Pins: Coral & Green

It's always fun spotting color themes in your pins...coral and green with dark wood tones are looking pretty good lately!

Cake by lisa vorce (via kate) / Garden birds by bethan janine (via gloria) / Kitchen by shannon fricke (via caroline) / Bedroom by jessica comingore

Mr. Boddington Classics

As any good blogger knows, Anthro is a treasure trove of pretty books, right? I always find myself in their store whenever we're in downtown Birmingham, and this past weekend I was reminded of their stash of Penguin Classics with cute & quirky cover designs by Mr. Boddington. I could hardly resist my favorite above...see all of them here.

(photo by hooray)

Inspired by Merian

Being that it's apparently the birthday of a long ago botanic artist, Maria Sibylla Merian (thanks for the tip, Google!), here is my take on a room inspired by her stunning carnation sun piece.

1. Pillow / 2. Lamp / 3. Plant photo by Alice Gao / 4. Chair / 5. Ottoman / 6. Carnation Sun by Merian

Navy and Green

A glimpse of a recent project involving lots of navy blue and a little green alligator...for a baby shower (appropriately!) taking place in Florida.

Heather Ross Prints

My mom gave me Heather Ross' Prints book for Christmas...and boy will it put you in the creative mood. I was already a fan of her sewing book (not that I sew all that often, but hey) and this combines both the world of textiles and print/design in such a brilliant way.

Bring the Outdoors In...

This crafty book left me full of inspiration recently...it really is that good. It's an interesting enough topic (garden projects for decorating), but also so well executed with the images and type! I'd love to try out some of these for an event, like those botanical sculptures or the big hanging sphere made from baby's breath.

(copy of Bring the Outdoors In from Chronicle Books)

A Little Metallic...

I found these fun notebooks on clearance the other day to use as favors for a shower...they're doubling as some inspiration for our vintage & metallic theme, which I'm more jazzed than usual about (and hoping to follow up with decent photos of this time!).

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's! Whether or not you celebrate, hope your day is full of sweetness. And a good supply of chocolate.

Giant posters from oh happy day / Rose cupcakes from baker's royale. (More pins here.)

Starting Today (A Journal)

After hosting a few blog-tour book stops here, I was surprised to find a few more titles in the mail from the wonderful Lorraine at Chronicle Books. I don't accept sponsors and rarely host giveaways...but review copies of books? I guess books are just something I love, and want to share, regardless of how they're acquired.

Most copies will continue to be donated to our local library, for all the nice people to use & enjoy. Except for this one: it's a beautiful journal, with inspiration for writing down daily intentions (and has pretty details like the floral pattern & rounded corners shown above). It can really only have one user, so if you want to fill its pages, please comment below. I'll send this to the first person who asks!

(copy of starting today from chronicle books)

Winter Blues

Cleaning a closet (during our cold winter weekend) led to some sentimental organizing...the kind that finds you on the floor with a bigger mess than when you started, reading through old cards and notebooks and setting aside little keepsakes.

Some blue-green treasures among my finds: a Boden parcel tag, misplaced washi tape, old colored pencils, and (random, I know) little jumping origami frogs we used to make in sixth grade...during class of course.

Recent Project: Font Love

Thank you for the kind words yesterday, it's good to be back. In an effort to occasionally post more of my work here, I thought I'd start with this. I got into the Valentine's spirit early this year, before we even took our sweet Christmas tree down (it basically shattered once we finally evicted it - so sad), and I put together this roundup of romantic-y fonts for A Subtle Revelry. Selecting the words - petal, or cloud - was probably my favorite part, although playing around with fonts is also my idea of fun. Have a lovely weekend!

Graphic by Hooray. Sources for downloading or purchasing fonts listed here.

Holiday Guide: Gift Wrapping

One more roundup from the Holiday issue I wanted to share - gift wrapping. As fun as it was to make these, I'm reminded of how these things are all just a small part of this wonderful season. Amid all of the gift guides and ideas out there, so thankful to see blog posts about true giving like tidings of goodwill shared by Anna.

1. paper bag wrap - port2port press, 2. homemade wrap - eat sleep cuddle, 3. tinsel garland - terrain, 4. gift embellishments - stephanie burbaker, 5. handwritten tags - hey look, 6. gold dotted tape - back to zero

Holiday Guide: For The Tree

Here's part of the second roundup for the Holiday issue - pretty things for the tree. This was my favorite one to put together, but hard to narrow down (Etsy was a treasure trove of vintage ornaments!). See more here.

1. glittered jumbo pinecone - smile mercantile, 2. fantasia ornaments - mary beth hale, 3. felt pinecones - cody foster & co., 4. star urchin topper - kissa design, 5. geometric garland - confetti system

Three Things

Some recent pins: wintry sweets and blankets to go along with yet another hanging planter I adore...

1. Planter by Wilder Quarterly (via satsuki), 2. Cupcakes by Cannelle Vanille, 3. Herringbone blanket from Folklore (via murr).

Happy Thanksgiving

We're traveling to dinner on both sides of the family this Thanksgiving, and inevitably bring one of our favorite comfort foods, green bean casserole, as our side dish every year (I just might dress it up this time with this recipe). I also like this harvest cake, thank you stamp, and cozy slippers...they simply remind me of spending Thanksgiving full of comfort, gratitude, and as always, plenty of food.

(image credits: ampersandity, roost, toast, southern living)

Monday Inspiration

The anticipation of the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving, is growing. Only three more days!

1. Holiday market by jayme anne, 2. Felt wreath from west elm, 3. Cup collection by paper flower girl.

Blog, Inc. (& Giveaway)

Last month, Chronicle Books sent Joy Cho's new Blog, Inc. my way and I enjoyed reading this thoughtful little handbook to blogging (and will be donating my copy to our local library). The business side of blogs can sometimes be a turn off - advertising, stats, etc. - but beyond those things, this book also covers topics that held my interest in terms of blogging for passion (including interviews with all kinds of talented people who blog). I'm in full support of having more resources like this out there, both for new and experienced bloggers.

I'd love for you (or someone you know) to have this handy guide, so I'm giving away one copy of Blog, Inc. today! Thanks to Chronicle for offering this - simply leave a comment below to enter (and feel free to add additional entries for any tweets/etc, or for mentioning why you'd like to read this). Entries are open until midnight on Friday, good luck!

*Update: Chaucee is the winner & has been contacted (her comment number was chosen using random.org). Thanks to everyone who entered!

Monday Inspiration

I'm easily drawn to neutrals, black & white this time of year. As fall winds down I can't help but start dreaming of a white winter in December...

1. Kitchen shelves from bo-laget, 2. Muslin packaging by la casita, and 3. Frosted cake by wit & whistle.

Pretty Pair

Just a little mustard and blue-gray for today. Such a pretty color combination.

1. Storefront at Spruce Collective, and 2. Linen bedding from Bodie and Fou.

Found (Part 2)

I'm a little lost trying to put words to these old photos of my dad we found. His childhood was (in ways) a tragic one, and I've always thought of it that way, but seeing these gives me a different view. It's interesting/funny/crazy to think of all the things we can still learn about our parents, even as adults.

A few shown above: my dad with his mom, camping trips to Tahquamenon Falls, and Christmas morning (circa 1940s!).

(see part one here)