is being with the love of your life.  We’re celebrating 5 years today!

I stenciled the lyrics to our favorite song (U2’s The Sweetest Thing) as a Valentine’s Day/Anniversary present.  (Unfortunately, those celebrations get a bit lumped together for us.  But we try to make up for it by celebrating our engagement in the Fall.)  I got the idea from this picture of Candi Mandi’s bedroom.  But I’ve seen other versions of it since then.

He made me breakfast in bed.  (I love that man.)  All that’s left of it is this pretty mess.  I’m okay with that.

Happy Anniversary, Evan!  Thank you for 5 years of awesome. ;)

I have about 23 tabs open in my window.  Which is precisely why Evan and I have our own windows on the computer.  I don’t want to drive him nuts.  But I digress.

What can I say?  I’m a bit of a collector.  And there’s so much inspiring me right now that I simply must share some of it.

• Jackson, Johnston & Roe. - lovely spring collection in all the right colors
• Happy Tape
• Baby Bean Vintage Daywear - everything I would make/buy for Emily if she wore clothes
• Simon Page’s amazing posters
• Miss Mabel
• Simple handmade puzzle toy by mer mag
• Orchid Grey’s hair styling expertise
• Chai tea concentrate love from everyone’s favorite Chicken
• This pouf I can’t buy unless I move to Denmark
• Saltwater
• And to round off the collection, A Collection a Day

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

It was a good year, I do believe!

Since I’ve been a bad blogger, the least I can do is share with you some of the things I’ve enjoyed lately.  I star anything that sticks out in my Google Reader, and here are some of my favorites from this week:

• Braided Headband Tutorial
• Wallet Tutorial (and adorable blog I just found)
• S’mores
• Blafre Design
• The Alphabet here and here
• Rice
• And Lark

And just so you know, my pretty little breakfast nook looks more like this right now:

Happy Weekend!

Come see my house tour and interview on Vintage Indie today! :)

Thanks again, Sarah.

Sarah came Thursday to take pictures.  Of course, it’s for a “house tour,” but she got some great pictures of the babies.

Right now, I’m working on coherent answers for the interview questions.

Here’s another cute one:

One of these days, I’m gonna get an awesome camera.  And some photography lessons. :)

Thanks, Sarah!

I finished the second painting to accompany the one I shared last week.  Again, these designs are based off of Lena Corwin’s wildflowers in Printing by Hand (just can’t sing its praises enough!).  I plan to hang them on either side of the TV.  Any suggestions on placement?

In other pretty-stuff-to-put-on-the-wall news, I found this abbytryagain post in my Google Reader today (which is miraculous since I have so many posts to catch up on), and decided to purchase these lovely prints:

I’ve admired these photos for many months now, and I think it’s high time I supported the work of one of my favorite artists/bloggers.  See more of her beautiful art here.

I painted this on Saturday, using another design from Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand as a guide.  I get pretty overwhelmed when I think of all the possibilities for a blank canvas.  So that’s why I decided not to do something completely original.  I just wanted to find something I liked and go for it.  Now I have the urge to paint more…

Something else we’re considering for this space (and on the other side of the TV) is a poster.

Evan and I both love classic & artistic movie posters.  Here’s one of his favorites:

I lean towards this sort of thing:

Or this:

[Images: movieposter.com]

I loved all your room suggestions.  Now I wonder…

Do you have a favorite poster?  Movies, books, vintage ads, magazine covers  or otherwise… I’d love to hear!

When I’m not sewing, I am   s  l  o  w  in my crafting.

Thus, I don’t have a finished project to share today… Not exactly.  It’s sort of finished but not on the walls.  And not finishing off my room.

Here’s what I worked on with my friend, Mardel, last night:

I used a design from Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand for the plaque on the left, and I used the template here for the other one.  I’m still adding flowers around the owl so it coordinates with the flower plaque.  But I thought you might want to see it in progress. :)

And here is (a very pregnant) Mardel at my house this morning, trying to help me figure out the problem that is My Huge Wall:

EDIT: I removed this picture. :)  But there are plenty more living room pictures to be found here and here and here.

See the new lamp?  I picked that up at Target last night for $30.  I think I like it, but you might note that the tag is still on it.  I love to return things when I feel unsure about them. :)  (By the way, that style of lamp is what I meant when I said “swing-arm lamp,” although I’ve since learned that it isn’t called that!  It’s a “pharmacy lamp.”  Don’t say I never taught you anything.)

So… Do you have any suggestions about the wall?  My friend, Eric, says we need something tall in the room.  Evan and I have been thinking about cool (framed) movie posters.  Got any ideas?

Okay, so this sounds frou-frou, but it’s not!  I promised Evan that I wouldn’t put lace or ruffles or flowers on his beloved XBox.  Just a plain and simple dust jacket, if you will.

There you have it.  So simple that you hardly even see it.  (It’s on the left, in case you’re wondering.) ;)

I refashioned this slipcover from linen pants that my friend Heather gave me when she found out I liked to do this cut-up-old-stuff-and-breathe-new-life-into-it deal.  Thanks, Heather!  Love you, girl.

I kept it simple because… I know Evan will never take the time to tie pretty little ribbons in the back.  If you were a boy, would you?  So it just sits over the front, top, and sides.  Nice and neat. :D

Planning to make something like these tonight…