Moms are awesome

I guess I sounded pretty frazzled when I was talking to my mom last week. Between having a kid who doesn't like to sleep and all the projects I'm working on, I haven't been getting very much sleep lately. And I guess it was starting to show!

So she sent me this beautiful flower arrangement on Monday. She also sent a giraffe and some balloons and a little baggie of candy for Lachlan. (I, of course, inhaled the candy. Almond Joy, my favorite!)

This was just the little ray of sunshine I needed to pep me up and keep me going. I love all the flowers in the arrangement, especially these purple ones. But I can't for the life of me think of what they're called. Does anyone know?

Thanks, mom. You're the BEST! :D

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! How will you be celebrating today?

I wish I was going to be at my house so that I could make my table look like this gorgeous creation by 100 Layer Cake.

Instead, we'll be going to Santa Fe to my cousin's place. It will be nice to sit back and just stuff my face with turkey and cranberries!

In case you decide to do any online shopping over the long weekend, I wanted to let you know that my Etsy store is finally open again. I still have to post a lot of goods on there, but at least it is alive and kicking again!

Paula Hayes terrariums

One of these days I'm going to have a life that doesn't involve paint or tile. Until then, I will continue to dream about making terrariums as spectacular as these beauties created by Paula Hayes.

My wedding: Part I

I swore I was never going to be the kind of bride that bought an insane dress that I'd only wear once in my life. I mean, how ridiculous. Right? I promised myself that I wouldn't spend more than $300 on a dress. And then I made the mistake of trying on some that were just a tiny bit more expensive. And then just a tiny bit more expensive. And then... and then I tried on this one, and my mom's face just lit up. End of story. :)



We got married at my parents' house in the mountains east of Albuquerque, NM. It's gorgeous there, so we just spread some wood mulch in the area. I didn't want to compete with the beautiful surroundings, so my mom and I made some simple pomanders out of cream paper napkins (one of my DIY ideas on crack) and hung them in the trees.



My colors were chocolate, ivory, pomegranate, plum, and wine. In March I started going to Home Depot, Lowe's, and every local nursery every week, looking for flowers in the right colors to plant around the house. These English daisies are still my favorite.



My original plan had been not only to make my own bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres, but to grow my own flowers (another DIY idea on crack). In the end, an unusally cool spring meant that most of the flowers didn't grow well enough to harvest, and the ones that dig grow well enough ended up being too pretty too cut. So the day before the wedding my mom went to a grocery store and bought daisies, mums, and carnations that happened to be the perfect color, and I walked around the house and picked wild white clover, purple wildflowers, mint, rosemary, and blooming sage for the bouquets.



For the corsages and boutonniers, I used a lot of hens and chicks that some family friends gave me, and some pink and burgundy miniature dahlias I grew. Then I added things I picked around the house that morning--dusty miller leaves, grass stems, scrub oak leaves, mint, rosemary, and snapdragon buds. I was still making them while I was having my hair done! But they were one of my favorite projects from the whole wedding.





All photos are by Vladimir Chaloupka, the world's most amazing photographer ever. Seriously.

Flowers and bird cages

Love this table setting and other photos from a photo shoot styled by Duet Weddings and photographed by Corbin Gurkin. The vintage bird cages (scored from area flea markets) are really fun, and the flowers--in what look like fun old tin cans--are just gorgeous.





Found through The Ritzy Bee.

Flower carpet in Brussels

This gives a whole new meaning to "floral arrangement"! It's a massive carpet made of carefully arranged flowers--mainly Begonias--in Brussels. If anyone is planning to be in Brussels August 13-15, 2010, definitely plan to check it out!

More information here. Found via Dude Craft.

Hanging succulents

Many weeks ago I spotted this hanging succulent garden in a post on Remodelista.


And I went silly over it.


Over the weekend I was catching up on my blogs and I saw them again, this time in a feature over at Design Sponge.


These are all the creations of Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. And I think this woman is a genius.

She also makes wreaths of succulents.


I love the wreaths.


Like these from Martha Stewart Living and Viva Terra (which can be purchased for about $100).

Dandelion Ranch

Oh, my heavens. In my next life, I'm just going to live at Dandelion Ranch, among all these gorgeous flower arrangements. Stunning!





Found via 100 Layer Cake.