With Care - Now Available in the Odd Shop

I am so excited to give you a sneak peek at some of the amazing With Care items that we now have available in our shop! I am totally, 100% obsessed with Elizabeth's designs and I hope you will come stop by the shop and take a peek, do some holiday shopping and say hi!

xo,

Beca

Black Friday // Cyber Monday Deals for Tumbleweeds Sunglasses

The time is now!! The countdown is on. Just under 4 days until the biggest shopping day of the year. We, of course, will be participating. How could we not give ya'll some kind of deals. The first, and most important, is that we have been and will be offering free shipping in our shop using the code FREESHIP. You must use the code in the etsy coupon code box in order to receive free shipping. We also offer expedited shipping for both domestic and international.

Important date to remember: since the international deadline for Christmas orders passed yesterday, the cutoff date to order sunglasses to arrive before Christmas is December 10th. We will still accept orders after that, but we cannot insure your sunglasses get to you by Christmas.

We also now have gift certificates available. $65, $100, or $200.

Now onto the special Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals. We are offering three super amazing specials for Black Friday / Cyber Monday, to insure you get a white, bright christmas.

1 // Your favorite Mahogany and Maple Wayfarers will be available for $50 for this weekend only!!! These are our best sellers and a personal favorite for mine. There are no substitutions with the wood species and we can only guarantee domestic orders by Christmas. You may still get this great deal if you live outside the US. Check back here on Thursday for the link to this deal! Only 15 available, so don't miss out!!

2 // Our traditional His & Hers set, the perfect Christmas gift for newlyweds or the recently engaged. Get one for your lover, and treat yourself to the other. These will be available in our shop for an incredible $95. Only 10 sets available, so better get them while you can!

3 // Lastly, "You Call It" $60 Sunglasses. Limit one per customer, single species, no substitutions, and wood options will be available in the listing. We're only doing 20 of these, and you can get free shipping by using the coupon code. Which coupon code is that, oh you know, the one plastered all over our shop page. ;) FREESHIP and don't you forget it. Please check the shop for the listings on Friday morning, at Midnight.

That's all for us, we are working late again tonight. Lots of prepping, sanding and sewing to do in the next 72 hours. All international holiday orders will be shipped on Friday morning before I go into work. Have a great Monday night!

xo,

Beca

Absolutely, Positively

I may or may not have done the following things today:

1 // drove to the grocery store at 8am, while Doug was still sleeping to get toaster waffles and Jimmy Dean sausage for breakfast. I also bought Oreos and Ramen.

2 // had a fender bender in the parking lot of trader joe's with an old man driving a fancy oldsmobile type car. He shrugged his shoulders and said no damage done, don't lose sleep over it, shook my hand and drove away.

3 // bought more melmac wicker cups that I don't need at the swap meet just because Doug loves them so much. (I'll have to share my collection one of these days, it's just stupid..)

4 // made ramen for dinner, at 10pm, because really, why not. At least I put a ton of broccoli in it.

5 // used one year old Christmas candy I found in our stockings for product photography. Yes, we are getting ready for Christmas, why aren't you? By the way, I bought my dad his Christmas present today on etsy. I also made a vow to only buy handmade this year for the holidays. I think it's totally feasible, and I invite you to do the same!!! More on that later!

Did I mention we have a new style of super rad sunglasses in the shop now?

Just in time for fall! Yes, oh yes we do! One of the reasons why I love these sunglasses so much is that they use all the extra pieces of veneer that I have been hiding away. Not scraps, just beautiful strips that were to small to use. Now they have a purpose, and don't have to get thrown away. {Like we throw anything away...} I like to think of these as the big sister to the Pee Wees, which we are still making, by the way!

So that's that. Our day was eventful, although I'm not going to lie, I would kind of like a day off soon. Maybe after the Adams Avenue Street Fair next weekend. Definitely, after that. We need one entire day off. I'm sure you understand. :)

Have a great week! We have some awesome things happening and I'll keep ya'll in the know! Thanks for all the support and love!

xo,

Beca

Painting the Shop

Everything is definitely chaotic right now. Mostly, in a good way! We are still really busy, but this afternoon I am taking a few hours to get organized and rejuvenate. I DID finally get a chance to upload photos from this weekend and photos of the shop so far. The front of the building is almost completely done, but we need to replace the front glass since it has been tagged/etched, and need to fix up the edges. You are seeing photos of a work in progress!

And here is a a photo of the front of the building. I am kind of in love. We are having our sign hand painted this week and getting the windows covered and start setting up inside!!

The front, if you can't really tell by the photos, is a minty blue/green, with chocolate jams and turquoise door. What do you think?? Do you love it? Any suggestions? I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for our little shop and the progress we are making. Everyday we are getting closer.

I'll be back later with photos from our weekend visit with my Dad.

xo,

Beca

Big Cartel Shop

To begin with, sorry I am posting so much about our sunglasses and shop lately. I don't want this blog to only be about our shop..boooooring! But it is a huge part of my life right now and thanks for bearing with us. Or is it baring. I can't think straight right now. Boo. So, here is a little itty bitty post on Big Cartel.

I know that not everyone has an etsy account and as much as I like to bully people into getting one (it's so easy!) we are going to open a sister-shop through big cartel and you can shop there just using pay pal or a credit card. It will be a slow process getting everything listed, but the shop will be primarily sunglasses and eyeglass frames. You can still find sunglasses, gypsy treasure, wooden bracelets and more in our beloved etsy shop.

What's your experience with Big Cartel?? I am trying to embrace it.

Anyways, I am on my way to the post office for the second time today! I am glad that I am finally getting caught up. My house still isn't very clean and I have tissue stuffed up my nose. Gross, right.

Also, if you want take a little field trip to some really rad blogs that our shop is sponsoring this month, please do!

Moorea Seal

Merriweather Council

Adventures of a New Mom

MaieDae

Windshield Diaries

And thanks to everyone who has shared my blog button and shop link or featured us on their blog. Ya'll are such good friends and make me so very happy!

And this is for Danielle, I promise I DO look like a zombie when I'm sick, too! BOOOO! Attractive, right? I'm glad I have someone who loves me, even when I'm puffy and snot faced.

xo,

Beca

Playing Catch Up

Pica, Picachu! Hello, I am here!!!

I'm not going to lie, I am ridiculously behind on EVERYTHING, not excluding laundry, shipping stuff for the shop (sorry customers who read this, I put little extras in your package to make up for it!) eating normal meals, cleaning the bathroom, picking up the backyard, emails, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's not like I am moving in super speed, but I am running around like crazy all day, apparently making Pokemon cakes, and then come home and can't seem to move fast enough. I just want to lay around. But, riding my bike to work, being on my feet all day long (I never take real breaks besides tweet, pee and snack breaks...why would I want to be at work longer than I already am!)

So really, when I come home, I get on the internet and play with photos and watch TV and help Doug with his sunglasses. Sometimes I make dinner, but mostly, we've been eating cheez-its, ramen and Hawaiian Punch for dinner. I told you, I'm not going to lie. But, we have been busy little tumbleweeds making a crazy amount of sunglasses.

Look at this craftsmanship. So clean and made by hand!!

It's been two weeks to the day since we started listing these in the shop, and we are already on no. 11. which is insane to me. I am so glad they are picking up. We love making them and it is a great and affordable way to have customized glasses. And I don't really mind the makeshift studio in our livingroom, as our real studio is piled high with wood!!

I obviously love mine!!! I am still rocking the number ones. The first ones ever made. See, look, that's me at my favorite place wearing my favorite shades.

(No. 11 refers to how many we have sold, not how many we have made. There was about a month of prototyping and experimenting with wood and glue and enamel, and have a basket of the ones that didn't make the cut. Dougie has high standards for his art and these not excluded.)

I don't know if you have noticed, but my real glasses, the ones with my prescription in them are D&G faux-wood frames and I have had them for-ev-errrrrr. (insert The Sandlot-esque voice, please!) Uh...the wood is faux, not the stupid designer label that cost waaay too much but make me really really happy. Anyways, I won't take any credit for Doug's creations, but I do consider myself something like a muse. Something like it.... ;)

On another note, some douchebag hit (and run) our van last night, so this morning, after I had to leave really early for work on the old bike, Doug went out to leave for work and couldn't get the van started. We didn't realize until after he had to call out from work, and discovered the van actually would start on Neutral, that the lovely person taco-ed our front rim and knocked the van so hard that it won't go into park (hence not being able to start it this morning.) Also, the whole front end vibrates when we drive it now. It sucks because the rims are brand new, and really expensive. I know it stupid to be upset because the rim is messed up, but we work hard for everything we have, and we don't have much. The van is important to us. A few months ago, we needed new tires and our friend got rims that didn't fit his impala, so we bought the rims and tires off him. It took three paychecks to pay them off and now, we probably have to get new ones. Our vacation funds are dwindling bill by bill. Bummmers.

BUT, I should be thankful that they didn't damage the actual van and only the rim because that would have made us really sad. Our van just may end up being our home one of these days (at least while we travel) and keeping it in good condition is a high priority for my man.

So, if you want to help us fix our van and replenish our vacation funds, you can use the COUPON CODE "FIXTHEVAN" in our shop for a 10% discount on any and all items, including sunglasses! Oh hell yaah! Only for a week or so, and then it will be June and you can head over to some pages we're sponsoring for coupon codes. ;) More on that later!!

Okay, I am actually going to go make dinner. A little late, but I'm hungry!! Then back to work packaging up treasures and watching cartoons with my number one!

I love you all and feel like I am back in the zone when it comes to blogging and junk.

xo,

Beca

Shop Update (Sunglasses!!!)

We are now making these sunglasses available in our shop.

You can choose your color frame, wood and lens type.

You can find them in our shop!

I am super excited about this project and we can't wait to make lots of these babies!

xo,

Beca

Paper Dolls and Gypsy Treasures

We both took a half day from work and found ourselves at Kobey's Swap Meet and it was my favorite kind of swap meet day. No crowds, no big-commercial booths, and lots of treasures. My arms ached by the end of our thirty minute trip there, because we found so many gems in the rough. Including an underwater camera for Doug's mom that I am going to test out on Sunday at the pool! We also found a lot of neat treasures for the shop.

Also, while I was a at work today, I was thinking about painting. weird, right. I was dipping cookies in royal icing, and piping cake, and all I wanted to do was paint. Sometimes the urge gets me. Trust me though, my painting style is that of a pre-teen girl, but I enjoy doing it.

I started making paper doll images of Doug and I. I know it's silly, but it was fun and turned out pretty cute. I'm going to get it framed and hang it in our bedroom.

Do you ever feel like drawing something silly? Or just being silly?? Tonight is going to be full of silliness, because once my man gets home from skateboarding, we're having a pizza party and watching movies in our pj's! I may even build a fort, who knows! I feel like celebrating, I have had so many opportunities to break the soda-fast, but haven't. The headaches have subsided and I am feeling great! Why didn't I do this sooner? Who knows...but I feel great now. I'm not saying I won't ever drink soda again, it just won't be my only option and may get saved for really special occasions!

I have a bunch of new gems I am currently updating the shop with, so if you'd like, check them out! I have a curiosities closet planned for later tonight, and a new feature this weekend. I still need to get caught up with Spring into Summer with my blogger bff, Danielle. I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far (it's only Friday!!) and although I have to work tomorrow and probably late since I left early today, I am excited for my day off on Sunday. Doug leaves on Tuesday for a week long bachelor party with his friends, so I am going to kidnap him Sunday for a fun day.

xo,

Beca

Finally + Spring into Summer

Maybe I just needed a day off. I feel so much better! After long late night talks with my other half, realizing I can't change what is out of my control. A job, no matter how important it seems, is just a job. It pays the bills and allows us to live the life we want. That's all. I know that I am a hard worker and I am good at what I do, but being confident and comfortable isn't as easy. But, I do feel a lot better today.

Anyways, we woke up really early this morning and drove out to Santee for the swap meet. It was so rad. We got a lot of new treasures for our shop.

I feel like there is a theme with the type of items we have been collecting lately. Very spring-woodsy-homey feel. Anyways, I have lots of items to package up and get ready to be shipped. Let's all look forward to a better week than last!

Also, if you haven't checked it out, you should visit Danielle's blog update on her garden that she started recently. I challenged her to start a garden and she totally followed through.

Images via Just About Anywhere.

She challenged me to make some new, reusable lunch bags. I swear, I'm not being lazy, I'm just a little overwhelmed with everything right now, plus Doug bought this old metal lunch box for work and isn't in dire need of a lunch bag anymore. Boo. But, I want to make some anyways, because it will be a fun challenge and we can always use more lunch bags for snacks and sandwiches for day trips and travels. I'm going to try to do it on Thursday, my next day off. I'll send over the next Spring into Summer challenge then, too!

The rest of my night will be packing up orders and watching South Park!

xo,

Beca

Story of my Life...er...Day.

I am going to preface this with the mandatory, I'm sorry I am not a positive and happy blogger lately, or all the time, but this blog is all about my life, which has both bad days and good days. Please read on to see the good in it..because there is good.

Today was another horrible, crappy day. It's like everything just building up and the stress just keeps getting worse. The beautiful cake I worked on for hours yesterday, the 10 layer baby birthday cake. Well, it was impeccable when it left my arms into the customers pick-up truck. I cringed and had a sinking feeling when they drove away to travel 20 minutes on the freeway in 85 degree weather. How could I not have a sinking feeling...of course, we got a phone call later. The cake fell apart. Well, no shit dude, the cake fell apart because you wanted to be cheap and pick it up yourself instead of letting us deliver it. You put it in a pickup truck in the sun and took it to an outdoor barbecue. A ten layer cake that had a buttercream frosting. Not fondant. Specifically not fondant. I can't help what happens to something I put my heart and soul into when the customer decides to make decisions that I wouldn't choose to make. I can tell you that I was absolutely devastated and called Doug crying my eyes out. It didn't matter, there was nothing I could have done differently. Absolutely nothing. But it still makes me really sad and I totally questioned my abilities, for a hot, hot second.

RIP, Piggie cake. You were adorable while in my life.

I would have rather you been eaten and enjoyed than fall apart.

At least my boss knows that it was not my fault. He watched me build up that cake. It has three dowels in it (it was TEN LAYERS!) and he felt the buttercream crust before we handed it off. Hard as a rock, ready to soften naturally to be eaten.

Has anyone else had any cake disasters? Or work related disasters that haunt them?

It also didn't help my day that somebody set the oven to 400 while I was baking 14 loaves of Honeycake for Passover. I caught it too late for them to be saved and had to ditch the whole batch. SO then I started over, made a half batch, and half of them fell. I read this though, about how delicate honeycake is and how it is prone to falling, and felt a lot better. It tasted delicious which was awesome. (Plus, if I flip the cake over, it looks perfect and you can't see where it fell!) I also made these pretty lemon raspberry cupcakes today.

On a brighter note, we've been working on a new project. It is a Wenge wood thin bangle. We're actually making them out of a bunch of different wood, but I only had enough light to take photos of this one. I am pretty in love with them. I would wear 100 at one time. That's me though. I love bracelets!

(My wrist looks totally deformed in that second photo, though. What's up with that?)

We also went to see Insidious tonight. And even though my pal Ainsley gave it very poor reviews via her Twitter, we loved it! It was a total throw back to 1970s occult-cult films with some Japanese styling and pacing, and some modern influence. I was especially taken with the title. It was very Rosemary Baby-esque, or Hell House. Or kind of Norwegian black metal.

The movie definitely had some slow moments, but Japanese Horror inspired pacing usually does. It is supposed to create suspense, but for most American audiences, it's just too slow and culturally doesn't have the same effect. I also appreciated the childlike view on demons and ghosts. It was very much through the eyes of the kid the films story revolved around. I could write for hours about movies, but I won't bore you.

We have plans to go to Santee for the swap meet tomorrow morning so I'm off to bed. I'm glad I have a little corner of the world to spill my guts. Thanks, friends! Tomorrow will be better! Especially since it's my day off!!!

xo,

Bec