Today is President's Day, so I have the day off from teaching.  Need to put a full day for Rais Case.  Grant, Nala, Phebe and I are sitting at the kitchen table getting the day going. :)  Some of the big RC to-do's today include: 
1) Order 2 leather hides for RC straps
2) Phone meeting with Kirk Strohman!  He is a friend and lawyer who is giving me legal advice.  Thanks Kirk!
3) Collaboration meeting with Rachael over at L33...we have some really cool stuff in the works.

Then there are the mundane to-do's such as, go to the post office (yuck!) and emails. And if there is time, I want to experiment dying burlap.  I bought some wine colored dye that I think would look amazing on the burlap bags.  Enjoy your day!
 

Life is busy these days...between Grant, friends, work, wedding planning, finishing grad school, and running a small business...there is a constantly something happening.  So, I am taking a break from my blog for a few months. I'd like to spend a some of that time building a site for my Rais Cases. I've started conceptualizing the look of the site, below you can get a little taste of it.  My goal is to launch the site in May.  Until then, all the best. :) 

{photos by: Grant Ellis}

I've been wanting to freshen my website up for months, but lacked the motivation and time.  This week my students are preparing their final portfolio websites so I had to get down to business and get my site ready as an example for them.  I use www.Weebly.com to build my website and teach my students how to use it too.  It's relatively easy to use, I find the key to breaking free of the templates Weebly provides, is having a solid Photoshop background and understanding a bit of CSS.  

Although there are design elements I am still refining, I would love to get some feedback on the new look of my site? Tell me what you think...honesty is appreciated...both good and bad.

For Christmas, Grant and I opted out of buying individual gifts and decided to get ourselves a juicer.   We have been using it regularly the past month.  It's been fun experimenting and getting physiqued up on different fruit and veggie combinations.  Our staples have been carrot, apple, ginger and then whatever else we have in the house...sometimes celery, beets, kale, spinach.  This week's new ingredient has been grapefruit, because Grant scored a free bagful on a trip he took last weekend.  Usually we end up throwing a concoction together 5 minutes before I have to run out the door.  My students have taken notice to the colorful creations...so I decided to keep a weeks' worth of cups and take a pic. :D  

I love the start of a new year!  Grant and I have a lot to forward to this year.  We will be getting married, he will be buying new camera equipment (he is a photographer and is sooo stoked), our dogs should be mellowing out (as they will both be turning 3!), we are going to try and grow the line of Rais Cases, and most importantly we are both in a state of mind of be grateful for all the we have.  Here are a some other things on my radar for 2011:

Lune Vintage
A bohemian-vintage style blog and shop that is to die for!  There are lots of great DIY projects and inspirations for those who are into this aesthetic. 

Pedlars 
A UK based shop that has it all- decor, vintage finds, clothing, camping gear and it's all got a fantastic stylish flair
Not On The High Street: 

Not On The High Street
Another UK based company, this site is sort of the same as ETSY.  Hundreds of unique vendors sell there wares through this site.  There are some great gifts, such as this clever mug for $15 (pounds)...sort of expensive...but very cool. 

My Black Book
This is a great blog with LOTS of inspiration.  There is no 'about' section, so I don't know who the author of this blog is, but whoever it is sure has great sense of style.  It's worth bookmarking this site. 

Today marked 4 months since I officially launched Moxie Shop!   Most of the time I have spent on Moxie Shop has been developing Rais Case bags.  Here is a brief sense of where I'm at and where I want to go. 

I finally have a spread sheet, thanks my amazing fiancé Grant!  Up until tonight I have been jotting down sales from craft fairs and friends on sheets of paper and jamming them into a notebook.   Grant sat with me tonight and we went through those sheets and through Etsy.com to make an official spreadsheet.   Well, sort of official,  it is still handwritten.  Maybe in another month we'll make an Excel sheet. 

My point however, is that I gradually dialing in things such as spread sheets, making tags, evolving and refining products, packaging, and marketing.  None of these things happen over night, nor should they.    I still have lots of of things I would like  to dial in, such as sourcing hardware for my straps, experimenting with more designs + fabrics, as well introducing a couple of new products made by other artisans in Moxie Shop.   

For today simply...here is what I've been up to: 

Last night my friend Jackie and I popped over to "Kringle Mingle"...a holiday craft fair + party in Cardiff.   There were lots of creative holiday gifts from local artisans.  I met one woman, who makes beautiful hats, gloves and broaches...her company is called Off-The-Hook.  We started chatting and next thing you know we are discussing a potential collaboration between her broaches and my Rais Cases.  Below is one of her wool broaches on a burlap Rais Case.  This weekend Kel and I are doing a craft fair together, called Artisans Alley, in Coronado...I'm going to give the beautiful broaches a 'tester' down there. ;)' 

In my class this week, I have arranged for Dale McLeod, a local screen-printing artist, to teach my students how to silk screen.   Today was lesson no. 1, STENCILING.  Each of my three class periods choose a different theme, period 1 picked mustaches,  period 2 choose the A-Z and 0-9, and period 3 picked fruit.  In each class students had about 45 minutes to sketch ideas and cut out their design. Then we arranged all the stencils onto a blank t-shirt, Dale put a large silk-screen on top of the shirt and the students did a full bleed mono-print. It was great! Tomorrow we are going to take the process one step further. Here are some pics from the mustache group. :)

I was never very good about keeping journals.  I've started dozens of them with the best of intentions...only to have every single one become less and less of a priority as time passed.  A blog is basically a type of journal, right?  I must admit, a week away from my blog, and I am stoked to come back to it.  Blogs seem wear lots of different hats (personal, business, design, forums, and so on).  For me this blog is two things.  One it is a visual journal that gives my on-going projects + inspirations a place to LIVE. And second it helps allow others into my world.  Those who are interested can see what I am up to and those who could care less will never be bothered. :)    

So, last week I needed some time away because I was head high in a holiday project. A few months ago my amazing friend Kel (founder of Kithi.com) and I started brainstorming about the holidays.  I wanted to design a Christmas tree and she wanted to design beautiful ornaments. We've both been working our buns off making it happen...more on our collaboration later.  Last week I spent a lot of time developing and producing my trees. And this weekend I designed a website for them.  The site is not 100% finished, but I couldn't be happier about the way it is turning out.  I'll let you know when it's ready!

{the wooden tree website layout  © julie rais}