HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

here's to a beautiful 2012
xxxx

(photo by Corinne Day)

* * * Merry Happy Christmas * * *

How was your holiday? Dreamy? In grand company? Delectable food and eggnog perhaps? Full of love? Full of presents? Full of nature? Shooting stars? Pray do tell...I want to hear about it!

Mine was wonderful: the farm, Elijah + family. I'd like to escape to Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Finland or Iceland sometime just to experience a Christmas there. Maybe next year.

***Take note of the beautiful photos of Iceland from here.

Yelena Yumchuk for IMPROVD

pretty breathtaking...

xx Wreath D.I.Y. xx

1.) gather some floral wire and good scissors, bay leaves, berries, and some wildflowers
(bay leaves are super elegant and very easy to work with)

2.) if you don't feel like making your own frame out of sticks and wire, go to a craft store and buy a discounted fake wreath. when you get home, cut off the plastic garland and voila! your very own cool solid frame! (I think I got mine for $3 at Michaels)

3.) start using the floral wire to wrap bunches of bay around your frame
(I highly recommend getting green floral wire so that it blends in with the rest of the greens)

4.) keep attaching bay leaves until desired look!

5.) why not make yourself a floral bay leaf crown as well? attach some flowers to it too!

6.) pretty and pretty easy! it's a win-win

7.) start making little versions of the wreath using scrap pieces and throw them around wine bottles, candles, window latches, etc...
(the floral wire doubled over and braided around itself should make a sturdy enough frame for these wee ones)

8.) wanna know what is cool about these to-do wreaths? you can hang them in your kitchen well after the holidays because the bay will start to dry out and then you can use it to cook with! brilliant (and it makes for a lovely gift for a cook or simply for a friend who likes a bit of wild in the house)*

...and lastly, of course, I couldn't let V.V. escape without a bay leaf wreath of her own!

* hope you're inspired to make one too and if you have any questions, simply email me *
xx

Protea!

I'm really into these protea. SO pretty. A soft pink with what seems like a dipping of the tips of the petals in a watercolor bath of a purple-ish/black. GO get some! Seriously!

(For some reason they feel Christmas-y in a woodsy feminine way, no?)

*p.s. the beautiful red card is from Spencer Studio...of course!*

Origami Christmas Tree

OOOooooh! ! Have you seen it before?
This handsome tree hangs out at the American Museum of Natural History in New York!

(via the sweet blog Found While Walking)*

Natural Dyeing Part II

Pretty neat, huh?! Lauren and I had a lot of fun practicing what we had previously learned from the natural dye workshop last weekend! We used blackberries, hibiscus, beet powder and turmeric. We dyed different cotton fabrics, cotton yarns, cotton-hemp blends, and I even tried out some different papers. Since it's raining today we'll have to wait to wash them and hang them out to dry in some golden California sun. I think that this is just the beginning of many more dyeing experiments!

On another note, pretty dreamy that it's raining today, no?

Total Eclipse of the Moon

If you're up at 6:30am, check out the total lunar eclipse happening! Elijah & I have our alarms set! It should be beautiful.

An eclipse of the Moon brings awareness of the shadow side of our unconscious, and is a powerful time for healing our deep psyches.

Inspiration is a flow of thoughts that sparkle with life and vigor.

It lies within everyone’s power to be inspired and to inspire.

Paramahansa Yogananda

(Thank you Lauren for sharing this with me)*

Spencer Studio Shop

I am so proud of Lauren because she got Spencer Studio Shop up & open and can now share her wonderfully precise and delicate talent with the rest of us! These drawings are so incredibly beautifully done and capture moments past with a modern breath. Her hand drawn extensions of the photographs are perfectly matched in value and in the delicateness of line and really make for the overall composition. I saw them in person and could buy them all. Such a clever idea from such a talented artist. I think that they would make for a very special gift for someone, especially during the holidays. Go and browse her shop for yourself and get ready to float away...

p.s. they're going fast!

Hi.

Natural Dyeing

This past Saturday, Lauren and I attended a natural dye class held at Cookbook and taught by the ever so lovely Britt Brown of Le Papel paper press. It was insanely fun and we all really got our hands (and nails) dirty! Can I just tell you how amazing it smelled in there with our boiling vats of persimmons, hibiscus and blackberries all simmering? It is such a beautiful process and esoteric craft to learn. Britt showed us some Japanese Shibori stitching and taught us about the different papers, fabrics and techniques that we could experiment with. I really appreciated the ephemeral quality of the fabric's fate and the fact that everything in the room that we were using was edible! I think Lauren and I are going to experiment and dye some scarves and yarn and see what we come up with. More on that later...

Also, a huge thank you to Marta and Robert of Cookbook for holding these classes in their beautiful space No.2. They are such a rad couple and brought out an appetizing cheese & charcuterie plate for us to devour at the end of our workshop. If you haven't been to Cookbook yet, please go! You will be incredibly delighted I am certain of this!

Got the great honor to do some flowers for an Oscar recipient for her Thanksgiving dinner last week. The best part was the tea she so kindly made me and the conversation we had by the fireplace. It was the highlight of my week.