With the weather warming up, I want to be outside all the time. Are you with me? I live in Portland so when the sun’s out, I soak it up as much as I can and most definitely don’t take it for granted! I love going on walks in the neighborhood and admiring all the pretty flowers in our neighbors’ gardens.
Our home has a front porch that fits a small coffee table with a wooden swing and sitting bench. The other day, I stepped outside and noticed how dusty our porch had become over winter. I took out the garden hose and the big broom and got the job done! Ah! Now it feels so much better! Now that our porch is clean, it’s super cozy and welcoming so it’s the perfect spot to hang out at home and still be outside. The reason our porch feels inviting is largely due to our “porch decor.” That’s right. Kind of like home decor but then for the porch! I have a colorful outdoor rug that feels soft even when we walk outside with bare feet. Bird feeders attract cute song birds that are a joy to watch. I also created a huge stained glass hummingbird mosaic artwork on a vintage window pane that looks especially beautiful when the sunlight shines through. Have you taken a look at your outdoor space lately?"
Have you taken a look at your outdoor space lately? Does it feel boring and bleh or cozy and inviting? Besides the typical spring cleaning, can the space use a spark of joy?
If you’re looking to make your front porch, garden patio or screened-in porch feel more attractive and cozy, here are a few handmade items from my etsy shop that would add a joyful touch to your outdoor living space:
Driftwood Art
I created these art pieces from Pacific Northwest foraged driftwood. The designs were permanently burned into the wood through pyrography or wood burning so the art will not disappear even if displayed in outdoor areas.
If you're creating a cozy nook to drink your morning coffee and read a book, this sign is simple and cute!
These pieces of art also make thoughtful gifts for Mom's Day and Dad's Day! 
Stained Glass Mosaic Bird Feeders
I have three stained glass mosaic bird feeders left in my shop. I'm not planning on making any more of these in the near future so grab one before they're going....going....gone!
Colorful Driftwood Art
I would recommend these art pieces for covered outdoor spaces as well as indoor home decor. They already have hooks installed on the back for easy hanging.
I hope this blog post gives you some inspiration to make your outdoor living space as joyful as it can be. Even a few small changes or the addition of an attractive art piece can make all the difference.
Next steps:
1. Step outside and take an objective look at your outdoor living space or porch 2. Decide what you can change or how you can add joy to the space 3. If any of the art pieces above might work in your space, click on the individual images or head on over to my etsy shop to see the entire collection. Also, I'd like to hear from you! Do you have a patio or porch you enjoy spending time? What activities do you enjoy when you hang out in this outdoor living space? Leave a comment and if you enjoyed reading this blog post, please share with friends! Thank you so much!
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This blog post is NOT sponsored by the companies mentioned and I did NOT receive free product. Also, I'm NOT an affiliate for these products. This blog post reflects my personal opinion and is not influenced by these companies.
In my last blog post, I shared with you about an important tool I've started to use while I'm wood burning: a smoke absorber. I wanted to continue to share with you about the tools I use to create my wood burning art.
Beginner Wood Burner
 Photo Credit: Walnut Hollow
When I just learned about wood burning and wanted to give it a try, I started out with a hobby wood burning tool.
I was pleased and to be honest, kind of surprised how inexpensive this tool was! It was only about $10. I started using the Walnut Hollow Creative Wood Burner. It requires a few minutes to warm up and then you’re ready to burn! These are my very first pieces I created with this wood burning tool: 
What I like about this tool:
The drawbacks of this tool:
Safety Tip: Be sure to tape down the metal stand so you don’t have to worry about a hot burner tipping over!
Professional Wood Burner
 Photo Credit: Razertip
Once I realized how much I was enjoying creating art through pyrography and wanted to add more wood burned gifts to my etsy shop, I decided to upgrade to a professional wood burner. I did a good amount of research and ended up choosing the Razertip SS-D10. Since I couldn’t find this tool locally, I purchased it online through treelineusa.com which I can highly recommend as they‘ve provided me with excellent customer service.
What I like about this tool:
Here is an example of the more detailed work possible with a professional wood burning tool:
The drawbacks of this tool:
Honestly, there’s not much I don’t like about this wood burning tool. I’ll just make these two points:
Please note: this Razertip Wood Burner also comes as a single pen option (Razertip SK). This tool is a bit less expensive and may be a good alternative if you don’t think you’ll need to switch between pens very often and would prefer a professional wood burner at a lower price.
Other Accessories
To keep my lines sharp looking, I use the Razertip Tip Cleaner to scrape off any build-up. This tool is super easy to use as you just gently scrape the tip along the sharp edge and isn’t too abrasive.
Finally, I use graphite paper to transfer some of my illustrations to the wood. I start all my wood burning projects with sketching my ideas on paper. Depending on the design, I’ll then draw it onto the wood freehand or transfer it with graphite paper before making it permanent with wood burning.
That’s it! Hope you enjoyed reading a bit more about my favorite tools in creating my wood burning art.
Have you tried wood burning before? What type of tool do you use? Do you enjoy filling your spare time with another creative hobby? Would love to hear from you in the comments! If you enjoyed reading this blog post, please share!
Be sure to hop on my Simple Joys Club list!
Sign up for a sprinkling of positivity and simple joys in your inbox. You will receive a cute, complimentary Simple Joys Bucket List printable with pretty floral illustration, just for joining the club!
Disclaimer: I typically don’t review products on my blog but I’ve been given the Hakko FA-400 smoke absorber to provide you with a product review as part of this blog series. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company. Thank you for reading my blog!
Reflecting on what would be most interesting for you to read on my blog this year, I wanted to share a bit more about my creative process and some of the tools I like to use. You know how they say “safety first” so let me start there. First, some background….
Safety First!
One day last fall, I was busily working on burning lots of wooden ornaments to stock up for the holidays. When I finished, I noticed the room and my clothing smelled a bit like I’d been hanging out near a campfire all afternoon. Now I like camping and roasting marshmallows but I realized that this smoky odor was probably not very healthy to have in our house, let alone in a room adjacent to our bedroom. In summer, I use my art studio in our back porch but right now, it’s too chilly to work there even with my little space heater.
After reading some tips from fellow pyrographers, I’d started working with a small fan that blew the smoke away to avoid it going straight up my nose. However, even though it was helping to move the smoke away from me breathing it in directly, it was still spreading it around the room. Hmmm… I became a lot more concerned about this issue when my family received some devastating, heartbreaking news. My dad was diagnosed not only with pulmonary fibrosis (most easily explained as scarring of the lung tissue), but also a rare type of lung cancer. Besides searching the internet to look for ways I could help my dad, I began to look for other ways to deal with my wood burning smoke. I had no idea if a better alternative existed but it sure seemed worth the effort.
From the EPA website, I learned that besides giving off particle pollution, wood smoke contains several toxic harmful air pollutants including: benzene, formaldehyde, acrolein and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Reading this information made me think back of last summer. With wildfires often raging the West Coast during the hot months of the year, no wonder we’re advised to stay indoors and limit breathing the polluted air.
In the middle of doing this research, I found a product called a smoke absorber, specifically the Hakko FA-400 Smoke Absorber. Ever heard of it? It has typically been used to absorb soldering smoke but will also work with absorbing smoke from wood burning or pyrography.
So, here’s my two cents after using this product: The Hakko FA-400 smoke absorber visibly sucks up the smoke. Yay! You can use it in both a vertical and horizontal position. I prefer to use it in a horizontal position which really increases the suction power of this powerful, little machine. 
The smoke absorber is pretty compact in size: 5.5”(W) x 3.0”(H) x 7.3”(D). I place the smoke absorber on the tabletop in front of my wood burning project to make sure it “catches” my smoke. You can kind of tell if the distance is right as you want enough space to work comfortably but should be able to see the smoke go into the smoke absorber. The smoke absorber makes a bit louder sound than my fan but I’d expected it to be much louder than it actually is. I can still easily hear the podcasts or audiobooks I like to listen to while I burn.
Another difference from using my fan is that my fan had a rechargeable battery and therefore could be used cordless. I really liked not having yet another cord to deal with. However, since my wood burning unit needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet as well, I’m always working near one anyways so not that big of deal to me.
I haven’t had to change out the carbon activated filter yet but apparently, you have to change it if white residue starts to build up on the filter. Another way to know if your filter needs replacing is by weighing it. The filter can hold up to 4 grams of noxious material and weighs about 12 grams when it’s new so when the weight of the filter is about 16 grams, replace it with a new one. 
The Hakko FA-400 smoke absorber comes with a standard activated carbon filter which easily pops into the unit and is used to absorb 80% of fumes from the air. Getting back to all the icky stuff in wood smoke, not all of the substances are absorbed to the specification of 80% but the air will definitely be cleaner having gone through the filter as compared to unfiltered fumes. Hakko also offers a high efficiency filter that removes 90% of airborne particles but I’ve not personally used this filter with the smoke absorber and can’t comment on it. If you want to get really technical and dig into all the details, I found this article in the Hakko knowledge database helpful.
The scoop?
Overall, I feel a lot more comfortable working on my wood burning art projects inside the house with this smoke absorber. Having this smoke absorber allows me to work on wood burning all year around, instead of just during the warmer months. Who wants to open a window in winter? Besides the fact it’s not comfortable to sit in a cold space, if my hands are freezing, it affects my (detailed) work.
Here is a little video to show you the smoke absorber in action:
I hope this blog post was helpful to you. If it was, please share! I always love to hear from you so please leave me a comment or question. Thanks!!
Be sure to hop on my Simple Joys Club list!
Sign up for a sprinkling of positivity and simple joys in your inbox. You will receive a cute, complimentary Simple Joys Bucket List printable with pretty floral illustration, just for joining the club! Happy New Year! While we’re still finishing up the holiday treats over here and finding bits of New Year’s Eve confetti in the corners of our living room, another major holiday is already sneaking up on us! If your resolution was to be more organized this year (this seems to be the running theme over the years for me!), I’m here to remind you early!  My etsy shop is filled to the brims with Valentine’s Day gifts that won’t add calories to your diet or wilt after just a week.  My wood burned items are lovingly made by hand on Pacific Northwest foraged wood. I also have some upcycled items in the shop, as well as an instant download digital printable for gift tags. These tags are perfect if you plan on baking cookies to give out, to label kids Valentine’s treats for the classroom, or making DIY handmade gifts this year. Bonus: I’m continuing to offer free domestic shipping on many, many items!  Here are just a few favorites but please check out my etsy shop to see the whole collection. Don’t forget to join my email list to make your 2019 more joyful with this fun “Simple Joys Bucket List”! Click on the image below to join the club!  How do you plan to celebrate Valentine's Day this year? Would love to hear from you in the comments!
Thank you! 
Hi everybody! Exciting times here at Presents of Love! The weather has been absolutely delightful here in Portland this week. We've been having cool and crisp mornings with gorgeous sunshine in the afternoon. My favorite weather during my favorite season! So.... I decided to celebrate this joyful feeling by hosting a JOYFUL event:
a Fabulous Friday in Fall ART sale!
This coming Friday 9/28/18 (in two days...eek!), I'll be offering all my handmade artwork as well as stained glass mosaic bird feeders and art prints for sale. The art sale will be from 5pm-7:30pm in Portland, Oregon. For questions and specific location, please contact me at marieke@presentsoflove.com.
This art sale is just one evening only so if you're local, this is your chance to shop for meaningful, handmade gifts for your friend's birthday or do some early holiday shopping before life gets really crazy. If you're not local, most of my artwork can be shipped worldwide so please check out my etsy shop. Thanks for your continued love and support! P.S. If you want to be personally notified of news from my art studio, please join my email list below. You'll receive a fun Simple Joys Bucket List too! 
So I have to admit…. I’m not like Professor Trelawny. I have no abilities in reading tea leaves or crystal balls. I can’t predict the future. Although my hair does look like hers most days as I go for my walk in drizzly Portland or get so absorbed in making my art that I forget to look in the mirror. Whoops.
So why this title? I like fortune cookies. The cookie part is just okay but I like the surprise of opening it and reading what the little piece of paper says. We’ve had some funny and interesting ones over the years. My husband got one that said “ Be careful not to overspend” …… while we were at Disneyland! Ha! Right! So this is what happened. I started writing my own “fortunes.” Not quite like the fortunes you receive in the Chinese restaurant cookies but just bits of positive inspiration and uplifting encouragement inspired by the simple joys in life. With so much negativity in the news, I guess it's my way to counterbalance that a bit. You will now receive a Presents of Love fortune in a cute mini-envelope that I cut and fold myself by hand, complimentary with each order from my etsy shop (excl. digital download printables as those are sent via email). My hope is that you will feel my heartfelt gratitude for each and every one of you who support my art and that my "fortunes" will leave you inspired and reminded of the good in this world. Kind of like a supportive, warm hug tucked into a tiny, colorful envelope.
I’ve been adding lots of new items decorated through pyrography or wood burning over the past few months: driftwood art, modern rustic home decor and cool keychains. Keeping me busy! It was so fun communicating with an absolutely wonderful customer last week and knowing that my art found its way across the world safely, all the way to Switzerland!
See just a few examples of my new creations below:
I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment if your hair is frizzy too, you have a funny fortune cookie story to share or just to say hi. I love that too! Make sure to add your email to my Simple Joys Club as I have all sorts of fun planned for this year.
You don’t want to miss out! Have a great weekend! 
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You hop in the car. Go go go. Until you hit that red traffic light. You battle crowds for a parking spot. Ah, there, you got one! You push your big-box store cart (you know, the one with the squeaky wheel that constantly threatens to push you into stacks of merchandise and other shoppers) through endless aisles lit by fluorescent lighting. Kids are screaming because this is not really fun…for anyone.
Finally, you arrive at the right aisle hoping to find a thoughtful gift for Valentine’s Day, your wedding anniversary, your best friend’s birthday or your mom… What you find is lots and lots of stuff. None of it made with love. None of it thoughtful. All of it factory made and mass produced. You end up empty handed and frustrated having wasted precious time on top of it.
Yet, there is another way! It will save you time, make a real person jump for joy receiving your order and make the person you’re buying a gift for really happy! Also, you can check this gift finding "to do" off your list while sipping your favorite hot drink, wearing your cozy slippers and listening to "Relaxing Sounds of Nature."
Purchasing a gift from a small (creative) business truly is a win-win for everyone. So, if you’re shopping for a gift that will make you look like you care, here are just a few of my handmade gifts. These love-themed gifts are ready to ship right now for Valentine’s Day. To check availability on these one-of-a-kind gifts, please click the images or this link to visit my etsy shop (PresentsofLoveShop).
Because I’m all about spreading the love, here are a few other etsy shops you’ve got to check out:
For handmade doll clothes: HoleInMyBucket For brightly colored, cheerful mixed media art: TurquoiseRhinoceros For beautiful, handmade jewelry: JenKJohnsonDesigns For knitted & crocheted gifts: YarnTreasuresbyHeather
What has been your best experience buying a handmade gift? What made it extra special for you? Would love to hear from you in the comments!
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Who wants a perfect Christmas tree? Beautiful, green branches with pretty ornaments spaced at just the right distance. A tree that is shaped evenly with a nice, straight top. On that top, a special tree topper that reaches to the ceiling. Just like the magazine pictures. I think we all enjoy a beautiful Christmas tree but...
How do we balance our perfectionism for the picture perfect tree with allowing the tree decorating to be a family affair? Because kids don’t always have that pinterest touch…. In our family, the focus has been on building memories together. We have always had a real tree but the past two years, we have taken our tree “shopping” to a whole new level. While listening to Christmas music (okay, I had to kind of force this as my middle school aged kids would much prefer their favorite pop music station), we headed into the mountains to choose our “perfect” tree from the forest. This year, we hit some snow in the process and it was quite the adventure! We eventually found our tree in a little open spot after clambering up a hill and it was perfect! At least to us! 
Once we got the tree in the stand, my husband and I strung the lights around it while the kids excitedly unpacked the ornaments. Decorating with ornaments has always involved the whole family. When the kids were little, I would give them the ornaments that were less fragile and have them decorate the lower branches which were perfect for their height. Now that the kids are older, they especially enjoy decorating with ornaments that are special to them! This year, one of my kids decided to make a branch with ALL the ornaments that he had received as gifts or that were personalized with his name. This resulted in one branch being loaded down with many ornaments so I had to remind him this is our family tree and to spread things out a bit before the tree was going to fall over from being lopsided!
I would love to hear from you about your Christmas tree traditions! Do you let your kids decorate the Christmas tree? How do you create and foster special Christmas memories in your home? I look forward to your comments below. And sharing is caring! Thanks! P.S. Don’t miss out on the handmade, wooden ornaments in my etsy shop! Click here to check availability for these one-of-a-kind Christmas keepsakes! Have a wonderful holiday season!
Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the negative news? Worn down by the craziness of the world? Receive a dash of positivity and a friendly reminder of the simple joys in your inbox when you sign up below. You even receive an exclusive, free gift tag printable! Join the club!
I’m not talking about doing push ups or squats. Or a bright red sunburn. Ouch! I’m not talking about the forest fires that are burning all over the West either, because they just make me really sad. No, I’m talking about something much happier! I somewhat accidentally discovered pyrography! What is pyrography you say? The dictionary explains it as “the art or technique of decorating wood or leather by burning a design on the surface with a heated metallic point.”
It started out with some wooden coasters I made for my husband’s birthday. At first, I was thinking of stamping some designs onto the wood but really wanted the images to come out looking sharp and permanent. I did some research which led to the idea of burning the designs onto the wood. I ordered a basic pyrography or wood burning tool and found it to work well with my simple designs. It was so much fun! When I gave the coasters to my husband, he really loved them and encouraged me to make some more items with this type of art. The feedback I received on my instagram post of the coasters was so positive and encouraging as well! 
So, here I am, slightly obsessed with wood burning! It’s ironic, really. I’m not fearful of that many things but I would admit I’m a bit fearful around fire. So it’s probably good that even though the wood burning tool gets really hot, there are no actual flames or fire involved!
I have been drawing all my life so the transition from pencil to pyrography pen has been pretty straightforward. While my art used to be very photorealistic, I have been simplifying my illustrations and artwork for many years now, to communicate my ideas with minimalist, simple lines. This type of design lends itself really well to pyrography with a visual impact that Simon Easton in his book “Woodburning with Style” compares to wood tattoos. 
I have added five necklaces to my etsy shop with wood burned designs on the pendants. You can find out more when you click on the photographs in this blog post. The designs are inspired by nature and are very lightweight to wear. The necklaces don't have that factory made feel because each individual piece is handmade with love. No trees were cut down to make these necklaces - they were created out of a branch that had fallen down.
I’m planning on adding some ornaments soon because wouldn’t wooden ornaments look so pretty in the Christmas tree? Be sure to add your name to my email list in the sign-up box below if you don't want to miss out! 
Anyways, I would absolutely love it if you check out my new, handmade art in my etsy shop! If you like these "inspired by nature" gifts, please let me know in the comments. Positive comments make my day! Please share this blog post with your nature lover friends.
Thank you!! |
