Peggy's Playground vol. 21 🎡 Summer Recap

And if you missed any of the summer workshops, not to worry. I want to invite you to hang out with me during Sketchbook Bootcamp - we start in just 10 days! Read all about it right here (pssst… I listened, and it’s a whole new format this year 😍). Okay okay, let’s get to the rambling (as if that wasn’t 😜).

During the summer, I pulled out my rickety handmade tufting frame and went to town on some new rugs. They’re the biggest I’ve done so far - I filled up the whole frame. So that was very fun (and I was very sore).

 

The sad part about the one I'm sharing is that it soon landed in the trash. 

Storytime… I finally caved and got a Litter Robot after three years of debating. The cats were not impressed with it. For two weeks I thought it wasn’t filtering properly… until I realized one of my handmade rugs was the new litter box. RIP to my week of tufting.

• I dropped everything to add this kitty retractable claw cutter to my cart when Katie in our community made me aware of its existence 😻
   
• I snagged these scalloped frames that have interior storage for more art because I swap it out throughout the year and I just loved the shape of these! My office wall is about to have its biennial refresh, so once that’s done, I’ll definitely share how I’ll be using them.
   
• I have second-guessed sharing this. It’s completely unnecessary. But here we are, collectively looking at an ice cream vase.

 

 

Another round of paint tubes is here …but not the kind you'd ever want to squeeze. These ones are permanent. Sculptural. A little bit haunted. 22k gold is involved. So is sleep deprivation and way too much black tea.

 

Last time I dropped a collection, it sold out in 58 minutes 🤯 This time, I made fewer pieces because I worked hard to ensure these were even more polished than before..

 

Each tube has its own personality some elegant, some mischievous, most definitely up to something.

 

Go. Fall in love. Add to cart before someone else does.

 

The advice to niche into a style always made me feel like I was supposed to stumble upon one single, glittering purpose that would instantly explain everything about my creative life. Like it would descend from the sky in a halo of watercolor light, whispering, “This is it.”

 

Now, if you’re thinking, uhhh Peggy, didn’t you literally make a workbook about finding your style? — you’re absolutely right. But if you’ve ever flipped through it, you know it’s less about boxing yourself into one “look” and more about uncovering your very human, very multi-layered interests. Because style isn’t a fixed destination. It’s an evolving mix of everything that lights you up.

 

Here’s the truth: most of us don’t find our style in one big cinematic moment. We follow breadcrumbs. A flicker of curiosity here, a random tutorial there, a hobby that turns into something surprisingly joyful.

 

You don’t have to know your thing to start. You just have to notice what sparks something and give it a little room to grow. Curiosity is the compass; style is what happens when you keep following where it leads.

 

So if you’ve been waiting for a grand revelation, consider this your permission slip to just… play. Follow your interest. That’s where the magic actually happens.

I could share a lot from the past few months, but I have to tell you about the birthday trip Laura surprised me with. She brought me to a fully renovated fire lookout tower in central Oregon. About a month earlier, we’d been outside when I noticed, for the first time, that the stars were actually twinkling. She couldn’t believe I never knew that (neither can I - did I know as a kid? is it buried in my memories?) So she researched the best place to see the clearest sky in our state.

 

We experienced alllll the weather which was very cool because we love a good stormy night. The first night was perfectly clear though, and we used a stellarscope that she got me so we could identify constellations.

 

This was important because, for reasons even I can’t explain, I’ve always referenced Orion’s Belt for no reason at all. Do you have anything like that? Just something so random? So we set an alarm for 4am, stepped outside, and there it was - shining bright.