lingering daydreams

{dreaming of} summer

by Lila on April 30, 2012

…a little storybook romance. You know the kind that you usually get a teary over when you watch the abc holiday movies (or is that just me). The mister and I will have been together for 10 years this summer. I couldn’t see myself with anyone else that would compliment me and my crazy self the way he does. I’m going to come up with something that belongs in a romantic comedy. This should be fun.

…pursuing my knowledge of design and illustration. I have all these big ideas and I want to start accumulating the skills to make the things inside my head transform into something tangible. Summer might be the perfect time to seize the day and take a course or two at the California College of the Arts.

…writing a children’s book… about a girl with freckles.

…swimming in a freshwater lake. I haven’t done this for a long time. Distinct memories from my childhood float back to me this time of year. Running off of docks and hitting cool water on a hot day. When I was around eight I jumped off a giant rock into this beautiful lake. I don’t remember where we were, but I vividly remember the image of the clear blue and the edge of the rock and my dad’s head bobbing in the water below me. I think a little time on a lake would do me some good.

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{crush} spring at west elm

by Lila on April 26, 2012

Owning a new house has given me a new love for all things home related. I have always been drawn to things you can sit on, eat off of, or hang on a wall, but now my little addiction has renewed strength! Not to mention that we now have a legit garden where I want so desperately to put this table and hang these lights…

{West Elm, Dexter Outdoor Expandable Table}

And now that I have gone to one class at the incredible Workshop I am already looking to sign up for a second. They have one on planting a terrarium, anybody interested? If I do sign up, it would be the perfect excuse to buy of of these beauties.

{West Elm, Glass Terrarium}

Then there is the excitement of having a fireplace. I am hoping that our incredibly talented cousin will help me create a new, bigger mantle to hold even more beautiful things. This clock in white would fit quite nicely with the other items I have slowly collected.

{West Elm, Wood Mantle Clock}

Last, but also the thing I potentially want most of all, the 5 Jar Chandelier. Isn’t it beautiful. I love everything about it. I also don’t love anything about what is currently hanging in our dining room, so it seems like such a good idea.

{West Elm, 5 Jar Chandelier}

Anything you have your eye on to spruce up the place you call home?

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{workshop} screen printing

by Lila on April 22, 2012

There is a little art studio on the corner of Baker and McAllister that caters to the diy inclined. They will teach you how to make a lamp from a booze bottle, create a terrarium from a mason jar, start your own etsy shop, and much more. A couple weeks ago I decided to wander down to Workshop to wrap my mind around the concept of screen printing.

When you sign up for the class, Workshop gives you the option to design your own screen to take home. You send them your image and they burn it onto a screen for an extra $45. I couldn’t resist. Screen printing as always appealed to me partly because of the idea of creating my own textiles. So I hand-painted three different patterns, scanned them, and sent them on their way.

The class started with an overview of how to make your own screen. The process is pretty straight forward, but there are pieces of equipment that you have to have. The steps are something like: 1. Design your screen. 2. Put your design on a transparency. 3. Coat your screen with emulsion in a dark room and let it set. 4. Place your image on the screen and expose it to light. 5. Rinse and dry your screen.

Once you have a screen to work with your are ready to print.

After the lesson was complete, music was turned on, paint cans were opened, and we were allowed to use Workshop’s many screens to print anything we brought with us. The Pandora station was set to Salt N Pepa, there was a bucket above a mini fridge where you could drop a dollar and take out a beer, and giant work tables waiting to be covered with art. It was a little slice of heaven. Three shirts, two notebooks, and one screen later I headed home inspired to continue my exploration of this new art form.

Lessons learned:

You flood the screen with paint before you use it to print.
You can install hinged clamps that allow you to raise and lower your screen while keeping it in the same location. This way you can tape down a test print which shows you exactly where your next print will end up. Useful trick!
If you use water soluble ink, rinse your screen quickly. That stuff dries fast!
You can use blue tape to mask any part of the screen you don’t want to use.
I heart Workshop and can’t wait to take my next class there.

In the end I used Workshop’s screens because I knew I couldn’t take them home with me. Now my head is swimming with ideas about how to use my own screen. I cannot wait to show you what I come up with.

Have you tried anything new lately? I would love to hear about it!

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{dreaming of} house warming

by Lila on April 16, 2012

{photo by Nicole Polk via Style Me Pretty}

I love any excuse to throw a party. They don’t come around frequently enough. Now that we have purchased our first home, I am itching to have all our family and friends over to celebrate. So currently I am daydreaming of…

…time with the people in our lives that love us and support us. My favorite part of throwing a party are the stories you share and the memories you create in the precious moments where the schedules align.

… wide mouth mason jars to serve mojitos in. I am hoping the mint I planted in the back yard will get big enough to use for some homemade cocktails

… hanging lights outside. Nothing says festive like twinkling lights during the dimming of the day.

… cooking something tasty in a smoker. Buying a smoker for that matter. How far can I stretch the gift certificate we got for our wedding three years ago…

… selecting some tunes. Gotta have some jams and I am itching to buy some new records. Any suggestions? Party favorites?

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{grow} blueberry daze

by Lila on April 11, 2012

I have found my new favorite nursery, Sloat. It is a short drive from the house and it has isles and isles of things I want to bring home and fill my yard with. The garden to table movement has caught my attention and I want nothing more than to hop on the bandwagon and have my own grocer in my backyard.

I caught sight of a flyer about Blueberry Daze and couldn’t help but hop in the car and run over to the nursery to grab a couple plants for my raised garden bed that has been filled with nothing but weeds.

Back in the yard I starting weeding and turning fertilizer into the ground. There are a shocking number of rocks in this little garden plot of mine and I spent of good amount of time pulling them out.

One of the things I love about Sloat Nursery is the amount I learn every time I walk through their doors. The staff is knowledgeable and I am always so grateful to them for knowing about the climate of my new home!

Lessons learned:

It is good to plant two species of blueberries together. Although blueberries are generally self-pollinating, they produce more fruit when they are able to cross-pollinate.
They love acidic soil. I bought camellia-azalea fertilizer, which is acidic and reportedly is a blueberry essential.
When growing, blueberries prefer to be in damp soil. (This scared me a little bit because if there is one thing that I don’t do so consistently its water. Not a great trait for an up-and-coming gardener…)
There is a great little cafe near Sloat Nursery with de-li-cious sandwiches and froyo. Yum. It transformed a run to the nursery into a little date for me and the mister.

So far the blueberries look very happy. I have kept them damp (thank you for the help rain) and there are a couple flowers peaking out of a couple branches. Now I am itching to fill the rest of the garden bed!

What are you growing with the Spring sun starting to emerge?

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{diy} moving announcements

by Lila on April 9, 2012

It is always a struggle to get paper made and then sent out in a timely fashion. I still haven’t managed to send out Christmas cards… ever. But I was determined to make and send out moving announcements. Given that we moved to the city of San Francisco I saw the opportunity to use my beautiful stamps from Yellow Owl Workshop, one of my favorite designers, especially when it comes to rubber stamps. I am really happy with how they turned out.

What you will need:

+ scanner, computer, paper

Step 1: Draw Your Image

I have a thing for paper airplanes, and I thought it would be cute for a paper airplane to sail over the bridge to our new home, just like we were. It can be tricky when you want to mass produce a hand-drawn design, but as long as you have a scanner at home it is entirely possible.

I sketched my image in a notebook and, once I was happy with it, inked in everything except the bridge, which was holding the space for where my stamp would go. In the end I sketched a border around the edge of the image to give it a frame.

Step 2: Scan

Then I scanned my image as a jpeg file. Once it was on my computer I edited it in iPhoto, making the image black and white and increasing the contrast. After I had cleaned up the image a little bit I dropped the image into a word document and added a text box with our new address on it. I used three slightly different colors of ink for each line of the address to make it pop. In the end I designed and scanned an image for the back of the postcard as well. I wanted a sweet little message and found this one online. It was a little cheese ball, but I have been feeling pretty warm and fuzzy lately :)

Step 3: Print & Cut

Once the images were complete, I printed them onto cream colored card stock. I chose the heavier paper because of the postcard design. I wanted them to be able to withstand being sent through the mail. Once I had cut out the rectangles, I rounded the corners with my nifty corner trimmer. Rounded corners always create a finished look in my opinion.

Step 4: Stamp & Emboss

Last, but not least I embossed the image of the bridge on the card. I used clear embossing powder because I had a color ink that I liked for the bridge. When embossing, you stamp the image, pour embossing powder to cover the wet ink, tap the excess off, and then hit it with a heat gun until you see the embossing powder melt.

It was a success! Maybe a little later than I would have liked, but announcements went out in the mail on Thursday and hopefully will be arriving in mailboxes soon!

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{home} how to paint an entire house in one weekend

by Lila on April 6, 2012

If you asked me what the number one thing you can do to make a home feel like your own, I would say paint it. It is incredible how much personality and ownership comes out of picking colors, putting them on the wall, and then moving in your belongings. I always said that when we were finally able to buy a home I wanted to spend the first weekend painting and then move in the second weekend. I never knew if this would actually be a possibility. Would there be enough overlap between our move-out date and our move-in date? Would we be able to pick colors quickly enough? Would it be physically possible?

Then the day came when we actually bought a house and there was a big enough overlap and we did pick the colors and it was physically possible. What force of nature could possibly exist that would result in five rooms being painted from floor to ceiling? Our family. That weekend two things became very clear: 1. Many hands enable you to get a lot done. 2. The hands of our family are powerfully productive.

So here’s how to paint an entire house in one weekend:

1. Invite A LOT of people who you know are willing and able to do the job at hand.

The mister and I have a pretty incredible family with an impressive history of do-it-yourself mentality. Jeff’s family is famous for their come-help-us-with-a-project parties of their youth. My parents are both carpenters. Our brother-in-law worked for a painting company while in college. We have the credentials. We knew with the amount we wanted to get done we would need all hands on deck.

2. Organize, organize, organize.

With so many helping hands, we knew we would have to be prepared. We asked Jeff’s sister, Kelly, and her husband, Brenton, to come early on Saturday. (Not only did they agree to this, but they also arrived with doughnuts and champagne. They rock.) They came fully equipped with our new little nephew, who was put in charge of morale. With their help we got Rosin Paper taped throughout the entire house before anybody else arrived. This was a crucial step. With Rosin Paper in every room, all painters were able to move paint brushes, rollers, paint buckets anywhere at any time without worrying about moving a drop cloth. We also made sure we would have plenty of help both days of the weekend.

We brought samples and ceiling paint with us on Friday, which was our first night in the house. The samples went on the wall first thing so that we could make some decisions early. Then, while the ceilings were being painted out, Jeff and his dad ran out to buy the paint.

Another key step was having the king of the paint stick, Uncle Tom, there on the first day. What we call a paint stick is a giant roller that sucks in paint much like the water launchers from my childhood. Uncle Tom can get a layer of paint on a wall in a matter of minutes. Without him we would never have been able to get those ceilings painted.

It is also important to have plenty of materials. Brenton helped us greatly with this. He has an amazing number of tools. He had plenty of edging brushes for the detail work. He also had a roller/brush spinner that was immensely helpful in the cleaning process.

3. Paint.

We ended up with three shades of gray, admittedly a favorite of mine, especially when paired with the bolder colors of the other two rooms. We had people working in every room; some working with a roller to get coats on the wall and others working with brushes to edge all of the rooms. On both days we had a “safe” room that was paint free for the day where everyone could put there stuff and know it wouldn’t get splattered with the beautiful hues of our home.

By the end of two incredible days of work and support from our family we had a home that felt like ours. It was a whirl wind and we picked our colors in a short period of time. Many people warned me against this, but I love how it turned out. In the end, paint is just paint, it can be repainted. Sometimes when I worry too much about getting something right, I don’t get anything done at all. In this case, the risk was certainly worth the reward.

Thank you so much to every person who was here helping. We really couldn’t have done it without you.

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{go local} Half Moon Bay

by Lila on April 4, 2012

The mister and I have very full lives. We love everything we do: playing hockey, seeing family, hanging out with friends, working, cooking, sleeping. As a result, there is a syndrome we both suffer from, wanting to do everything. Sometimes this equation results in little time for the two of us to be alone.

This past weekend we decided to squeeze in a date on our way to have lunch with some good friends in San Jose. There is a wacky, giant shop that prominently features giant metal dinosaurs as you drive up. I have been wanting a little sculpture of some kind to have in our garden and I thought this would be the perfect spot to find one.

We started at our new favorite coffee shop, Trouble Coffee. The cinnamon toast alone is reason for the trip. And then there is the coffee. The outdoor seating is on giant pieces of driftwood. It reminds me of some of the places we went when we were in Hawaii.

Then we hit the road and drove down highway 1. Curving along the vast expanse of coast, watching the waves churn and crash was a lovely way to spend a morning together. It hit me how much I love living here. Now I just have to learn how to surf.

We arrived at Spanish Town’s empty parking lot and were greeted by looming metal dinosaurs.

There were little shops filled with different types of art and unique types of sculpture, but I had come for the giant outdoor area. I had heard about this place from my mother-in-law, she said it stretched on forever and had described the giant metal sculptures. As we wandered around the back it became clear that she hadn’t exaggerated. The place went on and on and on, with more fountains, garden sculptures, and pots than I had ever seen in one location. It was a maze of intriguing items.

I fell in love the with the peacocks, Jeff wanted a dinosaur. We came home with this little guy. We named him Rocky.

After leaving Spanish Town we headed into the downtown area to look around. There my favorite find was an incredible feed store. It caught my eye immediately because of the sign hanging in their window that read, “We Sell Chickens.” After wandering around inside I found that they also sold chicken coops, heat lamps, feeders, geese, ducks, sandals, bridals. It was amazing. I’m going to be headed that way again to pick-up what I need to raise my backyard flock.

It was a gorgeous day with great company and we managed to do it all: have an adventure, go on a date, and make it to our lunch on time. What more can you ask for on a Sunday.

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{taste} blood orange simple syrup

by Lila on April 2, 2012

There is a little coffee shop down the street from where I work. They have all the things you want to eat: soups, biscuits, incredible chai tea, and delicious homemade sodas. Since trying their variety of flavors I have been inspired to make some flavors of my own. With citrus taking center stage in every market, I thought I would start with blood orange.

Many recipes I looked at said one cup water to one cup sugar. I experimented a little and, because I was more into flavor than sugar, I tried 1/2 cup sugar to 1 cup water. It resulted in a thinner syrup, that I have found is perfect for flavoring bubbly water.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
Juice and peels of 3 blood oranges

Step 1: Put water and sugar into a sauce pan and cook over medium-high heat until all sugar has dissolved.

Step 2: Remove from heat and add juice. During this phase I tried an experiment. In one jar I added the juice and the rind from the oranges and in the other I only added the juice only. I was hoping the rind would give the syrup a little extra bite. In the end the difference was hardly noticeable. Next time I might include the rind while the mixture is still on the stove.

Step 3: Allow liquid to cool in a jar on the counter. Once cool, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I add about 2 tablespoons to sparkling water for a little refreshment. This syrup would also make a tempting cocktail. I already have a couple concoctions I’d like to try. I’ll be sure to share whatever I come up with. Enjoy!

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{handmade} knit baby blanket

by Lila on March 30, 2012

There is a new little person in my world. I am so excited to be an aunt and now I have an extra inspiration for creating and crafting. After many months of needles and yarn, I completed this little blanket just in time for the little one.

The pattern turned out beautifully. I was drawn to the square within square design because it was reminiscent of a quilt. The shades of green complimented each other nicely and my hope is that the combination will help mask any future stains. The process took a turn when I lost the pattern half way through completing the blanket. I had to carefully count stitches and look back at previous rows to MacGyver my way through it. After being so happy with the result, I am disappointed to have lost the pattern! Maybe it will reappear again someday, it has got to be around here somewhere.