I’m pretty sure you’re all thinking right about now that I should rename this blog Bunting & Bunting, and I have to say I don’t really blame you. BUT I do have two more uber-cute ideas to share with you, and they just happen to involve my favorite strings of triangulated fabric.

First, a bunting invitation. Bunting may play a role in the invites I’m busy mocking up for K + C’s ceremony and reception, so these, from Cakies, have found a soft spot in my heart. Let’s just say they involve Happy Tape and that you should head over to her blog post to have a look at the finished product. Brilliant!

Next, as promised, the bunting cake, from this adorable wedding (image by Colleen Sherman). We’ve pretty much decided that we’re going to be sprucing up simply-decorated cakes bought from a bakery, and though we’ve tossed out several decor ideas, right now I’m loving these mini strings of bunting. Dressing the cake couldn’t be easier, and when it’s time to eat, the (fabric? paper?) flags come right off. And affordable, to boot!

One of my favorite parts about our current apartment is the kitchen island, and the fact that the island faces and is completely open to the living and dining room areas. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to anything less. Here are a few of my favorite island looks…

P.S. We’re in the market for some stylish, not-terribly-expensive stools. Any great online sources you’d care to pass along?

{Shelter}

{Alice Lane Home via Black*Eiffel}

{Style at Home}

{Martha Stewart}

{Better Homes & Gardens}


{BHG}

{Southern Living}

Previously:
Deep window seats
Filled with light
Walls of books

{flickr}

The season stalls, unseasonably fair,
blue-fair, serene, a stack of golden discs,
each disc a day and the addition slow.
I wish you were here with me to walk the flats,
toward dusk especially when the tide is out
and the bay turns opal, filled with rolling fire
that washes on the mouldering wreck offshore,
our mussel-vineyard, strung with bearded grapes.
Last night I reached for you and shaped you there
lying beside me as we drifted past
the farthest seamarks and the watchdog bells,
and round Long Point throbbing its frosty light,
until we streamed into the open sea.
What did I know of voyaging till now?
Meanwhile I tend my flocks, small golden puffs
impertinent as wrens, with snipped-off tails,
who bounce down from the trees. High overhead,
on the trackless sky, skywriting V and yet
another V, the southbound Canada express
hoots of horizons and distances…

–Stanley Kunitz (from Passing Through, 1995)

Possibly my favorite poem of all time. What do you think?

I love fresh flowers with the best of them, but live blooms aren’t always in the budget. Which should explain why when I cracked open my copy of Martha’s April issue, I didn’t even finish the book before busting out the supplies to try my hand at her paper dogwood flowers. I also love the original version of this Good Thing, a paper cherry blossom display that first appeared in April 2006.

I must say, I’m pretty happy with how my version turned out! Here’s Martha’s:

And here’s mine:

What do you think?

I pretty much followed Martha’s directions (which you can find here), with just a few tweaks: I didn’t see the need to buy a “starburst” stamp, so I used the eraser of a fresh pencil for all of the stamps instead of just for the middles. I also subbed in a thick green marker in place of a stamp pad. If I were to do this project over again, I think I would make the blooms a bit smaller than the 5 inches she suggests — or at least have some larger and some smaller flowers.

{via Martha}

All in all, though, a very easy and satisfying project! I would highly recommend.