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.

adventures in book binding

last night i decided that after reading a tutorial on coptic stitch binding, i should totally attempt it on my own. i improvised a bit.

cut some cereal boxes to make the front and back covers, glued on some delicious teal & copper hambly woodgrain to the printed sides of the cereal boxes.

cut & folded 5 signatures (fancy bookbinding vocab) made up of 4 sheets each of plain white drawing paper.

found a needle, and some pink & brown martah stewart twine, punched some holes through everything with the needle, and sewed em all up.

it's by no means perfect, but let me say, it's pretty damn impressive for my first shot & not using "proper" tools - to make sure everything lines up EXACT. i am not good at EXACT, even tho i'm a perfectionist - it doesn't make sense, i know.

so now i have this cute cute notebook for drawing and thoughts and project ideas.

i will take a picture of it. (or maybe i won't.)

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

quilting

i posted a few more pics up on flickr, including some of the queen size quilt that i designed & quilted (with the help of my mom) for our bed. the story of the quilt - last may when i moved home after graduating from college, i decided i needed a project. i had made a quilt in 6th grade during summer camp at quilt-in-a-day, and since then, it's been my cherished bedspread. anyway, my mom has been in to quilting off and on for a while, she's such a perfectionist so she loves sewing perfect corners and all of that, haha. so anyway, we went up to quilt in a day and i started picking out all this pretty fabric, and then of course i had to pick a pattern to make. well, me being me, picks a quilt that's hanging up on the wall that is the one quilt in the whole damn place that they don't have an instruction book on, and no one even really knows what the deal is with it. well, i INSIST that it's what i want to make. the one hanging was a lap quilt. i wanted to make a queen. so, i ask for some graph paper, and with my neck straining up to 30 feet high, i draw out the pattern and then mathematically figure out how to expand it into a queen, how much fabric i'll need, how many different patterns of fabric, etc. it was seriously intense, everyone thought i was absolutely crazy. but i did it. and then, slowly over the past year, i cut all the pieces, sewed all the pieces, etc. then, it sat unattended to in my closet at my mom's house for months. and then finally we went to a quilt workshop that's offered through the community colleges and got advice from some serious quilters on how to finish it, and now it's done, and on out bed, and i love it. i love that greg & i sleep every night under the blanket that i made. it's so special. i love it.

i've been busy on many different projects and i'm dying to post pics! gosh. not having a digital camera is killing me.  i'm gonna try to get my sister to come over tomorrow and bring hers so i can post the mini books i'm working on, the necklace i made today at paper tales (so fun! i had such a good time) and the beautiful new hutch i bought a few weeks ago.  plus some other house hold projects.  so much! one of the mini books i'm working on is using some polaroids from my birthday last weekend, and i'm finally putting rachel denbow's book kit to good use. it's so cute.  it's a lot more writing than i usually do, and less scrapbook-y, but i like it.  and i got elise's "she could think of thousands of reasons to believe in fairy tales" paper kit and i can't wait to start working on that when i'm done with my birthday book. i have a bad bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them.