What we picked up at the Warrenton Antique Fair this weekend. It was the second to last day, but we managed to find some gems!

I’ve been a fan of Baggu’s painted pouches, and a couple of weeks ago, I decided to paint a handful of pouches for M&S’s Feliz table. We’ve been planning doing painting workshop at the store , but it’s been a little too busy to set a date. So this was a nice opportunity to experiment and practice. I copied some of my sketchbook patterns onto the blue pouch, and I’m hoping to paint a few more pouches for the holidays. It’s relatively easy to free hand paint, fun, and the possibilities are endless. This was the brand I used, and a little goes a long way.

My spring break is drawing to an end, and, like I do with most weekends, I’m left wishing I’d done more before it ended, and probably dwelling a little too much on it all. But it’s been a pretty great week so far. I got to wake up late and it wasn’t pitch dark, eat multiple lunches with BJ, organize the house, hang out with my siblings, enjoy the spring weather, tackle loads of laundry, and work on fall orders for the store. We’ve also been watching The Americans. I’ll always be a Keri Russell fan (Felicity forever!), and although it was a little slow to start for me, I’m pretty hooked. The 80’s look good on her too.

While cleaning the house, I took some pictures of some of the things I’ve been collecting or using frequently. From the top: new comfy Anniel shoes from Leap and hat from Creatures of Comfort, Mujji restock from our last trip to NY, bits of fabric and packaging remnants from Julia and Shara + pretty business card I found in NY, and some of the art supplies I’ve using these days. Still obsessed with stamps!

Austin treasures: The Hill-Side striped scarf from Stag for BJ, a beautiful vintage book and horn from Off The Wall, and something I’ve been coveting- a necklace from Alyson Fox’s A Small Collection at Spartan (I had a hard time choosing one piece from the store. It’s beautifully curated)

This year I could no longer do the 4-5 hours of sleep and bringing home work every single day including weekends. I’ve given myself more breaks- sometimes not doing work after dinner, sleeping in on weekends, and taking naps. It allows me to spend more time with my family, friends, and personal work and I really think it has made a huge difference in my overall moral. In the back of my mind, I am a little nervous about what next year brings with the budget cuts and increase in enrollments looming ahead, but I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be too many changes.

Few things that have distracted me from work stress:

• Bailey Doesn’t Bark cups from Jackie. How did you know we were running out of/breaking our cups?
• Scoring a super comfortable Herman Miller Eames office chair to paint and sew in.
• Learning how to bead. I strung together some practice shapes.
• Sometimes I have to be dragged to a movie because I’m a homebody. But we saw Jane Eyre last night and it was beautifully shot, touching, and funny. Of course, I cried and jumped a few times.

Ta-da! Look what got from Liberty of London for Target. Most of the pieces are gifts, but the tiered platters is going to make it into our reception somehow. My favorite print is on the ceramic jar. I got a little print happy and had to put a few items back like a floral silk tie for BJ. We’ll just have to go back and let him decide (and maybe pick up one or two more things!)

*mmk BJ’s not so much of a fan. Only in moderation then.

Sources (that I can remember. left to right zig zag): Spool birds, leptitpapillon cloud mobile, desert fete polaroid, Cy Twombly, Confetti System garlands, my fabric boutonnieres, once wed diy flowers, most beautiful cake by nikole herriott, scout-holiday place holders, photobooth pics from Chicago, fireworks via dominic winsor, save the date watercolors.

I LOVE office supplies. A few of my favorites from Uguisu Shoten, an online shop for Japanese goods. The prices aren’t bad either. They have the lowest prices for Japanese masking tape that I’ve seen so far.

(Top to bottom: 1. clock stamp 2. graph masking tape 3. tape dispenser 4. grid tracing paper envelopes)

Today, I went to an all day ceramics workshop for teachers. I feel more confident about running the kiln and how to use glazes. Whew. Say goodbye to fears of burning down our building. I also discovered watercolor glazes!!! I’ll take pictures of them tomorrow.

Susan Dwyer via Designsponge

I just love grey… and stripes.