When I Grow Up

Growing up I wanted to be a veterinarian. I love animals. But I didn't have a veterinarian hero, a person that I looked up to that was in the animal science field. Growing up my hero, the one that I wanted to be like when I was an adult was:


Loved Rainbow Brite. A girl all about making the world more colorful sounds pretty awesome. Those are some great boots that she is wearing too!

I also loved all the Color Kids and their great names. Patty O' Green, Shy Violet. So original.

Of course I had one of these! I think I actually had two. Including one that was a lot larger.

I guess this is the "new" version of Rainbow Brite. Can't say that I'm a fan.

Did you dream about being an 80's cartoon character when you were younger?

Minneapolis Maps

In the last month I had two clients that both needed maps created for the same city, Minneapolis. I have to admit that after working on two maps of the same city I do feel pretty confident that I know my way around Minneapolis pretty well.

10 Things That I Think Are Just The Bees Knees

10. Daffodils, because they are the first flower of spring

9. A warm kitty belly (my kitty love, Wednesday)

8. OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, such a great spring color

OPI

7. Handwritten notes, the snail mail variety

6. The big box of Crayolas

Crayola

5. Cookies and cold milk

4.Clean laundry, my favorite household chore

3. Decorating for holidays

Martha Stewart

2. Sunglasses, me with my Hubby

1. Being inspired

Simply Me

Monkey Love

I really don't think this post is going to need many words.

Is that not just BEYOND adorable?

You can check out this lovely couple on this great Etsy site: chachilovesfinny's

And then there is THIS gorgeous wedding that did such a great job of incorporating these two little monkey's into their special day.

Lovely books

I've always loved books. Growing up I was a voracious reader and always did great in the book reading contests they would have in school (Book It! anyone? ).

Seeing some of the great classic stories with these new modern covers is great. I of course am very fond of a certain Alice in Wonderland cover.

Aren't they lovely?

Carol Bickerford Smith is the genius from Penguin Classics Publishing behind these great covers. What a fun project!

Sunshine State

Recently I did a map of a wedding that was happening in the panhandle of Florida. It was fun to do a map of my home state.

I've lived in St. Louis for almost a year now. I've made it through the big, bad winter which was something that I was pretty afraid of before we moved here. Spring time in St. Louis is probably the best time of year here but that doesn't mean that I don't still miss things about the good ol' sunshine state. A couple things that I'm missing about Florida right now:



I never thought that I was going to miss palm trees. Funny how things change when they just aren't there for you anymore. I miss those trees that you can't be allergic to.



Unfortunately I started the new year off with a couple colds which isn't much fun. I miss my Florida oranges and all that good vitamin C!


I'm a Florida girl through and through and being so far away from Disney World just seems to make me want to visit there more then I ever did when I was in Florida. They don't call it that happiest place on earth for nothing!

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...

I'm approximately 25% Irish, give or take a little bit there. Growing up it seemed like everyone had a little bit of Irish in them. I knew that my grandfather hated potatoes and it had to do with being Irish, that my grandfather's last name original had an "O" apostrophe before they came over on that big boat and that my mom makes the best corned beef and cabbage.

I can't say that I remember ever making a big celebration out of St. Patrick's Day but there are plenty of Irish things that makes these green, somewhat Irish eyes, smile!

My favorite Irish band...

Link
Claddagh rings. I always thought they were so unique that I politely asked, ok so I TOLD, my husband to get me one when we first started dating a million years ago. He's a good man :)


Irish Creme, yummy minty creamy. What more do you need?


Link
Who doesn't love a little Irish accent?

Link

Everyone wants to be lucky, I don't know how the Irish got to be so lucky but with this kind of motto you can't go wrong!

St. Patrick

And possibly the best thing about the Irish? St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. I think that feat alone was worthy of sainthood in my book.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Strawberry Cravings

I have noticed that the spring temperatures have me craving a spring fruit. Strawberries! Back in Florida there was always a Strawberry Festival that usually occured around this time. I must be subconciously thinking about it because I find myself craving, and eating, lots of strawberry things.

I found lots of other great strawberries to crave on Etsy. Check them out!

1. marisolspoon 2.jayval 3.katieblue

4.citynoisevintage5. joojooland 6.skymagenta

7. debrakallen 8. theclackhouse 9. Inuinspirations

How yummy!

I *Heart* New York

One of my favorite parts of creating wedding maps is the chance to see different locations, neighborhoods and cities across the United States and beyond. Recently I had a project that took part in the Big Apple. It was a lot of fun to do a map based in New York City. There are so many iconic things about the city that make it really interesting visually.




One of the locations on the map that they wanted to be included was Old Yankee Stadium. I thought it would be cute to include the Frank Sinatra song "New York, New York" that is sung after the Yankees win. I'm pretty sure I had the song stuck in my head the whole time that I worked on the map. I would never complain about Sinatra but my husband might complain about me singing Sinatra :)

Featured in fete stl

Wonderland Papers was featured in a great wedding blog about wedding planning here in St. Louis.

Check it out!

http://www.fetestlblog.com/

The blog features lots of great wedding resources located here in the "Lou" and now that list includes Wonderland Papers! Thanks fete stl for including this Southern girl into the Midwest wedding group!

Be sure to check them out!

Spring!

When I lived in Florida spring wasn't that big deal. In reality springs lasts like 2 weeks in Florida before it goes into the forever summer. Now that I live in St. Louis where we actually had a winter that involved snow and temperatures that dropped into the 10's and 20's, spring time is something that I am totally looking forward to. 

When it comes to decorating for a holiday who does it better then Martha!

Here are some of the spring decorations from Martha Stewart. 

 

I cant wait for spring!

Indie Biz

I'm super excited about growing Wonderland Papers as a business. I've had some early success and it has all been such a positive experience so far that I really look forward to where I can continue to take it.

There is plenty for me to learn about the business of being creative and I'm really excited about this:

Indie Biz 2.0

I'm really excited about the great creative minds behind this class and can't wait to see what kind of business and design advice I can learn about from them and the community of other people like me.