Blue Carrot Shop

New favorite place to check out - Blue Carrot Shop!

Graphic Designer by trade and a treasure hunter by preference - Alexandra finds things that are neat, old, used, unique ... and then sells them! (Since she just can't keep everything for herself) Thanks to Alexandra for sharing!

Be sure to check out her blog, too!

Umbrella Prints

It takes a lot for me to find fabric that I love. Enter Umbrella Prints. Although they are from Australia, they also have a shop on Etsy.

Now ... what to buy, what to buy ... ?

I'm Hooked

Anthropologie is as awesome as always. Check out these hooks (& knobs).

DIY: Resurrect a Broken Camera as a Flowerpot

My mother-in-law passed along this little find: Resurrecting a Broken Camera as a Flowerpot!! from photojojo.com. Look how absolutely-creatively fun this is! Really, you can make anything that can retain soil and water into a flowerpot ... we were close to planting something in the broken microwave at work ...

How to Make a Broken Lens Into a Flowerpot

What do you do when your camera dies? Go for the literal version of “pushing up daisies” and grow a plant in the broken remains of your lens!Just slap on an old lens hood, fill it up with dirt and nestle a small plant into it. That’s all it takes to make all your camera geek pals green with envy!

Where to Find Old Cameras and Lenses
Keep an eye out at thrift stores, estate auctions, flea markets or eBay for broken camera parts.

Broken lenses and camera bodies are often labeled “for repair” or “for parts.” Since they don’t work, you can get them dirt cheap.

Keep an eye out for auctions of large lots — pick up a bunch at one time and make a set of planters.

The Water Issue
Here’s the thing though: cameras and lenses, though highly sophisticated examples of engineering prowess, are NOT designed to hold water. Bummer.

While not entirely avoidable, water leaks can be reduced by putting a plastic saucer into the lens or lens hood before filling it with dirt.

Water the plant sparingly, and keep a paper towel handy to sort out any stray dribbles.

Camera-Friendly Plants
One solution to annoying water drippage is to use plants that don’t need much water.

Cacti and succulents are good because there are lots of small varieties and most don’t need water more than twice a month.

Best of all are tillandsia, a.k.a airplants. They’re perfect for this because:

• they’re relatively small
• they don’t need to be planted in soil (neat, right?) and
• you water them by running them under a faucet.

Just take the plant out when it needs water, wet it down, wait for it to dry a bit, and drop it back in. No drips, no dirt, no drama.

The Camera Body Version
If the body of the camera is completely irreparable, don’t write it off as a total loss.

Just take off the lens and put a plant inside the camera body!

Sure it’ll never work again, but at least it’s out of the junk drawer and looking good.

The Twin Lens Version
If you find yourself with a great-looking but utterly dysfunctional twin lens reflex camera, what do you do with that?

You can’t use the lens, and filling the body would just look strange.

Use the waist-level viewfinder instead! It won’t hold water well, but a pot will work nicely.

Get a tiny plant in a 2-inch pot and drop that into the finder. If you don’t like the look of the bare pot sitting there, pack some dried moss around it to cover up the rim.

Food Photography?
Once you get the taste for collecting broken cameras, you’ll want more, more, MORE!

Line a bunch of cameras up on the kitchen windowsill and plant different herbs in them.

It gives new meaning to the phrase “food photography!” (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.)

Do It Yourself Keepsakes

Luckily for me, my husband finds nostalgia in the same things I do. In our first house, we were renovating our bathroom - he went up in to the attic to install recessed lighting. He found an old Coors beer can from the early 80's. We kept it. Why? I don't know. It even made the move across state.

Then, while my husband was digging holes to place the foundation of a fence, he found some sort of tool. Who knows how old it is. We live in southern Georgia and am pretty sure our neighborhood was once farmed, yet we have wetlands in our yard, too. While clearing out our land (maintaining the wetlands ... ) we even found an old turpentine stump. Pretty neat. We left that, too. At any rate, we kept the tool as well.

So now we have two random mementos from someone else's past. This weekend, I decided to make them ours. I took both items and placed them in shadow boxes with matching matt. Then I labeled each piece with it's street address. I think they came out great - and we definitely have a conversation piece in our kitchen now!

Design*Sponge: Before & After's

As an avid Design*Sponge reader - I live for Before & Afters -

Who would have thought to redo a folding chair? Super awesome ... Super fun idea - and super that I have 12 drabb-y folding chairs in the shed. Check it out:





There are SO many other awesome ideas on Design*Sponge!! Check them out for yourself at: www.designspongeonline.com

A Modern Twist to Your Outdoors

Spring Fever.

I love being outside. Plain and simple.

My husband and I have a wonderful backyard that has endless possibilities.... However, the options for accessories at our local 'hardware stores' leaves me disappointed. Don't get me wrong - they have the bird houses, the bird feeders, the planters and the wind chimes - but they all are such a bore. God love her, but all of these items look like they would be better suited for my grandma's backyard. So - I am on a hunt for some outdoor accessories with some punch; some pizazz. I want the backyard to be a haven to escape to. So, here are a couple that I things that I found:

Windchimes from Modern Artisans

The Nidusa Birdhouse

Egg Birdhouse by J Schatz


Birdhouses by Modern Birdhouses


Birdfeeder From Eva Solo


Birdfeeder From Nova 68

Birdfeeder From Andrew Lowe