PATIOS

Summer seems to have arrived here in Northern California, thank goodness!  There is nothing I love more than outdoor dining.  That said, below you'll find some inspiration to make your meals go from indoors to out! 

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3



Option 4

Warm weather, great friends, cold white wine, and delicious food.........it's what summer is about.

- Tina

GOOSENECK LAMPS

As some of you may remember, I gave an old desk a new life in my home with some TLC, spray paint, and new hardware back in April.  Now I have been looking for a lamp for the desk, and recently have been on the hunt for a gooseneck option that will fit into our home, which is a mix of antique, industrial and modern (random, right?). 

Ruiz Antiques had a cute option with the base I like (did they put their pens there?), but it was already sold.

Napa Style, which really can never go wrong, has an outdoor option that would actually fit nicely in our home if I was willing to wall mount it.

And then there is always Etsy, where I found two of my favorites.  The first is from EarthSea Warrior, and I love the lamp itself, but would have to replace the orange cord.

The other option on Etsy is from orangedoorcottage, and has a great number stamp detail that caught my eye.

If you see any goosenecks I just need to have, please let me know!
-Katie

OXFORD SHOE LOVE

Ever since my trip to Paris, I have been on the hunt for cute oxfords.  They were everywhere, and look adorable with a sundress.  Here are a few options so you also get the oxford shoe love bug!

DSW has these in both grey and black, but for summer I prefer the grey.

Ruche has a cute two-toned brown pair for those who like a little twist to a classic.

These sweet crochet pattern oxfords from Urban Outfitters are great for a hot summer day with an adorable sundress from ModCloth.

Need a heel?  I love this cut out with peep toe option from J.Crew.

-Katie

Summer Succulents

I’m a busy girl with a red brick, full sun patio that just cooks plants.  So I need something hardy that can stand up to the heat and doesn’t require much water.  Succulents seem to be able to handle my neglect and the patio space.  Here’s a tour of what I’m growing…

Sempervivum -- I think this is also called ‘hen and chicks’ because it sprouts a bunch of babies from the main plant.

Mesa Verde –This is a trailing plant and it is draping itself very romantically over the edges of my planter boxes and cascading nicely to the ground.

Erythraeum –I’ve got this growing in a couple of Mexican terra cotta pots.  The terra cotta is a nice contrast to the soft blue-green of the leaves.

Calcareum –The geometric shape of the leaves  is highlighted by the deep purple color of the leaves’ edges.

Sedum Rubrotinctum –I just love that these are known as ‘jelly beans’.

Happy Planting!  Hope your summer is off to a sunny start.

Love,

Lauren

More Canvas and Leather Bags

If you saw my post from a while back, you know that I have a thing for canvas and leather bags.  Recently, I came across two more. 


The Original Flea Bag
Refinery 29 has a current reserve for the Original Flea Bag. You can choose from paying $50 for $105 or $150 for a $305 value.  I love the Kelly green logo on the white canvas and all the leather accents.  There are several variations to choose from.

 

Wood and Faulk

I found Wood and Faulk through Design Sponge.  I love the leatherwork in their handcrafted products.  They have a bag that is similar to the Heritage Leather Company mason bag I posted.  

I also love the look of their natural leather belts.  

-Lana

Star Wars Party Day

I promise that this is my last post about the Star Wars Party!

My main focus for the party was to make sure that the children would be entertained.  My featured entertainment was a Death Star Pinata.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take a picture of the finished product so I will have to update this post once I get the picture from a partygoer.(UPDATED - Scroll down to see photo.)

I used a punch balloon and layered the paper mache over it. The pinata looks a little deformed because I left it out overnight and a bird or other nocturnal creature attacked it and popped the balloon.  I had to then patch it up (see wet patch below).

My husband spray painted the entire pinata a light grey color and then he used pinstriping masking tape (used for car detailing) and some of my Japanese washi tape to mask off the areas that were supposed to stay grey.  

He then sprayed painted the entire pinata black.  He even cut out a circle for the Superlaser Cannon Well, inverted it, and epoxied it back on.  

In total, I think I had 5 layers of paper.  I thought for sure it would be cracked within 6 hits since it felt less substantial than a store-bought pinata, but I was wrong.  All the children had at least 4 attempts at hitting the pinata.  It was good fun!


At the party, I had one picnic table dedicated to items that the children could play or craft with.  I bought bubble wands that essentially looked like light sabers and punch balloons (thanks Tina!).  Between those two items, the children were entertained for about an hour or more.  I had also set out crafts (one was a blank Yoda head that the kids could paint and decorate and the other was DIY Star Wars masks downloaded from StarWars.com that they could cut out), but none of the children had a chance to make them.  

I had also planned for the children to decorate cookies, but I wasn't able to make the royal icing.  Instead, they had plain Star Wars cookies.  The cookie cutters are from Williams Sonoma (see here and here).

-Lana

Party Favors - Star Wars Theme

Yesterday I posted about the drawstring backpacks that I made.  As promised, here are the pictures of all the goodies that went inside.


I had decided early on that black, white and yellow would be the theme colors.  I used Avery labels and using Microsoft Word, I created text boxes with grey diagonal lines.  I then layered a black-filled text box over it and used the Star Jedi font from dafont for the text in a bright yellow color.


StarWars.com (the offical Star Wars fan site) has some great printables and craft ideas.  In the kids craft section are downloads of vintage (Episode V) and current (The Clone Wars) coloring pages.  They are Letter-size (8.5" x 11"), so I miniaturized them into a booklet (5.5" x 8.5").  For these coloring books, I added a white cardstock cover and called it a "Jedi Training Manual" with the date of the party as the version.  I didn't have a stapler, so I bound the book by using a 1/16" hole punch and B&W bakers twine.  I was very happy with the outcome.  I personalized each book with a label (Jedi CHILD'S NAME).

I wrapped small boxes of crayon in grey diagonal striped paper and pasted a Yoda or Darth cartoon character onto it.  These cartoons are cropped from free book covers on StarWars.com.

The coloring book and crayons were packaged together in a cellophane bag.


I love the look of glassine bags, so I used it as much as possible.  I repackaged some organic fruit snacks from Costco in them.  I labeled them "Chewies" as a nod to Chewbacca.

I made a great find in a post-Easter sale at Target.  I was beyond excited when I came across this AT-ST Lego (shown here assembled with an envelope for the party invite).  

All the boys over age 3 received one of these.  I packaged it in a glassine bag and labeled it with "Use the Force."  It is sealed in the back with a circular label.

The girls all received Silly Bandz packaged similarly to the AT-ST, but I added B&W twine around the bag and affixed the label "Princess Jewelry" over the twine to keep the bag closed.

It was a lot of work, but I had fun assembling all of these goodies!

-Lana

Party Favors - Drawstring Backpacks

So a few posts ago, I mentioned that I was deep in party-planning mode.  The party is now over and I finally had a chance to download all of my pictures.  


The first item I wanted to share with you is the backpack that my Mom and I made for all the kids (thanks Mom!).  We stayed up late two nights in a row to get them done (16 in all).  A while back, I found this backpack tutorial on Prudent Baby via Pinterest.  The instructions and pictures for the backpack were very easy to follow.  Since the party was Star Wars themed, I bought black fabric from JoAnn Fabrics and black ribbon from Michaels Arts and Crafts.  


To liven up all of the black, we used yellow accent thread for the boys and pink for the girls to sew up the top of the bag holding the drawstring.  I also personalized the bags with iron-on transfers, again yellow for the boys and pink for the girls.  I created the graphics for the iron-ons on Microsoft Word using text boxes. The background for each is simply a text box filled with diagonal stripes in yellow or pink.  Then I layered each child's initial in Star Jedi, a Star Wars-like font, that I downloaded from dafont.  Here is the finished project. 


Girls backpacks: 

Girls backpack closeup:

Boys backpacks:

Boys backpack closeup:

The size of the backpacks were a little smaller that I had hoped, but they are perfect for 2-4 year olds.  The kids were eager to put on their bags and dip into the goodies inside.

The ladies from Prudent Baby have several projects that I can't wait to make.  I love their fabric choices too which are primarily from Fabricworm.  Prudent Baby has "Fabric Fridays" where they have a fabric giveaway.  A different fabric is featured each week.

Tomorrow I will post the items that I filled the backpacks with (and hopefully upload some of the graphics so you can print them out too).

-Lana

VINTAGE CLOTHES AND ACCESSORIES ON THE CHEAP

A few weeks back my girlfriend sent me an email stating she found a site that has Anthropologie looking clothes and accessories for much less.  I was skeptical but clicked the link anyhow.  Goodness!  She was right!  I am now in love with Ruche.   Be sure the check out their shoes and dresses. My faves are pictured below.  Now I just need warm weather!

- Tina

Fun fireplace project

I saw this a bit ago and fell in love.  Super easy and pretty inexpensive to do.  I don't recall which blog I found the project on but it was featured on an HGTV program.  Click the link and you can find the instructions.  The pic isn't the best but you get the idea.

I will be taking this project on at my own home with my own tweaks, so stay tuned! 

-Tina

Keep Calm.........It's Friday!

I am sure many of you have seen the Keep Calm and Carry On posters.  The story of the poster, if you don't know, the poster was used for propaganda in Britain at the beginning of WWII.  It was used to keep morale up and hint at keeping life as normal as possible.  Copyright laws for the poster lasted for 50 years so now the poster is public domain.  Since the rediscovery of the poster back in 2000 there have been many reprints and many variations which are quite funny.  Below are some of my faves.

The original rediscovered in Barter Books

perfect for the DIY'er

not your average bagged lunch

Tea time!

and for the knitter

- Tina