The Craft Begins

The holidays are a great excuse to dress up your house, if even for a short while.  No other event throughout the year calls for such fun in staging decorations.  For me, fairy lights are the best part!  I look for any excuse to put them up.  Growing up the Christmas decorations always came out on November 2nd so I got a little overwhelmed with Santas.  Now, I like to decorate in a bit more laid-back and less obviously Christmasy way.  However, that won’t stop me from adding a little bit of sparkle!

Mercury glass and pine boughs are a festive way to decorate for a decidedly secular holiday season.  And you can keep them up for a while after your holiday celebrations have ceased.  I like the little bit of shine without being too over the top.  It’s like a winter wonderland, only indoors!

My mom does one decoration that she’s really known for (in addition to all the rest of her wonderful holiday decorations) and that is her Christmas trunk.

It’s a beautiful old steamer trunk that she fills with baubles and lights.  For me, the holiday season could be wrapped up in this little package.  I could imagine just living in this glass house covered with sparkles and dainty little lights.  You’d step outside your door into a forest of pine branches.  Oh, what a life!

What do you usually do for holiday decorations?

I love the look of this renovated San Francisco apartment.  The architectural details, the eclectic decor, and the simple color palette make this a winner in my book.

To see more pictures, click here.

I might be a little bit biased about this one since I had them at my wedding, but I’ve used them at almost every event I’ve done since so I think that it’s ok.  What I like about spider mums is their gorgeous shape.  They add a bit of organic thrill to whatever arrangement they are placed with, their wild petals striking out in all directions.  I believe that they are a member of the chrysanthemum family, and you can really tell by looking at them.

They are also fairly inexpensive, and super hardy.  That means that they are a great flower for DIYers and that arrangements can be made several days ahead of time and be no worse for wear.  They look great clustered together and also in mixed bouquets.   I find that I often gravitate towards the green ones since they are one of the rare flowers that actually look good in green, but they come in a variety of colors like white, yellow, purple and pink.

I know that it’s still in the cold clutches of winter for a lot of you out there, and I don’t mean to rub it in, but it’s been in the high 80′s here all week.  My poor cold-climate conditioned body has no idea what to do!  However, it does mean that flowers bloom early here and it’s time for me to start thinking about flowers.  Well, not really, because I don’t have a garden, but a girl can dream, right?

My gardens usually consist of some pots outside on the patio, and the other day I stopped by the nursery to see what I could find that would do well in a container.  I found a see of ranunculus!  They are one of my favorite flowers, and I had no idea that they would be so easy to find.  I bought one plant as a test, and it has shot up 10 buds in the last week!  Which is amazing.

Please excuse the terrible picture, but this is a bouquet I made for a friend’s wedding last fall.  She had chosen white spider mums, orange tulips, yellow snapdragons, red-orange alstromeria and white roses for the rest of the bouquets and arrangements, but also picked a bunch of orange ranunculus for herself and the groom’s flowers.  They were a delight to work with, with their huge heads of petals and bright color (and they have a cool striped stem as well).  I can’t get over them – I’m going to go and buy a bunch more plants at the store today so I’ll have lovely cut flowers all year.

Here’s some pictures of ranunculus to get you inspired!

If anyone happens to live in Brooklyn, I highly suggest visiting the incredibly talented Sarah at Saipua.  She always has tremendous, unusual and beautiful floral designs.  (that’s one of hers above)

1.  My first favorite of the day has to be crystalindumentaria.  Another Etsy seller from Buenos Aires (Argentina seems to be coming into its own on Etsy) she sells some very cool clothing.  Very figure concious.  To me, there’s nothing better than an interesting white shirt, and I think this one fits the bill.  A nice shape, a great neckline/collar and the ability to mold it to fit your body – what could be nicer?

2.  Next is Champignons – I’m sure you’ve seen her work all over the place but I just can’t get over it.  Aside from the awesome name, she has great whimsical and slightly victorian items.  This piece is like an early movie – if you spin it around fast enough, you find that the bird will actually find itself inside of the cage!  I’ve seen this done in movies but never in real life.  Many more treasures about in her Etsy shop!

3.  It’s not often that I want to buy everything in a shop, but I do when it comes to Hisss.  There is no shortage of excellent illustrators on Etsy but her style speaks just to what I like – historical figures and animals, all with a slight visual pun.  I love this illustration – called “polar opposites”.  She has a photography site as well that’s worth checking out.

4.  Last is argonzales.  Her shop is filled with things for “manly men and girly girls”.  She has a great color palette and lots of little delicate items that are just interesting and strong enough to walk the line between feminine and awesome.  Ever since I took a silversmithing class years ago I’ve been obsessed with stacking rings and she has plenty of sets to choose from.

Thanks to all these wonderful creative folks for their amazing talents and energies!  I look forward to seeing what is to come from them.