In spite of their rather unfortunate name, I just love Pussy Willows. My grandmother had a huge one in her front yard when I was a kid, and the fluffy blooms are so unusual and so soft. I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of my own, and I finally found them at Trader Joe’s of all places. I’m afraid our hot NC summer will probably kill it, but I have to at least try to grow one. I didn’t know that the fuzzy catkins burst into yellow blooms shortly after emerging. It’s like slow motion fireworks!

This year I would love to add some hand painted designs to the Wit & Whistle lineup. I want to use gouache, but since I’ve only used it once before I need some practice. Gouache is like watercolor, but the colors are opaque (unless you keep adding too much water like I do). I’m going to practice my gouache-ing for five weeks and show you some of my paint doodles each Friday. So keep me accountable, and badger me if I don’t follow through. Hopefully after all that practicing I’ll be Queen of Gouache!

Am I the only one whose mom made those delicious “no bake cookies” after school growing up? My mom always called them “oatmeal candy cookies” which I think sounds much more delicious than “no bakes”. Anyway, today I tried Tiffany of The Gracious Pantry’s clean eating recipe for no bake cookies. They are so scrumptious that I’d recommend making a double batch! Here’s the recipe—I made the chocolate peanut butter variation.

Recipe from The Gracious Pantry

1/2 cup agave
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup psyllium husks (you can substitute with wheat germ or oat bran too.)
2 tbsp. chia seeds
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon.

Spoon 20-24 small balls of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 45 minutes.

Remove sheet from freezer and transfer the cookies from the parchment to a Tupperware dish with a good fitting lid. The best way to remove them from the parchment is to get a good grip and twist slightly.

Store in the freezer (if you have any left over to store – don’t say I didn’t warn you!).

Daniel and I have a hard time coming up with creative date ideas, so we usually just end up going out to eat, putting on our PJs, and watching a movie. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not like we’re going to look back in twenty years and reminisce about one of the 1,000 times we ate and watched a movie together.

Over the weekend I was cleaning out my studio a bit, and I found a bunch of blank canvases. I decided that it would be fun to make a painting together. I chose three paint colors so we wouldn’t end up with a big rainbow-y mess, and we rotated the painting every 10 minutes or so to make sure we both worked on every part of the canvas. Considering that Daniel doesn’t have any painting experience, we only spent about an hour on this, and we did no planning whatsoever, I think it turned out surprisingly well! It was entertaining to see Daniel wielding an artist’s brush and worrying that our paint palette was “getting to be such a mess.”

We enjoyed ourselves, and it was a great way for me to loosen up for once and not stress about how the finished product would turn out. I definitely recommend doing this if you are itching for an out of the ordinary date night!

Daniel and I don’t normally celebrate Valentine’s Day. Terrible, I know. It’s right before my birthday, and he works long hours in February getting ready for GDC, so we usually just skip it. But this year I’m demanding a proper Valentine’s Day celebration complete with a box of chocolates! We’re celebrating this weekend, so I thought I’d make him a card the old fashioned way—with stamps, glue, and scissors. He likes a mix of sweet and cheeky, so this should be perfect.

A few weeks ago Lullatone’s Shawn James Seymour saw my interview on Etsy and emailed to share his latest album, Soundtracks for Everyday Adventures, with me. He described it as “nice music for creative people to get creative to.” I’ve been listening to Lullatone nonstop since then, and I love it right down to the song titles. I had to share, on the off chance that you guys might enjoy this music as much as I do! I think my favorite song is “checking things off a to-do list early in the morning.” It could probably make any task seem whimsical and fun, even if you were just scrubbing the bathroom floor. You can stream the album below or listen (and purchase!) on Lullatone’s website. Thank you Shawn!

Oh yeah, and how sweet is this music video? Perfection!

We’ve been sneak peeked! The folks at Design*Sponge contacted me a few months ago about featuring our home in one of their Sneak Peek posts, so naturally I freaked out (in a good way). I posted some of my photos that they didn’t end up using below, but head over to Design*Sponge to check out our complete home tour!

My favorite thing to do at home is…

I’m suffering from EFSPTSS—Etsy Featured Seller Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, that is. What a wild ride this past week has been. I expected to be busy, but I certainly didn’t anticipate making over 1,000 sales in a week! Thanks to my amazing mom’s help I’ve been able to keep on top of shipping orders by spending every waking hour printing, folding, cutting, and making post office runs. My once neat and orderly studio is a bit of a wreck, but I’ve survived so far!

Thank you so much to everyone who ordered, left me a comment, or emailed. I am overwhelmed with the love. I have missed blogging, but to make up for my absence I have something extra special to share on Monday. Have a lovely weekend!

By the way, here are a few Instagram photos I snapped amidst the mayhem.

Guess what! Right now I’m the featured seller on Etsy! (Squeal!) You can read my featured seller interview and see my studio space right here. I’m thankful, flattered, and trying not to hyperventilate! I think I’m going to be swamped with orders for a bit, so I’ll be away from the blog for a few days to make sure everyone receives their goodies in a timely manner. I’ll be back before you know it!