September hiatus

via These are a few of my favourite things...

With a baby due any moment (seriously. My due date is today though the only excitement around here is that pesky hurricane) and Lorelei juggling the start of school - we've decided to give ourselves a little break from Hiving Out for the month of September (though we might not be able to help ourselves and still post occasionally). However, we'll be back with blogging guns blazing on October 1st so we hope you visit us again then. Have a lovely September!

That Rainbow Cake

Surely you have seen it. I had come across images all over bloghood and I was wondering if someone with my feeble culinary skills and general lack of patience could attempt to make the rainbow cake.
Thanks to this tutorial on Angry Julie Monday, I was actually able to pull it off! I would definitely recommend giving it a try for your next party- the oohs and aahs will brighten the guest of honor's day as much as this colorful dessert does....well, almost :).

Bootsie's pictures

My friend Bootsie is an AMAZING photographer. She took up the art form just a couple of years ago, but she's already got such a great eye for composition, color, and mood that I just have to share her work with our little readership. Aren't her photographs lovely? Such diverse styles, but there seems to be a thread of melancholy that runs through most of them that really strikes me...

{For more of Bootsie's photography, see her flickr page: *Bootsie.
She also has great taste which can be admired on her tumblr page.}

{all images courtesy of Bootsie's flickr}

a wooden spool

Pink and white Baker's Twine x 20 yards on vintage wooden spool via papermoonbyKAT

Packages just look that much better when the wrapping is finished off with a twine bow or tie. One of the best little gifts I ever got was a bag full of various colored baker's twine on wooden spools. I have used that twine on nearly everything I have gifted in the past year and now I have some great spools left behind.

I decided to look around and see what sorts of repurposing ideas people had for these spools. One of the first things that caught my eye was using the surface of the spool as a canvas of sorts...

Hand painted cotton spool-7 via blackoutwell

For those a little less artistically inclined- the spool as a simple photo holder or a vase.

Spool photo holder via pinterest

Spool vases via Pinterest

What a cool "thank you" for a teacher- talk about a guaranteed smile!Teacher apple card via pininterest

Some decorative garland- seemingly perfect for parties or a kid's room.Spool Garland via Pinterest

It appears those spools have great potential.

How to dress like a 1970s gamine

1. Start with Lauren Moffatt's  2011 fall collection.
2. Stop there.

(I especially love the stripey dresses and the use and color of that buttery leather.)

{all images via Lauren Moffatt}

Jointed Paper Dolls

Little Eliza Jointed Movable Paper Doll via inkingcap

I recently heard a suggestion for decoration in a little girl's room - framing some jointed paper dolls in various poses. The idea was interesting to me , though I would be sad to see these movable pieces frozen forever.....maybe finding a way to display them tucked into a ribbon board would be the best of both worlds.

Mermaid Art Paper Doll via thefiligree

Mr.Rabbit courtesy of minifanfan

A is for Acorn jointed paper doll via ribonita

miniature moveable paper dolls via hollandsworth

Little Red Riding Hood Articulated Paper Doll signed by artist, Jo James via 44thStreetFabric I love the entire "Peter and the Wolf" puppet theatre on paper available on PDF from sarahjanestudios- some jointed paperdolls performance art!

PDF- Peter and the Wolf Puppet Theater via sarahjanestudios

Shall I shave my head or...

...learn to tie my hair up in pretty knots?

I'm so done with my hair growing like crazy and having to pull it back in a sloppy ponytail. Something has to change before I just cut it all off. Thankfully, the lovely hair illustrations by Maria Gil Ulldemolins (aka MGU) has me leaning toward knots rather than baldness.

 MGU's Etsy shop, blog, and website (discovered via lenorenevermore)

World's Most Romantic Hotels

Shangri-La Hotel, Paris

Back in February, the folks at Travel & Leisure put together a round-up of what they deemed the world's most romantic hotels. It is definitely serious travel eye candy clicking through the list.

I appreciate that they expanded their definition of romantic beyond sandy beaches or Paris (although they are present, of course) and sometimes thought a little outside the box (hello awesome igloos!). Here are a few of the spots included....

Anantara Kihavah villas, Baah Atoll, Maldeves InterContinental, Hong Kong
Hotel Kakslauttanen & Igloo Village, Finland
Ranch at Rock Creek, Philipsburg, Montana
Palais Amani, Fez, Morocco
Aldeia da Cuada, Azores, Portugal
Biras Creek Resort, British Virgin Islands

All photographs courtesy of Travel&Leisure

All the World

One of my favorite picture books right now is All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee. It has no shortage of fans, being a Caldecott Honor Book and a New York Times Best Illustrated choice of 2009. 

I could tell you all about the extensive praise that the lyrical text and captivating drawings have received, but instead I am posting a video of Ms. Frazee talking about the joys of illustrating for the child audience.

Any time I have an opportunity to hear an illustrator speak about their artistic inspiration and craftsmanship, I am in awe. These are the people who can bring stories to life.

All the World achieves that perfect union of word and picture, but I would say it takes it one step beyond and Frazee's illustrations tell many tales within the text. It is a beautiful, grand achievement.

Video courtesy of youtube

How to raise a useful baby...

 via McSweeney's

For all the love, affection, joy, blah, blah, blah that Sweet Pea is supposed to provide me - he's not actually going to be of any practical use to me for a while. Or is he? Maybe I'll get him a few of these "Baby, Be of Use" books by Lisa Brown so he can start earning his keep from the get-go (and I think I'll start with this one...).

National S'mores Day

Wednesday, August 10th is National S'mores Day, so grab your supplies and celebrate this traditional summer dessert.
Even if you aren't at sleep-away camp, you can still indulge in this treat with these recipes for s'mores....outside or indoors. It is all gooey deliciousness.

Image courtesy of ggnpc.convio.net

Move, Eat, Learn

Way better than that terrible "Eat Pray Love" is this trio of short films by Rick Mereki, Andrew Lees, and Tim White (commissioned by STA Travel Australia) called "Move," "Eat," and Learn." Three one minute travel montages that will make you want to get off your couch and go somewhere amazing...

"Move"

   

 "Eat"

"Learn"

{discovered via lovely little things}

treats from across the pond

Here are some of the most intricate and delicious looking confections I have ever seen! Cotton & Crumbs of Coventry is responsible for these sweet and girlie creations - flour, butter and sugar never looked so good.

All images courtesy of cottonandcrumbs

10 things...

 via Acidstorm

Bear with me. I've been one big cranky lady lately. And in the spirit of my crankiness I thought I'd share 10 things that are driving me to the brink these days (this photograph is, of course, not one of them - his cranky face is divine!).

1. Baby boy clothes with lame writing on them like: "Mommy's New Man" or "Say Hello to Mr. Wonderful" or "Chicks Dig Me." Why are we now dressing our baby boys like ugly American tourists in brash slogan t-shirts?

2. Blog posts that are overtly paid for product placements and the bloggers of such posts who don't fess up to that fact outright.

3. The amount of talent/dance/performance shows on TV right now.

4. People who make that heart shape with their hands in pictures - especially when those people are full grown adults.

5. Cicadas (hearing them at night makes me think that this summer will never end).

6. The catchiness of Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night."

7. Strangers who tell me whether they think I'm carrying a boy or a girl based on how I look, stand, or what I eat (without being asked, of course).

8. People who are so tactless as to blow other people's news on facebook by declaring "congrats on the baby!," "sorry you guys are separating," or "my condolences to your family" on the walls of their supposed "friends" thus outing the friends who had yet to decide whether they even wanted to share that news with the world of facebook.

9. The fact that I can't reach my toes.

10. August.

August

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot."

- Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

Image courtesy of TheShutterbugEye

7 Deadly Sins

"Envy"

I think the collage art of Jordan Clarke makes the 7 Deadly Sins not only seem really cool, but it also elicits more than one of them from the viewer (envy, greed, lust). The finished pieces of her series are pretty great, but I'm actually a big fan of the snippets she posted as "sneak peeks" which highlighted the small choices she made in color, composition, and telling images.

"Wrath"

"Pride"

"Sloth"

"Greed"

"Gluttony"

"Lust"

{Jordan Clarke's blog, shop, flickr, and gallery.}