muerto de risa

soooo pretty...

i love mike's new reclaimed china.

i owe him a sewing lesson and can't wait to see what he creates with the power of a sewing machine.

prettiness

 

vixen necklace by joanna rutter

(i also like these and this)

resin rings by molly proctor

best in show

we oggled pups and peeps at the mod livin' "best in show" auction on friday.  our dog went home with a lovely lady who came specifically to bid on him.  you can see the nice lady above with noreen, mike, me, and jordan (for some reason i'm the only once in focus).

then we ate cupcakes.

p.s.- there are many reasons i love having my friend jon in town.  one of the less sentimental but most relevant to this post reasons is that he takes photos everywhere we go.  all puppy photos were taken by him.

if i ever go to jail...

 

   

 

i hope it's in leoben, austria.

yes, i believe in prisoner rights.

yes, i believe too  many people are sent to jail.

still, it is a little disconcerting to look at photos of a prison nicer than my home or office.

hey architects from hohensinn! wanna come redo my apartment?

(the firm also designs beautiful modern homes and getaways.)

 

today, i am inspired by raw-looking walls...

i would love to read a book in this room housing ana's collage (photo by nadja stemmer). 

perhaps the pages will transport me to a classroom in the school of restauration arts at willowbank (photo taken by achim hering) in ontario, canada.  i am their star pupil.

or, maybe, i will watch the young blushing nun occupying this room (image from marie claire maison).  she brushes her brown hair and writes her mother a short letter.  she sleeps here every night until a midnight in june when she runs away through the fields of grapes and wildflowers to the open arms of her forbidden future lover.

then i close my book (which is apparently the mundane tale of a student who fixes up old  homes and furniture or a cheesy romance novel), admire ana's collage one more time, walk out of nadja's room and back into my living room where i sit and type on my computer.

victorian modern

i really love a good juxtoposition of old and new.  (photo above obviously from istockphoto.)

i am particularly interested in a combination of victorian and classic modern. (photo from quibbly.)

but it's not easy to find this done well.

i enjoy door 16 but would also love to find more examples where both styles of furniture are integrated.

any ideas?

 

this weekend...

       

mike gave me a little blue car.  i spent hours pulling it along my floors and counter tops.

               

jordan spotted a meter cosy near fancy tiger.

a link noreen sent me led to brooklyn tweed.  i need to learn how to knit lace.

le look risa

le look cosy et british (boy do i love french!  especially phrases that describe something british.)

mélange de récup' et de charme

un coin de la cuisine en rose dragée

une cabane pour les amis (what a perfect little guest house!)

waste away your day looking at these images and more at marie claire maison.

babushka! babooshka!

i'm not sure i ever showed the couch we ended up getting.  there was a floor model for sale at room & board and it made us open up to the idea of charcoal gray.   the fabric (which is discontinued) has some brown in it, which i think warms it up a bit.  plus, it looks great with our 70s orange velvet chairs.  while in ny next week, i hope to stop by purl to pick out some faric for making pillows and a runner for our coffee table.

   

we've also been hanging up a lot of our artwork, including this print i received a few weeks ago from lisa s. (not to be confused with lisa lou s. our buddy from quito).

   

she also sent some other goodies, including russian chocolate wrapped in an illustration of a baby in a babushka.  thank you lisa!

babooshka (based on the spelling of the kate bush song, i think) also happens to be the name of the place where i'm getting my hair cut today. (woohoo!  otherwise, i'd need to start wearing a babushka.) 

and in case you didn't know, in addition to a headscarf tied under one's chin, babushka means grandma in russian.  it can also be used as a term of endearment.  or to refer to mean old ladies who work for the government.

i will share more mail (and maybe vocabulary) later this week.

3 bits of advice...

1.

you should see juno.  today.  buy your tickets now.

2.

you would look adorable riding this bike.  (via joy)

3.

when considering where to live, you should consider each city's crafty to non-crafty ratio (aka the CNC ratio). 

it is quite fun running into talented blog friends like stephanie outside a local fashion market and meeting cool artists like mike, whose work i previously admired on several design blogs.

crafty folks are amazing online, but they are even more awesome in person.