Did you see some of the new Robo Roku tees sneak peeks I posted on Instagram? We have
a couple more new goodies I haven’t shown online yet, so there is still more to come!

Here’s a brief recap of my week:

Monday – I mostly rested, worked on a client site, and played with the A Beautiful Mess app. That app is so addicting! I just wish it wouldn’t crash so much. Have you played with
it yet? I’ve been playing with it so much that my Mophie is getting quite a work out.

Tuesday – I spent the day being my mom’s chauffeur. I also found out a show in SF we love to do is an option. I almost caved in to do it, but my mom convinced me that my plan to take a break from big shows this summer was needed. I’m really only taking two months off, but that’s a lot of time I can use to focus on getting out all the designs we haven’t had time to launch, and to give the online store some love. We’ll still be doing the Austin Flea. I just love that show so much. If you live in Austin, stop by and say hi!

Wednesday – My car was in the shop to get the A/C fixed (it only cost $74!), they just needed to replace the switch. I spent the day working on a client site and playing around with Pinterest. Wednesday night I introduced Josh to an outlet mall. He needed some new summer clothes and didn’t want to spend a lot. I took him to the outlet version of his favorite stores. He was so amazed by the prices, he said “now I see why people freak out over outlet malls” haha!

Thursday – I spent the day being my mom’s chauffeur again (this is the new Tues/Thurs for me until July). Thursday night Josh and I worked on a client site and mapped out the weekend. Saturday is Roxy’s wedding, so we’re going on a day trip out of town. Have you seen her wedding trailer?!? It’s pretty awesome. I have one qualm with the intro, it claims that the movies reenacted are “obscure” when over half of them are classics. That doesn’t change how awesome the reenactments are. Check it out!

Today – I have to prepare for a brief trip out of town, and do more client work. I am hoping to ice my ankle a lot today so it doesn’t trouble me much tomorrow.

I am excited for a three day weekend with Josh, friends, bubble tea, and LOTS of movies! On my list are The Great Gatsby, Star Trek, and Fast and Furious 6. I hope you have a fun weekend, too! Don’t forget to check out that app (if you have an iPhone). It’s so fun!

Making Cupster magnets. We haven’t sold magnets in years. The request for magnets is one we ignore a lot. It has been so long since we made them I forgot why we stopped… until I started making them. Those Cupsters without a magnet are not just waiting to be finished, they are acting as spacers to keep the magnets from trying to connect with each other. You think just because you glued them down you don’t need to worry about magnetism… well, that’s sorta true, AFTER they’ve dried. There’s also the matter of transporting. Things get a little chaotic when magnets are involved. Josh has been given notice that if we are going to offer magnets in the future it will not be this kind, or he will be the one making them.

This batch of stickers are going to be FREE! That’s right! Free. The stickers we normally sell are laminated, waterproof vinyl stickers. They are made to handle being on your car, scooter, or bike and last for years, taking the sun like a champ. These stickers are not laminated, and will probably fade within a year if exposed to the sun constantly. I’ve been wanting to give out free stickers for a long time. This year we finally have access to equipment to make them and not go bankrupt. I am so excited to give these freebies out.

That’s all for now, I have to get back to prepping. I’ll have a D.I.Y. coming soon for an element we are going to have in the booth that I am really excited about. If you are in Austin, TX this weekend stop by our booth (#59). We’ll have free stickers and smiles!

When I called my mom today to see what she wanted for lunch she sounded funny. I asked her what was wrong, and it turned out she had been throwing up. The only other time she has thrown up since getting home was the first night when my brother ate the dinner I brought her. My dad made her something to replace what I brought her, but it was too insignificant to handle the pain meds so she spent the night throwing up. Today my dad wanted to make her Mother’s Day breakfast, so I didn’t go over early to make her breakfast like I normally do. Again, it wasn’t substantial enough, so she ended up throwing up. He ruined what should have been a special day for her. There have been other incidents, but I’m already crossing over into T.M.I. land. My brother and dad are not bad people, just a little clueless about how much pain she is in, and what recovery should look like for her. They seem to think that since she’s home from the hospital everything is cool. She got a new heart valve. They had to break her ribs to do the surgery. Her recovery time is two months, and she hasn’t even been home two weeks! It seems like simple math to me. Sigh. I just have to remind myself we all handle stress differently. Josh and I delivered her a “double rainbow” bouquet of roses.

I’m still using Sierra‘s
“sum it up” posts layout for my “sharing sunday” posts.

WORKING ON: Renegade Craft Fair – Austin prep.

THINKING ABOUT: How frustrated I am that my booth is not going to look the way I planned, that I had to skip printing kids tees, and that some new goodies will not be at Renegade because there just isn’t enough time.

ANTICIPATING: May 19th. It will be day two (and the last) of Renegade Craft Fair and I will be seeing Toad the Wet Sprocket (one of my fave bands!) that night.

LISTENING TO: Chromeo. I needed some upbeat music.

EATING: Lots of pizza and candy…can we say stress eater?

THANKFUL FOR: Sierra. She is my anchor right now. In the little over a year that I’ve known her, it has been great to see how well our friendship works. When she was crazed prepping for Pool I was able to help her out, and now that I’m overwhelmed with everything going on, she is there to keep me calm and focused. I like that she’s a fixer, like me. I respond well to making action plans.

PLANNING FOR: Renegade Craft Fair… and the end of it so I can take care of my mom without being stressed out on the prep time I’m losing.

READING: Food packaging. Shopping for someone with diabetes sure has me reading those labels. Did I mention my dad bought my mom a six-pack of coke and some pan dulce? Of course I took them away from her, and reminded my dad that I had stocked their fridge with sugar-free jell-o and pudding. Oh! And @80sDonDraper on Twitter… the tweets are pretty funny.

WATCHING: Not much of anything. Sorta still on Mad Men, but I haven’t had time for watching anything. I still haven’t even seen Doctor Who this week. GASP!

To make my “sharing sunday” posts a little easier to digest I am borrowing from Sierra‘s
“sum it up” posts. I really like her clean bullet points.

WORKING ON: This weekend is all about booth prep for Renegade Craft Fair – Austin. I try and come up with a new booth set up for each year to unveil at Renegade and then we use that set up (or variations of) for the rest of the year. I like have something fresh for returning customers to see, and I enjoy flexing my creativity muscles that way. Truth be told, I am a little obsessed with booth set ups, they are just so fun to design!

THINKING ABOUT: How calm my life will be once May is over, I’ll finally have time to enjoy how well things are going.

ANTICIPATING: The summer. Josh and I decided to cut back on shows this summer to have time to release all the designs that have not seen the light of day. When you are the artist and maker it’s hard to release as many designs as you’d like because you lose time making all your products. To get even more design time back we are no longer doing one day shows, aside from The Austin Flea.

LISTENING TO: I’m switching between my Kaiser Cartel station and a Classical station on Pandora. I really think more people should listen to Classical music, it’s really nice when driving alone.

EATING: Lots of fruit, eggs, and carrots.

THANKFUL FOR: My mom pulling through her surgery. My brother offering to build some of my booth components, allowing me more time for production. My friends and family that have been praying for my mom. Being blessed with love, good friends and exciting opportunities.

PLANNING FOR: Renegade Craft Fair, having a massive sale of Robo Roku products that are being discontinued to make way for all our new goodies, a summer full of happy designing and making.

READING: I haven’t had much time for reading lately. I took books and magazines with me to the hospital, but never read them.

WATCHING: Mad Men. We’re almost done with season 4. We were too busy to watch it when it first came on, then tried to catch up when season 2 started, but only got half way through season 1 and got busy again. Now that we’re managing our time better we’re almost caught up.

I have to say, I don’t know what people see in Don Drapper, I think that guy is a schmuck. Also, Betty is cray-cray. Peggy annoys me to no end, and that little girl Sally is a total brat. The people I like are Pete (because he makes the best faces and is so ridiculous), I love Sterling, Cooper, and Joan…. I find Trudy interesting, too. I like the way she stands by Pete. I really couldn’t care less about Don’s family life. I wish the show was 97% office related, and 3% personal. I am a little nervous about any reactions to my opinions on Mad Men considering I’m not caught up. I’d love to hear your thoughts, no spoilers, please.

She’s home now, and my whole family is grateful to breathe peaceful breaths now. She still has a 2 month recovery time to go. I’ll be at her house every day for the next two weeks, keeping an eye on her, taking short walks with her, and making her meals. I am excited to make her meals because she’s not a healthy eater, which is weird because when I was little we ate food that was good for us. Now that my mom doesn’t have to cook for anyone else aside from my dad, her eating habits are not so great. After her first two weeks home my brother, dad, and I will take turns being her chauffeur.

I am a little stressed out because I lost the last 3 weeks of time to really crank out all the new Robo Roku stuff for Renegade Craft Fair in May, and we only have 2 1/2 weeks left. EEP!! >_< We're going to hire some help to assist with assembly and packaging for this show, but a lot of what we have to wrap up is time consuming design work, which we never farm out to anyone.

We're really excited about 2013 for Robo Roku. We've had to lessen the amount of shows we normally apply for this year to be able to work on our new opportunities, but we really like the direction we're headed in. Sorry I'm still being cryptic about all this, believe me it has been hard keeping my mouth shut and not posting anything on FB or Twitter.

I thought I’d try something new for Music Mondays, by sharing Pandora station suggestions, and featuring a song from one my my stations that I’m currently digging. Recently I’ve been listening to my Kaiser Cartel station. I like it because I don’t know a lot of the bands that come on it, but there is one I love and was happy to see them pop up on my station, and that’s The Weepies. This video is pretty cute, which fits the song, and my happy mood. I hope it brings a smile to your face.

It’s all so surreal. Projects I have been working on have been getting a back seat through the month of shows, week+ of being sick, and us being buried in Robo Roku and client work. However, for the first time in a very long time Josh and I are finally getting ahead of Robo Roku, and our current client load is working itself out nicely. Our schedules are starting to fall in line to allow for social lives and guilt-free down time. If I weren’t so worried about my mom and sad by the news I would be the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I don’t like to worry, it doesn’t solve problems. Not to mention I feel like all the blessings and losses are in my life for a reason. In sad times when you think there is nothing you can do, you can have faith. I have a friend that recently posted on FB that since she does not believe in prayer she would be donating blood to show her support for the survivors of the Boston bombing. I think that is a wonderful idea, and I am glad she came up with a gesture she could do. As someone that cannot donate blood due to my anemia, it made me happy that between the two of us we were doing our part.

Here’s a short video capturing the good out there…

I hope we can all find our own way to help one another and have faith that there is still good in this world.

It has been a whirlwind of craziness. To top it all off I ended up getting sick. Yikes!! Posting frequency will resume next week, and we’ll have Marci’s weekly stop-motion post tomorrow, of course. I just wanted to pop in to let you know what’s up. I am really excited about the posts we’re working on for the next couple of months. I promise to give you some recaps of all the craziness, too.

Here’s a pic of my cat, Ami (pronounced Ah-me)…sometimes called Tubby Lumpkins, you can see why.

illustration source

So many friends came by and chatted, it was a nice welcome to the beginning of show time for 2013. Being blessed with such a wonderful year I keep waiting for something bad to happen. I keep thinking about the Friday Night Lights motto “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” I really think that is what’s making this year so amazing. I am seeing things and people for how they really are for the first time in a long time, and steering clear of things/people that are bad for me. I may need to change my planned first tattoo to be “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose”; now to think of where it would go. Time to get packing for tomorrow! I hope to have a fun surprise post for you on Tuesday.

Josh and I have been super stressed and excited this year. Someone recently posted on Twitter asking how close people were to their goals. My thought was “so close I want to throw up” ha ha. Things are just moving super fast. I feel like I can’t get ahead of it all, but I know that after our mini vacation next week I’ll come back and take hold of our runaway cart. I’m eager to share all the behind the scenes with you, but you’ll just have to be patient with me until I return.

Speaking of next week, If you haven’t checked out Craft Academy or Stellar, and you have a handmade business you want to grow, you might want to check it out. If you live in Austin, TX, or close enough to stop by, I hope you’ll pay us a visit tomorrow!