a beautiful mess

Many of you know of the blog A Beautiful Mess already, but I cannot tell you how much I love Elsie & Emma's site. They are sisters in Springfield, Missouri who have created such an amazingly creative collaboration online. Please check out their site if you haven't. Here are a couple of things I have done lately, inspired by their ideas:

Instagram Wall Art

I did this on Friday. It is fun, quick and inexpensive! I think I'll do a whole wall of these. Such a nice, organized way to display photos, instead of having a bunch of random frames around.

Homemade Iced Coffee

This stuff is delicious!! Trust me! No bitterness and so handy to have coffee already cold in the fridge.

Spice Storage

I haven't done this yet, but I just ordered my containers. I'm not sure if I'll magnetize them or not, but having all matching containers...a dream!! I have around 50 spices though, so it may take me a while...

It's so wonderful to be able to go to one website to find inspiring ideas and creative projects. There are so many creative people out there, but sometimes trying to follow all of their blogs is overwhelming. I know I can always find fun, interesting, exciting ideas from Elsie & Emma. Thanks ladies! ♥

vacation!

We just arrived back from a lovely 2 week vacation where we visited Napa Valley, Yosemite, Reno & Lake Tahoe. What a wonderful trip. Here are a few photos:

at lovely Kitchak Cellars

like sister, like brother

staying cool

sweet Averie

Lake Tahoe...this is lake water!?

travelin'

Yosemite

family fun time

Antica Vineyards

our own wine blend!

Bouchon Bakery...mmmm

and real wild horses...

We had such an amazing trip! Wish we didn't have to get back to the real world now, but alas, we do. Happy summer travels everyone! xoxo

First square. New favorite colors.

First square. New favorite colors., a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

It's coming right along now... :)

giant lace shawl...finished!

Shawl ensemble, a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

Woo! Yesterday I finished and blocked this shawl I have been working on for a while. The pattern is Laminaria from Knitty Spring 2008. I saw nasseknits version on Ravelry and had to make one out of bigger yarn like she did. I LOVE it and will get a ton of use out of it, yes, even in late April, here in Portland. 

The yarn I used is Lisa Souza Baby Alpaca Silk yarn that I got from Stitches South 2 years ago. Sadly, because I have knitting A.D.D., this took me a year to complete, but I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I will be hunting down more patterns with Estonian lace in them for sure. Gorgeous!

Happy 2012, the year of organization!

...and I don't mean groups with meetings and minutes and treasurers...I mean organizing your stuff! I read something the other day that probably had a lot of other good information in it, but the one tidbit that stuck with me was "organize one thing everyday."

I think I can do that! It can be one small tiny drawer if you want, like I did today. The tea drawer needed major attention. Here is a photo. I thought maybe I could hold myself accountable if I take a picture of what I do. See, I even got lazy and left a few in a Ziploc bag...you can do this! More to come, hopefully...