We're back! Sort of.

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We're still recovering from our wedding, all the things that surrounded the wedding and also a big show immediately after that in Chicago. Hello! To all our new friends that are finding us from that Chicago show! I'll have a separate post about that show and the incredible things we saw in Chicago later on this month. 

One thing to note, is that we currently have our Etsy shop on vacation mode for the rest of the week. I am revamping some old photos and adding some new products to all of our shops. 

Now on to some wedding pictures! I'll have more detailed DIY wedding posts over on my personal blog, which is more suited for wedding things. Quite honestly, I am still in complete shock that we pulled it all off. We had a rollercoaster of a ride making that event happen. We did everything ourselves with help from friends and family. Our wedding story includes a tree falling down onto a house, thousands of lumpia and a boat filled with beer. 

John and Thea on their wedding day. Appropriately taken by the friend who introduced them. September 3, 2016

We did things our way. We even made use of that downed tree and created a display at our ceremony site. Our ceremony included jokes, NIN, Richard Dawkins and Parks and Rec references and were announced "carbon based lifeform to carbon based lifeform". Everything was very us. 

6 by 6 Arts family. (5 out of our 6 kids)

Our wedding was very much handmade. It was also an intimate wedding under 70 people. We made our own food, bought our own tents, thrifted our decor, I made my wedding bouquet and boutonnière, John's best friend married us, my mother in law was our photographer, my nieces made the most beautiful wedding cake for us and our kids gave us way to each other and were our wedding party. It was so much fun. We felt so loved and honored to celebrate with ones we hold so close. 

Our wedding favors. 

We gave out some very unique wedding programs and favors of course! 

Photo by M&K Daoang.

Thank you all who have emailed/messaged us congratulations. It has been really awesome to receive those. 

One last photo, you'd think as laser cutters we'd have a laser cut cake topper. We did on a gluten free cake for our friends and family who are gluten free. But the very first thing I bought when we became engaged was this cake topper, so we had to use it. :) 

Lasers and love - Thea

Our cake topper. 

All is well again with 6 by 6 at Handmade at Amazon

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I just wanted to do a little follow up about our recent strange experience with our shop at Handmade at Amazon. For a quick refresher about what happened to us - visit this post.

I posted that post link on various social media outlets and even tagged Handmade at Amazon in a post or two directly, hoping to gain any attention. Being in the Seattle area, we have a handful of friends who work at Amazon and extended offers to connect me to someone who could help. Which ultimately got me in contact with someone at Amazon! 

I received an email a day or two after posting my blog post about our experience from an actual person at Amazon. He inquired about my issue and I directed him to my blog post for reference, since I laid it all out there. Soon after that contact our account was restored! He did offer a direct phone call with me after our account was restored just to make sure that we were good to go. I declined because we got what we wanted, just to have access to our account again.

Shortly after that, I received a direct email from the leads at Handmade at Amazon team. They just wanted to speak with me about my experience over the phone, which I appreciated. They were very apologetic and told me that what happened to us was a weird isolated event, which was reassuring. The two that I spoke with were very nice and gave me the platform to mention things that I felt were frustrating. For me it I was bent out of shape about not being transferred to the department that I needed to speak to by a customer service representative. C'mon I know Amazon has that ability! Secondly, my disappointment in the the on site representatives promoting makers to join Handmade at Amazon at a large local craft lack of information for contacts for sellers. Lastly, this one was more on my own personal expectations as a long time maker, I'm used to having one on one contact with selling sites (I've been with Etsy a long time and have met quite a few admins over the years and they were always very accessible) and direct contact with customers. It's apart of the charm of the handmade maker scene. You are buying from a person who put their hard work and hands on the products. It's a personal experience. I felt that element was missing from Amazon's support. 

In the end, we got the help that we needed after all. I hated having to get the attention that we wanted to resolve the issue the way we did though. Thankfully, we were told it was an isolated incident but they wanted to make sure something like this will not happen to other sellers, which was nice to hear. 

Thanks to everyone who shared this and got us the help we needed.

Lasers and love -Thea

Taking a Break and Getting Hitched!

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For the next two and a half weeks our shops will be semi closed.

We will be slow to respond to emails and calls. Standing orders will still be processed as scheduled. Retail orders will be processed as they come in. But custom orders will be on hold until we resume regular hours on September 14th, 2016.

We're getting married and we will be spending time with friends and family.

I have a couple scheduled posts that will be shared this week. I did put a small halt to our "At Home with 6 by 6" posts, because I decided to repaint a room in the midst of all the other craziness going on here. Because I'm nuts. 

Lasers and love -

John and Thea 

Small Batch Manufacturing - Pinoy Stitch

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While we do have our own retail line, we also do a lot of small batch manufacturing for other companies. Small batch manufacturing is a cost effective way for companies to test their product out on the market. Especially handmade makers, where many of us have other employment commitments, makers that are just starting up or like us, makers that take pride in American made products. 

A great example of that is Pinoy Stitch's DIY Slide Tin Trinket Box and DIY Circle Pendants. 

Pinoy Stitch provided us with their vision and artwork and through a small testing process we created components for their products. Personally I am a needlework fan (junkie) so I've been  excited about their product development and the end result of course!

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We're proud to produce components for such a great idea!

To grab a DIY Slide Tin Trinket Box or DIY Circle Pendant for yourself please visit Pinoy Stitch!

Lasers and love - Thea

(Photos by Pinoy Stitch - used with permission.) 

At Home With 6 by 6 Arts - Furry "Employees"

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I thought it would be fun to add a little twist to our home tour. There are two very important fixtures in our home, our "puppies" Toki & President Baberham Lincoln. Toki is 9 and Baberham is 2. 

Our ladies "on guard". 

Our ladies "on guard". 

Pictured above, is their favorite spot in the house in our front room. Our old couch is exclusively theirs, parked right next to my vintage Plycraft chair and our Lego Tower of Orthanc.  That couch is thei perch and comfort zone.

It's amazing how a home wouldn't feel the same without your pets around. While they do have little barking fits to alert everyone that their arch nemesis "The UPS guy" has pulled into the driveway and get a little to beggy at dinner, we'd miss them greatly if they didn't. 

We actually had a scare soon after we brought Baberham home after we adopted her from a local shelter. She got curious and wandered into the forest. She was missing for a couple hours. Thankfully she ended up in a neighborhood close by and was easily identified by the custom ID tag we engraved for her.

Custom engraved pet ID tags. 

Custom engraved pet ID tags. 

They are like our furry children. Like our real children, they too are very animated, have distinct personalities, leave things all over the house and fill our home with even more love.

Baberham

Baberham

Toki

Toki

How about you? Who are your fur babies? I'd love to see pictures! I watch every single pet video that is posted to Facebook/Instagram. I'd be a crazy dog lady if permitted to. 

We hope everyone stays cool this weekend!

Lasers and love -Thea 

At Home With 6 by 6 Arts - Where Prototype Signs Go To Die

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When I posted the first post, I imagined my mother's horror of me not putting things "away" before showing the world what my home looks like. I grew up in a house that had those weird plastic protective runners on top of the carpets. Anyone even know what those horrible things are? I think they were meant to keeping your carpet clean.  I ate shit on them every morning, by tripping on that *one* little bumped up part.

Not in my house. I keep a house where my kids actually feel comfortable living here. I do have one son that is a little TOO comfortable and thinks the tv room is his hamper...

But we have our Lord of the Rings Legos displayed in the front room (I'll show those in a future post!) Dr. Seuss book characters painted in the our old dining room and of course our own signs that we designed. 

A recent vintage mid century Quartite lamp thrift find. Thanks to those who chimed in on Instagram. The original colors have grown on us. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of our refrigerator that has all sorts of chalkboard magnets we've designed stuck all over it. 

We often will display our original prototype signs on our walls. Like this Damn Fine Cup of Coffee sign.

Can you notice the difference in lighting or what? Bright light in the kitchen vs the soft tv room light as seen in the previous photo.

We had some stability issues with the first layout of the Damn Fine Cup of Coffee sign. We adjusted them but kept this original one. Appropriately hung on the wall next to our coffee pot of course. Which sits elegantly on my fine "vintage" (beat to hell) formica countertops. I also had to display one of my vintage Pyrex coffee pot stands. (I'm a vintage Pyrex collector!) I might as well explain the other things going on here. A Partylite pineapple candle holder that was a gift to me. A slightly hidden sugar dispenser. Ferdinand the Bull from the Philippines. Odd story about that - my mom just sent that to me with no note, or explanation as to why she sent it. Just Ferdinand in a box. We laughed for days with slogans for the bull. "Bull in a Box", "Big Box of Bull", "Pack and Play Bull", "Bull on the Go!" I later found out that she just forgot to include the note when she packaged it up. A framed card that reads "I hate everyone that isn't you" - from one of my best friends. Some coasters that no one uses. A basket of napkins - because they are way cheaper than paper towels and when you have a house full of teenagers you don't bother buying the expensive stuff until they move out. Finally, an outlet with a mustache. I draw mustaches on outlets because it makes me laugh.  

I hope you're enjoying this little series and a peek into our home!

Lasers and love - Thea 

The Calm Before The Storm

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Mid July already? Where does the time go? We're getting nudged for holiday orders, ads for "back to school" stuff is popping up and our wedding planning is coming to a close as the main event nears. Perhaps I feel this way because every spare moment we get my entire family has been playing Pokemon Go together. I kid, but I do openly admit that I packed my car up with my family at 10:30 the other night and drove around to Pokestops. We are enjoying it quite a lot. The summer has been flying by though and the onslaught of jammed packed life that begins in the fall is on the horizon.

Off cuts serendipitously placed.

Off cuts serendipitously placed.

We're finishing up a handful on new products for the holiday season. I hate talking about the holidays this early. I am so sorry. But its the way the "buying season works". It makes sense really. Buyers have to plan ahead to make sure they have the things they need to thrive when people are buying. That's a soft nudge to remember to support the small brick and mortar stores in your neighborhoods. We need those small shops to thrive and keep the character of our places.  

I've been working on our new products, packaging design and applying to shows for the next upcoming months. Along with the fun diversion of our little "Home Tour" series. I'll have a new post about that on Friday. 

Today, I leave you with a picture I took of some sleeping ducks at a near by lake. Completely adorable and totally not relevant to anything. I just thought they were the cutest. 

Sleeping ducks

Lasers and love - Thea

At Home With 6 by 6 Arts - The Truth

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Hello Friday. It has been a rough week socially speaking. Many discouraging things going on all over the world. Surreal things, things that make you wonder if we as human value life truly. The saddest thing about all of the social turmoil is that it's overshadowing an amazing human feat of Juno orbiting Jupiter. Humans can do amazing things and horrible things. I'm just a lady who runs a small business in the trees of Western Washington. The part I'm contributing to the world is raising good accepting people. I don't make any big social decisions for others, but I do support those who share the same views as I do.

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Before this week, I had planned to start a little weekly series about us. A little home tour of sorts. I decided to do a little soft and truthful introduction into that. Earlier today I took a picture of one of the walls in my living room:

At home with 6 by 6 Arts

At home with 6 by 6 Arts

I left everything in place. Disheveled front door mat, boxes from shipments. Folding chairs from my last craft show and other business stuff that belongs in the garage. A few weeks ago I had posted a photo on Instagram about a vintage (mid century) table lamp. I noted that our house is a mish-mash of things. Here's a little glimpse of that. My gallery wall that John isn't too keen on. I have a few decorative plates that came from my dad's house, a handful of thrifted scenic paintings. With spaces for wall art that I am making myself. A glass bonsai tree, a vintage brass menorah, wooden Ibex family, vintage Alsy lamps, some of my vintage Pyrex and my childhood Japanese dolls in the cabinets and my what my kids call the "Blue Clues" chaise chair.  As you can see I'm no home stylist or even care much about style. There's lots going on here. To me, it's comforting, I like looking at things, lots of color and things that make my home unlike any other. The stuff from work can go, but John has been rearranging the garage so that will be short lived. 

I will post an update of this room once I complete that wall art and will share pictures of other rooms and where we predominately display our original We Hate Everything Together sign. I wanted to share what our home, which is where we work too - looks like since we design many things for your homes. It's only fair. 

Lasers and love - Thea 

New Stockist - Timberline Lodge (Yes, THE Timberline Lodge)

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Recently, John and I travelled to OSU for a volleyball tournament for one of our daughters. Any parent with a kid in a demanding activity, knows how long days can get while traveling with a team/group. Every night we were more than excited to chill out in the hotel. Taking off our shoes, eating some snacks and zoning out on tv. We happened to catch one of those "Northwest History" shows that featured the Timberline Lodge one night in the hotel. John and I both commented how we both hadn't been out that way in years and guzzled up all the historic information that show shared about the lodge.  What an amazing place with incredible art.

Fast forward a month and a half, we had spontaneous interaction with a representative from the lodge and they asked about our products and the rest is history. You can find our goods at the lodge's gift shop. Now, you should just go because it's one of the most magical places on Earth with a rich history and it's not too far from Portland.

But for you PNW Stephen King fans, might we inspire a bit of wanderlust... as it is "The Overlook Hotel" in the movie The Shining. At least the exterior is. 

Add it to your travel bucket lists friends!

Lasers and love - Thea

Japanese Mon

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We recently had a request to make some family reunion keepsakes. They really wanted to have something simple and nice that their family members would actually use and display. Rather than just another t-shirt. The asked us to engrave their family mon onto ornaments with a little commemorative message on the reverse side. 

Japanese mon are the equivalent of European's family coat of arms. An emblem to represent the family. Japanese mon have great clean lines and shapes. The designs translate so well when it's engraved.

They turned out beautifully. What a great family reunion gift to give to an entire family! It was also a unique project for us. We do a lot of private label and manufacturing work as well as our retail line. It was fun to work with a family who wanted to present a thoughtful gift to their family. 

Lasers and love - Thea