Inspiration Friday: Forgive

the red quilt

These pictures are going up at the request of my Aunt Sue. :) I just finished making this quilt for our living room. I had some sheets from Laura Ashley which I loved, but they were starting to get worn, so I re-used them! I cut out big squares, bought a red sheet from Target for the backing, and used red binding to finish it off....simple and really warm! I think I'll enjoy the sheets even more as a quilt.

Inspiration Friday: Kathleen Kelly's apartment

Don't you just love You've Got Mail? One thing I love about it is that it has great scenes from each season...
Fall? watch it for the line about school supplies....
Winter? Of course I want to see Greg Kinnear sing "the horn...the horn...it sounds so forlorn."
and it would be a shame to miss New York in the Spring...

And of course I could watch it countless times just to see Kathleen Kelly's apartment. Just a few things I love about it:

• books everywhere- on bookshelves, in baskets, stacked on the table...
  
• quilts and floral patterns
• pictures hung in obscure places

• 

• anything is better with Tom Hanks! and daisies.
• a comfortable couch: hard to beat.
  

• It actually looks like someone lives there, which is refreshing.
  

• There are lots of old-fashioned things (ie. floral prints and framed family photos)- but it doesn't look out-dated.
  

• Her apartment is rearranged throughout the movie...even the bed linens change. Gotta love that Nora Ephron.
  

• Lots of plants and fresh flowers
• Sunny windows and sheer curtains
  

• Interesting furniture placement: the bed comes out diagonally from the wall, the desk is in the middle of the room, and she has two couches- on opposite ends of the apartment. Kind of helpful ideas for decorating a small or oddly shaped apartment.
  

• Notice the framed doily. Awesome.
  

I was watching this movie with my sister once, and I said "bah! I just want our apartment to look exactly like that!" She paused the movie and said: "Look around."
Comfortable couch, floral fabric, sheer curtains, books everywhere...the same wall colour. I think I've succeeded in my goal.

Come to think of it, it's almost Christmas, and there's that scene with Meg Ryan decorating her Christmas tree and listening to Joni Mitchell and I haven't watched You've Got Mail in...a month or two....

*Picture credits: I found these photos on a great screenshot website, then promptly lost the url. I'll come back and update when I find it again!

a Christmasy house tour...part two

a tiny Christmas tree for our tiny apartment

The W.C.

snowmen...uh oh...another Martha Stewart project.
Made from styrofoam balls and crystal glitter.

Decorated candles for the bathroom.
Can you tell I am in the crafty mood this year?

Even our toothbrushes are festive.

We have had these little Christmas lights as long as I can remember.
They go somewhere different each year...one of my favorite decorations!

because if you can't use window clings at Christmas,
when can you?

The Living Room

a corn husk nativity from Prague.

Christmas movies!

My grandparents bought this Menorah in Israel.
Happy Hanukkah, Monica...

My new favorite corner of the house.

A Christmas collage.

I bought this nativity years ago in Ecuador.
It's been in storage in Seattle since then...
so fun to finally put it out.
Definitely one of my 'new' favorite decorations.

a Christmasy house tour...part one

I know it's four days till Christmas, but I just can't help myself...my sister and I had so much fun decorating this year. Ready for a tour?

The Kitchen

Truffles, wine and snowmen

a Christmas tree cookie jar:
a post-graduation present from my lovely friend Kate

The Christmas chalkboard

we found the perfect spot for all the very little decorations.

mistletoe, of course

I made these ornaments years ago from a Martha Stewart magazine;
now they hang on the twinkle lights- because glitter is okay at Christmas,
so you might as well go for it.

cookie cutters and flowers and lots of candles

a Starbucks snowglobe for the coffee corner.
Although it rarely snows in Seattle. So- inaccurate, but festive.

My Bedroom

Pipe cleaner snowflakes. Also made years ago from a Martha Stewart pattern.
They end up in a different place in the house each year.

A Christmas garland made while watching a Hallmark movie.
Does it get more festive?

I cut out red and green paper and old sheet music
using a hole punch I got from my Grandma...a fun project.

A Fontanini nativity set...one of the many things I forgot I had in storage!

The picture in the silver frame is of my mom and my uncle
years ago during a Christmas in Vietnam.

Stay tuned for part two...

the shop around the corner...

Come visit my newly-opened Etsy shop! So far I have a few original collages and greeting cards for sale. Coming soon...greeting card sets and prints!

Inspiration Friday: Home Depot

While shopping with my mom and sister this summer, I came across these planting pots. You wouldn't think there would be much inspiration at Home Depot...but just look at those colours.

I'm starting to think inspiration can be found everywhere. So I'm collecting things that inspire me, and will be blogging about it here every Friday. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the next Inspiration Friday: Kathleen Kelly's apartment...

Which one?

After years (really, years) of talking about selling my collages, I am finally about to open up an etsy shop! I've decorated every room in my apartment with collages, made and given them as presents, shoved extras under my bed, and stored them in the basement...and I keep making more!

So I spent most of Tuesday pulling them out, sorting, finishing unfinished collages, and getting lots of new ideas.


Now comes the hard part: which ones am I willing to part with?

If all goes according to plan, I should have a few originals, prints, and greeting cards up in my store by the end of the week, so stay tuned for more...