here comes the sun...

Or, more accurately, here comes a big freakin' thunderstorm... but where did accuracy ever get anyone anyway?

However, in anticipation of the sun someday returning, I wanted to share a project that I have been really excited about for a while now (I just haven't gotten around to it yet)... some diy cyanotype art!

After seeing this blog post over at House&Home, and this one at Apartment Therapy... I have been dying to try something like this at home. Basically it is as simple as lightly spray-painting (or spray-paint-misting) a cyanotype blue colour over some leaves or flowers, or anything you want really (I am planning to use some herbs - rosemary, thyme and sage would make such lovely silhouettes, especially to hang in the kitchen) on white bristol board, and then framing your prints with the old go-to white Ikea frames. I love projects like this, that are so inspiring and so SIMPLE, that it might actually provide me with some confidence and motivation to tackle one of those other diy ideas that I am accumulating at an alarming rate. (Thank you for that, Pinterest.) Also, if you clicked on the link to the Apartment Therapy post, you will have seen those gorgeous chairs. You will have also noticed that there is a company selling cyanotype fabric (now available in a beautiful array of colours). It is called bluesunprints, and their white cyanotype fabric is selling for $20/yard... maybe it's just me, but that seems like an awesome deal! I have a chair that I picked up at a thrift store a while back, I am planning to spray paint it white, and I have been trying to find the perfect fabric to cover the seat... well this is definitely it! (I have had these pages bookmarked for ages, I don't know what took me so long!) All I can say is, those Sunprint kits of my youth have come a loooong way.

On a related note - I just spotted these plates over at West Elm... just beautiful. I would love to get a set for my Mom, I know she would love them.

My favourites are the wild grass and the clovers

west elm - nature sun print dessert plates, $8 each

Well my friends, I hope this has provided a little bit of summer inspiration for you! I am quite excited (she says as the first crack of thunder rolls in) and I hope to have some photos of my own cyanotype artwork to share with you sometime very soon. Have a lovely weekend!

catch you on the flip side

I love flip flops. Like many (most?) girls, I pretty much live in them as soon as the warm weather hits. Mostly the rather inexpensive, often rubber variety... maybe the occasional "fancy" sequined pair.

But these...These are just downright beautiful.

Summer leather flip flops - from Scotch & Soda

she's baaaack...

... and talking about herself in the third person, apparently!

Hello again my friends, and my apologies for the much-longer-than-planned absence! These last couple of weeks have been crazy. But I am back now, and will be doing my best to keep on top of things again. It always amazes me how quickly the summer fills up with things to do, and then flies by before it has even really sunk in that it's here. With weddings and birthdays and cottages and bachelorette parties and a million other things I can't even think of right now, almost every single weekend is already accounted for. Straight through to September! Crazy or what. I have to remind myself that these are all fun things, with people I love, and I am going to enjoy every minute of my summer. Nevertheless, it can be a little overwhelming to think about it, so much so that one can almost start to feel as though it is already over. But, it is only just beginning and I have to savour it. Even when I am playing soccer in 35 degree humidity (my face has never resembled a tomato more than it did on Tuesday night, it was a tough game!). And even when I am getting eaten alive by blackflies at my cottage because I'm just crazy enough to go up there on the May long weekend. Because we just don't get enough summertime around here to feel anything less than utter gratitude for every last second of it.