and four more...

to add to the 2010 layout tally. i'm not normally a person who is worried about quantity, but i couldn't deal when i saw that i had only made 9 layouts in 2009! i've also actually been feeling really inspired and crafty lately. i think it's a combinaiton of some great new products, awesome talent on the blogs & it being a nice outlet for some general craziness in my life right now. anyway, here are the most recent additions to my 2010 folder.

this was for our may sketch challenge. it was based on an 8.5x11 becky fleck sketch that i kind of just stretched to 12x12. loved these photos of the boy sandwiched between me and his mum. i'm also kind of obsessed with the pink polka dot from oa's "fly a kite" coupled with kraft paper!

i've been loving this scallop thing that almost everyone is doing lately, so i thought i'd take it for a spin. it was really relaxing for me to lay the circles out, switch the order around and then attach them row to row, like a little bit of crafty zen. this is the boy and i at his fire department banquet last month, one of my new favorite pictures of us.

i was super inspired by kerry lynn's use of a sticker sheet as a background, and so i thought i'd try it with the little alpha stickers from mme's "quite contrary", i kind of can't stop using this line. these are the pups on our way home from the airport, sooo flipping cute. and i have to admit, that i was unnaturally excited to finally get to use some of those cute pre-done titles that i don't usually get to use since they tend to be more kid friendly. also, please note that i'm trying to get better about occasionally using my actual handwriting.

another one using my horrible handwriting. this was kind of a mish mosh of current favorites; mme's "so sophie - charming", crate's "brook" sparkle chip & making my own rosettes. also, finally using some favorite photos from new years ever... yeah it's almost june.

so... there it is! i'm still feeling really inspired so hopefully there will be a lot more to share!

"spring into summer nights" mix

something a little dreamy, a little boppy and a little cozy to hang to.

01. "world sick" by broken social scene

02. "vcr" by the xx

03. "the chills" by peter bjorn and john

04. "c'mon" by the soft pack

05. "floating vibes" by surfer blood

06. "shadow people" by dr. dog

07. "bushwick blues" by delta spirit

08. "two weeks" by grizzly bear

09. "laura"(cover) by mates of state

10. "rill rill" by sleigh bells

11. "be cool" by golden age

12. "feel it all around" by washed out

13. "technicolor health" by harlem shakes

14. "factory" by band of horses

friday five #27

01. "treats" - sleigh bells' new album may not be for everyone, so i would recommend you check out a preview somewhere online before you buy, but i happen to love, love, love it for the murky, rainy spring to summerlike sunshine overnight weather we're having here in jerz as of late. there's something here for every feeling. dreamy songs like "rill rill" are perfection for hazy beach days and "kids" & "riot rythm" will serve as inspo for many an impromptu dance party once miss nicole is back from bristol this summer and i'd already fallen for the preview track for this album, "infinity guitars" for all your pumped up strong chick needs. at least check it out, and i'm pretty sure most of you will love it.

02. watchable instant viewing - yes, there is a ton of tv and movies available online for your eyeballs consumption, but i hate having to watch something on my laptop and never quite being able to get the screen tilted at just the right angles (especially with darker toned shows, damn you vampire diaries addiction) but apparently i can now watch netflix on demand through my wii on my tv? what?!?! hopefully this is as awesome as i think it's going to be.

03. nail varnish to die for - chanel's "mistral" & "nouvelle vague" are kind of hurting my heart they're so good! it's obvious that i'm always down for a good teal-y mint nail color, but until this very second i've not really been into peachy pinks for my nails. i'm not entirely sure what's making the difference here, maybe it's the unexpected shimmer? most likely it's simply its' close proximity to the "nouvelle vague" that's sending my modern day miami vice color sensors into a tizzy. whatever it is, i need them both. (check out this review to see what they look like on)

04. photobooth withdrawal - there was a bit of time there where i was being pretty spoiled with photobooths, between the one a drunken walk away from k's old apartment in brooklyn and the ones that seemed to pop up wherever i was traveling (like austin & orlando) i was lucky enough to start up a pretty sweet collection of photobooth strips with some pretty awesome friends. but, now it's been a while. the withdrawal shakes are starting. i'm wondering just how much it would cost me to buy my one. i'm even considering stepping foot into one of those cheesy drawing booths at the movie theater. so.... obvs this must all be remedied stat.

05. kits that kill it - there are a lot of completely bum "kit clubs" out there who pretty much put together every piece of a collection, throw in some ribbon & bazzill and call it a "kit", there are also a bunch of old clubs in retirement or hiatus that i'm still missing (that's right, i'm talking to you sara!!!) but there's one kit club that i find myself loving more and more with every month. very rarely do i not really get what they're doing. obviously we're talking studio calico here. i want to kick myself pretty much every month when the kit is sold out and yet somehow also manage to talk myself out of a subscription every month as well. (my main point in this argument being that i have no business buying things i can't use for store stuff, although we do carry their line for stores) anyway, this month's sold out kit, "granny's cupboard" is no exception, it doesn't sound like it would be my style, but they continue to impress me more and more each month with the things they put together. love their sense of style (and their custom papers, and their journaling tags, and they're packaging, and they're stamps.) ugh! so jeals!

a little wishful thinking...

there's nothing like a little birthday wish list related wishful thinking...

01. trip to lake tahoe 02. nixon chalet in walnut (still) 03. 4 door wrangler rubicon in metallic olive (the most perfect wrangler color ever) 04. seychelles "get outta town" sandals (they seem like a perfect brown summer flat) 05. fox ear flap hat from cottonhill's etsy (the boy says he will pretend he doesn't know me, but i deal with neon yellow on a daily basis so he can hush) 06. red shiba inu puppy (they are like little ginger house friendly foxes!) 07. tickets to "american idiot" on broadway (NPH gave it his endorsement) 08. rayban wayfarers (a true classic) in dark marble 09. birthday photoboothing with favorite people 10. adobe photo shop elements 8 (i think this is the one i should get, suggestions?) 11. rei 4 person tent (because you have to camp to have proper s'mores) 12. "happy logs" iphone skin (since the death of iphone 1 i always have a soft case on, but i'll know it's there) 13. a king size bed with bartlett sheets already on it 14. true blood season 2 on dvd 15. the anthro wooden radio with mp3 hook-up (it's half off!)

it's june 5th, e-mail me to find out where to send those gifts too, haha. yeah right.

in pairs...

lately, i'm noticing, i've been making things in pairs. i don't know if i'm not getting my idea all the way carried out the first time and so i want to keep going, or if it's that i'm liking what i'm doing so much i'm wanting to build on it. who knows. anyway, here are a few pairs of similar cards that i've made lately.

i made this graduation card for the boy's brothers graduation from indiana university and let the new "happy everything" stamp set from a muse do the talking. dude cards can be hard sometimes, because 90% of image stamps are a little too girlie or young, but with this stamp set and one of my favorite papers from the basic grey "ambrosia" collection which happened to include the IU "crimson & cream" i had an easy peasy grad card.

same deal with this guy, a simple, graphic card using the same stamp set and the punched circles leftover from a layout that i'll share soon. these colors (along with a pebble, salmon, chartreuse and light teal) are one of my main color combo obsessions right now.

i may have no business using these "pure innocence" girls as much as i do since i don't have kiddos or anything, but they really are sweet, fun to color and total stress relief when it comes to just coloring and...

... paper piecing. i love to put together their little outfits with current favorite papers. and obviously i'll be using this "hip to be square" saying with tons of stuff.

these two cards are ones i made sets of for one of my favorite people in the world, nicole's birthday (if you're reading this nicole, surprise!) since i was making these into boxed notecard sets i really kept them simple so that the mass production would go smoothly. plus, with these girls, it's fun to let them do the talking. they were perfect for miss nicole who teaches yoga...

... and runs her own awesome burlesque (both in person and through e courses) business, pop fizz, that centers around the idea of being comfortable in your own skin rather than performing for someone. love. anyway, cheeky cherry was perfect for this, and again, kept it simple.

so, just a little peak and what i've been up to lately craftwise. i'm having a little trouble deciding exactly what this blog is lately. i love sharing my fives and mixes, but when it comes to crafty things i find myself writing as if this is the store blog instead of my own, which i have to get over. i might just start posting pictures of craft things and leaving it at that. i also don't know what to do about personal things here. just trying to figure out the blog balance i guess. i'll get there.

friday five #26

01. vol. 25 - so this check, jessica designed some stamps that i really like a while a go for stamping bella, which i'm hoping to get my hands on next month when we do a catalog sale with them, but in the mean time, she has a sweet little etsy shop where she sells prints of some of her illustrations. this typewriter is one of my favorites, and i can definitely see it hanging in futureimagninaryapartment. i also really love this paper planes one, because we all know how i feel about paper airplanes.

02. utility & beauty - obviously i wouldn't ever be able to bring myself to spend the cash on one of these babies, but i am officially on the hunt for a less expensive, and possibly alterable or vintage version. i'm sure i'll be seen stalking the aisles of little hardware stores, the container store and any other random home section i can find. i want them to migrate into futureimaginaryapartment en masse for the beautiful organization of various crafty things in futureimaginarycraftroom.

03. leafy chord keepers - these are completely brilliant and simply beautiful little pieces of awesome design at work. a beautiful way to warm up all the vines of tech chords that are wrapping their way around our homes and lives! i love how they show them used for decoration as well, but what a rad way to liven up that ugly cable chord and chords that you always leave bundled up like camera chords. i think they'd make a cute mini album binding too!

04. brills scrappers - every now and then a new scrapper comes to my attention that completely refreshes my love of the scrappy side of papercrafts, kaori watanabe is the newest. i found her blog through her recent addition to the crate paper design team. i won't go on and on and on, instead you should just check out the amazing things she's done with some recent crate paper collections. try not to drool to hard.

05. letterpress love - yet another letterpress poster i'm in love with the idea of having for futureimaginaryapartment. louella press creates some pretty sweet, graphic & simple little lovelies that you should definitely check out. i already stalk letterpress on the internet, play at making my own at home and after my return to the national stationary show this weekend, i'm sure i'll be swimming in little bits and bobs of it that i won't be able to throw out, gosh knows i still have stuff from the last show that i haven't worked into a project yet. perhaps i'll be putting together a kit to sell in a small run...?

so umm...

... this happened. we went to bloomington for the boy's brother's graduation and came back with these two. the boy's brother visits a pet store near campus all the time, so we went with him for a visit and fell in love with these two pups, and then once we found out they were the last of the litter it was all over. the boy's mum called the airline for puppy tickets and then we were out the door to pick them up! cali is the boy's brothers and axl is the boys and mine-ish. they are so sweet and so funny and so cuddly and obviously the most adorable mix of mutt ever!

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

... these are a few of my favorite stamps right now, and i've been inspired by cheiron's giveaway of some of her favorite things and thought i'd give it a try. i also thought it might be a good way to get a little idea of who, if anyone, is out there. leave a comment and i'll use the random number generator to pick a winner. more of scrapper? i can put together a little scrappy favorites instead, or even a packet of some recent mixes. oh, and i guess i'll cut it off at the 20th?

friday five #25

this will be a ridiculously quick, cheapie five since i'm actually in indiana now, but i promise i'll make it up next week! plus, there's some pretty rad stuff in here.

01. tissue paper poufs - i want these everywhere in my life. especially in these colors.

02. ryan berkley coasters - how hard would you giggle every time you used one of these fancy dudes?

03. new band of horses - you can get a free download of the first single from the album on their website. it's a little different, but somehow still the comfy same.

04. diy ornathology clock - kate over at design sponge posted this awesome tutorial on how to make your own clock from easy to find, inexpensive materials. love the scientific illustrations on this one.

05. coffee people k cups - i swear it's not just because their packaging is so cute! i really love the k cups from the coffee people (we have a keurig at work, i'm not that fancy at home). the donut shop one is my favorite right now, but i also love the organic.

spring breezes 2010 (a mix)

i've been working on this guy for a while, but wanted to get it to just the right blend of old school feel into boppy, car windows down goodness. hope you like. oh, and i made it into a playlist for you (ignore the mostly horrible music videos on the player, using the video player was the only way i could get all the songs on there).

01. "your hands (together)" by the new pornographers

02. "infinity guitars" by sleigh bells

03. "the afterlife" by YACHT

04. "jail la la" by dum dum girls

05. "fall hard" by shout out louds

06. "in the sun" by she & him

07. "periodically double or triple" by yo la tengo

08. "40 day dream" by edward sharpe & the magnetuic zeroes

09. "lisztomania" by phoenix

10. "flash delerium" by MGMT

11. "there are listed buildings" by los campesinos!

12. "O.N.E." by yeasayer

13. "life magazine" by cold cave

14. "walking on a dream" by empire of the sun

15. "holiday" by vampire weekend

16. "young forever" by jay-z

let me know what you think, and while you're at it, why not let me know if you have a favorite of my playlists. i'm curious if there's anyone out there listening to these as much as i am.