This would be the perfect cake for a Halloween party (the “bloody” syrup coating is a nice touch).
Apparently this was done in honor of The Walking Dead (which I admittedly stopped watching a couple seasons ago because I started getting bored with it…zombies are very overdone these days so it takes a lot to keep my attention).
I’d love to try my hand at this cake. Watch the tutorial video!
I just browsed about 400 embroidered Temari Balls, and I’m blown away by this art form.
Flickr user Nana Akua has uploaded a giant collection of these marvelous pieces, all crafted by her 92 year old grandmother (who, incidentally, has made over 500 balls).
From my article source:
They are traditionally cherished as objects of friendship and loyalty. The bright colors symbolize luck and happiness for the recipient of the gift. And it isn’t only considered an honor to receive a Temari ball, but also to produce them. To qualify as a Temari ball artist, the individual has to display a high level of skill and technique.
Temari were often given to children from their parents on New Year’s Day. Inside the tightly wrapped layers of each ball, the mother would have placed a small piece of paper with a goodwill wish for her child. The child would never be told what wish his or her mother had made while making the ball.
I’m so impressed with the flow of the designs, the skilled use of geometry and color…the symbolism. I want to make one of these for everyone who has stood by me (and continues to do so) through my health troubles. What a meaningful gift.
See many more and prepare to be amazed HERE.
The website seems to be down (at least for me) right now, but I still want to share some Pourtensious tea lighting fixtures because they are gravity defying displays of awesome.
I want to make one of these so I can perpetually feel like I’m in a magical place, somewhere down the rabbit hole.
I’ve found a new source of home inspiration (well, it’s not exactly new since this has been sitting in my queue for years, but it WAS new inspiration when I first saw it).
Paige Stevenson and Ahnika Meyer have transformed their Brooklyn loft into a veritable museum of lost, discarded, forgotten wonders.
I love living spaces that are thick with history and storied fragments of days gone by. Their place is a gorgeous showcase, largely due how they choose to display these “mundane” items. There is a perfect contrast of still life and lush plant growth.
See a writeup on these wonderfully unique individuals and their home in the New York Times.
Kintsukuroi is a concept very close to my heart. Like these pieces, my body bears the marks of having been broken and put back together again (multiple times). Oh, the stories a few inches of skin can tell!
I find these items breathtaking, and would very much like to create one or have one in my home. Upon reading about this technique and philosophy, I was reminded of a thrift store statue I purposely bought in a broken state (despite the urging of a well-meaning shop owner to opt for one in better condition); a angel holding a bird whose wing had broken off. Though no more than half an inch was missing, the entire meaning of the statue changed with that broken wing. The bird was not dallying for a moment in the midst of carefree flight as originally intended, it was being cradled, protected, healed by a benevolent protector.
As I continue to move through my (still unspeakably slow and challenging) physical recovery, I rejoice in the lines on my flesh that saved my life and the metaphorical gold within them. I am not broken…I am Kintsukuroi, right?
Take time to love the imperfect, the discarded, the reconstructed and overlooked treasures around you (or ON you!). As Leonard Cohen once sang “There’s a crack in everything…that’s how the light gets in.”
Check out this re-purposed microscope lamp from Northern Electric on Etsy.
I would love to make something like this if I could ever find a great deal on a busted vintage microscope at a flea market! Anyone getting rid of one? 🙂
These wonderful vintage trade advertisements offer more than the reality, no doubt, but are all the better for it.
