smartie

This item is by far the most useful item I own. From the moment I saw it on the beach, I knew I had to have it. It is light, useful, compact, UPF 50+ and the sides have pockets for sand so it doesn't blow away. I highly recommend it.

egg-cellent!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Now that my girls are old enough to dye eggs (read: throw them in bowls of dye and crack them) i appreciate beautiful eggs that people have taken time to create.

last year we had an adults only egg dying night and it was a blast, our eggs turned out great- it's amazing the things you can create when your kids are sleeping! i am really looking forward to dying eggs this year so thought i would visit auntie martha for some fresh inspiration to prepare for this years egg dyeing event. and of course, she did not let me down. here are my faves:

these last ones are made with old postage stamps. seriously, who thinks these things up? they are amazing! i hope these pics inspire you to get out your old panty hose, rubber bands, bees wax, postage stamps, olive oil, crayons, rubber cement, stickers, lace, tissue paper and/or mod podge and get creative this easter season!

all eggs photos and easy to follow and recreate directions can be found here.

how do you like your shaka?

some days, i fear that my entries to this here blog are a little too random. katie- do you want to kick me off this project yet?  when scouring the www for cool stuff i bounce from places like cottage style to surfing blogs and back to crafting sites.  i guess my taste is a little eclectic.  but how can you not laugh a little at shirts like these?  thank you warriors of radness.

"i love dirt"

i almost walked past this book on display. but, i stopped mid-step and picked it up. i think it is my new favorite. you see, i have this fear of children who love video games more than sunshine, bugs, sand, and getting dirty, so it's right up my ally.  a book of ideas for you and yours to get outside and have some fun? genious.

but you don't have to take my word for it, one reviewer stated:

"I LOVE DIRT! is a perfect book for parents, teachers or anyone who cares about children and nature. A nature-lover herself, Jennifer Ward has done an excellent job creating a collection of fun, interactive ways for children everywhere to connect with nature and combat the growing negative impact of sedentary, indoor lifestyles on our youth."

thank you jennifer ward, i am your new biggest fan.

it's spring, get outside and enjoy yourself some dirt!

daytrip, anyone?

just discovered daytrip society. i was sold when i saw all of the above items grouped together- i can honestly say i love all items pictured there, how often does that happen? founded by a fun little duo in maine who are inspired by the romance of nature and adventure of travel and give back to help protect the environment.  check out their website, as well as their blog.  they are not to disappoint! 

a good idea?

the girl in this video had me laughing so hard! unfortunately it was not with her, but at her- she is such an airhead and calling boys in surfer mag "sexy?" ahhh, don't even get me started. but, the girl can sew i will give her that.

fab fabric

I heard about his source from Ashley (the other writer of this blog) and boy is it a great shop! Fabricworm runs through Etsy and carries a lot of beautiful prints. She puts together little sets of coordinating fabrics, the beauty of which have inspired me to make my first quilt! (I will post a pic when it's done) Did I mention that she ships your order asap and it arrives in a perfect little stack, tied up with a string, ready to inspire?

I am currently craving this print....


And making something from this...

D.I.Y.

This idea is so simple, I am digging scallops lately. Does anyone know of a good oil cloth source?

Cake and Skate

I am loving the trend of making weddings fun and personal to the couple and their interests. For example, Carrie and Pat (who were married Jan 24th!) had a lot of friends here on Oahu who couldn't make it to the wedding. So we put together a little party... we called it a "Cake and Skate". We had amazing cakes from local Ted's bakery and ,you guessed it, skating at a friends half pipe. It was a great way to celebrate their marriage in a personal "true-to-the-couple" way.

Stay tuned to the blog of Mark Lee for photos of the couple.

this room...

or i guess its a hallway, is so...

so..

well, it's light and sunny and I love it. I want to plan my whole living room around it.  The wall of the unique art and pictures is so real, i like that it's all mismatched.  Which is good because nothing I have matches anything else.  This picture is from the lovely Domino Mag, (sniff snif, single tear... which is closing down)

re-use

I found these pictures on Bloesem... I love how unique and worn they look. If only I had a carpenter on hand to build me storage like this.

the present

thursday night i had the pleasure of going to the premier of thomas campbell's newest film "the present" at the lido theater in newport beach.  there is something about watching a surf movie on the big screen that makes it one hundred times better, then add hundreds of surf stoked fans hooting and hollering and having a grand time and the movie comes to life. thomas is one of my favorite directors, his previous movies (the seedling and sprout) are two of my all time favorites. the present was different from his previous films in that it was a bit more progressive but did not disappoint. i loved the section of guys riding alaia boards and it was good to see girls ripping in indo. check out chelsea's first wave on the trailer:
the movie will be touring the country for the next few months- check thomas' website here if locations and dates, sorry islanders, they aren't coming out there (boo).

(feel free check out my blog for more details and a few pictures from the premier).

get out your sewing machine

if this does not make you want to start sewing right now, nothing will.

(photo stolen from a quilt is nice blog. there are also some great tutorials on her blog worth checking out.)

patchies hideout

in the city of angels there is a man who goes by patch.  he surfs.  he has three kids.  he is married to the girl of his dreams.  and he also is a pretty talented artist.  

check out his blog, patchies hideout,  for more funky, fun surf art.

plywerk your photos

are you obsessed with pretty pictures?  do you take hundreds of pictures but keep them hiding away on your computers hard drive?  hide them no longer-  Plywerk your photos!

as is says on their website- they have perfected an easy and elegant way to exhibit prints of artwork and photos (yes, artwork too!) without the frame or it's expense. 

how it works:

how it looks: 

photos from the plywerk flickr. 

and check out the super cool plywerk etsy shop as well!

cozy relief

a few months ago i hurt my ankle really bad and one of the only things that made it feel good and loosened it up so i could walk was a warm compress.  warm water in a bag only did the trick for a couple minutes and would leak on the couch, leaving ugly water marks.  so, i filled a sock with rice, put a rubber-band around the top to seal it and put that bad boy in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  ah, warm relief for my achy ankle, but the sock smelled (i promise it was clean).  i looked into an alternative and found this tutorial over at V and CO. 

she uses these rice bags for feet warmers in the winter, but the possibilities are endless.  my mother-in-law wraps something like this around her neck, my sister lays on them, some people use them for heating pads to relieve cramps of the girlie kind, and i use them for my ankle.  it's a super easy tutorial (i love me super easy tutorials) that you could whip together in an afternoon and you don't need to sew like a pro to make it perfectly!

variations for materials to fill with: wheat, rice, feed corn, buckwheat hulls, barley, dry beans, flax seed, cherry pits or oatmeal

and you could easily add essential oils, lavender, herbs or spices to the inside so it smells as good as it feels!

greetings

aloha sunshine lovers! 

hi, i am ashley and i am so excited to get to share with you some of the surfy-surf crafty-craft things i love.  i am not good at introductions or talking about myself but i will tell you this:  i love the ocean and all things in it, especially waves.  i love crafty handmade goodness.  i have terrible spelling and grammar.  and i don't take myself too seriously.   

if all goes as planned (and my junky internet connection holds up) katie and i are hoping to take turns on a weekly basis to send some sunshine your way via this sunny little internet niche.

    so lets let the fun begin...

want custom art, drawn just for you for $10?  i am currently really into this girls art.  her name is alicia and she will draw for you whatever you want on a 5x7 piece of paper or brown bag.  personally, i love the brown bag action.  i just happened to have $10 in my paypal a few weeks ago when i heard about her and i quickly emailed her (land_camera_land_camera@yahoo.com) requesting a mermaid (you will soon learn, and probably grow tired of my mermaid obsession).  a few days later i had a mermaid in my mail box and now it is on my wall.  go ahead, check out her blog and see if you can find my little mermaid there.  

if your looking for some fine art that is finely priced, check her out, you won't be sorry!