Introducing.....

I'm happy to finally announce the opening of my new Etsy shop, Bone Flora!

Combining the bones with pressed plants, feathers, shells, and other bits I've collected throughout my time exploring, I've been creating assemblages highlighting the unique beauty of each piece of the skeleton. I'm hoping that I can accentuate the tiniest beautiful details of something that most people don't stop to consider!

So far I only have a few pieces stocked, but I'm working on more every day and having loads of fun doing it. I'm hopeful that others will enjoy these as much as I do! But I won't complain if I end up keeping them all to decorate my house with either, haha!

What do you think!?

See you soon!! <3

It's All in the Details

I really enjoy decorating the house, giving everything a very personal feel. But since my husband and I have never settled in one place long enough to really devote time to a consistent scheme of decoration, I've only managed to design small little areas. Small as they are, I still love to see these carefully selected details every day because they remind me of different parts of our life together.

Our bedroom has a very definite "ocean" theme...I've decorated it in sea colors with plenty of things to remind us of our honeymoon in Maine, including my Maine glass buoy, our bottle of wedding night wine, and shells from the beach where we were married.

 The Maine love carries over to the refrigerator as well!

One of my favorite quotes of all time, from On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

A painting I made a long time ago of a gloomy monster with sweet intentions.

My husband's beautiful post office box and acorn sculpture, along with my handsome beta fish, Tiny Iota!

I am a self-proclaimed M*A*S*H junkie! This is my very modest collection of memorabilia.

The most gorgeous perfume I've ever smelled.

And of course, Lucy couldn't be left out of a post about my favorite parts of my house! She is the sweetest kitty ever. The poor lady has been through a lot. She was found with an abscess on her rear leg that consumed her foot and spread up to her hips, requiring the amputation of the whole leg. Then later she was attacked by dogs and her other rear leg was torn up pretty badly. Most of the inner part of her foot and leg don't grow hair anymore and two of her toes are missing! Despite all that she is sweet, loving, and playful. My best friend!

See you soon! <3

Bones and a New Project

Today I finally got all the bones in the final stage of cleaning! My big deer skull is going to take a bit longer than the smaller skeleton because it was a little bit fresher if you catch my drift! So it's still got a while of hydrogen peroxide soaking left. However, I believe my new skeleton from Thanksgiving will be done in just a few short days! Here are some pictures of it as I was cleaning.

I'm fairly sure that these are the bones of a muskrat!  There are lots of them hanging around my grandma's lake, so its' definitely the  most likely candidate. I'll be able to get a better look once it's fully clean and sterilized.

The reason why I'm so darn thrilled about all these bones (besides the fact that I personally find them gorgeous) is a super secret project that I have in the works. I've been feeling very excited and passionate about it...Most of my free time lately I've been working on developing my concept as fully as I can. It feels great because this is the first time I've really and truly felt excited about something I created. Here's a sneak peek for you!

These mink bones are in the very first stages, but I've got lots of ideas and I'll be working like mad so I can hopefully reveal my surprise soon.

See you soon! <3

DIY :: Feather Mobile

Ever since I saw the feather mobile DIY over at Needle and Nest, I've been thinking about it constantly. I was strictly on the lookout for feathers whenever I was outside, but I never seemed to have any luck finding any. Then I realized that one of my roommates was a perfect helper for the task!

Occasionally my lovely friend Gloria sheds some of her feathers as she prepares to grow new ones. Her feathers have really unique patterns and gray and white gave me a great blank canvas to work on!

I experimented with several color schemes before I settled on a very simple blue and white palette. I had a little silver glittery paint, but it turned out not to be very opaque. It still gave a nice slight shimmer to some of the feathers (and my paint water!)

I have to say, I love how it turned out! I was worried that I would mess it up, but I think this tutorial is genius because it would probably turn out beautifully no matter what types of feathers or wood or paint you used! It blends modern and rustic in a way that is really pleasing. I love having this hang just above my workspace. Hopefully it will encourage lots of good ideas and creativity.  

See you soon! <3

Doodles

I had an outfit post planned for today, but it's so cloudy and dark outside that I figured I'd get much nicer photos tomorrow. 

Instead, I thought I'd share a few watercolor doodles I did recently.

I actually got inspired to paint the orange jellies that Elycia saw when she visited Shedd Aquarium! They're just so lovely.

Also, as you may notice, I was so inspired by the pastel dishes from my last post that I decided to give the blog an overhaul based on that palette! I'm glad I did, I was looking for something a little bit softer and I think this is a nice change. :)

See you soon!! <3