River Stones on Plates

[images: 1, 2]

A Birthday Trip in Raleigh

My sister just moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a teaching position. She's now living in her first big-kid apartment, aside from the housing at The University of Dayton, so she's fairly excited to get her place shaped up just the way she likes it. She's chosen a solid color scheme - gray and white with splashes of red (I am guessing my mom's penchant for warm clay tones had something to do with this).

Claire's birthday is on the 27th, and I've been all over Chicago searching for the perfect gift for our newly christened southern girl. But, I needn't have looked any farther than Furbish Studio, the shop behind one of my favorite blogs I Suwannee.

Furbish Studio is in Raleigh, so Claire can just pop right over there and pick up the adorable spot coasters I've reserved for her. Not only will they look marvelous in her new apartment, but she'll get to check out the shop and explore her new city!

Furbish saves the day. :)

[image: Furbish Studio]

Nature Behaved

[images: 1, 2, 3 4]

Stenciling About

I just bought this book on stenciling and print-making, and have since been seeing project ideas everywhere I look. This may not be your ideal backyard patio, but it's pretty creative, non?

[image: Apartment Therapy]

River Stones

One of my favorite ways to dress up a flower arrangement is to add river stones to the bottom of the vase. It creates such an upscale, earthy look, and it's so simple. You don't even need more than a few stems (floral or otherwise) to make something really stunning. Plus, stones hide all that funk that falls to the bottom, keeping the water looking clean and fresh.

For some more ideas: my friend Annie uses stones around the base of candles and to cover the soil of houseplants.

[image: Crate&Barrel]