Go Van Go! Graphic Designer

I love these graphics designs by 20-something graphic artist, Van.

Van designs for Juna Studio and also has an Etsy shop where you can purchase a printable file of some of the cards she designs. The file includes instructions and templates for the cards and envelopes.

Van also makes gorgeous hand-embroidered cards like the apple one shown here.

Check out Van's Go Van Go!'s graphic

design blog and her Etsy shop here.

Man's Shirt Recycled into Girl's Dress

Dana has a great tutorial on how to make a girl's dress from a man's shirt.
Her instructions are very thorough and easy to understand with lots of pictures.
Thanks, Dana, for this great idea! Adorable little dress and adorable little girl!
Dana's a very talented re-fashioner and you and you can see lots more of her great ideas on her blog, Made.

Paper Sculpture: Helen Musselwhite

Beautiful paper sculpture from Helen Musselwhite.
Helen, from the UK, uses bright colors and strong lines in each wonderful piece of her highly-individual paper sculptures.
I can't even imagine the patience one must have to do something like this.
But I do love paper and I think I might try my hand at this sort of thing - on a much, less detailed scale to start with.
Here - enjoy some of Helen's ab fab work. (By the way, notice the Janet Bell influence in that Harbour Tide piece. LOVE Janet Bell!)

Ideas for Displaying Fresh Flowers

With Spring comes warmer weather...

But the weather can be fickle. Warm, sunny days, then like today - it's overcast and quite cool. So, why not bring a little outdoors in with some fresh, sunny flowers?

One of the things I've always loved doing is "forcing" branches of flowers to bloom. It really, really works! You can do this with forsythia, cherry blossoms and flowering quince. I have done it with all 3 of these plants with great success.
Just cut some of the thinner branches off. These might be the ones that would need to be trimmed anyway, so you might as well enjoy them.

If it's a "woody" type of stem you need to bang on the stems at the end. Just take a mallet of some sort and pound them about an inch or so from the bottom. Helps them drink.

Tips for Keeping Fresh Flowers Fresh

- Trim the stems just before immersing in water so they will be open enough to drink. - Use a lighter to heat-seal stems of flowers with a milky sap. - Cut off leaves below water level. Those leaves start to smell quickly! - Change the water every couple of days or so. - Pinch off dead blooms; some flowers will continue to bloom if they have buds on them - Use a cork coaster to protect furniture. Just use double-sided adhesive to stick it to the bottom of your vessel.

Ideas for Vessels:

• Fish bowl (the small goldfish kind)
• Clear or colored glasses or jars
• Bottles - vintage ones would look especially nice
  
• Compote dish
• Jars
• Votive candle holders
  
• Egg cups
• Empty cans wrapped with pretty paper or fabric

Clear glass vases are always pretty; I love them just as they are. But if you want to make them even more special, fill them with marbles, pebbles or glass beads in the color of your choice. Anything that's waterproof can work!

I'd love to see your spring flowers! Send me a picture or a link and you may see it posted here.

Photo Credits:

Cherry blossoms in bloom. Photo by Tom Leighton

Glass Votive Vase from Neutral Dwelling

Egg Cups from Country Living

What I've Been Doing

I have a couple of major projects going on right now, plus a few smaller ones.
Our house was built in 1850 and we love it but it's a constant work in progress.
Right now we're painting the den. The den is on the second floor and is where we spend a lot of our time. This room has probably not been painted in 20 years. We also had quite a bit of staining on the walls from a leak on the 3rd floor. So - it was way past time to paint.
I chose a color that looks like warm wet sand. Love it. In the paint can it looks just like a melted chocolate milk shake!
So here are a few pictures of the work in progress. It's a mess so don't be offended. ;)

 So, what are you working on?

Crocheting in Living Color

These vivid colors and patterns are surely brightening up my Friday!
I found Lucy's blog, Attic24, which is full of colorful inspiration. She has provided a link for how to make the ripple pattern.
I don't crochet so I don't know whether this is considered a difficult or easy pattern, but they are definitely bright. I want one of those pillows!

Critters

Sleepy birds and wide-awake birds. I love them all.
Melissa Sue Stanley, from the Chicago area, designs and makes critters like these birds and lots of others. She also crochets and her amigurumi critters are just adorable.
I found these on Melissa Sue's blog, art = love = life. She sells her items in a couple of places but you can find the "wide awake" bird in her Etsy shop here ($45).

A New Crop of Confetti...

...is what jewelry designer Michelle Taylor calls her latest additions to her shop, Blue Moss.

According to Michelle, she started designing her own pieces when she was unable to find what she liked. Apparently, enough people kept asking her "where did you get that?" that she began creating for others.
Sometimes people ask me that same question but I think it might be for different reasons.

She uses a great mix of vintage and found pieces for a really unique look.

I found these pieces on Michelle's blog, Blue Moss.