January Photo Recap

I am terrible at taking photos. If I have a camera with me, I always forget to use it. I'm also pretty camera-shy so I never have any pictures of myself. My dad got me a new point-and-shoot digital camera for Christmas and I just bought a new lens for my Canon Rebel. So- since I'm now fully equipped with cameras, I thought it was time to get in the habit of taking more photos. I've been carrying my point-and-shoot in my purse with me wherever I go and will randomly snap a photo when I think of it.

With January coming to an end, I've found that I have a small collection of photos I've taken throughout the month. So to keep up with taking more photos, I decided to post a little photo montage at the end of every month. It's kinda nice seeing glimpses of what I did in January. I'm hoping that this project will improve my photography skills and force me to get in the habit of taking more photos.

You can view more photos on my Flickr.

Oh! Also- I will be adding some new items to my Etsy shop later today. See you then!

New items in my shop!

I have some new items added to my Etsy shop today!

First is this brand new card design featuring some cute vintage-inspired arrows.

I've remade my Friends Forever Card and Bracelet Sets into DIY craft kits! The kit comes with everything you need: A "Friends Forever" card, embroidery floss, safety pins, and an instruction booklet so you can make your own bracelets!

I've also added some tie-dye pouches and macrame keychains back into the shop.

Visit campsmartypants.etsy.com

Free Spirit Friday

Sources clockwise: (bohemianpunk), (misswallflower), (weheartit)

Doodles & Drip Candles

If it were a perfect world, I'd have a crafty tutorial to share with you today. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get to it this week (hopefully next week!). So instead I thought I'd share two fun little things I've been up to lately. The first is I've been burning these hippie drippy candles...

I'm sorta loving the neon color drip candles on these porcelain birds. Kindof a lovely strange combo. Dinah likes them too! ♥

Next I thought it would be fun to share a few pages from my sketchbook. I've been working out some new design ideas for Camp Smartypants, so you might see some of these transform into new product soon!

I had a lot of fun drawing these cute mushrooms!

This is a quote from one of my favorite bands, Of Montreal

These I'm thinking of using for a new set of Scout Badges! We'll see how they come along.

That's all I have for today! See you tomorrow with Free Spirit Friday ♥

Pretty Discoveries

(thesecondgleam)
(audreyhepburncomplex)
(suninhereyes)

(elsita)
(suninhereyes)

(fime)

(onlee)
(fuckyeahrooms)

(ravenwillowmoon)

Handmade Heaven

The Button Gallery

Laura Begley

Boy Girl Party

Boy Girl Party

Bee Things

Fong Studio

Leah Duncan

Greasy Chicken Face

Hillary Bird

Hillary Bird

Young At Heart

So I have a confession to make: I'm 26 years old and I still love toys! Growing up I had lots of different toy collections and I'm lucky enough to have a mom and grandma who both save everything! Some people may see this as a clutter problem, but I am so thankful that my mom has never thrown out any of my favorite childhood toys. It's so much fun to get them out now and *cough* (play with them again) *cough* and reminisce.

Because I've had such fun lately playing with toys, I thought I'd start a new monthly feature called, Young At Heart. Every month I will feature a toy from my childhood! You can probably guess that I don't think age should matter when it comes to toys. Just because I'm 26 doesn't mean I don't want to play with dolls! Haha!

The first toy I want to feature is this stuffed purple dragon named, Figment. Isn't he the cutest? I've had him since I was a baby. You can see his neck is a little broken, but he's still in pretty good condition. I think he might find a cozy spot to live on my bed ♥

Figment was made in 1982 by Disney. I did some research on him and learned that he was the mascot of the Imagination! pavillion at Epcot Center at Disneyworld. I'll have to ask my mom how I got this little guy. I wonder if someone bought it for me when they were visiting Disneyworld?

Chinese Paper Lantern DIY

Hi there! I just wanted to let you all know I've recently created a great DIY tutorial on how to make Chinese Paper Lanterns over on the My Own Ideas blog. This is a great rainy day project to make for the Chinese New Year (which is on February 3rd this year)!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

♥ Rachel

Free Spirit Friday

Sources clockwise: (suninscorpio), (widemagickeyes), (the dainty squid)

Favorite Links This Week:
• Make rainbow music
• Cool science pillows
• My boyfriend, James just bought me this amazing book!

Have a great weekend!

Aquarius

You may remember a few weeks back there was a huge astrology controversy. I didn't read too much about it besides what people were posting on facebook. Apparently a newspaper reported that because of the moon's gravitational pull on Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed by about a month- changing everyone's signs and adding in a new sign, Ophiuchus. People completely panicked! I, myself, didn't like the idea of my sign changing from Leo to Cancer. Whether you are an avid follower of astrology or just enjoy dabbling in it for fun, having your sign suddenly change is a little nerve-wrecking. I personally love my sign and don't want it to change!

As I google the subject now, numerous articles pop up with headlines reading, No, Your Zodiac Sign Hasn't Changed, Oh, my stars! Zodiac signs have not changed, and Debunking A Zodiac Controversy.

So believe what you want I guess? Before all this controversy I had planned to illustrate each astrological sign every month and post it on the first day of its changing sign. Today is the first day of Aquarius (January 20- February 18).

Famous People with the Sun in Aquarius:

Susan B. Anthony

Lord Byron

Lewis Carroll

Charles Darwin

Charles Dickens

Christian Dior

Langston Hughes

Abraham Lincoln

Mozart

Jackson Pollock

Ronald Reagan

Jackie Robinson

Norman Rockwell

Gertrude Stein

Virginia Woolf

I also wanted to create a small widget for any Aquarius' out there who would like to display this illustration on their blog ♥

♥

(vintage-hippie)
(vintage-hippie)
(cosmic-dust)
(ffffound)
(eyesaglow)
(smokeandsassafrass)
(wanderinghippie)
(vintage-hippie)
(the-frantastic-franakin-skywkr)