A Closer Look at Ottoman

New in the Shop: Moss Jars (and V2)

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I suppose there's a lot going on right now (including colds, a visitor, and other obligations). But, I do have a few jars that I listed recently to share (and one more I need to list...so, I'll share that soon).

Up first, Moss Jar (V2) 1

Moss Jar (V2) 1

All four of these jars are the wee 4 oz. variety.

Then there's Moss Jar 8

Moss Jar 8

That jaw bone that you see in the background is one that Boo and I recently found on a walk. I have yet to try to identify it.

Another V2 jar, Moss Jar (V2) 2

Moss Jar (V2) 2

And, lastly, Moss Jar 9

Moss Jar 9

As you can see, there are two of each variety (each with either the gray Kona cotton or the tea-dyed unbleached muslin)...a little of everything!

Up next will be a V2 version of a Lichen Jar...stay tuned!

New Product: Gift Tags (and a wee how-to)

Well, the tea-dyed, iridescent-layered paper got cut down to size...and made into gift tags. Yes, the holidays are just around the corner and I've a bit of inspiration for you.

For You - Gift Tags (set of 10)

These gift tags come as a set of 10 with a V-cut just like ribbon. As a child, I remember thinking that the little v-cut ends of ribbon were made as if by magic.

Since they are completely handmade and repurposed from scraps, they have irregularities and vary in length 1-2 inches.

Each is subtley iridescent in red, yellow, or blue and the listing is for a random mix (unless you're desperate for a certain color). As a reference, the first picture of this post shows the yellow (reads as gold).

I also have a personalized listing...

Personalized Gift Tags (set of 10)

Personalize this set of 10 gift tags with whatever you choose, each can be a different word/short phrase...however, please keep your word/short phrase to about 10 characters (including spaces).

To wrap a gift in this monochromatic packaging, here's a wee how-to:

1. Wrap your gift in vintage paper (the kind used to practice writing in school) or newsprint.

2. Use ecru crochet thread (mine was thrifted) to tie a bow and before tying the knot, slip a...

3. For You - Gift Tag or Personalized Gift Tag through the thread (you can use a tapestry needle or somesuch if this proves to be tricky).

I hope your week is treating you well!

 

Diversity on a Stick

Boo loves to play with sticks (mostly to use as cat toys). The other day, he was playing with one that had several different types of lichen.

Let's count the different colors, shall we?

1. orange

2. gray (inspiration for items such as this)

3. yellow (left)

4. light green (right)

5. chartreuse (left)

6. peach!!! (I've never seen this color quite like this before)

It's incredible that one stick can have so much diversity.

When making these (or these), I think about many things including growth and relationships. Nature is interesting to observe, particularly how different and same species interact with each other. Do they grow close to each other, around each other, away from each other? In large clumps or small clumps? It's the wee things that I often find the most interesting.

Treasure Boxes

Recently, about at the same time, two seperate blogs from different parts of the world shared boxes full of "treasure" that I couldn't keep my eyes from.

You can see more and how nature inspires Eva here.

The gals at studio choo assembled collection boxes entitled "natural gold." More here.

I've been working on some Moss Jars and Lichen Jars. I hope to have them in the shop in a few days. I'll let you know.

 

 

Halloween Thrifting

I think I've mentioned before that I like to find one or two things while thrifting when it's near a holiday for that appropriate holiday. Well, the other day, Jenny and I went on an impromptu thrifting trip with Boo and I found these two vintage pieces...

Boo had already picked out a trick-or-treat container at a previous thrift store, but I thought that if he still wanted to use the other one, this nice vintage one would be great for serving candy!

This gentleman Jack-o-lantern lights up! I turned it on and the bulb popped, so I'll find another one. If not, it would be easy to re-wire. Funny, I have a Santa one too!

Oh, and I did list something in the shop today...a vintage gold shiny plastic (like gold chrome) hanger! Oh, the possibilites for usage...okay, I'll even list my thoughts:

1. House-warming gift
2. Hang photos, maps...anything small and 2D (the clips have some rubbery goodness on them)
3. For the disco lover
4. To hang the gold lamé item in your closet
5. For the Leslie Hall fan in your life

And, here's a peek at the little gem...

Happy Tuesday!

Chicken Noodle Soup Helps

I was pretty sick last week with some sort of head cold/flu. Today is the first day I have a bit of energy. I'm pretty sure the chicken noodle soup that Jeff made helped.

There are lots of ideas in my head and ones that I'm starting on for the shop. Lots of new stuff (hopefully soon). I'm hoping that my clearance section gets cleared out to make a bit of room...if you feel like helping out with that, you can click here for items that are 50% off. Now for a few links that I find interesting...

Also, Those lovely Penguin Classics designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith have grown in number, now there are three Jane Austen books in the collection. With any luck, all will be at some point...that would be SO nice!

I recently had an incredible piece of Lemon Blueberry Sourcream Tea Bread from my farmers' market. I found a similar recipe here. I haven't made it yet, but I'd cut down the butter a bit and add sourcream and cut the sugar down (the lemon icing is what makes it).

Boo's been wanting to make Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps (you know, Mrs. Bean's). So, I found a recipe. Again, I haven't made them yet, but another item to add to the list for the fall.

Also, I have a vintage globe that my dad got me from a yard sale. It's dusty and has something that dripped down it. So, I need to do a bit of cleaning. But, how to clean a globe that's made of paper? I found a couple of helpful sites...here and here.

Okay, enough for now. I hope you had a lovely weekend and the start of your week is equally nice!

 

Front Page by Odette New York

I just missed the front page that I was in a bit ago curated by Odette New York. It's stunning....

Do check out the Odette New York shop as well...beautiful work!

HTML Twitter Widget

Oh, a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be nice to put a Twitter widget on this here blog. When I went to "goodies" on the Twitter site to set up a widget, I didn't like how it looked (ie. logos). And, when I went to others' blogs, the widgets were very simple (muuuch better). I don't know much about HTML, but had done a bit of tweaking with hex color codes for the blog, so I looked at the code for the widget, but I couldn't figure out how to pare it down.

So, I started doing some online searching for things like "old twitter widgets" and such and came across a link to the HTML widget that is still on Twitter, but is hidden. Here's the link. However, the said widget isn't customizable like it is with the new (what I found out to be flash) one. And, there is a little note that states "It may not look like this. We're presuming, perhaps inappropriately, that you want to style this to match your site. You can do that with CSS."

I'm not very knowledgable about this sort of thing, so I did a search for "CSS" to find out what the heck it is. Then, I did a search for something like "how to use CSS for HTML Twitter widget" and found this site. It shows exactly where in the HTML code to add one's style for the widget...perfect. So, I studied the examples on this site and managed to come up with something that I liked! Here's a screen shot (in case I change it later)....

On the HTML widget, you can decide how many tweets you want to show for the widget, I chose four. For some reason today, the number was only showing three...so I bumped it up to five manually in the code...now it shows four. What the heck? But! it's still simple, which is what I wanted! The only strange bit are those little markers to the left of each tweet...I don't know where they came from. However, it's hard to complain with a simple little feed such as this....Hopefully, it doesn't crash on me.

Anyway, if any of you dear readers are experienced in such matters and have any advice, I'd love to hear from you! Any tips or resources would be most appreciated, I'm enjoying this little bit of cusomization. And, if you know why my number of tweets is one less than I instruct it to have, do tell why!

I hope your weekend is going well...we have more sun today which is so welcomed! Oh, and please...stop by and say "hi" on Twitter!