from secret leaves

I'm so excited about these! They just came in and they are really so wonderful. I think they'd make the most extraordinary gifts. I can't remember when I've been this excited about a new product at Inspire Co.

There are three different types of books, all handmade by Secret Leaves in St. Louis, Missouri.

The first in the series is an incredibly unique photo album with black pages. The covers are so elegant, made from music books. The albums are decorated with ribbon and a wonderful vintage button or jewel. They will arrive to you with a tin of photo corners and a white pen...all you'll need to do is collect your photos and inscribe little notes. Wouldn't this make an incredible wedding gift?

The second type is a scrap journal. The pages are made up of all sorts of fabulous old papers including maps, envelopes, old letters, and more. All vintage and original. Just imagine how much fun (and how easy it would be) to tuck in your own treasures, photos, and mementos!

And lastly, we have books that are made from old book covers, rebound with loose papers, to make a fabulous and inviting journal. There are two versions of this journal. One is made with bright colored book covers from the 40s and 50s. The other is made from very old book covers rescued by Sharon and Ann at Secret Leaves.

I'll put them in the store early next week. Stay tuned. But, if you can't wait until then, shoot me an email and I'll give you pricing information, etc.

better today

I'm much better today. Much. I don't know what was wrong with me yesterday.

I still have a ton of things to do. The two big things are:

1. Prepare myself and house for Easter dinner (~30 people, big and small).
2. Get all sorts of things ready for the Paris Flea Market.

This year, Easter dinner (with both my family and Rich's) will be potluck. This takes a whole lot of pressure off me. I'm making a ham (think I'll just get one all prepared and nicely sliced). I'm also going to have some sort of hors d'euvres ready when people start to arrive...maybe a cheese tray with pate and nice crackers.

I'm going to take most of the furniture out of the living room and set it up with lots of tables, restaurant style. The dining room and living room are open to each other so I think this will be a good way to have everyone together.

I'm going to cover each of the tables with a simple white table cloth. I'll put daffodils on each table and some sort of pretty little favor that will double as the placecard. Maybe a dyed egg with their name on it? Or maybe I can plant some wheatgrass in tiny baskets. I could sprinkle in little foil eggs, maybe a peep, and a little flag with the guest's name? I'd better get started planting if that's what I want to do.
I have lots of raw materials for my kits that I'll make for the Paris Flea Market. I'll show you my progress as I go in the next couple of weeks. One of the things I'm particularly excited about is a kit for making glass dome paperweights. I'm planning on making the kits relatively easy to do with the fun being in the planning and designing part of it.

I'm at The Cottage today. The weather is so beautiful but the sunshine is tricking me into thinking it's warmer than it actually is.

These photos are of a display in the counter room. A bouquet of branches is hosting a party of nest baskets and charms (made by our ever-talented friend, Jean).

I'm going to shoot a lot of photos for Ann and Linda to put on their blog in the days to follow so be sure to look for them.

inertia

Okay, first...let me direct you to the wonderful new header my friend Mo just made for me! Just take a minute to take in that big, wide open smile. I've had that smile all of my life. I really tried to change my smile to something more demure, sophisticated and less dental. I can't help it.

Today I'm feeling very tired. I have a million things to do and it seems like all I can really manage to do is index them all in my head.

Here are just a few piddly things I must do today:



My friend Teresa turned me on to this nifty little thing that makes card catalog like thingies for you. Click here to make your own.

Hopefully, I'll shake this inertia...do more than just get dressed...and have something more interesting for you to read later. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

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Adding a graphic, like the catalog card above, to your blog post (PC's)

1. Right click the graphic
2. Choose "Save Picture As" from the drop down menu
3. Select a place for the file where you'll be able to find it again easily. (perhaps your desktop)
4.
a. Upload the image to a server. Reference the address of the file you just added to the server in code that will look like this img src="http://addyourimageaddresshere", adding a < at the beginning and a > at the end..

b. Or Use your blogging program to add the image to your blog post.

Alternatively, yet not really recommended, you could right click the image, select properties, find the url of the image in that box. Then cut and paste it into the blog post in code that will look like this img src="http://addyourimageaddresshere", adding a < at the beginning and a > at the end.

It's really so simple but I think I made it seem difficult.