vote

not a great picture, but i was so excited about mailing in my very first vote/ very first absentee ballot! yay. i hope the count clerk appreciates my beautiful stamp.

possum

i saw a fat possum today walking along a fence in the middle of the day. then he crawled under a sidewalk and curled up. oh man it was so cute and cartoon looking with it's pink nose and fluffyness. silly possum, day time is your sleepy time!

william morris invades my life

my second post ever on this blog has two pictures of my trip to the william morris house in the english countryside. it was one of the best places we visited. i still regret not getting anything at the gift shop. though, maybe not any more since just now i was reading design*sponge and read about these...

william morris journals in "persian"! and these...

william morris note cards in "clover"! and so many others! oh, how pretty! it's not even just that the prints are beautiful, but that looking at them reminds me of the house, and the summer, and the air, and the furniture in the house, and the gardens...it is really wonderful. i'm so happy.

some magic

sometimes my screensaver pops up with pictures i haven't seen in a while and it makes me go through my albums and relive the wonderful things i saw this last summer. the town of oxford is a wonderful place.



like these roses, in the oxford rose garden.

and this old boat on the river isis, reflected in the green water.

and have i mentioned that i love pigeons? i do. they are so fat and cozy looking. especially when they are cow-print colored like this little guy. a thought: do you think british pigeons have little british accents? like, "hoot, old chap!"

ps. you can see the full-size version of all pictures in the blog if you click on them!

to the death!

what is this coolness? it's an old painting with a wonderful detailed silhouette superimposed on top. pretty and hilarious.

from silhouette masterpiece theatre.

mmm warm

i made my bed last night with freshly laundered bedding. i wrapped myself in the blankets as i pulled them from the dryer and then ran down the hall saying "warm warm warm warm warm". i absolutely love fresh-out-of-the-dryer blankets. mmm warm.

frames

several years ago, a wonderful boy that i babysat gave me a handmade picture frame for christmas. ok, the frame was bought, but he glued all the buttons on. i'm sure he had no idea it would be the start of my addiction to buttons.



here are my versions. the frames were $1 at michael's. yay for cheapness!

puff paint + buttons + painter's tape + acrylic paint. about 8 inches tall.

acrylic paint + buttons + cool antiquey lace. about 4 inches tall.

grass shoes

a friend who was wearing these sweet girly shoes was kind enough to indulge my odd picture-taking ways. i like them because they are white and summery and all woven and perfect for walking through the grass.

free ribbon

i found this on the floor the other night when i was walking through my building. finding free ribbon is one of my favorite things. today i saw a friend that was wearing a sweet pink ribbon in her hair that was originally tied around a box of delivered cookies. see? free ribbon is amazing.

oh...

i was done for the night, but then i saw this...and i just stared at the sweetness that is this picture. when you click to look at the bigger picture, it gets even better. i would (never be able to pull this off, period, but if i were to i would) wear this with mankiller heels.

how did The Sartorialist get a picture in the middle of traffic like that?

ps. oh, tie bar, how i love thee.

cotton and buttons

interesting fact: i love it when a bunch of turtles are swimming around in a pond or something and all you can see are their wee little heads poking up. it's hilarious. it's also a fabric! ha! this is "pond" from west hill. if i had a pillow with this, i would laugh every time i saw it.

i saw these the other day and it inspired me to make my own valentines. they don't have to be used as valentines, but i used some that way.

i traced a cheap thank-you card that i already had, so it would fit in the envelope, and i dug into my button stash. i also made some tiny ones by folding a 3.5 inch square of cardstock in half and drawing just two button-flowers with tiny buttons. i think those will make sweet gift tags.

soft

oooh look at that scarf/pashmina/blanket. it is a wonderful, cozy heather gray and looks heavy. i like heavy scarfs. it's huge, too. huge! so cool. if you click and look at the larger picture it looks like a wool or a thick cotton jersey, maybe. that color is so wonderful, i want a sofa made out of it immediately.

picture from The Sartorialist.

my blog

i want to use this blog as a kind of inspiration wall, where i can throw anything that i think is beautiful or unique or worth looking at over and over and over again! i'm missing some important tools for that to work perfectly- namely, a scanner and a Nikon D40. BUT, since the latter is a long way from happening and the former is not essential, off we go!

i've been obsessing over some wonderful blogs lately (see blogroll), going back and ready every entry ever on each of them, and they have rekindled my love of crafting and creating and color and making things by hand! how exciting! it reminded me of all the times i say "oh that is beautiful" and have no way of saving that beautiful thing. i want to use all of that wonderful inspiration in the project of my lifetime - in other words, my eventual home. no, not my next residence hall room, but my home home home home.

so, dear blog, you are my bulletin board of beautiful things and i cannot wait to fill you up until you are bursting with pure awesomeness.

tiny prettiness

sometimes it's one pretty thing in a whole group of pretty things that's what you love the most.



the bright greens and yellows are wonderful...but check out the one sad one that is named Ugli! I want to put him in my purse and carry him around all day!

inspiration from the cotswolds

i think there is something so lovely and deep about old stone. it has absorbed so much history. it knows so much.





flowers and pears from william morris' home in the cotswolds. ripe to bursting and naturally exploding with amazing colors!

how fabulous is this chair in original william morris fabric? i love that the arms are upholstered.

sweetly embroided by Morris himself for the be he and his wife shared. "Maids of honour, you do bring in the spring and wait upon her welcome."

fall and spring coexisting