New summer products in the shop!

Can someone explain to me how it's Friday already? I guess time's flying because I've been working on so many different projects. In addition to getting ready to sell at the West Elm Pop-Up Shop event in Emeryville next Friday and Renegade SF in a couple weeks I've been wrapping up a couple DIY projects and working on some guest posts for a couple other fabulous blogs. I can't wait to share those, but in the meantime I'll share a few brand new products that I just listed in the shop.



First of all, What the Flock? Available on white and magenta stock, this card features a flock of long-legged flamingos, just hanging out, asking the hard-hitting questions.



My friends and family know I love me a weiner dog. I can't believe it took me this long to design and a card featuring my favorite short-legged canine, but here it is! So Long! This card would be perfect as a "going away" card but would also work as an anytime card, because dachshunds are just so long, ya know?



New Vintage Trailer coasters. I have this design available on notebooks and cards, so I'm happy to add coasters to the trailer mix.



Speaking of trailers, Let's Go Camping features a Mini pulling a teardrop. Makes me want to plan a summer getaway to the redwoods.



And speaking of summer, Surf's Up! 



If you follow me on Instagram you got a peek at these designs. My new cacti and succulent cards and coasters are based on papercuts. I love them and I hope you do, too! Coming soon on tea towels!



Brand new thank you cards in black and swanky gold ink. This designs is also available as a rubber stamp so you can stamp your envelopes yourself.
 
That's a quick run-down of the new products I've added in the last week or so. All products available on my shop site or on Etsy here and here. Looking back it's no wonder I'm having a hard time keeping track of the days! I hope you have a nice weekend! 

Hasta luego, 2013!

Hey there! I hope you're enjoying the end-of-the-year wind down. I had a nice Christmas with my family and have been dreaming up lots of fun projects for the coming year. I'm really excited to jump in with both feet and share everything with you! Thanks you so much for coming along for the ride with me!

I took a little afternoon trip to Hakone Gardens in Saratoga with my parents over the weekend. It's a beautiful Japanese garden in the hills of Silicon Valley.  It was such a lovely day and we had a great time meandering and admiring the views. I've been having a lot of fun with my photography lately and took a ton of photos. Here are some of my favorites.

Me with the bamboo!

I hope you have a wonderfully exciting or totally relaxing New Year's Eve. Whatever pops your cork! Thanks again for reading and for helping to make 2013 a bang-up year here on Vitamini Handmade. Cheers!

All Things Paper, a new book!

I was so excited over the weekend to hear from my friend Ann from All Things Paper that the book she's been hard at work on, All Things Paper: 20 Unique Projects from Leading Paper Crafters, Artists, and Designers is currently being printed and will be out on bookstands on May 28th! I'm especially excited because one of my own projects, Citrus Slice Coasters is included as well!

The book is available for pre-order here on Amazon, so make sure to checkout with a copy next time you're doing some online shopping. I can't wait to try out the projects myself. Happy Wednesday!

Restocked!

I've got a new batch of Boot and Bonnet Tea Towels up in the shop! These are made from a really nice off-white cotton/linen blend fabric, and are 100% made by me. Ok, fine, I didn't weave the fabric, but I did all of the cutting, printing, sewing, and ironing. All the important stuff.



They feature my boot and bonnet design (hood and trunk in British lingo) of a MINI Cooper S with racing stripes! Screen printed with black water-based, non-toxic ink and heat-set (safe for washing). They'd make a nice practical little gift for the MINI lover in your life.



These towels have been really popular in the past, and I was just waiting for enough time to tackle that big bolt of fabric, so here they are. I hope you like them!

And, as usual, check the rest of my shop for a bunch of other handmade MINI themed items.

Starting new and exciting news!

2012! It rained over the New Year's weekend and I was greeted one morning with this little beauty:

I had a relaxed New Years with my family at home and have been trying to ease myself into 2012. So far, I've been a little sluggish getting into the New Years swing of things and haven't yet gotten my annual list of goals together. But I am happy to say that I have exciting news that lets me check one of my long-term goals off my list.... can you guess?...

(photos from Otto's MINI facebook page)

I'm so proud to announce that Otto's MINI in Exton, PA will be carrying Vitamini products in their boutique! It's been a goal of mine since I started my biz in 2008 to have my products in a MINI dealership and I can't be more thrilled. If you are in the Exton, PA area, head over to their brand new facility for their Grand Opening Party on January 13th. Who knows, you may see a few of my items hanging around...

So, if you don't hear from me much, it's because I'm a going to be a busy bee getting orders together (even though one of my 2012 goals is to have and maintain a more consistent blogging schedule...)

My New Etsy Shop!

I just realized that I never officially announced my newest project: a new Etsy shop! I mentioned it here on the blog when it was just an idea, but now it's real! So, consider this its formal introduction:

vitamodern: My handmade shop featuring retro gifts and stationery! I've been slowly making products to add to the shop, including these retro house zippy bags in bright coral and teal. The fabric design features my retro house sketches (straight from my sketchbook!) and cool boomerangs and stars!

And these screen printed cotton tea towels featuring my retro house papercut design project. I creating a whole series of retro house designs based on some of my papercut work.

I've also been working on these repurposed wood key hook boards, screen printed with my retro ranch designs.

And my current fave, atomic boomerang holiday cards!

 

I've actually already sold out of the white cards! I still have a few of the kraft brown ones left, so if you are interested head over to the vitamodern shop. I'm very tempted to mail them out myself... I've got tons of more projects in the works, so add my shop to your favorites so you can keep an eye out.

I hope you are all doing well crossing things off your holiday shopping list! There is still plenty of time to buy handmade in time for the holidays. Head over to Etsy and support small handmade businesses this holiday season!

New Blog!

A little bit about me: I’ve been a maker of things for the better part of my life and a few years ago started channeling my creative energy into a little shop based on my favorite little cars: Mini Coopers! I do lots of other projects and have many other interests, but the Minis are just what kicked everything off for me. When I first got mine (almost 4 years ago, October 28th, to be exact), I was so excited to finally get some cool MINI stuff to go along with it. Unfortunately, nothing I came across was quite as cool and creative as I had hoped. A Mini is based on awesome and innovative design – where’s this cool design in Mini-related gifts and products? I found myself with a little bit of extra time on my hands (read: unemployed), taught myself how to screen print, and my Etsy shop Vitamini was born!

Maxwell, my muse.

I intend to use this blog to document everything from my creative process, projects around my apartment, neat thrift finds, Mini news and events, and my constant pursuit of a mini dachshund.