House Pets

Before I became a mother to my adorable pup, I had plants. No lie- I have had the same Ikea house plant for five years. One time, my mom left it in a car in 100 degree weather during a summer move to take a pit stop to have some dental surgery done, and all the leaves turned black and I had to cut the whole thing back to its roots. (It was a tragic day.) This is now 3 years after that and my little baby is thriving. In fact, she's wild and completely outta control. So I had to find a solution.

Oh yes, you are seeing a trellis installed to my dining room wall. Apartment living, what can I say? 

A Saturday Studio Project

A Saturday project: cleaning off this old cart and getting it yarn ready. Mr. Handmade Habitat rescued it from a scrap metal pile this week. #Blessed

Edited with VSCO.

At Home

 

Two spaces that make me smile (when they're clean). The offseason from craft shows has that bonus of me having time to do things like clean and organize and decorate.. sigh- all my favorite things. It's funny how during the craft show season I really just stop taking care of my life. My goal is to reel that in some this year and have some more Ams time to decorate and wander around Ikea. 

Pic 1: my kitchen shelf. Pic 2: a beautiful corner of my bedroom. Both edited with VSCO. 

Night to Day

Valentine's Day lovins. Bought a new stinkin' cute new tray from Target, Mr. Handmade Habitat brought home some flowers in the color of the year and a bottle of wine, and we rounded up some candles and my favorite coasters by Katherine Watson from around the apartment for a lovely little table setting for a Valentine's Day evening in. 

And the tray in daylight. How you like??

Mysterious Animal Magnetism

One day I accidentally flung a magnet across the kitchen and instead of falling, it stuck to this weird bar around the doorway. That is how I discovered one of my favorite things ever about my apartment. I can stick magnets anywhere I like. It's kind of random how it works out, and it does work out so well. 

This dinosaur head magnet that I picked up at (where else) Fenton Street Market diligently guards my kitchen, not allowing me to ever do the dishes. It's a really healthy relationship we have. 

Rawr. Last one edited with VSCO. Magnet courtesy of WAS Paper.

VSCO Cam

Trying to get better at the photo-ing. See what's up on my VSCOcam grid

Breakfast Noms

Some leftovers from Christmas Eve breakfast with my family - lots of fruit and pastries. Nom nom.

I saw a list of the classiest Ikea buys and my dining room table is one of them. Boom.

And it is definitely one of my favorite pieces in our apartment. 

Crafty Christmas

Christmas was really nice this year. Brad and I are starting to try to do our own thing instead of splitting up and seeing our own families. This year we successfully saw just about everyone together in a two-day span and made it back to our apartment to have our own Christmas night together with Rosie. I got to spend a few days wrapping presents in my favorite crafty way, got some awesome stuff and baked cookies. Yum! 

The Dr. Seuss wrapping papers were my favorite thing I wrapped this year. I just can't resist book paper wrapping. 

I got a set of sweet vintage craft magazines from Brad's brother and sister-in-law this year. They claim I'm hard to shop for but they hit the nail on the head! 

A gift for Rosie that she didn't like so much, but that I loved!!! 

And we spent the evening watching Netflix, eating cookies and chillin with my favorite Christmas light. 

Cafe Shots: La Mano

It's officially time for me to hibernate! Now that my market season is over for the year, I'm really excited to do some lurking in cafes across my neighborhood and do some philosophical thinking about my business. And since I'm an instagramer by trade, I decided to share some shots from these cozy cafes with you. First up is La Mano where I spent the morning last Friday before a market weekend. A more hurried visit than I would have liked, but still a lovely little coffee shop. It's new in Takoma Park. 

Not a ton of seating, but there is this little cozy nook in the front window with a mirror showing you how beautifully you eat. Mmm. Couldn't resist taking a photo of my new (to me) vintage coat snatched up at Analog after a photoshoot. 

So in a nutshell - beautifully done, small to-the-point coffee bar, and a great quiet haunt. It's mostly people popping in on their way elsewhere. A+

Feeling Festive

We weren't feeling much in the ways of a real Xmas tree for our tiny little apartment, so instead, I went for this banner of little ornaments and cards that I've collected and gotten as gifts

& lined the bookshelves and windowsill of our apartment living room with festive holiday lights. (Honestly, these were up way before Thanksgiving and secretly, they aren't coming down until after Valentine's Day. Shhh don't tell Brad!)

Ooo and check out my new holiday look. I got to help Brad's mom put up her Christmas decorations on Black Friday this year and it was so nice. My bracelet is a piece that fell off the tree, hehe. (Brad did accuse me of stealing. SUCH a Momma's boy.) 

Their tree is covered in ornaments that they've collected over their family's life- it's really a family Christmas tree. It never occurred to me before then that maybe that's the point of decorating Christmas trees. So nostalgic. Even the tree they've had since they moved there. And it's enormous! My family does some nostalgic ornaments, but mostly it's color coordinated with our current house decorations. In the 7 years that Brad and I have been together, I've never really taken a good close look at his family's Christmas tree so getting to decorate it was a really nice experience.

I'm starting to get really nostalgic and emotional lately. My mom says it's because I'm getting married; I think my state of craftsomnia may have something to do with it, but generally I feel like this lately. 

Happy Holidays, everybody.

An Impromptu (Snow!) Day Off

I haven't actually taken a day off in a while, so when the weather called for crazy snow, sleet and blistery winter conditions this past Sunday, I decided to take a day off from the outdoor markets. Bummer because I was really looking forward to this particular one, but sleet is enough to make me cancel. Instead, I enjoyed breakfast with my fiance for his birthday, and stumbled around some downtown Takoma Park shops, crossing people off of my Christmas shopping list.

Snow covering these cute festive displays outside of Park Florist

The immaculate wall of vintage clothing at Polly Sue's where I am (hopefully affectionately) known as the "wedding dress girl." I go there all the time and try on wedding dresses. No dice so far.

I spent a sleepy afternoon writing some Christmas cards

& Brad and I had a cozy birthday dinner at Mi Rancho - one of our favorite spots.

A wonderful little snow day. Hopefully the rain doesn't ruin the day today! 

Last Week in Fotos

Last week I...

Modeled for Beltway Vintage,

Traded an old Ikea shelf for this print at Analog,

Visited my friend Katie of Catherinette in her studio and got to meet her studio assistant Filbert,

Sat down for some coffee,

And made a shit load of candles. 

Happy Monday! Let's see what this week will bring.. Hopefully a little rest.

Fall Fotos

Fall is starting to fly by! Between the candle making, craft shows and special projects, I'm starting to not see a day off in the distant future - well, at least not until Christmas Eve. Here are three of my favorite non-craft show, Fall photos I found on my phone.

My days consist of taking this pup on backyard run-arounds. She loves stomping in the leaves! This is a rare non-blurry photo of her. She was mesmerized by some guy singing to his baby and walking down the street.

My evenings consist of burning candles on our brand new (to us) bar that Brad found. And yes that is a Draco Malfoy lego man holding a golden goblet (not of fire).

Lastly, I love this photo from Ginger Root Design. I popped in there the other day and love that this container of safety pins is just hanging out on their counter. It's just what a sewing studio should look like.

I hope all of you are taking some time to enjoy the beautiful season before we hibernate for winter!

Color Inspiration: Rose Red and Emerald Green

My mom has been living in her house for about three years now and the front garden is beautiful. So beautiful that our cats, Mona and Diddley, frequently like to gaze out in admiration. I think it makes them feel like they belong in the wild. Really loving the combination of red/pink and emerald green.