almost august

Wow, it's almost August! You know what that means for most- getting ready to head back to school. There are back to school specials just about everywhere, but guess who's not hitting any of them up- this girl!

old school cursive eye candy journal by crab apple design

Back in May when I graduated I said graduating probably wouldn't set in until fall when I really didn't go back to school. And I'm right- I think it still hasn't set in and probably won't until school is really back in session. What I do know is that for the first time in my life I don't have to worry about getting ready to go back to school, like I did every past fall. For those of you who are heading back enjoy your August and enjoy school- it really will go by faster than you think!

ladies night at lara's

I'm excited to announce an amazing event that will be held at Lara's Tortilla Flats- Ladies Night! Ladies Night will include dinner, drinking and shopping from local vendors of handmade goods from the Oshkosh area.

image source

Ladies Night at Lara’s Tortilla Flats is $12 at the door and includes dinner, a drink ticket and a free raffle ticket to win one of the 10 door prizes. The first Ladies Night at Lara's will be next Tuesday August 3rd from 6-9pm. Vendors will be selling: coffee, candles, ceramics, sarongs, jewelry, bamboo socks, wearable art, purses, decorated tiles, sugar scrubs, kids jewelry, cards & much more!

The space is limited to 10 vendors each month, so I won't be selling this month. But I'm excited to have an event like this in downtown Oshkosh! If your near stop by for dinner and check out the great gifts available.

favorite new find

A few weeks ago when I was sharing some inspiration boards of things I love, I shared one that featured owls. Well the other day I came across a blog that is solely dedicated to all things owl. It's AMAZING!!!

I love it, and it's called My Owl Barn. If you love owls you need to check out this blog for a daily does of owly cuteness. Check out these pictures from some of the recent posts:

flight of fancy

Every summer near the end of July Oshkosh hosts the International Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In Convention- known around here as EAA. For this event thousands of aircraft enthusiasts from around the world visit Oshkosh's EAA grounds to visit the museum, view unique aircrafts, catch the daily afternoon air show and much more.

For four years now I've worked as a waitress in downtown Oshkosh and every year I enjoy meeting new faces from around the world. It's always nice too to see the faces that come back year after year as well.

Even though I don't know too much about Aviation, it's fun to watch the unique aircrafts fly overhead in the air show. Although I've never actually visited the convention grounds during EAA it's an event I look forward to summer after summer.

airplane vinyl wall decal by circle line studios

aviator skirt by urban sapling

tailwind pinup by vanguard gallery

plane and simple by verdigris dye

guest post & tutorial!

As part of my sister Desiree's July blog series, she's invited me to guest post on her blog. She's currently featuring all things Christmas and asked me to share a tutorial for an easy add on gift. Please stop by and visit me at .simply.simon. today for my post on her series "Christmas in July" to see what I've made!

rainy day

Today has been an icky rainy day... I was glad to be stuck inside working all day! The weather reminded me of a quick sketch I did a while back. Seeing it made my rainy day a bit better!

rainy day fun- ink on paper

scarf update

beginning of my braided knit scarf

As promised here are some pictures of the beginning of my braided knit scarf. I hoped to put these up last Friday, but my computer had different thoughts and decided to have a mini crash on me : ( I love these bold colors- I think they will be great for fall weather!

So far I have three out of the five strands finished! They are seriously taking a lot longer than I expected. I thought they would knit up pretty fast because they are so skinny- each is about an inch wide- but I also had to knit them much longer than the scarf length I'd like because of the braiding.

It's a great project to work on while watching a movie. Hopefully the last two strands won't take me too much longer to finish- I can't wait to see the finished product!

(un)braided knit scarf

crazy busy weekend

Hello all, hope your weekend was great! Mine was super busy- but really fun! I started my weekend off early and headed to Madison Thursday night to see a Mallards baseball game with my friend Ellen. Although we didn't watch much of the game, we had a lot of fun catching up with each other. While in Madison I also visited a great fabric shop, Stitcher's Crossing, and found these great prints:

Friday night my parents came into town late and stayed the night. On Saturday we all woke up really early for the Fremont Triathlon! My family and I have done this 'mini' triathlon for 5 years now. This year's race was a 1/8 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. And this year was my mom's first year joining us! She usually is our cheerleader and photographer, but after some persuasion from Dad she joined us- and did really great!

On our way back to my apartment we picked up Seth's mom, Diane, in New London for Wedding Dress Shopping!!! We first headed to David's Bridal then off to another bridal shop in downtown Appleton, The Bridal Event. I probably tried on over 20 dresses and think I have it narrowed down to two. Although I had my parents and Diane with me, I still want both my sisters there with me to let me know what they think.

Saturday night after my parents headed back home, Diane and I headed to a barbecue at our friends Matt & Kristina's house. Seth was at a bachelor party all day so the two of us decided to go together. Seth went to high school with Matt and Kristina and their moms are great friends with Diane. It was good to see everyone and a great way to wind down a busy day.

On Sunday Seth and I had a super lazy day until the afternoon when we met up his family for his grandma's 80th birthday! We met up for dinner and drinks at her favorite restaurant, The Black Otter, in celebration. It was the perfect end to a crazy busy weekend!

so not scarf weather...

I realize that it is so not scarf weather, but a few weeks ago I saw a really awesome tutorial for a braided scarf. I've seen them before and always wanted to make one. Plus it seemed pretty simple to follow and because of simply simon's Christmas in July I've been thinking wintery lately.... so I've started one.

I'll hopefully be sharing some pictures tomorrow of my own braided scarf (minus the braid- I'm not there yet)! Now that I'm about half way done I wanted to share the link with you and cannot find it-grrrrrrr!

I have however, managed to find a similar scarf here- with a tutorial! Doesn't it look so warm and cozy?

braided knit scarf

funny face save the date

After yesterday's save the date post I found this hilarious save the date. I guess that's one way to save on paper!

funny face save the date via journeys of mangonett

save the dates

Lately save the dates have become more and more of a fun way to express the personality of a couple. Seth and I have know for a while now exactly what we'd like to do for our save the dates... needless to say it does have something to do with baseball. I won't start making for a little while yet, so I'll wait to share what exactly we have in store for them.

With our limited budget we considered for a little while whether or not we really needed them, but being that our wedding will be on a holiday weekend (labor day) we decided we should stick with it and still make them. In order to kill two birds with one stone we've also decided to send them at Christmas time- so maybe we will be saving a little bit that way.

Today I found these amazing save the dates over at Craftzine. At first I thought "Wow, that's really over the top! How could anyone afford to send out X amount of those?" But then I realized that the couple sent out a photograph of it in an e-mail save the date- what a great idea & it's beautiful!

diorama save the dates via craftzine

christmas in july

Yes, that's right, Christmas in July! My sister, Desiree, over at .simply.simon. is planning to finish all her Christmas shopping by July 31st! To celebrate she'll be sharing gift ideas, Christmas crafts and holiday tips over on her blog.

Desiree (Dez) has her hands full with my 16 month old niece and another bundle of joy due mid-September and thought it would be a good idea to finish Christmas shopping before the new one arrived. To get in the holiday spirit I'll be sharing a Christmas tutorial (& my first tutorial) in the next few weeks!

Until then, check out these awesome tiny gingerbread houses that are meant to perch on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate. It's been hot and muggy here all week, so I don't know how I feel about drinking hot chocolate now....... but how could you resist these adorable creations? To make these tiny treasures check out the tutorial at not martha.

tiny gingerbread house tutorial by not martha

For more on Dez's Christmas in July read here.

alice in waterland

Yesterday in blogland I stumbled upon this amazing underwater Alice in Wonderland photo shoot. The photographer Elena Kalis is known for her whimsical underwater photography. I'm loving these dream-like photos! Check out more from the photoshoot here.

Alice in Waterland by Elena Kalis found here

shabby vintage inspiration

Top row from left: prairie field by sora designs, lovely day by alice b. gardens
Middle row from left: vintage shabby chic dresser via tres chic furniture, time to fall in love by my konos
Bottom row from left: pink porcelain flower necklace by lonkoosh, vintage large cream mirror via the vintage tree house

shabby vintage swap

Hello, hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend!

Today I'm happy to share that I'll be participating in Tilly Rose's Shabby Vintage Swap. I've participated in a craft swap before on craftster but I'm excited to be sharing this one on my blog.

The five items to include for this swap are:

*A little something that's vintage or vintage style*

*A little something with a shabby chic style*

*Something brimming with loveliness*

*A little something that's full of colour and scrummy gorgeousness*

*Lastly....a sweet little surprise for your swap partner*

I'm excited to start looking for items to send to my partner Tabitha. Her lovely blog Creative Wings can be found here.

happy 4th

Enjoy your weekend!

Top row from left: play ball cookies via Eleni's, star-spangled pin spinners by allsorts

Bottom row from left: patriotic shortcake via joy ever after,

crab matchbox favors via ivy lane designs

teatime

I’ve never been a huge fan of the long cold winter months here in Wisconsin. However, there is one thing that always seems to make it a bit better, a nice warm cup of tea!

A few winters ago my then roommate and dear friend Ellen and I had many kitchen study sessions always accompanied by a nice cup of hot tea. This Christmas I saw it fitting to make her a lovely tea wallet that she was delighted to receive.

I’ve been a big fan of tea since I was really little. I remember spending time at camp grandma & grandpa eating breakfasts of oatmeal and berries and drinking hot tea. My favorite kind of tea is Bigelow’s Perfect Peach; it always reminds me of those summers with my grandparents.

So today I present you with teatime, best enjoyed with a nice warm cup of your favorite tea.

Top row from left: tiny teacups print by Abby Powell found here,
afternoon tea by Benja Harvey
Middle row from left: vintage teabag holder via tparty,
tea and blueberries via Julia Stotz
Bottom row from left: ellen's tea wallet by me,
teatime via mia charmed, i'm sure