Design/Great Product: PaPaYa!

So, I just received this incredibly lovely 'Thank you' card in the mail:

(and it's got glitter! Whoohoo!)

I've seen Papaya's (or rather, PaPaYa!'s) products in little boutiques, and sent and received some of their lovely, unique stationary, but tonight I finally dove into their website.

I AM ordering THIS:
I need an address book (it's the only Luddite thing -besides my Moleskine journal, of course - that my Blackberry hasn't replaced,) and at $14, it's a beautiful steal.

This wrapping paper. There are no words. !

Almost all of their art is available in card, magnet, or art panel form. And did I mention it's cheap?

Instead of choosing, maybe I'll just wait until December, and spring for one of their delicious calendars...

Design: A Liberty Surprise!

I grew up knowing Liberty & Co. was something mythical and magical, which isn't surprising when one considers that, in our family, anyone not idolizing William Morris was immediately considered a suspicious character of questionable taste.



















If it was Arts & Crafts, or anything directly related to the era, we knew about it. I'm not sorry my mother taught me this. So imagine my surprise when, on a recent shopping trip to Target (thinking I needed to create my own cleaning solution and look up that Swiffer Wet-Jet refill tutorial again because I am running out way too often,) I glance up to notice, Le Gasp!!!, Liberty of London printed everything!

I'd never forget to water the herbs and flower pots with this pretty watering can:

I'd love a few of these (very sturdy!) bins in my daughter's room:

Love this bowl! Cereal would be so much more fun out of it!:

Daily Tea Time would be a must:

Look at the drool-worthy goodies from Liberty of London!
Gorgeous Fabrics!!!:

Loverly Traveling Cases:

How delightful would this little bag be tucked inside a tote for baby necessities?!:

Want.

GORGEOUS silk scarves!:

William Morris prints are popping up all over the place:
Prada Resort Collection 2010:

I think that's fine and dandy, but I like to see vibrant prints in smaller doses, and on little girls' clothing, especially:

Liberty of London for Target:

A cute home made dress created from coordinating William Morris calicoes:

Some beautiful William Morris or Liberty print fabric would be perfect made into little Kate Greenaway style dresses and pinafores:

And I think these adorable Douglas Co. stuffed animals, available in the kid's section of Barnes & Noble, would be a lovely compliment:

Interiors: New House Progress, Part 1

Poor blog(s), I have been neglecting you...but I have a good excuse! Setting up a new house is always time consuming, but I think doing it on an extremely limited budget is even more so.
A month into living in the new house, and most of the rooms are not what I would consider 'blog worthy' yet...sigh...
Here are a few photos anyway:

The antique copperplate shipwreck prints above my antique settee in the foyer:

I found this old slate chalkboard at Goodwill (75 cents!) and kind of fell in love with it (I'm sure that has nothing to do with the 'Made In Italy' stamped in the frame!) - I attached hardware to the back, and hung it in the kitchen. The quote was the only one I could think of in the ten minutes before our dinner guests arrived!

The blue and white collection in the kitchen:

(yes, those are speakers in the photos. I realized the best way to keep domestic peace between a girl who likes to listen to music all day and night, and a boy who likes to watch lots of TV was to just put the stereo in the kitchen)

I won't pretend that this wasn't one of Martha's ideas, but since I saw it all those years ago, I have always wanted to clear the cabinets, and have a streamlined spice drawer next to the stove. Thanks to visitors from Atlanta, we were able to import a full set of Ikea spice jars (Ikea, open a dang store in Saint Louis already!!!), and I finally sprang for my own label maker (Whoohoo!) - This one, from Target, was about $10 cheaper than the PTouch brand, and works just the same.

More to come...

What I Want For My Birthday #1

So, Spring is around the corner (at least, I'm pretending it is to make myself feel a little better), and I want to feel kind of like this:

My search for an acceptably aesthetically pleasing bike has begun. While I'll probably end up getting the closest thing I can find off of Craigslist, a girl can still sift through bike porn on the ol' internet, can't she?

1952 Schwinn Hornet, available at Rusty Spokes... for a price

And here are the updated 'vintage' Schwinns that I am in love with (for a couple hundred dollars less):

From Electra:
The Amsterdam. And I even like the color...*sigh*

Alexander Girard designed 'Tree of Life' bike (Oh, YES, PLEASE!):

And another adorable Electra bike available at REI:

I wanted to feature more brands, and more pictures of lovely ladies on bicycles, but I have to pack up our computer for its move to our new house! Glee! Terror! I won't be able to use it for 2 1/2 days, and I feel ridiculously sad about it. In fact, I feel exactly like going for a lovely bike ride to cheer myself up.

Interiors: The beginning of my new obsession.

So, within a matter of weeks (yikes!) we are moving into our new house. It's a totally restored 1910, and I am all aflutter over what I will do to decorate and make it cleverly organized on a limited budget. Here are some photos:

Window 'boxes'! Yay! Now to figure out what will grow well on the North side of a house...

Brand spankin' new kitchen! Now how to organize...

The downstairs is basically one long great room. I have ideas on this one...

Our future office/guest bedroom is tricky - there are windows across one wall, the fireplace on the second, and two (!) closets on the third...

Oh, you'll be hearing more from me about this!

Great Product: My Splurge...Because I'm Worth It!

So one of my dear, sweet friends (Lisa, over at Apples to Peaches) gifted me with a Sephora gift card. I love Sephora, but usually can't afford too much in there. "This time," I thought, "I'm going to spend it all in one place, and really make it count!"
As the mommy of a toddler who still wakes up several times a night (yes, I am now finally reading 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' - thank you, Dr. Weissbluth!) one of my major complaints is the constant presence of dark circles under my eyes. I've tried drugstore concealers, but they weren't cutting it. Enter LORAC's 'Double Feature':

It's glorious. At $24, I probably wouldn't have allowed myself the purchase before, but I am SO glad I took the leap. There will be no turning back. I can dot the concealer on, blend it with the roller ball, and swipe some highlighter on my browbones and cheeks (all while wrangling a toddler), and come out (quickly) looking well-rested and beaaaa-u-tiful (if I do say so myself - which is the important thing, after all)!

This is me first thing in the morning BEFORE COFFEE, people! AND on a schlumpy day (one that did NOT get photographed for The Way We Wore)!

Totally worth it.

It's Been a Long Time, Baby! And 'A Very Handmade Xmas', Pt. 1

So I have been (with pretty good reason) neglecting my blog(s). I'm sorry. the reasons involved: gift buying, enormous packing, toddler wrangling, house cleaning, traveling, something called 'Christmas', illness, more traveling, more illness, and illness, plus a little packing up to move houses, but more on the last item later.
We had a lovely holiday season (despite the nasty sickies), and a couple of my favorite gifts came from my crafty girlfriends and family members. Going into the holiday insanity, I mused, "Gee, next year, wouldn't it be great to institute a 'Hand-Made Christmas'?" My reasons are simple: 1. Make it less materialistic, and more from the heart, 2. Really get into the holiday spirit by making something for everyone else, 3. Possibly much more cost-conscious. Possibly., 4. Total avoidance of shopping malls, duh!, 5. Focuses the holiday more on friends and family and simple joys, 6. If one is not creative enough, or is under strict time restraints, one might buy from local artists/craftspeople/bakers, and drive the local economy, or check out indie craft retail sites (such as Etsy, of course), and just generally support 'the little guys'.

SO, here's my first featured artist: Miss Jessica Jarvis.
I returned home from our vacation to find this perfectly adorable hostess serving stand:


It's so Mad Hatter meets Paris salon! She made it from vintage odds and ends - she has the persistence and the eye for style to comb through thrift stores, and find little treasures to incorporate into her creations.
Her true passion is cooking, and she is a burgeoning boutique caterer of fabulous greatness! Her food is always, ALWAYS a revelation. Jessica's catering company and blog are both named Dish and The Spoon (Love!)
Last night, she catered the opening of The Archive, a hip vintage book and 'curiosity' shop on Cherokee Street in Saint Louis. Her food was perfect, and I was thrilled to see that she had expanded on my gift's theme, and created large platters just for the event:

Her Etsy shop, Pindy Lindy, is, as one might expect with all this other talent, suffering from a bit of neglect. However, Jessica creates gorgeous jewelry out of found objects and vintage baubles. She should update her shop, and they would sell like hot cakes. However, if you, dear reader, would like your own custom platter (no two are alike!), please feel free to convo her, and she'll have your creation whipped up in a jiffy.