The Most Dangerous Game

Forget what you may have heard, the most dangerous game is not just the title of a book, but more importantly, it's how I like to refer to browsing my Etsy favorites; specifically when my blood thirsty e-shopping appetite is not met or exceeded by the size of my wallet.  So here's to hoping you'll talk me off a proverbial cliff because I really want these...

Find these beauties here (from the top): Olas Attic, EvieOlu, CeramicSoul, Elis Cooke, Ordinary Mommy, patkas, Amy Robson Jewellery, Cathy Cullis, One Forty Three

What are some things you've been wanting lately, and do you have the willpower to simply window shop?

I hope you guys have a good weekend!  Tonight I'll be in the company of six other women for dinner and dancing and I'm sure a good time in honor of my friend Kristin's birthday!  I'm sure I'll be sleeping in pretty late on Saturday morning (assuming Flojo will allow it)...

book talk and butt flashes

i'm a woman on a mission. i've been trying to talk chris into building some built-in bookshelves on the long, windowless wall in our living room and calling it my christmas gift, my birthday gift, my anniversary gift, whatever - i'm flexible on this. so far the wall is still bare, but i'm really determined to dig my heels in on this one because i've got far too many books not to have some awesome shelving. and let's face it, i basically need built-in shelving as a means of storage, and the fact that it will look amazing is just an added bonus, right? and i'm not even picky; i'll take a whole wall of shelves, or just a few long ones on part of the wall!

more in the way of book talk, i've read the painted veil (not so good, but it's my fault since i chose it), the worst hard time (interesting and educational, but a little slow), and bel canto (an epic disappointment) for book club, and now i'm working on the cider house rules. i'm not quite 100 pages into it, but i love it, and i look forward to going to bed so that i can get back to it! what have you been reading lately?

now it's time for butt flashes. i must have subconsciously made it my mission to show the city of lynchburg my cheeks because i've been flashing all over town. EXHIBIT A: last week chris dropped me off at the office, and as i was jumping out of the vehicle my dress got caught under my hand which was placed firmly on the seat, causing my dress to come up to my waist, giving everyone a free show. who surrounds our office? an office full of state troopers and an office full of land surveyors - all male. embarrassing? you bet. EXHIBIT B: the day after that i was walking out of the post office (at lunch time when it's the busiest, obviously) when my foot slid on the wet sidewalk and i did a split...in a dress. my first thought was, "crap, how am i gonna play this off?" then i realized that gymnastics in a dress on the post office sidewalk can't be played off. luckily the only thing hurt was my pride (and i'm pretty sure it's still bruised). last, EXHIBIT C: the case of the flowy skirt and the windy day. i don't talk much about what i do for my part-time job, but technically i'm a field representative, and i go to meet clients (mostly car dealerships) to do their advertising. today while i was at a client's business, i was outside just starting to take pictures for his ad when a gust of wind came and blew my skirt up to my chin. first, this place is located on a very busy highway, so people saw; second, i was wearing a slip (luckily), but seeing as how it was white and semi-sheer, and it was a sunny day, nothing was left to the imagination; third, there were two guys sitting in their car which had broken down, and damn if my skirt didn't decide to fly up right in front of them! embarrASSing? YES!

now that i'm tucked safely away in my quiet house wearing FLANNEL PAJAMA PANTS i'm finally calming down. but honestly, i may never be able to show my face in lynchburg, va again!

wishlist wednesday!

i almost forgot that today was wednesday and i was about to show you my latest obsession/project (no, it isn't jewelry-related), but that'll have to wait until tomorrow! my friend cal can tell you, i've been design crazy lately and i've been doing way too much design sponge archive stalking. maybe it's the changing of seasons, or maybe it's because this is my new thing, but all i want to do lately is redecorate - myself and my house! i've even said something to chris about painting a room or two...which was met with silence and a blank stare. anyway, here are a few things i'd love for said redecorating spree!

you can find these beauties here (from the top): colleen jordan - i especially love this and would hang it by the window at my kitchen sink rather than wear it as a necklace, thief and bandit, flux glass, super duper things, yomemimo, the wood doctor.

today's the last nice day until this weekend, so it's about time i go outside and visit my old friend the trampoline. i hope you're having a great week so far!

the winds of change are blowin' 'round these parts.

i feel like i'm channeling my inner cowboy or something, and i blame it on the rifleman. have you ever seen it? chris and i watch it every now and again when it comes on retro tv sunday afternoons, and we always wish they'd do a marathon so we could see more. the night before last i bought a dvd with three episodes of the rifleman on ebay, and now i can't wait to get it! i see many, many more chuck connors impressions in our future. anyway, wow, i get way off track, don't i? the point is, i've been changing some things around and i thought i'd show you!

the first change i made was in my bedroom. in some ways, i'm very much a creature of habit, but when it comes to how i decorate my house, i get bored easily. i took all of the antique and antique-looking prints out of the frames in my bedroom and replaced them with photos, taken by me and some other very talented ladies (anabela, kjrsten and elle moss). i'm thinking i like this grouping MUCH better than the last one...for a little while anyway. next: my necklace trouble. i had a victorian couple statue that i hung all of my necklaces from to keep them from getting tangled, but i'll be honest, i just never thought victorian couples and bling went together. enter the antlers. i wrapped some wire around a small section of the antlers (by the largest point) and then left a loop so i could attach it to my wall. voila, instant jewelry holder!

no, i'm not changing from digital to film for all of my pictures as i would go broke in a matter of days, but instead of using a bigger, bulky film camera, i'm changing it up and playing with my new toy, an olympus pen ee! i just recently got it in the mail (i got such a deal on ebay i almost felt like i stole it) and i can't wait to develop my first roll because it's a half frame camera, so i'll get two frames in each picture!

this morning i moved the changes into my pink room/jewelry room/guest bedroom/flojo's room/dumping ground for all of my things. i used to have a few of my polaroids hanging on that line, but recently i've been feeling like i needed to change it up and give other pictures some display time. rather than sticking to one theme, i decided to add the things i thought were pretty. i have photos taken by me, photos taken by other people, original drawings, prints from etsy, and even a pretty postcard! i think i like the combination; it's more interesting.

have you been doing any redecorating in your house?

i organized my way to sanity.

if you follow me on twitter, you'll know that yesterday i spent several hours trying to bring some semblance of order to my desk. and let me tell you, it was one hell of an undertaking. i thought about taking a before picture to show you just how bad it actually was, but then i decided that you may contact "Hoarders," and i really didn't want that kind of attention. just to give you an idea, my desk isn't a computer desk (that's my lap, on the sofa), but it's where i make a lot of my jewelry, so the chains, feathers, and beads were so thick that you couldn't even see the top of my desk. and trust me, i don't lie. so after three straight hours and more random chunks of time here and there through the afternoon, i got my desk cleaned off and a lot of my supplies kind of organized. the drawers, that's another story. in addition to cleaning off my desk, i got the necklaces for my shop arranged and organized, and i also hung a mini inspiration/memo/pretty stuff board.

now you may be wondering, "why, danielle, if you're telling us about your new and improved clean desk are you showing us pictures of things that are clearly not your desk?" and i have an answer - my camera regularly has pms and throws fits if the lighting isn't just right, or if it isn't the right time of day, or if we're out of milk. i tried to get a picture of my desk, but since you can't fight with technology, i'll try again tomorrow.

i added a couple business cards from people who inspire me (but i'm missing one from carla), and of course a dinosaur toes business card since this is where the majority of the dinosaur toes magic happens, some pictures, and some notes. i have a few more things i want to pin up there, and i see it constantly changing. i also put those little animals on top of the closet door that's beside my desk so they can keep me company. they used to sit on my desk, but in my quest to be clutter free, they had to be re-homed.

i feel like rambling, but honestly, i don't know what i'd talk about. do you ever get in those sorts of moods? tomorrow i've got a wishlist wednesday post planned for you, and on thursday i'm sharing pictures! i took some time this morning to scan in some pictures i took with film. FILM??? WHAT?!? yes, i still love and use film. happy tuesday!

my home: continued and finished

i haven't forgotten to show the rest of the pictures i've taken around my house, but they just sort of got pushed aside. anyway, i wanted to show you the rest as i like to finish things i start, but i also tend to get bored of things quickly, that's why i've decided to compile the last three rooms i'm going to share into one post. fair enough? let the virtual home tour commence...

living room:

i have to be careful about what i put in the living room, otherwise that flower loveseat can look kind of grannyish. we actually rarely ever use this room, which i thought was a waste when we first bought our house, but now i kind of like having a nice, quiet room that rarely gets used! the first thing i noticed when i walked in to our house before it was ours was the white mantle in the living room. it was and still is my favorite thing!

kitchen:

there's not a lot to show in my kitchen, because everyone knows what cabinets and appliances look like, so i picked my favorite things. the antique table i got from my friend haley before she moved to california. i've had many people offer to buy it when they come over to visit, but it stays with me! the bird cage light was a gift last christmas, and i still stare at it! the last thing is an old brass turtle that i keep beside the sink to hold my rings. it was a gift from my sweet friend kassi, and it happens to be one of my two favorite turtle trinkets (the other was a gift from a friend, too)! like the rings? you can find them at pretty in pink boutique.

den:

even though my woopie is gone, i'll always have his paw print (with some extra fur). next, my favorite antique bird print, one of my favorite vintage lamps (that nearly electrocuted me, thus forcing me to learn how to rewire a lamp) and little white birds, all on top of the entertainment center. little bird eggs (the ones i focused on are flojo's) and nests. last, a print from one of my favorite artists.

so there you have it, the place i call home! if you want more, you'll just have to come visit me. while you're here, please don't forget to enter the giveaway, and if you have a moment, stop by an say hi to adri!

animal house style

i thought i'd break up the dinosaur toes home tour because you may get sick of seeing the inside of my house, and i decided to show you this new book that i'm currently in love with (still keeping with the home decorating theme). also, i've done some minor and long overdue rearranging in my bedroom because molly from DwellStudio is going to share some pictures of my bedroom on the DwellStudio blog! how exciting! i'll be sure to share a link once the pictures are up. this is kind of image heavy, but it was absolutely impossible to show less than i have...

i apologize for the poor picture quality, but today has been dark and rainy (not that i mind a rainy day) which isn't conducive to good picture-taking. when chris and i were on the way back from our island vacation/anniversary trip, we stopped in north carolina at this huge warehouse type store that had everything you could possibly imagine; most of it was crap, but this book was reason enough to go! it's called "animal house style" and it's written by julia szabo. it's not only about decorating a house for humans and furry or feathered friends, but it shares tips on everything from cleaning up fur to using safe, chemical free solutions to clean your house. i still haven't read much of it because i always end up looking at the pictures and forgetting where i was at!

i hope you're all having a good wednesday!

a little weekend diy

i'm no master upholsterer (i don't actually know if that's even a word, but it sounds good enough for me), but recovering a cushion on a wooden chair is easy enough, and that's just what i did. my "studio" room, which i hate calling it because i think it makes me sound so pretentious, isn't the prettiest place in my house. aside from the mess on my desk, it's a combination of a sewing room, a guest bedroom, flojo's bedroom, and a jewelry room; so it's kind of hard to decorate. one big problem was the eyesore of a chair i had at my desk; the cushion was a disgusting orangey-red burlap type mess straight from the 70's, complete with a hole at one corner, pilling, and snags. why did i even own the monster? because it was free. i've been wanting to recover the cushion forever, and yesterday morning, i finally did it!

i'm actually kind of embarrassed to show you the before picture because the thing was just so hideous! notice i didn't show much of the fabric, and the hole at the corner is on the other side. i still think it's enough for you to fully grasp the distaste i had for it! luckily, i have several bolts of designer upholstery fabric in a corner just begging to be used, which, coincidentally, was my favorite price, free. i tend to put off sewing projects for a long time, as evidenced by the massive fabric collection i've accumulated.

and now for the after picture... the chair is still no great beauty, and i do see a coat of paint in its future, but i don't hate it anymore, and i'm not greeted by a big hole every time i go to sit at my desk. the fabric i used has a sort of velveteen feel, and is muted green and sort of a greenish slate blue (i'm terrible at describing colors). it was super easy, and the only supplies i needed were: fabric, hammer, screwdriver, and upholstery tacks (or staples).

so that's how i spent my saturday morning! next i hope to find a larger old chair with a wooden body and an upholstered seat, or upholstered seat and back that i can recover and put in my living room. i once saw an antique rocking chair at an auction with heavy, carved arms and legs with an upholstered seat and back, and i fell in love. i told chris to bid on it for me (because i'm painfully shy), but he didn't and the chair went for $2. can you believe it?!? he said that he thought i was kidding and that's why he didn't bid. hopefully i can find another one with that kind of price tag!

do you do any diy projects in your home? have you reupholstered anything before? speaking of upholstery, one day i'd like to make an upholstered headboard! have any of you done that before?

how i won, i do not know

Aside from making lots of things and over thinking displays for the show in Charlottesville this Saturday, I really haven't been doing much. I feel like my life suddenly turned boring and I don't have much to blog about, because really, how interested are you guys going to be in the number of leather pieces I cut in one day? Not very. So, the most exciting thing to happen to me in the last few days (and it would still be exciting even if my life hadn't turned into me being a one-woman sweatshop) is finding out that I won a giveaway from Dwell Studio! They had a giveaway on Twitter for this duvet set, and can you believe I won?!?!?

I'd like to tell you that the room above is my own, but it's not, I used the picture from Dwell Studio's site. I may or may not have a problem with making my bed everyday, and you may not be interested in seeing the rumpled pile that is my bed. However, I remove my pretty new duvet before we go to bed at night so as not to wrinkle it up!

The shams and duvet are made of 400 thread count Egyptian cotton, and let me tell you, it's some of the softest, highest quality fabric that has ever graced my bed! If you're thinking of giving your bed a makeover, I suggest looking at these duvets!

Hopefully I'll have something more to report on, but until then, I hope you're having a good Monday, and don't forget to check back for the giveaway I'll be having in the next few days!

shell to home

When my husband and I bought our first home, our current home, I don't think we fully understood what we were getting ourselves into. Little more than damaged walls, windows and doors, our shell of a home turned into, after a year of work and a little more to go, our pride and joy! After doing a little house cleaning yesterday, I thought I'd take a few pictures of my little palace! Filled with antiques, etsy items and my original prints, it's my favorite place to be!