Under a Blue Moon

Friday Favorites

my last affair ◊ vintage kitchen things ◊ enjoy ◊ Vintage Kitchen

I clearly hear Laurel
What a darling studio apartment. The architectural details alone would make me consider living in 500 sf. Ignore the glaring grammar mistake in the article title though….
As a lifelong reader, a habit I fell quite happily into at age 7 with Tom Sawyer, I'm intrigued by Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan. Mainly to see what books I might have missed as a child. I devoured books and would spend my lunch hour in the library reading the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, the Chronicles of Narnia, the Wizard of Oz series (oh how I loved that one). It makes me want to reread them all
Does anyone have a recommendation for a TV series to watch? I've been binge-watching Netflix's Schitt's Creek which I honestly had my doubts about but it is so hilarious. It took me about two episodes to really warm up to it but the comedic timing of the entire cast is just so spot on. It's kind of a modern day Green Acres only no one in the Rose family is in Schitt's Creek willingly.

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm taking half a day off to have lunch and see the Magritte exhibit in San Francisco. Should be a fun outing.

On Saturday we are having people over for dinner. We don't entertain much anymore so it will be fun to have someone to show off the garden to. I suppose I should come up with a menu…

I hope you have something splendid on the agenda – whether it be something fun and exciting or just chilling at home.

Mail

I have mentioned that I have a love for sending mail the old fashioned way. There is something just completely satisfying about affixing stamps and putting a letter in a mailbox.

I can't just leave it at addressing a letter or package though. I want each letter to be a little piece of art.

It was this image on Pinterest that got me hooked on the whole art form. I just thought it was clever and whimsical.

I sent a care package to my niece using the same idea. Since then I've done a number of packages and letters and I thought I would share a few of them. I fully admit to being heavily influenced by other's work although I do try to put my own spin on things. I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to mail art.

I'm not particularly talented in drawing or painting so I tend to print images and create a collage of sorts. For the package above I printed the bicyclist on a piece of brown grocery bag paper that I cut to 8 1/2 x 11. I wrapped the package in the same paper and then just glued the printed image on it. Then I painted the white conversation bubble and outlined it in black and addressed it.

I have some vellum envelopes that I add a liner paper and then use stamps, washi tape and address labels. I used to print my labels on proper labels (with a sticky back) but found that just printing on regular paper and gluing it on works just fine and is way cheaper. I swear by Yes! Paste. It is brilliant for paper crafts because it doesn't cause the paper to wrinkle or warp.

I also print directly on an envelope. I put the image in a MS Word document, calculating the size and placement. I first print it on plain paper then tape the envelope to the paper, positioning it over the image and run it through the printer again. This way you get the image all the way to the edges of the envelope.

My friend had been searching for a favorite childhood book (Runaway Pancake) and I found it for her. I found the image of the little girl reading and photoshopped a page from the book into the book she is reading. Janis Joplin and the Virgin Mary. Those were the only stamps on I had on hand….

I love putting vintage stamps along with the regular postage. I order them from Etsy. The sellers I've used have sets by color and I like to coordinate them to my envelopes. I also order regular postage from USPS.com website because the selection is better than what our post office carries.

I hope my post office is charmed by my artistic endeavors but I'm pretty sure it just annoys them. It's not like I'm slapping a label on a coconut and trying to send it through the mail but I'm sure my letters and packages have to be hand sorted. My pen pal loves my letters so that's good enough for me.

Bullet Journal Update

I never know if these bullet journal posts are of any interest to anyone. I like seeing new and inspiring layouts and, more importantly, new stationary supplies (one of my weaknesses) so I figure maybe somebody else might too.

I modified my weekly layout slightly. I still like the left to right daily boxes. I streamlined the other boxes which makes drawing out the spread a little quicker.

Another thing I streamlined is my monthly calendar I have on the page. I used to hand write it out but then I found a stamp set that was designed to work with dot grid notebooks. It consists of seven calendars starting on each day of the week. If the month doesn't have 31 days then you simply white out the extra days. I also like that is has a stamp with the week starting on either a Sunday or a Monday. While my days of the week boxes start on Monday I like my monthly calendar to start on Sunday.

You simply stick the various stamp components onto a stamp block and line it up with your dot grid. Couldn't be easier.

I also recently discovered Copic markers. Now this is a dangerous habit. They are gorgeous to look at and come in a bajillion colors but jiminy christmas are they expensive! $8 a pop if you buy them one at of time. They do sell them in sets which brings the individual price down a bit but I kind of like picking out the exact colors I want. I just pick them up one at a time at Michael's and use a 40% off coupon.

They are alcohol inks and I use them as highlighters. I love the muted colors and the fact they don't smudge ink like regular highlighters do. I like a very clean, minimalist bullet journal and these add a little bit of color without making my eye twitch. They are dual tipped – a chisel tip on one end and a brush like tip on the other.

Let me know if you like this type of post. I promise not to spam you with them but if there is interest I'll continue doing the occasional one.

Friday Favorites

Marie Antoinette ◊ Spring hi res ◊ Marie Antoinette Shoes, ◊ Whimsical Wine bottle totes

Cute sandals (if you can't afford the Hermes version…). I actually have these Old Navy sandals and love them. Super comfortable
For a while there I was on an embroidery kick – but I haven't started a project in years. These scissors would entice me. Haha! Like I would spend that much but they sure are pretty. I've actually been really intrigued by white work so stay tuned….
I took my sons to the Magritte exhibit at SFMOMA back in 199something and next Friday I'm going back! I'm going with some girl friends and we are going to make an afternoon of it. Lunch at The Cavalier first
What a sweet ring – love the sprinkling of faux diamonds – like a little constellation across your finger

Happy Friday my friends!

My mother in law is on the garden tour in her town on Saturday and I'm going to hang out with her during it. There will be plenty of docents on hand from the garden club she is a member of, but she is really nervous so I thought I would hang out with her and give her moral support. She just turned 88 on Tuesday and you wouldn't be the only one that confused her for someone in her 60s. She is so energetic and vivacious. We have a hard time getting on her dance card some weeks! She has been stressing about being on the tour and is overworking herself to make sure her garden is in tip top shape. We went over last weekend to rescue her from herself. She was going to spread out 11 bags of mulch and dig holes for half a dozen more plants.

So basically I insisted we go over there so Rick could do it. I do what I can….

On Sunday we'll go to my dad's and celebrate Mother's Day. I have an observation about all the Mother's Day gift guides out there right now – they all seem to include a wine glass of some kind! Ha! Truth.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Keto Eggs Benedict

I have been craving Eggs Benedict. Since traditional Eggs Benedict are not a low-carb breakfast option I thought I would try to come up with something a little more keto friendly.

I tried making low-carb English muffins with little success. They were flat and not particularly tasty.

I decided to try them on my low-carb biscuits and I think we have a reasonable facsimile. I say reasonable because the texture just isn't the same as a nice, chewy English muffin but the taste is superior to any alternative I have come up with. I made them in a muffin top pan so they would spread out a little more and then I split one in half for my two poached eggs. I wish I had run them under a broiler for minute to toast them a bit – I'll have to remember that for the next time.

I put avocado on mine (because I don't eat bacon) but you can top these with anything – a slice of tomato, Canadian bacon, basically anything you like that is low-carb.

To assemble the Eggs Benedict split one low-carb biscuit in half and place on plate. Top with sliced avocado, bacon, tomato, or anything you like on your Eggs Benedict. Add a poached egg to each biscuit and top with Hollandaise sauce. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne or paprika (optional).

Now I just need to come up with a low-carb Bloody Mary recipe…

Entryway Refresh

I did a little entryway refresh. I say entryway but it really is full on in the living room. Our little vestibule doesn't have room for anything other than a small statue in the corner. So we placed our library table, which has been our entryway table since we first moved in together back in 1980, just to the left of the entryway. I've mentioned this table before – it has been mine since I was about ten years old.

When will electricity be wireless? Get on that Elon Musk. I did tidy up the cords to my new (old) lamps so it isn't as unsightly as it was previously. To refresh your memory here is the before:

I never felt like the scale of the old mirror was right. The mirror itself is too big and the frame a little skimpy for the size. We are going to re-purpose it in our bathroom. This corner of the living room is really dim in the evenings so we need both lamps on the table. I wanted a matching pair so I started looking online for some vintage alabaster options and I started seeing Alacite lamps coming up in my searches and was intrigued.

Alacite is a glass that was developed in the late 30's that was meant to resemble alabaster (or at least that is what I have read). My pair is "old formula" meaning it contains Uranium oxide. It was banned in the 40's and any Alacite lamps made after 1942 no longer contain it. The way you can tell is the glass glows green under a black light.

I found a pair of Alladin style Alacite lamps on Etsy for a reasonable price and jumped on them. Right off the bat I had issues with the seller. I got an angry Etsy message from her saying she had emailed me a dozen times and if I didn't respond she was going to cancel the order. I never received a single email from her and I checked all the obvious places (spam/junk folders). Lord only knows who she was emailing. Her message was that when she was packing the lamps the harp snapped off of one and chipped the top of the lamp where it screws on. I had her send me a picture and figured it would be hidden when I rewired the lamps. She deducted $10 off the price and shipped them in two separate boxes.

When the first one arrived it was completely smashed to pieces. It was so poorly packaged there was no way it would survive shipping. Of course it wasn't the previously damaged one. When I contacted the seller her curt reply was "It's insured. You deal with it."

The second one arrived with just the previously mentioned damage. So great – now I have one lamp when I need a pair. I scoured Etsy and eBay for weeks until finally another matching one came up for sale. I rewired both of them and bought lampshades for them. Not 100% thrilled with the shades but they'll do for now until I find ones that are just perfect.

I liked the idea of putting a round mirror above the library table because there are so many square and rectangle things in this room. I bought the very inexpensive Target version you see all over the place but at 28" in diameter it was too small. Then Wayfair had their big sale a couple of weeks ago and I jumped on a 36" mirror (currently out of stock but they'll be getting more in) and it is perfect. The mirror itself is a much better quality than the Target version.

I'm really pleased with how it all came together. Sometimes just a few small changes make such a big difference.

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