A Closer Look at Ottoman

Christmas Cactus

So, my pictures of my Christmas tree didn't turn out too well, so I thought I'd share that my Christmas cactus is blooming! I'm so excited because I got it last winter from someone after it bloomed and I didn't know what color it would be. Here it is on a dusty shelf (it's in the drywall "zone"):

I must admit it has maybe three or four blooms on it; I'm going to have to work on that to get some more. It took some hits from our previous kitties; one liked to jump in it and eat it, so I put it outside in the summer and the sun/heat damaged it quite a bit. After that attack, I'm glad to see that it's doing pretty well! (Oh, but I miss kitties!)

SolesUnited

If you (or someone in your family) wear Crocs, you can donate your old worn-out pairs through the Crocs SolesUnited program and they will be recycled and donated to those in need around the globe!

You can also buy SolesUnlimited beach and kids' cayman Crocs at retail locations; here's the difference:

"SolesUnitedTM CrocsTM shoes are made from the same recycled proprietary Croslite™material as the donated shoes, yet these shoes are sold exclusively at select retail outlets and at www.crocs.com. These shoes are unique in that not only are they constructed out of a portion of recycled material, but for each pair of SolesUnitedTM recycled shoes purchased, Crocs, Inc. will match the purchase by donating a pair of recycled donated shoes through the SolesUnitedSM program to an individual living in an impoverished area of the world. Additionally, the recycled donated shoes are not available at retail."

Happy Tuesday!

Ecofont

Okay, I must admit that I'm behind on keeping up with my Eco Etsy Street Team. But, as I started to catch up today, I ran across an email from Rikkianne of Chakra Pennywhistle about Ecofont. This is incredible font, developed by SPRANQ of The Netherlands, uses 20% less ink when printed. After much testing, it was discovered that small circles "punched out" of the font uses less ink, yet is still readable. Blown-up, the circles are obvious, but at a regular font size, it's user-friendly. Ecofont is based on Vera Sans "an Open Source letter, and is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux;" and according to SPRANQ, "works best for OpenOffice, AppleWorks and MS Office 2007. Printing with a laser printer will give the best printing results." AND...you can download and use the font for free!

doily love

I was able to get a treasury in Treasury West this morning and I thought it would be appropriate to fill it with modern interpretations of doilies! Here's what I found:

So pretty!

Oh yes, and the right-most column shows the alternates. And, you can click on the image for a closer look at the shop names.

My sister got me...

two of these cute little doily rugs from Urban Outfitters. I love them! And, they are on sale!:

Did I mention that I love doilies?

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

A few gifts for Boo.

Okay, I still can't upload pictures due to major computer overhauling (a common occurance in my home). So, here are some gifts Boo got for Christmas that may be interesting if you know of a three-year-old (particularly of the male gender)....Hey, some of you may have birthdays to think about already!

One of Boo's favorites, the Ecotronics Eco Rocket; it's a wind-up toy that does a full countdown and blast off with lights! The packaging is also made of recycled paper with no wires to have to mess with! Boo is really into space and rockets, so this was a favorite:

(The company is UK-based, and the websites I have found to buy it are UK-based, but I managed to find a local retailer with this rad rocket!)

Next, is the Knight's Castle...that is for 18+ months, but Boo likes to play with a friend's farm that opens up like this, so I thought he would get a kick out of it!:

I've been wanting to make some homemade play dough with Boo, but have put it off due to our low-functioning kitchen. So, my parents sent some Moon Sand for Boo and he just loves it! My mom had the idea of buying a shallow storage tub for him to play with it because it makes quite an ever-spreading mess....I'll have to get one, and soon!:

My mom said she first heard about this mouldable sand being used as touch therapy for children (I'm sure there is a more proper phrase). Anyway, it's pretty cool! I will get to making some homemade play dough...maybe next time I visit my family...it would be a fun project for the cousins!

Okay, the last gift I'll mention is a gift I got Boo from Etsy shop shopvintage. It's a card game entitled "For the Birds." Boo loves birds, a new favorite courtesy of the BBC Planet Earth DVD series (he particularly LOVES the Birds of Paradise parts). Here's a look at the cards:

Merry Christmas!

Wonky Candlesticks and a Doily Necklace

I'm not working from my computer today (so no uploading pictures of our tree to share), but I thought I'd share  a couple of new things I've found on Etsy that I think are fantastic.

First off are these perfectly imperfect (my new favorite phrase) "Wonky Hand-cast Ceramic Candlesticks" by LucindaChips. This is a new shop and I found it via Etsy Finds. These candlesticks come in black and white:

Next off is "Lace Doily Necklace" by Fox and Clover (also on Etsy). This necklace has already sold, but I really hope that they make more! Also, they recycle glass for their pieces!:

I guess I'm feeling a bit black and white today, but my thoughts for my house are really going that direction (with maybe some punches of color?).

Happy Monday!

CRAZY pinecone cluster!

Remember when I mentioned that my family has great pinecones in Southern California? Well, check this out: 

My sister sent this picture to me today (it's from my parents' yard)....I don't know if it's a mutant or what, but it's sure rad!

Happy weekend!

A Few More Doily Paintings

Here are the latest Doily Paintings I've completed (I have one more I have yet to photograph...it's DARK out today):

"Clara" is red with cream lettering.

"Kayla" is burgundy with cream lettering.

"Haley" is sage green with cream lettering.

I couldn't help but use my Christmas decorations as props!

We had a dusting of snow for a few nights over the weekend, then a deep freeze. Now, we're back to snow/rain mix. And, several days ago, I saw six deer in the front yard...a record so far!

Oh, and I also found my acorn caps! They, of course, were right under my nose!

Happy Thursday!

Glitter Pinecones

Today, Boo and I made some glitter pinecones. We decided to have a red and white tree (candy cane) and I will have more pics of the tree soon, as we just got our tree tonight (finally). I got some Martha Stewart glitter on sale over the weekend and it worked beautifully. We did red and red/white glitter today and tomorrow, we'll do some white ones.

We ended up purchasing some pinecones (I found out when we got home that they are cinnamon scented); I can't believe that my parents have beautiful pinecones from the few pine trees they have on their property in Southern California and I live in a pine forest and I found about five soggy ones - go figure!

Boo had fun sprinkling glitter.

We had to make a make-shift work table with a piece of sturdy "paper" (really a "for sale" sign that we had laying around) on a chair. I can't wait until we build our kitchen island...I'm sure we'll spend most of our time there.

Boo lost interest after the first few ("we" made about 15)...you can see how nicely you can make "tracks" in the glitter...he ended up pushing the glitter around the rest of the time.

More about our tree soon!