Rainy Days and the Anthropologie Catalog

Anthro Inspired Peacock

Pavo Bedding - Anthropologie

Rainy days and the always artistically inspiring Anthropologie catalog have transformed my dining room chalkboard. 

I love getting the Anthro catalog in my mailbox. Their artistic direction always reminds me to think outside of the box.

I guess the peacock is here to stay until further inspired or until urgent to dos need to take center stage.

Just thought I would share, thanks for checking it out.

From Mom, with Love

Care Package Goodies

Going to This One at College

Maybe I felt like doing this for Valentine's but probaby just because. Just because winter can get you down and everyone needs a little pick up, just because college can be difficult and it's nice to get an unexpected surprise, just because I think of my kids all the time and want them to know that, just because it's nice to do something nice. Missing my kid who is working hard and trying (I hope) to dig deep and keep focused at school, as a student and an athlete.

It was fun putting this together and my reward was an excellent text (yes, that's usually all we can ask for):
"Mom, this is the best care package EVER. Thanks so much. Love and miss you guys tons."

Just because I wanted a gift back too....I got what I wanted.

Chalkboard Before/After

$30 Restaurant Chalkboard from 2ndUse

                         $12.98 Tintable Chalkboard Paint Home Depot      

                         

6 Coats of Paint

Random Notes

For months, I had my eye on a large restaurant chalkboard catalogued in 2nd Uses' online inventory.   I finally made it to their warehouse and finding it in stock. A bit of negotiating and cramming into my car and my new purchase was home with me.

This project couldn't be easier, especially considering the varieties of chalkboard paint available today. There are many colors you can select with the tintable chalkboard paint. I went with a dark charcoal gray. I ended up painting 6 coats to ensure coverage.  For optimal outcome, allow 24 hours between coats.

I delayed posting about this chalkboard project because I envisioned having a beautiful drawing or some great inspiring quote on the board before photographing. And here you have it... a Mom list left by college boy, a note from our neighbor, cross country meet score and my attempts at an inspiring quote along with a stick figure drawing. This dining room chalkboard will never be perfectly "coiffed" but it will always perfectly depict life at home.

Subway Sign Art

Recently I visited Restoration Hardware where these huge hanging Subway Signs caught my eye and have had me obsessed ever since. There is one wall in my living room that needs a large vertical hanging. I love letters and numbers and the black and white graphic aspect of these art pieces. Priced at $795 each, this is a definite DIY project. Armed with inspiration, I am hoping to figure out the best way to reproduce subway sign art at a fraction of the cost.

Sign content - I decided on names of places that are special to my family and I.

Fonts - sizing and spacing on a Word Document. This is what I have so far (this may look a bit different than the final project due to compatability issues with word and blogger):

CAPE GIRARDEAU

3630 ½ SENECA

DIAMOND HEAD

SAN LUIS OBISPO

R E D M O N D

S U G A R B E A C H

HAYDEN LAKE

C A R M E L

Today I am off to the print shop to figure out how the least expensive way for me to reproduce the exact fonts and spacing I want onto a large blank stretched canvas.

My sister-in-law, Wendy is working on this project as well. Visit her post on SimplyBrookes for her point of view. If you have any ideas, or are inspired to join in, please comment.

Hopefully I will soon be posting a terrific replica of this Subway Sign art.

Pearly Girl

Pearl photos courtesy of daughter Andie
Animals have a way of filling your home and heart with their presence. I've always felt that they know the true you. We recently lost our cat Pearl, she had a gift of centering your day. The queen of love, serene and senile, quietly insisting you stop and pet her. The reward was her instant appreciation of your attention with purring and grateful eyes.

Thank you Pearl, we'll miss our Pearly girl.

2010 Graduate

June rolls around and our mailbox begins to fill with lovely traditional graduation announcements from children we've watched grow up. We could hardly believe our own son was 18 and graduating, let alone the kids who used to come over for play dates, swimming adventures and walks to the park.

A friend had sent a unique announcement in 2009, his card motivated me to try something different too. While a fan of the traditional, I wanted my son's announcement to be personal (his own sentiment), include senior photographs, and be informative (he attached a card with college and new contact information).

And I confess, my timing is off if you wanted to consider using this idea for a spring graduate. If inspired, tag this post to use next year, and in the meanwhile compile great photos for the project.

I typically use Shutterfly to print photos. Their site is simple to use and offers many different card/stationary project options. Considering price, value and layout, I chose to use 4 x 8 photocards. This layout allowed for a 3 image upload with text variations below. Shutterfly walks you through the upload steps as well as sizing the images to fit the project. Edit, finalize and pay and the postcards arrive in home roughly 5-8 days later.

This grad photocard has received rave reviews from friends and family. I hope this post inspires you to consider unique options for the class of 2011!

Awesome Etching

Ever since Wendy posted about numbering stemware at SimplyBrookes, I've had this project in mind. And while wine charms are well, charming, I like the simplicity of numbered stemware.

Step-by-step directions:
Basic stemware from CostPlus, 12 glasses for 24.99. (I am constantly breaking wine glasses,thus, I keep to the basic inexpensive finds).
Carefully mark off a square, I used a 2in.square. This can be tricky as the glass is not flat, bend the tape to keep outline square. Press it down firmly to prevent uneven lines.
Center number sticker. Stickers can be found in the scrapbook section of craft store.
Using gloves, apply a thick layer of etching cream. This cream is highly caustic, use care and be sure to read the directions before applying.
After 5 min., rinse off etching cream, removing tape and sticker(keep your gloves on). I used a large bucket of water outside for rinsing.
Repeat steps to number all your stemware. Once the stemware has dried, the etching appeared darker, looks perfect.
Love how they turned out!

This was a simple project requiring an hour of time and resulting in unique, classic stemware. For a recap, to etch your own glasses, you will need the following items:

• Stemware or glassware
• Etching Cream
• Painters tape, I like Frogtape
• Number stickers
• Gloves
• Inexpensive paint brush
• Heavy paper for square stencil
• Water for rinsing

If you decide to etch your own glasses or other items, please send me photo(s). I would love to see the results.

Thanks for visiting!

How Very Exciting

As compared to regular sized business cards
They had me at mini-cards!

For a couple of reasons, I have been putting off having business cards made for months. Mainly, I was uncertain of the resolution quality of the pear graphic in my logo. And by making a business card, I guess...that means I am in business! Yikes and Hurray!

In discovering custom mini-cards from MOO.com via a great bloggers' resource, Meylah.com, I knew I had found the place and application to move forward. The mini-cards were the perfect solution for my not so high quality jpeg logo, plus the size makes them so unique!

Creating business cards, mini-cards or postcards at Moo.com is incredibly simple:

Choose Your Product:



Select to upload your own image or choose from existing fun templates:


Continue to follow prompts that allow you to add text to the reverse side, crop and center your image and finalize the layout before ordering. The paper quality is outstanding and my graphic ended up looking top notch in this size.

Once I placed my order, the mini-cards arrived within 8 days. As you can see by the clever packaging by the folks at MOO.com, they know their audience! "How exciting", was exactly what I said while opening my package. And yes, they do have a new best friend!

If you would like to become friends too, simply add the coupon code: PAP2ZN to receive 10% off your order.

I hope you like my new business cards! Yay!

A Side of Yellow

Etsy PoppySeedLiving
Ikea Trollsta
Etsy Oh Clementine Pi Nightstand
Etsy ModPieces
1stDibs
A month ago,I discussed redoing our guest room:

Guest Room Color Story
I am almost done with the room with the exception of the bedside table. After spending lots of time sanding off coats of paint on an existing wood table, I am ready to paint. Because it's time consuming and labor intensive to sand, prime, sand and then paint furniture, I want to be sure of the final color.

My original plan was to paint the table a high gloss yellow that would coordinate with the pillows and linens in the room. As the only piece of wood furniture in the room, I envisioned that this color would add punch and pizazz to the quiet, calm, color palette. Just to be sure, I spent some time looking for yellow side tables online. Research confirms that I can't go wrong by making the bedside table the standout piece in the guest room.

Can you see it?:

Card Making Party

Most of us probably spend more time on the computer than we'd like. We tend to live within this box with a screen in front of our eyes and a keyboard at our fingertips. While this has become a necessary part of daily life, switching gears and working with your hands and creative side is so healthy and fulfilling.

A few weeks ago, I hosted a card party at my home. I invited friends and asked them to bring card stock and any card making supplies that had on hand (stamps, paper punches, paper,etc.). This was a great way to join creative forces as well as share in crafting supplies. If you've ever been down the paper or stamp aisle in the craft store, you know it can be difficult to keep your inventory streamlined.

Hopefully you are inspired by this collaboration of supplies, friends and ideas. It was truly successful on all levels, we are planning another one for this month!

Happy Mother's Day

Bucket after Bucket of Incredible Tulips
Market Truck
Vendor Making Judy's Bouquet
Hailey & Judy
Gorgeous Bouquet and Flower Girl
Double Blossom Peony Tulips
My Funky Pink, Orange and Chartreuse Bouquet
Mack & Bouquets Taking the Bus
I am hoping this becomes our new Mother's Day tradition: yesterday I spent the afternoon in downtown Seattle with my son, his girlfriend and her mom (my good friend, coincidentally), walking through Pike Place Market. We have been to Pike Place on many occasions, eating at our favorite gyro or Chinese dumpling stand, always following up with cookies from 3 Sisters Bakery, but yesterday was the annual flower festival at the market. All of the flower vendors set up their tents on the cobblestone streets. Traffic was blocked off and visitors were free to wander the flower stalls, trying to decide which beautiful bouquet they would take home. Judy and I came upon a vendor that was making bouquets by request. We were thrilled with our Mother's Day bounty, gorgeous bouquets of tulips and irises and time spent with our kids. Thanks for a wonderful start to Mother's Day!

Shed Chic

What a great day! The sun is out, spring is just around the bend, March Madness begins and my kids have their first track meet of the season! Until I head off to their meet, I will be cozied up in a sunny spot devouring this incredible book: Shed Chic by Sally Coulthard. I have touched on backyard structures in a previous Modern Shed post, but this takes additional living space to a whole new level.

Would you create a digital free haven for reading and writing, a purpose-built home office or a guest annex? So many charming possibilities are brought to light in this beautifully photographed book. There are a couple of "sheds" that I could just live in and need nothing else. Add this book to your list, you won't be disappointed.

p.s. If you read the book, I would love to know your favorite sheds. Please send me an email (heather.runners@gmail.com) or comment on this post!

Island Cottage

IMAGES BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER/THE SEATTLE TIMES
I love Sundays. Whenever possible, a Sunday morning means coffee in bed with the paper. My favorite part of the paper, (I save it for last), is the Pacific Magazine. Every week it is full of fantastic articles on gardening, cooking, and northwest living.

This article about an Island Cottage on Vashon Island jumped off the page. The architects, Vandeventer + Carlander, designed a home that "speaks to the water". Just that phrase alone captured my interest, I love anything that speaks to the water. And it is a dream of ours to own a waterfront home. The views, the storage, the clean lines and open floor plan are right up my alley. At first, I thought, too stark, but as I continued to read, the homeowners describe: "Outside is a table laden with fishing poles, rods, tackle. Nearby, inner tubes and kayaks await the call to duty. River otters, seals, osprey, eagles. A boat trip over to Gig Harbor. Built-in cabinets downstairs hold the TV, Wii, a place for wine and puzzles, and Twister." That sounds like a cozy, family home to me.

What do you think about this streamlined home?