Category — Flowers + Pretty Things

It’s the weekend! And better yet, it’s May Long Weekend! Back in the day, Brad + I happily spent this holiday in a campsite surrounded by friends (and possibly several empty beverage cans) but this weekend we’ll spend it at home, on our deck (possibly with some empty beverage cans) and couldn’t be happier about it. We’ve both been working a tonne and often feel like we’re ships passing in the night…can any of you relate? Anyway, time to regroup and spend some quality time together :)

I had a chance to pop by West Elm and West Elm Market for store tours this week and left inspired, as always!

We spent last Sunday out at Brad’s parents farm in Chilliwack and the views are truly amazing. Pics #1 and #2 are a couple of my faves of the day. Enjoy your weekend! What are your plans? Out + about? Or chilling at home? Here are a few tunes for your next BBQ and I’ll be back to chat on Wednesday :)

1.  Acres of Lions: Reaction
2. The Lighthouse & the Whaler: Pioneers
3. Vampire Weekend: Giving Up the Gun
4. Zerbin: New Earth
5. Hannah Georgas: Shortie

How is it Friday again, already? Jeepers. How was your week? Ours was busy but sun-filled and I can’t complain. It’s Mother’s Day this weekend…what plans do you have in the works? We’ll be pretty low key over here, spending time with both of our families, and the kids have some top secret projects in the works at school. I’ve got a preschool tea party with Lilah this morning before I head off to the shop and it’s bound to be adorable :) As promised, here are my top links of the week plus some tunes for the weekend…

1. These Mother’s Day printables by Striped Cat Studio would make any mama smile on Sunday morning:

Striped Cat Studio for Studio DIY

2. The entire May/June 2013 edition of Rue is devoted to the Pacific Northwest, YAY! So many great features, including this outdoor picnic, as well as a great tour of Vancouver shops and much more…

Rue. Photo by Julie Harmsen. Styling by Hens & Chicks Collective.

3. This entire cabin makeover is to-die-for, especially the kitchen. Seriously. My dream getaway:

Smitten Studio via A Cup of Jo

4. Loving everything about this pic, especially the pile of new pillows:

My Cakies

5. This Kentucky Derby themed wedding shoot is pretty near perfect in my books! My childhood friends would laugh…I’ve always fallen hard for horses! (While most had Kirk Cameron posters on their walls…um, I had Palominos and Arabians!) :

Ali Harper and Blue-Eyed Yonder via Snippet & Ink

As I’ve mentioned before, I love finding new music (as in not Top 40) and great apps like Songza and Shazam make it all the easier these days. I’m also a huge fan of NoiseTrade, where artists share their latest EP’s and it’s FREE! So great. Here are some tunes that I have on current rotation, hope you like them! Happy Weekend!

1. Among Savages: In the Nighttime
2. Empire of the Sun: Walking on a Dream
3. Churchill: Lock Your Heart Down
4. Boy: Little Numbers
5. American Authors: Believer
6. Freedom Fry: Friends + Enemies
7. Paper Route: You + I
8. Rah Rah: Art & a Wife
9. Walk Off the Earth: Red Hands
10. Wild Country: Wake Owl

Ah, what a weekend! Temperatures soared to almost 30 degrees and it felt more like August than the first weekend in May! No complaints here…we soaked it up as much as we could. My youngest came down with a bad cold at some point (really not fair to be sick when it’s so beautiful out!) but sitting in a kiddie pool eating popsicles can do wonders! I got some much needed gardening in as well as some much needed rest. I’m actually feeling pretty caught up (minus the 3 loads of laundry I put off folding all weekend) and am relatively ready for the busy week ahead. What about you? How did you enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures? Mother’s Day is next weekend and with three kids under 10, my expectations are never high but it always feels great to receive handmade tidbits, made with love…

Cartolina + Rifle Paper Co. cards at Spruce Collective

Better Homes + Gardens

Hitch Design

Parcel Post

Urban Outfitters via DesignLoveFest

The Paper Mama

Furbish

Quill + Fox

Isn’t that floral monogram especially lovely? It would be such a pretty DIY for a wedding or birthday party and looks relatively easy to make, bonus! Sometimes I think the best gift for busy moms “in the thick of it” is time alone. I can literally count the days that I’ve spent alone inside my house over the last ten years, strange right? But those rare quiet moments (without chores, cooking, driving around or other to-do’s) are such a treat. How will you be showing the special mama(s) in your life that you care? Enjoy this sun-filled Monday…how will we ever get any work done?!

How was your weekend? Mine was full (in a good way) and it’s time to jump right on into a fresh new week. Can you believe it’s the end of April? I honestly don’t know where the month went. It’s raining now but Scratch that….the clouds miraculously disappeared! And there’s plenty more sunshine in the forecast, drawing my eye to bright colour bursts and bold spaces. I can’t seem to get enough of layered texture and patterns and have become mildly obsessed in my hunt for the perfect Persian rug to add some flavour to our living room. It’s out there somewhere!

 Style by Emily Henderson

Fjeldborg

Isn’t this dish collection amazing? Love the shallow open shelves too. And I just bought a bright green filing cabinet from the shop (it actually didn’t even make it in the door…went straight from Elisa’s trunk into mine!) but love the idea of spraying multiple filing cabinets a bright colour for more functional storage like the yellow ones below…

Country Living

Camille Styles

Vintage Revivals

Janis Nicolay

Laure Joliet

Isn’t that honeycomb wall incredible? My girls would be in heaven if they had  that in their room! Is that enough colour to cheer you up this Monday morning? I hope so. Time to refill my coffee before tackling the first of several to-do lists. Enjoy your day :)

Now that I’ve got a spiffy new blog design, I thought I should think up some snazzy new names for regularly occurring blog features. Friday Favourites, hmm. Not exactly original, I know (and my use of the words “spiffy” and “snazzy” is somewhat worrisome too) but it is what it is for today! I’m a visual person and while link lists work well for some, time is short and I need to see inspiring pictures before clicking through so here are some of my top links of the week:

1. This family farmhouse over at Country Living is right up my alley…isn’t that vintage mail cabinet crazy? As in awesome?

Country Living

2. I seem to have a black thumb these days but this DIY Succulent Wreath is too pretty not to try…

DIY Succulent Wreath by Prudent Baby

3. Clare Elsaesser‘s art gives me goosbumps…in a good, pull-on-the-heartstrings kind of way…and Victoria over at SF Girl by Bay has a giveaway going on right now for one of her prints. I’d choose this one, “Married to the Sea”. Fingers crossed…

Tastes Orangey  (Great contest for a 16×20 print over at SF Girl by Bay!)

4. This peek inside Katie Stratton‘s art studio, featured on A Beautiful Mess is too good not to share…

Katie Stratton‘s Studio featured on A Beautiful Mess

5. Shelley introduced her shop, Dignify, to me this week and I’ve been revisiting it all week. Beautiful Kantha blankets (made from vintage saris!), jewelry and more, all handmade by women around the world. Love the products and LOVE the philosophy behind it all. Stay tuned for more about Dignify…

Loving these Kantha Throws from Dignify

Now, it was only 3 years ago that Rachel and I swore to each other that we’d never share music on Birch + Bird. Keep in mind that I also once swore that brass hardware would never ever see the light of day in my home (click here to see me eat my words). Never say never, right? My close friends know that I’m a huge fan of mix tapes (well, mixed CD’s actually) and I’m pretty prone to slipping them in purses at parties! I think the habit started when I was about 9 years old, secretly taping the Top 10 at 10 when I was supposed to be sleeping! Anyway, new music makes me happy and here are a few tunes from my current playlist,  just in time for the weekend :

1. Hannah Georgas: Somebody
2. Lord Huron: Time to Run
3. Ellie Goulding: Anything Could Happen
4. Rah Rah: Prairie Girl
5. Two Door Cinema Club: Sun
6. Chairlift: I Belong in Your Arms
7. The Lumineers: Submarines
8. Class Actress: Keep You
9. Philip Phillips: Gone Gone Gone
10. Hey Ocean: Give

My musical tastes are about as eclectic as my decor sensibilities but hopefully you like the mix tape! Have a wonderful weekend :)