Happy 01-11-11

I love thinking about dates -- maybe a little too much.  Like having a lot of New Year's resolutions, I tend to keep a lot of calendars. Walking by A.I. Friedman, I saw this gorgeous calendar in the window from Snow & Graham Letterpress and fell in love with it.  

Last year I made much simpler calendars here and here, but it's a busy week and I actually love each and every month's picture from Snow & Graham -- and that doesn't always happen with all 12!  Then of course, there's the Blackberry.

And a printed calendar at work -- and a CAT CALENDAR! from my friend Rachael.

And a page-a-day from my friend Carlie.  I like all of them for different reasons.  

And a few more things made me happy on this historic day -- we won't have another one like it til 11-11-11.  Surprise: there were still leftovers from my arrangement for Koru Kate.  I heart this saijo persimmon Voluspa candle, which reminds me of a delicious persimmon bellini recently.  Also have a project in mind for these other 2 candles...

Got the February issue of Martha Stewart Living -- yummy and gorgeous and chock full of inspiring Valentine's ideas -- love it!

That inspired me to get a red velvet cupcake from Sweet Hoboken, mmm.

And I finally bought flowering branches!  I longingly eyed the quince in the flower market last March so I was surprised to see it in the market today.  The salesman said it would continue blooming so it'll be nice to see what happens.

Calming Calendars

I've been all about the recaps this month since there's been so much to do. 

I stopped by a photo shoot for the new cookbook by Allison Fishman, cooking school founder and host of Lifetime's Cook Yourself Thin, where I also met Abby, the designer of Institute of Dress and I love the dreamy, drapey style of her clothing,  

next was a celebration of paper creativity from event designer David Stark's new book and installation of THE (purely paper) FLOWER SHOPPE at West Elm,

then went to a launch party for Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces at the Clic Bookstore and Gallery, 

and saw "No Man's Land" by Christian Boltanski,

an art installation at The Park Avenue Armory (through June 13th: I highly recommend it), attended Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation, and yesterday did an event for hundreds that took all day to set up, so I'm definitely TGI-Fing today.

When the going gets tough, I get planning and organizing calms me down so I've been making calendars. I made my first batch back in January and I'm so excited (and relieved) that summer's almost here.  For June I used my Martha Stewart eyelet lace punch-around-the-edge set.  I've been noticing in Martha Stewart Living each month there have been 40% off coupons for Michael's, nice!

There are quite a lot of birthdays to celebrate this summer, especially in July and August, including Martha Stewart (8/3), Julia Child (8/15) and more than a few fam and friends, so I have to get crafty.

And not to think too much about it yet, but when summer's over September's probably going to be a killer work month once Fashion Week hits, so I strung 30 seed beads like an abacus to remind me that each of the 30 days will be different, but they too shall each pass in their time.

2010 Planning and 1st Project

 Happy New Year!  I've been planning out all of the crafting i want to do this year, or more like figuring out when I want to do everything.  I used to buy a calendar every year, but decided to make my own for the new decade. 

I've only gotten through May so far because I wanted to buy paper in other colors...

So, I made another trip to Michael's up on 97th and Columbus and limited it to just an hour and $50.00 this time.  I'm going to see if I can get by with that as a monthly budget.  When I registered at their website they sent a coupon for 40% off one item, nice!  I bought a stamp kit for making cards, so that will show up in a post soon I'm sure.

My first project for the year is Beaded Hairpins from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts and I'll be using this awesome book a lot this year.

Growing up, I used to bead with my sister Emily and I wish I could find the bead stash and organizer I had then. Somehow we found the time (and patience!) to spend hours separating tiny seed beads by color and stringing flower bracelets onto unwaxed dental floss. I guess my eyesight was much better then, because it was a little challenging this time around with 30-gauge wire.

Just 5 petals and a center and then you attach the flower to a bobby pin. I think I'll have to send some to Emily soon.