pics : peacock's plume

it's fun to photograph objects on black. especially when it rains. i only used natural light for these photos and was surprised to see the glimmer. we found this feather years ago when we visited england. i'm glad i kept it. enjoy your weekend, everyone. to all of you trick or treaters, be careful!

xo, cindy

ps if you ever wanted a special piece of artwork from pretty little thieves, will bryant, jaime derringer, joetta maue, jess gonacha swift, lisa solomon, or roll and tumble press, AND wanted to support a good cause, head on over to save the thread for some incredible packages ranging from $5-$50.

craft : butterflies in black

when i made the butterfly garlands a while back, i wanted to do them in mostly black with a touch of white. the garland was pretty simple, but i had the idea of making a mask for halloween.



here's what i did -

• picked up an inexpensive black mask at michael's.
• painted it a matte black with acrylic paint.
• made a bunch of butterflies using the martha stewart butterfly craft punch.

• using yes paste because it's thick and gooey, glued them on and on and on and got carried away. didn't eat the paste or the butterflies ;).
  
• painted a long chopstick black to use as a holder for the mask and glued it on the back. you can wear it, but be careful not to obstruct your vision with too many butterflies around the eyes.

there was a halloween parade at the new york botanical garden this weekend and the kids were so great. there were quite a few pirates who looked very cool, although i'm not sure about the plastic swords they carried. we also saw the cutest little witch wearing her tap dancing shoes. only a few parents dressed up, too. are you dressing up this year? i've got a mask ;). happy halloween!

xo, cindy

life : it's in the cards

scott's family loves to play crazy eights. mine goes along to be polite and because we have no other suggestions for fun ;). often, charlie wins with a lot of bravado. the object of the game is to get rid of all your cards. when someone plays a two the next player is supposed to pick up two cards, unless they have a two. well, charlie started it and it ended with him. he had to pick up 8 cards! it was historic and i have the photo to prove it. he won anyway. so close. thankfully, scott won a hand. he loves to win, too. hope you had a good weekend!

xo, cindy

ps last week, charlie also received a very sweet card from an equally sweet girl. thank you, j!

life : it's a beach {part 2}

i've noticed that i seem to like beach towns more than the actual beach, but there's often so many other things to do. while we were there, we went to a cool vintage car show and i have lots of photos of different cars, but went with the red ones. we love the station wagon. we also had our car washed at a church benefit and it started to rain. one of the mom's said that god knew and was doing his part. i thought that was cute and could be true.

dinner at the french restaurant pierre's was great. we've always wanted to go and finally did. that's not a smudge on scott's shirt it's a flashback from my camera (ugh!). he also bought me the the funny i hate to cook book by peg bracken with the best illustrations and steinbock enamel tray for my birthday at my request. love those types of gifts. and, i don't think we were alone during our evening walk. do you see the ufo?

it's our wedding anniversary this week! i can't wait to see what scott has planned ;). charlie has already offered to cook a lobster dinner. we'll help him, although i cringe at the thought of cooking a whole lobster. he does live one block from the east river, although that might not be an improvement for the lobster.

xo, cindy

life : it's a beach

hi all! i hope you had a nice weekend. this one was pretty uneventful for us with the cold, rainy weather and scott working on sunday. we did see the new coen brothers movie, a serious man, and it was really good, but with the price of movie tickets at $12.50 each, i think you could rent it. did anyone see where the wild things are? i'm anxious to see it.

last weekend at the beach was much nicer. i love it there in the fall. the crisp air is so refreshing and it's not so hectic. we stayed in a new place for us, the hedges inn, and it was terrific. the innkeepers, carol and rosemarie, treat everyone like they are so special and the breakfasts were fantastic. we walked to the beach each day and saw familiar things from a new vantage point, including my favorite house in the last photo. hope you have a nice week. i'm afraid i'll have another batch of photos from the beach in the next post ;).

xo, cindy

ps i picked up the little cement love birds below at a favorite antique shop. aren't they cute?

life : history

marie & helen

this week's word chosen by anairam is history. lately, we are really missing not just our moms as people, but having one. not to ignore our dads, especially charlie who is our last parent, but they really do represent a significant part of our personal history. although about the same age, our moms were so different. my mom, marie, was very domestically inclined, an excellent cook, decorator and crafter with a type a personality to match. scott's mom, helen, was also good around the house, but much more social and laid back. she could talk for hours whereas my mom was comfortable being alone.

we can be very much like them, respectively, and it's not unusual to be referred to by their names. for instance, i turn into marie when i decide to do something like cleaning and want to finish asap. scott becomes helen when he would rather socialize with the neighbors while doing laundry instead of getting it done asap. i suppose they're with us all of the time and ingrained in our personal history through some of those traits. usually, they seem to blend very well and sometimes we switch. they got along and so do we.

enjoy your weekend, everyone.

xo, cindy

ps i really love the song misguided ghosts from paramore's new album, brand new eyes. you can listen to the entire album on their site. i also like playing god, but that's for a different post ;). beach pics next week!

pics : pumpkins & the farm

pumpkins are so happy, so let's keep the pumpkin-love going along with some other goodies from the farms in east hampton last weekend. i saved my favorite pumpkin, and the best, for last ;).

xo, cindy

life : pumpkin overload!

we are inundated with pumpkins (work), but hope to be back very shortly with snapshots from a birthday/anniversary weekend spent at the beach and enough pumpkins to make charlie brown proud. hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

xo, cindy

pics : week word, twilight

sunset chatham, ma 1990/1

this week's word is twilight and i have two interpretations to cover the entire definition. i was excited to find the photos above while going through our old pics, which i've mentioned too many times (i'm sorry). i found these shots from trips to cape cod in 1990 & 1991 and they were taken with an inexpensive camera as i was only interested in the usual snapshots back then. i have nothing else even close to these digitally. they're a good example of being in the right place at the right time and the value in keeping boxes of your stuff for years! twilight is thought of as the golden hour and i can see why. it often eludes me as once i'm home it's hard to get me to go out, again. i'm going to try harder, though.



i wanted to leave it at that, but didn't think it would be nice to use something i found from years ago. so, the second interpretation has to do with the second part of the definition. one of the things that makes us happiest is the heated mattress pad cover we purchased last winter. i guess we're heading into our own twilight years when something like this makes us so happy, but with no control over the thermostat in an apartment, it's nice to have a cozy bed waiting for our cold feet.

these lovely ladies were going give twilight a go if they had the time this week - asiye, anairam, line, meg, veja cecilia. they always have something wonderful, so please visit them. scott is taking me on a small trip this weekend to celebrate my birthday. i'm psyched. getting old does have it's advantages, sometimes. enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

ps i'd love to ask anairam to choose the week word for next week if she's willing.

pps i'm just about done with the blurb book (also mentioned too many times, sorry again) - 62 pages & 170 photos in less than a week. whoa (crazy)! i can't wait to see it and show you every single page - just kidding about the every single page part! the duration of things by gesa cowell looks gorgeous!

pics : albums & week word

busy bee.

photo album
hope you all had a nice weekend! we completed the card purge and we're down to two happy boxes with room to spare. the photos have been reorganized and now i'm trying to make a decision about albums. i saw the most beautiful kolo versions in barnes & noble, but i'm not sure about colors. we will have one for home/family and one for travel. do we go with a pair in matching classic colors (black, brown, platinum), or two different beautiful colors (green, blue)? making a decision like this is so hard for me. i'm posting this early to get your opinions.

blurb
the blurb book is coming along very well and i'm super-excited about finishing it, so i can start on the next one and create it as the year progresses. already, i think everyone should make a book whether it's through blurb, i-photo, etc. i can imagine the work of many of you in book form - cindy*'s photos & recipes, julie's collages & poems, pascale's abstract photos, jaimie's cats just to name a few.

week word
asiye of l'atelier asked me make the choice for the week word and i'm going with

TWILIGHT

according to merriam-webster's online dictionary, the official definition is -

'1 : the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and its dust; also : a time of twilight

2 a : an intermediate state that is not clearly defined b : a period of decline'

i suppose you could add teenage vampires, too ;). i'm thinking no. 1 for my submission. if you want to participate, leave a comment below and i'll link to you on thursday. have fun and enjoy your week, everyone!

xo, cindy

craft : book design inspiration

i wasn't going to post today, but i received something in the mailbox yesterday that was so great. well, actually, i just missed the mail lady and received one of those cards saying i had to go to the post office to pick up a package. i was pretty sure what it was and could not wait. so, i saw her down the street and ran (booked) to catch her. yay!

i received the new book 3191 : evenings by stephanie & mav and love the photos. but, i also love the design. see how the images must be all aligned resulting in a box on the side? i LOVE that. thinking about doing the blurb books gets overwhelming because there are so many design choices. the clean design 3191 : evenings combined with the wonderful use of frames and pins/tape in the weekend sewing book by heather ross will be great references.

are there any book designs that you could recommend?

xo, cindy

pics : fall blooms in film

thank you for your thoughts on our last post, everyone. there certainly are a lot of sentimental folks out there. we're also sentimental and collectors, but needed some moderation (intervention). i'm pretty comfortable with our choices, but not completely. i've cringed a few times this week.

these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at wave hill. they're in film and you know what that means - photo album. the top photo is of a beautiful bouquet from a wedding that weekend. thanks to the wedding party for leaving it behind for all to enjoy. i love the fall colors. they're so rich and vibrant it's hard to believe we're transitioning into a season of dormancy. it's already getting dark so early.

on another note, i recently read on susannah conway's blog about a wonderful book by photographer andré kertész called the polaroids. after losing his wife of 40 years and in his advanced years, he felt as though he had nothing left in the tank. then, he found a beautiful glass bust and working with an sx-70 given to him by a friend reawakened his creativity through a delightful and poignant collection of polaroids. i would love for charlie to read this book with the hope that he might find something to revive his spirits. he's in great health and could live for many years. he said the other day that he thought he would live a lonely life. we hope not, but there will be a screening process for all callers.

enjoy your weekend. we'll be purging and organizing just a bit more. and, i'm thinking of making a blurb book about my first year with a real camera. and, we'll be hanging out with charlie.

xo, cindy