saturday shopping list...

a little bit of vintage inspired beauty for you and your kitchen, this week. perfect for a little coffee and brunch with friends....

1) tangerine flower pin, from refashioned
2) midcentury coffee pot, from tigerluxe
3) turqoise gingham half-apron, from daisytoad
4) fabulous fifties canisters, from imsovintage
5) midcentury serving piece, from thewhitemole
6) vintage terrycloth tablecloth, from vintagous

visit fancypicnic for more in the saturday shopping series!

sad day...

i was sooo sad to find out my favorite magazine is going out of business. it may sound silly with all the other terrible things out there, and of course in the grand scheme of things it is... but, this magazine does bring a little bit of joy each and every day of mine. yes, that's right day. i don't know what it is about this magazine but i find myself looking through old ones on pretty much a daily basis. i keep stacks of them around and will browse through them when i get a chance, usually beore going to bed at night. it's sad when you lose those things that bring you a little bit of needed realxation and happiness. my mailbox will be lonely each month...

in shop relaled news, i've started adding items today. my little blue bird quickly sold... but i have another bird almost finished and will list it soon, along with many more goodies. my three year old makes it difficult to do the time consuming process of listing on etsy during the day, so more tonight.

inspiration wednesday...

1. just the way i am, 2. Ransburg handpainted toleware canisters, 3. A l p h a b e t S t r e e t, 4. january 20, 5. Pastel Village..., 6. Do you know who is the fabulous artist who made that?, 7. mushroom trio, 8. in waves, 9. hm..., 10. P1100491, 11. A sweet creation by frippelous...another gift from Amy!, 12. basket full of balls, 13. in dreams, 14. vintage gardens, 15. special order family, finished, 16. bunny friends

i always love when i see people sharing their favorite photos on their blogs. i find some many great new finds this way. since i spend way too much time on flickr anyway, i thought i'd start sharing mine regularly too. maybe you'll see something you like too.

shop update thursday...

the shop will re-open on thursday! as stated earlier, i will not have as many pieces as i wanted to have done, but there will be some new animals (including birds, rabbits, turtles), my new mini mushrooms, and feathers. it will have a very woodsy feel. i will continue to add more pieces as well, and i'll let you know about them here first. thanks for your patience!

** the beautiful birds nest in this photo was made by katy (winsome hollow).

giveaway...

my very sweet friend, miri, who i have been lucky to meet through the online world is having a little giveaway on her blog, here we are together. it's to celebrate opening her new shop of the same name! you can win one of her felt covered stones, a felt sushi kit, and a surprise! check out miri's blog as well. she share's a bit about her life as an atachment parenting mama to two very cute kids. good luck miri and to those entering her giveaway!

quality over quantity...

... another way of saying things are coming along slowly. well, i had planned to have a lot more done by now but it's not working out that way. you know how it goes... one kid getting sick, which means days home from school and doctor visits. our tub cracked, which means no showers (we luckily have another bathtub though), which means workers here for days putting in a new one and all the disruption that goes a long with it. some other big plans going on in the family, which i'll discuss more of later... and so on. many excuses i know (and also a bit of laziness). i can say that i am pleased with the quality of my work lately, though. i am proud of the way my sewing skills have been improving lately. i have lot's of new ideas as well. i just need to buckle down a little more and get them done. i will go ahead and open up my shop again in a few days because i really need to, but i won't have one large collection as planned. i'll have a few new pieces and i'll continue to add to them over the next month. you can see more pictures of my pieces on flickr.

just to give you an idea of what lies ahead, my next project will be a collection of "wild" animals. for those missing my elephants, look for a some new styles to returns to the shop, as well as some other new wild beasts! i'm excited to get to work on that down the road a little bit.

abby try again...

i'm really loving the work of abby powell. it captures/creates a world i really just want to climb into. the colors just make me swoon (perhaps you guessed that i favor the color blue?). abby sells prints of her gorgeous photograph's through her shop abby try again, on big cartel. she also has a lovely blog with the same name, where she shares her work and a bit about her life in portland (i envy all you lucky artists living there). also check out her flickr site for more amazing photos.

thanks abby for allowing me to share your images here!

nesting...

inspired by the little nest i found this winter, i've been working on a new series for the shop based on the idea of "nesting"... feathering your nest in winter to prepare for the coming spring. i'm working on some more birds and bunnies. i have made a new line of smaller mushrooms.

i also have been working on some feathers. i like the idea of having the sweet little tokens of nature like these in the home. i have seen several other people though who are also making feathers! i never know what to do in these situations? i guess that's the way the universe seems to work.... i'm not sure where these ideas come from but people often seem to have them at the same time. i was surprised and disappointed when i saw some other feathers pop up on flickr yesterday by artists i really admire. bad timing on my part i guess. so i'm not sure the feathers will end up in the shop or not, but i am enjoying making them. i am going to experiment with adding some silver beads also. i'll post pictures here at least.

this is an issue i always wonder about and would be curious on other's thoughts? what do you do if you have thought of an idea and then realize someone else is doing it? has this happened to you? it has happened to me before, and i've discussed it with others it has happened to and it's a difficult issue i think. any thoughts?

** by the way, i'm not quite ready to open shop again as planned! my kids have both been sick with something or other the last few weeks, and ive gotten a little behind. i'm really hoping to get a lot done in the next few days and post something again!

bright day...

such a wonderful day for new beginnings. it was interesting to share it with a three year old. i'm not sure how much she understands or will remember but she did master obama's name and was very excited to point him out when ever she saw him. my son watched with his school mates today, or some of them anyway. much of the school traveled together down to the capitol to be there in person. my thoughts were with them today... i hope they didn't freeze!

1. IMG_4019.JPG, 2. IMG_4017.JPG, 3. Ed.Inauguration_0445, 4. IMG_9728, 5. CRW_2191, 6. Ed.Inauguration_0405, 7. CRW_2184, 8. IMG_9741, 9. IMG_9725, 10. Obama Inauguration - Chicago, 11. IMG_9732, 12. IMG_9745

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

i created the above by putting in the tag "inauguration" and this is what came up. there is a great flickr group also, where people are sharing their own photos. kind of a nice way to connect with others... something many people are doing on the historic day.

garlands...

1. snowflakes, 2. Snowflake Curtain, 3. Untitled, 4. Christmas Bling, 5. Mary Poppins, 6. A new fabric bunting, 7. garland, 8. chasing Anthropologie, 9. Untitled, 10. silver oak garland, 11. Paper heart garland, 12. party garland 4, 13. Easy Holiday Garland

i've made some holiday garlands in the past, but ever since etsy asked me to make the how-to for them and i had to do a little research i've become fascinated with them. i love that they can be very simple or much more complex and embelished; they can be used for special holidays or celebrations, or simply to make everyday life more beautiful; they are simple craft projects or elaborate pieces of art. they are really lovely additions to any room. check out this great flickr group for more inspiration.