What have you bought lately?

From Etsy, I bought a pretty felt flower pin. I got it in the mail yesterday, yay! I love it. It was $8 from LoveOwlEyes.

It was hard to get a good picture, it's more of a rich turquoise in person, and even more pretty! It's made from eco felt. My mom had ordered a different pin in the past from this shop. I saw it and loved it, and knew I needed to order from them myself.

Recently at Target I bought myself a pretty, spring looking ruffley blouse for $9 and some cute brown flat shoes on sale for about $14. I looked on Target's website and the shoes aren't on clearance there yet like they were in the store. I have a hard time finding shoes that feel comfortable enough to wear around. I can't do heels at all. I have some issues with my ankles, and I need to have at least a little padding in the bottom of the shoe to be able to go out walking around in them and they need to be pretty much flat. Otherwise, my ankles get very sore.
I think these are cuter in person too!

This past weekend I also got a Liberty of London stationary set for 50% off ($4.98), and some other housewares on clearance.
I usually buy things when they are marked down, I am cheap! :) I have read about the Liberty of London items being sold out in some Target stores around the country, soon after it was released. Well, we still have many of the items in our stores and now they are starting to get marked down. I had already bought myself two items, not marked down, because I did think the prices were great: a beautiful fabric covered bin and a round "gift" box that to me is great decor!! I will take pictures.

Fashion inspiration

1. 6.20.08 happy summer solstice!, 2. Summer Braids, 3. Folk Singer Joins the Circus, 4. Wrapped up in Flowers

I picked photos that were taken outside and have something to do with nature. With warm weather here for some already(like me) or coming soon for others, these would be good out and about looks if you need to look a little more fancy than wearing jeans.

And nature inspired from polyvore:

Untitled by sugarsugar featuring Tory Burch shoes

deuxième vert by katmorphos featuring Roxy shoes

This Weekend

1. Untitled, 2. cleaning up, 3. old things, 4. Bouquet of Popcorn

A weekend in pictures...

It's supposed to get rainy here tomorrow, and I hope it does. I miss rain. I don't know when it last rained, probably not really long ago but it feels long ago. During summer we usually get a quick thunderstorm every day in the afternoon. As long as I am not out driving in them or stuck outside, I like them!

I also need to do cleaning and organizing of neglected areas of the house. Maybe I'll do some sewing too over the weekend(or maybe not). Tomorrow we are going out to lunch for a friend's birthday. That should be fun!

I am sure we will be watching a movie or two as well (at home). And yes I have popcorn!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Any plans you want to share? Comment!

Flashback Friday: 2005

This picture is from 2005. (we got married in 2004). It used to be one of my favorite pictures of us together. I remember taking this picture(and others along with it) very well. I wanted some pictures of us, threw on some make up and earrings(I was just at home, hadn't gotten ready for going out) and we took the pictures. My face looks too pale in the shot and bigger. Sigh...The good news for me is that I weigh at least 20lbs less since this was taken. And you know what, when I lose more weight(yeah I am going to!), looking back on pictures taken right now will look different to me too.

But overall I still like this picture above, just the two of us, newly married! :) I know I shouldn't be negative about myself and if my mom reads this she is sure to say "don't say that Christina!!" because she is always very uplifting and encouraging. :) I am just keeping it real, yo!! ;) It's good to at least know that I am not at my highest weight anymore! And never going back.

Play along, post a Flashback! Read more Flashbacks here:

Vintage Thursday: Paper goods, odds and ends

Vintage "Ex Libris" Ship bookplates. I think they are awesome! $12 from twoartdirectors

The other items below are vintage buttons, ephemera(I didn't know that that meant until last year), and photographs. I also really like the old booklet with the hot air balloons on it.

Wasting time...on pictures

Don't you hate when you waste your time on something that you have to do all over again? That happened to me today.

I am often on a quest for better pictures of my jewelry for my shop. I don't have a fancy digital camera, it's just a mediocre one. I can't do some of the neat tricks with focusing that I've seen, but it's good enough for my pictures. (for now) I'd like us to get a better camera eventually - again nothing fancy but just with more options than the one we have.

My son was playing with the camera recently, he learned how to take pictures with it, and accidentally set it to 1 mega pixel. I didn't know that. Today I spent about 40 mins outside taking nicer pictures of some jewelry items, excited with how they seemed to have turned out. I downloaded them all, and after editing the light/colors I go to resize them and find out how small the pictures were on the screen. I finally checked the camera and saw it was set to 1 mega pixel. That means everything was not as big or as up close as I needed it to be, and I had wasted another 20 mins at least editing unusable pictures. They would have just been similar to the pictures I already had and wasn't happy with. The problem for me is getting close enough with the camera. I use the macro button(flower symbol) but even then, my camera doesn't let me get very close in - it just gets blurry if I am too close no matter how much daylight I have. But today, I was determined to get better pictures somehow!

So after being very frustrated about all the time I wasted, I got the chance before sunset to snap a bunch of redo pictures outside, this time setting the camera back to a higher 5 mega pixels(it goes to 7 but I didn't think I needed it - I bet I do).

Do you wonder what I am rambling about? There's a clarity/size difference. For Etsy search results it makes a big difference if people can see the item closer up in the small boxes that show up. They might be more likely to click instead of overlook. *I hope I hope I hope*

Here are differences for you to see...what I had(further away view of jewelry) compared to new. Before, I wasn't able to get as close up to the item. I don't know how I did it this time but I am happy I got some decent pictures.

(first doesn't take up as much of the box, second is a much better "up close" view)

See what I mean now? :)

Favorites and New Projects

First, a new favorite of mine from Etsy. A vintage glass jar filled with old thread on wooden spools! I think it's all so cute together. It's $14.5o from CherryStreetVintage, a newer shop.

I also want to talk about my mom's shops. In case anyone visiting the blog hasn't seen her shops yet, you should go take a visit! You'll find items like below.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/considerthelillies &
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelillyofthevalley

And finally, some of my recently completed projects:
At the end of April I also had the chance to do a custom order. I had looked around the Alchemy section Etsy, something I hadn't done in a very long time. I came across something that sounded perfect for me to bid on. Make a pillow from a dress. The dress had sentimental value and was too big on her now. A great upcycled project. So I bid to make it for her, and there were already 12 other bids by that point. But, she picked me! And after talking more, we decided on two pillow covers with plain white backings, instead of just one pillow.

Here are some pictures of the before, during, and after!

I got nervous before the first cut into the fabric. This dress was special to someone and I had to cut it up! I literally prayed before the first cut that it would turn out just as she wanted.



When she saw the pictures of the completed pillow covers, she said they were fabulous, so I hope she likes them as much in person! I hope she will give me some feedback. :)