Friday, December 5, 2008
Happy Weekend!
These photos are a little like me right now, although I am certainly not living out of such nice luggage! We are in the midst of our move, and we are in the phase of figuring out temporary housing. Right now, we are staying in a hotel, and Goal Number One this weekend is to find a short-term rental!
What are your weekend plans? I hope that whatever you are doing, you have a great one!
Remember you have a few more hours to enter the giveaway, and I will announce the winners soon!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Giveaway Extension!
I am extending the Delight.com giveaway until Friday, Dec 5, at 11:59 pm CST because it came to my attention though an email earlier that I didn't have anonymous comments enabled on my blog. I have fixed this, and I hope that this will allow anyone who would like to enter to be able to do so!!
Put A Cork In It
I considered cork as an option for my kitchen when I was replacing the floor, and although I didn't select it, I still adore the idea of cork floors and would be thrilled to have one at some point. I love that cork is an eco-friendly product and that there's such a wide variety of styles to be found.
While I love the idea of cork floors, I looove the idea of cork walls. It adds such warmth to rooms, as evident in the photos below. It would be fabulous to have an entire cork wall in a studio where I could pin inspirational images 'til my heart's content.
And, of course, cork would be a very wise decision for dampening sound from a certain large dog who enjoys a good bark now and again (don't worry, Itchy, I am not naming names.)
While I love the idea of cork floors, I looove the idea of cork walls. It adds such warmth to rooms, as evident in the photos below. It would be fabulous to have an entire cork wall in a studio where I could pin inspirational images 'til my heart's content.
And, of course, cork would be a very wise decision for dampening sound from a certain large dog who enjoys a good bark now and again (don't worry, Itchy, I am not naming names.)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Our Wedding Invitations {an eco-friendly challenge}
I have mentioned before that I designed and hand-screened our wedding invitations, and in honor of the eco-friendly giveaway, I thought I would share our invitations with you on this week's Wedding Wednesday.
Early on, in our quest to select paper for the invitations, I'd decided I wanted the paper we used to be recycled. I loved the look of kraft paper and wanted to find a paper in the same colorway that would be a softer, finer paper, suitable for invititations, which was also made of recycled content.
My mom and I set out on a major search to find that paper, and a lot of what we found was just a little off; either the color wasn't right, the paper was rough, or -gasp- it wasn't recycled. My mom was fully in agreement when the color was wrong or the paper quality was too poor. Yet, when she discovered a beautiful, soft paper that was the right color, but wasn't recycled, I think my mom wanted to pull her hair out when I said I was sticking by my "must be recycled" declaration.
Using recycled paper was an easy way I could see to make our wedding slightly more eco-friendly, and I couldn't give up on the idea. So I didn't, and we persisted. After much searching, my mom found a paper that met all the requirements!
As evident in the photo above and those below, just a few of the many taken during the process, our invitations were a bit of an endeavour. We started making the invitations just after E had arrived home from his deployment to Afghanistan, and I am not entirely positive that he didn't wish he'd come home a week or two later.
My mom drove down from Tennessee for a week, and the three of us worked almost around the clock to complete the hand-screening of our invitations. I joked that I was running a sweatshop, and I think they were ready to mutiny about halfway through the week. At one point, probably running on three hours of sleep from the night before, even I questioned why I had thought DIY-ing so many different elements was a good idea.
We sent out a little over 200 invitations; multiply each of our nine (or, Mom was it 11??) elements by 200+, and, well, we had a lot of pieces and needed a lot of space for drying! E rigged up clothes lines throughout the house and garage; it was rather comical to watch as we tip-toed through rooms and ducked under lines, being very careful to not disturb the prints before the ink had dried.
After all the pieces had dried, we still had much assembly (and addressing!) to do. My mom took almost half home with her, where my brothers and dad were roped into the process too. They completed their group, while E and I worked devotedly on ours.
In the end, our invitations turned out to be a true labor of love, one we all agreed was well-worth it.
{click on any of the pictures to enlarge them}
Early on, in our quest to select paper for the invitations, I'd decided I wanted the paper we used to be recycled. I loved the look of kraft paper and wanted to find a paper in the same colorway that would be a softer, finer paper, suitable for invititations, which was also made of recycled content.
My mom and I set out on a major search to find that paper, and a lot of what we found was just a little off; either the color wasn't right, the paper was rough, or -gasp- it wasn't recycled. My mom was fully in agreement when the color was wrong or the paper quality was too poor. Yet, when she discovered a beautiful, soft paper that was the right color, but wasn't recycled, I think my mom wanted to pull her hair out when I said I was sticking by my "must be recycled" declaration.
Using recycled paper was an easy way I could see to make our wedding slightly more eco-friendly, and I couldn't give up on the idea. So I didn't, and we persisted. After much searching, my mom found a paper that met all the requirements!
As evident in the photo above and those below, just a few of the many taken during the process, our invitations were a bit of an endeavour. We started making the invitations just after E had arrived home from his deployment to Afghanistan, and I am not entirely positive that he didn't wish he'd come home a week or two later.
My mom drove down from Tennessee for a week, and the three of us worked almost around the clock to complete the hand-screening of our invitations. I joked that I was running a sweatshop, and I think they were ready to mutiny about halfway through the week. At one point, probably running on three hours of sleep from the night before, even I questioned why I had thought DIY-ing so many different elements was a good idea.
We sent out a little over 200 invitations; multiply each of our nine (or, Mom was it 11??) elements by 200+, and, well, we had a lot of pieces and needed a lot of space for drying! E rigged up clothes lines throughout the house and garage; it was rather comical to watch as we tip-toed through rooms and ducked under lines, being very careful to not disturb the prints before the ink had dried.
After all the pieces had dried, we still had much assembly (and addressing!) to do. My mom took almost half home with her, where my brothers and dad were roped into the process too. They completed their group, while E and I worked devotedly on ours.
In the end, our invitations turned out to be a true labor of love, one we all agreed was well-worth it.
{click on any of the pictures to enlarge them}*Remember, you have until 11:59 pm CST tomorrow (Thursday) night to enter the Delight.com giveaway!
Monday, December 1, 2008
'Tis the Season
While I love many different times of the year, December is my most favorite month by far. I love the holidays for so many reasons, and one of the things I love most about them is being able to give to others.
In the spirit of giving, I am thrilled to announce I've partnered with Delight.com for a holiday giveaway! If you aren't already familiar with Delight.com, they have an endless selection of charming products, with a strong emphasis on eco-friendly items. They also feature a new item daily in their section "Today's Delight," which is discounted for a 24-hour period and is updated at lunchtime each afternoon.
Courtesy of Delight.com, I have three of these adorable Ecojot Happy Owl notebooks up for grabs; they are 100% recycled and recyclable. The paper was made in a mill that uses biogas (recovered landfill gases) as their alternative power source, and the glues and inks are vegetable-based and biodegradable! Does it get much better than that?
To enter visit Delight.com, and then come back by Thursday, Dec. 4th 11:59 p.m. CST and leave me a comment here to let me know which of their eco-friendly items are your favorite. Also, I'd love if you'd tell me the easiest change you have made or intend to make to live more eco-friendly. Make sure you include a valid email address as well as your first name and the first initial of your last name.
These are some of my favorite eco-friendly items that they carry.
Delight.com is also offering a 15% discount to all readers of Under A Paper Moon! Between today, December 1st, and December 9th, enter the code MoonDelight, which is case sensitive, when you checkout to take advantage of this deal.
*Delight.com only ships to the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany, so winners must have an address in one of these countries. I am so sorry that all my other international readers won't be able to participate in this! I promise, I will make it up to you somehow!
Remember, you have until Thursday at 11:59 p.m. CST to enter, and I will announce the winners on Friday!
In the spirit of giving, I am thrilled to announce I've partnered with Delight.com for a holiday giveaway! If you aren't already familiar with Delight.com, they have an endless selection of charming products, with a strong emphasis on eco-friendly items. They also feature a new item daily in their section "Today's Delight," which is discounted for a 24-hour period and is updated at lunchtime each afternoon.
Courtesy of Delight.com, I have three of these adorable Ecojot Happy Owl notebooks up for grabs; they are 100% recycled and recyclable. The paper was made in a mill that uses biogas (recovered landfill gases) as their alternative power source, and the glues and inks are vegetable-based and biodegradable! Does it get much better than that?
To enter visit Delight.com, and then come back by Thursday, Dec. 4th 11:59 p.m. CST and leave me a comment here to let me know which of their eco-friendly items are your favorite. Also, I'd love if you'd tell me the easiest change you have made or intend to make to live more eco-friendly. Make sure you include a valid email address as well as your first name and the first initial of your last name.
These are some of my favorite eco-friendly items that they carry.
Delight.com is also offering a 15% discount to all readers of Under A Paper Moon! Between today, December 1st, and December 9th, enter the code MoonDelight, which is case sensitive, when you checkout to take advantage of this deal.
*Delight.com only ships to the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany, so winners must have an address in one of these countries. I am so sorry that all my other international readers won't be able to participate in this! I promise, I will make it up to you somehow!
Remember, you have until Thursday at 11:59 p.m. CST to enter, and I will announce the winners on Friday!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
For the Love of {Owls}- Part 2
While Part 1 of For the Love of {Owls} consisted of photos and a painting that were realistic representations of the nocturnal creatures, Part 2 features illustrations with portrayals of owls that are either animated, slightly lifelike, or some combination of the two.
Decoylab
DecoylabThere are more owls to come tomorrow along with an exciting announcement I can't wait to share!!
For the Love of {Owls}
I know that a lot of people are "over" owls, as happens with any trend, but, perhaps since I am such a night owl myself, I still find some owl-inspired pieces irresistible!
Each of these pieces of art captured my eye; I love the life-like quality of Cara Enteles' painting, and I adore each of the three photographs, by Sharon Montrose, Allie Arts 4 Children, and D.S. Brennan Photography, as well.
Each of these pieces of art captured my eye; I love the life-like quality of Cara Enteles' painting, and I adore each of the three photographs, by Sharon Montrose, Allie Arts 4 Children, and D.S. Brennan Photography, as well.
Eye of the Predator- Cara Enteles
Stay tuned for Part 2!
