this is a bit old, but still lovely. a family in germany has been collecting eggs & decorating their tree for decades - stunning! 

i heart junk

for part of my vacation i drove up to brimfield, massachusetts for their final antiques show for the year. i was in utter flea market heaven:

didn't end up buying too much, but i did procure a fun union jack painting on glass:

just need to fill in a few chips on the frame with a bit of watercolor and we'll be good to go.

this week's baking

...is not muffins, but rather an apple-cherry crisp. delish.

my new hobby

...is taking online surveys. i get served a ton. some questions are just absurd:

um, have no interest in going to a razor blade website, but thanks for asking.

nor, do i need a hot pocket e-card, but thanks for offering.

and, what survey would be complete without a survey of the survey?

why yes, it was delightful.

speaking of gardens...

remember the garden i planted with my dad a few months back? it's totally lush now!

this little gnome...

spent the weekend planting a vegetable garden...

i guess we'll find out if my thumbs are, in fact, green...

crafternoons! (or, what i did on my winter vacation)

what to do with all of the seashells i collected? how about a floral shell wreath?

how do i get this job?

how exactly does one become a model ship builder for ritz-carlton hotel rooms? tres crafty.

holiday weekend crafternoons!

i've have always wanted an old, vintage school map. unfortch, anytime i've come across them, they haven't been cheap. 

miraculously, a few weeks ago, i found one on the street outside my church! it was partially water damaged on its right side - sorry, japan & australia.

but, a little field trip to ikea and some cutting and i have new artwork for over my sofa. (please pardon the cluttered coffee table and collection of plastic bags next to the couch.)

loafing around

my foray into baking continues. instead of muffins, i decided a loaf was in order this week. banana chocolate chip, to be exact. yum. 

muffin of the week

so, i'm kinda on a muffin kick right now - a new hobby, if you will. my first (undocumented) foray a few weeks ago was a banana-cherry, followed by a nice cranberry-orange. 

and tonight i think the tastiest yet - raspberry-apple...yum! 

one word

here is an interesting exercise. one word, one minute to write whatever comes to your mind. as you can see mine was "held" this time around: 

i may have stolen this from one of my loyal readers, so apologies if i did! you can try it yourself here. 

more crafternoons!

here's a project i stole from the now defunct Blueprint magazine (RIP). 

inspiration

before

after

before & after

i am very, very excited at my most recent crafternoon. 

decided to reupholster a bench for my breakfast nook. it was a piano bench that belonged to my great grandmother that i've always loved, but which had unfortunately deteriorated over the years: 

but a bit of jazzy fabric (spring green zebra), hot glue & furniture polish and voila! 

my new hobby: OPPs

not that i need to start collecting something else, but i've recently become obsessed with other people's photographs. i've thought about collecting them for while now, but it wasn't until this past weekend that i purchased any at the flea market. 

apparently, i'm not the only one with this bizarro interest. there was a documentary a few year's back called Other People's Pictures and dozens of blogs about found photos. 

 

i'm not really sure what i want to do with them yet. art project? creative writing inspiration? 

maybe we can have a caption contest? let's give it a try. feel free to write in your witty caption and/or back story for the OPP. here's our first below...

my new hobby

...is creating DIY some ecards. in general, i love them. but recently, i've been collecting funny sayings or truism about my friends and creating my own. here's an example above, which is very apropos for my work week last week (and hence lack of postings). i also take requests.