Lots of Lettersets! ♥

Today was the best Monday ever. I spend a large portion of the morning meditating on leisure (Josef Pieper), then moseyed on over to Bidwell Perk, the coffee shop down the street, to crank out the illustrations for these bad boys! I feel accomplished.

First up, we have a lovely Rainy Day stationery design which I made in response to your votes! Don't worry, there will be dinosaurs and derby girls and ratties and more Bowie in the future... but I love rain clouds (I miss them! Come back rain!) so I had a lot of fun with this one.

Gridlines + Clouds = my favorite things

One of my penpals from here in California suggested I make some butterfly stationery because it's a popular motif amongst snail mailers on swap-bot.com. I'm not much into butterflies, but moths are bad-ass, so I compromised, haha. My grandma loves butterflies, so I will have to make some for her & the other butterfly lovers out there in the near future.

Featuring an Emerald Gum Moth

Next up! You've seen this first kitty before! He's for sale in my shop already, but I decided to make him some friends. ♥ I'll be selling them individually and also in a variety pack!

Tubby Tabby

Mischievous Maine Coon

Suave Siamese

So now I'll have some fresh new stationery for the shop this week, and just in time for my craft show on May 11th! Oh, and here's another opinion poll... thanks to everyone who voted in the last one! That was very helpful to me! ♥

Printables VS Stationery Sets... which do YOU prefer?
	I buy mostly printables on Etsy
	I buy mostly stationery sets on Etsy
	I don't buy stationery on Etsy
	Split Pea Soup!
pollcode.com free polls

♥ Ciara Kay

Derby Daze...

I survived my first bout!! My team lost, but not by an embarrassing amount, and we made an awesome comeback in the second half and almost turned the tide... So we are pretty proud of ourselves despite the final score. All pics are by Nocklebeast, check out the rest of the photostream!

Team shot! Me on the upper left, purple helmet.

Me in the white jersey!

Me in the purple helmet, #379!

I can't wait for the next one in June!! Learned a lot, can't wait to get back to practice & get better at kicking ass.

Now I have to plan an office baby shower and start freaking out about my upcoming craft show!!

Also, all stationery in the shop is 20% off in honor of Britain's National Stationery Week! Why can't we Americans celebrate with you guys? ;)

Love,

Dead Marsha

Want an Awesome Postcard?

My sis-in-law gave me a rad box of postcards for my birthday and it has made me excited about postcards again... So if you would like one, add your info to my Postable! They are all gloriously random and lovely and I will glean great joy in sending them out into the world.

Some shop-related news:

♥ Secretary's Day is a week from tomorrow! Appreciate the administrative professionals in your life with this neato card!

Purchase on Etsy!

♥ I listed two new printables available in the shop!

♥ I'm going to have a booth in a craft faire on May 11! It will be my first ever... and it will be well documented... I have a Pinterest board designated for ideas & tips that I've been collecting from Etsy and elsewhere! I'm really excited about it... The faire is part of a music festival, Music for Music, to raise money for local music scholarships and give local artists a chance to show their stuff. Should be fun!

♥ I have a Lost Sock Memorial Day (May 9) card on its way, and I think I'll finish up the artwork for those printables I mentioned and make some fully designed stationery in time for the craft show, too...

Now, I need your opinions!

Stationery: What design would you like to see next?
	Rats
	Dinosaurs
	More Bowie
	Cute Rainy Clouds
	Roller Derby Girls
	Surprise Me
pollcode.com free polls

I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon with a Sierra Nevada and iTunes to keep me company while I  make some mail, work on my product photography & enjoy the windy Chico weather from safe inside (where there's no pollen!!)

♥ Ciara Kay

Saturday Sketchdump: Golems & Girls

I'm trying to sketch every day in my sketchbook... anything I feel like sketching, as long as I sketch. And I'd like to post the week's doodles every Saturday. We will see how long this lasts... knowing me, this will be the first and final "Saturday Sketchdump" post, haha.

Anyway, I only have Wednesday-Friday's sketches to post! Next Saturday you will have a full week's worth of doodles to gawk at.

4•10 - Inspired by the Genesis song "The Brazilian" [LISTEN TO IT. Genesis is amazing] I always picture huge mountain golems rising out of the earth when I hear that song...

4•11 - this image
4•12 - Illustration Friday's prompt prompted a crazy crayon-scribbled derby girl... I have my first bout in Santa Cruz IN ONE WEEK!!

Hope you like!

♥ Ciara Kay

Mail Time!

Man, I am bad at this. I don't want to give away the surprise of getting mail for the penpals of mine that follow the blog, but then it's like three weeks later and I forget to ever post my mail art, and half the time I forget to even photograph it. Ah well. What can you do.

To a pal in NY

To an old friend in my hometown. We've taken up exchanging letters again! ♥

To a pal in FL

Another one to my buddy back home... this envelope was proof that I needed to go to sleep. It kind of hurts my eyes.

To my pal in OKC

A thank you to the Snail Mailer for her awesome 22 card birthday gift! I embellished a fold & mail.

The outside of the fold-and-mail (from Please Deliver To)

Another interactive fold & mail to a new pal [these are so addicting! and it gives me a chance to use up some of my scraps]

Time for lunch. I'm hungry. Then to tackle a fresh pile of mail!

♥ Ciara Kay

Birthday Wishes & Printables

This is what I did for my birthday:

• Went wine tasting (delicious!)
• Went on the Sierra Nevada brewery tour & tasting (very interesting and quite tasty... there was a beer that was aged in Bourbon barrels... SO good)
• Went to a mystery dinner theatre (gross food, kind of a lame show, oh well)
• Spent the night with friends (way fun!)
• Had breakfast at an Irish pub (so yummy!)

I also wanted to share some cards I got...

From my grandparents. Inside it says "Resistance is futile, you're still one of us" XD BEST CARD EVER

22 cards from the Snail Mailer! All in separate envelopes... best gift in the world from a penpal!!

In other news, I have bronchitis now, which is why I've been a bit quiet around the interwebz the last few days. Also it was my birthday, so I guess all are legitimate excuses. =P

I do have a new product in the shop though! I decided to make some printables for $5 each... What do you think?

Garden Snail Printable Stationery 

Praying Mantis Printable Stationery

With all the bugs visiting it seemed appropriate. It was 85 degrees (F) today!! Crazy... so glad the house is well insulated! I mislike the heat.

What would YOU like to see more of from Scoutaroo?? I'm really interested in any kind of feedback! ♥

Here are a few things I have planned for the near future:

• Penpal Address books
• Birthday Cards
• Penpal Kits
• OOAK Envelopes
• Fold & Mails

Anyway. Today was kind of a brainstorming day. Lots of ideas, very little resources to implement them... ah well, I just need patience!

♥ Ciara Kay

Birthday Wishlist

It's way too late for anyone to be buying me anything for my birthday, but I DO have some birthday cash!! How can I decide between all these awesome Etsy finds?

Refillable Leather Sketchbook by ZenfishLeather

Gray Sweatshirt by YSari

Sweet Skate Toe Guards! by RedRage77

My favorite biscuit pillow... by Nikki McWilliams

Or maybe I'll blow the whole wad on washi tape... from washimatta

Hmm... what should I treat myself to? Decisions decisions! ♥

I had a swell day! Went to work at my favorite framing shop, got news that Jamie has officially been accepted to U.C. Santa Cruz (YAY!! We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate), got some lovely letters & birthday cards, and I'm looking forward to lots of surprises tomorrow for my birthday!

♥ Ciara Kay

P.S. Don't forget to use the $5 off code in my shop by the end of tomorrow! Spend $24 or more and get $5 off with the code 24BIRTHDAY ♥

New Listings on a Rainy Day

Lucky me, I came down with the flu on Tuesday night! I think the worst of it is over, and I'll be back to normal tomorrow! Luckily I got time off work for my birthday so I didn't have to call in, AND my print shop got my order done a couple of days early, so I was able to take my time getting some new listings together while enjoying the rain outside!

So, now for some shameless self-promotion.

So far I have these new listings... Any feedback on photographs, pricing, the product itself, is appreciated!!

Happy Secretary's Day Card! $4.50

Wise Blood Stationery Set $13

Mama Bear Mother's Day Card $4.50

I'll be listing the other three Mother's Day cards now through Tuesday!

And don't forget to use this fancy $5 off coupon when you buy $24 worth of stuff from the shop now through Saturday, which is my birthday!

Side note. I love how uncomfortable this particular costume of Bowie's makes the men in my life. My husband is unfazed (he is subjected to constant exposure to all things Bowie, the lucky guy), but I've received multiple comments about it from various menfolk over the age of 30, which I find funny.

Oh Bowie. You are my hero.

♥ Ciara Kay

Incoming!

I have 10 pieces of mail that I still need to reply to... At least they're all from March! But it's April now, time to get crackin'!

Man, these photos suck. I forgot to switch my camera back to "auto," haha. Oops! Well, you get the idea: I get beautiful mail from beautiful people.

From Amber in Louisiana & Olga in Mexico - my first penpals from each of those locations!

From Germany

From Kay in Mississippi

From the Snail Mailer featuring a bunch of goodies & a super cool Jacob's Ladder letter!

From Helena, a Brit in Japan!

From my good friend Deborah in San Francisco! Easter goodies including a Letter C keychain & stickers!

From Tasha in Oklahoma, my New Year's Resolution buddy

From my talented new penpal Harjyot in Mumbai, India!

From my thoughtful friend TMC! The first birthday card of the year! I turn 22 on Saturday. :)

I hope everyone had a good Easter. We enjoyed a great church service (we were treated to hymns on organ, very classic and beautiful) and lots of food with Jamie's family! We also got a chance to stop by my parent's house for more dessert & fellowship. It was a beautiful, cloudy, rainy day to remember the Resurrection!

Today I got a lot of stuff done; at least enough to justify a few hours of Animal Crossing: City Folk! Jamie is going to buy himself a new Wii U and I've rediscovered my obsession with silly Nintendo games like Animal Crossing... If only they made Viva Pinata for the Wii, I would be in heaven. Viva Pinata is my favorite game EVER.

Off to write some letters! That is, if I don't give in to Animal Crossing... The sound of Animalese just warms my heart!

♥ Ciara Kay