Tuesday, June 28, 2011

pinterest picks: ombre + dip-dyed

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9


I'm really loving the ombre and dip-dyed style that I'm seeing in so many things from hair styles to interior design. It's so pretty.

We went to Albuquerque, NM this weekend with Philip's family for his grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. It was great to meet him and some other family that I had never met before. [Of course we took lots of pictures, but we're still without that CF card reader so I have no way of sharing them yet.] I was really glad to go visit a new place, but honestly, I have a hard time appreciating the dessert. I think I've learned to look at it and see how neat some of it is, but I need to see green! My surroundings take a strong toll on my mood. I get really depressed when all I can see is brown for miles and miles. It was good to visit a new place, but I was so happy when we were flying into San Diego. Being at sea level (no more bloody noses), feeling the ocean breeze, and seeing trees make me happy :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

pinterest picks meets colors inspired

I'm not feeling so hot today. Of course it's the day when my to do list is a mile long. I did a lot already, so I'm giving myself a break. A what? That's right- a break! I rarely take them on days like this, but my body needs them. So I decided to make at least one boutonniere set to list in the shop (I've been wanting to do this for a few days now). I'm making boutonnieres, drinking coffee, had myself a very good snack, and am listening to the Wicked soundtrack (I may have just watched the Glee finale). Here's a little color inspiration for my project:

From left to right starting at the top: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

All from my Pinterest board.

These colors have been dancing around in my head for a few weeks now. What colors are inspiring you lately?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011


These pictures are from a few months ago, but the point is that I got to see these little cuties yesterday. They melt my heart.

Monday, June 20, 2011

happy mondays.

There's a lot of napping going on in this house lately. Life is busy and doesn't seem to be slowing down. It's all good things though- no complaints! :) Also, I've taken many pictures lately that I wanted to share, but our CF card reader for our iMac is broken. Bummer.

Here's some things that I've been enjoying lately:

I made Guiness Beer Bread this week following this recipe. It was good, but would have been better with a stew, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Yumm!

We recently saw Tree of Life. I really liked it but if you don't know that it's long and slow, you'll hate it. The mother was just beautiful (her looks and the way that she loved her kids) and her outfits were fantastic! Also, the home in the beginning of the movie was my favorite.

Pictures of the past in the present by Dear Photograph via Cup of Jo.

I LOVE these outfits that these sisters are rocking. Via The Sartorialist.

I love this work space. I wish that Philip had a sweet place like this to work. It would make him so happy to have an organized space to call his own...and our living room would be a little neater too ;)

I think this maternity photo taken by Kelly Hicks is gorgeous.
I love these photos taken by Sarah Shreves for the faithful explorer lookbook.

Love anything by (Ma + Chr).

Friday, June 17, 2011

woodland chalkboard

I improved the Woodland Chalkboard a little. I use primer before the chalk paint to make the chalk board surface a little smoother. Also, I took away the yarn hook and am now mounting saw tooth hooks to the back. This makes it look cleaner and hopefully mount on the wall easier. Also, if you want to use it for engagement pictures or a photo booth prop, the their won't be awkward looking yarn hanging off of the back.

If you buy 4 or more, you get a 10% discount. Happy shopping!

we have a winner!

Yay! Sam, you are the winner of my giveaway! Please email me at chansen.213@gmail.com with your mailing address. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway! It was so great to have so many sweet comments and to here from so many followers. Made me feel loved ♥

I'm cleaning muh house today. LOTS of cleaning! You know what's helping? Bon Iver's new album. It's SOOOOO good! You can hear it on NPR [I think it comes out sometime this month if you want to buy it].

Enjoy the rest of your day. I hope it's a warm one (it's a gorgeous San Diego day today). Oh- and hooray it's Friday!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

at home with sigur ros and animals.

Francine loves to be in the middle of what everyone else is doing. Apparently, that's the best place to nap. My fabric storage is at the top of our staircase in our bedroom. It's in the corner of two sunny windows, so naturally, it's her favorite spot. Kitty fur doen't look very good on my pretty fabrics and I'm sick of lint rolling and having to wash everything again. I finally put things on the top shelf (on top of the fabric) so that she couldn't lay there, but she decided to just use the shelves below.
When I'm in the middle of moving her again and telling her 'no', Patrick just stares curiously from down below. He wants her to play with him so bad. Whenever he sees her, he gets so excited. He dances and wiggles in a circle around her in excitement. She just growls and jumps up where he can't reach her. It's so sad. But Im grateful that no matter how bad she's annoyed with him (or me for forcibly holding their faces next to each other) she's never used her claws (on either of us). She's a good kitty (even when she's grumpy).

I've been away from the computer a lot this past week. It's really nice. It's so easy to fall into those computer comas all day after thinking that I'm going to just check something really quick (yeah right). That's the reason for the quiet around here. I still have a lot of things that I'm working on today, but wanted to say hello ;) I'm doing my work in the sunroom and listening while the Heima video plays in the background. Have you seen it? Sigur Ros is one of my all time favorite bands (and #1 favorite performance EVER!) and this film NEVER gets old. If you like them, you should definitely buy this one! It's great to have on while you are creating or cleaning or doing anything at home. (PS- there's a ton of bonus footage! The first time that I discovered it, I thought it would never end. It's awesome.)
This is my favorite song that they wrote. I would pay the full cost of a ticket just to see them perform this live. It's the most incredible experience. (Also amazing: driving around and listening to it really loud while it's raining).


I'll be choosing a winner for the giveaway tomorrow. You have until midnight tonight to enter!

Monday, June 13, 2011

on sale.

You can visit my shop for these sales mentioned above. These prices will be listed until the end of the month! Just because I love you :)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

colors inspired by: Kelli Murray

Today's collection was inspired by the lovely Kelli Murray. Kelli is a local artist here in San Diego. I love reading her blog and looking through so many inspiring post and photos. Hop on over there and visit! You'll find her lovely illustrations, her gorgeous outfit posts, and many other inspiring things. Also, new to the list: pics of her baby bump and cute baby girl clothes [Yay! Congratulations, Kelli and Sam!].

If you'd like the chance to win A LOT of Kelli's work, enter her giveaway [It's a big one]! Or if you just can't wait, visit her Etsy shop and buy something pretty :)


2. Large shoulder bag - Twelfth St. by Cynthia Vincent (via shopbop)
3. Sunderland Suede Wedge Booties - Rag + Bone (via shopbop)
4. Ring- Dawes Design

Any weekend plans? We are having another busy one. Yesterday we decided to make Sundays 'family days' for just us. We love seeing our family and friends every weekend but we haven't been home to just relax together and be at our house in our neighborhood. In fact, we've been not doing that every weekend for almost three months straight. But it's up to us to say no to certain things and figure out what are our priorities [and that we just can't do everything].

On a side note, guess what today is.. My sister, her husband, and my niece fly in today from Germany! YAY!!! I'm so excited to see them!! I'll be having lots of baby time this weekend, hope you enjoy yours too :)

Friday, June 10, 2011

diy braided hex nut bracelet

[idea and pic from Honestly, WTF.]
Cailen and I are addicted to Pinterest [It's ok, I' not ashamed of it]. A few weekends ago, we were hanging out and decided to try this DIY that we found on Pinterest. We followed the tutorial on Honestly, WTF and this is how it went...
The store we went to didn't have the gold hex nuts in large quantities so we decided to spray paint ours.
Next time, we'll wear gloves.
We were braiding for a while and found it easier when one end was secured to something.
They turned out pretty!
Yay! Project complete :)

Cailen and I have many projects that we want to give a try. I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to these ideas. Aye..it's endless.

I wanted to say a BIG thank you for all of the amazing compliments that we received yesterday about our songs. I was excited to share the song that I helped write [I hope to do more writing this year]. Jake is an amazing song writer. His lyrics always blow me away and I'm glad that we can share them with people.
Yesterday was so much fun. We hung out in my living room and just recorded from garage band. One live recording for our vocals and his guitar. The less takes, the better. We both hate the recording process [but what we did doesn't compare what other musicians have to do!] However, the kind feedback we got here, on facebook, and twitter was encouraging to record more. Sadly we had to cut our session short today because my voice hasn't fully recovered from being sick [almost a whole month with no voice].
Just wanted to say thanks for listening ♥




Thursday, June 9, 2011

a song preview.

Ok, I know I said I'd be back tomorrow and it's still today, but here I am. My brother turned my writings into a lovely song and we recorded it today [in my living room]. Hope you like it.

the living room.

Our living room is the place to be today. Here's whats going on:
Making some quick tags for a wholesale order I'm shipping out [and watching 30 Rock].
Recording some music with this guy. That's my brother and his handsom face. [I'm trying to learn what WAV and AIFF mean and how to use Bandcamp so that you can have a listen.]
I'm making To Do lists and devouring lunch.
We don't have a dining room table, so we eat at our couch. Patrick knows he's not allowed on the couch when we're eating. So he stares at me with this face.
Got my hair cut last weekend. You like? The lovely Cami did it. You could visit her here.
I'll be back tomorrow with a DIY :)


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Philip and I had a great day yesterday. I made a fort in our living room [inspired by this D*S post] and a nice dinner. We hung out at home and then went on a little trip to Influx for coffee. It was a really relaxing night which is something that we seem to be missing a lot lately.
Happy Anniversary to my best friend! I love you ♥


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

our engagement keepsake.

This was the book that Philip put together when he proposed to me. It's displayed in our living room among other collected treasures. I love that we have something so special from that night that we get to keep forever.

our engagement story.

It's been 2 years today since our wedding day. It's been about 3 years since Philip asked me to marry him. That was a very special and funny night that I wanted to share.

It was a random Monday night in July. We had plans to hang out with a group of friends to catch up and visit because our friend Steve had just returned from working in China for a year. Little did I know what was really planned for that night.
Philip came over to my house a few hours before we were supposed to meet everyone. I made us dinner and we ate outside. It was a really nice afternoon- dinner was great, it was a beautiful day, we were excited to catch up with all of our friends and then I decided to bring up the fact that we weren't engaged yet . We often talked about marriage and our future together, we both knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, but it just wasn't "official" yet. For some reason, during this particular talk, I decided to get really emotional about it. There was a lot of crying and silly ramblings coming out of my mouth like, "It's been so long! You don't want to marry me! You didn't even look at the ring I saw" [I found THE perfect ring at a random jewelry store 8 months back that he "never saw" before it was sold]. Through all of this crazy talk he tried to comfort me [and tried not to laugh] by hugging me and saying things like "Babe, I promise, it's sooner than you think. We'll be engaged before you know it" I of course knew he was right and that I was having some hormonal/emotional moment [us women tend to have these freak-outs now and again] so I eventually calmed down.
We needed to leave and I remember running upstairs, to change really fast. I all of a sudden wanted to wear a comfy outfit [too ease my emotions of course]. He said, "No, babe, you look great in what you have on." I didn't pick up on anything and didn't care. I wanted my jeans.

When we got to the house, no one answered the door and all of the lights were off. I didn't think anything of this because our friends that lived there had a little one who was definitely asleep and we all usually hung outside on their back patio. We made our way to the back fence and when we opened the gate, we saw the tree all lit up with hanging candles. I was delighted when I saw it but was still as clueless as they come. My response, "Wow! They really went all out for Steve." As we walked into the yard, my phone was ringing [I had called my dad a few minutes earlier. He was returning my call, thinking that the proposal had already happened]. I opened my phone to answer but Philip took it out of my hand and hung up on my dad. I was still confused as to why he did that until he took my hand and, with much intent, lead me over to the tree. At that moment, I started to realize what was going on. When we got closer, I saw that the candles draping from the tree branches were hanging above a small table. The table had candles on it and an antique book.
The next few minutes are all a big blur to me. I was so ecstatic that I can't remember the next details. I know he took me to the tree, said a lot of sweet things to me, got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. Then he gave me the book and a skeleton key. The book had an old lock mounted on it and the key opened it. Inside was a hollowed out square just big enough for a ring box. Inside the little black box was the ring I had seen 8 months before and knew was perfect.
I said yes [of coures], we hugged and kissed and then I heard a bunch of people yelling and clapping. All of our friends were inside creepin' on us ;) They all came out to congratulate us and give us big hugs. I called my mom and finally called my dad back. [He kept calling after we hung up on him, so my phone was ringing the whole time]. We called a bunch of family and friends, texted everyone, and celebrated under the twinkle lights.
Philip had so much wonderful help from keeping secrets about a ring, tying candles to fishing line, tying said fishing line to a tree, making secret phone calls and plans, mounting locks on books, and a sleepless night before this one. I was so happy to have good friends so involved that now share this memory with us. It was such a magical night that I'll always remember.

Monday, June 6, 2011

two years.

I can't believe that tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary! I'm making Philip something special and planning our date night tomorrow. [I figured it was the least I could do since he's at work all week and I'm at home].
In the morning I'll be sharing our engagement story with you all along with pictures of a crafty something that Philip assembled for the occasion. Until then, enjoy the rest of your evening [Yay, Monday is over!] We went to Extraordinary Desserts tonight because of one of my random sugar cravings. I'm enjoying some delicious tortimasu at the moment. Yum! :)

PS. Have you entered the giveaway yet? :)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

sisters.

Kaleigh and I at her going away shindig.

Cousin skyping. Too cute ♥

I miss my sister A LOT, but want to know something pretty sweet? Her, Danny and MJ are coming back home for about a month! :) It definitely wasn't planned but they have to because of some complicated reasons involving visas, housing, etc. It's sort of a bummer when you think about why, but we're all excited to see each other. Also, we all haven't seen Danny since Mary Jane was born because he was deployed. It will be so much fun to all hang out together... Honestly, I can't wait!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

for you.

Here is a giveaway for you. Someone will win all 3 of these prizes: The Ellie Paper Broach, Betty Feathered Headband, and a mini version of my Woodland Chalkboard.
Do any or all of the following to enter:
1. "Follow" this blog.
2. Follow The Dainty Woods on Twitter,
3. "Like" The Dainty Woods on Facebook,
4. Let me know what your favorite item is in the shop.
Already doing some of those things? Great, you're ahead of the game. Leave separate comments letting me know that you did each of these and I will choose a winner at random in the next couple of weeks.

(This giveaway closes at midnight on June 16th.)