Jessica Rabbit Costume For Halloween

So I was in my annual Halloween costume obsession mode this summer, (and yes, I do put together my Halloween costumes the summer before so I have enough time for ultimate awesomeness. Now that I've graduated, that might have changed...) and I decided that this was the year I would be Jessica Rabbit. I've pretty much wanted to be Jessica for quite some time now: I was in Italy last year for Halloween (Yeah, I know, poor me ;) so this year it is ON.

I've even recruited one of my guy friends to come with me as Roger Rabbit!


So here was my issue: finding the dress. I am not as truly blessed chest-wise as Jessica, so that posed a problem of how to hold the dress up - although, how does that thing stay on her? Tape?!

The good news is that because I'm not as well endowed, I think I'll be able to pull this look off without being quite as tacky - because there's nothing to flaunt!

So what did I do? I really wanted to support my beloved fellow handmade etsy sellers, so I put an Alchemy bid on etsy for the dress, and was so pleasantly surprised to see the amount of talented seamstresses that responded! It's such a tough thing to custom-order, but it came down to a seller who had done the dress before and had images. I also didn't want a "costumey" look, because I feel that they look tacky.

I found MsMars, who has a great knack for costumes! I browsed through her Flickr account, and loved what I saw. She's also been great working with me to articulate exactly what I need. The next step is measurements! I hope I can get those right :)

I've also just bought ((and received yesterday EEEEEEEEEEEK!)) these Gabriella Rocha Dancy shoes from Zappos.com. You have NO IDEA how difficult it is to find red pumps that are NOT hideous in a size 10.5 wide. Totally obnoxious. And now thanks to adwords, every single web page I go on has shoe advertisements on it. Taunting me.

I tried them on, and I really like the fit - there's a reason they're called "Dancy" shoes. They come in black, too, for everyday interested-pplz. I wore them around today for a bit to try and break them in, and my feet are a bit sore :( hoping this goes away! The shoe goes in slightly at the widest part of my foot, but it really fits my foot perfectly, so I'm hoping that I'll just have to get used to it...if not, Zappos does free exchanges!

So this is my exciting Halloween project. It's never too early to be thinking about - especially when *Boston Costume Contests* are involved...stay tuned, and let me know what you think!

New Widgets and Fun Things for Your Blog

For those of you that follow me, you may notice that in the past month I've added some fun things to my blog :) These widgets are great for generating fresh content for your blog, are fun to look at, and take your blog beyond one-dimensional. Once you find the code for these various apps, copy and paste it as a HTML code to add to your blog. It's really easy, I promise!

Here's a list of what I have (at the moment!), and you can expand upon by google-ing "widgets for your blogs.

1) Twitter
People can see my tweets right on my blog. Go to "goodies" on the Twitter page to grab your own code, and customize the box to match your website!

2) Wedding Wire
I am a wedding calligrapher that also has a website on Wedding Wire, where I have images, explain what I do exclusively for calligraphy, and invite past clients to write reviews on my services. Great resource for both brides and wedding vendors!

3) Etsy Shop
You can go on etsy and get a customized banner with items in your shop to add to your blog.

4) Facebook Fan Page
I got this right off of Facebook - I have a fan page for my business, and they provide you with code to add a "like" box to your blog or website.

5) Share and Enjoy
There are many different versions of this code, so Google "content share code" and find the one that's right for you. These buttons allow your followers to share your content on social media websites like Digg and StumbleUpon, which if you don't know about you should totally check out because they are awesome.

6) Website Hits
This is a helpful "Now" tool to understand how your website is doing in terms of traffic. I have Google Analytics installed and do monthly reports, but it's helpful to see over the course of a day or week how many hits your website or blog is actually getting.

7) Labels
Labels are actually really important for SEO - they are the keywords that define what your website is, so you should pick them carefully and be consistent in organization. More on this later!

Lastly, I've done some work on Dock This Way's website. It's still in the process of being optimized, a helpful process I've learned about through my job at Boston Logic, which specializes in realtors and real estate brokers - I'll make sure to talk about some helpful tips in a blog post to come :)

Handmade Journals

I enrolled in a class called Book Arts this year, and completely fell in love with it. There was just something about the process that was so meditative, and the results were just so satisfying. I really enjoyed making hardcover journals, and have put up two models on my etsy site. These are difficult to sell online, because I believe - like much of my work - they are so tactile and fun to flip through, that it's difficult to make a purchasing decision.

The little handmade journals are the best - they are the perfect size to carry around, keep as an agenda or reminder books. Journals, apparently, are "in". Why? Probably the same quality of tactility is so rare and valued in a society that is increasing its dependence on internet/online. Feeling something substantial is very attractive!


I've made journals spanning the color wheel - I typically get inspired by papers that I buy, and love to emboss one contrasting paper on top of another. I was surprised to see how many books that I sold at the Sidewalk Sale - I take a real pride in their craftsmanship, and its good to see that it's appreciated!!

Book Review - The Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

I finished this book a couple weeks ago, and with all the "graduation" stuff floating around, I really wanted to make note of it.

It's a great book for the entrepreneur - The Purple Cow, written by Seth Godin, it asks how each of us can take our business above a business, and make it extraordinary. Like The Purple Cow. As for my purple cow, I'm still looking for it, but I think a few of my lines have the potential to be one. The trick is not only to have a purple cow, but to get it out to the "sneezers", who gladly spread the word about you and your product.


My idea to build on this cow for my calligraphy business was to create a promotion to give away free calligraphy for a bride - invites or place cards. (You can read more about that here, the deadline is June 31st!).

I really recommend this book - you have to read it to understand the importance of the cow. The greatest lesson I learned from this book was that it is more dangerous to play it safe (i.e., milking your cow) than to take a risk. Take a risk, business owners!!

And speaking of risks, I'm seriously considering opening a gallery, now that I'm graduated, in my hometown. It would be in a barn of a family friend, and I'm working out the tweaks. Wish me luck! :)

Creative Problem Solving

So I just spent the last three days holed up in a Creative Problem Solving training course. And you know what? I LOVED IT.

It was a requirement for a job that I am applying for, and the three days flew by. I learned so much about how to think creatively, linguistic devices, and things that I do day-to-day that are not conducive to creative thinking.

For example: Questions are just hidden ideas or thoughts. There's no reason to ask them. And this creates poor communication. I know! Crazy. I'm not even explaining it right - if a speaker asks a question, all the person who hears it wants to know is "why do you ask?". Try it.


What I learned about myself is that I also like facilitation. I previously didn't care for giving presentations - but this was different. I was engaging a group of people, interacting with them and we came out with some great stuff.

When I first started, I thought that I'd have a bit of an edge going to art school and everything. NAY. Because there we are CONSTANTLY trained to critique and to criticize - which is not helpful when thinking creatively. You think of the most bizarre, outlandish wishes, and instead of thinking of why it won't work, they encouraged you use the linguistic device "how to..." in regards to overcome it. So if you are dealing with an abstract idea, you can delve into the concept behind it and then discover ways to make it real. All businesses should look into this!!

I know I'm not making any sense. Thanks for reading, though. It really was an amazing experience.

Yay For New Things!

Okay, I've got about a thousand ideas and things I gotta do bouncing around in my head, so I figured I'd blog them out. Whew.

First off, I was going through my grandfather's cellar and picked up these old cards with film noir movie stars on them, autographed. I went through that whole film noir phase when I was obsessed with the movies and did pointillisms with white ink on black illustration board, so I was stoked. And I thought, how cool would it be to scan these and sell them in bunches as plain note cards? So that is in process and methods are being researched. Be excited.

Next, I got a few ideas on expanding on my recycled sail line in two totally different directions. One: Recycling camo fabric and creating wallets out of that. Cool beans. Two: Create covers for notebooks out of the sail canvas - I'm a crazy notebook person. It could be cool for like a journal or something with a huge embroidered number across it for boater people.

Lastly, I recently rejoined Soldier's Angels; a nonprofit organization at which you can "adopt" a deployed soldier and write them letters and send care packages once a month. (VERY COOL and so rewarding!! Check them outt www.soldiersangels.com ) I did this in honor of my grandfather. I also wanted to honor him by creating a new line called purple hart, which has a graphic designed by myself. I want to give a portion of the proceeds to wounded veterans in some capacity, and have this vision of a funky, edgy clothing and bag line. So stay tuned for THAT.

Blowin your mind yet? Yeah, mine's pretty much all over this blog post...