IKEA-- Where Crafty Girls Meet

Bless my husband's heart. It was a sad day in the Girl Land household. Ryan moved all of his things out of his old office *slash* my new craft room. He also took Q and I to Ikea which is like 35-40ish minutes away. I like Ikea in theory, but our house is very traditional, so I always feel the decor is a little too mod and hip for us. But I ended up buying some great stuff which I think will meld well with the retro feel of my new space. By the way, I'm following suit with this Ikea-themed post. Jenn voiced her Ikea love last month.

Sooooo, I got a desktop but had to order the legs, rolling file drawer for my decorative paper (I have buttloads of it), red and white ticking curtains, some small painted buckets and wonderful vintage-looking jars for a song! Looked for curtain rods and bracket shelves but didn't find much I liked. This week, I put Ryan's expert painting skills to the test-- wondering how much primer will have to be applied to cover up the dark burgundy walls. Hmmmm.

Also ran into Taryn of Talking Squid at Ikea. She's so sweet and so very talented. I owe my new attempt at embroidery all to her. Thanks, Taryn!

Speaking of-- my niece, Miss Sophia, has a wiggly tooth, and I am mailing this little guy to my mom on Monday to finish up a tooth fairy pillow for her. Hope it gets to her before it pops out!

I am really happy with how this turned out. This is my own design too. I am a little nervous about the quilting pen I used because it really isn't fading! I'm debating washing it or soaking it in Oxyclean, but I'm scared. Anybody? Yay or nay?

I cannot believe tomorrow is already Sunday. Bleh. I'm wishing for a gray day because I have so much to do inside! Makes me feel better about being a shut-in. Xo, Lovies!

The No No Song

Did I ever tell you I am a pop culture junkie? I think I got it from my brother. If I were to ever apply to the World Series of Pop Culture it would be with him and his wife (let's do it, Joel and Ruth! ha). I like being addicted to pop culture. Although, Ryan gives me a hard time because I can probably tell you the name of every cast member from Lost, but ask me about politics and world affairs, that’s another story. Kinda pathetic.

I may have also gotten it from my mother who (and I’m not kidding you) has called me up on multiple occasions and will ask something along the lines of, “Have you seen Beyonce’s new video? That song isn’t very good, and she’s being downright nasty in it!”. About five years ago, she called me and said, “Have you heard of this group called Maroon 5?” I hadn’t yet. She also loves Queen, Gwen Stefani, and Prince.

Anyway, I’m apparently keeping the pop culture awareness alive. The other day, in the car, I asked Q what she wanted to listen to. I’m NOT KIDDING YOU, she said, “No No Song! No No Song!!” which translates to Rehab by Amy Winehouse (as in “They try to make me go to Rehab, and I say NO NO NO”). She loves it and gets this little bobble head thing going in her carseat. Probably not a kid's song she should be listening to, but ain't no way I can handle something like The Wiggles in the morning. Ryan will have to balance her out with teaching her about more important (less fun but way more intellectually significant) things. He has already bought her U.S. President flashcards, and the kid’s not even 2—lucky her!

On a crafty note, check out Crafty Chica's Amy Winehouse wig project! It's a riot!

On a Fine Friday Evening

Here are some things that I love tonight!!!


1. Nutty Little Squirrel Blankie from Chickabiddy
2. Lenticular postcard from Viosarghi
3. Peanut the Elephant Spinner from Rachzel
4. Vintage Bambi Planter by RetroKitsch
5. Reconstructed Storybook Card by Glitter Workshop
6. Potluck Flirt Pastry Stand by Catching Fireflies (I love the product name!!!)
7. Vintage Storybook Tree Purse by Little Odd Forest
8. Clown Cupcake Toppers by A. Bel Emporium
9. Mon-KEY key protectors by Patina

Happy weekend-- you deserve it (I'm right, aren't I? Knew it!)!!!!!

Quick Craft Room Colorway

I feel like I'm fixated on my room. Thanks for listening, all! I'm currently upset with Ikea because after severe scrutiny and deliberation, I decided on this desk. The key is the little pane of window that I can use to trace embroidery patterns or what have you. As luck would have it, it's not available online, and our local Ikea has the desktop, just not the trestle bottom. Phooey!!

Here is a little colorway of my room, and lo and behold, I found this nifty fabric that coordinates perfectly! Also matches the aforementioned cutie petootie hankie. I think I shall make a fabric covered bulletin board and maybe a stool cushion with it if I can find the stool I'm dreaming of. Oh, and any of you gals who sew know where I can get this fabric for less than $11.95/yard? If I have to do it, I will, but just thought I'd ask.

LOVELY BONES CAST!!!

Two blog posts in one day! I can't wait until tomorrow to share. The Lovely Bones has been *partially* casted!!!! This is one of my favorite all-time books, and I have been periodically checking IMDB and also spending an inordinate (geeky) amount of time on the Message Boards trying to guess who will be starring. As you may know, Peter Jackson is directing. My vote was for Sofia Coppola a la Virgin Suicides. I think she would have done a super job, but I was a huge LOTR fan, so I think he will do it justice.


You can check the IMDB site for further updates, but without further ado:

Ryan Gosling...Jack Salmon
I am so in love Ryan Gosling-- I forgot to tell you that he's the Ryan I'm married to. Kiddin, of course! Although why anyone would (SPOILER ALERT) cheat on him with Michael Imperioli is beyond me.


Rachel Weisz...Abigail Salmon
She is in Ryan's top 5 famous people he'd be allowed to sleep with (ha!) along with Cate Blanchette, Lisa Loeb (??), and two more odd birds I can never remember because he always changes his mind.

Susan Sarandon...Grandma Lynn

Stanley Tucci...George Harvey
I like this pick. I can see this even though I was more picturing a Phillip Seymour Hoffman type-- more slobby, not as obviously villainous.

Michael Imperioli...Len Fenerman
Love me some Christofuh. Adrien Brody would have been more appealing though.

Saoirse Ronan...Susie Salmon

Figured an unknown. Thank God no Dakota Fanning. Neither Lindsay nor Buckley have been cast yet, however.


Ok, that is all. I'm so GEEKed (they call it GEEKed for a reason). Over and out.

Tuesday (or Tu-HOO-esday)

As you can see, my blog titles have been less than spectacular lately. I did find it fitting to show this guy off though. I got the embroidered fabric from a flea market in the spring, and just backed it with some cute repro fabric to make a pillow. I don’t know what you’d do with him, but I likes. You can find him in my shop!

Also wanted to show off my most recent Etsy purchase. It’s a vinyl wall decal for Q’s big girl room (you know, the enchanted forest one). I will be the first to admit that I am an idea stealer. Come now though, who isn’t? My “inspiration” came from Emily’s trees and Amy’s HD Buttercup experience. James of One Up Designs has lots of different vinyl stickers, and he was super easy to work with. And trusting too! Didn’t even ask for any $$ before the design was finished.

I’ve also decided on the paint colors for both Q’s room and my craft room. Q’s room is going to be this raisiny pink called Lovable (gotta love the paint names) as shown in this sample room pic. And I *think* that my craft room will be like a silver sagey greeny (can’t remember the exact name…pine something) with Antique Red accents. Will show you those colors laters, taters.

P.S. There may be some news involving Girl Land products in an actual local brick and mortar shop! Eek. Trying not to get my hopes up…will keep you posted.

Toleware Monday

So I've started *actually* planning my craft room-- well, sorta. I did a scaled drawing of the
room, and I found a table at Ikea that I want. Does that count? I'm now scouring the internet for ideas on how to organize craft supplies. I received two books for my birthday on organizing craft spaces, and they were, eh, ok. I decided I want to make a corner of the room into a wrapping station as well because I have SO MUCH wrapping paper, curling ribbon, cute tissue paper that is just jammed into an unlit closet upstairs. If anyone has any storage tips or secrets they could not live without, please feel free to share.

I'm going with the silver sage green and antique red from the previously shown hankie. I kinda want to go brighter, but I really like those hankies which are more muted. I kind of, ahem, "borrowed" the idea from Jenny, but I think I'm going to take it in a little different direction. We are also looking into a new computer. God bless our 5-year-old HP Pavilion computer. It has been a trooper, and it's still going strong, but it's so darn bulky.

Ok, so to the toleware. I found an idea to take a toleware tray, mount it on the wall, then take those little flat round clear lid screw-top containers and put your teensy crafting things in it then affix a magnet on the back of THOSE (phew!) and stick them to the tray...on the wall. Get it? Now I'm obsessed with finding a Toleware tray. Here's some information I found online:

Tole, from the old French taule, refers to iron or steel in thin sheets laminated or welded under pressure. (definition from a 1910 French dictionary). From a traditional point of view, "Tole Painting", is painting on items made from this thin metal...the term "tole" is that "toleware" is a very specific kind of decorative painted, highly varnished product -- usually made from metal.

Here is one that I'm mad I passed up:



Here are a few that don't match but are very pretty!

And here's one I had when I was six years old (not exactly Toleware, but still rather charming...)