love forever

Giveaway: Pillowcases from Complete Embellishing

A couple of weeks ago, I got a giant box of samples back from my first book Complete Embellishing. It was almost surreal to see everything again, like my little children coming home.
So to celebrate I thought I'd give one of them away! Hah!
Anyway, if you would like to win the Lord and Lady pillowcases from Complete Embellishing, leave a comment by Wednesday, March 4th at 5pm EST telling me what craft project you are working on right now. I will pick one person randomly and send you these great pillowcases!

House Rules

Marichelle from the Heart Handmade blog (plus three others!) just unveiled her newest project, these amazingly tiny hand-sewn houses. Marichelle, do you ever sleep?
Each house comes with a funny house rule too, like "no in-laws after dark!"  You can check all the houses out in her Etsy shop Wunderlust.

Catnip Mice on Craft Stylish

 
I have a new tutorial on Craft Stylish for making these funny little catnip filled mice for your favorite feline friends. If you don't have any cats, maybe you should just make one for yourself. I did.

Stylist Robyn Glaser

Stylist Robyn Glaser has an incredible sense of color; I love all the layers and textures in these photos too!

Isn't it funny when you look through a stylist's portfolio and you remember the first time you saw each tear? I guess that makes me a magazine addict.

I remember this photo from one of my old Anthropologie catalogs. In fact, I almost bought that skirt. It's a shame I didn't; it's super cute!

The Photographic Dictionary

From the Craft blog via the Colourlovers blog, the Photographic Dictionary is "dedicated to defining words through the literal, figurative and personal meanings found in each photograph. Some of these photos are more literal but I love the photographs they chose to define things like:

ambiance                                                     photo by Katherine Squier


refuge                                                                photo by Josh Murfitt


safe-haven                                                    photo by Katherine Squier

Best. Valentine. Ever.

Most of you are probably not aware of my deep love affair with the Law and Order franchise. Oh, but that Mr. Love Forever, he knows me so well. My Valentine's Day card was the one on the right. The cards are made by artist Brandon Bird.
I'm sick in bed with the flu this weekend, watching (surprise, surprise) as much Law and Order as I can handle, so this made my sad little V-Day a little bit sunnier.

Laura Walker Buttons

Look at these beautiful ceramic buttons by design Laura Walker!
She has an Etsy shop right here and you can see even more of her amazing buttons on her Flickr.

Time for Plan B?

This isn't usually what I talk about but it's like a big elephant in the room that I keep trying to ignore:
So Craft is moving online, Domino is gone, O at Home is gone, Readymade is close and the list keeps growing. Honestly, I am thrilled that Craft is at least sticking around online; if they disappeared completely it would be a huge blow to the craft world.
Everyone is talking about how blogs are the new magazine but blogs often don't have original content, we are inspired by magazines, and most importantly, we often work for free. No one is paying me to write what I write (not that I wouldn't accept a donation!)here. Most bloggers write out of the kindness of their hearts, the love of the blog community and the vague concept of "publicity".
But people don't make a living on kindness. I am worried that real magazines with big budgets will be replaced by this "working for free" model. On behalf of all the freelancers out there, I ask all online magazines out there to figure out a way to pay writers well. Your budgets will still be smaller no matter what.
And although I love writing online, I am incredibly inspired by magazines and their content. If they were gone, I wouldn't have as much to write about. I love having a magazine in my hands, studying the pages, ripping them out to put them in my inspiration book. I think that blogs can't live without magazines and vice versa: it's a symbiotic relationship not a competitive one.
Holly tweeted about this article in the New York Times a couple of days ago about figuring out your Plan B. It's been a terrifying couple of months: watching magazines I used to work for fold and getting told over and over again that "we're just not hiring freelancers right now".
It's not totally time for Plan B for me and, honestly I'm not sure if I have one, but it's definitely time for a change in my behavior. Like most New Yorkers, I spend a lot of money on going out, buying dresses, taking cabs. Or I did until this year. If I had known last year what i know now, I would probably have a lot more in my savings. That dang hindsight, being 20/20 and all.
What do you think about magazines and blogs? Are you ok with getting all your inspiration online or will you miss the touch of the magazine page?

Julie Floersch

Julie Floersch makes sculptural monochromatic quilted accessories from recycled denim. I love hand-quilted work and these manage to be modern yet recall age-old techniques at the same time. Her quilts and pillows are on display at the Greenpoint store Jan and Aya until March and she recently launched a super-cool line of soft jewelry and bags called Kwilti. For more on Julie, check out her website and blog.

Lei Xue

I love these beautiful porcelain beer cans from artist Lei Xue.
via Elle Decoration blog