Random Pretties

Spent the day thrifting.

Tired.

Out of Words.

Here are some random pretty pictures.

{All photos taken by me, please do not use without permission}

Peace,

Laura

Vintage Keys Galore

Just a quick shop update!

Back to my vintage key obssession. It used to be all I wanted to work with, and it came back with a flurry this week.

These are all up in the shop, and are all one of a kind, so run and get them while they are still there!

shop

Today I am getting stuff ready for my exhibit at the coffee shop.

Tomorrow I am going thrift store shopping with my bestie and I couldnt be more excited! I have thought about it all day everyday since we made plans about 4 days ago! Its been sooooo long since Ive aloud myself to shop, even at a thrift store! Eeeeeeek!

So for those of you who twitter, I joined the crazyness that I said I never would, so look me up here:

twitter

I also have a facebook, but if you add me please tell me you are from my blog, I dont add just anyone!

facebook

I still need so many more submissions for my quilt project, click here if you think you might be interested:

quilt for love project

also, check out my last blog to see the most adorable tee shirt ever!

teddy bear shirt

and i want to give a huge thanks to all of my comments on the post I made about my mom, you guys are so amazing and make me feel so special by leaving such sincere comments.

Much love.

Peace,

Laura

Teddy Bear Shirt - Style Feature 3

Style Feature 3

Okay, so I am skipping two styles ahead of what I have saved to share because I am so excited about this shirt I made last night.

Introducing...my teddy bear shirt!

This is how I wore it today!

So many possibilities though, I cant wait to make new outfits everytime with it.

I had alot of fun making it, I just wanted something cute last night. It was a toss up between a bear or an owl, james chose bear!

{geesh, my hair is getting long!}

Paired with:

ripped jeans

tweed mini

vintage leather belt

plaid shoes

vintage grasshopper purse

{this rad purse was given to me by my little old lady neighbor who is soooo sweet. One of her family members hand made it, but she knew no one in her family would appreciate it, so she gave it to me, along with about 6 more different ones!

I got my glasses today!

They are a pretty teal color.

I got matching nail polish for 64 cents!

They feel really weird, I havent worn glasses in a long time b/c mine have been broken for about a year but I couldnt afford to replace them until our insurance kicked back in.

And I got a cute shot of us today! I love to take these simple pics of us each time we leave the house. It is usually annoying to James I think, but he is a good sport! I just like to capture us together, and if I dont do it then, it will never happen while we are actually out and about.

Oh yeah, and I put red back in my hair. I missed it and I needed a change.

I feel like I am so behind on up dating, I have alot of pics saved to share. But I will break it up.

Tomorrow I go to hang my art in the coffee shop!

I have alot to get together still for that, eeeek!

I get to see this cute girl:

Chelsea Marie Foss

you must check out her music!

off to upload newbies to the shop! Things are flying off the shelf, so you better go get while the gettin's good!

violet bella

Peace, Laura

Ode to my mother, the prettiest soul in the universe

"Got to get back to the land and set my soul free" ~CSNY

I dont really know where to begin. So many of you already know about my mom, some of you dont, some of you knew her (lucky you), most of you didnt. My mom was the type of person that never met anyone who she did not walk away from calling a friend. She was kind and giving to everyone, no matter who you were. She touched so many peoples lives through just being herself, and I dont think she ever really knew that. She was just beautiful.

For those of you who are newer to my blog, 2 years ago my mom passed away from breast cancer. January 25th, 2008. For most of the day on the 25th (two days ago) I but it in the back of my mind. By the end of the day I was relieved that I did not think about it much. But the day after and today it is prominent on my mind.

I wish so badly I could call her up tonite and tell her that I just sold my first handmade dress! Although Im sure she knows because the girl who bought it decided to think about it last night, and then she dreamt about it, so Im sure that was my momma poking herself in her dreams! :)

I wish I would dream about her again.

I am going to hold it all back so this is not a sad post.

I just wanted to share a bit of my mom with you guys, for without her I would not be anything that I am today. She was my best friend, my soul mate, and my greatest teacher.

These photos are from a huge framed collage I did for her service, I keep it on top of her dresser I know have in my bedroom, so I see it before I go to sleep each night.

I think if you click on the images you can see them bigger in another window.

You will see that she has alot of sillyness in her, and so much about family.

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In this photo:

eating snow when I was 2

her holding my brother's baby during her last xmas

me hugging her right after getting married

her on the beach when she was young

me and her on my graduation

In this photo:

her high school photo

when she lost her hair from chemotherapy

one of her funny halloween costumes

her and her 2 best friends on the beach when they were my age

In this photo:

me and her in her garden

her and my nanna

her and my brother for halloween

her chemo head again

her in her silly hat on the beach

her flying a kite

her as my daisies leader in our hula outfits

her putting cookies over her missing boobs

her hands while she was sick

In this photo:

her and her friends again

me kissing her cheek

me and her posing silly for the camera

Here is a snip it of our life. I miss it. I would give anything for her to show me all the plants in her garden again. She would take me out to it every day almost, she was so excited about her things growing. I wish I would have paid more attention.

To all of my friends, dont ever take your mother for granted, remember the little things, take alot of photos.

I dont have any regrets, dont get me wrong, fortunately we had the best relationship, I know most people never come close to. She is in my soul.

And now I see her everytime I look at the moon or stars.

I love you mom.

Peace,

Laura

I need some stars

I created a Tumblr account:


click here

I did not create this beautiful background, it was one you can choose from!



I wanted to put together a post all about my mom. Yesterday marks the 2 year passing mark of her passing into another beautiful life beyond ours. But I want to do it right, which means going through old photos and scanning them, so hopefully tomorrow. I lost a few years worth of photos on my computer, so they will be old ones.

Im ready to sleep.

Press stop. Repeat another day.

Peace,
Laura

Wood Blocks, Handmade Dress, Possum, French Toast!

This is my day today:

woke up around 9:15...

coffee...

packaging...

oatmeal {made by the hubs}...

kisses with my baby...

made new wood blocks...

photograhped new dress...

saw a possum...

yogurt...

a fine frenzy and brandi carlile...

cleaned house...

took down xmas tree :(...

played chase with Violet...

let bella play outside and eat grass...

that sums it up, now here are some photos!!!

My new wood blocks, I made these for Spirit Wind Java, our favorite coffee house in Ingram. They asked me to put up my art for the month of February! I will go on saturday to hang it all up, Ill try to remember to take photos :)

Here is the new dress! I love it so much. I will be posting in my etsy shop, hopefully tonite, but if not, soon!

He he, here is the little guy that was in my neighbors back yard today. He was silly playing dead, then he finally got up and ran away when we got close enough. Poor guy, we probably scared him.

Just wanted to share the yummy breakfast my hubby made me the other morning, it was soooo incredibly delicious! He put orange flavor in the batter, yumm! and look how cute he made the fruit! love it!

I am so hungry, we dont have anything good to eat right now, so I am waiting for james to get home to eat homeade pizza. *grumble*

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Oh, and for the few of you who really wanted to know, I am going to have two items featured on Ruche.com in the near future! Im not sure when, so Ill post about it when I find out!

*excited*

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I must go update the shop, so ciao for now!

Etsy Buy Handmade violetbella

Peace,

laura

Style Feature 2

Here is my second style feature...This photo was actually taken a while back, but this is probably my favorite all time outfit.

My husband bought this shirt for me for my birthday last year from the wonderful Poor Pitiful Pearl, I adore this shirt so much. My favorite tee in my whole wardrobe.

Poor Pitiful Pearl

I made my pants, sorry kind of hard to see all of the details in this photo.

The jacket is one of my favorite vintage pieces, it was handed down to me a few years ago from a lady who saved all of her clothes from when she was my age in the 60's! It is a dark emerald green velvet. I am so keeping my clothes for my kids!

And these shoes, I wear them just about everyday, one day they must fall apart on me, but I will wear them to the death!

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Sorry, Ive been kind of slacking on the posts lately, just been a little out of it. I did some sewing today, that was nice, I made a pretty dress, Ill take pics soon and show you.

Peace,

Laura

Animal Lovers

Everyone!!!

Go check out this most adorable shirt that my friend Christie submitted to Threadless.com!

Vote for it so it can become a real shirt, I want one so bad!

I think the design is so adorable!!!

And check out my last few blog posts for Giveaways, an awesome Quilt project, and to vote for me for the 2009 Blog Award from Shrimp Salad Circus! I am currently in the lead thanks to all of you!

Thank you!!!!

Peace,

Laura

Interview, Giveaway, Newbies and Top Secret Stuff

Things are lifting and brightening around me. After weeks of off and on sickness and pure lack of motivation and inspiration, along with feelings of anti-social anxiety...I am feeling alive again.

I went out last night with James to the wine bar for a friend's birthday. Got to see my girl Renea. Got to chat, drink a glass of wine, and eat the most amazing homeade keylime pie in the world. Good times...

Now I am about to go see my bestie and chill for the evening with her, a long overdue date! Hope her little baby boy will be awake so I can snuggle him all up.

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I wanted to give a huge shoutout and thanks to BEFORE THE BABY WAKES, for doing this interview and giveaway with me, go check it out below:

Before The Baby Wakes

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I finally got another photo done for my butterfly project!

{oh, and just as I knew, I cannot do a 365, I am already over a week behind, oh well}

Another old photo I re-edited. From the same series I posted the other day.

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I thought Id share some more of the newbies in the shop, I have so many more to post, so Ill try to keep you updated with a few of my favorites!

And for anyone who knows the lovely Amber from Hoot-n-Annie, go check out her birthday wishes, made me all giddy inside!

look here

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In top secret news, something very exciting might be happening soon with Violet Bella, all I will say is Ruche.com. Oh my!

Peace,

Laura

My First Crush

Okay, I am going to step outside my box here and admit it...

I have my first celebrity crush.

I am not someone who fawns over actors or anyone in Hollywood. I usually just dont get it, but since watching Criminal Minds, I have found myself in love with Matthew Gray Gubler a.k.a. Spencer Reid.

And today, for the first time I actually googled him! I seriously dont do this! And to my surprise, he is freakin hilarious, a total goofball, and an amazingly talented artist. So now, I am mildly obsessed, shhhh, please dont tell my husband!

Check out his super cute web site he made himself, all of his own drawings and works:

Gublerland

Gosh, I feel like a teenie bopper, he he!

PEACE,

laura

Blog Award, GO VOTE FOR ME!

I was nominated for the Best of '09 blog awards!

If you love following my blog, head on over and vote for me! I am in the 'Other category'

YAY, THANK YOU TO ALL OF MY LOVELY READERS!!!

xoxo,

Laura

New Art and Jewelry

Today has successfully come and gone without any warning. I started my day off grumpy, dont even know why. The past two days Ive been feeling irritable, I think its just my 'girl' stuff warning me she is about to slap me in the face again.

The other day I put these photos together after editing a few. I loved how they looked together, and are based on a theme. My mother, nature, nostalgia, old things, collections.

It is for sale in my photo etsy shop, and 1/2 of the proceeds will be donated to one of my local cancer organizations.

photo shop

The next two images are ones from a while back, about a year ago or more. But I re-edited them and love them alot more now. I just got some new photo textures from Michelle Black, and amazing photographer. So I had some fun with them last night.

I took a whole series of these images during a very dark time in my life. Thankfully I am past that, but the art I made was plenty and tremendous.

This is a new little beauty in the shop. I am so in love with her. She is very old, full of nostalgia and whimsy. A lucky person is thee who becomes her keeper.

find her here

I am in need of many more participants for my quilt project!

Please read here for more info, and pass it along if you can:

Quilt For Love

Much Love, xoxo

Peace,

Laura

Style Feature & Hearts For Haiti

So, this is basically inspired by being in Style School.

I feel like I pretty much know my 'personal style', but I have decided to keep a file on my outfits that I feel reflect what I believe to be my personal favorite styles. I am labeling them by the month they were taken, so I can look back and see how my style evolves, if it does. I pretty much wear what I like, I always have, and it tends to be eclectic and always different, so this will be fun!

I will share will you every now and then :)

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For all of you in the shopping mood, go shop and help Haiti at the same time. An etsy group called Hearts For Haiti has been formed and they have already raised almost $4,000!!! Each item in the shop is donated by several different etsians and all of the proceeds from each sale go straight to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. I have already donated and sold one necklace!

Hearts For Haiti

God Bless everyone over there

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And if you have not heard about my 'QUILT FOR LOVE' project head on over to this post:

community quilt for love project

Peace,

Laura

Wish there was snow to go with my hat!

I finished my hat from Elsies DIY Snow Day Hat tutorial:

elsiecake

So, as you can see, I am loving crocheting still!

So, for the past few days I felt myself trying to get sick again, mostly just coughing which was giving me headaches, and now today, it struck! It all just started pouring out from no where! I think I have blown my nose 1,000 times in the past few hours. My face is all red and I have to let my mouth hang open to breath, argghhh! I seriously woke up feeling better this morning and was very excited to get back with it! Oh well...

I tried sitting down to make some more jewelry, with a tiny success. But, I was thinking about watching my favorite movie, Youve Got Mail, and before I could decide I was flipping through TV shows and it was on TV! It was destined! I know just about every line in the movie, but it never gets old.

That part where she is decorating the christmas tree and quotes the Joni Mitchell song and talks about how she misses her mother, I always related to that part, but now more than ever. And now I have that line tattooed on my arm!

I do miss my mom, so very much. I try not to talk about it too much, if I talked about it as much as I felt it, that is all you would hear. Well, in between all of the other good stuff at least! In 9 days it will have already been 2 years since she has been gone. I dont even understand time when it comes to that. Sometimes it feels like forever ago, but more often than not it feels like it is it just right behind us. I have been able to put alot of the hard parts behind me, the things you only ever know about if you have been around someone who is dying. Every now and then things flash in my mind that just seem unreal and it breaks my heart knowing my mom had to go through those things. But luckily those things come and then go away from my mind. I have her smiling pictures around me at all times, her warmth surrounds me. I just wish I could hug her and smell her. I wish I could show her all of my art like I used to. I wish I could call her when I need to know how to cook something. I am fortunate to have beautiful people in my life that I can do those things with, I just wish it could be her sometimes.

"Wish I had a river I could skate away on"

-Joni Mitchell

I am going to surprise James with chocolate chip buckwheat pancakes when he gets home tonite! I cant wait!

Check my last blog for an amazing QUILT FOR LOVE project I am doing that I need YOUR help with!

PEACE,

laura