Decorating for Me - Useful and Beautiful - The Qi Papers

A while back I read this quote by William Morris. "Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."  This quote kept ringing in my head as I again gutted my house of "stuff" and had a major yard sale back in October. I made over $1,500.00 at my sale and everyone was shocked by how much money I made. I told them it wasn't hard to do when you sell everything. Some customers thought I had a store!

I think the worst thing is that I don't miss any of it. None of it was all that useful and while many things were quite beautiful, they were just things to "decorate" a space. I also looked at how much money I really "lost" and how many hours I had worked to purchase items I really didn't care about just to decorate a space. Let's just say I wanted to puke when I did the math!!!

After that day, I made a promise to myself that I would no longer have anything in my home that I did not feel to be useful or beautiful. I would take my time and find things that I would never dream of putting in a yard sale.  For me, that mostly means handmade items, art and rabbits. It is also why I promised myself this would be a handmade year and the gifts I give have to be made by me or made by another artist.

So, when my dear friend, Diana Moll of The Qi Papers, posted these beautiful Year of the Rabbit postcards in her Etsy shop, I knew I had to have them! They are not only beautiful, but they are useful too! I decided to hoard keep some for myself and give some to very special friends. Those which I keep, I'm will frame and hang in Bunnyville so I can enjoy them every day.

If you would like to purchase some, Diana has more for sale in her Shop. They come beautifully wrapped and include information on what the art represents (I loved that part!) She also has four bunnies you can visit with on her blog. Tell her Shell and the bunnies said Hi!

Oh, and don't forget to sign up for the 600 followers giveaway! It ends tomorrow! Scroll down to the post below and register!

Have a magical and fun week everybun.
xx, shell, sugie and harrington

Along Came a Tiger

Recently, I was the lucky winner of a beautiful tiger print from my friend Diana Moll of The Qi Papers.

Diana is an acupuncturist, herbalist, print maker and bunny lover. She has 4 house rabbits all of which have wonderful personalities and are just as cute as can be.

Diana made this print using traditional Moku Hanga tools and materials. A wood block is carved for each color, water based non-toxic inks are applied with brushes and slightly damp paper is hand pressed onto the block using a tool called a baren. Lots of time and Qi goes into each print. Moku Hanga translates to "Wood Graphic." Wood block printing has its origins in China; a wood block print on silk dating from 220 AD is the official start. Diana sells this and other beautiful prints in her Shop.http://www.etsy.com/shop/qipapers

I'm very excited that I won this beautiful piece of art. The paper feels amazing. It is handmade Japanese paper called Nishiouchi.  Hop over and visit with her and the bunnies. Tell her Shell said hi!