Three By Sea

Testing, testing, 1, 2,3...

2010-02-07T06:00:25Z

Hey everyone, just running a feed check. I've switched the blog to the new website/domain and just want to see if it's working. If you do get this, would you mind leaving me a quick comment or Tweet me (threebysea) and let me know it's working?

Mucho love,
Nic

Help for Haiti from the Serene and the Sarcastic

2010-01-15T09:59:43Z

When I first heard about the earthquake in Haiti, I thought, "God, that kinda sucks." I was at dinner with friends at the time and had no idea the extent of the devastation. In the coming days, I learned more through the radio, the internet and Twitter. I toyed with the idea of texting a donation, but was unsure about the legitimacy of sending some random text.

Then there was this story on NPR last night.

In it, they mention a man whose entire family survived, but he was visiting a clinic and holding hands with and comforting people who had lost loved ones, including an eight-year-old girl who lost her entire family. That image in my mind brought tears to my eyes, and I had to be honest with myself about why I've avoided the television. I didn't want to see the images of the destruction, the devastation, and the desperation. Turns out my imagination does just fine on its own.

One thing you should know about me- I'm not a big emotional sap. Sarcastic? Sure. Sappy? Not so much. Or at least I wasn't before I became a mom. Now I find myself more emotional about things, especially those related to children and families. And the image of this man, who found himself so fortunate and so blessed, reaching out to comfort and feed this little, scared, now-orphaned girl, just hit a raw nerve in me. It reminded me how grateful I am for my family and the life I have. And remembering that, how could I not do something to help those less fortunate as well?

And so I'll send my text to help, because it's quick and immediate help, but I feel compelled to do more. From now until the end of January, I'll donate half of all my sales from Three By Sea (my "serene by the sea" shop) and Wide Sarcasm Sea (my sarcastic, snarky greeting card shop) to the American Red Cross relief effort. Even if my shops aren't to your taste, please consider passing on the link to this post or donating directly to the Red Cross itself. Even small amounts add up. As of this morning, the American Red Cross has raised $8 million through texts alone. Amazing.

Take care,
Nicole

6 Reasons You Can- Project 365

2010-01-11T11:42:25Z

Project 365 Mosaic 1, originally uploaded by ThreeBySea.

My holiday season officially ended this weekend. While others called it quits after New Year's, I still had my son's birthday to prepare for and celebrate and my niece's birthday out of town to attend. Today I begin getting back into a daily groove and focusing on my resolutions and projects for this year.

The first one I'm sharing is my Project 365- a photo a day for a year. This was a last minute resolution, but I'm glad I decided to join this project. I take a ton of pictures, but my photo taking tends to be erratic- more of a feast and famine deal. Project 365 is helping me to be more mindful and pause each day for a moment to consider my surroundings. I'm interested to see what I learn about myself when I look back on my year in photos. Hopefully somewhere in there my photography skills improve as well.

I would love to see others join me in this. I hear from friends that they don't have time, wouldn't remember, can't commit to a daily project, etc. Here's are my suggestions and responses to all the "I can't because" excuses:

1. It takes as little as 30 seconds to grab your camera and snap a picture of your surroundings, the person next to you, your feet, your lunch, or whatever is nearby.
2. This is a photo journal, not fine art you're creating, so relax about your skill level. You're bound to improve as you take more pictures.
3. The alarm feature on your nearby cell phone is handy for reminding you to take a picture each day.
4. Keeping your camera close (like, near your phone!) helps make taking photos easy and convenient.
5. Chances are you've already committed to daily tasks such as teeth brushing, grooming, eating, and drinking, so don't let the daily commitment of a photo intimidate you- you've already demonstrated the ability to commit to things on a daily basis.
6. Your 365 days can begin on ANY day. Like TODAY.

If you decide to join in on the fun, I'd love you to hear from you. All of my photos are in a Project 365 set on my Flickr page, as well as in the Project 365 pool on Flickr.

Hope your New Year is headed for great things!
Take care,
Nic

New Shop Items- A Preview of Possibilities

2010-01-06T14:52:43Z

I'm still in holiday mode here at Three By Sea, as J's 2nd birthday (a weekend-long affair with my family) was this past weekend, and I'm off to my sister's for my niece's birthday this coming weekend. What can I say? Apparently family planning is a foreign concept with my sister and me! At any rate, this will be my third trip out of town in six weeks for a family get-together. One of these days I'll be caught up and back to a normal routine. One of these days...

In the meantime, I wanted to share a preview of some designs I'm testing and playing with. Forgive the photos, they're quick work-in-progress shots.

My starfish design in brown ink on tan linen.

A new palm block print printed in turquoise on cream linen.

A new wave motif printed in navy on white flour sack.

One of my favorite things about the new wave motif and palm tree block prints is that I was able to recycle an old block into these two new designs. So long stingray design, hello palm trees and waves. I'm still playing with the wave motif, trying out different designs and patterns. I also want to expand my color choices this year to include some more neutral colors for those wanting something a bit more subtle and serene as opposed to bright and beach side.

You may have noticed the first two items are printed on linen. I'm thinking of moving to linen permanently in the near future. I love the absorbency of flour sack for daily kitchen use and how easily it accepts ink when printing, but I'm having a hard time finding quality towels in a size that doesn't require me cutting them down and sewing new hems, thus adding to labor costs. I'm receiving more wholesale/bulk sale pricing inquiries, so I need to consider that when sourcing materials and pricing items for my shop. Plus, I've been testing this linen out and I'm falling in love with it more and more with each washing.

I'd love to hear any feedback, suggestions, or requests for designs/colors/items you would like to see in the Three By Sea shop in the upcoming months.

Take care,
Nic

New Year's Reading

2009-12-31T20:03:13Z

Below are three books I've purchased in the last two weeks. Can you tell I'm all pumped and motivated for the New Year to begin?

First I have The Awe-Manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder by Jill Badonsky, a fun book of daily inspiration and creative prompts. It's the inspiration for how I'm organizing my daily journal this year (one of my resolutions for the New Year's- more on that later).

Then as a Christmas present to myself, I ordered Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. It was recommended by Gwen Bell, whose blog is like a daily dose of zen for me, so I trust her recommendations. I want to delve deeper into my creative side and find ways to use it more effectively in my work and daily life. I'll let you know how that works out... ;)

And finally, by Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Singing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun was a post-Christmas gift to myself. This was recommended by Gwen Bell too, as well as Leo Babuata, of Zen Habits, another daily read of mine. They were both interviewed by Gretchen for her website, The Happiness Project. I'm intrigued by this undertaking of hers and can't wait to see what she discovered during this time. Gwen Bell wrote a review for those wanting a bit more insight into the book.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's and I'll see you again soon!

Take care,
Nic

A Matter of Perspective...

2009-12-30T22:18:16Z

An NPR commentator today was discussing the current decade and described it as "The Big Zero." He spoke of all the terrible things that happened in the past 10 years- 9/11, the war, Katrina, the recession, foreclosures, and on and on. It hadn't dawned on me what a crap decade this was. And then I realized why. Because it really wasn't, at least not from my perspective.

In the last ten years, I had a lot of great things happened. I earned a fine arts degree, something I never imagined having the talent or nerve to do. I moved to Florida so that I could live on the coast, a dream of mine for years. I met and married my husband, a man I knew right away was the one for me. We had a child, and I became a mom, an experience that has changed me in ways that both thrill and terrify me. I started my own business, and while it's slow going with a toddler taking priority, I keep moving forward and watching it grow little by little.

As this year and this decade comes to a close, I hope all of you can look back at the past decade with fondness and look to future with excitement and wonder what it holds for you.

Take care,
Nicole

Photo Credit- Rainbow Huts, originally uploaded by The 5th Ape.

Some (Free) Wide Sarcasm Sea Holiday Cheer

2009-12-18T12:55:24Z

I love Christmas, but all the holiday PC does sadden me at times. Life used to be so simple- you wished someone a Merry Christmas and it was taken as a gesture of cheer and goodwill towards its recipient. Then one day, uttering "Merry Christmas" somehow indicated you were small-minded and intolerant of others' beliefs. Which then caused a backlash by folks who, offended by the generic "Happy Holidays", would ONLY say "Merry Christmas" to drive some non-existent point home. Apparently we need to add more rum to the eggnog, get over ourselves, and find our sense of humor again.

Somewhere along the way we forgot the intent behind these sentiments. Last time I checked, "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukkah", and "Happy Holidays" were not code words meaning "F.U." I'm also pretty certain that none of the various religious and cultural celebrations taking place this season involve egging your neighbor, punching strangers, or making little kids cry. In fact, most, if not all, of the seasonal celebrations embrace generosity, gratitude, and goodwill towards others.

So in that spirit of generosity, gratitude for my readers, and goodwill (with a dash of humor) towards others during the holidays, here is my gift to you from Wide Sarcasm Sea-

These greeting cards are yours FREE to download, print, and send to everyone on your list. Well, everyone with a sense of humor. Click here to download cards.

This PDF download includes a page of each card design (they print two to a page), as well as an envelope template. I recommend printing on cardstock (at least 60lb.), which is readily available at most local office supply stores. Printing tip- turn off any borderless printing or page scaling options when printing, as they tend to skew the way the pages print out.

Merry Christmas,
Nicole

P.S. These cards are free for you to use and give to others, however, reselling or using them for commercial purposes will earn you a lump of coal in your stocking from Santa and bad karma throughout the year. ;)

Santa is Just the Middle Man

2009-12-18T07:45:00Z

Who needs Santa to bring you things when you have cuteness, charm, and a mother who isn't about to say "no" in front of 50 Ikea shoppers?

This is Mr. Elephant-

Poor Mr. Elephant was living a crowded, miserable, and uncomfortable life in a big wire bin near the checkout line at Ikea when my son, Jack, found him. After introducing Mr. Elephant (which is damn near the size of Jack himself) to EVERYONE in line within a ten foot radius, it became quite apparent that we were not leaving this joint without "adopting" Mr. Elephant and bringing home to join our family. I mean, unless I wanted to look like "Mean Mommy" who hates children, elephants, and all that is good and pure in the world. (And I'M the disciplinarian in our house!)

What can I say- being an only child has its perks. Like being able to sucker your mom a bit easier than if there were four of you in line with her (I was actually one of five). And I can't be mad about it either. Jack loves Mr. Elephant.

For the past week, Mr. Elephant has slept faithfully next to Jack at naptime and at bedtime, and has even taken a few car rides with him. I guess these two really were meant to be together, and who was I to keep them apart...

Take care,
Nicole

Mele Kalikimaka

2009-12-17T23:01:31Z

So Christmas in Florida is a bit different from Kansas, which is where I grew up. The chance of us having a white Christmas here are a snowball's chance in, well, Florida. With the current weather, we'll probably be in shorts on Christmas day. I can't say I'm all that upset about it. I grew up with the snow, the ice, the wind, the cold temperatures, and frankly, I'm over it.

I will admit, however, that holiday decorating is somewhat of a challenge, as the traditional green and red color scheme is a bit too dark and heavy for such a bright, sunny place. Christmas takes on its own tropical twist here, sometimes to the point of tacky, but always in the spirit of fun and good cheer. One of my favorite things about Christmas in Florida is the palm trees wrapped in lights.

Those palm trees wrapped in lights are the inspiration for my holiday gift tags-

There are flat "To/From" gift tags, as well as folded "Mele Kalikimaka" tags, and they are my Christmas gift to you. Print them out and add a bit of tropical island Christmas cheer to your gifts. Click here to download.

Mele Kalikimaka & Merry Christmas to you!
Nicole

Just Walk Away...

2009-12-03T08:10:14Z

A funny thing has happened lately...

Feeling rather uninspired for some time, I finally made the decision to walk away from everything for a bit. I quit writing blog posts that felt dry and forced. I quit forcing new design ideas that I wasn't enthusiastic about just for the sake of creating new items for the holiday season. Remembering that it's the journey that ultimately matters, I changed up my routine. I switched my focus from producing back to creating. I've let things happen as they will.

So what's happened?

Blogging less often has led to more subscribers. All but ignoring my Three By Sea shop has led to a steady increase in orders. I know it's the holiday season, but these orders have all come when I WASN'T running a sale. It's like the more I pushed, promoted and blogged, the more it's worked against me.

I'm not saying that doing nothing is the way to success. Rather, I am finding that you have to let things happen naturally and in an authentic way. The more you try to force things, the more energy you end up wasting. Energy that could be put better use creating.

Take care,
Nicole

(photo credit- Beach Walker, originally uploaded by ridersinblack1970.)