Packages, Packages!

I certainly have been receiving a lot of packages lately, a very rare but delightful thing.

Progress

Two years ago while staying with my grandparents, my grandma gave me several unfinished sets of pillowcases that my great grandma never embroidered. When I was a teenageer my grandma taught me how to embroider and I've been doing it ever since. I have made quite a bit of progress in the last several months than I ever did in the past two years that I had them.



Here is the uncompleted one.



And the finished one.

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me

The other day I was pleasantly surprised to find a belated birthday package waiting for me in the kitchen. This is what was inside.


My crafty second mom made me these two little owl pouches, oh she knows how I like owls. I plan on using the bigger one to keep my latest embroidery project floss and other embroidery tools inside.



Too cute, hmm? Here is her etsy

Jantzen Heritage Collection

Today while I was getting a much needed pedicure, I read an article in May's In Style magazine about Jantzen Swimwear's 100th Anniversary Celebration and their new Heritage Collection. The collection has bathing suits inspired by the 1920's-1970's. The suit the magazine highlighted was so cute, I had to find it online. Well not only did I find the ruffled little number from the magazine I also found a plethora of other goodies. My favorite bathing suit is the following one, complete with the cape and swim cap. I found that most of the collection can be purchased at Dillard's, but I did not want to shell out over $250 for the ensemble. Not to mention I would feel a little foolish parading around the beach wearing a "swimming cape". I did manage to find a red Jantzen "Vamp" bathing suit on Overstock for a fraction of the price. I decided with summer just around the corner, and the fact that it has a perfect retro and classy vibe that I should just go ahead and buy it. After all, it is incredibly difficult to find a cute one piece swimsuit, usually they are some horrible muu muu looking thing with an ugly print and a little floofy skirt and no one wants to be caught wearing something that awful. I'm quite happy with my find.

Yet Another Wishlist

First I would like to say that I got everything (save one item) off of my birthday wishlist! I received my final present on Friday night, the skinny legged black pants and they are very cute, paired with my black Ray Bans I make quite the wanna be beatnik.

Today my fiance and I went to register for gifts, I don't think either of us really knew what we were doing and I ended up leaving the store more overwhelmed than anything. I did a bit of perusing on Anthropologie's website, which can be quite dangerous you know, and I came up with a fantasy wedding dish registry that I would like to share with anyone who happens to stumble across my humble blog. So here is another list...

Birthday Wishlist

Well, it's about that time of year again and I thought that to make things easier for my gift givers, I would make a little birthday wishlist for them. I am also currently stuck in the house while braving yet another snow storm. This craft pad is full of cute little embroidery transfers and is on sale at Amazon for only $5.18! Okay, so the cover is a little bit dorky but this book is full of tips for starting your own crafty business. The more obscure the craft supply the better, and these washi paper tapes fit the bill. Also any little millinery supply from the etsy shop Caramelos, like these cute cotton spun mushrooms, would be perfect. I'm imagining an entire outfit around these sunglasses where I look like an early 1960s beatnik or a Bob Dylan devotee. I saw a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers at Marshalls this winter for only $60 and I am kicking myself that I didn't buy them. I started seeing these heart tights around on the blogs I frequent and I must admit that at first I didn't care for them, but I really like them now and I enjoy adding to my tight collection. They are pretty easy to come across, like on Urban Outfitters (I've got to help some people out here :) And finally, this Trader Joe's Lavender Salt Scrub, I saw it the other day at Trader Joe's and it smells just like the summertime and is inexpensive, even better. Oh, and while we are on the topic of Trader Joe's, their Jojoba Oil would be a fun present too. Well, I hope I've helped everyone out with gift suggestions. *UPDATE* Since I am still in the snow, I have done some perusing for the perfect cropped black pants to go with my Ray Bans, and I found these slim cropped pants on Gap. I'd say they fit the bill!

Blasted Blizzard

I just survived my first blizzard, the Baltimore area received a record snowfall of 30 inches! Whoa, that is wayyyyyy too much snow. I spent my day off shoveling the snow only to turn around and see that the freshly shoveled walk was once again covered in snow. Oh, how irritating. I then decided to go inside and spend some time crafting Valentines but that didn't last long since I was experiencing throbbing pain in my neck and back from shoveling all of that snow. I had to retire to my bed to rest but I was sure to take pictures of my crafting supplies. As you can see I am a big fan of Martha Stewart crafts. My sister gave me this Martha Stewart flocking kit for Christmas, and I'm going to try it out on my little Valentines.