Under a Blue Moon

Friday Favorites

. ◊ Away ◊ { b r e a t h e } ◊ Happy Sunday

What a pretty candle. Although I will have to say I am not really a fan of the scent of the Capri Blue candles – they all smell the same to me. Kind of aggressively tropical. I might overlook it for this one though
Have you seen Target's new home decor line Opalhouse? Loads of pretty things I'll never buy because of my color phobia (haha!). Although I do have my eye on this handsome peacock
Since we are on a home decor, avian kick here today – isn't this a lovely towel ring? Such a pretty detail to add to a bathroom or kitchen
Omigod this trick Costco does is so annoying! I mean dried mangoes shouldn't roam around the store as much as they do – but they are never in the same spot twice

This has been kind of a quiet week. I think everyone is on Spring break. Except for me, that is. I had a delightfully low number of meetings at work this week.

We are scheduled to get rain today and tomorrow which kind of squashes our plans to go to the architectural salvage yard to look for french doors. When we replaced the french doors in our sitting room I made Rick hang on to the old ones. I knew I could re-purpose them and I've come up with a plan for a small greenhouse for behind the shed. It will be a lean-to of sorts made of old french doors and/or sidelights. It will be the new plant infirmary.

I hope the weather is kind to you – where ever you are. Happy Friday!

Mantel Refresh

I did a quick mantel refresh yesterday. Out went the rabbits and in came the flying pigs.

I am in such a styling rut at the moment. I kept pulling out different candlesticks, lanterns, vases. It all just bored me to tears. Part of my problem is a debilitating case of symmetrical-itis. It's incurable.

It makes it hard to style things when they have to perfectly balance yet you don't want to over do pairs of everything. As I look at the pictures I should have either picked the urns or the candlesticks. Not both.

I love that little cherub. My mother in law gave him to me years ago. He's napping in a clam shell.

I think part of it is that we have lived here for five years (and three days…) and this isn't a house where you can easily move the furniture around to freshen things up. The placement of the windows and doors makes it kind of hard. So everything is feeling a little stale to me. The only option is to play around with all the accessories.

I am pleased with the color palette. I find the whites, muted greens and shimmery crystal very soothing. It's funny when you look at my Instagram account there is a lot of pink but in real life not so much (and before you say anything Rick – I'm not talking about my sweater collection….).

I tend to favor a kind of retro, muted green (not quite mint and not sage) and if you pair it with too much pink it goes into that overly shabby chic circa early 1990's look. Next thing you know I'm wearing stirrup pants with my sling back flats. Or was that the 80's?

I'm not Catholic but I do love my Immaculate Heart of Mary statue. She is another peaceful element to the decorating. I'm starting to warm up to the mantel a little bit.

Here's another thing – I'm very drawn to eclectic styles of decorating like Linda Rodin and Betsey Johnson but I could never in a gazillion years see myself styling my own home like that. Or do you remember when Mary Englebreit had a magazine called the Home Companion? I loved that magazine and everything in it. So warm and exuberant.

I think what I'm going for is calm and nostalgic. Like the Virgin Mary and flying pigs which is a bit eclectic in its own right.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday! I trust you all had a lovely Easter (if you celebrate) yesterday. We had a perfect day. I'm writing this post Sunday evening and I'm still stuffed from Easter Brunch. We "hid" eggs filled with small toys for my granddaughter and it was fun watching her find them. We hid them in plain sight because she is only 21 months old after all. She caught on pretty quickly though.

It was my birthday yesterday too. I woke up really early for some reason and got up to make myself a mug of tea. Rick brought out beautifully wrapped gifts for me and I said I wanted to drink my tea first so I was more awake. "Mmmkay" he says… So I take my time and when I finally do get around to it I unwrapped the loveliest Burleigh tea cup! I immediately poured my tea into it. This is more than a mere teacup – it's over-sized so it holds just as much as my large mugs do. But oh so much prettier.

I love the detail on the inside rim.

He also gave me a beautiful bracelet with a lovely sentiment engraved on it. He is a champion at giving presents. He said it helps that I keep a perpetual wish list going with my Friday Favorites.

We were very productive out in the back garden over the weekend. I pulled weeds for the better part of the day on Saturday and they are, for the most part, under control now. I also freshened up some of the pots with new flowers. I have a few plants that didn't hold up to the colder weather so I pulled them out, replanted them in other (less decorative) pots and gave them a good cutting back. We have an area behind the shed we call the plant infirmary. They can recover and get their good looks back and then we'll introduce them back out into the garden.

I brought the String of Pearls in the house. I had it planted with the rest of my succulents but it was just too sunny of a spot for it. I'm going to see how it does in my office. I've seen a number of articles on growing them successfully indoors and I guess the trick is having a bright spot without direct sun.

Final shot of the tea cup. Can I also say how enamored I am of Chamomile – I've been picking up bunches at Trader Joe's for about $4 and I just love how cheerful and exuberant they are. This batch is looking a little worse for the wear but I've had the bunch for well over a week. It's also not poisonous to cats in case they get a notion to nibble on it.

Friday Favorites

Into the white, ◊ Fetish for Strawberry !! ◊ Sweet Peas ◊ holiday weekend

I've been trying to use Sundays as the day I get ready for the rest of the week. Items 1 and 5 on this list pretty much sum up my routine
Pretty filigree disc necklaces
Lovely Swedish apartment. My hair stylist informed me that she is getting married and will be living in London with her new husband. I thought I was going to have to move there but maybe Sweden is the place to go.
A couple of interesting movies on the horizon: Chekhov's The Seagull starring Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening (who I actually met in 1984) and Elizabeth Moss. I'm getting Merchant Ivory/Ang Lee vibes. And the other is Kodachrome starring Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen and Jason Sudeikis. On Netflix April 20th

Is everyone all set for Easter? We do the exact same Easter brunch at my Dad's house every year and wouldn't have it any other way. So other than a quick email determining who is bringing what there isn't any planning or prep involved.

I have one new recipe I'm going to try out – a spin on classic bagels with smoked salmon. I will make smaller pieces since we have so many other dishes on the menu.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday randomness

There she is - Miss Buttinsky (aka Rosie). She always has to insert herself into any photo shoot.

I've been trying to up my photo game. I bought a new camera a few months back. Nothing too fancy but an upgrade from my broken Canon Powershot S3 IS and from my cell phone. The new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel SL2, has the advantage of being able to swap out lenses. Before I purchased it I researched lenses like crazy to find the one that I would get the most bang for my buck. I thought (and purchased) a 50mm would be ideal for the type of pictures I take (mostly of things) and I wanted the blurry background you get with a 50mm but I found I had to get really far away from my subject to get it in frame.

So I bought a 24mm pancake lens which I use probably 95% of the time. I have my eye on a 35mm lens next. I think it will be a happy medium between the two lenses I own.

A scanned photo (which I artfully deckle edged) of my aunt and my mother on my parents' wedding day in August of 1947. My mother wore an ice blue satin suit and her sister is in chocolate brown. These details are hearsay since there is only black and white evidence of the event. My mother is the most beautiful women I have ever known. Click on the photo so you can see it full sized.

Anyway…back to photography and cameras. In addition to upgrading my equipment I'm also trying to upgrade my skill level which is still at a very, very low level. I finally took my camera out of auto mode and have been playing around in manual mode. Immediately I can see an improvement in the quality of the pictures I'm taking. I also started shooting in RAW. This means I can get even better results in post processing.

I took the plunge and signed up for Adobe Lightroom CC. It includes Photoshop but I haven't poked around there just yet. I used to use Photoshop Elements which is the simplified version of Photoshop because I couldn't see shelling out the money for Photoshop itself. Then my friend who is a fabulous photographer told me I needed to look into Lightroom. I tried a trial version and I was hooked. So I signed up for the cloud version where I pay $10 a month for the software.

I've been watching Youtube video after Youtube video to get tips and tricks and I've taken a couple of online courses.

I'm hoping that you'll see an improvement in the quality of the images I share here. I realize I'm just a fledgling when it comes to photography and the equipment I own but, on the bright side, I can only get better from here!

I really brought out my camera today because I wanted to share a picture of my new teacup. I bought it at Home Goods for $7. I certainly don't need another tea cup since I have 18 others that only get used as a prop or the rare tea party. Hmm. Maybe I should host a tea party. Also – that houseplant? I've had it since at least 1986. It used to be so full and long but when we moved four years ago it broke off at the root. I took a piece to try to root and after a few months it actually sprouted some so I could replant it and I've been nursing it ever since. It has come such a long way. It's due to graduate to a bigger pot but for now I'm enjoying it in my Valentine's urn.

I hope your Wednesday is going well!

Easter Treat Bags

This is a super easy and quick project and perfect if you want to bring Easter treats into work or to hand out if you are hosting Easter brunch. I like to give my grown children and nieces and nephews something on Easter. If you are a long time reader you may remember these treat bags I did in 2011 and these in 2012.

The process for making them couldn't be easier if you have a color printer. And treat bags – I suppose that's an important element. You just tape the treat bag to a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper, feed it into your printer and print off the image.

I start off by printing the image on the sheet of paper first so I can get the placement of the bag in the proper spot. Then I turn the printed sheet of paper upside down (so the image is upside down) so I can feed the paper with the bag's sealed end going in first. Less chance of it catching as it is feeding.

I also found that taping the corners of the bag worked best. I had no problem pulling up the tape when after printing. In fact I used the same two pieces of tape for the all the bags.

The bags are translucent enough so you can line it up just where you want the image. I like to leave a little more room at the top so I can fold the flap over and tie it shut.

You could do this for any occasion – birthday parties, Halloween treat bags (ooh!), whatever holiday or event you want. The bags I have are roughly 4 1/2" x 7" which is perfect for a big cookie. You can also get larger ones which would hold more. I've ordered from Twig and Thistle on Etsy but they seem to be on a break at the moment. There are other sellers – just search for white paper bags.

I must be in an Easter crafty mood this year. Three separate blog post on Easter ideas. And this year Easter lands on my birthday which I am actually a little cranky about. You know I like the day to be all about me…

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