Ready. Set. Sow!

Snowdrops courtesy of google.com

The snowdrops are up here in southern New England. This is the beginning. It is time to start thinking about the yard and garden. I promised myself last fall that I would be on top of it come March and get some different bulbs or seeds in the ground. In the past, so many of the bulbs we planted in the autumn months fell victim to voracious chipmunks (or "mipchunks" as my then two-year-old called them) and the flowers that did bloom were simply irresistible to the neighborhood rabbits.

This winter I checked out The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening from Reader's Digest and I did some online research on my "growing region". At the end of this month I will be planting anemones, persian buttercups, and dahlias. Hopefully this summer I can enjoy something like this......if the rabbits and mipchunks give me a break.

"Anemone...." by law_keven via flickr

"Yellow Ranunculus asiaticus" (persian buttercup) by Luigi FDV via flickr

"Dahlia 'Pink Paradise'" by Eric in SF via flickr

russian winter

by The Sartorialist

It's been too cold for too long. I'm done with the blahness of winter. I need color. Badly.

I want/need/desire more vibrancy in my wardrobe right now too. I am seriously at the point where I want to burn my beige coat and brown boots and earth tone scarfs just for the sake of seeing the color of the flames. I think that's why the top image appeals to me so much -- it's that quality of Slavic folklore meets American modern that I find inspiring. There is just a briskness and warmth in the way she is mixing colors and patterns that I so desperately want to add to my dreary winter day wardrobe.

(And does that look remind anyone else of the Russian peasant feel of Kenzo's 2009 Autumn-Winter collection? I especially adore how the children's collection was styled...)

via {frolic!}

via ViewonFashion Magazine

via {frolic!}

via polyvore (created by Assol)

Trafalgar's Square

How about kicking off the week with a great "Rainy Day Sale"? Trafalgar's Square on Etsy has their 8 X 10 prints priced at ten dollars (versus the normal seventeen) and you can't beat that. I am a fan of their "book love" collection , but they have so many beautiful, adorable pieces. These prints would be great baby shower or welcome baby gifts.....I think I will pick up a couple for my daughter's room. They are just hard to resist!

 

All images courtesy of trafalgarssquare on Etsy 

Love

"Romeo and Juliet" sculpted by Milton Hebald, Central Park, NYC via flickr

So, we are coming to the end of February. Did you know that February is "Creative Romance Month", "National Mend a Broken Heart Month", and "Relationship Wellness Month"? -that is all in addition to being the home of Valentine's Day of course. I decided the last post for the month should be about love (seems only fitting given February's credentials).

I am not a poetry person and I can say this even with an English degree under my belt. I do have two very favorite love poems though and, yes, they could be considered trite, but they get me every time..... and isn't that the point really?

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

e.e. cummings

*********************************

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

e.e. cummings

Toys for the Taking

Here's a little something cheerful to send you on your way to the weekend: The Toy Society.

Have you heard about them?

The Toy Society was started by a small group of Australian crafters who began leaving handmade toys in public places to be adopted and loved by whomever found them. But the concept caught on, crafters from all over the world joined the project, and the Society just recorded toy drop #959.

Here's what you might find if you come across a Toy Society toy:


If you do find a toy, it is then your duty to visit the Toy Society blog and record your find. To me, the finders' responses are the best part. It brings me such satisfaction to read about a find and to know that a quirky, hand-stitched toy appeared in someone's life and made it happier.

Some of my favorite Toy Society drops:







For many more images of Toy Society drops, visit their Flickr group.

Thursday, a bridal shower tea party, and Etsy

little teapot necklace courtesy of CapriciousTraveler

I love the idea of a bridal shower tea party. It could be classic and beautiful, fun and girly, all at once. 

I would start with an invitation like this-

The Dress- Bridal Shower Invitation- Digital or Printed courtesy of BeanSproutStudio

The next order of business would be the table. It would be set with an elegant tea service, fine china and linens, and charming place cards. 

Vintage 6-piece Silverplate Tea Service courtesy of calloohcallay

Asiatic Pheasants Cup and Saucer courtesy of modowl

Sky Blue Tailored Dinner Napkins courtesy of evelynwhite

Paper Flower Kit- 12 Rose Place Cards- Pick your own colors courtesy of paperplatypus

I think these flowered sugar cubes and sparkling champagne glasses will suit the occasion perfectly....

Decorated Sugar Cubes by PinkInk

Vintage Crystal Champagne or Sherbet Glasses courtesy of FalconandFinch

There has to be sweets- and this trio of cake stands will make an ideal display for cupcakes decked out in the best wrappers. 

Set of 3 cake plates in aqua-made to order- courtesy of vesselsandwares

Elegant White Cupcake Wrappers courtesy of sugarcatstudio

I imagine these delicate paper lanterns, with their folded butterflies, hanging at different lengths over the table.

Flutter Paper Lanterns courtesy of SimpleSweetDesign 

This branch sculpture will be an amazing addition and could serve as a wishing tree- plus it would be a wonderful gift for the guest of honor. 

 

Custom wedding centerpiece-organic branch sculpture courtesy of koniver

Guests would be asked to jot down their well wishes and advice for the bride-to-be on these bird tags that can hang from the tree and be gathered after the celebration.  

30 Bird Hang Tags courtesy of YourAngil

Favors for the guests? Tea, of course! These monogrammed tins make the prettiest presentation....

Monogram Organic Tea Tin courtesy of SarahShannonDesigns

Missed Connections

Recently, I discovered Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections, an absolutely magical, ingenious blog; it's a little bit PostSecret, a little bit Found, but mostly something altogether fresh and new.

Blackall, an Australian-born artist and illustrator, is most well known, at least in my house, for her illustrations of the chapter book series Ivy and Bean, but she has illustrated and won awards for several other children books. She's also a painter and a sculpter and an ex-household hints columnist. Among other things.

But I am most taken with Blackall's work on the Missed Connections project, a blog where she breathes life into those melancholy and hopeful ads that people place on Craigslist, reaching out to someone they crossed paths with but lost in the world. Her illustrations of these fleeting moments of connection are funny and quirky and beautiful and just so full of humanity, it puts a lump in my throat.

Prints of many of Blackall's Missed Connections illustrations are available in her Etsy shop.