Houses, signs, and quirks of Old Town Alexandria

Last weekend, I spent a little time in Old Town Alexandria, a quaint little town just south of Washington DC on the Virginia side of the Potomic River.  Old Town seems to have escaped much of the strip-malling of the DC metro, although it does have an H&M, and many of the area's houses have been around since the revolution.  This lends itself to adorable buildings full of character, fine detailing, and placards to read.  I assume all the houses are haunted. 

Here are a few pics to inspire your colonial style. Unfortunately they were taken with my phone as it dies a slow death, so excuse the clarity.  It was a gorgeous day, and I'd love to go back for an afternoon with my DSLR.

Little row houses

Lovely brick detailing

Old colonial home

Sunbathed courtyard full of potted plants

Hidden dream house, except for the ghosts
that probably live there

Excellent use of hanging lanterns

Love the color of this door and the knocker

Rusted shop sign

Government building where I once posed wedding party photos

Quick Personalized Stationary

As you can probably tell from my frequent post about cards, I love sending mail. When a boxed card just won't do, and you are short on envelopes, it's easy to whip up a quick, personalized bit of stationary using stamps, cover stock, and some fun paper. 

Leave a pretty note on the car you hit and the owner can't be mad.

To create a unique envelope, simply deconstruct another envelope (make use of that junk mail), trace the shape onto scrapbook paper or some other lightweight paper, cut and reassemble.  Cut your cover stock to fit inside and adorn with your personal monogram or anything else you can come up with.  Don't limit yourself to stamps either!  Now you can write your correspondences like they are always doing on Downton Abbey when they aren't killing off main characters.

A heartfelt apology.

Now you have a very personal note ready in 10 minutes or less!  I'm sensing a "quick and easy" theme starting to emerge for March.

Rustic Fall Invitations

A few months back, I did this watercolor email save the date for Joel and Jazmine, my most country friends.  This organic handmade style carried through to their invitations, but with colors shifting from spring to fall.  Their wedding came just on the cusp of superstorm Sandy, and was the last beautiful weekend in the area, with leaves bursting with every color.  Their invitation fit right in!

Save the date: Handmade meets email

When a close friend told me he'd proposed to his longtime girlfriend, my congratulations was immediately followed by an offer to do their custom invitations. This fun-loving, outdoorsy couple wanted something natural to fit their laid back country lifestyle, and a personalized watercolor illustration was the best way to go. And although their save the date was emailed, it was still able to have an organic, handmade feel.

French tea bridal shower invites

These bridal shower invitations combine watercolor painting with digital printing to fit the girly, French-inspired theme.  No poodles, pink stripes, or baguettes here.

Toile wedding invitations

Courtney is one of my best childhood friends and the most efficient wedding planner I've ever met. She had almost everything in order close to a year in advance, the benefit of being a teacher and having the summer off.  I'm lucky enough to not only be a member of the wedding party, but also to get to design the stationary for her and her fiance, Mark.

The inspiration for the set came from the toile china that the bride's mother had.  Her flowers will be hydrangeas, picked from her grandmother's garden.  With those two things in mind, the design came together easily in my mind, executing it was another story.  I attempted photographing, photoshopping, and drawing, but nothing seems to get that toile look.  There's lots of toile stuff out there, but finding hydrangeas proved very difficult. Luckily I stumbled upon my saving grace, Wikimedia Commons, which offers freely licensed and public domain images (that means use them without fear of being sued). Nice!  A little photoshopping and the rest came together for a classic and elegant look.

Printed on bright white felt stock.

DIY Anthropologie-style paper trees

While in Anthropologie a few weeks ago I saw this paper pine tree among the holiday decor, and then went home and recreated my own version.  This cute, antique style tree makes a great decoration or gift and can be used through the entire winter.  Read on to see how to create your own.  

Crochet snowflakes are still cool

I'm coming out swinging into the Christmas season and kicking things off with a modern update to an old favorite, crochet snowflakes.

These cute, easy to make snowflakes probably conjure memories of your grandmother's Christmas tree, or that old lady neighbor who would give your family a little ornament as a thanks for putting up with another year of her crochetyness. But in spite of these associations, crochet snowflakes can be fun and fit into the modern home, free of doilies and those strawberry candies. 

I'm pretty new to crocheting (thanks, Pat for teaching me!), so this stuff is still new and fun for me to make.  To add a little twist, I've make a few different snowflakes and attached them together to make garland.  I won't get into the details of how to crochet, there are plenty of tutorials and videos out there, so I'm just going to tell you what I did to make my garland.  There are no less than a million snowflake patterns online so you could seriously do it up.  There's everything from super simple to pull-your-hair-out complex, and I've chosen pretty simple ones.  I'm making three different snowflakes, but the small ones are the same as one of the larger just with one less row, so it is really only two styles.  

Two different large, and one small. 

For the snowflake with the pointed tips in the center of the photo, I'm following this pattern.  For the other large snowflake and the small ones, I'm following this one, which has step by step images so it's great for a beginner.

For yarn I'm using Aunt Lydia's crochet thread size 3 in Iced Bamboo, which has a slight sparkle to it that unfortunately doesn't sparkle as much as I'd like, and a size E4 (3.5mm) J hook.  I want my chain to be pretty snowy so I'm making 4 of each large snowflake and 9 of each small for a total of 17 flakes.  A chain stitch (ch) will make the chain and the snowflakes get attached using a slip stitch (sl). 

Ready to be hung up

The pattern for stringing them goes like this:
Ch 40
*Slip stitch small snowflake, ch 20, sl large snowflake 1, ch 20, sl small snowflake, ch 20, sl large snowflake 2, ch20*
Repeat between * * 4 times
There should be one small snowflake left, sl it on and finish with ch40

Adorn your stairs if you have them

If you like, you can starch the snowflakes so they are stiff, but I prefer to let mine be soft.  They have a great vintage feel and look great draped on a railing or over a mirror (maybe in the bathroom?).  You can make the garland as long, short, big or small as you like by adjusting the number/type of snowflakes or the chain length. Or experiment with different colors and styles.  Plus, since it's not holiday specific, you can admire your creation all winter long!

Instagram-esque photos, Pre-instagram

It's pretty likely that in the last couple of months your social news feeds have been swamped with camera phone photos that are square shaped, scratchy, and oversaturated. Apps like Instagram and Hipstomatic, which take that photo of your meal, your cat, or the view from your car and make them look retro, are insanely popular. I'll admit that the right photo can be very cool, and maybe I'm just bitter that I bought a Diana months before the craze hit. Just remember that these apps are based on something real, when there was excitement in waiting to see how pictures turned out, and a photo looked old, because it actually was.  

So here are a few photos taken long enough ago that it's considered cool and vintage, but not long enough ago to be black and white and creepy. I found these when my family sold their house last year, and I presume they were taken by my father, a former art student who still takes tons of pictures.

Mom, probably late '60s, epitomizing youth and beauty

Just a friendly squirrel.  This album dated April, 1972

The Florida Everglades (spring break whooo)

Mom ('72) likely stealing these oranges on a trip to Florida.  

Shark, he's friendly too

The store where these were developed is still open and is one of the few around that still develops film.