Four Finds for under $40.

Whew hew! It's Friday again. This week's we are featuring four finds under $40. Because it's just about gift giving season... So, let's just say I would love to give or receive any of these things.

1. Seawinds & Willows Tote from the New Domestic $36
2. Ecote Macrame Skimmer from Urban Outfitters $39
3. Etsy's Slippin' Southern hand cut bright wood arrows $31
4. Royal Apothic Extract roll on perfume. Smell good. $18

Well, that was fun! I wish all a very fun and fabulous Spooky weekend and Halloween.

happy weekending! be well and safe.

Halloweening 2011: Devlin

Last one..

Devlin as a Devil. 

The details:

This red sequin dress is a hand me down. Devlin really wanted to wear it for Halloween, so I suggested she could be a ladybug or devil. She chose the latter. The pitchfork, horns and tail were purchased on clearance at Party City.

For the cape, I found the red flame fabric at Joann's and stitched it to some ribbon.

Total: $11.00

Devlin and I both agree her costume is missing . . . something, so hopefully we will add some more flare before the carnival on Saturday.

Of course, Tim and I are dressing up too. . . but we will save our costume reveal until Halloween!  

Halloweening 2011: Finn

So continuing on the costume train...

Finn as a Mummy!

Who doesn't love a classic monster? Last year, I had suggested that Finn dress as a mummy, but he wasn't having it. So, we were super surprised and excited, when he said he wanted to be a spooky mummy this year.


Details:
I bought a few yards of the cheapest white fabric I could find at the fabric store. For the top, I bought a white tshirt at Michaels for $2.50. And then dyed it all with some tea.
I caught a lucky break (via facebook) when a fellow Cardiff mom gifted me her son's old mummy costume. (thanks MMB, you're a life saver!) The hand me down costume's look was a little different than our vision, but I used the pants and head piece after removing some of the tulle bandages on it.

The end result is almost what I had in mind. (but seriously, the whole process took a lot longer than I could of imagined.)

This costume is 75% hot glue, 15% sewing and 10% good luck. I am so thankful it turned out.
I picked up a face-painting kit on clearance and bamm! a mummy is born resurrected.

Grand total: $7.50


....Devlin is up next, tune in tomorrow!

Halloweening 2011: Malley

This week, I would like to unveil the Ott family Halloween costumes!

I really love Halloween, it's definitely one of my favorites. (hello candy!) But for some reason, that I can not actually explain, I insist on creating our costumes myself, rather than the simpler prepackaged Party City route. (not that there is anything wrong with that!) I guess I like the challenge of reinventing what we have around the house and I try to keep each costume under $10. In the past we have done family themes, but this year, we let the kids choose whatever they wanted.

 

Malley as Wonder Woman!

I was quite excited when she choose this costume, for two reasons: 1. it's totally rad and 2. my super star sister had made my niece, Lillian, a Wonder Woman costume last year!

Details:
We found the red shirt at Target for $5.00. For the Wonder Woman type logo on the front, I bought a piece of gold fabric and some Wonder-Under and voila! 
The cape, headband, belt, lasso and skirt were from Lillian's costume. The skirt was a little long and big, so I added elastic to the bottom to make it more of a bubble. I love the volume the elastic created.
The gold wrist protectors were made from some gold fabric and Velcro I had.
The purple boots she had from her normal wardrobe, and I added some white duct tape down the front.
Total: $8.00!

Stay tuned for more tomorrow....

I heart Borrego.

I come from a family that really seems to like each other. Which is nice. Because my family is fun and nice and generally rocks.

Saturday we drove out to the family desert house. To watch a parade and hang out with each other. The weather was nice, but pretty warm.




Borrego Days annual parade. Which is so great, and super down-home-ish. The parade kicks off with an airplane flyover. How awesome is that?

Back at the house; the kids swam, rode bikes and went on a spooky scavenger hunt that my mom planned. The grown ups got busy catching up and enjoying cocktails. And we had a couple of surprise desert house visitors. Borrego is like that. Or my parents are. Either way, I like it.

Our best attempt at a self timer family picture. (of course, Malley was not having it, Banner was distracted, Jeff's faced is blocked and Grandma and Grandpa were too busy sleeping.)

Another successful trip to the desert.

{four for Friday}: put an owl on it.

Is it just me or are owls really having their time?  I feel like everywhere I look, there's an owl on it. Good thing, too, because I think they're pretty awesome.

{one two three four}

And owls make for a great Halloween costume. This diy one, from Alpha-mom, is my favorite. Even Finn dressed up as an owl when he turned one. (One of my favorite costumes I have ever made.)

 Happy Owl-o-ween!!  And happy weekending!

getting into the Halloween spirit?

We were 'boo'ed last night.  Big ol' bucket of Halloween goodness.

Are you all familiar with this suburban tradition? It's sort of like door bell ditching a curse. A neighbor leaves some treats and Halloween goodness anonymously on another neighbor's door, and in return, they must copy the poem and 'boo!' sign, run to Target, buy a bunch of Halloween crap stuff and leave it at two other neighbors doors. Once you have been boo'ed, you are to leave the ghost in your front window so you don't get boo'ed again.

All this boo'ing and costume making (I have been busy doing that too) had me thinking, the season is really upon us.

Halloween is here, folks.

          (cake round up from top left: Country Living, Martha Stewart, Country Living, Better Homes & Garden)

The kid's school carnival is next weekend, and the cake walk is a Cardiff tradition. Guess it's time to get my bake on, I love all these tricked out cakes and cupcakes. So spooktacular.

{four for Friday} safari.ish

Really, Friday already?!? These weeks are really flying by.  I actually dreamt of decorating Christmas trees last night.

1. Life Little Gem's vintage mounted deer antlers.
2. Westward for Kate Spade's adventurer satchel.
3. Dwell Studio's giraffe papier-mache head.
4. Anthropologie's eiko cabinet.


We have very little in the weekend line up, fingers crossed that we can actually get some house projects done.
happy weekending!

sh#t from my parents garage

A while back, my collector type parents began to realize that they had accumulated too much. My dad kindly asked if I could help him with a garage sale to unload a fraction of his fine Hawaiiana collectibles. I agreed. Seriously, my dear parents had been shopping on ebay, thrift stores and estate sales for as long as I can remember, but had never thought to release any of it back into the wild.

The sale went really well (and was great fun!) but there was a bit still left. Plus, dear mom and dad were so inspired, they started to dig deeper into their garage and found ten more boxes of things...and all of this stuff is looking for new homes.

So, I present to you....

SH#T FROM MY PARENTS GARAGE! 

Amazing treasures. Vintage items. We will be adding more items daily. Or hope to anyway.

{click here to shop}

Plus, We added a mini shop to our left side bar.  Enjoy!

weekend away at the ace, palm springs.

{from top left: ace sign, lobby photo booth, banana Irish porridge, Andy & Owen in King's Highway}

After hearing about The Ace, Palm Springs for years, we finally headed east for a weekend of pool frolic and desert views. Yes, I realize we are a little late on the band wagon, but wanted to add my review and thoughts on the experience.

A dear friend of ours was celebrating his big 40, so off we went, sans children, for three days of desertness with four other families.

{from top left: room 419, cool fireplace, view from our bed, happy ep}

Here are my thoughts on the experience:

Totally loved all the white and wood interior design throughout the resort. And all the shades of neutral; the decor was unified, chic and urban outfitters-y, but in a good way.

Fist pumping music, pool side. 16 hours a day. This was mostly a positive, until your head starts to spin, then we would exit to our rooms to enjoy a little quiet moment, then back to the poolside party.

Oh my goodness, great people watching. Really supreme. But then again you are hanging with these people all day...

Every room comes with strangely attractive cult like robes....and walking sticks.

The converted Denny's turned King's Highway had acceptable food and service. Not the best food ever, but far from the worst. The Ace makes it very easy to stay on the compound. I mean, why leave?!

I had some great cocktails. Both from the Amigo Bar, with muddled cucumber?!?, and made with the booze we smuggled in. I have a new fondness for Pimm's with ginger beer, and anything with St. Germain's.

 {from top left: Polaroid fun, me + Tim, mostly all of us in the mirror at King's Highway, room key & my purse}

Definitely a weekend to remember. 

I am little sad that the whole group didn't take a group picture, that Tim and I didn't find any treasure at the Palm Springs thrift stores and that I didn't steal anything from our room. 

But all and all, desert goodness.

(happy birthday Eric and a big thank you to you & Christa for including us.)

42nd & Orange: fall 2011

Greetings. I am currently blogging from the ace, palm springs. Just a little weekend away to celebrate our friend turning 40! But more on that later.

In the mean time, here are some selects from a recent shoot I prop styled for.  Bethany & Tere are the driving force behind this amazing clothing line for little girls and woman, too. m•o•m is definitely an Ott Creative favorite, for both their strong sense of community and the cute clothes that my girls adore.

The shoot was at m•o•m headquarters right here in Cardiff. (so convenient!) I also was granted access to their prop house, 42nd prop house. I also added in a few items here and there. It was such a fun morning.

And how cute are these models. Recognize anyone? Yup, that's Devlin and one of her besties, Maya.
More pictures are on the m•o•m website and their blog, too.

 

If you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend you do! 

{four for Friday}: polyhedrons and the outdoor oven

one/ two/ three/ four


I have been obsessed with wood fired pizza since Sara and Jakes wedding or was it the date night at Blue Ribbon Pizza. Anyhoo...loving the Weltree portable oven, nice patina, simple design, outdoor fireplace...awesome. This would fit right in at the in-law's ranch in the desert where rusted metal is the choice color.

making friends with art.

Yesterday, Tim brought home a piece of art that I love. It is 'on loan' from some amazing friends who have a great collection. I love the new addition to our walls, its only been here 11 hours and has already improved my mood. Because it makes me happy.

I have always wanted to have cool happy art in my house, but I having a hard trusting my gut. Or affording what I love. But listen here my friends: Affordable art is everywhere.

Here is a little round up of my current favorite sources and pieces.

• The 20X200 Project. Affordable art prints for as little $20. New prints are added weekly. Limited print runs. This one caught my eye.

Icon
Michelle Muldrow

 • Etsy. The best thing to happen to the internets since ebay, in my humble opinion. I could spend a whole day poking about on this site. Also, a great place to find affordable art at great prices. Look what I found today.

Ship in a Bottle from Little Paper Ship

• Little Paper Planes. Kelly Lynn Jones of Oakland created Little Paper Planes back n 2004 as a platform for her friends and community to sell art. The result totally fantastic afforable art!

White Mountain Print by: Brandi Strickland

Moral of the story: Art makes life better.  And beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

S & J's garden wedding

MPW Photography was kind enough to share some photos of Sara and Jake's big night. It was such a lovely evening, enjoy. 

Sara's blue shoes and Jake's brand new jeans were two of my favorite things at the wedding.

This typewriter welcomed guests and shared instructions for the guest book. Everyone was asked to write a note to the happy couple on one of the collection of vintage postcards.

   

 

Which were then clipped to this screen turned guest book.  

The event was full of burlap and succulents. Including these succulent boxes that the groom made himself.

This was the first wedding I helped style. I truly had the best time working with the lovely bride and groom. Can't wait until the next one.