decorating

Today Abigail, Jules, and I took a trip to one of our collective favorite places (well, Juliet probably would have preferred somewhere else, but Abigail and I love it): Hobby Lobby. This is akin to Michaels' or Robert's, for you Utah folks.

It's funny because I used to totally loathe craft stores, primarily because I'm not a particularly talented artist in terms of painting or sculpture or the like. I am pretty good at colors and matching elements together that already exist, but...well, as an example, in seventh grade when we did our sculpture unit in art, I started making a bust of Florence Nightingale, and it ended up being a gargoyle. A particularly ugly gargoyle, at that. My mom saved everyone else's art projects, but mine sort of...disappeared over the years. Orange crocheted potholders, lopsided blue vases and all (although Neil and I do still have some very nice baskets that I wove in art class. Perhaps I've missed my true calling).

This sort of makes me sad, because I LOVE handmade things. I have some pillowcases that my Grandma Colleen gave me that are these beautiful heirloom pieces with hand-crocheted lace, and I absolutely adore them. And sad to say, the antiqued patina on these candlesticks made my little heart go pitter-patter. I love old things and I love imperfect pieces that were made by hand rather than mass-produced, and I've certainly tried my hand at it over the years, mostly in terms of quilting (I made a patchwork quilt for Neil that I pieced entirely by hand. It took a LONG time, and definitely my handicrafts come in just fine on the "imperfect" side of things. No chance of confusing them with anything mass-produced). I really like artisanal products, which is part of why I love baking bread so much--it's a cheap way to satisfy my handmade fix. (Incidentally, if you, like me, are interested in things like knowing how to read a diamond registry mark on a willow ware plate or learning the difference between the marlborough and cabriole (my personal favorite) styles of chair legs, I highly recommend Martha Stewart's Good Things from Tag Sales and Flea Markets. I confess, I devoured every word. It also has really fabulous project ideas for flea market and garage sale finds.)

In any case, I've always been interested in interior design, and in the last few years I've spent some time educating myself on the actual principles surrounding architecture and furniture design and color theory. I have a folder full of design ideas for some day when I have the time and money to implement them, and I've had so much fun coming up with super-cheap versions of something I see in the Pottery Barn catalog or the like (and the side benefit of this is that I can buy Neil power tools as presents and then coyly suggest that he try them out on a new project I have in mind). It's kind of nice being students, in some ways, because I really have a chance to refine my ideas about what I love without purchasing something big and then deciding a few months later that I hate it. I figure another three or four years will really give me some time to get my design scheme down pat. :-)

But every so often, I'll convince Neil that our hardworking little budget can manage some seasonal loveliness, and Abigail and I will go to Hobby Lobby to hit up the post-holiday sales and take advantage of the seasonal clearances after things like, oh, Valentine's Day, for instance. What is so fun to me about this is that Abigail absolutely LOVES Hobby Lobby, and really, what child wouldn't? It's an enormous store full of buttons, picture frames, ceramics, scads of paper, greenery, fake birds, glittery things...you name it. She loves running along the aisles and saying,"Oh Mommy, look at this so so beautiful ____! I think it wants to come home with us, okay?"

So that's what we did this morning. And it was an absolute blast.

The end.