living on love

7 things. etsy taste test edition.

have you tried the taste test on etsy? i did for the first time tonight & it was really cool... i discovered so many amazing shops. so how it works is you are shown 6 images & you pick the one that best suits your tastes. then 6 more will pop up & you do the same thing... 9 times. then it will show a huge selection of items based on the 9 things you chose. 

these are a few of the things i found tonight via the taste test...

1.

these distressed wooden arrow signs from slippin' southern. love them! this shop has lots of great distressed wood cut outs... check out the letters, type, & symbols section. i think this ran has been wanting a beach-this-way type of sign for our little patio... this maybe part of it.

(image & listing found here.)

2.

this deer silhouette on book paper... totally something i would be into. 

(image & listing found here.)

3.

i love the quote on the front of this hand made journal... words to live by. 

(image & listing found here.)

4.

i am totally blown away by this "topography" paper cut of the great lakes. 

(image & listing found here.)

5.

up-cycled burlap + owl = awesome-ness! & it was made from a coffee sack... perfect.

(image & listing found here.)

6.

well i cant argue with the truth...

(image & listing found here).

7.

the cards in this shop seriously just made me lol (& im all by myself).

 

(image & listing found here.)

so now do you want to try it? here you go... & be sure to share with me some of your great finds!

fall yarn garland.

the girls over at the paper lovin' gals blog posted a new challenge. i think i forgot to mention that with these challanges you can make anything creative... cards, layouts, fiber pieces, altered pieces... whatever you want. this was the inspiration photo:

i was really drawn to the red & blue in the background, but when i started trying to come up with something it was all looking a bit too 4th of july for me & i really wanted a fall element. i ditched all previous ideas, started fresh, & ended up with a fall yarn garland.

you wanna make one? they are really easy... 

1. cut a piece of yarn or string to the length you want you garland.

2. cut a lot of pieces of yarn to about 6-10" in length.

3. tie the smaller lengths of yarn in knots around the long piece.

4. repeat until the knotted yarn runs the length of the longer piece.

i strung some paper feathers / leaves on a seperate piece of string & hung it front of the yarn garland. 

here is a slightly different version...

gray, pink, & yellow.

a couple days ago my friend julie posted about the studio challenges blog. i dont think ive ever participated in a challenge blog, but last night i was feeling scrappy &  decided to join in. this was the inspiration:

& here is what i did:

in the process of making this layout i learned that sticky back fabric paper does not stay sticky forever... at some point the stickyness will cease & the backing will just fall off when you go to use it. & i also learned that i am not a huge yellow fan... as far as scrapbooking goes. i like the color, but just didnt find it easy to work with. maybe i just have bad yellows to choose from. so in order to incorporate the yellow i sanded all around my pictures & then tinted it with yellow ink.

i then went on to create this layout:

now im looking forward for the next challenge.

 

 

 

i love: feathers.

colorful & cheery...

image found here.

holly's tattoo... pretty & magical...

 read her story here.

light & airy...

found in this etsy shop.

earthy & bold...

found in this etsy shop.

tomorrow im posting a how to about how to make your own paper feathers... im really excited to share it with you!

music for your monday.

this video is sooo pretty. i love it so much! the music, the choreography, the costumes, the set, the colors... everything is so inspiring. this is a little 8 minute excerpt from the 30 minute long video.

enjoy...

 

i even made an etsy treasury inspired by this video.

someday...

i will have a piano like this...

its gorgeous & i am absolutely in l.o.v.e with it! sarah posted the coldplay video for christmas lights on her blog & this is the piano that chris martin plays.

a couple days after seeing the video we made a stop at the goodwill & guess what they had in the furniture section for $35? its times like those that make me wish i had a bigger car... or at least knew someone who had a bigger car. i made myself feel better by convincing myself that it would not have made it around the tight corners to get up the stairs to my apartment.

... i also really liked this part of this video:

inspired: dollhouses.

i think dollhouses are fascinating... sort of like a curiosity cabinet. i feel like you get a really interesting perspective on the things are surrounding us... a broader view of how furinishings & decor interact with each other & what not. i remember when i was little my sister had a dollhouse that was blue & i l.o.v.e.d to arrange & re-arrange the furniture. she also had a stitching of a dollhouse that i always thought was fun to look at.

 

image found here.

image found here.

image found here.

image found here.

last friday night we got a flat tire on the thru-way. bummer. luckily we had a spare & we were only 6 miles from our exit. saturday we took the car in to get new tires (there was no fixing this flat). the wait was pretty long, so we walked across the street michael's. as we were walking up & down every single aisle wasting time i spotted a dollhouse kit type thing (like those 3-d puzzle-esque/model things... now you know exactly what im talking about, im sure. ha). & they had one for furniture! i have been wanting a dollhouse for a while, but the normal kits are so expensive & i want to be able to keep changing things up... collaging & what not one it, & i am just not sure i would feel comfortable experimenting on a $150 kit, but these ones at micheal's are perfect! under $10!

so here it is so far...

my favorite part so far is the "wood" plank floors. i still have so much more to, but i am totally loving it. ill post more pictures of it when its all finished.

crafting a creative home

christmas decorations.

since its almost christmas i wanted to take a quick minute to share some of my favorite christmas decor ideas. some of them i even want to implement as everyday decor ideas.

i love this tree trimmed with vintage photographs.

image found here.

i have seen a few variations on this "tree" idea. i think it would be fun to do a whole wall like this... i could probably spend all day just staring at it.

image found here.

the candy pillows on the couch crack me up & that frame wall is amazing.

image found here.

i think this is pretty classy...

image found here.

this "tree" is prefect for us. no branches for kitten little to be constantly trying to eat.

image found here.

this is another idea that i would love to do as an everyday decor idea. i especially love the toadstools at the base of the tree.

image found here.

this is my favorite room right now. the walls. the windows. & the seating! those brown chairs next to the christmas tree look so snuggly.

image found here.

inspired: beyonce.

she is super pretty. really talented. & i imagine her being really down to earth & friendly in real life (i dont think that about most celebrities). im definitely a fan. i was came across her "why dont you love me" video on youtube the other day & i loved it! it had a 1950's homemaker theme to it. not only is she dressed the part, but the lighting & video quality seems to fit the theme as well... as in not the best lighting or quality.

it gave me a little idea for my own bad pictures. especially during these winter months, where good lighting is hard to come by. why not just edit the bad photos to look "old" or "aged" & then maybe it will look intentional. i dont have any photo editing software so thank goodness for picnik(dot)com. it has a lot a features you can use for free or you can get the membership, which is pretty inexpensive, & you will access to additional features.

so i picked out a picture i really liked, but was really unhappy with & tried to make it look a lil' bit retro...

i was pretty excited to try out some editing on this photo of ran. we were hanging out at our house with a friend & we ended up pulling out our big box of magazines for collaging. we spent all afternoon cutting out text & images to make collages with. thinking back, it was a pretty magical afternoon, but looking at the picture, it did not even do it justice. i am so much more happy with picture after playing with it for a while in picnik & trying out different editing effects.

so then i tried a couple more photos, first making them look a little retro, & then doing a monochromatic pallet...

im pretty happy with all of them. from now on, when i upload a whole camera full of "bad" photos, i will just think of all the editing possibilites.

inspired: lil' red mushrooms

i mean seriously, what is not to love about these cute mushrooms? they come with polka dots!

image found here.

maybe im just really loving the bright cheery red since it has been a bit gray around these parts. or maybe because we have been out & about outside so much recently & im really feeling contected to mother nature right now.

image found here.

in an effort to carry this bit of cherriness with me all day long i painted my nails red mushroom style...

i made a treasury on etsy chock full of lil' red mushrooms to inspire you too! check it out here.