I was born and raised in Sweden, but have lived and worked overseas for the last 35 years.

While living in Tokyo, Japan, with my husband and two daughters for over a decade, besides falling in love with the country, its people and culture, I also started appreciating the beauty of vintage kimono and obi fabrics and started collecting.

With some of the fabrics I made some silk quilts, but when returning to the
US in 2007, I started to design and sell greeting cards using these
beautiful fabrics.

I draw and then cut each design by hand and assemble it carefully on the greeting card; my logo is also stamped by hand on the back of the card. It’s quite time consuming to finish one card, but it also makes them unique and original. Not two cards look the same, due to the enormous changing patterns of the kimono fabrics.

I take pride in not mass producing my cards.

Click here to visit Mona’s kimono card shop.

I’ve been wanting to add a new lip balm flavour for a while. (Truth:
I’ve been itching to add a new lip balm flavour. Or two. Or five. In
fact, I could probably add a new one every week for the rest of the
year…but I know better than that.)

In any case, I had a lot of ideas, and took a good long while settling
down to just one. I’d found an all-natural vanilla flavour oil at a
reasonable price a while ago (and, if you’ve ever tried to price
vanilla, you know how hard that is) and I was determined to use it in
something. So that narrowed it down — vanilla and what? — but there
was still the rest to figure out.

I thought about doing a fairly complex blend — something like my
Wintry Mix or Chai lip balms — but the pure clean scent of the vanilla
lured me elsewhere. So it would be a two-ingredient balm, vanilla and
something else, but what?

I contemplated lavender, I thought about orange; they’re combinations I’ve seen elsewhere, and they’re successful enough. But I don’t want to only do what others have done, so I looked through the rest of my essential oils, tested several with the vanilla…and struck upon tangerine.

I sniffed the two small bottles of oils together and pronounced it good. I began heating the oils, added the beeswax, waited for it to cool enough to test, and wandered off to design the new labels. When I came back I was in for a surprise — not only are the two delightful
together, but I was wafted back into my childhood on the scent! I’d reinvented the Orange Julius. Only in lip balm form.

…how do I manage these things?

You may be wondering, who is Shubi? Kat and Jeff Joyce purchased a parakeet after one of our Pomeranians ate the one we had. When we brought him home, in the car, he was bobbing his head to the music, so Kat named him Shubi. We spent several months trying to get him to talk, but to no avail. We had a friends young daughter staying with us for the summer, and she spent every day talking to him. One day just before she went back home, Shubi started saying a couple of words over and over. Shortly thereafter his vocabulary started increasing at a phenomenal rate and we began to realize that we had a special birdie. He began to put sentences together. At first they were incoherent, but then they started to make sense. Shubi has given us years of non-stop entertainment as well as making others laugh. He truly is special, and amazing. Shubi Broom is the star of his very own children’s book, “The Amazing Shubi Bird”

Kat Joyce, the illustrator and author of “The Amazing Shubi Bird”, has led a life not envied by anyone. Severe asthma and knee surgeries took away a happy childhood, and as she became an adult, back surgery and cancer, as well as other health issues, hindered her happiness as well. She didn’t let these roadblocks stop her though. She attended college and received 2 degrees, one in Computer Operations, and one in Graphic Design Technology. Her disabilities kept her from getting a normal job, so she decided to illustrate a children’s book. This book contains all of her blood, sweat, and tears accumulated a total of three years, from conception to published work.

Like Shubi, Kat is truly “amazing”, and would like to invite you to see her work in print, or downloadable version at Shubi Room, or visit Shubi on his site on Ning.

Got Shubi? Check Shubi at his blog and meet the cast of “The Amazing Shubi Bird”

Handmade crochet items.Who wouldn’t like to receive a hand crocheted baby sweater or blanket at their baby shower? How about kitchen decor for a housewarming. Sure to be a unique gift. For these and many more items, come take a look. New Items added frequently. Custom orders welcome.

All you mommies that love cute crochet things, check Debs store for more handmade, affordable goodies.

Jewels are said to be born about 75,000-100,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, when people started to encompass symbols of their every day life in simple art forms. About 7,000 years ago, the first steps to forged jewelry were made. Kelly Graham is a modern descendant of ancient art with her creations forged from the heart. Let’s follow her very own words…

What do you create?
I create whimsical, magical pieces of jewelry which I hope will feed the inner muse and spirit within the individual. I may make these from an internal, inspirational source but, once a piece adorns the wearer, it takes on their essence and truly becomes their own. These pieces include headpieces and circlets, bracelets, pendants and neck torcs.

Every great company has a great name. How did you come up with yours?
My business name is strictly an acronym! Cam for the first three letters of Campbell, which is a family name for generations. Then the I-A-S is I Am Scottish, from whence the Campbell name originates.

When and why did you decide to start your business?
I began this business back in 1994, as an apprentice, and really cut my teeth and chops working for other jewelers until I took myself to school, for a two year program, to really become qualified and skilled. I continued to work for other jewelers until a few years ago, when I took this adventure on my own, full-time.

What are your future plans?
I plan to keep striving to create a better business and forge new, creative ideas within it.

3 words for anybody new in this business
“Don’t. Give. Up.”

Which of the tools you use is a personal favorite?
I just can’t live without my coping saw and my CD player. It’s my bread and butter of all I do.

What keeps you motivated?
Listen to lots of Celtic music! And, sometimes I just get hit with an idea, and the freshness of it all motivates me to keep pushing. Even in the slow times.

Inspiration is not sold at the market. Who is your muse and where do you find it?
My muse is myself. I can only rely on me for creating what I do, and I’m old enough to believe in myself without having other idols in the works. That took some time, but self belief is crucial. I may not know how I come up with some of the ideas, because I let my hands take over, without over thinking things, but if the end result is unique and inventive and beautiful…then I feel that’s my muse speaking!

How do you promote your business?
I did only word of mouth for years and only recently have I begun to blog and use forums as a means to help spread the self-promotion word.

Are you content with your business?
I’m content and grateful, absolutely. I also wouldn’t mind being better!

Who are some of your favorite designers/artists?
I love people who can point a camera and take amazing photographs. I think Ansel Adams is fantastic. Monet for the use of brilliant color schemes.

If not for anything else but the name, and still, I would have told you about Silk Fair, the perfect place to find guilty pleasures.

First let’s go to its origins, if you have any idea about the old trade route between East and West(if not, don’t be lazy and hit Wikipedia with Silk Road) , than Silk Fair should ring a bell. It’s the online marketplace for who ever has something to sell and works as you set it to work.

Besides the extremely fancy color search feature(yeah, you can finally see only the pink rugs, vases, blouses, perfumes) and video presentations(allows you to advertise your product in an online jingle) , Silk Fair is also a 100% free, easy to use tool that allows you set your own online shop. (hint: similar to ebay but way more lady-like oriented).

You can buy pretty much anything, as long as you have an account there (also free). Blogs and forums are an integrated part of the whole community, so you can pretty much create your own shop and stick to your own identity and values at the same time. You can write daily thoughts and product reviews, advertise to other sellers in the community, invite friends or business partners, etc. Even the link in your browser would show you yourchosenname.silkfair.com

But how about you find out the rest on your own? Happy hunting!