Lovely new piece to be listed in 1 minute!

This is a quick note to say I'm about to list a new piece in my Etsy shop. I will be listing some other custom pieces too late night. Thank you for your patience!

This new piece is made of all handmade petals and a lovely vintage brooch. The petals are from a lovely coral colored vintage jacket - recycled! Thank you Holly!

The Salad Plate! Genius!!

I am convinced that this may be the greatest invention of modern times, perhaps even for ever!

As soon as I heard about it I registered online so that I wouldn't miss out on this FABULOUS world changing invention. It has now been released and all I have to do now is sit tight and wait for it to turn up in my letter box!

This is the Blurb on the website - I LOVE IT!!!

Research has practically proven that salad can’t fill the seriously hungry stomach. So why waste time trying? Simply place your delicious Four’N Twenty pie in the area provided on the Four’N Twenty MAGIC SALAD PLATE™ and suddenly with no effort at all it looks like you’re having salad as well! With a Four’N Twenty MAGIC SALAD PLATE™, to the untrained eye it appears there’s a leafy green salad, but in truth it’s just part of the plate. Astounding! Now you don’t need to cave in to the pressure that some people put on you to eat salad. And all while still looking like you totally have!

New pieces :: On their way to the English Dept. tomorrow

Just posting some pictures of pieces I'll be delivering to The English Dept. in Portland, OR tomorrow.

This one is my favorite.

The Bite of Salem AND celebrating 6 years!

This past friday marked 6 years together for Matt and I! Okay, so call us dorks since we are now married, but we still like to keep track of when we became bf & gf. We live a pretty short distance from the Waterfront Park of Salem, OR and since I was insanely busy, we decided to make it a more casual night and headed to The Bite of Salem for dinner. I like food so this was great!

Great gift idea for your special guy :: Bespoke made easy by 9tailors

When Samantha of 9tailors got in touch with me last month, I was excited! My hubby, Matt, is always having the most difficult time finding a well fitting shirt. Does your guy experience this? One of the problems for Matt is that he is tall and lean and any shirt long enough is generally too big in the sides. Anyhow, the brilliant force behind 9tailors would like to help your guy get the right fit with their customizeable shirts. 9tailors makes getting the most practical and thoughtful gift for your guy so easy!!! Rather than butcher the company's description, here is what Samantha had to say:

"History - I was in China last year doing graduate school and I probably made about 60 pieces of clothing. And, I thought what a great service to bring to the U.S. because I know A) a lot of people can't buy clothing off the rack (I'm 5'0" and curvy) and have to get things altered; B) it's difficult to find places in the U.S. to purchase affordable custom made clothing; and C) it's also very difficult to find clothing companies where the end user has a hand in the creative process.

Process - It's fairly simple. Step 1) Register onto the site. Step 2) Get measured. Step 3) Design a shirt. Step 4) Wait 3-6 weeks for your shirt to arrive.

Products - All our products are made-to-measure. There are many possibilities for our shirts (over 300,000 unique shirts can be created). We do not mass produce our shirts at all. Our products are great for work, play and special occasion. They make great groomsmen gifts too as we can monogram each shirt."

How exciting, yes??? Well, I am excited. This would make a perfect wedding gift for your special guy or anniversary gift and seeing that Matt and I have our 1 year anniversary coming up, I'd better get a move on with this!

Thank you Samantha for sharing all the fabulousness of 9tailors with the rest of us! By the way, Samantha always told me, "At some point, we will be moving to women's products..." YES!

TWILIGHT - Discussion Questions

A few people have asked about book group discussion questions and as I don't know how else to share them I have had to post them here - sorry to those of you who haven't read the book. Hopefully there are no spoilers for anyone wanting to read it.
I have borrowed a few questions from fan forums and I thank those people, whoever you are.

TWILIGHT - Stephanie Meyer

Were you able to suspend disbelief? Did you think SM created a real and believable story?

Did you find the characters engaging and did they ring true?

Did you have a real sense of Bella experiencing a typical first love even though there was nothing typical about her or her first love. Did you think Bella's reactions were realistic?

Did you feel the tension as Edward was learning to control his hunger?

Who was your favourite secondary character and why?

Meyer says that the concept of "choice" is an important one to her. How does the book illustrate that concept?

Do you think that Bella is a strong or a weak woman? Is she a good role model for young women? How does she fit with your view of feminism?

What about Edward as a role model for young men?

Which character (main or secondary) do you relate to most? Why?

What was your first impression of Twilight? Did you think that it was a good introduction to the series? Why or why not?

What was your first impression of Edward and the Cullens?

What if the main roles were reversed? Do you think the story would have been similar if Bella was the vampire?

Why is it that Bella's blood calls to Edward more than anyone else?

Why does Bella accept that fact that Edward is a vampire so quickly?

What are your opinions about Bella & Edward's relationship, and why?

Do you think that the fact Bella had to take care of her Mother, and to an extent, Charlie, attracted her to the strength in Edward – someone was taking care of her for a change?

From Charlie’s point of view, what do you believe is his opinion of Edward before, then after the run-in with James, Victoria, and Laurent?

Did Stephanie Meyer's portrayal of Vampires appeal to you or do you prefer the more traditional view? (coffins, bats, etc)

Did this book change your view of vampires? If so, how? Is it a positive or negative change?

What is the significance of the Cover photo? (Forbidden Fruit.)

Why the title - Twilight? (The safest time of day for a Vampire.)(originally titled 'Forks')

Does the young adult classification ever deter you and do you think that this book fits that classification?

Will you read the sequels?

Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight,

Discussion Questions, Discussion Questions, Discussion Questions, Discussion Questions,

Topped Off By A Sleep In!

Surfer Boy is working on an oil tanker in Bass Strait somewhere, Moondoggie and Gidget are having a sleepover at their Grandparents..... gee, what shall I do with myself????

I worked at CHALK today and after closing I strolled up to the Bookshop for my weekly drool and came away with The latest Jasper Fforde novel - First Among Sequels. I then popped into the cafe next door and spent a lovely hour drinking tea and re-reading the fabulous Twilight (see Bookgroup book). For me this is my idea of heaven - actually it could have been 28 degrees instead of 8 degrees but you can't have everything.

Next up is a trip to Blockbuster to choose tonights viewing, then take-away Thai and trackies on the couch with Krissa, the only other 40 year old who is excited that 'She's The Man' is on T.V. tonight! If you're a fan of cheesy teen movies, give this a go, if only for the incomparable comedic talent that is Amanda Bynes! (and yes, I'm serious.)(keep your eye out for the towel flick scene!! Priceless)

Enjoy your Saturday night - I certainly will!

P.S. - I think a hint is needed for the Challenge in the previous post!

3 blondes and a black cat

New piece! :: DewDrop birdcage veil with handmade blooms

Just a super fast note...

I have been having to turn away a ton of wonderful brides because I truly cannot take on any more rush orders from now through the first week of September. I feel very guilty and so sorry, but I am pulling about 18-20 hour workdays and it will be like this straight through September, 7 days a week and no holidays. My last rough tally shows I have 660+ custom pieces to make from now until October and this isn't including special projects and boutique orders. I just want to personally say that if I could squeeze more into a day, I would very much love to work with everyone interested! From the bottom of my heart, thank you SO much for your support and kind words about twigs & honey!

I am going to try to throw up pieces from time to time and today is one of those days! I call this the "4am piece". hahaha! In the middle of the night, I was chipping away at convos and I just felt so bad having to turn away so many sweet ladies so I decided to make a lovely veil/flower piece open to the public. I will be listing it within a couple hours. It is white and ivory, silk chiffon, completely handmade and with a couple sleek goose feathers. Check it out in my Etsy shop.

Ruby & Crickette :: New twigs & honey vendor

I'm excited to announce that Ruby & Crickette will soon be carrying my pieces in their online boutique based out of Australia. You can view all the pieces in their Indy Bridal Collection. This is a great opportunity for brides and other stylish ladies to snatch up a ready made piece now, with no wait time besides shipping. This is also great for all the Australian brides and ladies! Thank you so much Deb! While you are checking out the pieces, take a look around. The shop also offers other lovely gems and the owner creates jewelry too!

On a side note, sorry for the sparse blogging lately! Can you tell that it has gotten exponentially busy? Busy is good, but due to the building schedule, blog posts might be a little skimpy and I'll be doing only light convo'ing/emailing until August. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding!

CHALLENGE 1

If you can tell me who this is and why I love him I will send you a pressie in the mail!!!

Does Your Mother Know - ABBA - 1979

This is my favourite ABBA song - What's yours??

Congrats to Leanne of Leanimal!

Hey everyone! Leanne of Leanimal is a contestant on this season's Project Runway! I cannot say I'm surprised. T'was only a matter of time before more people took notice. She is a wonderfully gifted designer in Portland, OR. I splurged on a few of her dresses earlier in the year and I just gush about them all the time. I'm excited to tune in! I generally don't watch shows on tv/cable, but how could I miss this? Yay Leanne!

Photo Credits: Bravo

Random Thursday ;)

What the heck is this mess, you ask yourself? No laughing as I invested a bit of time into it, but it is a supposed to be a frog's sanctuary. Okay, I'm a dork, I know! So a few weeks ago while driving, my hubby found a pond with a ton of tadpoles on the side of the road and he brought one home. You can see it in a previous post in a glass vase. Well, the time came to let "Frogger 2" go. I know, super creative name, yes? I got Matt a little itty bitty frog for our aquarium last year, aptly named Frogger... so the new one became "2". I actually tried to keep him longer and tried feeding him nightcrawlers, but he was more freaked out by them than anything else. I had a brilliant idea to make a little pond with a rock to perch on and a little house so that he would stick around and eat bugs for us - organic bug killer! I had read somewhere that pots turned over make great houses for frogs and if you speckle them around your yard, they'll live in them during the day. I had Matt punch out a hole in one of our pots to complete our frog's sanctuary. We had him in the makeshift pond with a lid over it overnight so he'd get acquainted with it and his new surroundings. The next morning we popped the lid off and let him be. After I finished shipments and went out for a look-see, he was gone. Actually, it's as if he couldn't get away faster. Hahaha! Oh well. *sigh* I thought his "home" was pretty wicked.

And a few pictures of the garden:

Au revoir...

Image via We Heart It

Bye for now...I'll be back in 3 weeks...

Thank you!

Nothing was more fitting than this pretty photo by the very talented Jen Altman for me to post as a thank you to you all for your very kind emails, comments and tips for my trip to France. I couldn't be more grateful. What an amazing group of people this blog has introduced me to. I hope you all stay happy and well while I am away and I promise to have lots of inspiration for you upon my return!! In the meantime, do visit the lovely blogs I have listed in my blogroll as they will give you lots of inspiration while I am gone!! xx Anna

1 Day & Counting..

My Heart Wandered to Paris by Jen Gotch for the My Heart Wanders project created by Pia Jane Bijkerk. Such a beautiful image for the last day of my countdown!!

Drop In And Visit

I am re-reading My Anne Of Green Gables series at the moment so my home this week is on the delightful Prince Edward Island in Canada, where Anne called home. It is the only part of the world that I'll be disappointed if I die without seeing.

And while I'm at it I wanted to share my favourite photo of Anne from the fabulous mini-series starring Megan Follows.

Gorgeous!

New @ Black & Spiro

I thought I would post this picture of a vintage cane chair {one of a pair of chairs} which just came back from our upholsterer today for the shop. I just love the fresh colourway of this Florence Broadhurst fabric and I felt it was a perfect choice for these chairs. They actually look so gorgeous with the blue striped sofa we currently have in the shop...I hope they all get sold to the same person as they look so wonderful together!!

New piece just listed :: Simple bouquet

I just thought I'd whip this up after lunch today - a simple bridal bouquet. I have been meaning to do a bouquet for a long time now, but it got so busy I never got the chance! There is a super sweet bride that I've been working with for a few months now and who has waited the longest - thank you so much for waiting!! I'm working on her bridal bouquet at the moment and it will be more elaborate than this single bloom bouquet. I can't wait to finish it! I'll have to post about it when I finally finish this, going on several months, piece. Thank you "mannad"!!!

UPDATE July 15th :: Sold out this morning to a wonderfully sweet bride. Thank you!

2 Days & Counting...

Image via Flickr

She's done it again! Far too cute :: Ann Wood Handmade

Just thought I'd share some photos from Ann Wood Handmade's latest blog post:

Too cute!
Photo credits: Ann Wood

Progress Post Updated :: Today through July 16th only

As always, thank you so much for your continued support and patience. Here is the updated progress post for orders from today through July 16th. There are some that will be shuffled as they are super time sensitive. Also, some of the pieces may take up to July 26th to complete as I tried to prepare ahead of time for a "catch up" period. Okay... so I was also trying to squeeze in a vacation, but I think it will have to wait until winter. :) Here goes for this week:

Currently on deck:
1. mannad11 (1 piece remaining of 5)
2. CatNg (1)
3. weddingbliss09 (3)
4. Silvia1927 (3)
5. badle126 (1)
6. Amandita8 (1)
7. Littleleafdesigns (14 – halfway finished)
8. missmay12 (7)
9. zeuger (1)
10. katiepie (2)
11. cuttlefish (1)
12. valleygirl818 (2)
13. baxterem (12)
14. kelli204 (1)
15. kthomps3 (1)
16. nlew1983 (1)
17. lisandram (1)
18. alaud14 (1)
19. Trianne11 (1)
20. ninozka74 (1)
21. jenniferdrew (4)
22. Abbymay (1)
23. Stinkerpants (1)
24. rio2007 (2)
25. yswedding (2)
26. jamiestreet (1)
27. bekah57 (1)
28. micherry (1)
29. jrthomas1 (1)
30. penpun (1)
31. wendito123 (1)
32. amazed1119 (1)
33. Luna1031 (5)
34. rubybeth (1)
35. Jetrichey (1)
36. jenny5 (14)
37. kushun (1)
38. BxBride (1)
39. kentuckysunshine (1)

Boutique Orders on deck:
1. S.B.
2. E.D.

Next to be on deck:
1. M.C. (2)
2. athena80 (1)
3. pinkpurplepeonies (1)
4. madam377 (1)
5. demichild (4)
6. 2563Christine (1)
7. dealejob (1)
8. londinium (12)
9. Ink2007 (3)
10. spyseegrl (1)
11. amymusic (4)
12. K.W. (2)
13. JoiedeVeJewelry (1)
14. misono (1)

New Gambrel Images?!

Am I a little bit behind or has Steven Gambrel just added lots of new images of his work to his website?? Either way I just love his work and here are a few images above which I am mad about!

FREEBIES

I was clearing out the stockroom at CHALK on the weekend and came across a bag of my grosgrain ribbon. I thought I might parcel up 2 meters of each (6 meters) and send them off to a couple of my readers. So leave me a comment and I'll choose 2 or 3 out of a hat to send some gorgeous grosgrain.

5, 4, 3 Days & Counting...

And now there's only 3 more days to go. Here are a few images displaying some special souvenirs/momentos from France...so gorgeous! Can you spot the Eiffel Tower in each picture??


Image 1 - Martha Stewart via This is Glamorous

Image 2 - via Elle Decor

Image 3 - Jenifer Altman Photographer

Happy Weekend!!

Hope you have a great weekend! I'll be spending my weekend packing for my trip and cuddling my little 5 year old!! xxAnna


Image - Delphine Chanet Photographer

Stocklist update :: New deliveries and future availability

Twigs & honey has gotten the green light from the founder of Bella Bridesmaid and is now on their official Vendor List. Bella Bridesmaid has over 20 boutiques nationwide and you may start seeing pieces readily available for purchase in person nationwide soon. Check your local Bella Bridesmaid boutique for availability.

Also, a little bird has told me that there is a growing "call back" list for twigs & honey pieces at the English Dept. in Portland, OR. In delightful response to the overwhelming support, I'll be planning another set of pieces to be delivered to the English Dept. later this month and I'll do a blog post with the new pieces at that time. Thank you so much for your interest and patience!! As of yesterday, there are only 2 remaining pieces. If you are in the Portland, OR area, check them out and visit the English Dept. for other fabulous frocks!

I Could Do This Everyday..

pink cupcakes,

cherries,

camambert,

boys with hotdogs,

sparkly wine glasses,

strawberries,

flourless chocolate cake,

double cream,

trampolines,

little girls giggling,

kittens,

What more could you ask for on the last official day of school holidays.

Thank you to Penny and Leslie for a lovely long lunch.

Penny's guests arrive bearing home made baked goods

Childhood on a Stick

They are just as delicious as I remembered and taste like youth and sun and carousels and ponies and salty skin and scraped knees.

They also stick to your teeth and make you feel faintly guilty for doing something so decadent.

Have you seen anyone walking down the street eating a toffee apple lately? I think they, sadly, have been relegated to something you eat at home in secret.... I'm going to make next Saturday

TOFFEE APPLE DAY.

Help me bring back the joy!

Pop a Toffee Apple picture in your sidebar and join me.

Domino International Design Blogs

I am so thrilled to be included in the Domino Magazine Editor's Picks: International Design Blogs list compiled by Holly Becker from Decor 8! Click HERE to see my listing amongst an amazing round up of design blog talent!! Thanks Holly & Domino for including me!!

6 Days & Counting...

No countdown to France could happen without including The Palace of Versailles! I am so excited about visiting this amazing place!!

All Images via Flickr