I've moved! New blog address.


My new website + blog is emilyneuburger.com.  Please visit me there!

If you have this site bookmarked in a blog reader, you'll want to switch to emilyneuburger.com.

Thanks, and see you in my new space!

xo emily

s q u a l l

Yesterday afternoon there was a snow squall that quickly blew through the hills and valley. It brought high winds, freezing temperatures, lightening, and a thin layer of fluffy snow. I was in our yard as the snow was letting up, and fell in love with how the snow piled up on the tiniest little dried up seeds and pods. It was like all of the dried up crab apples were wearing snow hats.



We're settling in for a cozy weekend. And, hey, tonight is pizza and a movie night. All is good.

xo e

heart magnets



Material list:
wooden circles 1" or 1 1/2" wide
heart stamp
acrylic paint
magnets
hot glue gun


What to do:

Simple. Lightly coat the heart stamp with acrylic paint and stamp the wooden circles. Once dry, glue the magnets on the back with the hot glue gun.

I carved my own heart stamp, but it would be just as nice with a store bought stamp.

If you've never carved stamps before, and feel inspired to try, this would be a great first carving project. You'll need a linoleum cutter and some sort of carving material. Heck, the heart shape is so simple and small, you could even use some sort of rubber eraser that is laying around the house. Using a pencil, draw the heart shape on a piece of paper. When you are happy with your shape, turn it face down onto the carving material and scrape/rub it with your fingernail. This will transfer your image onto the carving material. Use your linoleum cutter to carve away the negative space, and your wee heart will be complete.

I have sets of four magnets in a little stamped muslin bag listed in my shop for Valentine's Day.

g r e e n



Some fabric wall panels in the corner of the guest room/office.

A dried fern on the hard, icy snow.

Phew. I feel like I was a little too much inside my head this week. Lots of little twists and turns led me to spend time circling words and information and what-ifs around and around and around. After some deep breaths, yoga, mucho slow dancing with chick, and a walk in the sun filled afternoon, I feel so much better.

I'll have a Valentine's Day craft or two next week to share.
I wish you a cozy, restful, peaceful weekend.

xo e

s t a m p s


I'm sure a zillion of you crafty folks have experienced this before, but this was my first time paying professional stamp makers to make stamps with my designs, and I am feeling really good about it . I often carve my own stamps , and love that process to pieces, but there are certain fine details that are really tricky for me when hand carving, so this felt nice. These have a more finished, true to my design print while the hand carved stamps tend to be quirky, organic, and imperfect. I love imperfection.

I don't have a fancy pants illustrator program, so I drew the designs with pencil on white paper. Once I was happy with them, I traced over the pencil with dark black ink , scanned them onto the computer, and used Photoshop to clean them up.


I have plans to use white ink on a dark gray background when I stamp with the garlic. Nicole from One Golden Apple once put birdseed near one of her wee birds, which inspired me to do the same with the forlorn little bird on the left. I'm happy with how his wing came out because I wanted him to look vulnerable and sad. I just did.

And, this is my new label. The image below the text will change from time to time, but I think I'll always make it a little bird.


I went to Rubberstamps.net for this round and was quite happy with the results. I'm sure there are lots of other options. Does anyone have tips or suggestions for this? Do share!

xo e

my heart is with you, haiti

Since the earthquake in Haiti, I have been thinking of the families, mothers, children, fathers, babies, grandparents, friends, teachers, brothers, and sisters who are suffering, and it breaks my heart. We are all feeling the need to help in any way we can, so I figured I would pass on information about two great organizations that will be giving money directly to the Haitian relief effort.

*Wyclef's (a former member of The Fugees) Yele Haiti is an established organization that promises to give 100% of donations to the relief effort. This past summer, a friend of ours worked on a documentary for Yele and can't say enough about their dedication as well as their impact.

*Also, Partners in Health (PIH) is an established organization with people members in Haiti ready to assist.

love,
e

art boards

Recently, I spent some time making art out of that bag of scrap wood I picked up a few months ago. Can you tell I have blue skies on my mind? I find myself drawn to working with that bag of scrap wood because of how each board is imperfect with scrapes and color variations.

Fabric covered bird on board painted with sky blue acrylic paint.


Wood bird with acrylic paint. I let the old board shine through as a bird, and painted the negative space in sky blue.


:: Isn't this counting bean bag tutorial from Chez Beeper Bebe super nifty? Her tutorial is clear and simple with bright, cheery photos.

:: Thinking about how lovely the Squam art workshop June session sounds . Dreamy!

:: Loved Maira Kalman's final installment of And the Pursuit of Happiness. It's nice to know there will be a book in October.

xo e

little places

I am recovering from my first ever full blown sinus infection. Who knew it could be so intense and incredibly persistent? Wowzers! I tried to cure it with all of the regular home remedies like steam, tea, spicy food, garlic, but in the end, a dose of antibiotics seems to be what is helping it to heal and not throb, throb, throb.

While we were nestled in at home and in our vacation mode last week, I made a quick trip to The Trading Post - a little thrift/vintage/refurbished furniture store, which is just around the corner from our house. It is right next door to The Moan and Dove, which is a ridiculously well stocked beer bar. Side note: Tom and I often joke that our baby monitors would certainly function only .15 miles away, and we dream of sipping hoppy specialty ales while our kiddos sleep soundly at home. Joke, joke, joke. Anyway, I've mentioned some of my thrifty finds from this store before. This time, I really lucked out because they had a little old printer's tray, which has been on my "find that for a reasonable price" list for the past year.

I had fun putting lots of my little treasures in it. Those sweet crocheted thimbles were given to me by a long lost graduate school friend. I love them so. The little salt shakers with red tops were $1 each from The Trading Post.


And, they had a nice little vintage set of office shelves that fits perfectly next to our computer. We were desperately in need of a place to store pens, envelopes, books, and other office stuff, and I love that we found something used and absolutely perfect.


xo e