weekend update

while i didn't accomplish everything that i wanted to this weekend (i should be used to this by now ... i hardly ever get everything done. i set out to accomplish so much & always fall short, oh well) ... i did get some stuff done! i made some layouts & a mini book for the polaroids from the photo shoot. i used the tutorial from rachel's steady hand, faulty heart class ... contact paper instead of colored duct tape (still on my to-buy list) but it looks great! i'll take pics/ scan it, asap.

i didn't get to work on the pillows because i didn't go to my mom's (no sewing machine) though my friend carrie was nice enough to let me borrow her mom's --- BUT i forgot the pedal, so no sewing for me. bummer.

PAPER SOURCE WAS AMAZING. i mean, i knew it would be, because i used to gush over everything in the cambridge store, but this carlsbad store is BIG and i just seriously wanted to move right in. we spent a lot of time there and i got some things that i'd been wanting for a while. a stamp, mini envelopes, three sheets of paper, rabbit business cards, labels, etc.

i also bought a few things at Z Gallerie ... two candles (green in a glass jar with white & copper designs) and a WOOD GRAIN candle. plus an awesome mirrored candle holder.

browed at anthro ... and wanted everything. oh man, i am so in love with that place. mmmmm it's so delicious.

sunday greg & i cleaned (For real!) and then we went and got a dresser at pat's for cheap! they are going to refinish it (light blue is the color we decided) - shabby chic it up, and then we'll pick it up. i asked them to drilly holes for knobs but not to bother putting any in, since i'll splurge and get mis-matched ones at anthro (i've been waiting forever) ... can't wait!

pictures/scans to come. and some more crafty goodness.

a crafty weekend awaits me ....

the plan for this weekend is:

to work on some art journal pages for steady hand, faulty heart [i am seriously excited about the newest prompts, they are JUST what i need currently] ...

to find [cheap] plain fabric to use for the backings of some pillows. i bought scraps of heather bailey's fabric from the fat quarter shop, and am going to make some awesome pillows. so, buy fabric & sew them up area major part of this weekend's plans.

to go to papersource's grand opening - i am beyond excited. i will try very hard not to spend a lot of money. but, papersource & anthro & zgallerie & freepeople in one shopping center = minor freak out.

to enjoy a lovely saturday night with my amazing friends. i have realized lately how blessed i am to have such a unique group of friends. a group of friends who are drastically different, absolutely crazy [more pics of the photo shoot will be up soon for proof], funny, loving, accepting, and honest. i spend some time feeling sad that i don't have any "crafty" friends here in san diego [sadly they live in boston] - but, at the end of the day, i am so happy with who we have become, how we have grown, how our friendships have shaped, how we continue to bring laughter & joy & support to each other's lives. ok, sappyness officially over.

in other news, i've been obsessively blog stalking my little sister marta's blog about her adventures in africa. i check is CONSTANTLY, waiting for new updates, new pictures, new tidbits about her life in a new land. i'm obsessed.

and now ... back to work. hopefully more pictures soon! gotta find a place to develop the film from my diana+ (this is the experimental roll, i have no clue if they'll turn out).

xox, d.

ideas! and a trip to papertales!

i was SUPER productive at work today.  and by SUPER productive, i mean, i got a lot of great house ideas.  i DESIGNED a "headboard" for our bedroom - and by headboard, i mean, it's not a headboard at all really.  it's like a shelving unit inside a frame that will be over our bed.  the way our bedroom is laid out, there's no space for a night stand next to the bed.  this is quite inconvenient, so the shelves will be great, a place to keep an alarm clock, some knick knacks, etc.  i'm gonna go to home depot this weekend and buy some wood, and then build! yey for DIY projects.  i will most definitely post pics of the process and final product (ok, i'm probably lying, considering I DON'T HAVE A CAMERA).

AFTER work, i convinced greg to go to paper tales.  i wanted to stop by since they redecorated and got in a tone of new product. seriously, love that place.  ended up leaving with two jenni bowlin papers (navy & the yellow one on the top rack in this pic that's called "victoria" ), tickets (pink brown and greyish "who where when"), and mini bingo cards (lucky, home, adore, etc), a pink paislee overlay (like the hambly's but a bit thinner), and a hambly dandelion page, as well as a chipboard accordion book and memory box. 

also today, i added quite the collection to my "flickr favorites" here's the most recent page of my faves:

1. Bedroom via pointclickhome, 2. Emma Cassi bedroom, 3. Mark Lund white floors in bedroom, 4. designpublic.dk bedroom2, 5. Carrie's apartment SATC movie, 6. White floor, bedroom, via Desire to Inspire, 7. Bedroom via Living Etc, 8. Alan Higgs pink & lime living room, 9. White, pinks, yellow via marie claire maison, 10. em's*tattoos, 11. Living room, 12. Sunny Side pillow, 13. bed, 14. The Kitchen-Kitsch cabinet in all its glory, 15. Untitled, 16. Untitled, 17. Untitled, 18. Red: Color Me Monday, 19. Ma petite chambre, 20. Grow, 21. Cole and Son Cow Parsley, 22. I collect blankets., 23. Tutorial #5 - August Means", 24. Guest Room, 25. Chair portrait, 26. jamesmerrell.co.uk, 27. creature comforts, 28. The Home of Emma Cassi, 29. The Home of Emma Cassi, 30. il_fullxfull.25399751, 31. Tutorial #2, 32. Tutorial #1, 33. from Cottage Living website, 34. from Cottage Living website, 35. Domino Mag Inspiration, 36. treats by mail

a picture is worth a thousand words

ok, finally some pics. please excuse the poor quality, i am NO photographer & have no patience to learn editing and all of that. i just point & shoot.

most of my mini books:

some pages from my newest mini book a la elise blaha:

cover of the mini book i'm making for my sister to take with her when she goes abroad in the fall:

some pics of my mini book a la rachel denbow:



yesterday i took a class over at paper tales taught by amy hanson and this is what i made, i love it!:


the BEAUTIFUL black shabby chic hutch i got at pat's corner:

quote i painted underneath the bar (it's a jack johnson quote that says "it's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving i'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together"):

this is turning out to be the best weekend ever.

i spent some time yesterday over at paper tales (my fave!) ... had to pick up a few more things for my sister's mini book ... and of course, picked up a few things for myself ... and signed up for this awesome charm necklace class that they are having on july 26.  so excited! love the girls over at paper tales (thank you michelle & helle) ... they told me about this awesome place in north park called Pat's Corner ... so my sister and i drove over there straight from paper tales and OF COURSE, i found this AWESOME black shabby chic hutch that they had literally JUST FINISHED refinishing, and it is now mine for a sweet $125 - plus i paid 20 bucks more for them to deliver it ... SAME DAY, so now i have the awesome hutch sitting in my condo, and it looks so perfect.  i'm in love with it.  the other REALLY COOL THING about pat's is that you can bring in furniture for them to refinish (repair, paint, shabby-chic it out) ... sooo going to bring them two chairs i have that needed repairing and painting! the house is really coming along! we even bought a 32 inch flat screen tv on friday (i think i have lost my mind?) .... i am going to borrow my sister's camera again SOON hopefully so i can post new pictures of the house & of a bunch of mini books i have going! 

happy 4th of july ... guess i should go eat a burger & drink some beer?

my head is going to BURST with ideas. i need someone to help me narrow it all down.  i'm on overdrive.

walked on over to Vintage Religion, which i've been meaning to visit since i moved in to the neighborhood.  such goodies in that place! got some awesome PaPaYa! cards and came home to spend the next hour and a half getting all googely eyed at Anahata Katkin's work.  OMG, can you say, NEW OBSESSION.  also go an awesome " MAKE ART NOT WAR" poster that i want to frame for the craft room.  i'm thinking a cool decorative black frame ... something like the frame above on the right but in black and rectangular ... links anyone?? (thank you amy rice from flickr) 

still on an intense wallpaper hunt.  i'm thinking something green - lime / chartreuse ish ... damask maybe?  some type of cool print.  or maybe i should seriously just use me some brocade hambly overlays .... so much love.  

home sweet sweet sweet home

lately i've been getting the urge to work on the house.  the living room wall / eat in kitchen wall is HUGE, and i'm talking HUGE ... 20-25 feetish high.  so in the living room part i want to make a "frame" out of crown molding for some awesome wallpaper in a 105in X 77in rectangle behind the couch.  i got the idea from the pic above on flickr (thank you homebug)

so, if you have wallpaper suggestions, post them!! (ok, i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to just slap tons of hambly on the wall, BUT i don't know if that's practical?  any input?) 

ok, the craft room needs a lot of work,  i can't even see the floor right now because there are piles after piles after piles of stuff. paper, magazines, cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, paint, beads, embellishments, stickers.  i need shelving, or something.  DESPERATELY.  

i think those are my two top priorities, craft room and wallpapering the living room, because i think whatever wall paper i fall in love with will determine the rest of the living room - since i can't seem to make up my mind about the color scheme / theme of the room.  

so overall, i just need some awesome home inspiration.  i need to go thrifting / garage sale-ing bad,  any san diego peeps want to go this weekend? 

i've had a productive sunday morning.  i woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am ... couldn't fall back asleep, the cats were crying for attention at the closed bedroom door, which was peculiar since they had plenty of food and water.  anyway, i read until about 8 when i managed to roll out of bed and clean up around the house.  greg & i finally remembered to get the special stove top cleaner when we were doing errands yesterday - so i cleaned the stove and put away the new kitchen things that we brought over from my moms.  the house is looking more and more unpacked, which is a good thing, considering it's been ... eeek, going on  month 5 since i "unofficially" moved in, and going on month 4 since greg's been out here.  i just want the house to be DONE, but i know that it's going to take quite a bit more time - i have furniture to paint, furniture to buy, art to put up, kitchen stuff to purchase, linens & all that stuff to purchase.  the mixture of hand-me-downs and things i'd purchased over the past few years in anticipation of having a place that was TRULY my (our) own is definitely nice, but i dream of the day that everything in our house is something i've picked out because i LOVE it not because it was free. 

oh, i can dream.

tomorrow the goal is to FINALLY post some more pictures of the craft room and things i've been working on ...

hope you are having a good 3-day weekend! xox.

pictures of our home!

so apparently i'm a terrible photographer / photo editor and have no patience for that kind of thing.  (see, i really do suck at technology) BUT i still wanted to post these pics of the house.

amazing bookshelf that i got at the rustic rooster in cardiff (i am so in love with that place) there's a decorative floral motif at the top of it that's hard to see.  above this on the wall is the cluster of frames.

cluster of frames above the book shelf. still a work in progress, as half the frames are empty (and ugh, i fixed the crooked black on in the top right corner, don't worry).  the empty space below the black one is for a decorative plate that i framed but need to get a hook for.   this is in the entry to our bedroom by the way.
another purchase from rustic rooster is this awesome planter's table that i'm using in my craft studio.  it's a delicious blue and perfectly warn in.  i think it's one of my favorite purchases.
a little vignette that sits on the top of the white bookshelf on the left side.  i've played around with these a lot and have a feeling that they will be forever changing, but for now this is it.  the glass case is home to my grandmother's thimble collection.
the other little vignette with an altered book that i made a while ago.  well, i just decorated the outside, i never got to the inside ... maybe someday. 


ok that's it for now, in a bit i'll post some projects!!! 

jobs, obsessions, decorating, etc!

so for the past few months i've gotten increasingly obsessed with the idea of working in a paper / scrapbooking store. but not a lame one like scrapbook your life or even cool scrapbook stuff in poway (which i love, just wouldn't want to work there, i don't know how to describe why). anyway i have always LOVED paper source. like, omg, love that place. in college my classes were mostly in a building RIGHT ACROSS the street from one and god i loved going there. beautiful papers, fun cards & crafty gift things. god, it's just pure LOVE. and then, of course, i read elise's blog, and she works at the paper source where she lives in dc, and the obsession has just blossomed from there.

OK, to the point. yesterday i was browsing craigslist as i do every day because i'm going to be jobless in 4 weeks, and GUESS WHAT?! A PAPER SOURCE IS OPENING IN CARLSBAD. now, carlsbad would not be the most fun commute since i've recently moved from north county to north park .. but, i think i totally would do it. I MEAN SERIOUSLY, a job where i get to be surrounded by PAPER AND PRETTINESS ALL DAY? i don't want to get myself over excited, because it probably won't happen. i don't have a ton of retail experience. BUT i have customer service experience and so much craftiness experience, haha.

i just REALLY want to work in an awesome environment and i love paper stores.

ok, look at me, again, going on and gushing about all this stuff.

so i took some pics on my sister's camera and i was all excited to post them and i realized that i didn't bring the cord that connects the camera to the laptop. grrrr ... so maybe this weekend i'll get it and then i can post some pics of the projects i've been working on AND the on going project that is our home sweet home ...

thats my second biggest obsession ... decorating our home. it's so nice that we finally have our own place that we OWN. greg even sometimes seems interested in the decorating which is awesome. a few weeks ago we hung up a bunch of picture frames for a "cluster" wall ... and the craft studio is starting to get more organized ... it's a slow process but totally worth it.

alright, time to go help with dinner! have a great weekend (it's going to be HOT HOT HOT here paper source, camera woes in san diego)