joujou papillon

This is my new favorite thing to do! Go to this site: www.drawastickman.com

And draw a Stickman! Above is my stickman. er…person. Stickgirl. After drawing her I realize her dress is way too short.

Oh dear.

Don’t you?

I made the (blissful) mistake of going into Marshall’s the other day. I rounded the corner and was floored by this gem of a piece:

(I should’ve taken a picture of it at the store to help this post to flow…but I don’t think ahead, you know that.) I fell in love with it instantly! Technically it’s for a candle. A real tall pillar candle. It needs to be used for something more grandiose than a candle! It’s made of (I think) tin and wood, finished with a real pretty robin’s egg blue. Real rustic and worn! So worn, in fact, that the top of it was caved in a little bit, and an entire piece of glass was missing. See where the flowers are spilling out? Yep, that’s why. Despite those deficiencies, this puppy was $39. What a steal! I was staring at it awhile, trying to figure out what I need a giant glass enclosed cage-thing for. Yeah, the price is amazing (it’s 2′x2′x4′), but I’m too practical to just buy something because I want to have  a love affair with it, but have no idea where to put it or what to use it for.

Around the corner walks Matt. I show him my dream cage. He looks at it a minute, looks at me, grins and says “It would make an amazing joujou display”  AAAHHHHHH a joujou display!! I have died and gone to heaven! I have no idea how to display them in there, but I know Matt has a brilliant idea in his head, and will make it happen. In the cart she goes! Along with a sparkly girl to hang a joujou on, and a canvas with Paris metro stops on it (to accent our canvas with NY subway stops we bought years ago). And two dog bowls. You know, the necessities. (I had to put back the banana-wrapped lamb)

Smart Matt told me to make sure to ask about a discount because of the damages. I bet that’s why it’s so cheap, but fine, I’ll ask. When I told the girl up front what was wrong with it, she was simply appalled, and so was the manager. So they marked it down to…$23!! What?! I had my best poker face on and thanked them graciously. Anyone want to buy this from me for $100? You can’t have it! But you’d totally pay that, wouldn’t you? I would!

So here my pretty cage sits, on top of my bookcase. It barely fit up there. Matt thought it needed something inside of it, so I shoved the flowers that were in its place inside. Works for me! For now, anyway, until we come up with a more brilliant idea. We both have a few ideas for how to do a joujou display. You’ll just have to come see it at the Carlsbad Street Faire in May!

I found this cute little bird in Gardenology the other day. I had to get her to go on my cage.

Check out the cool graphic thingies Cara E made me.

She is such an amazing designer, I can’t stand it. She has a great eye for color palettes, fonts & retro. Need something amazing designed? Check her out!  www.aquasodio.com

I have a small handful of blogs I read on (almost) a daily basis. Some I’ve read for a couple years, some I’m a bit embarrassed I read, some are new and I’m oh so addicted! I thought I’d list them all here for you and tell you why I heart them so. And maybe you can tell me which blogs you read and why I should read them, too.

(This is in no particular order, just the random order of my brain…)

Blog: Design Love Fest
Web: www.designlovefest.com
Why I Heart It: She’s a graphic designer that travels to do workshops for regular folks like you and me. I love her sense of style and fashion, and I love her blond hair. And she’s cute. Let’s face it…cute people are fun to look at. Oh, and she’s friends with this next girl…

Blog: Style by Emily Henderson
Web: www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com
Why I Heart It: I’ve talked about Emily a few times on this here blog. Clearly I have a slight obsession with her. I just recently discovered her blog (I’m a bit late on the stalking this time) and I gotta say…L O V E. She is cute, hilarious, obsesses about weird things (right up my alley), and is just so…real. Love that about a person! I’ve only read a handful of posts, but I’m hoping one day I’ll be crazy bored and will read everything’s she’s written in the last 2 years.

Blog: Whimspiration
Web: www.whimspirationphoto.blogspot.com
Why I Heart It: You might remember this blog from such posts as this one. She hosted a joujou giveaway on her blog. That was fun! But that’s not why I heart it so bad. I heart it because she has different fun things on different days. What I Wore Wednesday (fashion),  Tuesday’s Treasury (which always has a great theme and highlights cool etsy things), Fashion Friday (more fashion!), and What’s Cookin’ Wednesday (recipes). Besides all that, she has an adorable baby.

Blog: Green Wedding Shoes
Web: www.greenweddingshoes.com
Why I Heart It: Let me geek out on weddings for a moment, please. My friend Natalie (also a wedding photographer) told me about this blog. I was addicted instantly! They showcase such pretty weddings on this blog. Most are full of DIY elements, which is great and all…but can get real annoying when you see “vintage” and “diy” every other word and everything looks so homemade. Don’t get me wrong, I love a DIY and vintage stuff as much as the next person. But it can be overdone. Ya know? Anyway, back to the good stuff. They have sparkly weddings, great styled shoots by vendors, brilliant ideas for not just your wedding, but you can think outside the box and do some of these projects just for your every day enjoyment.

Blog: Stay Forever Sunday / Dear Baby Blog
Web: www.withoutmelissa.com / www.dearbabyblog.com
Why I Heart It: We’re keeping it real here, folks. I am a bit embarrassed that I follow these two blogs. Coryn first sent me a link to SFS, and I just got hooked right away. I found out later about her second blog about her first baby. Well, she now has two, and I started reading before the second one was a glimmer in his parents eyes. Do I have children? Nope. Am I planning to have them anytime soon? Nope. Why do I feel the need to know what’s going on in these strangers lives? I have no idea! But I can’t stop. Forgive me.

Blog: Kelli Murray
Web: www.kellimurray.com/news
Why I Heart It: Once again, her amazing bleach blond hair. I don’t know why I’m drawn to it, but I am. She is an amazing illustrator! I am dying to commission her to do a drawing of me and my two kitties. (Maybe we’ll even throw Matt in there, who knows.) She also lives in San Diego, that’s fun, too! I would like to go on record to say that she was baby free when I started reading this blog. It has kind of sort of turned into a baby blog, but that’s not my fault! She still posts often about her design and fashion, and that’s what I read it for. I swear.

Blog: Wild Ink Press
Web: www.wildinkpress.com/blog
Why I Heart It: One word: Chico. Now I’ll say more words: This is a mother of two adopted boys from two different countries who has a letterpress business with her husband in Chico. “What’s so great about Chico?” you ask? I grew up in Chico! Back in the hippy days. aaahhh, running around the creek in the 110 degree summer. Those were the days! Chico will always have a little special place in my heart, and this blog includes some current Chico fun and pictures.

Blog: Fictional Chick
Web: www.fictionalchick.com
Why I Heart It: Because I heart her, that’s why! And because she does reviews on here. I love her reviews. They’re real funny. She warns you if she puts in a spoiler or two, so that helps. If it’s a movie I want to see but haven’t seen it yet, I just read her general review, skip the spoiler alert, then after I see it I go back and read the rest to see what she thought of it. She’s a multi-talented girl…writer, photographer, graphic/web designer, and she’s an awesome geek girl. What could go wrong?

Blog: The Pioneer Woman
Web: www.thepioneerwoman.com
Why I Heart It: Just because this is listed last by no means means (too many means…I should think about re-wording that) that it’s the least of my favorites. This blog is epic bloginess! It actually is 7 blogs in 1. Seven. There’s a cooking section, where she cooks amazing food and takes pictures of each step. This is stuff that I can cook. She makes it seem simple, doable. You know I’m not a foodie. Nor a chef. I make burritos and pasta. That’s about it. But reading her cooking blog makes me want to spread my cooking wings! My next favorite section (actually, probably first favorite section) is Confessions. Just daily life stuff. Find the post about the donut shop. I dare you. (ok fine, read it here) There’s a section all about photography. Then there’s Home & Garden that discusses…well, home and garden stuff. And the new Entertainment section! That’s just downright fun. (I got 100% on the Star Wars quiz, FYI.) I haven’t read this blog since Thursday, and it’s taking everything out of me to not stop this post on my own measly blog to read hers. Just do yourself a favor…if you haven’t read her blog yet, you’d better just start.

Alright folks, those are the handful blogs that I read. There are more I check almost every day, but I didn’t list them here because they rarely post anything. And I really should start doing something more meaningful than blog about blogs. What’s this world coming to?

Your turn! What blogs do you heart that I should read??