craspedia.

i feel like i've seen these flowers all over the internet the past couple of years, but i've never noticed them in the store--until last saturday when i saw them in kroger, of all places. it was clearly meant to be.

i picked some up and tossed them in a carafe as a quick hostess gift for my friend melissa, who was hosting a dinner that night.

super cute, eh? and a bright little pick me up for these dreary winter days.

from grace.

grace is one of my favorite people. and a fantastic maker. and only fifteen, which means the world needs to watch out. look what she made me and jon for christmas!

she made me the sequined gold tree in the middle. you should see it in real life. it's crazy impressive. each sequine was individually pinned on. like i said, crazy.

i think it goes quite swell with the glittered hippo and the two paper trees i made a few years ago.

 and for jon, she made this narwhal ornament.

 gah, so much cuteness. grace, i love you!

and yes, my house is still decorated for christmas. don't judge.

more owls.

happy new year! 2013 already, eh. how about that...

and, to celebrate a great day with no work, jon didn't get out of his pajamas until seven pm (and makes a nice cameo in the first picture, polar bear pajama pants and all), and i painted me some owl coasters. a perfectly normal way to welcome a new year.

i got this set of owl coasters as a christmas gift from my mom, who has a good eye for something that only needs a little tweaking to be really awesome (if you wondered where it got it from).

they remind me a lot of our kitchen owls (which was my very first blog post), except for their creepy white, staring eyes. those had to go.

ah, much better. each owl got a light sanding and a couple of coats of grey paint. they also got a little bit of wood working around their eyes. without those creepy whites, it became apparent that owl's pupils weren't very well defined (painted owl on the left). a little work with a linoleum block carving tool took care of that (painted owl on the right).

and since we don't have much use for coasters, they got a new life as living room decor. they now live above the doorway between our living room and our dining room, in a neat little row.

and another view from afar.

i think they're quite swell. and much better than coasters.