totally doing this project

thanks design*sponge. you are a daily inspiration.


I am totally doing this project. Don't get me wrong, I have ginormous stack of unused frames - but they're all really big! I want to make a salon-style arrangement of images on a small wall! Paper frames here I come!

that holiday feeling

So, I bemoan the commercial appropriation of holidays as much as the next person.... but I have to admit, I just love Christmas. It brings people together in ways that no other holiday can. And people go out of their way to be extra nice to one another. There is more good food and drink to be enjoyed consistently at a density of parties unparalleled for the remainder of the year. Homes are transformed from their normal humdrum selves into sites for amazing decorative creativity. It's like celebrating everybody's birthday on the same day, thus having all the pleasure of giving and getting gifts without the pressure of being the center of attention. Crisp weather makes cuddling up in sweaters and exchanging additional hugs & kisses an absolute must. Everything is just so festive and celebratory --- what's not to love!?

I also admit that my first pang of Christmas spirit occurred while proofing a holiday-themed advertisement at my job --- but it was just such an unexpected, early pang that it was extra delightful, despite the source.

I digress. I started a little crafty spree of posts around Valentines earlier in the year and since I have decided to aim for an entirely handmade Christmas this year I thought that it could be a good opportunity to get reacquainted with my blog while I'm at it.

I haven't actually decorated for the holidays yet, but I saw this and instantly got inspired:



How pretty! alternately I think it would be very striking to spray paint pine cones white and hang them from a black satin ribbon for a more modern look (or if you have a very dark mantle like mine).

I look forward to getting into the spirit together. I like to get a good month of mileage out of my favourite holiday so hang on to your hats and check back soon for more Xmas-y good times.

a saturday made in heaven

magic combination: cozy mariner sweater, hot cinnamon cider, brisk autumn day.

happy weekend.

back in business in the boudoir

What a couple of weeks! First my computer threw a fit, then the store forgot to give me my power cable back after fixing my computer, then the internet was down. Anyways, radio silence over!

UPDATE:

The house is rearranged. The roomie is in. Now I just have to finish settling. The solution? Redecoration of my new sleep/live space. The theme? Hunting lodge meets boudoir.

I have the fireplace. The hardwood floors. The crown molding. Now I just gotta work it!



Thoughts on the subject so far:
- wooden or porcelain deer trophy head, chandelier, oil lamps, gramaphone?
- swooping curtain to create four-poster-bed feel, lots of pillows, plushy roccoco-esque head board
- faux hide area rug and faux fur throw and swede pillows
- recovering my wingback chair in something velvety and adding a ton of buttons (can anyone teach me to upholster?)
- steamer trunk for the end of the bed, dressmakers form, ornate-legged bedside table
- library index card thingermajig to store my jewelry
- salon-style wall hangings, refinished fancy frames
- for the walls: framed old maps, pinned butterflies, rich fabrics, botany watercolours, cameo portraits, photos of my ancestors and other black&white prints
- lots of black and white to complement my already red walls and keep the whole design contemporary
- ... got any ideas?

happy new year

wild ride of a day and then came home for a spell. turned around to return to work -- this time for fun aka an opening.

but what a crazy evening:

waiting at a red light a woman got out of her car to reposition her front bumper which had started to drag. this took a few tries -- we exchanged exuberant thumbs up when she got it back in position. it was just so funny and wonderful to witness.

opening was fun.

met someone whose job (among a handful of other people's positions) i have taken over. she gave me a hug and it was perhaps the nicest thing anyone had done that day

... at least until...

after the opening, over delicious orange blossom beer, had this beautiful heart to heart with a former curator from the gallery. found myself confessing so many things about my life to her, and her understanding and encouragement and spur of the moment mentoring was so unexpected and perfect! there is so much possibility, so much excitement. i truly must seize my opportunities, but accept that with my woman's heart it may be difficult at times like these to find the grace and courage to do so. but somehow i will find both, and be bold, and ...

how exciting

what random encounters

but i'm so glad for everything that happened tonight

one of the things confessed earlier: that looking back a month and a half is so strange. it was a completely different world -- a different life. everything has changed.

i have been encouraged to treat this like my new year -- and it is really, like a whole new year -- and make new goals and resolutions.

the other suggestion: to journal. so i will.


join me.

fortune

a fortune cookie fortune fell from a book while i was moving things

how's that for a positive affirmation

bookish inspiration too

speaking of beautiful book projects, after the last post i recalled that i had saved these images waaaay back. this was a book design concept i happened across and and just found so lovely i had to save it for keeps. if i thought in words i think this would be my model of the mind...

i love how the sentences seem almost kinetic here - i can image it as a writhing mass of a story before my eyes.

words are wonderful, aren't they?