Category Archives: Inspiration

Inspiration

17 Friday May 2013

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Instagrams from our week:

*Robin Shells in the Back Yard

*Back Yard Kites

*Perfect Mother’s Day Breakfast: Dough Doughnuts, Cut Flowers (which Ada and Chris wake up early and sneak out of the house for and then let me arrange myself),  and The Times (which I am still not done reading but will finish before the end of the week)

*Ada’s Class Turtle at the Art Show

*Wisteria from the Back Yard

*Mother’s Day Flowers

*Jadite at Moon River Chattel (which I resisted)

*Strange White Pigeon on the Sidewalk

*Bunk Beds!  (Finally arrived after several delivery attempts and are now in the middle of the room, waiting for us to move the bookshelf.  And we got them way on sale)

Have a great weekend!!

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Rainy Day

08 Wednesday May 2013

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When I was pregnant with Ada five(!) years ago I worked as a shoe designer.  In an office.  I had air conditioning and sweet coworkers who would bring me snacks when I was hungry, (which was all of the time).  I sat at a desk most of the day and noticed every little kick and movement the baby made.  I don’t think I realized how spoiled I was at the time.  Being pregnant with two other children is a whole different animal.  I rarely sit still in my day, there is hardly ever a period of quiet in the house and I am generally too busy to pay much attention to this pregnancy.  This baby does seems to love bedtime stories and moves all around as we lie in bed and read to the girls.  Our evening routine is one of the rare times I notice the baby moving.  When I was on maternity leave before Ada was born, I spent hours knitting sweaters for her and wondering who this little person in my belly would be.  (Everyone I walked by on the street liked to spontaneously share that my huge belly most certainly contained a boy).  Today is a rainy day in Brooklyn.  A rare day in which we don’t have too much too do outside and the dampness has negated any yard work we had planned. The rain tapping on the roof is making Josie look a bit drowsy.  I am hoping for a long nap from her.   And maybe, just maybe an hour or two of quiet knitting and thinking about who this next baby will be.

Inspiration

03 Friday May 2013

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Happy Friday Everyone!
Here are some Instagrams from our week:

*Manly Narcissus from Our Garden

*Cherry Blossoms from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

*Back Yard

*Josie, Asleep on Her Books

*Back on the Ground at JFK

*The Kids, Watching Fish at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Have a wonderful weekend!

Inspiration

19 Friday Apr 2013

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It has been a few weeks since I posted our Instagrams.  We have had two weeks full of house projects, kindergarten tours and lawn preparations.  I am quite happy it is friday and we are all looking forward to a slow and unscheduled weekend.  Here are some Instagrams from the last few weeks:

*Ada’s Wikki Stix Flower

*Josie and Yard Toys

*Our New Sod!

*Josie’s Nesting Dolls Which She Lined Up Behind the Office Door (Thanks Aunt Anna!)

*The Aftermath of the Apple Surprise Balls

*Sleepy Josie

Have a wonderful weekend!

Found Flowers

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

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This is what Ada and Josie found at Home Depot.  I hate going to Home Depot.  I immediately turn into a zombie under the warehouse lights and can never find what I came in for in a timely manner.  We went only to the outdoor garden section this weekend to find some seeds and plants for our ‘window box’ (aka air conditioner guard).  The girls ran around gathering fallen flower heads from under the displays.  Ada cannot come home from Home Depot without pockets full of stray nails, screws, pieces of wire.  Her trash treasure collecting annoys me most of the time – especially after I wash her jacket and realize that it contained piles of dry leaves.  When we got home she and Josie handed over the pile of flowers they had collected and asked that I put them in a bowl.  It looks lovely on the table, this magpies’ pile…I should remember that this love of found things is in their blood.

DIY Apple Surprise Ball

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

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I love surprise balls!  There is something magical about the simultaneous combination of unwrapping and disappearing and discovering.  Last week I wrote about some beautiful and inspiring surprise balls made by paper artist Anandamayi Arnold.  I had fun making this surprise ball for Ada’s Easter basket last year, but really wanted to make the initial package more beautiful this year.  I decided on an apple shape, complete with apple blossom, leaves, stem and bud.  (Yes, I know this does not occur in nature).  Ada’s apple is red and Josie’s will be green.  My finished apple does not come close the the amazing fruits by Anandamayi Arnold, but I was happy with the results.  I followed directions to make leaves and blossoms from this vintage book of crepe paper flowers.  (My mother-in-law gave me the 1922 version and it is one of my prized possessions).  To make your own Apple Surprise Ball, follow the directions from our Easter Egg Surprise Ball here.  I used washi tape to attach layers of crepe streamers this year.  Try to make your wrapping more of an apple shape as you go, and finish with a red streamer.  Follow directions for blossoms and leaves in the above book, or cut out your own shapes from crepe paper.  Glue on stem and wrap with red streamers to finish.  I filled the apple balls with the following inexpensive toys for the girls:

*Marble Pouch (I stitched this up from our box of fabric scraps.  I will post directions soon)

*Pom-Pom Bobby Pins by the Belle Company, Brooklyn ($4 for 2 at My Brooklyn Baby)

*Beaded Necklace Kits (I made these up from thrift store pony beads and vintage sequins inside plastic pouches.  Under $.50 each)

*Basil Seeds (Free packet came our Myers Clean Day Dish Soap)

*Wooden Bird Whistle ($2 from My Brooklyn Baby)

*Sunmaid Raisin Box

*Marbles (50 for $.99 at the dollar store- These are more fun to unwrap if you open the package and cover one marble at a time with crepe paper)

*Garden Tattoos ($5 for 12 at My Brooklyn Baby)

*Wikki Stix ($.99 for package at Party City)

Have fun wrapping and Happy Spring!

Gram’s DIY Scrapbooks

21 Thursday Mar 2013

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My Great-Grandmother made these amazingly obsessive scrapbooks for us when we were kids.  She cut each image out of newspaper and constructed the pages from more newspaper sheets.  There were six great-granddaughters in our family and she made a thick volume for each of us.  I worked with Woodside Press in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to construct an archival box for our book.  My Gram lived through the Depression as a widow with three children, yet she was the most loving and giving person I knew.  She could not pass a yard sale without bringing home treasure, (I think that is genetic).  She would give away anything she owned if someone admired it.  Gram used to save string from her teabags and egg boxes for our chicken eggs.  Here is her wool blanket – (one of my favorite things).  I wrote about my own scrap books here last week.  When I get a free minute to do them, my paintings are collage – no doubt from her influence.  I strive to find beauty in the humble and to appreciate the simple joy in daily life.   I hope to teach my children to be thankful for their good fortune.  But I don’t think I can compare to Gram.

Inspiration

15 Friday Mar 2013

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Instagrams From the Week:

*Sliding Down the Giant Slide at Pier Six

*Family in Josie’s Doll House  (She just re-discovered it this week and has been putting babies to sleep and making everyone visit the potty)

*Fridge Art and Alphabet Magnets

*Josie Loves Daddy (She is pretending to play guitar on the TV remote)

*Giraffes, Bronx Zoo (The strange sky painted behind them made them look like they were in a museum, until they moved)

*Josie Arranging Fabric Spots on the Bed (These are from my scrap fabric box and by far a favorite plaything)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Inspiration

09 Saturday Mar 2013

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Instagrams From the Week:

*Sisters at Breakfast, Bedford Hills

*Ada’s Illustration of How to Do One Braid Instead of Two

*Shrinking Balloon

*Water Glass

*Monster in the Bed

*Happy Plants and Yard Progress

*Have a great weekend!

DIY Inspiration Books

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

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I love Pinterest.  It is a guilty pleasure of mine that I admittedly don’t have enough time for.  (Here are my sparse Pinterest boards).  As much as I love the online version, I cannot let go of good old-fashioned magazine tears.  I love the tactile quality of ripping out pages and I love cutting out and collaging the images together.  I collect photos from the pages of Martha Stewart Living, Country Living, Anthropologie catalogs, Domino, Blue Print, Martha Stewart Weddings, etc. etc and paste them into large blank sketch journals.   I think my idea for these books came from the amazingly obsessive collections made by my great-grandmother.  (I will post on Gram’s books soon).  I have used the images from my books as inspiration boards when I worked in fashion, as reminders of how I want our home to look when going out to a flea market,  and as idea pages for styling work.  But most of the time I just enjoy flipping through the pictures and getting inspired.

*Sorry for my lack of image credits above.  Unlike with Pinterest, I don’t keep my sources credited in my books.  I will be happy to credit any images if you drop me an email!*

Happy collecting!