emiliana torrini: "sunny road"

Such a soothing voice ... and the video is unusual. I like it.

toy joy!

This is eye-poppin' fun: a polka dotted mama duck + babies music box. How delovely is THIS?!!! Seen at John Lewis.

This makes me want to a) have a baby, b) open a shop or c) both. I have neither, but a gal's entitled to her dreams, right?

Flights of fancy

Found on graphics fairy, a vintage German postcard. The rose garlands I love, and the pale pink/white trim makes me think of Jasperware. Which I also love.

Turkish Fancy Geometric Circle

at embroidery library inc.

freebie joy: Helen Dirdek

This is just wunnerful! Downloadable bookplates from designer/illustrator Helen Dardik at Orange You Lucky!

Neat-O!

wistful world: Camilla Ashforth

Watercolors by contemporary children's book author/illustrator Camilla Ashforth:

charmed, I'm sure

Tamar at nest pretty things makes these charm necklaces, among many other things. To me, they are absolutely perfect. Nothing to add or take away ... just so right!

Her blog is delovely and delicious, too.

(sigh).

I won!

I've adopted this little guy from ebay. I've got the perfect place for him in my home. He is welcome here with his little "lederhosen" and jaunty green cap.

etsy joy: madeinlowell

From the hand of designer/artisan and all around crafty Lowellian Liz Smith (howdy neighbor!) come these gorgeous goodies. Visit her etsy shop to feast your eyes on more, and don't say I didn't tell you so!

Ooh la la!

Found via housemartin, these Officially Adorable "Monsieur Boudin" greeting cards by Lab Partners are the absolute best. Love at first sight, I was a goner from the get-go!

More of this wonderfulness at their flickr page.

booklust: Carleton Varney

From designer Carleton Varney. Check out those CoLoRs!



I'm very partial to yellow (second only to pink), and in recent years blue has grown on me. Four years of Catholic high school wearing nothing but blue put me off it for a couple of decades, but there are so many different kinds of blue. One of my best friends is over the moon for blues, and perhaps it's rubbing off!

The cover sings "tropical" to me. Those blues: the ocean, the tides, the rippling surface dancing in the sun. That yellow: fruits ripening, mangoes and juicy pineapples, bright bananas. The riot of flowers, fragrant, heady and undulating in the warm breezes.

The insides? I've had a few peeks on-line, but if the local library has it I'm getting in line!

bloghappy: EpiCute

I am amazed at the variety of ways that The Cute makes its way into the world. The EpiCute blog is chock full of photos of treats almost too sweet to eat. Almost!

photo: Kellbakes

photo: Ken's Oven

Y-U-M! Thanks bunches for the blog happiness!

Sweet Eye Sweets

Jenn at Eye Candy Creations continues to delight and amaze, in her exuberantly girly style. (You go, Jenn!) I love visiting her page. It resets my spirit, somehow. I can relax when I am there ...

She is a collector of many things, including these types of vintage planters:



Oohh, isn't that somethin'? And a creator of goodies like this one:

I must admit that the bumper sticker is a hit with me, and I'll be ordering it post haste from her zazzle store! I don't have a car, but it'll do just as well on my refrigerator. (Hmmm, can I get this as a magnet?) Jenn's world is thankfully not an undiscovered one. Her home has been featured in magazines, and will be in a future issue of Cottage Style. A crew came to her house recently to shoot her daughter's girly-heaven nursery, and scenes like this came out of what looks to be a fruitful visit.

This one charms my socks off! I bashfully admit that I enjoy being a girl ;-).

Tulipomania

Some days I spend too much time on ebay.

There, I said it. My name is Laurie and I'm an off-and-on ebay window shopping addict. Which is an improvement, as in my time I've done a lot of actual shopping there, not just the "window" kind.

Latest obsession?



Anchor Hocking's Fire King Tulip items. Rare and coveted. This pair is actually very unusual, with no rust or signs of wear. I mean really ... how cute are these?

I've also had my eye on vintage McKee Tipp milk glass items w/Scotty detail, like these:

I can't justify spending $50 on them, but if I ever win the lottery ... score!

Putting the WOW in bow-wow!

I don't have a dog, but everytime I see one I think "well, it's actually mine and this nice person is just taking care of it for me". (Oh, the little fibs we tell ourselves!)

That is how much I love dogs, and therefore must deal with the fact that I don't currently have one. Mostly because my cat wouldn't tolerate it, and at almost 15 she is pretty much the boss in these, and most other, matters.

If -- no, when -- I finally have that dog of my own, I will be shopping at willowsboutique.com for collars and leashes. Check out some of their way CoOL items:



So pretty and yet functional ... unlike anything I've seen in a big box pet store. My only problem would be deciding among them (these are just a few in the pattern range). A doggone fabulous find!

p.s. They have cat collars too. Yay.

Home arts: kitchens & Karl Larsson too.

From the August, 1931 issue of the (now sadly defunct) House and Garden magazine, come these wonderful illustrations from Laurence Guetthoff. Top: "Dutch kitchen", bottom: Swedish kitchen".



There is a whole trove of fantastic images from the magazine's (near) century of publication at condenast's website. I hate to think of these illustrations languishing in obscurity. Nowadays everything is photographic, but in those days the art of illustration was still fully alive and well.

These put me in mind of Swedish artist Carl Larsson (late 1800's), whose Blomsterfönstret (below) is the very picture of happy domesticity.





Larsson and his wife were an amazing team, both artists and independent thinkers. Read all about them at the official site: http://www.clg.se/encarl.aspx. Good stuff -- don't miss it!

crafty stuff: how to make a mushroom, a tutorial.

Jumping jehosephats!

Spied today at the uber-wonderful allsorts is a free tutorial for this ridiculously great polka dotted mushroom, available at etsy storque. Concept from the mind of little mochi, who is now officially on my must-visit-often blogs.

Swah-eeeet.

Tag, you're it!

I am craving Christmas lately ... it must be that exactly-halfway-mark thing. Anything red just jumps right out at me.

I spied this little lovely at Moonlight Creations the other day. I often forget how much creative expression can come out of stamping. Things I admire about this: 1) the red, 2) the deer motif, 3) the feel of a cameo, 4) the daisy scallops. Oh, and that candy cane striped ribbon!

Gorgeous Greengate!

The Danish company Greengate has such a delicious array of items. Browse the PDF catalogue on their site.

Yes, a lot of this is reminiscent of Cath Kidston. But there is room for all the pretty things, right? If not, make room! That's my motto. Would it were that Greengate was available in the U.S. No such luck! Patently unfair. Another reason to live in Europe for half the year :).

crazy cool! : made with love by hannah

What a wonderfully free spirited, idiosyncratic artist!http://madewithlovebyhannah.com/WordPress/

Don't miss the too-short video tour of her house and yard, at her etsy page:

http://tinyurl.com/cc95tw

I like a gal who knows just wants she likes and goes after it, great guns, and must admit that I share her fascination with Alpine/Bavarian and Dutch themed stuff. Her collection of cuckoo clocks is knockout, and her studio with the raspberry pink walls is a house of fun. Oh, and the clothes she sews n' sells? Too cute for words:

I think that mushrooms are growing on me. Well, not literally ON my person ... I mean, I have just never been particularly attracted to toadstools. I associated them with mid-to-late 70's designs on dishes and kitchen linens, in colors I've never cottoned to (those golds, greens, browns). I am SO not a gold, green, brown person. Maybe these things are getting into my universe via the Polka Dot Addiction That Cannot Be Cured. Look at them! Red with polka dots. For this alone, Hannah gets my vote for immediate Goddess of Craftiness & Creativity induction in the pantheon. I know other people have done the mushroom+polka dot thing, but it seems most at home in her world than anywhere else.

"Merry", I think that's how I would describe the exuberant expressions of her talent. That and "juicy"!

********

(Images are permission of their owner, madewithlovebyhannah.com. Please contact her for repro rights).

Blog blab.

http://aauumm.blogspot.com/

Colors to savor! Textures, light, children, dogs, friends, water ... this is the Ukraine as I'd never imagined it.

It's all good.

Pretty Pictures

I have started up and then abandoned so many blogs. It's reading other peoples' blogs that always makes me go back and want to start up again!

The other blog I currently "run" is The Picture of Pretty(http://thepictureofpretty.blogspot.com/). It's been over three months since I posted anything there, in fact I'd forgotten I even had it! But I obsessed over the masthead for so long with that one that I've decided to let it stand. And that Isaac Mizrahi bow sleeve on a tangerine dress is such lovely eye candy that it mustn't be put to waste.

Or (worse) forgotten.

I am trying to curtail my decades' long habit of reading the high fashion magazines (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, etc.) Figure it wasn't helping my Everywoman body image issues. But ... I do miss the breathtaking dresses! The editorial layouts, particularly in Vogue, especially the Spring and Fall versions.

Sigh.

Like Popeye said, I am what I am what I am. And what I am is a very visual person. With a very harmless vice.

Bring on the glossies!

I'm "blog candy" on Dear Daisy Cottage!

The wonderful Kim McCole, proprietress (dare I hostess with the mostest) of Dear Daisy Cottage has now listed Buttercup Bungalow on her blog candy page!

Wow. Huuuuge honor.

Clearly I must step up my game ... which means, first off, blogging more frequently than in fits and starts every other month.

Daisy chain, daisy chain, daisy chain, I'm a part of the daisy chain! (Cue the not yet-self-satisfied smile of a neophyte blogger. Haven't eaten the canary yet!)

I'm off to unpack my new Johnson Brothers Old English Castles dishes. Two small transferware bowls (fingerbowls?) in red and white destined for use as catfood dishes. If you knew how much I love my cat and how picky I am about what she eats from, you'd understand that this is a good thing. English china for the cat ... of course!

Some rules are made to be broken.

New china!

I've been haunting the home goods section of Marshall's again! These are from Godinger, a pattern called "Antique Reflections". I already had a delicate mug from the same line, and now I'm looking forward to seeing what further treasures my favorite store will turn up next.

These were just $1.99 each! I am addicted to china. Won't pay full price, but that's half the fun.

Tea and books, books and tea.

For such a little word, "tea" holds all sorts of connotations. It's deceptively simple on the surface (leaves + hot water = tea) but when considered in the cup, on the tongue, in the history of humankind, it is anything but that.

Tea means many things to many different people, in different places. I was reminded of this recently when reading "The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura. It's a fascinating read. As he so elegantly points up, the culture of tea is complex.

My own relationship with tea and the trappings of tea has been deeply influenced by my Anglophilia, which I am absolutely convinced began the first time I escaped on my own into the world of Kenneth Grahame's Wind In The Willows. If you've never known the company of Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger, it's time you do! These (mostly) gentle woodland fellows lead eventful lives in the English countryside, where their relationships, idylls and adventures are entertaining and full of wonder. It's a book I've returned to time and again, and everytime I do I find that seven year old girl inside of me is alive and well. It's good to be reminded of that, sometimes. I think it might actually be necessary. For the sake happiness, you know?

Other books which go well with a cuppa (though they are outstanding on their own): Anything by James Herriot, and Jane Austen, for a start. In more contemporary times, I've read and re-read Raffaella Barker's Hens Dancing and Summertime more times than I can remember, both for their daffy fun and their affectionate descriptions of the Norfolk countryside. Reading about the life of bumbling single mother Venetia Summers and her brood of three, I always come away refreshed by the knowledge that at least my life is not quite as crazy as all that. I do admire her pluck, though. Pluck is good!

Now that summer is here, the living may or may not be easy ... but so long as I can find a spot in leafy shade, a good read and a glass of peach iced peachd tea, it will be some fortification for the coming winter doldrums. (Egads, am I already thinking of winter when summer hasn't officially arrived yet?!)

I've been living too long in New England, maybe.