Belted

Why are there so many great spring dresses? And why aren't they sold in my price range? I'm totally in love with these pieces!

I don't usually like belted dresses, but these two by Lela Rose are amazing. The length is perfect for me and the patterns is just great!

And who couldn't like these Badgley Mischka dresses {yellow and patterned!}.

Sweater...dress?

I never thought that sweater-dresses would make a comeback, but they have! Check out this great H&M dress...I love the buttons and the jacket it's paired with is too cute!

Need to start playing the lotto

Oh, beautiful yellow dress, why do you have to be $350? This would be perfect for my trip to Italy this summer, light, silky, patterned, yellow. What more could a girl want?


Hmmm, not sure that I could pull off this little black dress, but I would love to try!


{yellow dress is from Tibi, black dress is from Burberry Prorsum}

Continue to give

For me the last few months flew by and I can't believe it's almost February! But, that doesn't mean that we should forget about the holiday spirit of generosity. I recently discovered an amazing challenge that is being offered by Six Degrees (yes, Kevin Bacon!). The four US charities that have the most unique donors through the America's Giving Challenge will receive $50,000 for their cause (in addition to the pledges).

A Place to Bark is one of the charities that has a shot at this amazing opportunity. Please check out Bernie Berlin's blog to learn more about her animal rescue. In addition to running the dog rescue full-time, Bernie is a mixed media artist. In order to win the grant they need to have the most amount of donors, not necessarily the amount of money donated. Each $10 (unique) donation give the rescue a shot at winning $50,000. The challenge ends on January 31.

You know my soft spot for dogs...let's help make a difference!

New Obsession

Remember my ring obsession from last month? Well, I've moved onto dresses! I love gray right now {and we all know how much I also love pattern}, so this beauty is perfect for me. It's for sale at Olio United...I wish I could visit Portland and try it on.

Hello new garage!

I haven't been the only busy person around here. Jake finally managed to clean out the garage {with Lindsay's help, of course}. We haven't been able to fit a car inside the garage for almost a year, and Jake could never find his tools when he needed them since they were spread out over the floor.

I took this after they had already been cleaning for three hours, so you can imaging how bad it was!

Now all of the tools are organized and he has clean space on his work table.

And we can fit a car in here!

Hello new office!

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post...bad blogger! Well, I haven't been sitting around, I've been working my butt off on this new organizing kick. Here are a few pics of my newly organized office {before and after}.

My desk was such a disaster even the drawers were overflowing. Now I have clean drawers and these cute new shelves {complete with Julia Rothman mug for pencils and my Matryoshka dolls from Sara}.


My sewing area is much better now. I couldn't even get to my sewing machine before!


And my favorite part is the closet. Lindsay talked me into making this closet "business only" and we moved all of my crafting supplies to the closet in the spare room. I love all of the little boxes. They're all labeled and filled with inventory, so no more searching for a pack of cards to send out!

Welcome 2008!

I hope everyone had a great time last night! I was lucky to have a very low-key night...dinner with a few friends and then board games are Luke's. It was the perfect way to start the new year and is the beginning of what I hope will be a very peaceful and productive year. I'm not making any resolutions, although I am going to have some life goals in the next few months.

Goal #1 is to get organized and live a {mostly} clutter-free life. I'm inspired by Organize Magazine, which I just found! In honor of this new goal I spent part of today cleaning my office closet and desk, filing stationery, and making a list of organizational things to buy. I'll be posting before and after pictures to keep myself motivated. Speaking of organizing, I just found out about Bloglines {thanks Shanna!} and created an account with all of the blogs I read daily...woo hoo!

Goal #2 is to complete half-finished projects around the house. Jake and I started remodeling our bathroom about two years ago and have been 90% finished for two years! Today we started patching drywall, which lead to another list of supplies that need to be purchased! By the end of the week I'd like to have finished patching, nail in floorboards, and paint the trim. Personal zen, here I come :)


{image from Organize Magazine}

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Mine was pretty hectic {3 houses on Christmas Eve and 6 on Christmas}, but we got to spend time with all of our families. I'm looking forward to spending the next few days getting organized and recuperating from all of the craziness of the last few weeks.


In addition to a fantastic dishwasher {can't wait to have it installed}, I got some great handmade gifts this year!

Wishing for the New Year

I just put together quite possibly my last treasury of 2007. I'm hoping to buy at least a few of these things in the new year {or maybe my husband will buy one or two for my birthday, hint, hint}. Check out these great shops while you're finishing all of your Christmas shopping.

Definite Obsession!

This coral-colored bouquet ring is from Zakka.


And this lovely chartreuse cocktail ring is from Starry Configurations. I have been wishing for this for a while now.

I'm not sure if it's the rings I love or the awesome set-ups!

A tiny secret

Ok, so I feel like I have a slight ring obsession right now. I think this little leaf ring by Amanda Conley is lovely. It's like wearing a secret...Others may not notice how cute it is because of it's size, but you'll know the whole time you're wearing it!

I love, love, love this ring from Hester Zagt Sieraden {found via Bloesem}! I tried to find more information on her, but alas, I only speak English. Hester has more rings like this on her website, and many other beautiful pieces. I can't decide what my favorite color is for this design...maybe I would pick white...

Reminder

Vote for Abbey's house as best decorated! This is the last day.

Wall Paper = Love

I was in Nook yesterday doing some holiday shopping when I found the book Wall Paper by Lachlan Blackley...instant love! Needless to say I now have another early Christmas present from myself. I frequently use wallpaper and patterns in my work and I think this book will be a great source of inspiration. There are interviews with 50 designers and beautiful images of their work. "The new wallpaper is blurring the line between art and interior decoration".

Now that I have a good wireless connection at home I can work in front of the tv, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I get sucked into watching pointless shows like Deal or No Deal and I feel like I'm going to puke the whole time! I always hope that the player "wins" and the suspense kills me. Good thing I usually only see the last 10 minutes. Ok...back to grading!

I can't seem to help myself from buying fabric from Lara Cameron, owner of Kirin & Co. Lara's hand screen printed designs are so beautiful and impeccable! The photos just don't do the designs and printing justice. My only problem is that I'm afraid to cut into the fabric, although the vision of awesome throw pillows in my bedroom might just be the kick I need!

New prints available

Shop update: I'm out of calendars, but Tara has a few more. I can't believe how well they sold. Thank you to everyone who purchased one (or two)! I do have some prints from the calendar for sale. These make great holiday gifts and are super easy to frame.

Productive!

In addition to feeling a little overwhelmed, I've been quite productive lately. I even had a chance to finish my ornaments for the Holiday Ornament Swap. Here's a sneak peek of my ornament (four-sided letterpress) and some tree decorating from this weekend.

Gala

This was a busy weekend. The Holiday Gala at my studio was Friday and Saturday. I sold a good amount and purchased a good amount {some gifts and some for myself}. I bought a beautiful "sketch" by Colleen Buzzard, whose work is pictured above.

Saturday night I went to Buffalo to see Andrew Hershey's amazing exhibition at Big Orbit Gallery. I went to grad school with Andrew and it was great to see him and his new work. I am still impressed with how well his work fit in the gallery. Usually Big Orbit has sculptural or installation-based pieces, but Andrew's work made the space a bit more quiet and better for contemplation.

On Sunday Jake and I picked out our Christmas tree! This is the third year of our tradition of brunch and tree-buying with friends Sara and Ben {and Marni this year}. Snow had covered all of the trees and we had a snow-ball fight in the midst of the trees. And rounding out my weekend was a night of editioning for my book exchange between my class and Abbey's class. It turned out quite nice and I'll post pictures of the book ad the tree soon.