Sneak Peek, new Items at GrayDay home shop

I am busy taking photos of new merchandise for my Home Shop on etsy! So I thought a little sneak peek would be fun!! All items, plus so much more, will go up tomorrow and I will continue to add to the shop throughout the week and BEYOND. Stay tuned!

Above: Vintage Land O' Lakes recipe tin

Wooden Strawberry recipe box. (love the green interior!)

Carved Wooden Clogs

Vintage Flags

Cigar Boxes

Metal Tin

Monday Inspiration: Advanced Style

This week's Monday Inspiration is a video clip of 90 yr old Ilona Royce Smithkin, an artist and performer who lives in NYC's west village.  She paints, teaches art, makes her own eyelashes and isn't afraid of color. Inspiring indeed!

Timber: a stop motion video

Weekend Project: Molding

We are still in the process of settling down from our big move, so this weekend's project is more of an inspiration rather than a how-to. Better Homes and Gardens offers a little gallery on the many uses for molding in your house! Here are some of my favorites. Check it out and let me live vicariously through your project!

like a hole in the head

I need more art like I need a hole in the head... but like with an after dinner chocolate, you can always squeeze one more in!!  And so I wanted to share the work of Samantha French.  Her paintings are available on poppytalkhandmade as archival prints. They measure 11x14 and come with a 16x20 matt for easy framing, all for $75- a deal with the matt! I love the subject matter of these two swimming prints. I grew up around water and although hesitant at times, I swam often and reveled in the peace and solitude that comes while underwater... these images take me to those moments, especially the last print.  I just love the line of gray paint that morphs out of a patch of gestural paint at her chest and traces a contour line down the front of her suit.

Links and Such

Above: The World Trade Center- a single image composed of hundreds of tourist's photos. This one of New York- reminds me of the PBS NYC series we recently completed watching... Somehow this photo looks like the evolution and many layers of the big apple. Go to the site to see similar depictions of other world landmarks. I love how they look like pastel drawings.


Wallet found after 40 years
Love these wool blankets!
A sweater that matches the family dog
The biggest family
A cute way to document a pregnancy
the world's smallest aquarium
ofakind: fun way to shop and discover new designers
Fall fashion
Alicia Bock- photography on poppytalk

Organizing the bookcase

Cute stop motion video...

Handmade Shout Out: Pinkkiss Pottery

This week's Handmade Shout Out goes to Pinkkiss Pottery, a fabulous new-to-me shop on Etsy! I pretty much luv EVERYTHING in the shop, but picked out some of my favorites to tempt your own visit. The shop's description, "a modern heirloom" is the perfect summary... the pieces feel slightly old timey and yet modern. And the craftsmanship make them a lovely heirloom.

Above: Sip Juice Cup. Love the text, the robin's egg blue, the black almost stitches and the contrast of the black interior with the neutral exterior.

Detail of The Sip Cup. <3 the contrast of shiny and matt glazes. 

Mug with Blue Flowers: Reminds me of a well manicured English Garden.

Blue Stripes Porcelain Cup: Love how the cup is slightly off kilter. 

Salt Cellar with Silver Spoon 

17 weeks old

"Cheeks" at 17 weeks.

She is 17 weeks old... and today is our moving day. I woke up at 3:30 am for a feeding and then was wide awake after she fell back asleep- hate that- so I laid there taking stock of all these last little moments... to prepare myself for our big drive tonight. It's a Wednesday and she was born in this very apartment on a Wednesday at 4:21 am, 17 weeks ago. Our home birth was pretty flawless and these last 4 months have felt like a continuation of our cocoon like home-birth environment... so moving and setting up a new nest will be bitter sweet...  forgive the rambling of this post since it is about 6 am!

It's funny to think about moving.... Cameron and I never had a proper honeymoon, it was more of a road trip that convinced us to move to Portland the following year. Thus our time here in Maine has felt like an extended holiday, yet a time for the two of us to come into our own as a married couple and now as new parents.   As a result we found our niche in Portland- through knitting groups, midwife potlucks, classes at Birth Roots, my brief involvement in the local art community pre-baby... and so forth. But I know that even though our new surroundings will be different, we will seek out those things we loved about Maine... (well as much as possible, no seagulls or local lobster... sigh- and all the fantastic bakeries and restaurants) 

BUT back to the little miss at 17 weeks. (I'll keep it brief)  It's really cute how she watches the dog play... she's fixated but often can't keep up following her around the room, there is a bit of a delay...  This week I made up yet another new song to sing to her. It's for burping - awesome I know- (eye roll) but it seems to help her with the discomfort and provides a nice distraction and an alternative to monotonously patting her on the back, since the song comes with special movements and stretches- mostly "leaning forward and leaning back"- and those are the lyrics! lol If I get over the anguish of hearing my voice, I'll post the video of it sometime soon. 

Stay tuned for Today's Handmade Shout Out!  Now I must dash.

MOVING DAY ahhhhhhh

Today is moving day!!!  We are officially packing up our fatty-bo-batty moving containers (more on that at a future time) And then tomorrow we hit the road and move to DE. As I've mentioned before, this was not an easy decision to leave our beloved Maine... but now that we are packing and getting closer to this next step, it's exciting (eeep).  I have some blog posts scheduled to publish this week, so I wont miss the daily themes. I figure I blogged after the baby was born so moving shouldn't keep me!!

Above: a crappy cell phone shot of our front room/ guest room/ studio. And in case you were wondering- those boxes are leftovers to be returned to u-haul. Trust me, we are packed! 

Green Living: Headphones

This week's Green Living Post a friend posted on facebook and I just had to share! Ashcraft Aria headphones are made from reclaimed materials and prove how versatile recycling can be.  The quilted leather head band is made from reclaimed clothing and accessories. Appropriately enough the wood is made from recycled acoustic guitars and the ear cups are made from recycled aluminum.

Love this idea!  I feel that at the rate technology is developing we need to be responsible consumers and designers- making products from recycled materials, or ones that are easy to recycle.  Hello the cell phone and laptop! ! !

Monday Inspiration

It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking time to do anything well.

~Joseph Ross

As we approach our moving day this week from Maine to Delaware, I thought this quote was appropriate to keep in mind as we begin the next step in our lives... as the husbo takes time to go back to school and we work on establishing a future for our budding family. A word on the photo- Last week the baby was fussing on her mat, so the husband pulled her off it, curled up with her and they both fell fast asleep... and then Millie joined in, she is always up for napping.

Weekend Project: Fabric Lampshade

This week's Weekend Project is a simple DIY from Readymade by Whipstitch in Atlanta. All you need is a lamp with a shade, glue, fabric, scissors, and pins! Check out the tutorial HERE! Since we are busy packing this weekend, I'll be saving this project for a future time (I have the perfect lamp begging for a little upgrade). Happy DIY-ing!

Links and Such

Here are Thursday's "Links and Such"! enjoy.

Above: Designtripper takes us on a trip to Boulevard Leopold, a B&B in Belgium. How awesome is this bird!? Rocks my socks. 

Egypt: the wait, in pictures

Darren Booth: hand drawn words and letters

in case you missed it: Anthro does weddings

I want to knit this Cardigan

Victorian Rabbit 

Street Photography in London

old weather vanes 

Puff Floor cushion

Hurry Along Children

Back to the future- photography series (give it time to load- worth it!)

make these trivets

Time wasting experiment

Handmade Shout Out

This week's HandMade Shout Out is a collection of some recent etsy favorites from some of my old-to-me favorite shops as well as new-to-me favorite shops! check them out!!

Above: Pink Honeycomb, silkscreen scarf by PrettyPennyDesigns

Cotton paper origami lampshade, by nellianna

Arrow Ring in grey, by MujiAndYou

Wooden Heritage breed eggs, by Imaginationkids

(cute for your kiddo or for home decor!)

White Poppy candle tray, by MarciG

Handwoven Kitchen towel, in robin's egg blue, by NutFieldWeaver

*I want everything on this week's Handmade Shout Out!*

16 weeks old

wow, it's been four months already that this little one has been in our lives and yet it's hard to remember a time without her! We've reached quite the milestone this week and the husband and I have been reflecting on these past months while looking ahead to try and picture the craziness of her being 6 months, then 9 months old (and so on) more milestones that are sure to creep up on us quickly! As for the 16th week stuff- more of the same from last week, just MORE of it... like major smiles when she seems to get our jokes and funny voices. She also smiles as a greeting and listens intently to us especially when we are on the phone. She loves her play-mat more and more each day and loves grabbing all the toys and inevitably bringing them up to her mouth. She rolled over three times in a row last week- during "tummy time" and she can roll on her side while on her back. We have big belly laughing fits at night before bed where we set each other off laughing. But then the laughing sessions inevitably lead to her hiccuping for a long time and then I feel like a jerk! ; ) We read books to her everyday, and she loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? and Mommy calls me monkeypants.

Where ever we go EVERYONE comments on her cheeks. They are very round, her profile is a majestic compilation of circles with a teeny nose peaking out. She is so long now and we love having her nap on our chests- for the cuddling but also for the perspective on how big she has become! And of course there are more of these cute wolf pup yawns!

*Little Miss is wearing a cute kimono fleece lined romper by Lucky Wang NYC and her hat is by San Diego Hat co. - all from Oranges and Lemons, in Greenville, DE.*

Guest Blogger Crane Contemplation: school days

First in a new series on TiptoeThrough- guest bloggers! This week my friend Crane Contemplation is sharing her favorite etsy finds. A fun and nostalgic collection! 

Hello there, I'm Michelle. I've known Abby since high school and also spent time as a camp counselor with her, where she shared her amazing craftiness with kids! I'm a teacher by day, but love style, design, photography, and crafty blogs. My own blog, CraneContemplation, is just a combination of pieces around the blogosphere that catch my eye and my own rambling/daily life. Stop by and say hello!

Above: School Bell - I have a bell similar to this in my classroom and I use it to get students' attention.

This vintage chalkholder to make perfectly straight lines reminds me of cursive practice during my childhood. While most schools have dry erase boards now, this could still be a fun accessory with chalkboard paint!

Globe - I've always loved maps and geography, and being pre-1960, this globe is fascinating for finding now non-existent countries. 

Sweet vintage Valentines - good for decorating anytime of the year!

A sweet nursery rhyme book, perfect for new moms, an elementary classroom, or just a personal collection!

Paper cutter - This would be a great piece for decoration or craft pieces - often the older ones cut the best!

Thanks Michelle for these fantastic vintage finds on etsy! Follow TiptoeThrough for future guest bloggers and interviews to come. 

Green Living: Biodegradable packaging

One thing that drives me CRAZAY is all the packaging that comes with everything, HELLO trader joes with their shrink wrapped and styrofoam backed veggies. And I've worked many a retail job where each individual shirt is wrapped in a plastic bag, just one of many US regulations on goods imported from overseas. awesome. My dream someday soon would be that if something has to have packaging that it is made from recycled materials and ideally is biodegradable.  SO I luv the above video of a company exploring an alternative styrofoam- made from FUNGI!  Check it out.

BHLDN by Anthropologie, can I renew my vows!?

Holy smokes- Anthro just launched their NEW wedding line today BHLDN/ Behold, and it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Is three years too soon to renew your vows!?   The gowns, as seen above are lovely with some kick-ass vintage flare. And their dresses, for bridesmaids and the like, are also classic and flirty.  Not to mention the cute accessories and must-have shoes.  swoon.  Check it out for yourself HERE.

Monday Inspiration: amore

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Photos- thanks to Kisssssing blog

Sales at my Etsy shops!

20% off my artwork w/ code "hooray" at checkout.

AND a whopping 50% off my home goods with code "birthday" at check out.

ENDS this SATURDAY!