peonies + inspiration

Hi again. 

I wanted to share a few bits from my week and mostly just wish you an amazing weekend!

This past Sunday was Mother's Day and I had a few treats, which included beautiful peonies,

a gift of a MAC makeover + makeup (it's like being a kid in a candy store),

...this is MAC's new Baking Beauties Spring/Summer 2013 Collection...so fresh + fun!...

...& a delicious dinner prepared by my very talented + Italian husband, including prosciutto e melone. He wrapped sliced cantaloupe with thinly-sliced prosciutto - Italian ham and then drizzled with balsamic + olive oil, salt + pepper. Such a yummy treat. Here's an instasnap...

...and finally watching my girls jump on the trampoline on a beautiful evening.  Those picture-perfect moments are ones to savor.

During the week when I wasn't transporting or negotiating with my teens, I was working (Post & Gray has their big patiopalooza event this weekend. If you're in Charlotte don't miss it!)...and I managed to do a little playing (checking-out my fave blogs).  I found this gorgeous inspiration at alisaburke...

Click here for more inspiring + beautiful images of her Spring colour study.

I wandered over to peoniesandbrass (love her blog + style).

...and found this breath-taking interior via northern light + lonny...

Don't you just want to be there?

Wishing you an inspiring + beautiful weekend!!!


xo

patti

valentine diy: crayons + watercolors

I was so inspired recently when I stumbled upon this amazing blog.

I had this image pinned to my Art pinboard for quite awhile, but I finally got around to clicking over.  And, wow! I was so glad I did. Absolute inspiration!

Once I soaked in the beautiful color + texture of Alisa Burke's post "creativity-with-crayons" ...I couldn't resist. I had to PLAY. (Click over and take a peek. I promise you'll be inspired too.)

I have had a long-standing love for crayons + watercolors. There is something about opening up a big box of crayolas or a palette of paints.  It must be the vast array of COLOR + all the possibilities of CREATING.

I put a little VALENTINE SPIN on Alisa's crayon + watercolor idea. As you know, I've been all about pink + red lately. 

SO, here it is, my Valentine art creation...

All you need is a white crayon, watercolor paper, water, paint + a brush. It's kind of magical really. It's a fun one to do with the kids (I think I'll keep all the art supplies out...even my teens might go for it.)

...And while I had the crayons out, I decided to create some Valentine CRAYON HEARTS (some of my favorite things from childhood).

You just need a few ingredients: crayon shavings, wax paper and some ribbons.. plus an iron to melt the shavings within the wax paper sheets.  Here's how my creation turned out...

I ended up ironing the wax paper a bit more to further melt the crayons...

Though I did it all from memory, there is a great how-to here. 

{image via pinterest}

I hope you've had a great week.  And I hope this post brings out some good memories... and maybe even a box of crayons. :)


Happy Friday!

xo

patti