Art Around the House

Just some art from around our house.

Top : flea market find
Middle: Lucy's art
Bottom: birthday card

Happy weekend, everyone!

More Letterpress

Satsuma Press

Pistachio Press

Here are some more nice letterpress stationary shops on Etsy. I bought 2008 calendars from both Lynn and Rachael this year, and they are lovely. Both shops have blogs and websites too, so do check them out!

Satsuma Press is here, here, and here.
Pistachio Press is here, here and here.

Thimble Summer

Don’t you love these simple illustrations in Elizabeth Enright’s book Thimble Summer? The story is just as charming as the pictures are. I’ve had this book since I was a kid, although I can’t remember where it came from. So, I was very excited to find these lovely letterpress items on Etsy. I really love all the things in papered together's shop!

For more beautiful black and white illustrations, visit Esti here.
And another nice blog, this time from Marie in Denmark, here.

Happy Birthday Lucy

My daughter Lucy is eight years old today! Happy birthday Lucy! You are such a joy to me!

Third photo down: collage by Lucy.

Also, two nice blogs I recently discovered:
Some beautiful photography here at Stardust Tales
Some fun links to fashion and design here at My Inspirations

Okay, I'm off to make the birthday girl some breakfast before school.

Lovely Leeks

Gourmet magazine arrived on Saturday, just as I was in need of some major cooking inspiration. Luckily, the March issue features French bistro cooking and has provided me with enough great recipes to get me through this week at least. Almost all of the recipes I chose to cook for this week call for leeks. Right after I graduated from college, I took off for England and France with my bike. I flew into London, rode down to the coast and took the overnight ferry to Dinard, on the coast of Brittany. I arrived early in the morning and began riding away from the city and into the countryside. The smell of leeks growing in the fields filled the air on that early summer morning in June. To this day whenever I cook leeks, the delicious smell takes me back to that moment on my first morning in France.

Snowy Walk

Last night I went for a walk in the snow, just as it was getting dark. The streets were empty and quiet. It was so peaceful. Happy weekend everyone.

Green

I am longing for the green of springtime. It's still a ways away. Today we are having a snowstorm. I will take some snow pictures today and post them tomorrow. It's actually a very pretty snow. Here are some green things from around my house...the last photo was taken last summer. My daughter and I picked these strawberries and made them into a delicious strawberry jam. The half eaten doughnut is a cider doughnut...my favorite kind, which must come from Russell Orchards in Ipswich, MA and still be warm when you eat it.

Satomi Ichikawa

Satomi Ichikawa is one of my favorite children's book illustrators. Although she is from Japan, she often uses the British and French countryside as the setting for her books. The top photo is from Nora's Castle, the bottom photo is from Nora's Stars. My children never tire of looking at these beautiful pictures and neither do I!

Wishing

Wishing I had bought this dress when it was available. It's from an old Anthropologie catalog, Spring 2006. I love the simplicity of it.
Here's my favorite image from the new Toast catalog. Both dress and earrings are lovely. I also love these items from Otchipotchi, found over here. And one more new discovery, Impulse. Lots of beautiful minimalistic clothes.

Back Home

Home again after a trip out to Minneapolis to visit family. We had a great weekend, and now it's nice to be back home again too. No pictures from our trip...I was too busy relaxing! I'll be back with some links tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I'm going away for a few days with my family. I'll be back on Tuesday. No links today because I have to go pack now for our trip...it's someplace very cold, so we'll be taking lots of layers. Enjoy the weekend!

Flowers

For some reason these old fashioned flowers are inspiring me today. In a perfect world these prints by Camilla Engman would be decorating my walls.

Yellow

Yellow on the street, around my house, and at Sally Scott. Also, my etsy shop is now up. I will be adding more small bags, pillows, and lavender pillows over the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Happy Chinese New Year

I found these on my walk Saturday morning. A dozen of them were scattered across the snowy sidewalk.

Treats from our trip to Chinatown on Sunday for dim sum.
Chinese lantern card. Happy New Year and Happy Monday!

Unexpected

I put my ring on the windowsill while washing dishes yesterday and then looked up to the left at my calendar. Somehow, these two objects made an unexpected composition take place.
Last night my husband and I went out at the last minute to see Cat Power playing at the Orpheum in Boston. It was an amazing concert, and also unexpected.
And lastly, thank you all for leaving me such nice comments here after a month of blogging. Truly an unexpected surprise! Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Feeling Blue

Blue, blue, blue. I love blue. This blue is reminding me of the sky in summer. It cheers me up to find these little spots of blue around the house, especially when the sky outside is grey and filled with rain and snow.

Bits of Red

Here are some bits of red for today. I just realized Valentine's day will be here soon. The teacup illustration is from here.