friday five #24

cheated on this one quite a bit. : / in that these are all quick inspirations found in my google readed browsing this afternoon, haha. you can def tell where my color sensibilities are recently. i'll obvs be sure to link you to all the lovely bloggers also.

01. tropical nail colors - if you're going to put in the nail polishing time, why go with a traditional color? these "up, up and away" colors from china glaze are sooooo where i'm at right now. love how their solid, almost matte look brings me back to the "clueless" era of painting my nails with whiteout in class. (source: a beautiful mess)

02. foxes of the non-fantastic variety - i finally watched "the fantastic mr. fox" last night, and i know i may get killed for this, but i didn't love it! i really thought i was going to! almost all of the adorable, snarky & funny bits were in the constant promos, and i found their arms and bird killing terrifying! i did get a nice language clean up from it though, and will now be saying "clustercuss" rather than the other. i do however love these fox pillows, this fox plushie and this fox hat, which i obviously need for next winter!

03. diy bunting necklace - sarah golden, owner & artist behind craftyfolk posted this sweet, easy to create diy leather bunting necklace. i'm imagining how cute it would also be with little frayed edge, back to back fabric triangles. the possibilities...

04. dividing walls made of magazines - this is from a rad, albeit in another language, design & packaging blog i follow. check out these amazing dividing walls made of packed in magazines, complete with windows and sills! we won't even talk about how badly i want their conference room chairs!

05. mixed postage prettiness - parcel post is another inspiring blog to follow, and i love when they do mixed and vintage mixed postage on envelopes. it makes me want to hold on to some random postage stamps now, in hopes that they'll someday look cool with some other randoms. also, feel free to raid your grandma's desk drawers for postage for me if you like. i wouldn't turn them down.

i've missed you mod podge!

like the true blue, newly discovered romance nerd i've become i save all my favorite texts, fives lists, and random messages from the boy, and since he's already withstood the crafting curse i decided to make an album dedicated to them. i used an 8.5x11 d-ring from american crafts and mod podged the heck out of it front, back & insides. it's going to be filled with atc's of favorite one liners, 8.5x11's of things we've done & little everyday things with the texts to go along with them, and cool divided protectors i found that i'll use to hold printed screen captures of favorite fives. it's going to be kind of a history/manual of our us-ness, hence the "textsbook" title (y'know, like a textbook!) now that the album is done, i'm excited to work on the guts when i get some more time.

i have already surpassed my layout count in 2009...

... so that's pretty sad as far as 2009's scrapbooking goes. : / oops! i blame it on cards, classes & general creative laziness. this year is definitely feeling way more inspiring! not that there weren't fun things in 2009 that i totally spaced on scrapping, but i can always go back. here are some more layouts to add to my 2010 layouts folder.

this is kind of a junker layout, one of those ones you do when it's been a while since you scrapbooked and you have to get your legs. the photo is one rhian took of me on my last full day in europe. we went to walk up and down the hills surrounding a couple of the bays in wales and it was really gorgeous, a perfect, reflective last day. this was for the sketch challenge we're doing at the store each month, but although i like bits of it, it wasn't doing it for me. so i made another one...

... this one is more like it. i'm not usually a butterfly or floral girls, but something about this boysenberry, brown & chartreuse struck me as necessary. plus i pretty much die for these dark, dark brown glitter thickers that came out with the "dear lizzy spring" line. kristina and i up to trouble as always, this time was going to see the get up kids at my favorite venue in philly for sing along fun, nostalgia & meet ups. isn't it funny how different two layouts can look even though they are both based on the same sketch?!?

love these shots rhian and i took of each other crossing dublin castle grounds, and with the crazy green grass i had the perfect excuse to use "green at heart"! i had posted this on the store blog with a little tip about using the hambly rub-ons on a like colored paper for a cool clear embossed look, the doilies are the best for the tone on tone look. also, love these white puffy thickers, one of my all time favorites!

this is another layout for the store blog's tip of the week. i peeled the backing off a set of october afternoon alphabet stickers from the new "fly a kite" collection and stuck them to a sheet of kraft so that i could cut them up to use as embellishment & background and i can also see the letter stickers better without the backing! these photos are blown up photobooth shots from the first time the k's met (kerry & kristina), i seriously do love these 2 birds. i also used the awesome new cosmo cricket core impressions paper (teal, sanded woodgrain yum!)

hopefully the layouts and creativity will keep coming.

friday five #23

01. marathon's chicken matzo ball soup - i met up with my friend john at the marathon grille on walnut street (philly) for a quick post-haircut (me)/post-coachella (him) catch up and i decided i wanted a little snacker so ordered up some matzo ball. ohmygod! this chicken matzo ball soup is probably my new favorite soup of all time. so, yummy, buttery and delish. if you're in the area, get like 6 bowls, right now!

02. sprinkled shell top - liked this on anthro's website, looooved it when i tried it on in the store. it's not the lightest top ever, because of the shell pieces, but it's gorgeous and i need it. like. now. maybe i can use my upcoming trip to indiana as an excuse?

03. cheeky cherry - you know how you sometimes get lost on the internet? you're searching for an image, and then you end up on someone's blog, and then you're clicking a link to a store they design for, and then you're falling in love with something new? that happened to me a couple of days a go, but i had the happy accident of coming across a stamp company i really, really love that we are going to start carrying at the store! one of the collections i'm most in love with is, sadly, not available to retailers yet but will soon, thank garsh (as emma pilsbury would drawl). they're little vargas like girls and i need them all. can't wait to see the new designs of these girls that they'll have available to us in june! in the meantime, we'll be stocking up on the anya & ian stamps, as well as the wild sprouts a.s.a.p. can't wait!

05. invisible monsters art - it's no surprise that even though we haven't found an apartment yet, i've been dream room planning for a couple of months now. this new screenprinted poster by kevin tong for the "invisible monsters" by chuck palahniuk anniversary is sooo in one of my main color zones right now, and i def need it to be in our future apartment. bad. i feel like it may just inspire a whole room, living room perhaps?

04. new broken social scene - an always favorite, i'm pretty excited for the new broken social scene album, "forgiveness rock album" which releases on may 4th! and now that i've heard the full album preview on npr.org, i'm even more stoked. it feels like a perfect spring album, ideal for driving home at night with the windows down and a hoodie on. i'm really, really into it.

some cards...

just sharing some cards from the last couple of months real quick! this guy was an easy-peas-y card to showcase on of the new jenni bowlin embellished butterflies. it also features a perennial fave, the october afternoon stripe. they are always good, no matter what collection they are from! (that free form scripty "hello" is from a muse)

this little chickie was one of the cards in my "garden variety" paper pad class. i didn't think i was really going to be into these "pure innocence" girls from my favorite things, but i also used this girl on my london rain layout, and i have to say, sometimes it's just cheap therapy to sit and color. especially when you're using the copic markers, they make it all so easy.

obvs it's been a little while since i made this dude, but he's still cute! i stamped this bunny stamp from unity stamp co. onto kraft paper and cut him out (it was super easy because he has such a nice basic shape) and also stamped him on the musical note paper from "dear lizzy" to paper piece his tummy, inner ears & little bunny nose. the "growing green" paper (also from "dear lizzy") made a great easy background for him and then i cut a flap, added the egg paper and called it a day.

this was the easter card i made for the boy. he has an affinity, an unfortunate one, for neon yellows and greens, so i glittered over the a muse "peep" stamp with 2 of the brightest doodlebug glitters i could find, perched it on a card base made out of an american crafts "moda bella" paper i've had sitting around for a while and added it to his easter basket (which was an overturned little kids firefighter helmet!)

this card is a product of our april sketch pamphlet at scraptasia. we used a card sketch by becky fleck and each took it for a spin. it was pretty cool how different they all ended up looking! for mine i used one of my current paper obsessions, the "brook" collection from crate paper and this rad little snag 'em scooter stamp along with the "don't forget to have a little fun today!" stamp from a muse. love, love, love how fun these bill envelope sized cards are!

a couple of weeks a go i taught a bridal shower "class" where everyone who came made the bride's thank you cards in the class and that way she walked away with 200 thank you's in her wedding colors (which are raspbetty & navy), all handmade and ready to go. it was pretty interesting to create something that was less about my style, and more about what she would love to send. for sure, this is my favorite card of the bunch, simple but still my style!

friday five #22

01. droolworthy books - the second round of penguin putnam classics are out and about in the world and i am, yet again, dying! the odyssey is one of my favorites. i also really love alice's adventures in wonderland, even though it makes me slightly crazy that the colors don't really go with the rest of the series. i guess it will just need to have it's own shelf on my imaginary not-yet-built or thrift-shopped bookcase that's just for this series of books!

02. multiple easters - due to my mum having to work part of the day, and it being the perfect holiday to meet more of the boy's fam, i was fortunate enough to have multiple easter's! this resulted in a face that hurt from lauging and smiling, a super full tummy and a really awesome easter. (fun fact: the boy can apparently pull off pink gingham in a pretty major way. who would have guessed it?)

03. chocolate covered gummy bears - i happen to have the best mum ever who knows me all to well. therefore my entire easter basket consisted of about 3 pounds (literally) of chocolate covered gummy bears from the rocky mountain chocolate factory which she drove 3 hours round trip to get to. beyond yum.

04. bloomers - you know those new scrappy products that you love so much you check on their status every day? well these bloomers trims from webster's pages are it for me! i can't wait 'til these are released! the colors are making me drool, and even though i'm not normally a flowery kind of girl i find myself wanting to cover, like my whole life in them. i die.

05. a future blog re-do - i'm not a digital scrapper by any means, but someone posted a link to danielle thompson's new kit for kitschy digitals, called vintage cameras and i fell for it. i'm still working out the logisitics, but it's going to be perfect for me to re-do my blog with! it's been needing a little overhaul for a while now, but i've been hesitant to do so because i still love these colors so much, but with this kit in hand (so to speak) i'll be able to keep the colors and still give it a new look.

a spring wardrobe wish list...

... because a girl can dream, right?

01. julie west for anarchy eyewear sunglasses 02. reed shirtdress 03. boquet of stripes tee 04. buttercup posts 05. opi's mad as a hatter nail polish 06. salitre blouse 07. ripening berries necklace 08. stepping-out tee 09. wesc plaid bongo headphones 10. 11. liberty of london cruiser 12. starry brights dress 13. custom chucks 14. keep calm and get your craft on tee 15. volcom shredded one piece 16. pins and needles dress 17. chandelier earrings 18. triple fringe boots 19. metal leaf headband 20. artist v-neck tee 21. saddles shoes 22. staring at stars cut out tee 23. straw cloche 24. dotted greetings dress 25. classic cardy boots

friday five #21

01. spring bag options - i'm still caught between this and the vera bradley i mentioned a couple of weeks a go. i think i'm going to go with this fossil bag. it's coated for easy, no worries use and i know i love fossil's bag quality. maybe i'll just replace my current horrible make up bag with one from vera bradley in that pattern i like, rather than getting the whole bag. these are important decisions people. (except not)

02. volume two - i'm not explaining other than to tell you that i did not love, love volume one, but i lurve this one. just listen & love. (and obvs the cover artwork is lovely)

03. zombie farm - if you have an iphone, get this. it's free. it's not obnoxious for your facebook friends (as long as you don't link it to your facebook) and there are zombies to grow and invade neighboring farms with!

04. me mugs - so, i'm a pretty big fan of non-matching mugs that are totally me. wether it's my "do something creative everyday" mug from paper source, the memo notebook mug k got me, or the liberty of london mug i'm currently stalking target's for, i think it's fun to have me mugs. they making my morning coffee, on the rare days i'm home for it, all the more special. my next purchase, barring a target miracle, will be this guy from craftyfolk's etsy.

05. glee fests - i snagged "glee: the road to sectionals" on super sale at target and the boy and i have been watching (or in my case re-watching) all the episodes in preperation for the new season. don't tell his friends!