out from my classes already, but I am really glad I'm taking them, they are both going great. I can tell I am going to learn so much in my bookmaking class, the professor is really great, she is super passionate about bookmaking; plus she is fun and goofy to boot, so the six hour class just flies by. And my design class, while not quite as exciting, is really helping the way I look at my processes, especially how and from where I draw inspiration. I am rediscovering my love for collage! So now I have all kinds of ideas swirling around in my head for new projects! The one I am most excited about is a calendar. I would love to do one because I really love calendars, they're a practical way to have a rotating display of art. Way cool. I did some searching on flickr today for inspiration and am getting really amped. I'm thinking about doing a printed one, either gocco or linoprint or some combination of those, so I can do a limited run of those, and then also doing some with original collages. Yeah, I'm being a little ambitious. But I have a tendency to do that. Man, I can't wait to get started!

mel

92 degrees!

OMGeezy you guys! It is 92 degrees right now right here in San Francisco! 92 degrees! Fahrenheit! That is only 2 degrees cooler than it is right now in TEXAS. Texas is only marginally hotter that SAN FRANCISCO. Try to wrap your head around that craziness. Just looking at that picture of the lovely Sacramento River with those cute geese swimming in it has made me feel a lot cooler. But I still just can't believe 92 degrees. It used to be that I almost never left the house without a jacket (or at least a sweater), and when I say jacket I mean more like a wool coat. Today I left for work in a tshirt. At 8:30 in the morning! I never would have dreamed of wearing a tshirt at 8:30 in the morning 2 years ago. No, I don't like it one bit.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of posting over the past week, I was unexpectedly in Eugene, Oregon (where it was beautiful and cool and even rained a little bit) for a few days. There's not much to report; it's been absolutely ages since I've made any new books, so I am really chomping at the bit to get some done; I'm thinking that will happen tomorrow night. And it may also be the maiden voyage for my gocco! Ooh, the prospect is almost too exciting! I'll keep you abreast of all developments.

mel

PS - My spot in the indie fixx galleria started today, go take a look!