beachy centerpieces + bouquets

For Brides.com magazine, inBloom styled these beachy centerpieces and a bouquet. They asked for a "Wedding by the Water" theme. We experimented with two decor motifs: one is more of a antique nautical theme with the lacy navy blue ribbon around the tin beach pail, accented with softer beige and white starfish; the other is more of a modern play on the nautical theme, with a very linear-patterned navy and white ribbon, accented by stark red starfish. Leave us a comment to let us know which motif you like best! You can see more of our beachy centerpiece and bouquet pics on our Flickr account here.

The weekend, briefly

{4 mangoes (they're back in season!) + 2 books)

{beer + tacos with D}

{lilacs in a milk glass vase for a dear friend}

{lots of fun in the remnant section at F&S}

some cute kid photography...

...by Cynthia Perez. She really captures the true spirit of kids...sooo much better than an awkwardly-posed Sears portrait.

Happy May and happy weekend! {found via SimpleSong}

CREWCUTS by guest Rachel McGinn

I was so excited to see a whole catalog devoted to crewcuts in my mail today! I am a huge fan. I love the clothing, the styling, the photography and the over all feeling of the book. You can view the entire catalog on line.

return address stamps

Here's a lovely way to include beautiful handwriting on your invitations, if calligraphy is just not in the budget - custom-made return address stamps! There are a lot of wonderful choices on Etsy...check out a few of these lovelies and start stamping!

elegant return address stamps from Sweet Paperie

cute and whimsical handwritten stamps by lettergirl

gorgeous custom calligraphy stamps by Emilie Friday

Flower of the week

White ranunculus go very well with a glass of red wine and some evening sewing.

Also great with an early morning cup of tea and a well buttered roll.*

They're very versatile that way.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

*Is it odd that I sometimes get out of bed at 6 in the morning just so I can have an hour to linger over my tea before I have to go to work?

Buy Local.

I saw this 3/50 project on Simple + Pretty and Housemartin and thought it was a great reminder of how we can all make a difference.