May I suggest Savannah?

Let’s Get Lost, by Shaun Sundholm

Away We Go

This looks amazing. swoon. swoon. swoon.

Gnome Nephew

OK, here's the finished result of my boys in the hoodie blanket that I finished in the car on the way to see my new nephew. (A 9 pound baby boy!) I'm pretty happy with the blanket part but I was in a rush to finish the edging so I used a crochet pattern I wasn't too thrilled with.

Here's the pattern image again. Very envious of their knit edge:

Back and slow moving

Yes, indeedy. I am back from our lovely weekend navigating the moss-strewn oaks of St. Augustine and Savannah. I'll post photos and thoughts from our trip very soon...

Youth, Babies, Weekends

I've been a tad quiet today as I'm planning a quick weekend trip to Savannah and St. Augustine this weekend. My husband is turning 30, I just turned 30 in March and I'm thinking it's high time to visit the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine!

I'm also a tad distracted as my nephew #2 was born yesterday at a whopping 9 pounds. And yes, I did finish my hoodie blanket for him. I finished it in the car on our way to his hospital and therefore took no pictures of the end product. Hopefully, I'll snag one with him in it. Here's hoping his 9 lb self fits in it...it was a tad on the small size...

Happy weekend! Have a Mint Julep for (on?) me...

Men's Shirt --> Lady Shirt

Jezze of Cape Town, South Africa shows how a few nips and tucks can transform a big old men's button down shirt into a blousy blouse for the ladies. Men's dress shirts are the most abundant thing in thrift store. Snip away!

Reusable fabric wrapping (not)paper

Allow me to introduce savvywrap, a sustainable gift wrap option. So it's basically a lovely piece of bandanna size fabric that knots up around packages. Awesome idea. Good use for old scarves? Handy tying instructions.

Thank you Poppytalk for the link.

Saving grace

Recession tip: there are blogs dedicated to posting coupons to craft stores.

evidence: www.mycraftcoupons.com

Can you handle this much adorableness?

If you're just getting to know me through There She Blogs, you might think I have a thing for pillows. I don't really. It's just that they're sew easy to make and you can throw them around haphazardly and feel like you're decorating.

Here's the tutorial for the above cuteness. Those at Curbly were inspired to write it after catching a glimpse of a similar pillow made by the Swedes at H&M and only sold in Sweden. Button up.

Vancoooover

Poppytalk recently blogged about free wallpapers available on flickr. When I went to look at them, I found this image and was gobsmacked. It's the view from my Vancouver window a mere 5 months ago. That's Burrard Bridge and False Creek. Such good memories...thanks for the visual flashback!

See her other wallpapers here.

Mint Julep Anyone?

We're mostly beer and wine people but every so often, I crave a good old-fashioned cocktail. Check out Joy the Baker's recipe for a Mint Julep. And as we live in the South, it's Mint Julep season 12 months out of the year.

Now, to buy some bourbon.

Mint Julep

(adapted from Chow)

• 3 sprigs fresh mint
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
• 2 ounces bourbon
• club soda or filtered water
• sprinkle of powdered sugar

Need + Want = Maybe Next Year

So we need a grill. Probably one with propane and one that can feed more than 2 people. Not this ultra-cute $98 one. But still....avocado green. Sigh.

Also, check out the styling under Anthro's new outdoor entertaining line. All products are photographed on a white sheet outside as if to say "we're just like you and not the uber-hip store with the stylist team with the most skillz."

The Envelope Please

Now that my husband and I have settled in a home, we decided to do the mature thing and buy neutral-colored, well-made furniture instead of the funky conversation pieces we used to pick up secondhand or on clearance. But I do love color so I decided to whip up some throw pillows from fabric with pops of color and cheeky designs.

I bought the above Alexander Henry (I think) fabric on ebay and used a pin-striped brown denim for the back that I picked up on sale at Jo Ann's. The pillow inserts are from Ikea.

I used the below Instructables's envelope pillow tutorial, and I had two new pillows in under 2 hours. Can't beat that..


How to sew an envelope pillow cover! - More DIY How To Projects

Faux Photo Backdrops

I take a lot of photos and this has never occurred to me to do before...

Photos from the Dream of Flying series by Jan von Holleben

Timmy is a communist!

Still the best part of waking up

{my coffee pot of choice, the Bialetti Moka}

Brownie Points has posted a list of ways to jazz up your coffee:

• Salt your coffee. Either as you are grinding it, or the dairy that accompanies it. Salt enhances sweetness and cloys bitter flavors.
• Rethink the sweet. When you take your coffee sweet, consider an alternative to standard white sugar. This can be as simple as using brown sugar, a raw sugar, agave nectar, or honey instead. Or as complex as adding maple syrup, bitter caramel sauce, Nước Màu or fruit jam.
• Give the beans some friends. Next time you grind up coffee beans, consider tossing in one or all of these flavor additions: half a vanilla bean pod, some cocoa nibs, a small sliver of whole nutmeg, orange zest, a cardamom pod, a couple black peppercorns or a nub of cinnamon stick.
• Steep when you heat. Steeping aromatics in either your pre-brew coffee water or your dairy is a way to get a touch of flavor that is different from grinding flavors with the beans. This could be as simple as making your coffee with peppermint tea or lemon water, or warming your milk with sticks of cinnamon and whole cloves. Who says you have to use plain water to brew your coffee?
• Bloom your coffee grounds. As one blooms dry gelatin before use, moisten your coffee grounds to help prep them for brewing. How to: Shake out your freshly ground coffee into a mixing bowl and stir in 1-3 Tbs of water. Let sit for ~5 minutes and then scrape into your brewing apparatus. It is thought that premoistening coffee grounds results in a stronger or more flavored brew. Have you wondered about using brandy or bourbon instead of water for this step yet?
• Take your time. How about a 12 hour brew? Do those words give you caffeine withdrawal? If you add time and subtract the heat, you will have a new coffee experience in your cup. Check out the Smitten’s cold brew procedure and you’ll be looking forward to tomorrow’s coffee.
• Keep it simple. Sometimes you owe it to your taste buds to take a vacation from your habits and resort to the easiest path: straight black coffee. With the amazing amount of coffee bean varieties and roasts we have access too, there is no excuse for calling straight black coffee boring.

And here's a fun video on how to make lattes at home.....

Polish Issued Art

More good news on the poster front. A thanks to Daily Heller for finding www.polishposter.com.

The above 22x33 Blues Brother and Big Lebowski posters are just $28!

Mat & Frame

After lusting over Alicia Bock's vintage inspired photography on etsy, I decided to reach into my own photo archive, make some tweaks in PhotoShop and offset frame them. Costco does 8x8 prints for around $1 with great quality. The 11 x14 mats were custom cut at a local frame shop for $5 each, and the frames are from trusty Target.

Government Issued Art

Still Dottie points out the incredible art resource that is The Library of Congress Shop.

And they're available at wonderfully affordable prices: 8x10 ($28), 11x14 ($37), 16x20 ($48)

I could lose my day to searching through these....

Down time

Enjoy your weekend...

Sit on This

Speaking of message pillows, check out this puppy from Johnathan Adler for a whopping $165:

{Thanks to i suwannee.}

I've been meaning to make a "Be Nice or Leave" pillow for my living room. How difficult is needlepointing?

How to Be Happy

This weekend's New York Times had an article on Frugal Portland, and the writer Matt Gross pinpointed that certain joie de vivre that is found in Portland. And I think it just might be the recipe for happiness that I was looking for.

"Oregon has the country’s second-highest unemployment rate — [yet] there was a general indifference to wealth. In its place was a dedication to the things that really matter:
hearty food and drink, cultural pursuits both high and low, days in the outdoors and evenings out with friends."

I'm thinking about embrodering a pillow or something with some version of this as a motto of how to live life. Plus, isn't that a great photo? Good job, NYT.

Gettin' Busy With Busy Fabric

I bought this fabric recently on etsy but now that I have it in hand, the busy-ness scares me. Does it hurt your eyes? What can I make? Should I pair it with a solid color? I have 2 yards...

I've had my eye on this Simplicity 2584 pattern:

And I recently bought the Michelle skirt pattern off Burda Style:

Any ideas on how to downplay the intense basket pattern?

Boys in the Hoodie

What's on my needles: a cotton hoodie blanket for Nephew #2. Using same chartreuse main color pictured here with a slate-ish contrast yarn.

Will post final pictures, in the meantime, friend me on ravelry.com. Name's "Razor."

Not on Ravelry? Get the pattern here.