The Craft Begins

I’m trying to photograph 100 people this year in my “studio”.  Usually ends up being my friends, as they are the easiest to wrangle into the house.  I’ve only got 6 so far so I think I’m really going to have to step up my game here!

I got to thinking about the greater implications of this project, and I realized that it would be an interesting way of visualizing my social network.  I’ll have to think of a creative way to display that.

What kind of projects do you have in the works right now?

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!  It was super nice hearing your comments.  I’m glad that you all like the inspiration boards as much as I like making them.

I picked two winners, because I felt like spreading the love.  One grand prize and one slightly smaller (but no less awesome) prize.  Here are your comment numbers and the winner’s favorite inspiration boards!

I’ll share what the prizes are and how they coordinated with the color board after the winners have received their prizes.  Thanks again for entering!

We had the most beautiful snow the other day.  It’s apparently very rare to get the right circumstances that produce those perfect little crystalline snow flakes, but we had it.  Every snow pile was glittering with light.  It was completely magical – all I wanted to do was frolic around and make snow angels (and this is coming from someone that doesn’t even like the cold)!

(image from UW Digital Collections)

Do you have winter where you live?  What’s your favorite part about winter?

I’ve been on a bit of a Carnival kick lately (I blame lent) and I’m really interested in the costumes and masks of the Venetian Carnival.  They’re so amazingly intricate and baroque, and very over-the-top (unlike in Rio where the tradition seems to be to wear as little as possible). My favorite are the gold masks – there’s something about not being able to see a face, only a stern mask, that’s very creepy.

I tried looking up some information about where this tradition started and what it was supposed to symbolize, but it’s surprisingly hard to find information about this. From the best I can tell, the carnival is a typical lent celebration designed by the wealthy Venetians to show off their money and power.  They would then basically cruise the strip (in this instance, the Piazza San Marco) like a bunch of teenagers and try to impress each other.  The masks came about to hide the identity of the wearer so that the upper and lower classes could mingle without fear of repercussion.

Whatever the purpose, the mask has really taken on a life of its own.  There are hundreds of vendors selling cheap imitations to tourists all over Venice, but I don’t think that it makes the real thing any less special.  I’d love to be able to go and see this in person one day.  What is life without a little pageantry?

Hydrangeas are a great option for a flower that takes up a lot of space and looks good doing it without being too expensive.  They also come in lots of interesting color varieties – I like the sort of dusty-colored gold and rose ones – they look great in a vintage-inspired arrangement.

They look good by themselves or complimenting other flowers in an arrangement.

What’s interesting about hydrangeas is that the color of the blossoms depends on the alkalinity of the soil – it can range from blue to pink in one bush depending on how much aluminum is in the soil!  Maybe only interesting to gardeners but I thought that was pretty cool.

I’ve always wanted to travel to the northern part of the hemisphere to see the northern lights.  It’s probably beyond cold, but I think it would be worth it.

photo by Joshua Strang

photo by Philippe Moussette at Observatoire Mont Cosmos, Quebec, Canada

photo by Jason Stevens

photo by Colin Nowra

image from eurotrash

image from Studiolit

Have you had an opportunity to see the northern lights?  Are they as beautiful in person as they are in these pictures?

I enjoy visiting the National Parks for their natural beauty most of all, but I also really enjoy the type of architecture that is present there, from guard stations to amazing hotels.  After talking to a Park Service employee, I discovered that the architectural type is generally referred to as “parkitecture”.

I love the rustic elegance of these old-fashioned structures.  It really takes you back in time to a simpler era when the National Parks were first becoming very popular.  I also like that the overwhelming goal of these buildings was to blend into both the natural beauty and the cultural history of their surrounds.  I’ve always thought that really good architecture should just look as it was organically raised from the environment surrounding it, and these park buildings are really successful in that.

It’s almost as if some previous civilization had created these buildings and we’ve only happened upon them centuries later, they fit in so well.

There’s a great website detailing more of these structures and a little more history about the architects themselves that can be found here.

first image is by Carol M. Highsmith, all others are from the National Park Service.

Since this is my 100th inspiration board, I thought I would do a little giveaway to celebrate.

Just leave your name, email and a comment as to which inspiration board is your favorite – a winner will be randomly picked, and you will receive a surprise package containing goodies that fit in with your favorite color scheme!  I can’t tell you what will be in the grab bag but I promise it will be good – I’ll try to find/make something that I think you will like.

That’s it!  Contest will end at midnight next Friday, February 26th.  I’ll get in touch with the winner shortly thereafter.  Tell your friends, and good luck!

1.  These earrings from Grace & Dignity walk a delightful line between industrial and handmade.  Aside from the color, which is one of my favorites, I really like the delicate lace feature.

2.  I love just about anything with a peacock feather, so this stylish personalized stationery from Pink Lily Press is definitely on my must-have list.

3.  I really like unusual rings.  There’s something about the size maybe that makes it easy to wear something different.  This ring from Simply Mega is modeled after kelp – how awesome is that?  I really like the organic shape that it creates.

4.  I recently purchased some samples from Mum Mum’s shop and I have to say that I was really impressed by the quality and the color selection of this mineral makeup.

5.  And what could make this collection complete?  Plaid Japanese masking tape from Love Petite Zakka Japan!

If you’re like me and you like great mid-century car ads and super creepy other advertisements, you have to check out Plan59 for perhaps the largest, best curated collections of high quality images out there.

images above are from Plan59.

All throughout high school, I carried a big container of trail mix that I made with me.  The contents varied widely depending on what was in the pantry at any given time but it was a great way to snack because I never really had time for meals.  Finding an appropriate container was always the most difficult part – ziplocs were too flimsy, tupperware too home-ec.  What I would have given to have one of these awesome aluminum snack boxes instead:

Great for lunches or for a DIY doggy bag – no more waste for you!  Find them here.