DIY Wednesday

Need a fun 15min project??

from: Lovely Indeed!

 
Make  your  own  Rubber  Stamp!

Tools:  . Rubber Eraser

           . Black Pen/Marker

       . Exacto Knife

...& WhALL-aH!  Perfecto Moustachio!

Breakfast Edition: #1

Breakfast Edition: #1

I don't know if i LoVe the

                               --bow adorned blouse

                               --her hair,  or

                               --the cows  more ??

*Bon Appétit ~



Articulation

Have you Ever

Had a Problem articulating a Look?

--for instance, the entire Year we were planning our wedding, I was countlessly asked:
"oH! WhAt are your COLORS?!"

as if that is a prerequisite in planning your event?
...this, of course, sent me into a tongue-twisted frenzy of trying to describe an entire scene, versus blurting one of my favorites out of Crayola box.  Was i merely unsure of which palette to label our day with?? -no.
Forgive me for not being able to put a *stamp on our "color choice?" because everything wasn't oozing HOT Pink, or the sickening balance of two colors Spilling about in competitive waves over every inanimate object within sight!!  :) 

Because, in all reality, it's more of a feeling!
~A picture is worth a Thousand words ..

ie: a Yummy palette of ill-pertaining photos arranged to describe eclectic gold.

------applicable in any avenue of life / event / fashion------



Thank You! Oh So Beautiful Paper blog*
Image Cred­its: 1: Foundry Col­lec­tive, 2. Cherry Blos­som Girl, via Dress Design Decor 3: Antique pack­ag­ing by Josep M. Gar­rofé via Blue Pool Road 4: E. Tautz Iden­tity Pro­gram by Mov­ing Brands, 5: Bee-Raw Honey, 6: Dai Due, via Bon­nie Tsang, 7: Pho­tog­ra­phy for Emma Stine, via Dress Design Decor



So until our dear childhood companions at Crayola come up with:

 1. Muted Mustard Seed

2. Dirty French Black

             3. Casual Greige-Goods Linen     

4. Artisan Patina   

5. 1880's Ivory      

........and the like~

i think we should all opt for the more Genuine, Romantically tongue-tied* version :)

NYC Anytime

The Weekender Spot

I stumbled upon this photographer couple per my incandescent friend Melissa
-- they are out of

Williston, ND  (mad credit to our alma mater state!)

and shoot weddings / engagements / life capturings.

http://www.gabrielandcarin.com/



swooning over their great style!



So, I made my way onto their blog, for a brief glimpse at their work.. and was pleasantly surprised to find a post of their dazzling trip to NYC over Christmastime.

Christmas buzz over??  Just take another look, you'll be stirring*

Reminds me of the Christmas trip my husband and I took to NYC 2 years ago!

The hustle and bustle, frostbit nose/toes, skating in Rockefeller amongst the lights and the Sinatra!

LeTs Skate!!

Rockefeller

Tipsy City Love

I vote, it's never too early to plan your pre-christmas NY trip :) 2011?

--Log on and start scribbling the skinny today!--

Even a 2 day trip is worthwhile (and budget friendly!)

Here are some of their great photos
----(much better capturing the NYC experience than ours! Wouldn't it be marvelous to have their talent/camera?!)----
.....

and if you Just are beaten-with-a-stick to the core on "Christmas" and all the past Holiday hoopla,

then relish the sooted-beauty spectacle that is:

Enjoying a Glacial *Winter Day in the City

-peace

White. think: white.

Happy Weekend!

I'm going to try* to accept our new white bedroom walls and

TRUST

that I can make the room look good!

~Rome wasn't built in a Day ;)

LOVING the oversized Edison Filament fixture!

 * Great News---   Last week I mentioned I has something biG to share..
 Look at me!  [below]

Guess what my title will be as of Jan. 27th ??!  I'm SiNgiNg for JOy



Auld Lang Syne

-- open in a *new browser, for your listening pleasure during your post read --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urDzywYAO0I

"Auld Lang Syne"

synonymous with the stroke of Midnight on New Year's Eve

the Scot's title can be loosely translated as "for [the sake of] old times"

Why, you might ask, am I referencing this solemn-but-warming song?

And I answer: I have an embarrassing attachment to our Christmas Tree.

Each year, I've gone out on the hunt for

  - THE - 

Perfect Blue Spruce to cut down in the snowy fields, hoist in the social view of the living room, spend 10 hours intricately wrapping lights in & about the coniferous beauty (thereafter causing the tough-love swelling of my bleeding, pin-cushion hands)...

Adorning the bluey with the strategically placed wire-ribbon and ornaments

Then before you know it, Christmas is over, the New Year has become old news, and we all feel like de-cluttering our lives!

The bows, the boughs, stockings & candy canes ~ have all been put away.

But there is a lingering  White Elephant  in the corner, our tree.

Why is it that I feel so guilty for taking down this tree and throwing it out on the corner?
We've already chopped him down, inevitably sending him to impending doom, and come to think of it-- the initial SAWING of his trunk was quite a Merry moment!

Growing up we would place our post-Christmas spruce in the back yard, standing as a temporary fort for the sparrows and chikadees to play in by the bird-feeder.

I'm only now realizing, that my father shares the same attachment to this yearly relic, and was attempting to create some meaningful longevity in having chopped this living plant down.  

--- by the way, the birds always LOved it! So funny to watch them through the window as they played and flirted about their new camouflouge playground --- 

So, here I find myself painting new rooms, and cleaning out the cupboards.. but I can't  make eye contact with the 7' tall spikey orb in the corner!

... like I know he's on Russian-Roulette Row and I don't want to be the murderer?! 

What makes it worse - is it's a freak! 

:)  in a good way -  the tree looks as Healthy as thE day we brought him home from his snowy field.

Barely dropped any needles! 

How can that be?! Normally, they are sickly and bald by this point. Making me angry with all the painful needles that keep finding their way into my feet when I cross the room, so I can have less shame "putting them out to pasture"

Not this one.

Nope

This tree, our first "Married" tree together, is on his best behavior!  Standing proud for us as we've diligently watered the base in admiration of his splendor, for almost 2 MONTHS now!!

This weekend, I must cut my silly ties, and send this happy chap out to the yard.

I'm foreseeing singing "oh Christmas Tree" around the campfire in late April? ha

So,  goodbye to the this lone soldier, his dashing good looks, 

and the Love we've shared with family & friends in the bask of your light!

..out on the step you go

Toe Pick!

It's official, the holidays and their aftermath have passed..  now, we are left with:

S N O W .

It is MID-JAN.
Lucky for me, my philosophy has always been
~ if it's going to be this cold, it might as well be pretty & white!

The past week has been perfectly lethargic, dawned with robes.

THE ROBE:

..and its Tyranny..

Phase 1. --Starts off funny! Hey, it’s nostalgic, paired with the wondrous realization that there is more to this robe biz than "just" posing like Hugh Heff  e v e r y   time you sit down!

~Or traipsing about the house like a JC Penney's catalog model in an item you once could not comprehend the true efficiency of.

Phase 2. --From there, it Becomes mildly comical.

The remaining smirks are deluded by your grOwing fondness for the warmth and comfort.

Phase 3. --All of the sudden, it becomes alarmingly apparent that it is an addictively adapted way of life! 

 Serious Stuff! 

And there’s nO nicotine patch for this one!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Robes sported throughout the weekend after painting walls galore.

Robes on Monday and Tuesday when I took some un-used vacation days to Continue painting with my husband

---(until we discovered the hilarious show "Millionaire Matchmatcher" and got sucked into a day-depleting series of episodes in which we *normal populace get the reassuring opportunity to laugh at all the CRazY rich people out there.. like we aren't sitting in our robes midday on a Tuesday and pointing fingers??)--

...Robes when we finished shoveling,
Robes cooking dinner,
RoBEs after a long day at work in stuffy business clothes...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

But there's a point in which you truly start to feel, slobby?  ha! 

The once warming nature of lounging about in a cozy garb, has now disturbingly over-stayed its welcome.

It’s called  m o t i v a t i o n ..

and in January – we *might need to diG a little for some!

Good riddance to a 1.5 week hiatus in holiday recharge... it's time to dO something!

*and painting does not count

..with all my heart i love this collage :}

Skating Party??

this makes me gush with pride for MINNESOTA :}

We are a hearty brood,

the kind that find jOy and solace in the blustery days of Winter

I love that i can smell the cold by looking at this, hear that distinct skates-on-ice sound, feel the chunky-knit scandanavian sweaters.
The pain in your hands from the sawing-laces of getting your skates tight!

Runny red noses, too-hot swiss miss, & skating through duskfall-to-dark losing track of time :)

..helping to melt your fear of frostbite yet?

Or the sorrow in losing that ever-growing / perfected cast of your body in the sofa cushion?

I had the BriLLiaNt idea to flood our backyard into a rink!

Jeff assures me we can, *when* we have little hockey kids.. but opting to save the grass until then.

haha, so off to a local rink we must go!

..then we can crawl back into our cozy "igloo" (closer to "bungalo" i suppose)

Hot Apple Cider [spiked?] + Warm Pretzel Twists

and fall asleep watching Mystery Alaska or Miracle with Herb Brooks and all our Gopher hockey boys shining across the screen, defeating the Soviets & defying all odds to win the 1980 Olympics.

the Actor:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpTj_Z9v-c
& the Prodigy!:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CdJTfGiRCI [wOw, hA!]
~a legacy in our blood! 

-->WAIT?! am i digressing again? -this sounds like a potential "Robe" scene?! 

;)    full circle i guess!

Lets..

 ..Like PAiNT?! 

It is our self-proclaimed "YEAR OF RENOVATION"!  So, not to fall behind or cheat our our little 'diet plan' of sorts already.. we are beginning this weekend.  

MISSION:  Paint the Dora the Explora room!

ha :)  Quite embarrassing you say?

Well, just ask my most manly, hunting, meat-eating husband who has been sleeping with a smile on his face in a Pepto-Bismol Pink and Bachman's Floral Lavender bedroom for the past 4 months.  Yessir, he smiles not because his tummy feels better, but because we are still the incandescantly proud owners of our very first home. 

Obviously, you are now privy to some* details of the existing purchase of our 1920's Craftsman Style house. 

True: the upstairs bedroom was previously shared by two whimsical twin girls, ripe in their age of 3 years, and no doubt dutiful in their nap-taking when life-size Dora decals were plastered about the room.  Shame they took all the Doras with them when they moved... but luckily we are still blessed with their exuberant choice in wall color ;)

What color shall we choose?? I think it can only improve!

Hmm, something tells me it will not be an organic mural schlacked upon some beautifully moody-teal paneling.  Next year?

Nor, will it be the ornate confessions of an Italianate Renaissance junky (myself)...

Low Dado's are the chicest way to imitate Euro proportion

I fear, that for the first time in my life, we may very well paint a room

W H I T E !

AHH! I know! Don't panic yet--- although, it's not for sake of selling, or being afraid of a color, because Lord knows I think we're sleeping with tOo much color now!  

Should White be feared?  Shall it forever fall synonomous with the mundane and beige visionaries?   Afterall, white can be one of the greatest palettes for which to manipulate the varieties of texture, temperature, and all your ever-changing accessories!   

However, I must confess that the stirring of this Elusive -White- first entered my thoughts by only the source of knowing in the next *1-2yrs, we will be sledge-hammering OUT the walls and reconfiguring the entire layout of the bathroom and master bedroom. 

So, pilgrim in the venture back to white? - hardly, no.  I am willing to dabble with the notion because I know it will only be an experimental hypocrisy against my eternal advocacy for color!

Start with the basics. White is not a shameful choice! It can be extremely crisp and clarifying.

Can it be, that I am potentially getting excited over the challenge of painting a room white?  --With the means to make it look like we actually chose white; DesigneD around it -rather than because of it? 

The hardwood floors and exposed radiators are very reminiscent of our bedroom-to-be

Can you push the envelope with  " w h i t e " ??

I think, white can be uLtiMately "edgier" than any beige you can throw-down!

Here are two snapshots that prove white can be trendy, modern, and "designed around" with focused purpose.

Will we be doing any blocking or striping in our painting schematics?? 
If it were up to me, and my never-ending additions of ideas..
hecK yes! 
But, this is where the better part of marriage steps in and suggests, that perhaps* we'd like to redeem our bedroom for it's purpose of actual sLeeping (not non-sensical projects!)... and that pulling couch duty for weeks on end while I       marvel / ponder / marvel / add /    ...amongst paint toxins, is simply not a plausible plot.

But, as you may have seen in my previous post on Black Lacquered doors... I have an itching idea inspired by none other than the cousin to my Favorite childhood species~

Large Wall Print from IKEA

Black and white stripes.  Vertical is the best way to make this a classy statement. 

Below are two 'trippy' rooms that I leave dually as a warning and in admiration for pushing barriers.  

The small room on the right is simply too BEETLEJUICEy for (probaby anyone?!) me. 

The room on the left, however, gives a much greater Ralph Lauren-esque aura.  The wider stripes mean it is less busy; the refined touches of brass and gold metallics in the symmetrical sconces, umbrella stand, and the heavy banquet bench help to anchor the room.  Also note, this scheme is best applicated if it is in a small space or accent wall and not overtaking a large room!



Here is the same concept again - in a fabulous area rug for this Guest Bedroom.  The lush Red suede twin headboards are -believe it or not- from Target! -and priced reasonably for less than $300!  Knowing how much stripe to add and where to place it is the defining balance in this bold pattern.

---Wouldn't you just die to have a guest room like these in your house to welcome Friends into? 

The symmetry takes away all the anxious unknowns of how to arrange and decorate the room!



Another example of my mini thesis that stripes can be elegant!

This is the picture I am going to dangle about my husband's face, in hopes that he will understand my desires to transform the  small landing  at the top of our stairwell.

I found thE Perfect mirrored chest at  Home Goods  that would nestle right in and allow us to add some dimension to that currently  wasTed  space... but, while the cost of paint is easy to 'swing' with the current Moral+Obligatory overseer of our finances, not so sure I could sneak a giant *Mirrored* chest

1.-successfully into the back of my MiNi Cooper

2.-up the narrow stairs by myself

3.-PAST hiM without catching some sort of blinding glint from the reflective beauty!

:)

oh, and then there is, of course, seeing it plainly set (perfectly) at the top of the stairs.

Statement Landing. Large appeal in a small space.



I digress..

 as you see--- I have already wandered FaR, FAR off my central focus of simply painting the Dora Room.

One Last quick peak to share with you~  please disregard the tacky seashell fabric, as I forgot to crop it! ha.

HOW great is it, that this bedroom is dim, moody, and prevalently easy to sleep in?!

Accomplished by the use of painting a *non-Gothic black scheme. 

There is nothing tricky, nor intricate about the design, and yet it is simply ingenious that the bed is a shining beacon of softness and Light after a long day! 

I love this idea of the bed being aglow, warm, even summoning.  The calming dimness elsewhere allows your mind & body to transition into letting-go of all your day's stressors... along with your jewelry, and trail of clothing!

 

On that note~   I bid you Adieu

...and a "PS" addition:

Life is full of those "Should-a, Could-a, Would-a" moments that inescapably absorb our thoughts when there is something beyond our grasp.  Like, how I still wish that I could have surprised my dear enthusiast husband with a sweet Vintage ride out front of the church to rumble off in on our wedding day..

Or when we are too afraid to take a Leap of faith for something so positively enticing, albeit unknown..

well, I'm taking that leap ~ and will have something Positively Exciting to share with you next week!!

til then,

 enjoy your Weekend and wish us luck with the January paint toxins!

...Some day, m'love  ;)