[shop stories] storybook

[One a week or so, I’ll share the story behind an image available for purchase in my shop.]

I’ve always wanted to publish a book. I don’t even really care what type of book. I just want to pull myself together enough to complete the process of developing and writing and editing and formatting and publishing a book.

But I’m so scattered.

I took this photo of my girls at my grandparents’ house.

Y’all. This is the original, and then the other photo I snagged from the same spot, with a slightly different focal point.

And some other photos from the day:

On the ride home (I sat in the back row of the van with two tired and angry boys), I figured out my children’s storybook-author pen name.

My first story idea took a few more weeks to strike.

[shop stories] lace

[Once a week or so, I’ll share the story behind an image available for purchase in my shop.]

This time last year I found Queen Anne’s Lace growing in our yard. I kept an eye on it, and when I knew it was almost time to cut grass, I picked it.

Then we scienced for school. And it was obviously a miserable idea.

The kids didn’t love the lace, BUT I SURE DID, especially since Brennan and Annie had painted our deck table with metallic pinks and purples.

[shot stories] a rock show

I met my husband when I came home from a rainy day of college classes to find him sitting on my couch.

He was in my apartment with some other friends of my roommate.

He was wearing a long-sleeved Nightwish t-shirt.

Nightwish was supposed to play in Atlanta in 2005 (2006?) but cancelled their tour when they lost (kicked out) their singer – J’s tickets to that show are in a box in our storage building. Eventually they found another singer, then another. We have albums and documentaries and live show recordings from those years. Y’all. We would watch the End of an Era live show recording and CRY together while I was pregnant with Quinn and J was recovering from cancer-related surgeries.

Nightwish is woven into the tapestry of our relationship.

I was up super insanely late one night and happened to ask The Google about Nightwish. Because The Google is a genius and insane, the first thing I saw was a tour schedule, with a stop in Birmingham. I decided I was hallucinating. I went to bed. The next day it was still true (and to this day I get the absolute creeps when I think about it).

We got tickets.

The day of the show, Jonathan decided maybe we should skip it. I told him he could stay home but I was going to see this dearly beloved band.

It has occurred to me (just now) that maybe the Nightwish shirt was a challenge – what was this Nightwish, and why was the artwork appealing but the band name totally unfamiliar?

The world may never know.

[teaching tools] multiplication table

I had to update and print fresh copies of our multiplication table, which reminded me that I meant to start sharing design projects you can print yourself.

There’s a single chart PDF here.

There’s a double chart PDF here. (This is so that you can easily print 2 per sheet for smaller charts. I tape these smaller ones to desks and tables.)

I’m going to do a test print of this on metallic photo paper, and if it’s as awesome as I’m hoping, it will be available for you to order.