My New Martha Stewart Dove Craft Punch

Back in July I was reading Martha Stewart's blog, one of my favorites, and found out that Martha now sells products at Michael's and Walmart. Well, I'm NOT a Walmart fan at all, but *eek* when I had a car last week I couldn't help myself. Because of Martha, I was able to see past the overwhelming store layout and bright lights to find some really neat things.

My favorite purchase was a dove hole punch, I just couldn't resist. Two years ago my birthday present from my Mom was a gorgeous dove necklace. I picked it out because doves symbolize love and peace, two things that mean a lot to myself and my Mom. I was so excited when I found this because the dove almost exactly looks like my necklace! Of course I've started crafting with it and there are some cards in the works.

I can't wait to see the full Martha Stewart collection in Michael's, especially all of the wedding things. From the limited selection at Walmart I could see using all of her products to help pull together a fabulous party. Martha and her team really know how to come up with some fantastic products. Will doesn't know it yet, but we're going to Michael's next time I'm in Boulder because (yes!) there is one very close to our house.

Origins Packaging

I recently treated myself to some Origins products and with my purchase I received a (free!) fabulous little set of Origins Organics products. I didn't expect the amazing packaging it came in, it's almost as good as the products! As you regular readers know, I'm a big fan of silhouettes so naturally I love the simplicity of this design. I also like the simple white packaging for my samples, it's clean, fresh and a bit elegant. Now I can't wait to try out the little samples, I think they'll be perfect for my travel bag.

Wrought Iron Fences

Lately I've been very interested in wrought iron fences. It started with my (minor) obsession to find the letter S in architecture. Fencing and ironwork is chocked full of my fave letter, but I also noticed many interesting patterns and designs in the fencing. The most ornate I've come across was when I was in Ottawa around the Parliament building. Mostly I've photographed fencing around my neighborhood, there is a lot to see!

Upon further investigation there is a dizzying amount of information online but the best site, I think, is the This Old House page which also has ideas on how to decorate. It's short, sweet and to the point. I hope you like the pictures and I'll leave you with these two fence factoids:

-"Wrought" is the past tense form of the verb to work which is no longer used, now we use "worked" (via Wikipedia).
-Iron working can be traced as far back as 3,500 B.C. in Armenia (via iron history page).

Fourth Tree From Me

Blue Spruce

If you're a regular reader you know that I've been working on typography trees for a time now. My original goal was to create four favorite trees (of Will's) entirely out of text while at the same time capturing the spirit of the trees. The project brought me a lot of enjoyment (despite several software crashes) and I'm so excited for the end products. I was very happy to create something that just looks COOL. We've had the first, the Japanese Maple, framed and it looks dynamite from far away. You look and kind of wonder: what is that? I hope you enjoy as much as I have, click the pictures to enlarge the images.

Jacaranda

Weeping Willow

Japanese Maple

In Focus: Salinas, CA

Following up on my Monterey posts I have one last group of pictures from a side trip to Salinas, CA. The main purpose was to see the National Steinbeck Center. I heart John Steinbeck, especially the book Travels With Charley, and really wanted to see this museum as well as his home. I road the MST, Monterey-Salinas Transit, which was easy and cheap.



I really wanted to have lunch at Steinbeck's house but when I got there it was unexpectedly closed. Sad face! I did however thoroughly enjoy the Center. The exhibits were very well put together and interactive. I was excited to see Rocinante, the truck Steinbeck took across America for Travels With Charley. Part of the Center was an agricultural museum and I really liked that too because I learned a lot about the area.

Downtown Salinas seemed pretty quiet when I was there. It seemed as though it could be a fun city center with some more stores and restaurants, or maybe it was quiet because I was there on a Monday. All in all, Salinas was a great side-trip that only took a couple hours. Happy travels!