Present & Correct

Present & Correct has an obsession with with anything stationery! Their store is a selection of P&C products mixed up with handmade goods, vintage items and work by designers from all over the world.

Growing Moss

Ever since I was little I've loved moss. The colors and textures always fascinated me and where ever I went I seemed to be picking some up and brining it home. Now that I live in a heavily wooded area it's the perfect place to grow my own moss!



Flickr

Flickr

How it grows



Mosses grow from spores, when the spore finds a surface it develops a threadlike branch. This branch pushes into a surface and then the moss develops tiny flat leaves. Thousands of these plants grow together to make a single patch of moss.



Propagating Moss



Take a clump of healthy moss and crumble it into your blender.

Add 2 cups of buttermilk and 2 cups of water

Blend at the lowest speed until it is completely mixed and the consistency of a thin milk shake. (add water if necessary)

Paint the mixture onto rocks, pots or statuary, or simply pour it on the ground wherever you'd like your moss to grow!



For more tips visit the garden helper.

Front yard

Now that the ground is thawing I've been spending my afternoons outside moving dirt around and my husband has been preparing the carport for the new garage door. Also we are starting to rethink the design for the walkway. Once the garage door is in place the front door will be the only entrance to visitors and that will need to be shoveled out in the winter. I'd like more of a flat surface than the cement circles with stones we were originally planning. I'm thinking of redesigning the walkway to have shapes like these with moss planted in the negative parts like this. We are still very undecided...



It still looks like a mess but hopefully in the weeks to come the walkway will be done and we will have a patch of grass where that dirt is.

Quizno's | "Toasty Torpedo"

My husband's favorite new commercial

Sublime Stitching

Sick of all those traditional/county stich patterns? Well now over at Sublime Stitching you can snag some swanky retro embroidery patterns. Makes a great gift for someone crafty!

1960's and 70's Interiors

Flickr: House & Garden's Interior Decoration; 1970

Flickr: Seventeen: March 1962

Interview: Modern Radar

Name: Tamara Galiano Bagnell
Occupation: Designer / Screenprinter / Seamstress
Where you are located? Durham, North Carolina
www.modernradar.com

1. What kind of art/craft do you make?

Pretty much all of my work right now revolves around screenprinting and sewing. I've been sewing since I was ten, and picked up screenprinting while in college. I started Modern Radar two years ago when I bought a house with a garage that I could set up my studio in. At first I just made greeting cards, but have since expanded into pouches, tote bags, pillows, and journals. The items I sell change from time to time, but I tend to keep my designs simple so it won't be overly complicated to print and sew lots of them by hand. Using screenprinting requires each color be printed using a separate screen, so I tend to limit myself to two or three colors at the most.


2. What do you enjoy most about working in this medium?

I really like the way screenprinting ink looks on paper. Each printed item feels fancy and special, but not too precious as it would if it were one of a kind. With fabric...I have been addicted to sewing since I was a kid, so it is really neat to be able to print swatches of my own designs right at home and make them into anything I want. Something about creating objects in multiples is also very satisfying for me. I love to finish a batch of cards and look at them all lined up on the drying racks, or a row of the same fabric pieces hanging to dry.

3. What challenges have you found in your work?

Shifting gears between the business and creative sides of what I do is probably the biggest challenge. Ever since I started running Modern Radar full-time a year ago, I have felt a lot more pressure to focus on the business side of things in order to pay the bills.
One of my resolutions this year is to find ways to create more of a balance for myself, so I have enough time to draw and work out new ideas. I also find myself becoming more and more of a perfectionist as time goes on, trying very hard to only put stuff out there that I am really happy with, so I need to devote more time to the design process than I have in the past.

4. Where do you find inspiration?

It really comes from all over the place, but I guess my biggest source of inspiration is looking at vintage fabric and surface design. A good portion of vintage textiles were printed using screenprinting, so studying the way the designs are composed and how the colors are laid over one another helps inform my designs a lot.



6. Where can we purchase your work?

You can shop online at www.modenradar.etsy.com. I also have a list of lovely brick and mortar shops that carry my stuff on my website (www.modernradar.com).



7. Do you have any new projects in the works?

Right now I am working on a long overdue redesign of the Modern Radar website. That has been monopolizing most of my extra time lately. I have some new ideas for more elaborate designs floating around in my head that will either become patterns for pillows or art prints, depending on how things go. Eventually I would like to try working in other mediums besides screenprinting, where there are less limitations as far as color, detail, etc. I hope to sit down with the old pen and pencil during breaks from the website project to come up with new work soon!

Look around you

My husband recently got me into the Look around you series. It pokes fun at educational videos from the 70's and 80's. (There are 6 short videos in total)

Domestic Candy on DaWanda

DaWanda is another online market place where you can buy beautiful things just like these items above from Domestic Candy. That wooden flower brooch is amazing! Also be sure to check out the Domestic Candy blog (it's all written in german but the images are worth the click).

Spot color

Most have see the Keep Calm and Carry On print that is for sale at Etsy shop sfgirlbybay, well that shop has a new retro print available called Spot Color. It's a hand silkscreened poster screen printed in 4 Pantone Colors. Drools...

Retro pillows

Gorgous pillows from madaspenhome.com.

New owl prints

Now for sale on Etsy

Cathy's flowers

Click here in case you missed Cathy's flower looming demonstration on Martha last week. Now I want a kit!

Recent Etsy goodies

I just bought an amazing vase on Etsy! I LOVE it!! The color combo is just electrifying. I also picked up a pair of metal flower candle holders in mustard. I'm in love!

Avante garage door

This is why I have been so excited about spring! We have been saving up to buy an Avante garage door to close off the car port. I made a photoshop mock up of what it will look like (pictured above). We are going to paint the trim on the house white to match the white in the garage door, which I think will make the whole house pop!

New print

New print on Etsy.

Doily Clocks

I keep finding some amazing clocks on Etsy lately.

These clocks above were created by Etsy seller and furthermore, they are made from wooden disks and vintage soft plastic doilies. The clock on the right will be featured in next month's edition of House Beautiful along with other etsy sellers and their wares in a two page spread.

Spring is in the air!

It's really starting to feel like spring! The chipmunks are back running around with their tails up in the air and I can hear birds chirping. I still have lots of snow that won't melt but hopefully we will have some warmer days ahead.

Jonathan Adler Giveaway

When u sign up to join the Jonathan Adler mailing list from 3/3-3/31/09 you could win a gift card worth $100-$2000! Wahoo!

Retro recession humor cards

If you have lemons why not make lemonade? The lovely people over at Rock Scissor Paper have done just that with their new line of recession humor cards, check out all 25 designs.

Affordable tote bags under $20.00 (Freebie Friday)

With all the talk of banning and taxing plastic bags it's nice to know there are so many tote alternatives out there. Everyone is jumping in the game and making tote bags. Forever 21 has some cute tote bags ranging from $1.00 to $1.50.

Rock Scissor Paper also has tote bags that are made from 100% certified organic cotton and are made in the USA. They are now on sale. $20

And if you want to go more hand made Modern Radar has a really beautiful silk screened raindrop tote. $20



*Freebie Friday
Free reusable Nature's Source™ tote bag First 18,000 (USA)

Room and Board

I bought my sofas from Room and board last fall and I recently got a new catalog from them with some beautiful new stuff! Click here to request a free catalog. (USA)

Floyd loves his new chair!

Image of the new table I got.

My Living Room

Hooray! I finally took some updated pictures! My new painting is up and I stuck in the new chair. Later today I'm picking up two round glass side tables with metal tripod legs, one will sit next to the chair and the other will be in between my two couches. ($40 for both!)

The room is finally coming together, even though money has been tight lately. My many wasted hours searching through Craigslist is finally paying off!