last chance

Well, I've picked my official closing date: May 31. It's been an interesting few weeks as I've been busy shipping out orders and answering emails. I'm quite sad to close this chapter of my life, but hearing from all of you has been a huge help – thanks for being so supportive!


While I've been rather quiet on the blogging front lately, I will continue to share design ideas, great Etsy finds, and other noteworthy experiences.

I'm actually quite excited about Memorial Day weekend, when me and the boys (hubby Todd, collie mix Cooper, lab mix Pogo, and golden mix Tucker) get to spend three full days frolicking on the beach! I found a great pet-friendly cottage in Gearhart and will be taking lots of pictures to document our little getaway.

Then a few weeks later, I'll be heading to Spokane for my first Farm Chicks adventure. My friend Amy will have a booth there with Candywinkel and she's got lots of great new products that I can't wait to share with you all!

So, as the Cecily Ink door closes, the window to free weekends opens and I plan to make the most of it!

good news, bad news

I have some good news and some bad news. I know, if you're like me, you'd want the bad news first. So here it is: it's time to say goodbye to the Cecily Ink website and product line as you know it!

I've had a very fun ride these past two years and look back with pride and joy at all that my little card line has accomplished. But now it's time to move on.

And the good news? You guessed it, major closeout savings: everything is 50% off with no minimum purchase required! Just use "closeout" as the coupon code during checkout.

Plus, if you live in the Portland area, please stop by the Studio & Sample Sale at P. Flynn Design where you'll find lots of my cards and paper products at huge discounts, some marked down to 75% off if you pick through samples and slightly damaged seconds.

And of course, you'll be able to shop from Peggy Flynn's gorgeous collection of aromatic silk sachets, eye pillows, and boudoir pillows, also all hugely discounted. Perfect time if you need a little something for Mother's Day (just around the corner!)

P.FLYNN DESIGN – STUDIO & SAMPLE SALE
Saturday May 2 • 11am to 4pm • 2654 N. Terry Street

trash to treasure – part 3

This weekend I finished up my little "Finding Grace" shrine I mentioned a while back. I had planned to add copper wings (that finally have a nicely aged patina) but when I showed it to my mom, she fell in love with it as-is! So off it went in my mom's hand luggage on Sunday and I'm glad to know it found a loving home!


Speaking of finding a loving home, one of the reasons I haven't been posting much lately is that I've been quite busy taking care of our new family member: Tucker, a tiny golden retriever mix who was rescued by the Oregon Humane Society (my favorite non-profit!) from a man in Eastern Oregon who had over 200 neglected and malnourished dogs on his property.


Tucker is already quite famous and has appeared in two newspaper articles, once in The Oregonian (click here) and once in the Portland Tribune (click here). Upon his arrival in Portland, the kind folks at the Oregon Humane Society named him Cooper but since we already have a dog named Cooper (and one named Pogo), we settled on Tucker for this little guy.


Yes, he looks quite tuckered out in this picture, but trust me when I tell you that he has all the energy of a regular puppy and none of the manners – yet! I'm heading out in just a few minutes for his very first training class; fingers crossed, he'll be a quick study.

If you want more information about the Oregon Humane Society or are interested in adopting one of their 125 dogs rescued from Burns, just click here to find out more!

anniversary sale

Wow, I can't believe it's been two years already since I first launched Cecily Ink! That's sure worthy of a celebration, don't you think?

Yes, you read it correctly: through the end of the month, I'm offering 50% off everything in stock! Just fill your basket with at least $50 worth of product, enter the coupon code "take50" during check-out, and voilà – watch as 50% of your total magically disappears!
(not valid with any other offers/coupons)

Just my little way of saying thank-you to all our Cecily Ink fans out there. Enjoy!

NOTE: Due to popular demand, I've extended the sale through Mother's Day!

more trash to treasure

Last Saturday while I was scouring the Portland Antique Expo for inspiration, I fell in love with this little plastic elephant. Don't know why, but I simply had to have him – he just made my heart sing!

At another booth I picked up a small orphaned dresser drawer, complete with a mission-style drawer pull – a perfect shadow box for my new little baby elephant! That evening I was in the zone and by 2 am (yes, A.M.!) I finished this piece that literally makes me smile every time I look at it:

Since I last shared photos of my art, I've created a few other pieces as well. This one has elements dangling from fishing line and jingles like a chime when I walk around the house with it:

And this little darling was inspired by a piece my former co-worker Bev Soasey created years ago for a friend of hers:

I love old illustrations and photographs and use them as often as I can. These next two pieces also make great use of old photo album pages, another one of my faves – they create a beautiful frame for the image and allow plenty of "white space" even after adding a few embellishments.


Right now I'm working on a shrine of sorts. It's getting close to being done, just need to figure out a few last details and then add wings – intrigued yet? Yes, I promise I will show pictures when it's done. Stay tuned...

random bits

As I was surfing the Net while watching TV these last few days, several things caught my eye and I thought I'd share them with you. Although they may seem a bit random, they all served as visual inspiration to me.

F L I C K R - F U N
Over the years I've built up a paper file filled with various images ripped from the many magazines and catalogs that hit my mail box. Whenever I need to come up with a fresh color palette and need a bit of help, I flip through those pages for inspiration. Now I can simply go here, click on one or a few colors, and voila – a visual library of images in those exact colors pops up. I love doing the single-color searches. The results are pretty enough to frame as art!


P O S T E R - F U N
I came across the Poster List where you can buy some very fun posters, all at very reasonable prices:


D E S I G N - P O L I C E
As a graphic designer, I've often been tempted to play logo cop or to issue a bad type ticket. Thankfully, I discovered the Design Police, whose mission is to "bring bad design to justice." Now we can all let our fellow citizens know when they've committed a design faux pas with these print-it-yourself stickers:

picture perfect?

Raise your hand if you like your driver's license photo. How about your passport photo? Yeah, didn't think so. But it could be worse: you could be trying to renew your Dutch passport and have to subject yourself to the Dutch government's idea of an acceptable passport photo.

Case in point: I thought I'd pop into Kinko's to get my picture taken before my appointment with the Dutch Consulate next week. Hah, wish life were so easy! After intently studying a four-page (!) document describing the do's and don'ts of passport photography, it quickly became apparent that the blue-shirted fellow with the instamatic wasn't going to cut it. I needed to bring in some heavier guns if I was to avoid being in violation of Dutch passport code umpteen-thousand-and-six.

Think I'm joking? Well, let's play a little game, shall we? See if you can guess what's wrong with the 15 photos below. I've listed the answers under the photos so if you don't want to cheat, don't scroll down too far.

1 - black and white (okay, that one's easy)
2 - optical distortion (how would you know, maybe she's just got high cheek bones?!)
3 - unnatural representation (huh?! is it because he looks like a Smurf?)
4 - visible support (it's a baby, for cryin' out loud!)
5 - reflection (the lesson here: don't forget to powder your nose!)
6 - background not uniformly lit (words escape me...)
7 - more than one background color (sorry, no mall portraits, folks)
8 - merging background colors (see above)
9 - insufficient background contrast
10 - insufficient background contrast
11 - face not entirely visible
12 - eyes not entirely visible
13 - eyeglasses reflection (this was the downfall of Mr. Blueshirt)
14 - eyeglasses shadow
15 - not centered in frame (missed it by that much!)

I don't have a visual aid for it, but the one that gets me the most is this one: under no circumstances may you have your mouth open. What?! I can't show off my pearly whites and say cheeeeze? How un-American! Oh, wait, I'm renewing my Dutch passport...

To be fair, although "applicants may not smile broadly or open their mouths," they did add that this "does not mean that they have to look surly or sullen." After all, we Dutchies are a merry people, full of joy and zest!

Well, the kind and expert folks at Ritz Camera downtown Portland did an excellent job of following all the rules and regulations – I hope! Guess I'll find out in a few weeks...

I know you're all dying to see my final passport photo, so here it is: (don't laugh, it's worse than my driver's license picture!)

Hope they don't notice that sheen on the tip of my nose!