I am not going to question it, but the weather has been non-stop beautiful since Friday! And it had just put me in such a great mood. This is one of the things we did over the weekend (you can see what a nice day it was too). Then we hung out at home, after a little shopping. And I put the finishing touches on the new exhibition (which just went up this morning).

One of many new shops in this totally new exhibition is Lil3birdy, which is run by artist Clare Shields. Her work is really fun and sort of captures the spirit of our weekend, so I wanted to share a few of my favorites from her Etsy shop with you to round out the day…Love the way she plays with repetition…

1. (above) owls notebook

2. insects and bugs postcards (love, love, love these)

3. patterns and birds gift tags

For more from Lil3birdy, visit Clare’s shop on Etsy.

I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning to share Tiffany’s part II article on pricing. The last one was super juicy (over 250 shares combined on Facebook + Twitter), so be sure to pop in tomorrow to read her second installment.

This is our closet.

Well part of it anyway (my favorite part).

It is two or three times the size of our old one in Florida, but somehow we’ve managed to fill it to the brim with clothes and shoes. And Luna likes to sleep in there too, so I think we can all agree that it’s fair to blame her for not being able to fit anything else in there. Right?

Cool, so we’re on the same page about blaming the dog. But even so, that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have much space left for new things. Which is why I am starting to think that unisex wearables are the way to go – saves space and it’s cheaper because you and your mate can wear it. Just not at the same time. Preferably.

Now, that’s probably not going to work when it comes to shoes or most clothing, but accessories? Yeah, I can do that! And you know I am hunting for scarves since several people told me in the comments of this post that having just one scarf in Seattle is basically insane.

So how about one of these…

I think I am partial to the red and black one - it feels kind of lumberjack-y in a good way, but green is good too.

They’re made by Don’t Get it Twisted Crochet and they look pretty cozy to me. What about you? If you like what you see you can get 20% off your order with the coupon code “PNSJAN”. There are plenty of more girlie styles too if you don’t want to go the unisex route.

That’s going to wrap things up for the week. Hope you have an amazing weekend! Stay warm.

Good morning!

Popping in to share a little vintage + handmade shop before I give you a sneak peek of my closet later today. If you’re looking for a new vintage shop to follow for clothes, accessories, and jewelry, check out Banjo and Bone. I like the jewelry especially, which is a mix of untouched vintage items and new handmade pieces with a vintage feel.

I chose a few of my favorites, and I snuck in that pair of pants at the top left because they are awesome! Wish I could pull off an outfit like that.

Visit Banjo and Bone on Etsy to view more vintage wearables and more.

As much as a kind of hate to admit it, I am definitely not a cook – and what I mean by that is I totally stink at cooking.

I have tried and tried to get the hang of it, but it seems I just don’t have the knack (which explains  why anytime Jeff makes something it officially tastes ten times better than when I make the very same thing).

But I am not going to let that stop me from having a good meal – I love food WAY too much to let that happen. So we eat a lot of super simple meals (I am pretty certain I’ve seen a monkey make more advanced meals than this), paired with eating out + we rely on Whole Foods to make a lot of yummy stuff for us too.

Long story short – I don’t let things I can’t do get in the way of what I love. I just find a different path to making it work.

“I don’t let things I can’t do get in the way of what I love. I just find a different path to making it work.”

Of course with food its a little easier because restaurants and cafes cater to people who either don’t cook or just don’t feel like cooking, but this same principal can be applied to virtually anything you can think of.

The key is to know what your strengths are and what they aren’t.

I’ll use myself as an example.

I know what I am good at, and for the most part, I focus my energy on those skills. Of course, there are plenty of things I am not good at as well…like sewing. I love diy projects, but I am all thumbs when it comes to a needle and thread. So if I have an idea for something I want sewn, I just ask someone else if they can make it for me (my mom’s pretty good behind a sewing machine anyway).

Or taxes….that’s a big one! I don’t like taxes and I certainly don’t fully understand the nooks and crannies of making sure I get every single deduction known to man, so I hired someone else to do that for me. By the way, if you struggle with taxes too, I have a post going up early next week that will help you.

But before I go listing off even more examples, I’ll just cut to the chase and make my point.  You do not have to be the doer-of-all-things. There are plenty of people out there ready and willing to share their talents with the world. Use your strengths the best way you can and find other people who can help you do the rest.

That’s the key to success these days, and it doesn’t even sound terribly hard, does it?

I would like to end this post today with a shop that combines two things that I utterly suck at (cooking + sewing) into playful, sewn fabric housewares for your dinner table and beyond.

The shop is called Too Cute Custom Crafts, and it is today’s reminder that my weaknesses are another woman’s strengths AND vice versa. So let’s work together to make great things happen.

Take action: How will you utilize your strengths moving forward + find people to help you with the weak zones?

Leave your response in the comments below.

The next exhibition is less than a week away and that means that I’ll only be accepting shop submissions for a couple more days.  I wanted to send out a reminder today, so the deadline doesn’t creep up on you this time.

If you’re interested in becoming an exhibitor for the first time, you can submit your shop now using the quick and easy form. It just takes a minute. The exhibition will run from February 6th through March 4th. **If you’ve already been an exhibitor before, just email me directly at brittni(at)papernstitch(dot)com and let me know you’d like to return.

Additional Note: Papernstitch was recently featured in the February 2012 issue of Woman’s Day magazine. And we’re seeing our best traffic ever right now on the blog as a result.

Looking for more info on what it means to be an exhibitor? All that can be found right here.

—> You can submit your work here: http://papernstitch.com/submit

–

(above image made up of current exhibitors from papernstitch) jewelry from EKate Designs; handmade dresses by Mrs. Pomeranz; paper goods by 3girlsandagoat; wedding + event goodies from Ready Go

This contributor post was written by Beth of Parsimonia.

For those of us in the four-season states, the temperatures are really starting to drop! I finally broke out my mittens, scarves, hats and other cold-weather accoutrements this week, thus adding a whole new level of accessories to my wardrobe. But, I have to be honest: There are several pieces I acquired years ago that I know aren’t going to see the glint of snow. Just like most women, my tastes change with the seasons, but replacing winter wear always seems a bit more expensive. So instead of browsing online stores, I’ve been hitting the blogsophere for ideas, and these five DIYs are just the ticket for keeping me (and you!) warm, head to toe.

(above) Sew Your Own Mittens by A Beautiful Mess

DIY Leg Warmers by Split the Lark

Snowy Day Hat Pattern by See Kate Sew

Long Pom Pom Cowl via Purl Soho

Yellow Bow Ear Warmer by Delia Creates
(Note that tutorial is for personal, not commercial, use)

Beth is the writer behind Parsimonia: Secondhand With Style, where she blogs about her first love (thrifting) and her second love (cooking), as well as DIY projects, sustainable style and other bits of inspiration. She lives in St. Louis with one husband, one fuzzy dog and lots of dreams, and recently launched an online vintage store.

The weather here in Seattle this week seems super up and down. One day it was as if I couldn’t put enough clothes on before braving the cold and the next a light jacket seemed to do the trick.

If I just had a few more scarves I think I’d feel more prepared for any kind of weather (right now I only have one – and it’s awesome. but I could use a few more). At least, that’s what I am telling myself at the moment. Any excuse to shop, right?

I found a few from Little Birdie Design Studio that I really like. Maybe one of these will do the trick? I really like the grey one and this orange one looks cozy too.

Of course, if I am going to shop for myself, it only seems fair to get something for Luna too..

That’s right. Tori makes doggie scarves as well. Are these not the cutest things ever or what?

Stop by Little Birdie and get 10% off your order when you use the promo code PNSFAN at checkout. 

Okay. I am a fabric girl. And I suspect that you are too.

I collect piles of textiles. I have bins and bins of fabric from my grandmother and thrift stores, and fabric stores, and Etsy, and..well, you get the point. But the (kind of) weird thing is…dun, dun, dun…I don’t sew!

I know, weird, right?

So what do I do with all this fabric I stash in the closets and under the bed? Well, I use it for projects that don’t involve sewing of course, like the bunting from our wedding (yep, that was a no sew project).

But as much fabric as I have on hand, one of the types that I haven’t really tried out is oilcloth. I don’t really know why because it seems quite practical + it’s shiny and fun and easy to clean (bonus!). So I am thinking about giving it a try. And if and when I ever learn to sew, I will be picking up this book, Sewing with Oilcloth, from Kelly McCants…

Is this cover amazing or what?

I HAVE TO learn how to make that chalk runner at the top of this post from the book because I am pretty sure those cream puffs will just magically appear if I do. Yum!

If you are already a sewer, you are one step ahead of me. So kudos to you. And you can get a little sneak peek into Sewing with Oilcloth right here to see if it tickles your fancy.

Kelly has a really awesome selection of oilcloth as well, hence the name of her shop, Oilcloth Addict. So it’s pretty much one-stop shopping. What’s not to like?

Saturday night I arrived back at home after a full week (well Tuesday night through Saturday) in Salt Lake City for Altitude Summit. It was super fun and I met some really great people. But it feels good to be home too – it was an exhausting week (but in a good way). Everyone I talked to on the last day kept saying how tired they were, myself included.

I didn’t take as many photos as I thought I would. But I know almost everyone who went is going to post a recap, so I’m sure you’ll see plenty of photographs (this is a super good place to start for Alt recaps – fellow Seattle blogger Melanie put together a pinboard of all the recap articles + there are 100s of pictures on the Alt flickr stream too).

Anyway, here’s how it all went down from my point of view…

(above image) Awesome window display that I saw on the first day. In a lot of ways I feel like Alt is a monster (the conference is huge- as in 500 attendees huge). But it’s a monster that is totally adorable and cuddly and I just want to give it a big hug. Much like this window display.

On Wednesday night, Danni and I went to a yummy dinner at Ruth’s Chris thanks to the lovely folks at HP. Later on that night, I went to a Blog Brunch meet up and then found out that there was a drive by shooting at one of the other Alt dinners earlier in the evening?! So weird! Luckily, no one was hurt.

The next day, the panels started and they were good. But the keynotes were great – Ben from Pinterest was awesome (and I am sure you’ll hear that a lot if you read other people’s recaps). He is a charismatic guy, but he’s really smart too, which makes for an interesting speaker. My favorite panels from Thursday + Friday were Blog to Book, Growing your Readership, Kickstarting your Next Project, and Building a Personal Brand.

I had a few take-aways from pretty much every panel I attended, but one of the themes I heard over and over again was this idea of investing in your business (time, money, etc – whatever investment means to you – just taking what you do more seriously and treating it professionally).

Lillian (left) + me chatting with Piper (who was just outside the photo) before one of the panels. *picture by Justin Hackworth via Alt’s flickr page

Art prints to be released by Minted in March. Aren’t these great? Can’t wait for them to launch in a couple of months. Love that mountain print in the middle.

Here’s the Method smilebooth from one of the Friday parties. After a few drinks, somehow Kate and I ended up taking the largest piece of cake possible back to our room and scarfing it down. It was fun. You know I love cake.

(back row) Kate, me, Zoe (front row) Margot, Sarah, Meg

Fun Friday night party hosted by Uppercase + Squarespace . All the parties were great, but I couldn’t get good pictures of the others.

Swag! Lots of amazing free stuff. I actually barely crammed everything in to my suitcase at the end of the week. But it was all for you, I promise because I am thinking about doing a giveaway with some of the awesome goodies I snagged. What do you think? Would you be interested in a giveaway?

And finally, I ended up with the most gorgeous stack of business cards on the planet. On the planet I tell you! I lost a few along the way. AKA all of the cards I collected on the last day, but I still have a great stash. *I’ll be posting more photos of my favorite business cards from the conference next week because they are so good, they deserve their own post.

Overall, I really loved the conference and was so glad to have been able to meet some new (wonderful) ladies and catch up with old friends. Next year, I hope to see you there. And I also hope that will have the wardrobe to keep up with all the stylish ladies and gents that will be attending.

I saw so many cute girls at Alt this year wearing just simple jeans and a t-shirt with awesome (colorful) accessories, and (of course) they looked amazing. I’m not one to shy away from color, but I usually wear bright skirts and dresses and then tone down the accessories. So I have lots of gold and silver. But sometimes I feel a bit overdressed for a skirt or dress + just want to break out my oh-so-comfy t-shirts.

So right after I got home on Saturday night, I jumped on the computer and started looking for brightly colored necklaces to change things up + make my black t-shirts a little more stylish. Which is what brought me to Simply A Circle. All the earrings and necklaces in Chrysa’s collection have vibrant colors and a flirty combination of textures with the crochet elements. Super fun! What do you think?

 Curious to know…Are you a jeans + a t-shirt kind of gal?