GREAT FIND!

Found this at a neighborhood market today...

More to come soon!

Bell Jars and Cloches

What is it about a bell jar that makes whatever is inside seems so mysterious and creature-like?  I love the scientific oddities feeling they give off.  Remodelista did a wonderful article on using bell jars and cloches as decorations in your home.  I think I need to add to my collection!  Here are a few photos featured on the Remodelista post.

Melaphant Print

This wonderful mysterious inked plate is so charming!  I wish I could see a final print of this plate though... The subject portrayed is part mouse - part elephant, hince the title Melaphant.  The artist is Laine Greenway.  If you check out his site, you'll see a few prints within the bell jar theme.  I really, really like them!  Hope you do too.

EDIT : I found a print of the Melaphant mezzotint.  It's so wonderful!

I think I NEED these!

I'm in love.  How wonderful are these sandals?!  I already can't wait for summer... so I have an official reason to purchase them :)

Oh My. Apple Pie.

A couple of weekends ago I wandered upstate in a 15-passenger van with several friends to go apple picking. Here is the result of our trip.

I'm not a big crust-lover so this pie was just right.

We also have a fridge stocked with homemade applesauce, a perfect snack. Yum!

A Charlotte Weekend

Just wrapped up an extra fun weekend in Charlotte!  We definitely packed a lot into a short amount of time.  We wound up listening to and playing lots of music, eating Mexican food (twice), enjoying the southern outdoors and beautiful fall weather, we swung on playground swings at the park, found some crazy mushrooms near a tree, snuck in an impromptu photoshoot, made Mickey Mouse waffles, photographed a beautiful backyard wedding, ate a few too many fried pickles on the grand finale night at Penguin, and overall had a great time.  Thanks to our great hosts Jeremy and Bailey for a very, very happy weekend.  Until Thanksgiving...cheers.

Musical Wallpaper

Why haven't I thought of this before?  Lately I've been dying to get some pattern up on my walls.  I'm not sure why, especially because I've never (ever) been a proponent for wallpaper at any point in my life.  Right now... well, that's a different story.  I recently saw a home treatment posting on Apartment Therapy about a home with Player piano music rolls on his walls as wallpaper.  How brilliant!  Maybe I'll give this a try.

Justin Miller Linocut Prints

I wanted to share a couple of prints I've found created by Justin Miller of Bound Staff Press.  They are so visually pleasing to me.  The simple designs, precise cuts, and unwavering attention to detail make these prints a treasure.  I've got to get a piece of printing linoleum soon!

You can find his prints on Etsy for purchase.

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

I thought I'd pass along my favorite pizza dough recipe I received from Keith a few years ago.  It makes the YUMMIEST dough I have ever had.  Enjoy!

Pizza Dough Recipe

Combine the following in a bowl: 

2 cups warm water

2 packages yeast add a little sugar

3/4 cup whole flour

Let stand for 15 min.

Stir in the following : 

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 c. olive oil

2 tsp. salt

2 cups semolina flour

1 cup white flour

Stir to combine.

Knead for five minutes.

Let rise 1 hour before using.

I highly recommend baking your pizza at 375 - 400 degrees using a pizza stone so that your crust will be extra crispy and oh-so-delicious.

Fall Festivities!

Over the past couple of weekends, I've thoroughly enjoyed several fall-themed events. To start with, two weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Eric Ryan Anderson and his (now) wife Amy.  It was a beautiful wedding in Cold Spring, NY with a farm reception.  Gorgeous trees, beautiful people, and perfect location.  Here's a portrait Josh took of the newlyweds at the reception and also one of me at the farm :

The day following the wedding was our annual Harvest Days in PA.  We gorged ourselves with apple cider donuts, cider, pumpkin carving, good food, fun drinks, and great friends. It was pure happiness!  

This past weekend, Sunday was such a perfect fall day!  Several friends and I rented a 15-passenger van, loaded it up and headed upstate a bit to a lovely apple orchard.  We picked apples right of the tree (lots of them), ate more apple cider donuts, local honey, whiskey cider, and gathered back in Brooklyn for individual homemade pizzas, whiskey drinks, and hilarious games!  I've still got so many apples, I need to make an apple pie ASAP.

I'm filled to the brim with warm fall fuzzies, and only hope it continues for the weeks to come!  I just love this time of year!!

Mike's Knife Sharpening Truck

I just love this!  A man named Mike for the past 60+ years has been driving his knife sharpening truck around NYC and surrounding areas offering his services to anyone interested.  He is a portable knife sharpener.  Mike and his notorious green truck were spotted on my street just the other day.  I was so happy to see him in action!  Unfortunately I didn't need any knives sharpened, but next time he's in the area I will definitely be using his services even if my knives are already sharp; just for the experience.

Too cute!

Varieties of Beer

I think I need to study... I didn't realize there are oh so many varieties of beer.  This wonderful poster chart will definitely help supplement my knowledge!

The Very Many Varieties of Beer from Pop Chart Lab.

Coffee Time - Stumptown in Brooklyn

A good friend we recently visited in San Fran spoke so highly of Stumptown coffee, that we went on a mission to get a bag (or two) for ourselves.  Lucky for us Roots Cafe sells Stumptown by the bag.  The two varieties we are now thoroughly enjoying are Costa Rica Herbazu and Indonesia Gajah Aceh.  Mmmm... makes for a wonderful morning wake-up treat.

DIY Arrow Decor - a Must!

What a fun DIY for all ages!   I just love the look of these arrows.  They would be great just about anywhere - wall decor, child's room, office, you name it.  For full DIY instructions, check out the Thompson Family Blog.

 

Maybe modifying the DIY a bit to incorporate these cute string-wrapped twigs would be a great way to add some variation...

Harvest Days 2010

Our annual friend/family tradition of Harvest Days was this past Sunday.  I'm not sure we could re-create the amount of fun we had in one day if we tried!  Complete with caramel apples and apple cider, hay rides and truck rides, the giant tree-swing, a game of croquet, chili dinner, pumpkin carving, and topped off with a bonfire.  The day was pure magic!

After a long day of playing, we had a slumber party at the farm.  We made our way back to Brooklyn on Monday and came home to a crazy storm that included hi wind speeds, hail, and of course some street flooding.  Crazy!

 

Harvest Days

We are thoroughly enjoying the Pennsylvania farm fall day. Couldn't be better!

Alternative Photography Processes

The lovely and talented Lisa Elmaleh oh-so-kindly gave me a grand tour of The Center for Alternative Photography earlier this week.  I'm so impressed with what that tiny team has going on over there!  Lots of inspiring artwork, lectures, and workshops to further expand the knowledge and discipline of alternative photography.

Upcoming workshops include :
Salted Paper & Albumen Printing
Calotype Paper Negatives
Cyanotype Printing
Daguerreotype Processes
Gum Bichromate Printing
... and the list goes on ...

I hope to join in with helping a class or two in the upcoming months, and can't' wait to get my hands dirty with some of these alternative processes.

Lisa Elmaleh's Everglades project

Industrial Barn Lighting

I've been annoyed with our home lighting lately.  It's by no means warm and inviting, but rather harsh (or sometimes dull) and just simply annoying.  Wouldn't I love to have some of these beautiful industrial-styled barn lights from Barn Light Electric:















Or this lovely one from Sundance:

A Little Cush' for Your Tush

Single color felted seat cushions - how wonderful!!!  Quite some time ago, I came across some similar seat cushions but passed on them.  Today, I found them and feel like I must have them.  What a fun way to make your dining chairs 1) more colorful 2) more comfy.  Yes, please!

Map Prints by Annie Bissett

Artist Annie Bissett's Map Print series are speaking to me right now.  She says this about her process :
Many of these woodblock prints begin with a wide-angle look via Google Earth at some of the world's most charged places. Over carved topographies, I then layer images, culled from both historical and modern sources, that begin to tell the complicated stories of how human beings have impacted the land and each other in these geographies. 

I love that they're woodblock prints, and that she's inspired by many different types of maps both old and new, the color palettes, and the occasional language she incorporates.  Here is one of my favorites titled "Locusts in Babylon":

Brooklyn-Based Print Shop

I stumbled upon this really rad Brooklyn-based print shop called Two Arms Inc, who recently did these awesome gig posters for Ra Ra Riot!!!  I'm not sure why I didn't find them until today, but I'm sure glad I found them.

Oh My! Pumpkin Carving!

OK, I'll admit, I found myself channel-surfing last night and stumbled upon the best show to get me in the Halloween Spirit : Food Network's CHALLENGE : Outrageous Pumpkins 2.  Four talented punkin' carvers set their goals high in this 3-round carving challenge.

The first round was the "Classic Jack-O-Lantern", the second round was "3D carving", and the third round was themed "Pumpkin Masterpiece".  The winner was the extraordinary talented sculptor Ray Villafane.  If you missed the show, I highly recommend trying to catch it at another air time.  It's worth it!

Here is Ray's "3d Carving" round finished pumpkin called Jack-O-n'Hyde (yes, it's a real pumpkin!!) :

And here's Ray's 3rd round Pumpkin Masterpiece entitled Medusa, complete with wriggling snakes :