in the garden

The kids and I went to visit my parents for the week. It rained, it poured, but the first evening we got there was nice enough to hang out in the garden. Here's what my mom is growing this summer. Happy fourth of July if you are here in the USA!

take me to the beach!

I am hoping that at some point it will stop raining here in New England and it will be nice enough to go to the beach or have a picnic. In anticipation, I wanted to offer up a little summer sale in my shop. I have three left of these vintage French ticking tote bags in the blue stripe and three left of the red and blue stripe. They are perfect for packing your beach and picnic neccessities and the stripes give them a jaunty nautical flair. The vintage fabric is sturdy with a lovely soft texture. I'm offering them for 25% off the original price for the month of July, which makes them $58 + shipping. They'll go into my etsy shop today, so if you'd like one, check in there.

My link for today is Dilly Dallas. Dallas Shaw is an artist and designer with a great eye for style. She has an etsy shop which features her original artwork, and also sells the coolest t-shirts! She and I are doing a blog project together this month and she has posted a little interview about me today. I had fun answering her questions. Thanks, Dallas for the wonderful opportunity!

rainy day robot

What to do on the rainy first week out of school? We built a robot! He's made from all recycled things we found around the house and he's held together with tinfoil and duct tape. His name is Bot.

The sun is out today, thankfully. We're going for a bike ride, but first some links for the weekend.

All from Portland! The first four are new to me, the last three I'm sure you read already, but they are so great I can't mention Portland blogs without including them.

Little Byrd Vintage (She also has a great etsy shop too!)

Camp Comfort (Roberta Jane kindly mentioned me here this week too, thank you!)

Urban Weeds (Cool Portland street style)

Design is Mine (Lots of great design ideas here)

Abby try again

Bliss (Traci featured a bag and pillow of mine here on her I heart Mondays feature, thanks, T.!)

Frolic (And Chelsea mentioned me here just this afternoon, I'm so flattered!)

Okay, enjoy the links and have a great weekend!

1830

Yesterday we took the kids to visit Old Sturbridge Village. It's a living history museum set in 1830's New England. The kids were enchanted with it and so was I. There were so many beautiful 19th century details to observe from wallpaper to furniture to kitchenware to clothing. We loved our little trip back in time!

Now that the kids are officially out of school, I won't be able to post as often, but I hope to get to it a few times a week. Won't be much about work, more about adventuring around New England in the summer.

Also, I want to start sharing some great links and blogs I've found in the past few months.

First up: Sofia Barao's lovely blog. Since the beginning of June, every Wednesday Sofia has been posting her "Creative Ones", a post dedicated to a different artist/craftsperson each week. Each "Creative Ones" post features a lovely giveaway too, so do stop over there! And just in case you didn't know, Sofia is an artist who also has a lovely etsy shop featuring her beautiful handmade jewelry.

Happy Monday!

shopping in venice

I got to do a little shopping while in L.A. Imke of Stylemaedchen recommended I go to Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. I took her up on it and discovered a street filled with amazing little shops and restaurants. I was so greatful for this bit of advice and was in heaven when I discovered the Steven Alan shop. I couldn't leave without this Liberty print blouse (thankfully it was on sale). I love how it looks with my little plain white canvas bag.

While walking on Abbot Kinney, I also wandered into Tortoise General Store. Everything they have is imported from Japan: all simple, beautiful, and useful. There was a bag there that I wanted so badly. But since I make them myself, I couldn't justify it in the moment. I'm still thinking about it though.

from east LA

Here's some colorful bits from east LA. The weather was cloudy and cold most of our stay. On the last day, the sun shone. We drove around to some iconic LA places: Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Venice Beach. How different it is from the East Coast! Someday I'd like to go back and explore some more.

soon

Soon it will be summer. We'll leave the city for a bit and be outdoors more. Cooking in this kitchen. Sleeping in this bed. By the end of next week, school will be out and my life will change from having long creative work mornings to spending full days with my children. We have some things planned but are allowing for lots of summer laziness too.

Tomorrow my husband and I head off to LA for a few days to go to his college reunion. I've never been to LA, but I'm taking my camera and will be back next week. Happy weekend all!