long time, no blog

I know it's been a long time since we talked, but let's try to not make this awkward. I moved, life got busy, but I never forgot you, I promise. Let's yadda yadda yadda over all that and get to the good stuff.



So I found this fantastic Etsy shop that specializes in "modern screen printed textiles" based on original artwork. It's quirky and vintage and modern and just plain cool. It's called Branch Handmade and was created by Todd Kamps and Ashley Redmond. They also have their own website.

There are tea towels (which I am kind of obsessed with). LOVE the poison bottle design.



Fabulous clothing!



That scarf must be mine. I crave it.



Lovely bedding.

The Bird Nerd is the Word

I found this wonderful Etsy store and must share. It is called BirdNerd, and if you love birds like I do, you will be in heaven. I urge you all to run there now and drool! And then buy something! These works of art are the creations of Chelsea Grove.

A lovely collage. She also has beautiful prints of her work available.


Birdie Jewelry!


Awesome plush!


There are many stickers and note cards for sale. She has collections of note cards, or there is a "choose your own" option as well.


I am in love with these tea towels! There are many birds to choose from, but this Starling really speaks to me.

Magical Ideas for Kids Rooms

A friend of mine is pregnant and got me thinking about how to decorate a child's room. I found these wonderful items on the Pottery Barn Kids website. What a magical environment for a kid to grow up in!

Here are some great tree and butterfly wall decals. I think it would be easy enough to create a similar design on your own to paint directly on the wall. Of course, with the wall decals, you could switch up the look with less hassle. The tree wall decals are on sale right now for $39.99-59.99.


I love the 3-D butterflies! They are $32.


Here is a truly magical butterfly chandelier, for $79, with the butterfly silhouette wall decals on sale right now for $39.99. Because I am always trying to think of ways to save money, I would suggest again that this idea could be created on your own. I would get some heavy transparent velum paper and cut out shapes, and hang them with fishing line. You wouldn't have to use butterflies (maybe you have a boy and think it's too girlie)....you could use leaf shapes, or birds, or just free-form shapes. You could use a glass bead to weigh each one down.

This look reminds me of the scene in the kids movie The Spiderwick Chronicles, where the sylphs swarm around the kids and carry them away. Very enchanting.


Another picture of the fabulous designs on the 3-D butterflies.


The website showed another creative way to use the 3-D butterflies. There are countless other creatures that could be created with some cool paper. You can find all kinds of great designer papers in the scrapbook section of any store, even Walmart. You could also use fabric glued to heavy paper to create different animals or shapes!

Copycat Art

Like most people in their 30's, I am at an in-between stage as far as wall art goes. During my college years, my walls were adorned with band posters and a few framed art prints from museums I had visited. Your typical Dali's, Van Gogh's, Monet's and the like. And of course I used to get creative with hanging sarongs and other repurposed items....it looked funky, yes, but it was very obviously a college girl's place. Since then I have slowly transitioned into purchasing a few original art pieces, mirrors, and other more "adult" wall pieces. However, I was missing a nice, large painting for the central wall of our house. It seemed like everything I saw in stores screamed Doctor's Office. I decided to take matters into my own hands.

While I was flipping through an issue of Elle Decor last year, I came across this advertisement for Plantation, which is a furniture store and website. I am not necessarily crazy about the furnishings in this ad, but I fell in love with the tree wallpaper. I decided that this would be a cheap and easy solution to my art problem.

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a very large canvas and some black paint. I then penciled in the trees and birdies, using the ad as my guide. Painting was easy, and the design is such a simple one, it was easy to fix any mistakes by adding a new branch or whatever.



I am very pleased with the results, I love the simple and elegant look in my living room! This project was so cheap, even if I would have really messed up and needed a new canvas, or needed to paint over it all and start again, I would have only been out a few bucks!



I encourage everyone to try some copycat art for yourself! It doesn't take much artistic ability to do a simple design like this. And if you have a more complicated design you'd like to use but don't trust your own abilities, one thing you can do is get an overhead projector. I've seen these at thrift stores, but you may also be able to borrow one (from a school, maybe?) or rent one. Project your design onto the canvas (or wall if you are making a mural or painting on the wall directly) and pencil it in. From there you just have to fill in your sketch with paint!

UPDATE: I was just watching "Dear Genevieve" on HGTV, and I saw the exact same copycat art created! The episode was called "A Functional Design and Zoning Plan in a Great Room." She used more of a tall canvas rather than the wide one like I used, and then framed it. To be honest, I only caught the last few minutes of the show and saw the reveal, so I don't know if this is wallpaper and she used a piece of it, or if she painted it herself. The end result looked great, with a framed version of my painting above. If that's not validation for a good idea, I don't know what is! :)

Dog Biscuits... from scratch!

My husband and I like to try to keep as many of the nasty human chemicals and preservatives away from our animals as possible, but it's hard sometimes, especially if you can't afford to buy them the good organic dog food.... or like us, live in a small town where the only place to even buy dog food is Walmart. Here is a great way to at least provide your dog with a preservative-free snack.

I found this old "Gourmet Doggie Biscuit Kit" at an antique store in Baldwin City, KS and picked it up for a quarter. It contains recipes for homemade dog biscuits, along with a bone-shaped cookie cutter. I am going to pass along the recipes here, and I would suggest just cutting out a bone shape with a knife if you can't find a cookie cutter like this.


The instructions are great... they say, "Don't limit yourself to biscuits. Cut biscuit shaped sandwiches for the kids when they are in the doghouse, make bread dough Christmas ornaments with your dog's or a dog friends' names painted on. Let your imagination go. If your dog does not like any of the following recipes, it is time for a visit to the veterinarian."


The Master Recipe, makes 10 biscuits

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6 tablespoons butter, shortening or meat drippings
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup ice water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, dry milk, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles cornmeal. Mix in egg. Add enough water so that mixture forms a ball.

Pat out dough 1/2 inch thick with your fingers, on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cut with doggie biscuit cutter and remove scraps. Pat out scraps and proceed as before.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cake rack.

Variations for the master recipe:
To vary flavor and texture add one of the following:
1 cup pureed cooked green vegetables or carrots
6 tablespoons whole wheat or rye kernels
2-3 tablespoons dried soup greens
3 tablespoons liver powder
Mix in the ingredient of your choice when you add the egg, the proceed with the basic directions.


Rye Crisps

2 cups rye flour
1/2 cup soybean flour or 1/4 cup each white flour and cornmeal
6 tablespoons oil
2/3 cup warm water

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Blend flours. Mix oil with water and add to flour. Mix well, dough should form a ball.

Pat out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cut with doggie biscuit cutter and remove scraps. Pat out scraps and proceed as before.

Bake for 40 minutes, cool on wire rack.

I haven't tried these recipes yet, but I'm excited to see how my two dogs like them!

Here's Ginger and Lucky, my babies!

Throw Pillow Rescue

Have you ever found a throw pillow at a thrift store or garage sale that was fabulous, but you didn't get it because it had that mildew smell, or the stuffing was flattened or lumpy, or maybe you were just paranoid about who had used it before and what traces of themselves they had left behind? This is certainly not a rocket science idea by any means, but it recently occurred to me that these pillows could be salvaged with a minimal amount of work.

I found this great turquoise corduroy pillow at a thrift store, but it smelled like it had lived in a dank basement. I got it anyway. For a dollar, this was well worth the trouble to fix!

If you have a sewing machine, or even a needle and thread, you can turn these pillows into pillow covers. Cut open a seam, even just a corner, and pull out the old, dirty stuffing, wash your new pillow cover, then fill it again with fresh fluff and stitch it back up. Or if that isn't possible, cut the entire pillow right down the center in the back, wash it, then fold each side of the cut over and hem, and then attach a button in the center to pull them together again, or not....it's up to you.

There is no right or wrong way to do this.... use your imagination. Yes, it may not fit perfect and the inner pillow you put in may stuff out a bit, but who cares? The front of the pillow still looks great, and I've never been the type to be concerned about perfection. If the pattern or color of the pillow speaks to you, this is a great way to salvage a fabulous vintage find.

For some reason it didn't occur to me to take pictures of the back of my new pillow cover. And I still haven't found a new pillow to put inside it. I'll try to get better pics if I don't forget.