Spreading it around

Well. I hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving vacation. Aside from Thursday itself, the weather here has been spectacularly unseasonable. We spent the long weekend catching up on some sleep, eating delicious food with some dear friends, and taking a couple of local trips (i.e., all the way across the river to Brooklyn on the subway: you'd think we were going out of town!). We even made time to install the track lighting that's been sitting patiently in the bedroom corner for months. Yea for mini-vacations at home!

But there just isn't enough time in any given day, is there? If I try to catch up in one area, I fall behind in another. Thus my lack of blogging. And I've been meaning to follow up on my earlier post about re-coloring vintage prints, so let's forget my messy living room and get going, shall we?


(By the way, today's photos have absolutely nothing to do with anything, but what's a blog post without something to look at?)

First of all, if you haven't seen it yet, I thought I should mention Amy Butler's description of the process and background behind her fabric line. It's an interesting and informative explanation for those of us who have been wondering about the use of older prints in new fabric collections.

Once you've digested Amy's explanation, I encourage you to read this post from Alex the Girl, who has done some visual design work with Anthropologie. She makes an excellent point regarding drawing inspiration from various sources and the tendency we might have to make quick judgments about knocking off other people's work, whether in the case of Anthropologie or Amy Butler or anyone else. (And by the way, I love those trees!) Which is why I am so pleased that we could hear directly from Amy about her design process.


"[Anthropologie has] always disclosed, however, that they are so often inspired by people, places and things from around the world."

"It's why I, like so many others, blog - to share ideas and information that perhaps someone will find useful or interesting."

These two quotes, also from Alex, sum up my primary reason for blogging. I both get and (hopefully) give ideas and inspiration via blogging and reading other blogs. (Plus, it helps me to actually finish the projects I start: must feed the blog!) So thank you for being part of this community. I really love the whole process and appreciate sharing it with all of you.

I was thinking about the sharing of ideas and inspiration when I noticed the leaf garlands that Twelve22, WiseCraft, and Pink Trees were making for autumn and Thanksgiving. They were inspired by each other and by Martha Stewart, and I love how they each interpreted the garland in their own way. It reminded me that we should give credit where credit is due and also keep in mind that crafting and blogging really aren't competitions. We do it because we love it!

So if you ever see something here that inspires you, go for it! I'd love to hear back from you about it. I'm certainly finding inspiration in the same manner. And thanks again for being part of the crafty network!