Native

Sanded story

These antique sand art pieces were created in the 1800's by Andrew Clemens, an Iowan artist who as a young child, took ill and as a result lost his hearing and speech abilities.  He spent much of his youth around the Pikes Peak State Park at an area called Pictured Rocks.  Here the limestone has been pulverized to sand by natural elements and the waters running through the limestone have carried the sands down through minerals, changing the colors to all the shades of Clemen's work.  Clemens made each piece with nothing more than a jar and sand and a few handmade tools of his invention and he made many of them upside down, due to the nature of using a bell jar to contain them.  His work is so beautiful and once you know the story of how he created them, it's even more amazing.  They sold in his day for .50 to a few dollars and now each one is rightfully so, worth thousands.

Seen at The Storque

Hue my heart

Source: designalicious.typepad.com via Capt'in Casey on Pinterest

 

Have you seen this beautiful bottle display yet? I have a deep love for old glass bottles, starting way back to when I was kid collecting my grandpa's decades old soda bottles out in the potato cellar on the farm.  I've since moved up to swooning over old apothecary jars and the like. James gave me a giant (it's almost two feet tall!) green glass jar as a Christmas gift this year and I've been planning a day to go around to the antique stores to find a few to add to it.  I'm thinking the green to clear to blue color is my favorite and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Blog Wonderland

I know I should have included these a week or so ago, but you should enjoy love anytime, so here goes.

Matchstick love pixel art by Pei-San Ng

Yum!  And so pretty too.  Learn how to make this Heart Cake and surprise the next birthday boy or girl!

I love that the praying mantis is eating the heart!  He looks innocent, like, oh, it wasn't a treat?

Heart pin by Giant Dwarf, it's time for me to update my bobby pin collection!

Dreaming of this bike purse for summer

Lazy cat ring, makes me want to stretch out too!

Darling decor plates in a woodland creatures theme

Bunkbeds for your kittens!  Notice the old softballs used for legs, genius!

Myself:

Testing out new ideas, including printed muslin bags as packaging for the arrows and a double sided chevron scarf.  Pics soon, once the kinks are all worked out.

Dinner with friends at Ichiban Sushi last night, so delicious!  *disclaimer, I shy away from raw fish (or raw meat for that matter, well done only)...I ordered the Kobe beef.  But I did try a Turf piece of a Surf & Turf roll and it was tasty!

Still waiting to hear word from my bestie that her baby girl has arrived, 3 days overdue now...

and packing, packing packing.  We are moving to another part of town in mid March.  We'll miss downtown and our darling apartment (but not the lack of a dishwasher.)  We got a job managing an apartment complex with the lovely perk of free rent, so move it is.

You know what I mean

It used to be that I brought music with me for my little sister when I'd come to visit, but now that she's 16, it's definitely her that's a little more hip with the music scene than I am.  Here's one that she introduced me to last visit that I quite like, Faded Paper Figures.   

Wild cat

I came across the work of Penelope Reichley's work today and was so impressed!  I guess I must have a bit of national pride in me, because I love the embroidered states necklace so much.  Maybe I am also just enamored by the bright colors.  She does custom pieces of other countries as well and her shop is calledIl Gato Sevatico, which means "wild cat" in Italian (and is one of my favorite Ratatat songs) and was inspired by all the stray cats around her neighborhood while she was living in Italy.

 

Arrow Giveaway Winner!

 

Congratulations to Amber, she is the winner of the Arrow Giveaway!  Thanks to everyone for all your comments and facebook likes, I really appreciate it!  Look out for a new giveaway late next week.  

Cephalopods, Mockingbirds and Cats

 
Front page of Etsy, thanks Paperdollaccessories!

Honeysuckle Lovers

I came across the video below by Harold Edgerton that beautifully captures the hovering of a humming bird feeding over at Even Cleveland.  It reminded me of all the time I spent sitting in the window of my grandma's house, watching those fast little creatures dart up to the feeder and stick their long beaks down into the plastic flowers.  We would open the window a little crack, so we could hear their wings beating.  

Kennedy Feeder by Kennedy Glass Studio, Mrs. Hummingbird by Elliesbox, Hummingbird Necklace by District Thirty

I also love Hummingbird by Wilco. Such a pretty song.

Weekend projects

I made these little stamped note pads earlier this summer and have been giving them out with purchases.  I just ran out of them, so now I need to make some more.  I love how they look, but it's hard to get a good cover of color with the two methods I've been using.  However, I picked up a copy of Christine's book (the lovely designer behind Yellow Owl Workshop - cute cards, great necklaces!) Print Workshop, and after browsing through it, I can already tell that there are going to be some tips that I put to use right away!

I also spent part of tonight finally putting together a banner made from the scraps of wood left over when I make arrows.  This is still just a prototype, I can see a few changes that need to be made (like not breaking my needle threader and proceeding to spend 20 minutes trying to get 6 strands of thread through way too small of a needle hole.  Or like sticking to one color of thread instead of spending almost an hour peeling apart three different skeins of embroidery thread.  Or like drilling the holes bigger in the first place to avoid both of the above problems.  But I tend to do things the long way around, at least the first time.  Some might say I prefer the scenic route.) I think the banner is going in the right direction though, what do you think? 

 

I've long been a fan of Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections drawings (pictured below) that relate back to a personals ad from Craigslist and now she has a new project based on her dad's stories from the war, traveling and even being the son of a spy.  The first drawing is great, I love the girls wrestling in sardines and the description, or her dad's story, makes it even better.  Definitely following this project and I suggest you do the same!