behind the scene and sneak peeks

i'm going to photo dumb the bunch of photos i've been hoarding in my phone for the past month...there's a bunch of sneak peeks of the upcoming line. but nothing that will really give anything away. i still have to be alittle sneaky. right?! and a few photos of just works in progress. enjoy!

 oh hai interwebs, my name is buffy cats!

yay for pretty things! i've got a bunch of stuff in the works for you guys. a whole new line of products for the shop. and some art pieces i've been slaving over for weeks now that i can not waaaaait to show you!
oh and don't forget to check out this post and say hello to our new sponsors! i know they'd love for you to stop by!

hope your weekend is amaze-balls!

XOXO,
holly

welcome sponsors!!!! we love you!!

uuugggh this took me so very long to write...and i apologize. i do have a good reason thou! i've been seeing a new guy...and its awesome! any way i wanted to introduce you guys to our sponsors here at O&C. they're our first batch of them and they're such a special group of ladies! i hope you take the time to check out all of their sites and give them some love for all their hard work. let's get started....

 

 shipwrecks & bravery

hello! my name is tara-marie, & i run shipwrecks & bravery! i'm a textiles student from canada, & i focus a lot on knitting, silkscreening, & sewing! some of my favourite things include fantasy novels, soft yarn, british television, & my 50mm camera lens.

BLOG//ETSY//TUMBLR

 city birds nest

hi peaches! i'm cb, the stylish bike riding lady behind the pictures of city birds nest! i love going on adventure with my best friend and mister, tom, sewing and being a crafty lady. nothing pleases me more then finding that perfect vintage treasure whilst treasure hunting at our local thrift stores. come join the fun!

BLOG//ETSY//TWITTER

 everything in between

 I'm 19-years-old and live with my wonderful fiance (his name is Sam, also!) and our 3 rambunctious 'furbabies' in our home here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Currently, I'm a stay-at-home girlfriend looking for a job. I spend my time blogging, doing web design related projects, and doing whatever else to keep myself busy. I hope you stick around!

BLOG//TWITTER//TUMBLR

 

her umbrella

My name is Grace Fleming – insert “Lynne” when needed. Once December rolls around I’ll be graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a B.A. in Communications. I’m from the outskirts of Nashville, TN and I couldn’t imagine calling anywhere else home.

Welcome!

Her Umbrella is just a collection of my life’s little decorations – whether it’s a love for sampling the world, empty candy wrappers, books filled with scribbled ideas or stupid people that keep showing up – they’ve all found a place underneath, adorning everyday with a little more sparkle.

A story every hour, every day or every week, is worth a listen, a read or a repeat.

BLOG// FACEBOOK//PINTEREST//TUMBLR

aren't they just fantastic??? go check 'em out! tell them you love them too! i'm waiting on some info for my two other wonderful sponsors, so i'll get that to you all as soon as i can! aaaand i'll be back probably later this week with some actual things to show you. not just teasing you with filler nonsense promising the awesome! keep being amazing blogosphere! 

XOXO,

holly

there is life on planet holly!

hi everyone!

i assure you i'm not dead...this week has just been insane. i've been trying to work on this new line, i had a hearing for my unemployment (that was horrible), and i finally got my license....on top of all of this i'm trying to get all of the things i need ready for this fundraiser i'm doing this weekend. its been a whirlwind! but i'm working hard to bring you this new line of products, i'm so very excited for you all to see it! its going to be very fun!!

if you've noticed....and i hope you have, we have sponsors now here at O&C and it would be fantastic if you would take a minute and check this awesome group of ladies out! i'll be show casing them all soon and hopefully their will be some great guest posts and giveaways to share with you in the coming month! i'm very excited to have them sponsoring us and i love them all, they're great! check 'em ooout!

other than that, keep a look out for that sponsor spotlight post, some new items to go up in our shop! and also some behind the scenes pictures and ones from my upcoming events! the next two months are going to be insaaaaane!

hello friends!!! well, good news...for some odd reason, i'm feeling great! ha! so do you know what that means? lots and lots of super fun things...i've been planning for a brand new line of products that i CAN NOT WAIT to share with you, some bloggy things, and maybe even a DIY and recipe or two!! its going to be awesome!

so if you haven't noticed, you probably have...things have been-a-changin' here on the blog! there's a new banner, a new layout and if you look to your RIGHT... sponsors! they're a great little group of gals and i'll be formally introduce them soon! i'll be accepting a few more in december but no more this month! so keep a look out for that come december!

just wanted to check it and tell you alittle about whats been going on...and now i'm done! ha!

stay awesome everyone!!!!
XO.
holly

last call: free sponsor spots

hello everyone! i wrote about trading sponsor spots about a week ago. spots will go up TOMORROW, but if you're still interested, there's still time left. you've got until tomorrow morning. leave me a comment with your email and i'll email you with all the info ASAP.

here's what you'll get up my end if you decide to trade spots with me:

• Time frame- the ads on my blog will run for 2 months. from Nov. 1- Dec. 31 this will be for the first round of you guys, kind of as an appreciation thing for going about this whole thing with me! 
• you'll have the opportunity to do a guest post (if you'd like) each month that will be attached to a giveaway.
• you'll also have the opportunity to (if you'd like) to have a product or something like it reviewed on O&C (one each month). i'll give you more details on both if you do decide you'd like to do either.
• i will blog and tweet about your blog/shop/page frequently through out the 2 months of your sponsorship.

• you also have the option of consignment. i go to a lot of shows through out the month and if you'd like i can take your products with me and sell them for you. if you are interested in this, i will write up a contract and forward it to you, along with all the information. i've be put up a new page on the blog, of a calendar of all the shows will be at in the coming months. 

doesn't that sounds like a good deal!? this is just kind of a start up thing. since i don't have the money to support my friends in the blogosphere, i'm not asking for any money from my sponsors. i just want to help out the other people out there with small blogs and in return all i ask is just to support my blog too! so lets make our online community an actually community! support your fellow bloggers! support the handmade movement!!

xoxo.
holly

choices.

in the light of recent events (see this post) i've been scrambling around in my head trying to figure out which direction i'm going. i'm okay though, in a really strange way, i'm supremely optimistic about my future. but still, i'm not sure what it is i want to do with my life.

i know that i need to get my license. i know i need a part time job for the moment. but after that...what is it that i actually want to do? i could go back to school, i could apply to the gaming companies around town to be a visual development artist, or i could keep going along my original path and try and open up a brick and mortar shop. but then i get to thinking....are any of these things what i would actually want to do? is there anything else i'd like to do? i've been really inspired by kaelah bee and her gorgeous little mobile shop. and got to thinking. there's nothing like that in pittsburgh. nothing. of course there's the southside and all its killer shops and restaurants but there's nothing mobile in pittsburgh except for a couple food trucks. that's it.

it's pretty far away right now, but its something i can work towards. something that i think i could really accomplish. in time. for the present, i need to focus on my smaller goals...get a license, get a job, pay my loans and bills on time, save money. continue to do these festivals and fundraisers i've been doing and save that money. take time out of this hectic time in my life and spend time with my girls. spend time with the people that love me. and be happy. take time for me, for once.

but i think this is the path i'm going to head down for right now. i'd like to do something worth while with my life and i think this is a good first big step.

now... on a more fun, less heavy note...have you seen miss elsie's stitch chevron necklace DIY??? when i saw it the other day i was all kindssss of in love with it! i've been so inspired by geometric designs lately, i'll post sketch book illustrations later....but this DYI, i just had to do!

elsie's version! ^

my version^

what do you guys think? i think it turned out really well!!! so i was thinking...all of these amazing blogs do DIY's and i really like them and was thinking of doing some of my own here on O&C. but i think there's a whole bunch of crafty ones floating out there in the blogosphere...sooooo....what kind of DIY's would you guys like to see from me, considering the things i do???  

i'd love to hear your ideas!

keep checking back, i'm going to be working on some new things that i'm pretty excited about and would love to share with you! 

also....thank you ALL for the wonderful words about my recent post. its so heart warming to know i have friends out there in the interspace...i love you guys!

STAY WONDERFUL!!!

XOXO,

holly <3

the truth.

i've been holding off writing this. not because i didn't want to offend anyone or disrupt the flow of life...but because i didn't want to believe it. my relationship failed and i was dumped last night. the man i loved didn't feel the same about me, or maybe he didn't feel as strongly as i did. i don't really know. i didn't ask for an explanation, because i really didn't want one. for me, i think this is better. i didn't want to know the details of why i wasn't what he wanted, or why what we had didn't fit well together. so i just let it happen.
i know that a lot of it had to do with me quitting my job and not having a license to go out and find another one. i've talked to my aunt and one of my mom's best friend (amanda's mom) and they both told me that finances play a huge role in relationships. i don't know if it's because i'm still such a wide-eyed little girl or i just don't have enough experience in relationships, but i don't get it. my parents had always had financial issues, and they always stayed in love. maybe that wasn't the case for us, maybe it wasn't the money, maybe we just didn't work. i'll never really know. but i think if we would have stayed in it any longer things would have gotten much worse and i would be writing terrible things about him instead of just being confused and still admiring him as a man.

whatever the case, it's over. and i can't dwell on it. it will drive me insane. so i'm going to focus on healing me for a while. i don't want to be in a relationship, and i don't want to go on dates. way back when, i used to be such a strong woman, a force to be reckoned  with. all the things that have happened this year, from the death of my mother, my job going horribly wrong and now to this nonsense...i have become a mouse. that is not me. i am now afraid of controversy, and being that bold girl i used to be. i took risks at one time and now, i'd rather just stay inside rather than go out a find some thing fantastic. i can't do this to myself anymore. so this is me, making a  promise to myself, that i'll be myself again and its not for anyone but me. i need to be that girl again, because she was something to marvel at.

don't get me wrong, he was a wonderful man, he still is. he's strong and so very intelligent. i really can't say anything bad about him, that's not what this is about. i hate that things went wrong, because he was just amazing. but i can't drive myself crazy thinking about everything that was good and how everything went bad. i'm just going to move on. that's what this is. i'm getting it out of my system, like verbal vomit. cleaning out my brain so that i can fill it up with amazing things that will make me happy because i need some fucking happy.

i'm hanging out with my girls tonight, for a little bit more verbal vomit and some girl time. i need to do this, i miss them. can't lie though, it may be a day or so before i write another post on here. there's things that need to be done and things i need to finish working on. i'm also going to clean up my work room so that i can start doing more projects and maybe some DIY's. hopefully. but it may be a bit quiet on here in the next few days. if you may it through this whole mess of a rant, congrats. and thank you for reading it. i hate writing SUPER personal things on here, just because i don't want to be a debbi-downer or anything. hopefully, all of this made sense. i haven't revised this or edited it, it was all written directly out of my head without really thinking about what i'm saying. so i believe i'm finished here.

thanks for reading...
XOXO,
holly

art under glass festival

the day is finally here my friends! this is the big festival we've been waiting for here at O&C for about 5 months now. i thought this was going to be our first festival but a few small ones popped up in between. but we're very excited for this one! we'll be here all weekend, so if you're in the area please stop by and say hello and check out some other amazing crafters too while you're at it! here's some more info!

i hope you stop by! wish us luck!

XOXO,
holly

how about a trade?

hey all.

i've been thinking of testing out something...well, i know people do the whole paid sponsorship thing. i've participated in sponsoring other people's blogs before. but since i quit my job, i don't have the money to sponsor the blogs i'd like to. and i would still like to .... so here's what i'm proposing. let's do a trade.

i'd put an ad for your blog/shop/twitter page here on O&C and you'd put one of ours onto your page. it's a fair way for all of us to get alittle more exposure and also to help each other out. the reason i'm not asking for money is simply this..i'm not going to ask someone for money to support me if i can't turn around and help them out in return. it just doesn't seem fair to me.

so friends, if your interested in doing a sway with me, leave a comment below with your name, email and a link to the page you'd like to advertise and i'll shoot you an email within the week to talk about it a bit further. but i thought i'd throw it out there in the universe and see if anyone was interested!

take care, have a good evening!

XOXO,
holly

art hero: audrey kawasaki (caution there be boobs)

when i was in college, my room mate, ashley, introduced me to art by audrey kawasaki. this was about 3 years ago, i'm still stalking her work to this day. and once i show you these pieces you'll totally get it! her work is not only beautiful but its erotic, sometimes tender and occasionally haunting. i don't know of any other artist's work that has grasped at my imagination so tightly and held such a firm grip. i'm head over heals for her work. enjoy.

she's one of my biggest inspirations (along with the likes of peter max and alphonse mucha) and i am so thankful to ashley for turning me on to her. audrey's work takes you to another world, where its quiet and serene and it's alright to be a little sexy from time to time. i hope you take a look at her other work. you can find most of these pieces there and also a few more here.

i hope you enjoy these pieces as much as i do! happy wednesday all!
XOXO,
holly