Leaving

apartment therapy

I am leaving in the morning for a little vacation.

It is my mom's 35th high school reunion and I am her date. It will be an 8-10 hour drive and we leave in about 8 hours. I have not packed. My laundry is on the bed waiting for my tired hands to fold them, hang them up, decide which of my cottony, heathered loves will be my roadtrip companions...



Which grey shirt do I bring... which do I leave? Over half of my shirts are grey... well, I take that back, the other half are gray (did you see what I did there?)

Well, I am feeling grey, and gray.


gray ruffle top by lirola

I can't decide if I should take the little chitlens with me. Do I leave them? My hubs offered to watch them both so I could get away. My first thought, "ca-CHING!" "oh, how liberating!" He explains, "I would love to experience being a full time stay at home dad by myself for a couple of days". {swoon}

Do I deprive him of that opportunity? (esp since the dishwasher is broken?)


sadie olive photography... awe!

To be fair on both of us, we worked out that I would take the older since he would enjoy seeing the great grandparents, and the younger would stay with hubs. So, while putting the younger down in the crib tonight, I could barely let him go knowing I wouldn't see him awake again until Monday! No!!!!!

Well, I have to pack and then I have to go to sleep, and wake up early and prepare food and such for the drive. How am I to pack when I don't even know if I will be taking a child with me? My husband keeps telling me, sweetly, softly... hintingly... "uh, honey... don't you need to go pack, it's 11:20pm?"

Such a tough decision. I suppose, we shall see in the morning. It will be a parting of many hugs and kisses.


pillows by emily peacock tapestry

See you all on Monday!

One Hour

smile letterpress poster by roll and tumble press

There are many things that can be accomplished in one hour. A massage. A car accident. A chapter in a thrilling novel. A friendship destroying fight. A batch of homemade cookies. A vandal who decides to break your car windows. A mysterious envelope on your doorstep filled with money. A pile of vomit on your freshly cleaned carpets by a dog that sneaked homemade cookies...

paper pompoms by partypoms

But in this hour, I decided to give my bed a makeover. Yesterday, my absolutely stupendeous sister in law came over to my house and helped me organize my room/craftacular disaster of a space. That most definately did not take only one hour... I love my little craft and jewelry and hair businesses on the side, but storing all of the STUFF that goes with them can get a little daunting, and we really needed our room to be a bedroom again.

before

So, in my one hour, I put the little one down for a nap, I spread a posterboard on a blanket with paint for my toddler to occupy him, and I got out my paint. Just plain ole Apple Barrel acrylic craft paint in white. I mixed a little water on it for a nice thin (not watery) consistency that would be thicker than a white wash, but not as thick as a nice layered coat of paint.

after

The headboard paint job was easy, no primer, no sanding (though so some light sanding would be better first). I just cleaned it well and let it dry, then did one light coat, let it dry and then put another light coat on top. I love how it turned out!

The mirror also got a fresh coat of black paint. (Though I need to replace this with something else... I do have a larger mirror I could use or perhaps a portrait? Ideas, anyone?

unsigned vintage portrait via ebay I neeeeed this!

I shopped my house for some pillows to bulk up the bed. Ahhhh so much nicer! I still have lots of plans for this room, but this one little step (and the hours of organizing yesterday) helped the vision become possible.

My Aunt who is an amazing professional seamstress (she has worked on movie sets costuming even), made me all of my glorious pillow slipcovers you see on my bed. She has an Etsy shop of little girls dresses, and all sorts of goodies, so check her out at Twigs.

reversible pinafore top by twigs boutique

Once I am ready for my living room reveal, you will be able to see the other pillows she made for me. Yeah, I can hardly wait!

See more diy projects at A Soft Place to Land's linky party.

Sweet Treats: Blackberry Cake and la tartine Recipes

When we visited my Grandma Smith's home in Georgia as a child, she lived on a bit of land that was surrounded by gorgeous blackberries bushes. We picked them so she could make the best blackberry sweets for us, but we usually ate those huge plum pieces of heaven freshly picked.

I saw this Blackberry Cake Recipe on Living Locurto and I had to share. Blackberries are a staple around our home, so anytime I come across a recipe for them, I can't wait to make it. Visit Living Locurto's site as well for tons of free graphics, recipes and creative ideas.

spiced plum earrings by Jeweled Ambrosia

Black Berry Cake Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
* 1 pinch of cinnamon
* 2 1/4 cups sugar (split)
* 1 cup softened butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 4 eggs at room temperature
* 3 cups self-rising flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons lemon instant pudding mix
* 1 cup of milk

fine art prints by slg designs

Black Berry Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour three round 8-inch cake pans and set aside. (I use baking spray with flour.)
2. Mix 1/4 of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and blackberries in a bowl and set aside.
3. Combine flour, pudding mix and salt in a small mixing bowl.
4. Beat butter or margarine with a mixer at medium speed until it’s whipped and fluffy.
5. Add the remaining sugar (2 cups) and vanilla, beat well.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Add dry flour mixture and milk alternately, beating on low speed after each addition.
8. Place berries in cake pan.
9. Pour batter over the berries and lighting swirl with a spoon.
10. Lightly tap the cake pan on the counter until the batter has spread in the entire pan.
11. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
12. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cake from pans.
13. When cake is completely cool, stack layers and ice the cake with butter cream icing.

blackberyy sage soap by sioxane

Enjoy some blackberry cake! What is your favorite way to eat them? (follow links for yummy ideas) On ice cream, with cream and sugar, in a smoothie, salad, pork chops, jam or freshly picked? If you like yours baked, don't forget to check out the blackberry scone recipe I posted a while back :)

ruffled collar by fancy picnic

I couldn't pass up posting this blackberry sweet below!!

la tartine recipe here

Forever Flowers

I frequent wedding blogs quite often. Once Wed and Vintage Glam are two of my favs. A regular contributor, La La Laurie offers this lovely tutorial on making fabric flowers, specifically bouttonnieres, but I am sure you can do much more than that.






In fact, all of her tutorials are amazing, such as her tree stump pedestal cake stand in detail here on Etsy's Storque with tons of lovely featured picks!



or her bird and flower garland.



You can visit her blog, or even purchase some of her goods in her Etsy Shop!

Oh So Very Vintage Inspired

I truly adore Emily from The Black Apple.



Her artwork is lovely, her wardrobe and fashion sense are stunning, she is adorable (even her little nose and eyeliner skills are perfect), her stories are sweet, her macaroons are glorious (her recipe here) and now we can see that her living room is just as fabulous.



She shared some photos of it a little while back, so I thought I would show them to you here. Oh, those curtains!



I have been looking for a couch like hers for forever! This is an anthro couch... I figured it out from this post here at Life in the Fun Lane!



We had a little cement deer when I was young in our backyard that we would ride. I adored it.



Have you ever seen more glorious vintage pillows?



The quilt + The pillow + The green vase + Red roses = Love.



I can def see myself eating macaroons and sipping marshmallowy hot chocolate in a delicate gold trimmed teacup in that stunning chair.



Lovely, aren't they?

Bustle Shuffle

Welcome to my heart.


zimka

I Love bustles. I don't know if this comes from my love of all things romantic, victorian, edgy, and just a little bit of {wholesome} burlesque, but I love them.


artlab

Maybe it is because I have always loved dressing up and feeling pretty.


elliott elephant

Could be in part to having no fanny and loving that I could have one.


gaia conceptions

Or maybe the thought of it balancing out my little childbearing gut is comforting. Not at all like situps, and sweating for said excersizes.


sisters rose and ruby

Or maybe because what's her name in The King and I didn't care (or know) that the children thought she was fat due to her gigantor skirt (how they missed her teeny waist is beyond me.)


gaudy couture

I think though, it is the tattered lace, the modest disguise of hiding a figure.


bustle

Feeling demure and a little bit saucy at the same time.


stacy leigh atelier

So, I decided to make a very very VERY watered down bustle skirt for everyday wear (and also b/c I love the skirt and was trying to figure out a way to make it fit). Even though I do not machine sew, I did just a quick little stitching while I had foils (color) in my hair. (yes, I do foil my own hair late at night when the kids are sleeping so as not to frighten the sweet little beasts.)



I found this great tiered gyspy skirt (you all know the one) in a gorgeous nude color. It was about 10 sizes too big, but I couldn't pass it up. So, I took it home, gathered 2 folds in the very back and created a single back panel over the tag and pinned it.





Then, I simply hand stitched the waistband across the panel and about 3 inches down the back on each side of the fold.





Truly, it was so easy it took about 15 minutes. Now, I have a skirt that fits with a hint of a bustle on the back, but not too crazy like. You may not be able to even tell that a bustle exists.



But I can. And I like it.



If you try this project, you can get some matching tulle, snip the back panel at the top and insert pieces of tulle and lace into your slits in a descending fashion, all bustle like to really poof it out. (Just follow the inspirations of the gorgeous bustle pics I showed above!) I am actually considering doing this to my skirt, or maybe trying it on another one. I have no shame to walk into a grocery store with flip-fops, fitted tshirt and maxxed out bustle skirt.

What do you think, do I dare?