New beginnings

I have wonderful news to share. Tomorrow I start a new a new job at Anthropologie as a manager in training. For the past year and half I have been working at your average answer the phones, assist the boss, behind the desk kind of job and it has been slightly depressing. I've been struggling with the eternal question "what to do with the rest of my life." And I think this job is the answer. I started making a list of all the things I love and enjoy doing, and when things like shopping, being around people, helping people, antiques, styling and decorating and clothes from Anthropologie were the things I kept circling around I knew a job at their store was a good start.

This job is just the beginning and I can't wait for my first day tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Some pretty things, literally!

In my Blogging Your Way course I've been learning some nifty tricks on how to create collages in Picasa that I can upload directly to my blog. Before I could start messing with the program I had to upload pictures into it first. Thinking I would just chose a handful of random pictures off the web then start to play. Using trusty ol' Google images as my starting point I typed in "Pretty Things," thinking that would be vague enough I could pick the first 5 pictures it pulled up.

I was really surprised when I had to dig through a few pages back before I even landed on something that was pleasing to my eyes. So hence that's where the above images came from. Any old Blueprint Magazine readers will recognize the image with the yellow flats.

I found Picasa really easy to work with and it organizes your pictures in album folders really nicely. If you're looking for a new photo editor to try I recomend downloading this one; it's free and it automatically uploads any pictures you already have saved on your desktop.

Have a great weekend, find a "pretty thing" to make you smile!

Getting your fashion ready for spring

I don't know if you were lucky enough to experience some unseasonably warm days over the weekend, it was almost 40 degrees here in Indy, but with the sun peaking through the clouds its having me chomping at the bit to get out my sandals and tshirts. Can't you just see yourself putting this on for a day of errands on a sunny warm Saturday? Here's hoping for warmer days!

Items in this set:
Women's new arrivals - knits & tees - Appliqué flower art tee - J.Crew, $30
brandied apricot long pocket cardigan, $35
Patsy Trousers, $88
Circle Fawn Necklace: *Figs & Ginger* Eco-Friendly Metal-Smithing...
Womens AE Strappy Sandals - Brown, $30

Tilt your vision

While watching the Disney World Christmas parade on TV this past year, this great little video showed during the credits had me very intrigued. It was a review of the whole parade shown sped up and the camera some how managed to make everything look like it was miniature. Was a camera really that far away? Or did they spend hours and hours constructing some miniature Disney World model? I couldn't figure out how such a feat was accomplished. Either way I thought the result was super cute and figured it was Disney magic at work. Until a few weeks later when I saw a car insurance commercial done in the same way. And again I was mesmerized and entertained by the "cute fact" of it all. So I decided to get to the bottom of what this phenomenon was. The answer: tilt-shift photography.

Tilt-shift photography is all about changing the angle of the camera to give it a different perspective. And to get an actual tilt-shift image not produced out of Photoshop, there is a special lens that actually tilts to create a shallow depth of field. Sounds complicated right? Well take a look at these pictures to get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

(images: Sir Hsu, mrjarvis.com, michelle yap, depus)

Umm pretty amazing right? I looks like you're looking at a model used for a movie set. Like any minute a little mouse will scamper through this and will make you realize these aren't real life sized people and things. You can see where part of the image looks out of focus. To give the impression that you are very far away.

Of course, now that I'm aware of how these images are created I am seeing them pop up everywhere! Just the other day I saw that 4th image show up on esty's home page and

If you want to see more check out these great pictures from Smashing Magazine online.

Or check out this adorable video of a day at Disney World. It's not the same one I mentioned from the Christmas parade, you can catch that here.

Scrapbooker's Paradise

I want to share with you my top 5 lines of scrapbook paper. Nothing thrills me more than an email from my favorite online scrapbook store sending me an email alert of a new designers line or an old favorite has come out with a new season or holiday collection. I immediately start thinking of what kind of pages and layouts could go with my newly coveted piece of 12x12 paper.
My favorite place to buy paper from is a great website called StopandScrap.com. It's run by the sweetest couple who really care about their customers and run a really great business. I get an email at least once a week letting me know about new products, sales, contests and how to earn points to get free stuff if you have an account. They have all the best product lines and I want to share some scrapbook designers that have me wanting every piece of paper they make.

* Cosmo Cricket--A small business running at the top of their game. This 2 artist team has come up with over 20 lines in 4 years. They combine cute child like images with super cute vintage embellishments. I loved their "Jolly by Golly" Christmas line this past year and other favorites include Earth Love, Girl Friday and Early Bird. I usually buy the whole line's bundle because I can't just pick out one or two sheets.

(Lines: Earth Love, Girl Friday, Jolly by Golly)


* Sassafrass Lass--When I discovered this line 2 years ago with their Life is Beautiful and their Christmas line Life at the Pole their adorable scalloped boarders and adorable woodland characters make me squeal with delight.

(Lines: Cherry Delicious, Nerdy Bird, Fawnd of You, Too)

* October Afternoon--The two words I would use to describe this line is country and vintage. Many of their patterned paper makes me think of Little House on the Prairie. They have soft warm colors, and delicate feminine feel to their patterns, stripes, floral and polka dots. They also incorporate these great 50's and 60's images to their paper too. Sometimes I find myself wanting to make more of a collage/mixed media design with their paper than actual scrapbooking with text and pictures.



* My Minds Eye- With over 10 years in the paper and scrapbooking business MME knows how to make beautiful paper. They are notorious for coming out with some of the best holiday lines for Christmas and Halloween. Every year I anxiously await to see what they've created for the holiday. And the variety! They usually come out with either 2 or 4 pairs of new lines at a time, so if you were in love with a particular line they came out with but didn't love the floral print in the pinks, creams and purples chances are they created a similar line with blues, greens, and browns to suit both masculine and feminine creations. Or especially with the holidays they'll create one that's more geared towards kids and another more classic and decorative. They also create great journal cards and punch out embellishments to add an additional layer and flair to your pages. Nobody does a bigger variety of patterned paper than My Minds Eye.

(Lines: Spider's Web, Quite Contrary)

* SEI--If you're looking for a trendy, sophisticated paper for your scrapbooking then SEI is your store. They have an amazing amount of fancy floral designs and what's great is they're printed on nice thick, high quality paper with a slight shine to their paper. They favor bring pinks, yellows and greens which for a girlie girl like me I can't resist their papers.

(Lines: Juliette, Mimosa, Bridgeport)

So now you know my scrapbooking paper weaknesses. It's no wonder I have drawers and scrapbook organizers overflowing with papers for all occasions. Happy shopping, and I apologize now if you experience cuteness overload!

Let the games begin!

In honor of the Olympic games starting this weekend, and the opening ceremony tonight, I though I'd share with you the super cute side of the whole competitive sport thing, and that is their official mascots.

It wasn't until the Beijing Summer Games of 2008 did I realize that the Olympics actually had mascots. I thought The Fuwi, as they were called, were just the cutes little critters and if I had been in attendance of the games I would have come home with a little plush doll of all 5 of them.

Apparently Olympic Mascots have been around for 40 years. Some ranging from down right creepy and odd looking to cute recognizable animals such as bears, dogs, and birds. But I think the more animated, fictitious, child friendly creations are the way to go. They remind me of characters I see on Nick Jr. shows, so it's easy why kids can relate to their look. Especially since like so many kid shows they have their own website where you can meet, watch videos, and play games with the characters.

Miga a mythical seabear who is part orca part kermode bear (on the far left) and enjoys snowboarding and anything exciting and fun.

Quatchi is a young sasquatch (just left of the cake) who comes from the forest of Vancouver, is a bit shy and loves hockey.

Sumi (on the far right) is an animal spirit who lives in the mountains of British Columbia. He loves alpine skiing and protecting the land, water and sky.

And, last but not least, Mukmuk (the little guy coming out of the cake) a friendly Vancouver marmot who loves to eat, hibernate, which explains why he would be inside the cake and is the official "sidekick" to the Olympic mascots.

They are created by a Vancouver based design firm called Meomi. They seemed to be a well established design firm, and their website is so cute. They have a Japanese/anime feel to their art work, which I find absolutely adorable. Click around on their website to see what these 2 talented artists, Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy, have dreamed up out of their imaginations. You'll have a Meomi desktop on your computer by end of the day I just know it!

Crew cuties

Jcrew's Crewcuts line, I swear, have cuter clothes for their little girls than the adult women. When my Jcrew catalog comes in the mail I flip right to the back to see what the 6 and 7 year olds are wearing. This might sound silly to admit but I take their care-free mixing and matching and layering tricks with my own clothing. I love how they're not afraid to mix orange, purple and pink into one outfit and the result comes out super cute. I realize they do a lot of layering and mixing of ruffles and bows for the women, but it never looks as carefree as the kids.

I guess that's what happens when you have the mind of a child sometimes; you're drawn to the same simple things they love...but that's okay right? :)

(ps I made that collage of pictures in Picasa with their collage creator and had so much fun with the program)

My Favorite Day

February 11th is my favorite day of the whole year.


Why? Because it's my birthday. :)



I plan to enjoy this day because I can only be the birthday princess once a year and it's a title I revel in.

Here's to 1 year older, wiser, and more fabulous!




(image via flickr: jena nelson)

Ad-tastic

Who watched the Super Bowl last night? I did but only because a group of our friends were getting together and I love all the commercials.

I have to say that I wasn't impressed with many this year, Betty White was adorable and of course Budweiser and Doritos looked like they spent the most money on their spots, but of course Google had the cutest ad. This was one of the first TV ads that Google has run and it had very girl watching in our living room say "awww!"

Titled 'Parisian Love' I think it'll have you swooning too. Watch it here.

And if you missed all the commercials, CBS has them here.

A little inspiration

As a student of Holly Becker's Blogging Your Way class I am being a good student and posting our week 3 homework here on my blog. Our assignment was to create an inspiration board and include the things that best design our style and the things we cover on our blog or things we'd like to start to cover on our blog.

I believe mine shows my love of beautiful interiors, a vintage touch to things, fashion, movies, a touch of the funny and witty with a touch of childlike whimsy to my posts. I hope you enjoy.

Keeping Spring in my heart

With cold temperatures and gloomy skies it's hard to imagine that Spring will ever come. Especially since ol' Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter only 2 days ago. Haven't we suffered enough cold weather for one season??

But there's one thing that helps chase the Winter blues away and that's Spring looks are making their way into clothing stores. It may be silly to think about wearing wedge sandals, summer dresses and floaty tank tops while I'm bundled up in a hat, mittens, and scarfs to go out to shop for these actual pieces, but the promise of wearing them in a month or so is enough to keep me satisfied.

Several months ago I noticed a sign up at my local Anthropologie asking their shoppers to donate plastic bottles for a window display. This of course peaked my interest and I started imagining what window display would come from plastic bottles and today the secret was revealed!

In their monthly newsletter they shared their concept for this season about finding a way to reuse an everyday object in an extraordinary work of art. Their NYC design team came up with the water bottle; and they discovered when cut correctly the top and bottom make a beautiful floral design. Below are step by step directions if you're feeling ambitious to make your own plastic floral bouquet.

They also have a flickr album set up for stores to share their completed designs and it is amazing to see how all their store interpret the idea of reusing, recycling, gardening, flowers and spring into something totally unique and different. That is one of the many things I love about this company. That they encourage creativity and originality.

So head out to your local Anthro and take in the gorgeous window display, and wish and hope that Phil was wrong about when Winter will be over.

Funny Valentine

I have to share these adorable Valentines.

My Dad's older sister is my favorite Aunt. She's the one that turned me on to collecting vintage things. Being inside her house it's like taking a step into the past. Vintage knitting needles, pie birds, records, dolls, pill boxes, purses, jewelery....the list goes on and on of the collection of things she has inside of her house.

As lovers of the ways of the past we like to mail each other letters between each other instead of email and over the weekend I found the best things in my mailbox! I believe, in an effort to try to get rid of some of her excess vintage stuff she is constantly sending me little treasures and I love her even more for it!

She sent me these great little vintage Valentines and I can't wait to find a little double sided picture frames to display them, because sometimes the best part is on the back. Like with the postcards or the cute 2nd grade handwriting scrawled on the back. I am totally in love with the little kids in the airplane.

So get your scouring shoes on and find some vintage love notes to send to friends just in time for V-Day!