More Midcentury Modern Love

Well, I have not had a chance to print the new library cards on my Gocco yet. But I have found the time to update the shop with a few more sets of stickers. I'm pretty partial to these right now--- a combination of blue and green midcentury modern prints and some birds.

Don't forget that I'm currently have a moving sale! It's "buy one, get one" on all items in the shop.

Have a Seat

I'm really loving vintage midcentury modern furniture lately. It has such clean, soothing lines, and seems like an ecologically sound choice--- finding beauty in what already exists rather than making more "stuff."

I feel in love with this reupholstered vintage chair from Spruce Home as soon as I saw it. The green and yellow parakeets on the fabric is modern but sweet. Unfortunately (for me) it sold already, but you can see more of Spruce Home here.

Mushroom Logs

Another one of my domestic fantasies has been to grow my own food. This might be decidedly more difficult in New Mexico, as I want to be ecologically responsible and not use an insane amount of water. Part of me wonders if doing container gardening with a few select edibles would be a smarter choice.

One thing I think would be really cool is a mushroom log. You can grow them indoors and they are available here for a very reasonable price, are certified organic, and yield two to four crops of shiitake mushrooms. Very cool, huh?

{Picture by tonyolm on Flickr.)

Green Thumbs in a Brown Landscape

One of my work friends has become more and more fixated on the fact that I'm a born Vermonter moving to a very brown landscape. It doesn't help that he visits his mother-in-law in Albuquerque, so it seems that all his associations are pretty negative.

He keeps stressing the point that I soon as I move, I must start building up a collection of houseplants. And he insisted on green, not "little orchids on sticks." As much as I want him to stop harping, this struck me as a swell idea. Right now, we have only one plant, a pathetic-looking Pothos that has been slowly languishing due to the fact that our apartment is in a dark Victorian house (a house that killed off a gorgeous Swedish ivy I had). I thought Pothos plants were impossible to kill, but this apartment just might do it in.

Along with the terrariums I previously posted about (here and here), I'd love a collection of green things on adobe window ledges. And lots and lots of succulents. And to learn more about xerioscaping. If anyone has any ideas for easy houseplants or arrangements, please post them here!

{All images above from Flickr: 1. houseplant hospital, 2. venus flyt rap, 3. Houseplant - Philodendron, 4. Houseplant, 5. Houseplant - Spider Plant, 6. Jade Plant in Bloom, 7. Desert Rose, 8. Houseplant in hydroculture, 9. spikey}

Timing is a Funny Thing

After my overtired whining yesterday, I received my shipment of library cards today! I'll be creating ten sets this weekend and adding them to the shop! I'm very excited to have a bit of time on the Gocco to look forward too.

I'm thinking of updating the old cards with an illustration from a vintage textbook on the Dewey decimal system, perhaps in burgundy on manila. Or one of my favorite Gocco colors, a rich chocolate (er, poop?) brown. Any thoughts?

{Disclaimer: I'm a little embarassed that these have been one of my best sellers on Etsy, as much as I continue to get a kick out of them. I make the pretty, I swear. Also, I am now a virtual vault of poop stories told to me by strangers at craft shows all across New England. Aside from libraries, Target seems to be high on the list.}