Craft & Consumption

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Pining for Summer {Retro Swim Edition}

It's March, (almost April) and my crocuses are up! I am beyond excited for spring to kick into full gear. Once spring arrives, that means those long, warm nights of summer are just around the (river) bend.

I'm pining and planning for fabulous summer weekends, with lots of East Coast beaches & deep blue waters! Some places on my hit list:
  • The islands of Maine
  • Wine tours in the Finger Lakes
  • Montauk
  • Cape Cod
  • Coney Island
So naturally I've been collecting warm-weather inspiration, including these very retro-inspired swim looks. How are you making it through these March snow storms? 


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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Egg Decorating!

Last year I got a bunch of friends together to celebrate spring's arrival and get to crafty for Easter. Looking back at photos shows all of the different techniques we used to decorate our fabulous eggs. I'm getting extra excited for this year's Egg Decorating event. The coolest part about an annual egg-decorating tradition? Saving the egg shells year after year and remembering all of the lovable people who stopped by to get crafty and contribute to our massive Easter Egg Tree. 

This first photo shows a marbleized effect made by using nail polish dripped into water like this.

My sister designed this little bunny egg by drawing with wax on a plain white egg, then painted on the various colors of dye.


The navy blue Aztec-inspired design was also done using the wax-resist method. I drew the triangles first with wax(they are white), then dunked the whole egg in yellow dye. Then I used wax to protect a yellow stripe around the middle of the egg. Next I dunked the whole thing in a red/purple dye, and finished up with a dark blue. You always go in order of lightest to darkest when dong wax-resist egg dying. Very official here.


Friday, March 15, 2013

Etsy Picks: Washi Tape


I ordered decorative Washi tape from Etsy last week and it just arrived! I thought that having these cute little patterned tapes would make gift wrapping for birthdays super easy. I keep a huge roll of craft paper in our work room and use that for just about every type of wrapping project I have. The only thing that changes are the ribbons & decorative accents to make whatever package I have season-appropriate. Cue, washi tape for spring/summer!


Ideas for using washi tape:



Sunday, March 10, 2013

St. Lucian Adventures

Over two weeks ago eight mid twenty-somethings packed up our bags, our gear, our electronics, our swim suits, and our copies of Hemingway for an epic week-long trip to St. Lucia. We left the cold East Coast winter in the rear view mirror and got lost together in a hilltop villa, surrounded by nothing but palm trees and pitons.

Spending time showing these friends around a place that's special to me, and seeing the island from their fresh perspective, was magical and so much fun. The week away reminded me of the things I value. Good food, shared meals. Dinner as a sacred act. Vodka sodas with lime, extra loud music. Oasis, Wonderwall (sing-alongs). Getting active, trying new things. Harvesting what nature has to offer, innovating with whatever you've got. Community. Shared experiences. Snuggling, sometimes aggressively. Dance parties, serious dance parties. Lots of laughter, epic, abdomen-busting laughter. And above all, getting lost.  

I've always adored this water-color wash print. To me, curiosity is of the utmost importance, no matter your age or place in life. Who are we if we don't ask questions, if we don't push the boundaries of what we know by trying new things, meeting new people, going new places, and getting lost in ourselves?

So, I'll raise a rum-filled-coconut-glass to that. Here's to getting lost, together, wherever the world may take you.