Peonies

Peonies have been in season the past couple of weeks and I just can't get enough of them. From their fragrant aroma to their beautiful fluffy petals. Unfortunately they will not be around too much longer but with some of these items you can enjoy them year round.

IMHDesignShop - Pink Floral Clutch Purse with Blue Dupioni Silk Lining $72

econica - PEONY COAT - organic cotton fleece CUSTOM MADE IN YOUR SIZE $195

Gingeroni1 - The Peony And The Swallow Vintage Inspired Necklace $32

shirleypuwills - Pink Peony as Chinese Brush Painting $20

sublimeimages - Ceramic Trivet 6 inch square - Vintage Peony Personalized $12.95

marit522 - Garden Party Save the Date Postcard (4x6) $2.75

thesleepyalbatross - CHARLOTTE Big White Peony Flower Hair Clip $21

lisapahl - Peony Photographs $20

SillyGoat - Pinky Peasant Dress in Amy Butler's Tree Peony and Full Moon Polka Dots 6m, 12m, 2t, 3t, 4t -$25

Vintage Dresses

Well I am a big fan of the show Mad Men and part of the reason is my love of 50's vintage clothing. Well a few months ago I was so pleased to come across the seller porshesplace who specializes in creating custom dresses from vintage patterns. Since I had a couple of events to attend I thought it would be great to contract with her to create something for me. She has a multitude of patterns to choose from which makes it difficult to choose just one since they are all so lovely. But once you choose a pattern, Femia of porshesplace directs you to a website where you can choose your fabric. I choose Amy Butler fabrics for both of my dresses since I think that a lot of her large scale print patterns have a vintage feel. Femia has a little picture that aides in showing you how to take your measurements, but if you are nervous about getting them right you can always go to tailor and have it done professionally. Then its a matter of waiting. The turn around is generally 4-6 weeks.

Nothing feels better than taking your dress out of the box, putting it on and twirling around with your full skirt and crinolines. Now most of the dresses can be worn without a crinoline but if you want to look like Betty Draper I highly recommend investing in the crinoline.

Femia does excellent workmanship, is easy to work with, and definitely has my business for future orders.

Also since I bought multiple dresses Femia gave me a little thank you gift :)

Here are pics of the patterns and the actual dresses. (Will have to upload photos of me in the dresses).

Family Tree

So I have been quite busy with etsy of late. If you recall my earlier post I was looking for a calligrapher to complete my family tree and I found one in GracefulStudio. I am so excited to see the final product since her work is so beautiful.

I will update as work progresses but for now here are samples of her work.

Reading Paraphernalia

I am a big reader. And its been that way since I first learned at 4. I also love all the paraphernalia you can get to accessorize your library and reading time.

IcingsPrints - Printable Customized Bookplates (Forrest Love) $6.85

oiseaux - Assorted Fairies Blank Vintage Bookplates $15.50

spacedogstudios - 2 custom bookmark books - University $6

MartinisAtFive -Double Sterling Silver Tag Hand Stamped Book Mark $23

alaGG - Girl Reading Handbag $8.50

beanforest - I am a cautionary tale button $1

neawear - Shades Chain 2 $40

saysomehtingdesigns - Custom Square Bookplate Design $10

Calligraphy

I am in the process of designing my parent gifts for my wedding. Me being a big genealogy nut and the keeper of the family history thought a perfect gift would be a lovely family tree with names done by hand in calligraphy.

Now I am a big fan of lovely handwriting and take great pains in my own penmanship. It was a huge disappoint that we could not fit calligraphy into my upcoming wedding, however, this project will let me have it. (Yipeee!)

These are the artists who's styles I am currently ogling.

Galafont

2inspire (whose twin sister also does calligraphy on etsy studioedith)

studioedith

BarbaraKua

My Etsy Purchase

It's only fair that I share with you my etsy purchases.

I was so inspired by the post on maps that I bought an item from one of the sellers (this blog is only feeding my obsession). I had been looking for a travel journal to use for my upcoming honeymoon and I thought the beautiful journals created by kristincrane would be perfect.

I was so pleased with the finished object, the workmanship was excellent and the price was too. She worked with me to get the map so that it not only highlighted Savannah but also the small town Milledgeville where my family is from in Georgia. The journal also came in a plastic protective case which is great to have so it won't get banged around and damaged before and after use.

I now have a journal that will perfectly compliments all our mementos and memories from our trip.

Thanks Kristin!!!!!

PS And she was so lovely to even enclose a personalized thank you note wishing us well.

Once again etsy ROCKS!!!!

Blinds

I was doing a search on curtains and blinds (Yeah there are etsy sellers who make that too. Told you etsy rocks), and I was amazed at all the cool items that came up. I should try random searches more often just to see what I find. ;)

ohkayk - Eye Chart Quote - Laurel Lee 8.5x11 Textured Matte Stock Print $20

lakeillustration - BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - limited edition art print - (4 of 100) $16

grainsack - antique hemp linen roll 25.13yard DARKEST BLUE upholstery roman blinds runner bolster $549

LoveLeeSoaps - Three Blind Mice Soap $4

pistachiopress - Letterpress Wedding Invitation Eyelet Lace Sample $5

therapy - envisage - the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision $25

Maps

I originally started this post about vintage ephemera (which I will post about later) but I found myself getting sidetracked looking at vintage maps and all the lovelies artists have crafted with them. It takes me back to 7th grade Geography and my weekly assignment of drawing maps. It was something so magical about drawing all the lines and curves of a distant coast line and filling in the cities with exotic names and imaging what they must be like. I may not be able to go all around the world to every country but maps are the next best thing.

CarolinaCottage - Los Angeles Map tray $32

MonicaMarks - Happy travels Set of 3 mixed media bookmarks $19.50

Bombus - Thank You Card and Map Envelope Set $16

BadAssCustomDecals - Giant Africa Map with Countries Wall Decal $100

Crafterall - Wall Topo in Olive No 13 8X10 $20

kristincrane - Latin America Pocket journal $9

byrdandbelle - Central Park Coasters Set of 5 $18

TheCandyShoppe - 30 Vintage Insert Maps from Atlas Pages $3

On the List - New Feature

I decided to start a new feature and highlight items that are on my short list of items I seriously want to buy. The list constantly being reprioritized and some items sit on the list a long time while I debate back and forth whether I should splurge on the item.

Here is one that I think is very stylish, simple, clean and versatile. I can see myself sporting this to a number of different things. For all those reasons I have had my eye on it a while. Sometimes I like to marinate a while before making a purchase, which is why shopping at the mall is sometimes a slow process for me.

I am sure that I will stop hemming and hawing and add it to my cart eventually but for now its "On the List".

lirola - Seven Ways to Wear Dress $98

Leather Bags

For someone that needed t be practically hogtied as a child on holidays and Sundays into carrying bag, I've come along way. Now I can't get enough of them. I love classic bags that have a little added twist to them. And I drool over buttery soft leather bags in beautiful colors.

However - Quote Limited Edtion 3 Way Leather/Fabric Bag $88

neikodesigns - Jasper $310

TheLeatherStore - Red Leather Purse Bow tote $99

zhenunleathers - Acorn Limon Lime Green Luxurious Leather Hobo Tote $139

morelle - Morelle Clutch in Chartreuse $129

chacha2 - Stella 3 in 1 Leather Shopper $275