I look at home magazines often and sometimes wonder if our home will ever be pretty enough to be photographed.

Before we moved, I had this vision of accomplishing everything on our list in the first week of ownership. People laughed, and quickly I learned that no – that is not going to happen. And here were are over a year later with baseboards uncaulked, crown molding unfinished, and a list of “to dos” longer than when we started. However, this is all to say that I’ve acquired some new inspiration for photographing my home despite its “unfinished” state.

After looking at this blog, I’ve realized that the smaller pieces of your home can make really interesting images. I had some fun with this yesterday, and I if you are so inclined I encourage you to try this yourself. Even if you have a point-and-shoot camera, find some good light (usually early morning or afternoon. Indirect light from a window makes for very nice photos) and an interesting composition. I now have my camera out all day and if something catches my eye around the house I take a picture of it.

I’m looking forward to creating this series of vignettes around our home, and if you try this I’d love to see what you come up with as well : )

I flickr’d these not too long ago, but thought I would show you another little piece of my home. These are paper collage on canvas that I made to fill this area of empty wall in our kitchen.

I used all types of paper – vintage wrapping paper, tissue, vellum, magazine cutouts…I love making art, especially when inspiration comes quickly and the thing turns out exactly as I imagined – which was the case with these. The skull in the bottom one is probably my favorite part – I found that in a design magazine and the cross bones are actually Exacto knives. awesome.

My mom has been sewing since I can remember. And at some point, she started her own slipcover business that she ran out of the garage. She had 4 kids, homeschooled a few of us at different times AND worked in the garage whenever she wasn’t cleaning, schooling, driving, homework helping, cooking, etc… She would pay for private school with her income, or buy us new school clothes or just helped out with the overall household expenses.

The point of me telling you all this is to say how AWESOME she is, and to show you a few pics she sent me from her new sewing room, which is now in the house since we’ve recently had a few more children fly the coop. Now its just the Little One and Max, the dog. She sent me these and I just thought I would share:

One of her sewing machines, and a chair that she covered, of course.  A little doll dresser (my mom likes little things) that she keeps something in. Mom,what are those?

And finally, here is a photo I found the other day:

and here is the white kitty today (sans dress)..still on my bed after 28 years : )

I love you mom!

Well, not quite. But look how cute she is in her sweet little apron!

I’ve got a thing for aprons. I’m pretty sure I always have. Here are some pics of my current collection, which hang from this wall hook I bought at anthropologie. I have to stop myself from buying more, but I don’t have much room for new additions to this collection.

So instead of adding to my own collection, I plan to add to others by making aprons for my friends. I just bought a bunch of new fabric, which I will show you later and am getting reacquainted with my sewing machine..see previous post.