Thrifted

One of my favorite past times is to go thrifting and vintage shopping with the husband. He loves it and totally gets into it making it just that much funner and last week we found a few fun new pieces. We had a few hours to kill and stopped in on a few thrift stores and vintage shops in Sunnyvale and San Jose CA. At one of the stops he spotted this ugly duckling print high up on a shelf, {I would have totally missed it} and we knew we just had to have it. Its so adorably charming on old wooden slats, now we just need to find the perfect spot for it.

We stopped in at Black and Brown in San Jose with 7 minutes till closing and I managed to find this awesome beaded purse while the husband found a pair of sunglasses. We also picked up another record for our now giant vinyl collection and I got that colorful sweater down there. Its still undetermined if its a yay or nay, it was one of those purchases that you think is a good one but you're just not sure if it will actually look like what you are thinking. What do you think? Its a bit big on me so I was thinking skinny jeans and boots but who knows. For $3 it was worth the gamble.

photos by our designed life

Make this, Salad pride

Holy smokes my mind has just been blown. Now that our community garden is starting to provide us with enough food for entire meals I've been scrambling to find ways to use up everything before it goes bad and I think I may have found my dream come true in Salad Pride. Yep, with a name like that you can expect amazing concoctions like this lentil, parsnip and cranberry or the pumpkin, tofu and mint. Who's hungry?

photos via salad pride

Thanks Martha

A little while back I mentioned I was about to take on a huge knitting project and so far so good though it is seeming to take me a bit longer then expected to make each part...but really, what crafting project ever comes out on time? I've still got months ahead of me, but scrolling through good ol Martha's website has got me back on the knitting bandwagon. I'm making something similar in size and design so to see a final result makes me want to keep pushing my little fingers to their breaking point. So, how do you stay inspired to keep going on projects?

photo via martha stewart 

Bold graphics

Happy Valentines day friends. Love is definately in the air everywhere you look and now you can send your very own e-love thanks to Kate Spade. Partnering with brilliant graphic designers you can send a little something to your someone special, on Facebook that is. So go on over and share the love.

photos via kate spade

Realistic meets quirky

I'm totally digging these not so ordinary cushions and prints from Jaime Mitchell Illustration. They are the perfect about of humor and eye catching, I mean come on a winking bear and a hipster polar bear, how can you not love it? He has such a realistic technique for the animals, they look as if the fur is waving in the wind. You can find the cushions over at Ohh deer as well as prints and iphone skins over at Society 6.

photos via ohh deer and society 6

Valentines Card DIY

I've been a crafting machine as of late and have the paint and glue covered fingers to prove. Thanks to Pinterest I have been flooded with insane amounts of beautiful craftery {that's a word, right?} and after saying I can do that a few too many times I'm now actually doing it. 

With Valentines day less then a week away I figured I better get moving if I was to send anything to my dearies and came up with a somewhat quick embroidered card. I'm a total beginner when it comes to embroidery so it did take me one try before to get it right, but once you get the drawing right, its smooth sailing...unless you are like me and don't pay attention to the tread, had to deal with not 1 but 2 not so nice knots. 

To make an embroidered heart I used graph paper to lay out the stitches. I'll admit, I winged it since I've never actually tried this before but after a few attempts was pretty happy with this shape. After you figure out the shape you want, use a needle to punch a hole on each of the points.

I started off at the bottom and worked my way up from the bottom left corner to the top right of each box. That is until about half way, I somehow switched it but whatev's it still worked out perfectly. On the backside it looked pretty clean but I decided to add a piece of gray paper to cover the stitching since I had 3 nice knots. Even with the few attempts before hand, this is a rather quick craft even for those who haven't picked up a needle and thread. Promise.

photos for our designed life

Make this: Valentines spicy hot shots

With love day less then a week away I've been perusing fun and creative ways to have fun with food and decor and these chocolate shot glasses are simply fab. Crafted by the genius that is Spabettie, these Valentines spicy hot shots are not only vegan, they've got a hidden kick. I never even imagined you could use those ice molds for chocolate, guess I'm going to have to add molds to my wish list of fun do dads for the kitchen.

photo via spabettie