Rifle Paper Co.

I finally got my first issue of Country Living, and I found a lot of great ideas and resources! Check out Rifle Paper Co., founded by Anna Bond. These monogrammed note cards and calling cards are lovely.

Friday Featured Art: Fisherman's Cottage

Here's another great piece from the Art Institute: Harald Sohlberg's Fisherman's Cottage.

Thursday Tunes: Tunnel of Love

I don't really like the rockin' Born in the USA side of Bruce Springsteen, but I love the folk-sounding stuff. My husband pulled out this CD a week or so ago, and I really like it. It has some great tracks.

Orchid Show

One of the main purposes of our trip to St. Louis was to visit the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. This year's show had a Mayan theme. It was really great, as usual. There must be a million different varieties - we see something new every year.

Treasures of Napoleon

We went to St. Louis last Friday and stayed through Saturday. One of the things that we did while we were there was visit the Treasures of Napoleon exhibit at the Missouri History Museum. It was fantastic. I was really impressed by the number and variety of the objects. We saw (among others) a chair from Napoleon's personal office, a foot cushion used at his coronation (with bees embroidered on it), a fabric sample from Versailles (also including a bee - Napoleon's personal symbol), and a signet ring.

Archer Farms Italian Soda

For our Valentine's Day dinner last Monday, I bought some Archer Farms Italian Soda from Target. I got the blood orange flavor, and it was delicious. Have you tried it?


(I borrowed this photo...)

Friday Featured Art: Winter Sunshine, Chartwell

When we lived in Missouri, we weren't far from the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library in Fulton. One thing that I learned when we visited was that Churchill did some painting. I bought a print of Winter Sunshine, Chartwell, and I really like it.

Thursday Text: The Kitchen Linens Book

For my birthday (today) my good friend sent me a really cute book. The Kitchen Linens Book was written by a woman who collects vintage dish towels and tablecloths. It includes great pictures, a few recipes, and some original transfers to iron onto dish towels. So cute.

Sullivan Center

A week or so ago when we were downtown (on State Street), we passed the Sullivan Center. It's also known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. Building, designed by Louis Sullivan. It's pretty fantastic. I wish that they still designed such elaborate ornamentation for buildings.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This semester I'm taking the floral design - weddings class. I thought flowers would be nice for Valentine's Day, so here's the hand-tied bouquet that I made (and then inserted into a vase). Have a lovely day!

Friday Featured Art: Territory

I love this new painting, Territory, by Joe. I love when the moon looks like this. Joe is going to be part of a two-man show in Park City at the end of the month. Check it out.

Thursday Tunes: Marble Halls

Do you remember Marble Halls by Enya? I heard a version on our classical radio station the other day that was quite operatic, but it made me remember how much I loved this song.

Scalloped Whiteware Plates

When we were at Macy's the other day I saw a beautiful scalloped plate from Martha. This pictures isn't a very good one, but it was a lovely plate - and I should have bought it!

Slice Vintage Findings

I'm not a scrapbooker, and I don't know a lot about these die cutting machines, but when I was at JoAnn's the other day I was tempted to buy a Slice just so that I could get this design card that goes with it. The card is called Vintage Findings, and I think it has some really great designs. Now that I'm looking into it this Slice looks really interesting... Do you have experience with these?

Linen Dish Towels

I've been kind of unsatisfied with my dish towels lately, so I sewed some new ones out of white 100% linen. I used the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. I really love how they turned out.

Friday Featured Etsy Seller: Garden 22 Design Studio

Botanical-inspired jewelry is always so beautiful. I really love these pieces by Garden 22 Design Studio on Etsy. This boxwood pendant is lovely, and I like that the maple leaf earrings are modern yet classic.

Thursday Tunes: Jane Austen's World

I like the music of composer Rachel Portman. When I browsed for some sheet music of her music, I found this piano book. It has music from four different Jane Austen films, including Emma (scored by Rachel Portman). I'll have to save my allowance...

Scottish Saltire Flag Pillow

I can't remember where I first saw this, but it comes from a British company called Fur Feather & Fin: Country Sporting Gifts. I really love the St. Andrews Cross, and it's great as a pillow - don't you think?