I did something crazy this Valentine’s Day. Instead of giving Daniel one of my cards like I usually do, I found the perfect card over at Cool Jane. Daniel has a beautiful beard that he doesn’t really like, and I’m always begging him not to shave it off. He burst out laughing as soon as he saw this.
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Our basement has been overrun with plumbers for the past two days, so I haven’t been able to spend much time in my studio. They’re replacing the hot water heater, and it’s a tricky job since our house is quirky right down to the plumbing.
Today I decided to do a wardrobe cleanse while the dogs barked and the plumbers plumbed. You know when you’re getting dressed, and you go to your closet and sort through all the clothes that you don’t like to wear to find the few items you love? My goal is to love everything in my closet, so first I needed to figure out what makes me love some of my clothes but not others.
I chose my favorite pieces of clothing—the pieces I would wear every day if I could. I took everything else out of my closet, so I could see what all my favorites had in common. It turned out they were all either neutral or subdued colors, just like the ones I like to use around my home. Surprise, surprise!
Apparently I like muted colored clothing with subtle texture or pattern to add interest—like sequins, lace, or stripes. I like vintage and menswear inspired undertones (as seen in the photos below), but I also like a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe which is harder to put my finger on—distressed leather satchels, leather lace-up boots, and military jackets with lots of buttons.
I’m probably overthinking this. Do you feel like you lean toward a specific style wardrobe-wise, or do you just buy whatever tickles your fancy? I’ve been pinning outfits I’m drawn to, and while I can’t find exactly what I’m aiming for, I’ve gotten pretty close.
photo from: for the love of pretty
photo from: Prepaganda
photos from: In the City with Crystalin and Trendtation
photo from: Everything Fabulous
photos from: Fashion and Style and Boden
photo from: Prepfection
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Our house is littered with cardboard boxes right now. It looks like we’re moving! I had a few big shipments of packaging supplies delivered this week, and I have no where to put them. This morning I started clearing out some storage space, and I came across a crate full of 10 or 15 of my old sketchbooks from high school and college. Naturally I quit what I was doing and flipped through them all. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite decorated sketchbook covers and spreads. Now I’m itching to pull out my drawing pencils and charcoal again!
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Whew, I haven’t been able to get much done but ship Valentine’s Day orders out this week. Thank you to everyone who has been showing Wit & Whistle the love!
It felt good to pick up my camera for a few minutes today and snap some photos around the house. I’m constantly rearranging bits and baubles into different configurations. Does anyone else do that? Here are my favorite vignettes of late.
“Cranny” is such a funny word.
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I’m coming down to the wire on my 28 by 29 list. I only have 3 weeks left to finish it! I’m not going to make it, but I think I’ve put a good dent in it. Today I did #28—make a painting.
For some reason my paintings never end up being the style I gravitate toward. I think I prefer things to be a bit more abstract and stylized. I feel like I’ve found my groove with pen and ink, but not so with painting. While painting I tense up, and I don’t have fun with it like I do when I’m doodling in my sketchbook. I think I’m subconsciously afraid to mess up and waste my nice thick paper and paints. I need to loosen up and play!
Lately I’ve been keeping my gouache stuff in this awesome owl cookie jar.
I really like the simplicity of the lupines before I added more detail. Undo button please?
It was hard not to drink my paint water. It looked like liquified cotton candy.
I like the palette better than the painting! It’s so spontaneous and loose.
(Painting inspired by this photo I took at Lake Tekapo, NZ)
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If you live in a place where wintery precipitation is common, you’ll likely think this is the dumbest blog post ever. Winter is my second favorite season, but here in central North Carolina rain is usually the only thing that falls from the sky. On the rare occasion that even the tiniest bit of winter weather comes to town I get unreasonably excited.
Today it’s sleeting!
Sleet isn’t nearly as beautiful or as much fun as snow, but I do like it.
I like the sparkling icicles it makes.
I like the quiet tinkling noise it makes bouncing off the roof and windows.
Most of all I like that it makes everything look like a big sugarcoated gumdrop.
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I’ll bet you’ve never read a blog post about a dustpan before, but that’s probably because you’ve never seen a dustpan this cute before! I had to stop at World Market the other day, and I found this little guy hiding in the corner with the cleaning supplies. I already have a dustpan, but it doesn’t smile at me, and I’ll try almost anything to make cleaning more fun.
mustached dustpan…
I’m off to spill something all over the floor so I can sweep it up!
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Hi. I’m Amanda, and I’m a throw pillow addict. I can’t get enough of them. I love a sofa covered with so many pillows that there’s no place to sit. Daniel finally had to cut me off, so the only way to get my pillow fix was to start making them!
Five of my hand drawn designs are now available as pillow covers. The covers are printed on both sides and have hidden zipper closures along the bottoms to accommodate standard 16″ x 16″ pillow forms. They were carefully sewn by none other than my talented mother (thanks Mom)! I have limited quantities of these in stock starting out, and they’re available right here.
I’m so excited to be able to offer home goods in addition to my paper products! To help me celebrate, use the coupon code W&WHOME to take 20% off all pillow covers and tea towels until the end of January (offer not valid in my Etsy shop).
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Remember in the fall when I was raving about the cocoa chai rooibos I got from DavidsTea? Well, since then I tried masala chai at our favorite Indian restaurant, and it put my cocoa chai to shame. I got home and immediately started scouring the internets for the secret to making my own. I found a bunch of recipes, but none were quite right, so I made batch after batch of masala chai to see if I could hit on the perfect combination of spices. It was sort of a Goldilocks situation. First I made it too spicy, then too bland, and finally… just right! Daniel proclaimed it the best chai he’s had since he lived in Kenya—which is a big deal (lots of Indian influence over there, so he’s hard to please about this sort of thing). This chai takes some time to make, and it’s a little messy with all the spice crushing and straining, but it’s worth the effort.
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
1 cinnamon stick (a second for garnish, if desired)
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
½ thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tablespoons Taj Mahal or Red Label tea leaves (They look like coffee grounds!)
2 cups whole milk (Low fat is okay if you must, but don’t go skim. It should be creamy.)
2 cups water
sugar to taste
Place the cardamom pods, cloves, allspice berries, and one cinnamon stick in a ziplock bag and crush them with a kitchen mallet, heavy skillet, or rolling pin.
Place the crushed spices in a saucepan with the black pepper, ginger, milk, and 2 cups water. Slowly bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Keep an eye on it, because it will easily boil over. Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the tea leaves, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.
Using a very fine mesh strainer (like this), strain into cups. Add sugar to taste and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
(makes enough to fill 4 small tea cups or 2 coffee mugs)
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