Monday, January 31, 2011

In the Middle

I don't have a Before and After project to share with you this week. Instead I offer you an "In the Middle" project.
I bet you can guess what room I'm working on. Can you, can you?
Hummm what can clementine boxes full of yarn and stacks of fabric mean?
Oh how I love cork board and vintage photographs.

Okay, okay you got me. I'm working away on the big reveal of the craftroom/office.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pink Hearts

This week I am going to share another great DIY from the ladies over the Purlbee. I don't keep it a secret that I love Valentine's things. Pink and Red together - love, paper and felt hearts - love, glittered handmade cards - love. I will have my own red and pink, hearts and XO related project up two weeks from today, but for now you can have some fun making these sweet heart shaped barrettes.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Amazment by the Pagefull

Today's link is one of the best sources for design, craft, life inspiration. The New York Public Library Digital Gallery is amazing thousands of images from the library archives available for download, printing or just browsing. I'm going to use the above image of lily of the valley for an embroidery project. Next time you have a little time to spare, try clicking around the gallery!

Caged

Last October while on my yearly girls get away with my two dear friends from college I picked up a small orange birdcage from Crate and Barrel. I suppose it is a Christmas ornament. Anyway ever since I have had birdcages as a style element hanging out in the back of my mind. Here are just a few things that I found clicking around on Etsy, Ebay and Target! I picture the above cage hung in the corner of a room, maybe with a light inside.
Sweet little pink birdcage necklace, don't you just love that blue bird.
I know what you are thinking, what would you do with this massive birdcage? I am imagining putting shelves in and using it to say house fabric in a craft room or linens in a hall way. I am not even kinda kidding when I say if I lived a little closer to these folks for a mere $100 this would be mine.
Alas I might have to just settle for a little key hook.
Or for the really bold, you could go with this amazing wallpaper from Target. Target! I don't think I have even mentioned before, but in case you didn't know Target carries wallpaper online. And for a great price. Love!

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of computer screen shopping with me (doesn't really have the same ring as window shopping does it?), let me know if you find any great Birdcage finds.

You can find every item by clicking on the picture above.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Free Inspiration

I am just so in love with this image from the January Anthropologie catalog. I wish I had an awesome vintage station wagon like that, and a killer sofa.

Monday, January 24, 2011

It is so cold even the wild life need wool hats!

In light of the super cold weather and a bunch of other junk I gave myself the day off yesterday. I didn't leave the house, I didn't up on make up, I didn't wear shoes, I didn't do the dishes or clean the bathroom. I did take a very long, very hot shower, I did eat bacon and eggs for lunch, I did make muffins, I did watch movies, I did do laundry, I did sift through a box of books and a few magazines, I did crochet and I did sweep the floor. All in all a good day.

Oh and I didn't put together a before and after post for today. So enjoy the cute little owlly and keep warm!

Friday, January 21, 2011

How About Hearts

Okay confession, I love red and pink together, it is one of my favorite color mixes. I would with out a doubt have at least one red and pink room in my house, if I wasn't sure it would look like I lived in Jeannie's Bottle.
Due to my red/pink love and the fact that Valentine's day seems to be the only reason normal none wish giving gals can go a little over board with a rosey colorway look for lots of hearts to show up to Make Something Good.
This project is from How About Orange - find the step by step to make these cute 3D fabric heart here.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sharing is caring!

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Happy Thursday my friends, I thought I'd share the new She & Him music video for our little weekly sharing time.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Car Shopping

I am to consumed with car shopping this week to search the internets for fun finds. Next week find something good will be back full force with awesomeness.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sounds like 1995 around here

Last night I watched one of my all time favorite movies, Empire Records. And now I have the sounds of 1995 echoing through my mine. In 1995 I was in the 7th grade and spent far to much time hanging out in my bedroom listening to The Planet 96.3 the radio station that brought cool new alternative music to all us kids in the metro Detroit area. I think the only time in my life that music was more important to my every day life was college. To my 7th grade self knowing every word to every song and every song on every album was vital.



Here is a play list of my fave songs from the Empire Records sound tack, the ones sending me down memory lane. To this day if any of these songs come on the radio I will turn them up and sing along with a giddy little smile and remember what it was like to be in middle school just discovering how music would shape my life.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Tinny

My camera was MIA this weekend (Okay not so much MIA as left at my mom and dad's) so I didn't get a chance to take after shots of any of the makeovers I have been working on. In light of my failure I thought I would share this awesome Before and After from Design Sponge.


You can read all the details here. Makes me want to find some old tin cans and create some amazing projects of my own.

Friday, January 14, 2011

warm hands, hot pads

One of my crafting goals for 2011 is to be better at working ahead. When I go to a baby or bridal shower or send of a birthday gift for a good friend I like to slip at least one little handmade item in. So when I saw this felted wool hot pad project from the Purl Bee (the wonderful blog from the folks behind Purl Soho), I thought they would make the perfect add on for a wedding shower or hostess gift. Now to just figure out what color felt to buy so I can get started!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Creature Comforts

It's time for some link love! I know I have shared with you before some of the great work that Ez from Creature Comforts does but I thought it deserved a proper linky love post. Not only is this site from the mind that brought us the loverly "Gifted" online mag, but she has a way of pulling together collections of items and finding the perfect color pairings that is way beyond most of what I can imagine. I am especially fond of the Inspiration Daily feature and will most definitely be using some of her posts for colors as I begin the Great Paint of 2011, like the Big Dig in Boston it is going to be epic!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Carrier

For Christmas I was gifted this brilliant satchel by my brother James. I can not tell you how much I love it, I have been using it almost every day and it is perfect for the (slightly unreasonable) amount of things I need (want) to carry around each day. The satchels are made by The Cambridge Satchel Company (love the name) and are shipped to you right from Old Blighty. Mine was ordered from the online store Toast, but I see that if you get it right from the maker you can have it embossed (and I do so love when things are personalized). Now just to find the perfect little something to tuck into that ID pocket.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Best Year Ever

A few weeks before the end of the year I commented to some of my coworkers that my goal was to make 2011 the best year ever. I was half joking when I said it, but something about that statement has stuck with me. Later I came across this great calendar from spread the love and found myself once again inspired to make this year the best ever. And then this week at church our pastor said something along the lines of; what if this was the best year ever? What if you treated it starting today like it was going to be great. So here I am encouraging calendar in tow ready to make this year just the best ever!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Little Changes

It is funny how just the littlest of changes can make a big difference. After all the Christmassy things were put away I though it might be nice to change things up a little bit in the living room.
I'm rather happy with how things are looking. Now to pick paint colors, hire painters and buy a new couch. Baby steps, baby steps.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Lets get reading

The new "Make Something" good feature will be starting up next week because to day we'll kick off the new monthly "Read Something" good posts. This month I am reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I actually started reading this book when it came out last year and kinda lost the library copy that I had and then HAD to return it right away when it finally showed up. So when I found it at TJMaxx I picked it up and put it at the top of my books to read in 2011 list. I have chosen 12 books that I am going to read this year and share with you. It is my goal to post about that months book the first Friday or each month along with a review (of sorts) of the book from the month before. If you end up reading along let me know, I'd love to hear what you think of the books.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Lets start Sharing

It seems only right that I start the new "share something good" with one of my biggest blog inspirations Design*Sponge. The team over at design sponge post about 1/2 a dozen times a day. I know I have talked about their living in and before and afters before, but really everything they post is great. If you have some free time or find yourself lacking inspiration for that next project around the house check it out!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A good write up

I'm on the look out for more prints and original art work for my walls. I think this image from Studio Mela would be perfect for about my desk. It is always good to be reminded that things will be just fine in the end.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Capetown to Cairo

On Sunday night I was watching History Detectives on PBS (I have never watched the show before, but it was so interesting), and the "detective" was researching the origin of from markings on a couples Airstream trailer. As part of his investigation he shared about the caravan club founded by Wally Byam. Mr. Byam lead many travel trailer enthusiasts on treks across America, but the trip that sent me on rabbit trails all over the Internet was his 1959 caravan across Africa. In July of '59 he had 36 trailers shipped from America to Africa and lead 106 people from the south to the north of the content. This story combines so much of what I enjoy, vintage trailers, people seeing their crazy ideas through and very very big adventures.

Watch this film for more info on the trip and check out the Wally Byam Caravan Club International still in existence today!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Fresh Food

Here is my first big before and after to share with you for 2011. I guess this might not really count as it is just a complete change out. For Christmas this year my mom and dad got me a new fridge. I am thrilled, I'm not sure what that says about me.
Clearly I am a fan of magnets. And giant "E"s!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

There be changes a foot

Hello Friends! This post is way later than I had planned, but I ended up spending much of my day helping my brother and sister-in law pack for their move to Virginia later this week. I was glad to be of help to them, but I am so sad to see them move so far away. Anyhow on to the changes to this little blog for 2011! Maybe you have noticed the change in the look of the blog that has been happening over the last few days (okay maybe not, but they are there, believe me). But the biggest change is yet to come. I have spent a lot of my time off reading blogs and figuring out how I would like to focus my blogging for 2011. I is my goal to blog at least 5 times a week this year and it is my hope that you will all enjoy the new and renewed features!




The first change you will see is one in the way that I label my posts. You will now find before and afters under the new label "change". And I think even more exciting I will be looking for help from you. I hope to share a before and after every week this year, but there is no way I'm going to be able to do it alone. That is where you my friends will come in, I am going to be looking for you to send me shots of your great before and afters so I can share them with the rest of the blogging world. Look for before and afters on Mondays.








The "live" label is really my idea of a hodge podge grouping of anything I find interesting or worth sharing, encompassing the old "inspiration" and "now you know" labels among others. These posts should show up on Tuesdays.














Wednesdays post will be from the "find" category. This is where you are going to find things like esty or ebay items, things I have found in my own brick and mortar searches. Once again I'd love to have input from any reader who has found something good!













Thursdays will be all about link love with the "share" posts.















Finally on Friday I am going to share from the "make" department of Building Something Good. Check here for pics of things I am making DIY's and links to cool projects.











There will also be a few special categories popping up from time to time that will be added to the side bar. The first is "read" where I will post each month about one of the books from my list of 12 books I must read in 2011.




In closing I thought I'd share the inspiration for the name of this little blog: From the poem "Hey Love" by Linford Detweiler (of the band Over the Rhine)
"Lets build something good we can't see with our eyes, and be surprised when it's our turn to die, realizing we actually did most of the stuff we truly care about. Gave ourselves permission to be curious. Actually became the people we were born to be."

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Listing

It always starts with lots and lots of lists. Welcome 2011! Are you ready for all the hope and anticipations that comes with the new year? I have been tossing around a few new things for 2011 most I'll be sharing with you over the next week, but I thought I'd share a few non blog related goals I have for 2011.
I of course have silly little goals like eating more veggies and getting more sleep, you know that kind of things. However my two big plans for the next year are to become more organized and to be better about celebrating people. From time to time I'll let you know how that's going.
As far as the blog changes for the new year I hope to have an overview up for you tomorrow. So I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to making 2011 the Best Year Ever!
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