stepping back to move forward

now that's not as ominous as it sounds.

 Let me explain.

 When I first started thunderpeep, it wasn't as stationery focused as it is today. To be honest I never really thought it was going to be a greeting card company {and to note I still don't think it is} but that's definitely the side that exploded first. And I'm so grateful for that. But my first love was always surface design. Honestly I wanted my shit on EVERYTHING. You've seen enough posts about the amazing Marimekko to know what I'm talking about {side bar love for the Unikko celebrating it's 50th anniversary!)

right. Imagine a bus with Trolls all over it. Goals people. you have to have Goals!

But seriously… this brings me to something I've been working on for awhile now. If you follow me on instagram you've seen some sneak peeks. Or the words Pickled and Herring.

My good friend Quilter Steff and thunderpeep have been working on a pretty fun collaboration for you. We're combining thunderpeep designs with Quilter Steff patterns. WHat? that sounds crazy.

PickledHerring is the name and patterns are our game. Steff is an amazing quilter and sewer and she's taken some of my most popular designs and made them into quilts. And these aren't your Granny's quilts. No way, these are super fun and modern quilts. Well… let me clarify this. They are quilt patterns. YOU have to do the heavy lifting of sewing the dang thing together, following our pretty pretty instructions.

That's not all. All those hillarious cards you love to laugh over. Well you're going to be able to make them into little embroidery pieces for your home. I know some of you like to frame them, but why not get a little crafty with it. If I can learn to embroider… so can you!

We're launching the whole thing on June 7th at the Toronto Etsy Street Teams Spring Market {click here for those deets if you're in the Toronto area come for a visit} and right after the etsy shop so all you out of towners can start crafting and a blog as well, with bonus tips, tricks and downloads {those are all FREE for our devoted followers and of coarse you non-followers!} I'll blog more about it as all the little pieces continue to come together.

For those of you who've been around from the beginning, you'll remember that for the 2012 Midsummer collection I also launched some fabric lines. I've always loved fabric patterns, but as a non-sewer I never really understood it. Well, let me tell you. I've now been educated in all things fabric related and am so ExCiTeD for all the fabric goodness coming your way. Yes, that's right both the Midsummer and Polar Nights collections will have fabric collections this year {and real honest to goodness collections that will knock your sewn panties off!} 

Ok, that last bit got a bit weird. There may have been some Palm Breeze before this post. And I'm excited for all this goodness.

Check back in later this week - plans are coming together for the Midsummer launch later in June. 

#MidsummerIsComing

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Summer Lovin'

This is not a saying that comes easily from me (unless we're singing along to Grease ;)

Since moving back East I've learned to adapt to 4 full season and for the most part am enjoying it (especially the arrival of winter and those first snowfalls!) And being that I love to be outdoors, I have no problems walking and adventuring in crisp cold weather, while the rest of the city is stuck sulking indoors.

Unfortunately, at least where I live, the arrival of sunshine and summer, also means the arrival of brutal humidity - which is where it all falls apart for me. I just want to nap all day, which is a nice though, but when you are trying to get shit done, it gets complicated.

So, yesterday while enjoying the first full day of warm breezes and bright sunshine I thought of all the little things I actually really love about summer and am going to try to hold on to them as long as I can before the heat waves kick in!

What are some of your favourite things about summer?

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May the Force be with Freebies!

I'm a bit fan of the original Star Wars movies - in particular the Ewoks. COME ON they are so cute!

This Sunday being Star Wars day, I found these little downloadable cards and thought I should share them with you too.

Download is available on the Wild Olive blog here

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Everyday should be Earth Day

Everyday should be Earth Day…. wise words from one of Canada's wisest Green Man Alive (that'd be David Suzuki in case you are outside of Canada)

Being that today is Earth Day 2014, I thought I'd share one of Mr. Suzuki's messages from a few years back. There are so many teeny things we can do in our everyday lives to help the planet and preserve this beautiful landscape we call home. What kind of little things do you do to stay green?

Today, for Earth Day, I'm going to walk instead of transit (this is my short window where it's not too cold or too humid to do long walks in the cement city) and then spending the evening on the back deck working on my upcoming book - using very little energy while entertaining myself ;)

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Mothers Day cards

So, what do you think? You have noticed the make-over… right? I finally decided to fold the website and blog into one site, too much trying to maintain them both. And time is something that I seem to have very little of these days. So now, everything you need to know about thunderpeep is all right here. Links to both shops and all the social media outlets I hand out at.

I can't claim all the credit for this great looking page though. I got the template from one of Canada's great bloggers and designers Wonder Forest. Check out her site, the blog is fun to follow and she's got a great shop full of all sorts of blogging tools to make you look oh-so-swank! And her blog is super pretty.

Now on to some thunderpeep news. The new Mothers Day card is up the shop already, but I thought I should give it a bit of promo over here, since it's pretty awesome. I'm not particularly close to my mother, so this particular occasion was never really an easy one for me to design for. But this one was inspired by one of my good friends, who's quite cheeky and her mom has been known to give it back even cheekier. I love their relationship and I knew this particular saying was probably one she's said to her mom at some point - or would say. What's even more awesome is when she visited me at OOAK recently and saw the card she automatically bought one for her mom. She said it was "totally something I would say". Inspiration comes from all the little nooks and crannies of your life.

for the Best Sons and Daughters in the Universe!

Last years design is also still available in the shop!

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New adventures

OOAK Spring 2014: I never got a full finished booth shot (bad me) / The Home print from the calendar was a hit / Ferdinand the Fox and I filled up on yummy lemonade

Yesterday was my first full day of NOTHING. I slept in (waking up at 7 is still sleeping in if you went to bed at 9:30 the night before, right?) lounged and tidied up and napped and lounged and watched crappy movies.

It was really nice. Sometimes you just need nothing days, and I needed that one. So much has been happening lately, and still so much more to come. It can all be overwhelming at times. But so exciting that I can really only mellow for one day then I get itchin' to get back on the wagon and get shit done.

That's where I am today, as I work on the new To Do list, that is much more complex than I anticipated. The Midsummer Collection is starting to take shape and I'm pretty excited about it. It's going to expand into some new (well not so new - more like reborn) pieces, there's a a book all about Trolls, there's a pretty freaking awesome collaboration with my good friend Quilter Steff and I've already got Christmas back on the list. What the….??? Yep, seems June is when all your favourite card selling stores want to take a peep at the Holiday collections.

Crazy. Right?

But I figure that gives me July to kick back and plan my big trip next year. And other BIG adventures. And to figure out how the heck I'm going to fit in a big 40th shindig one week before the Holiday One of a Kind show.

Small Business never stops plotting and creating and planning and conquering. I know this because I'm just finishing up Arlene Dickenson's "All In". Highly recommend it to anyone and everyone on an entrepreneurial path, or even for those who have crazy entrepreneur friends and loved ones.

Don't forget to follow me over on Instagram (thunderpeep) for all the sneak peeks and if you want to share your card giving or card receiving adventures tag your pics with #thunderpeep and I might just share it with all my peeps! I'm all about sharing the love (and non-love ;)

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