Category — nature

If you are looking for some pretty paper art to decorate your home or nursery then check our these fabulous paper butterflies by Chaiv. This is one cute shop that has a variety of colors to choose from along with some super cute birth announcement and wedding posters. To see more visit Chaiv’s shop! I think those green butterflies would go nicely in my studio!

Happy Halloween all you goblins and ghouls! My kitchen is full of little candies for all the kiddies tonight and man – do I need to unload them before my husband and I eat them all. The fact that there is 80% dark chocolate in the goodie basket means it’s even more dangerous! :) Whatever you dress up as tonight, I wish you all a very festive evening with your friends or children!

This photo makes me miss my black cat -
artist unknown (pls message me if you know & I’ll credit them)

I also wanted to announce a new collection of necklaces that I will be debuting this weekend in Durham at the Troika Music Festival (I’m a vendor at their Craft Show along with some other talented Triangle designers). Soooo, I just listed one of these super cute necklaces in my shop – it’s inspired by all things lovely, fall, with a dash of butterflies and birdies. Hope you love this as much as I do – I can’t stop wearing mine!

I haven’t had a chance to photograph the rest of this new collection yet but stay tuned! They’ll be up later this week! AND each one is a little work of art – individually handmade by me so grab yours while you can!

Happy Monday everyone! I spent this past weekend down in the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina with my fiance and couldn’t stop thinking about if and when that oil spill will make its way up to our coastline. There were so many pelicans flying along the coast and my thoughts went back to the images of the oil covered birds the media showed us last week. Today’s post is a little different from my usual inspiration features but I wanted to inspire you to do something to help out the wildlife that are dealing with the oil spill down in the Gulf and surrounding areas. The IBRRC, or International Bird Rescue Research Center, is a great organization that has offered its extensive expertise on wildlife care during 200+ worldwide oil spills.

Washing an oiled Gannet (source)

Currently IBRRC is working with Tri-State Bird Rescue, the lead oiled wildlife organization on the ground, to set up and staff rehabilitation centers in Louisiana, Alabama Mississippi and Florida, where the growing oil slick is expected to impact birds. They now have more than 20 members of our Oil Spill Response Team working on the Gulf Oil Spill.

One of the oil soaked pelicans before being cleaned (source)

The before and after of an oil soaked pelican (source)

If you are looking for a way to help these birds and wildlife, please visit the IBRRC’s links below. Please note, BP has committed to paying for the clean-up and wildlife rescue efforts in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. While your donations cannot be used to fund bird rescue operations in this spill, IBRRC welcomes support for its ongoing programs to rescue and rehabilitate aquatic birds by donating, becoming a member or adopting a bird. You can also make a monthy donation here.

volunteer here | donate here | twitter link | flickr here

And a HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers that are helping out the wildlife and communities down there!