elephantine

studio juju

(Found studio juju this morning via Bloesem... love their fun minimalist aesthetic!)

aiguille et fil...

(...has such bold colors & nice details! See more here.)

some favorites...

(...from Kaufmann Mercantile.)

birds of a feather

(Loving these prints by Jason LaFerrera.)

happy weekend

I recently bought a phlox eggling for fun. Fingers are crossed that it will start showing some signs of life soon. (Here's what it might eventually look like!) Hope you have a nice weekend.

dance me to the end of love

(My new favorite flickr photostream, by rosemary.)

the black apple

(It's been a long time since I've visited The Black Apple. I love these new additions.)

a little bit of clay

(I keep running across these clay creations from corduroy... and I want one!)

in the city of roses

How was your weekend? My "bachelorette" weekend in Portland with my maid of honor was very relaxing and yummy. We ate at Cafe Nell (yum: the grilled asparagus rhubarb bruschetta) and The Farm Cafe (yum: the beet carpaccio, as well as the risotto cakes), browsed the farmers market in the rain, spent several hours relaxing at The Dragontree spa, and walked her dog around the neighborhood while catching up.

p.s. some of you asked about the new photo of me in the sidebar. Yes, that's my wedding hair trial! There's a larger version here on Flickr.

(pretty photo by jezico rivera.)

have a great weekend

I'm off to Portland for a spa weekend with my maid of honor! Hope you all have a relaxing weekend.

(Photo by anna koshechkina.)

alice gao...

(...takes such pretty photos! The macaron photo from my paris post is also hers.)

interviewed.

Today I was featured in Etsy's Quit Your Day Job series. If you've ever been curious about running a small business, or are just looking for something to read, here's my interview!

recent faves...

(...from here, here, here, and here.)

some wonderful cards...

(...from Karolin Schnoor's shop.)

our DIY ring pillow

Okay, I lied when I said that wedding posts were done for the week. For those of you who cringe at the sight of these, don't worry, your regularly scheduled programming will return soon....

So. The ring pillow. Why are good ones so hard to find? Almost all of them are frilly and expensive. This is my DIY version. I bought the felt from Felt On The Fly (pure wool felt cuts cleanly and is thicker than regular felt), cut out two 6" squares and sewed some felt leaves on, then added a few tiny translucent seed beads for "sparkle" (these are the same beads I use on the me and you necklaces). The pillow is stuffed with fiberfill, which looks like a hovering cloud in the photo below. Weird, right? It reminds me of one of my favorite movies.

Hope you're having a nice weekend.

oh, pillows...

(You can never have too many, right? Loving these from sarah foote.)

since summer is almost here...

...and you might need some new jewelry to go with those cute outfits, I'm having a sale in my etsy shop now through June 11th. Just use the code "almostsummer" at checkout and get 20% off your order!

black and white and coral...

(...found here, here, here, and here.)

le voyage de noces

Just one more wedding-related post for this week, okay?

As you may have guessed from the title and the gorgeous photos above – which are from here and here – oui, we're going to Paris for our honeymoon!

We'll be there in early October for five days, staying in a rental apartment in Le Marais. We don't have an itinerary yet, and I'm sure it will be hard narrowing the choices down because there are so many things to do. Some things that I have my heart set on: the Louvre. The Eiffel Tower. A Seine River cruise. Notre Dame. Jardin des Tuileries. Sacré Coeur. And, of course, lots and lots of macarons and baguettes and café au lait.

Have you ever been to Paris? Do you have any favorite pâtisseries or hidden gardens?

our DIY cake toppers

Last night I finished painting these mini versions of us for the top of our wedding cake. We aren't having a traditional cake – it's going to be small, because there will be a selection of other desserts, too – and originally I was just going to put a fresh flower on top and leave it at that. But then I saw these and these and was suddenly dying to make my own.

It took forever, but it was fun. I haven't painted anything in a really long time. If you want to make some for yourself (or as an awesome gift for someone), here's what you need:

Supplies:
- blank wooden couple from wunderkind
- 1/2" mushroom button from s is for supplies (for the bun, but you have to saw off the bottom)
- super glue (for attaching the bun)
- acrylic paint
- various small generic art bushes

Tips & Tricks:
- sketch all the lines on first with pencil, paint over them, then erase any leftover lines after the paint dries
- paint in layers – for instance, I painted stefan's white shirt first, then the tie over it later
- you don't need every paint color in existence – learn how to mix shades to make new colors
- use the tip of an x-acto knife to scratch away any small mistakes

happy weekend

(Lovely photo by Anne Steele.)

Where did the week go? My apologies for the lack of posts the last few days. I've been busy with lots of things, including figuring out our October honeymoon. I would give you hint, but then it would be completely obvious. I'll share more next week.

party. rinse. repeat.

(I love this idea from ACME Party Box Company: products that can be repurposed after the party's over.)