teething sucks
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com Not really, but donations would be appreciated.

Time got away from us and suddenly Boston's Walk for Hunger is only two days away! The three of us will be walking. Well, blee won't be doing too much walking but she will be hitching a ride on my back, hip or front.

This is a very good cause and we would love it if you donated to Team Swinghammer. She may be teething but walking is one of the few things that makes her feel better.

Thank you.

Here is some cuteness for your viewing pleasure.

Mermaids - #18 Collage
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Moments in Time magnets
Originally uploaded by m.Lee New in my shop are a new collection of totally different magnets and buttons/ badges to collect. These go well on their own or paired with my earlier woodblock print sets. They can all be found here along with my Gocco printed sketchbook journals.

Things are okay. My friends surgery went alright. No miracles but no disasters either. Honestly I am still in shock by it all as it unfolds I can't believe it is happening.

We had decent weather and it is looking like good weather for the rest of the week and I am going to focus on that.

Skatha (welsh goddess of the underworld)
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comI'm not sure where my inspiration always comes from other than just looking at the world with open eyes. Taking in the shapes and the colors and being constantly and sometimes overwhelmingly inspired by what I see around me.

Lately, and by that I mean the past few days since maybe my last printing session last Thursday, I haven't been feeling it much. And I really need to. I received some beautiful Japanese Chirogami washi papers in the mail and I have barely touched them. I feel distracted and not just because of my teething daughter.

I think it is about time for me to go out for a nature walk and take some inspiration pictures. Since it is really difficult to sit down and sketch outside with a baby strapped to me I take pictures and then use them (hopefully) later.

This is sooo cute:

Reading is Sexy.

It was in an Etsy Treasury {BOOK IT!}.

Overgrowth
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Hello, it's me. Marissa. I used to fit pretty nicely in an artistic box and I was comfortable with it. I mean, I may have only done printmaking for the past two years but I did do unconventional printmaking. And I really enjoyed going back and doing it again on Wednesday. It felt fresh again now that I have many other things to feed my artistic spirit.

stamping thank you cards
Originally uploaded by m.Lee For being so wonderful. Please bear with me while I deal with a teething baby that fusses all day and doesn't sleep well at night. I'm trying hard to keep up with everything and am struggling. Right now my online activities including blogging, Etsy and blog reading are suffering the most. Since I end up wearing her most of the day I generally need to keep moving. I try to catch up on reading blogs at night but am often too fried to comment. I'm a bit of a lurker these days.

Woodblock Print on Moleskine
Originally uploaded by m.Lee I don't have a lot of time. The housekeeper that was supposed to come today to help with the cleaning before my inlaws get here tomorrow canceled. Calling an hour and a half after she was supposed to show up saying she got stuck in traffic really bad and gave up and went home.

now this is my kind of bouquet!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comHope the mother's reading this blog had a great day and that the sons, daughters and partners were able to appreciate the mother's in their lives.

This was my first mother's day, even though last year while I was pregnant I did get a mother's day blessing from a gas station clerk while driving back from Brooklyn.

It started on Thursday when Jon surprised me with this incredible bouquet of fruit flowers. He told me later that he basically could have had the whole thing dipped in chocolate for an additional fee if he had clicked a button but I am glad that he didn't. There were more than enough chocolate dipped strawberries to keep me happy for days. Yum!

ACEOs
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Back to my roots, well one of my roots. The ACEO! (or art cards in general as I do love trading for these little gems) These have been one of my favorite methods of experimentation. My first mixed-media woodblock print collages were ACEOs and there is no reason for me to stop now that I have moved on to larger pieces. They are still fun to make and still the best for experimenting. The two I made on Tuesday night are no exception. Enjoy!

Duality
Originally uploaded by m.Lee After being sick feeling well feels incredible. Things were pretty good yesterday, I had some time while blee napped in the Pack n Play (a big deal) to tinker with my shop so tinker I did. If you mosey on over and have a looksie you may notice two distinct changes. The first one is that the size categorizing has been replaced with categories based on subject. I think this will make searching easier, and to help even further I have added dimensions to all my titles. Other than ACEOs, I think the ACEO label is enough for now.

Etching from college
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend.

Saturday was great with wonderful weather, we picked up my new carrier and went for a long walk.

It all started simply with me finding a place for the baby carrier that a woman I know here in Boston made with some fabric I bought on Etsy. Then I decided that my silk ring sling from Bronwenhandcrafted had no business being stuffed in a back so I steamed out the wrinkles and hung it off the side of the bins.

flower behind fence
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comI don't take what I would call exciting photos during my nature walks. I take snapshots of things that catch my eye, usually with the camera from my phone as it is a decent camera and is simple to use while wearing a baby!

I take in the images and then go through them later looking at the colors, shapes and general ideas for work. Here are some of my quick snapshots from today. I didn't have a lot of time to stop and gaze at the flowers because we were on our way to see the pediatrician for blee's nine month visit but I caught a handful of interesting images.

I like how this flower is growing in a tiny yard behind a fence so almost nobody can enjoy it unless they look for it like I did. I like seeing the dug up lawn with what looks like a Maple tree sapling springing out of the ground. And then there are the gorgeous colors all around.

Monotype Fun!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Awhile back I got some Akua Kolor waterbased monotype inks along with some special application tools. So far I have played around with them twice.

The first time didn't go well at all. And the second was heading that way until I switched from the excellent bright white Arches 88 that is recommended to some paper bags. Suddenly the same images that looked terrible on the paper looked great and filled with life, on a cheap paper bag. Funny how things work out. This was about a month ago. Some of these bags I cut up for collage. Some I drew on before using them in collage and some I saved.

Quiet Playground
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comThe new street team for Etsy Printsy is up and running with me doing the first artist interview. Check it out over at the Printsy blog. Printsy Interview : Fustian

Last Thursday and Friday I was finally able to get some printing done, first time since March I believe. It felt very good to be printing again and even better having new prints like these. I was able to use my latest block, but only with this one for now but I know I will be bringing it out again in the future. All of my latest creations will be making their way into my shop in the next week or two. With new pieces in the works this week my shop will stay current for a good long time hopefully. Check it out!

Butterfly in Greenery
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comIt was green and lush with just a sprinkling of rain late in the day on Sunday.

I hope everybody had a great weekend, ours went pretty well over all.

Jon's birthday was this weekend, and it was a good one I think despite Saturday being pretty hard on him. Sunday made up for it.

The weekend went a lot better than expected and we owe it all to little blee and her perfect behavior on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday daddy had to go into work at 4am and was there until two in the afternoon so it was just us girls. She was pretty easy going already and I had just mastered back carries in our new Mei Tai so we went on what turned out to be a two hour nap. She slept the entire time.

Printsy on the Etsy Homepage!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com Something that I have been thinking about but never getting off my butt to do for about oh two years now has finally happened. Printmakers on Etsy finally have their own street team named Printsy. I came up with that one half as a joke and it took.

Are you a printmaker that sells your prints on Etsy? Would you like to get together with other printmakers to get the word out about original prints versus reproductions? Help show that there very much is a difference between the two and that they can co-exist. Then please consider joining our group.

You can contact me or sherisdesthelion via Etsy convo to find out more information about this growing group of artists.

Dead Tree v.3
Originally uploaded by m.Lee I almost never have sales, and have never had one this big. But my collages are taking up a bunch of room and I am a busy bee with lots of work. Time for some of the older pieces to go. At unbeatable prices! Think of it as spring cleaning.

Check out my Studio Sale section of my Etsy Shop to see more of what is available. Nothing is over $50 and some are as little as $5! Maybe you will find something you have coveted for awhile! I will be adding to the section as I go through my studio and see what I find.

Night Falls on Two Trees
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comMy normal Wednesday plans have been canceled and I am going to try and made the best of it.

Things aren't so good. My friend's illness is not getting better and my cat seems to have a problem with his eyes and I need to call the vet today. I might end up putting him in the carrier and pushing him in the stroller while I where blee down to the vet today. Good times. I also need to call a woman about pet sitting next month while we go to a funeral in Ohio.

But if I have some time I will use it to print and not jerk around and waste time. I still have a bunch of paper printed in various stages of completion. And while I have a fair amount of work from last week I would like to have more, in different colors.

Bitter Pills - ACEO
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com I can't sleep so here I am making a hopefully quick blog post after dusting off the Wacom tablet and doing a little sketching. A sketch that I added to my sketch collection on Flickr.

Both blee and I are still a bit sick so I am going to try and get back to sleep and take it easy today. Getting back into the swing of things slowly.

Done this week:

1) Made this new ACEO/ ATC
2) Finished carving
3) Hung art at cafe
3) Cleaned studio
4) Sketched with Wacom tablet

Things to do:

1) List ACEO/ ATC
2) Print
3) Finish hanging art

heavens!
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com Good evening and good morning. The weather here is rainy and awful, blee is teething so bad we actually saw a touch of blood around her new tooth on Sunday night. We looked it up and it is perfectly normal, but still hard to take.

Despite this I am doing a lot better this week. It was a hard weekend and this week is looking to be no better, but I feel like I am ready for it. I have a lot of work to do for my show which I hang on Friday and my creativity is actually starting to come back to me. In fact after I finish this post I am going to get back to carving this new block I started on Friday. It is nearly complete.

The Smell of Pine - ACEO
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Sister Winter
Originally uploaded by m.Lee First off I would like to congratulate Stiletto Heights and say that it is an honor to call her a friend even though we have not yet met. You see she left New England for Columbus around the time I left Columbus for New England. And we didn't even meet online until two years ago when she signed up for Etsy and picked me as her mentor. Well, I guess I did a good job because look at her go! I'm so happy for her. Congratulations Jenn, you earned it.

determined - SPT
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comHas been following me around mentally. But not today. I'm not going to let my negative thoughts get the best of me today. Today is going to be different. This is the face of somebody that is determined to feel better!

I've been sketching daily using the Wacom tablet every day. My goal obsessed brain needs to turn this into some sort of goal to suck out the fun and I am fighting that urge. But I am going to do thirty of them. They don't have to be one a day every day. But I want thirty by the end of June! Some days I will need to double up because I am going to be out of town for five days this month and won't have my tablet with me, nor will I have the time regardless.

I'm trying not to get hung up on the quality of them and just enjoy the time to doodle for fun.

Delicate
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Good night and good morning. I am off to bed as soon as I post this. Blogging before bed seems to be the best time for me.

In case you missed it yesterday I am running a Studio Sale in my Etsy Shop in honor of spring cleaning. Clean up my studio and clean up my shop to make room for new pieces like this one and of course plenty of collages and other fresh goodies. Nothing is over $50 so if you have been coveting a piece for awhile it is worth checking out.

Collage #14 - Collage Challenge
Originally uploaded by m.Lee That I am done with the collage challenge . The original challenge the creator Magic Jelly set up was two weeks. Well I of course decided in a manic fury that two weeks was nowhere near big enough so I would go to the end of the month. Heck maybe until my birthday next month!

Gouache ACEOs
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Hi!

Back from a pretty cold and grey weekend here in Boston. Not so good for my spirits.

But I do have some colorful little gouache paintings to play around with. Some will probably get printed on, planned on doing that tonight but I don't feel well so am just going to head off to bed. Some will get collaged on and maybe drawn on and some will probably be left as is. A fun little project to keep me going during a pretty blah time in my creative brain.

My Wacom Tablet may arrive Monday, or Tuesday at the latest I expect. Not bad for free shipping. I'm not really in a good mental place to play around with it but hopefully I will be once it arrives.

Mysterious Stranger
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comAnd goodbye. I'm going on a much needed vacation.

But don't be sad I will still be around but I just need to give myself some more time off the computer and away from the constant creative pressure that I put myself under. It can be quite overwhelming. And since we are going away to Ohio for a funeral in two weeks anyhow I figured I might as well take the whole month off.

I will try to blog once a week, keep my shop up to date and even continue to sketch. But mostly this month is about enjoying nature with my daughter, sitting down and reading (and finishing) a book for the first time since becoming a mother and playing some silly video games like Mario Kart for the Wii.

I'll be a quiet presence while I take this month to regroup and hopefully re-cooperate from a bunch of emotional setbacks. Mmmmm I can smell the flowers already.