Flower Schooled

Last night some friends and I got together at Rose Red and Lavender to learn about arranging flowers. It was a fun class and we all learned lots of tips and tricks. We were given roses, wax flowers and eucalyptus sprigs to work with. The amazing thing is just how different everyone's bouquets turned out - some were more architectural and modern, while others were a bit more wild and romantic. It was so much fun and we all walked away with new found skills as well as our own little arrangements...

Brook Farm General Store

I've been meaning to head over and check out the Brook Farm General Store..

clockwise from top left: market backpack, Aigle Malouine boot, Linen cloths, Anglepoise original lamp,
solar powered radio,  canvas tool bag

The beauty of decay

Siberian houses from the blog Lambert (via Bird and Banner)

Have a nice weekend!

here's what i'm loving around the web this week:

this car

this wood pile

 these rings by Conroy & Wilcox

this Lisa Congdon installation

these handmade arrows

more Sanna ♥

My love for the amazing designs of Sanna Annukka is no secret. She truly is one of my favorite artists out there. Now, she has a new line of greeting cards that are pretty enough to frame. And that's exactly what I plan to do with when I get my hands on them! I love the combo of the fancy bronzy gold on the recycled craft paper. Love love love..

available here

All dressed up and nowhere to go...

source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Smitten

Once Wed is the one wedding blog which I've continued to check out even after our own wedding was long over. It is always filled with the most gorgeous wedding inspiration (and just inspiration in general). A recent feature of a wedding scape based around the love story of Georgia O’keefe and Alfred Stieglitz really blew me away. I am completely smitten with it's gorgeousness! I also cannot get the idea out of my head of how absolutely amazingly fun it would have been to have created this. I think I need to seriously reconsider my career....

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Yesterday we spent the day in the beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Gardens checking out the cherry blossoms and tulips. They were all in full bloom and so so pretty..

Happy Friday ♥

 source

Vera

For our wedding a few years back, We decided to collect vintage napkins for our table settings. This led me on a hunt to flea markets and thrift stores as well as on ebay and etsy and what I discovered was Vera. I had heard of the designer before and even had few of her scarves, but I was unaware of the full scope of her design repertoire. She was so incredibly prolific! The napkins were a big hit and my love affair with the iconic designer was born. So I was thrilled to recently discover a new biography of her Vera: The art and life of an icon. Her life was so inspiring and she achieved such incredible success which was all based on the simple concept that art should be accessible to all. She was and remains an amazing role model, someone whose independence, adventurousness and entrepreneurial spirit has been an inspiration to decades of women.

Vera and her husband first started screen printing her designs on the dining room table in their Gramercy Park apartment in 1942. They mostly did napkins and placemats (as they were the only things small enough to produce on the tiny frame). Soon however, they were being commissioned to produced yardage and moved to a larger studio uptown.  However, the wartime quickly dried up the fabric supply for cotton. One day Vera came across excess parachute silk from an army surplus store and had the idea to make scarves. And voila! an icon was born!

"Over the course of her career, which spanned the half century between her label's 1942 debut and her death in 1993, the tastemaker designed everything from wallpaper, bedding, and tablecloths, to dresses, blouses, and, of course, her signature scarves, signed like a painting with a cursive 'Vera.' All were based on her original artworks, which typically featured painterly florals or imagery inspired by her globe-trotting to far-flung destinations." Vera: The art and Life of an Icon

"Color is the language I speak best"- Vera

Fall sneak peek

I'm in no hurry, but..... I love love love the Fall 2010 collection from JCrew- which has been described at "Edie Beale goes to Girl Scout camp".  Perfect! The hair.. the styling.. oh and of course the clothes. Something to look forward to...

i.klee

Imke klee of the blog a view to has her website up and running and it is filled with gorgeous shots that she has taken and styled for Trend Union, Paris where she assists the iconic Li Edelkoort.  Admittedly, I used to sort of view trend forecasting with a bit of suspicion. It all seemed a bit arbitrary to me. How can someone predict what will be in style 2 seasons from now? But then I had the immense privilege of actually hearing Li speak a few years back at a Trend Union in NY and she totally changed my mind. She is unbelievably inspirational and has a way of painting a bigger picture of the world at large and how fashion and art relate to it. Anyway...... I've always loved Imke's blog and now I understand why!

Her site also features work from different collaborations including an amazing set of shots of pigeons- which she manages to make look like glorious creatures! Here are a few more favorites...