Tutorial Round-Up

These are a few tutorials I've come across lately that I just love. People are just so clever!

This bag from Weekend Design. Genius.

DIY Cuckoo Clocks--how cute are these??

This book strap tutorial is soooo cute!

I'm in love with these papier-mâché tea cups! That boat is sensational.

I love paper bag skirts. This tutorial gives me hope that I could perchance make my own.

Have you seen any good tutorials lately?

♥ Shannon

Oh, Chiffon

Have I mentioned that I love chiffon? I do. I love it. I love soft, flowy dresses. I've been searching for new ones, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the one I own.

Dress: H&M, Necklace: Express

I should start sewing more....

♥ Shannon

Tutorial Tuesday: Easy Sun Tea

If you haven't made sun tea, well, you must. It's so easy and so refreshing. Here's how:

Things you'll need: Tea bags, mason jar (really, a glass cup or carafe would do, but it's best to have a fitting cover)

Step 1: Place tea bags and water in jar with 1:1 ratio (1 tea bag per 1 cup water)

Step 2: Seal the jar and place it in the sun

Step 3: Leave for 2-3 hours depending on how strong you like your tea.

Step 4: Remove tea bags and place in fridge. Drink when chilled.

Bonus: I like to make an extra glass and fill an ice cube tray with it. This way when I serve with ice, it won't dilute the flavor!

It's fun to add garnishes. I've been making peppermint tea (soooo refreshing on a hot day!). It's fun to add fresh sprigs of mint and slices of lime.

Do you make sun tea? What's your favorite flavor?

♥ Shannon

Art Journal

Hi friends, I'm working on a great summer DIY, but in the meantime, I thought I'd show you a few of my recent art journal pages.

I love magazines (can you tell?), but because they use a resource that I value (trees), I really try to work my magazines until there isn't much left. My favorite way to do this is to art journal my favorite images. I keep pages that inspire me so I can return to them and hopefully they can keep me inspired for longer than it takes to just leaf through this month's issue.

Do you keep an art journal? What are your favorite materials for it?

♥ Shannon

Some Blog Love

This month a few bloggers (with truly delightful blogs) were rather generous with their ad space, and it was the first time that I submitted a Little Luck Tree button to be posted on a wall. I loved each concept, especially as my blog grows and I learn more about this bright and intricate little world.

I thought I'd share these with you.

First, many of you might know that Leigh-Ann is celebrating the 5-year anniversary of Freckled Nest, so she offered free ad space for the month of June (welcome to everyone who has popped over from there!). She had almost 200 participants and has been featuring them in sets of 12 each night.

I've used this as an opportunity to check out bloggers that I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to. As a result, I have found so many great new blogs, just by clicking on new buttons (check out this post for an example!).

Lesley Myrick wrote a great post about why she's mixing up her sponsor space this summer with free buttons. She examined her reasons behind hosting ads and the philosophy of seeking followers.

Another example comes from Tonia at The Gunny Sack, who is working with bloggers to help promote each other.

These women have helped introduce me to the next level of self-promotion, which has been so helpful for me as a new blogger. I also have a greater appreciation for how easy it is to give back to bloggers just by clicking on buttons in sidebars.

So thank you again to Leigh-Ann, Lesley, and Tonia--and go click away, my friends!

♥ Shannon

With love's light wings...

Okay, so this is what happened. A few years ago Matt was deployed during Christmas, and one of the gifts he sent to me was a silver necklace with a quote from Romeo and Juliet: "With love's light wings did I o'er perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out."

The military gave us many obstacles in our relationship, one of them being the fact that we had to live in different countries for almost a year. He picked out this quote for us because whatever the "stony limits" were, they couldn't keep love out. (Awwww).

Then. I lost the necklace. I still maintain that it was stolen, but whatever.

This arrived in the mail the other day:

Okay!! It's possible that I strongly hinted that I needed wouldn't complain about a new one.

I just love it, you know?

♥ Shannon

National Pink Day

So. Did you know that today is National Pink Day? Thanks to miss erika over at pinksuedeshoe, I've been celebrating all week, and in honor of what should clearly be one of the most prestigious holidays out there (due to cheerfulness alone), here are some shots of pink from my home:

I have quite a few pink objects in the kitchen, due mostly to the array of Breast Cancer Awareness merchandise, but also because pink is such a nice, lovely color.

This bright pink souvenir was from a crazy rafting trip Matt and I went on in Thailand.

Have you seen this book? My dear friend, Sam, gave it to me in college. It's very inspiring. Another one of my sweet friends, Brandi, was my roommate in college and we would take turns leaving the pages open to send a message to one another.

I love collecting poetry books from the countries I visit. This version of Keats' Endimione has English on one page and Italian on the other.

My mat for cutting paper. So bright!

This was my first vintage tea cup, and my budding Alice in Wonderland collection.

I could have chosen any color for my sewing machine. Pink was the choice!

So Happy Pink Day, loves! Make sure you check out the week-long celebration over at pinksuedeshoe, especially the fun giveaway!

♥ Shannon

Instax Gratification

I'm just getting the hang of my little instax camera, even though I've had it for almost a year now. Here are some images from our picnic.

I used to think of the film as precious, so only really great pictures should be taken (thus I rarely took pictures). Now I think of it as a way of capturing special moments--quick little snapshots for me to hold in my hand and savor.

This is a picture of me taking a picture of Matt (featured above). You can see from the instax shot that I hesitated, so really he took a picture of me posing...but I captured one of him. He just looks so natural and off-guard, and I get to hold the memory of him with his camera.

So special!

♥ Shannon

DC Vegan Drinks

For those of you in the DC/Baltimore area, have you heard of DC Vegan Drinks?

Come for the food. Come for the drinks. Come for the good company. I'm gonna check it out--anyone else?

♥ Shannon

Summer Picnic!!

It's the solstice!! Today marks two of my favorite things: summer and pagan excuses to party. There was only one thing to do: have a picnic. And guess what, loves--it was vegan (and delicious!!).

Last summer I purchased this picnic basket at a yard sale for $2, then I made this little insert to put in it. Fun!

Cream soda, organic strawberries & blueberries, PB&J (sort of...I prefer sunflower seed butter), and blueberry lemon cupcakes. It was so yummy!

One of the gifts Matt gave me for Christmas was a book called The Book of Us. It has 150 Questions for us to write out, such as "When did you first know you were in love?" We brought it to the picnic to fill out a few more answers (and giggle over the memories).

Outfit details: Shirt: Delia's; Skirt: Paper Doll; Wedges: Old Navy; Ring: Express; Aviators: Fossil

It was a lovely, lovely way to start summer.

♥ Shannon