Farm Sweet Farm

Over Memorial Day weekend, Tim and I stayed with his cousin's family on their 60-acre farm. The city has its pros, for sure, like walkable grocery stores, beautiful parks, and amazing restaurants. But even with all that, it's nice to get away to the country to breathe in the fresh air, relax, stargaze, and forget about the stresses of our day-to-day lives.

The farm is BEAUTIFUL and the plan for it is even better: growing hops! While we were there, Tim helped plant a few rows and was seriously on cloud nine. He loves it! And what a great area to invest in a hops farm, with PDX being such a beer capital.

While the guys were out planting, I spent time with his cousin's wife and their three sweet kiddos. We played, baked, chatted, and relaxed. One of the highlights for me was Michelle teaching me how to bake bread. Those who know me know I'm obsessed with bread! I can't tell you how excited I am to bake homemade bread all the time once we invest in a few supplies (blog post coming soon!).

During our stay, I ventured out here and there to take a few photos of the farm to document its beginnings. It's such a gorgeous place and it's exciting to see it grow (pun intended) from the start. Did you know hops can grow up to a foot per day? Crazy, right?

We closed out the long weekend with a delicious BBQ of ribs with homemade sauce, corn on the cob, the bread I made by hand(!), and more mouth-watering sides. They always feed and treat us so well when we visit! It's hard to go home ;)

Here's to farm life and what a joy it is to finally have some day trip-close family in Oregon!

DIY // A Wreath for All Seasons

I've always been a sucker for cute wreaths, but living in an apartment that's less than 600 square feet creates great limitations for storing wreaths for every season. So I decided to solve that problem by making one interchangeable wreath for all four seasons and all the celebrations in between! The picture above is my spring wreath, complete with the cutest flag banner with scrabble pieces spelling out "bloom." 

When Tim's mom, my "mother-in-love," was visiting at the end of March, we decided to have a craft day. I knew I wanted to solve my wreath problem, but didn't exactly know how I wanted to make it yet. We browsed Pinterest and hit up Michaels for some inspiration. We decided felt flowers would not only be budget-friendly, but would also be absolutely adorable, easy to swap out, and, best of all, small enough to store anywhere.

Once we purchased all of our supplies, we got to work. Candace purchased a large letter "L" to decorate with felt flowers for her family room and immediately started cutting and hot gluing her flowers together. I began with wrapping my styrofoam wreath with yarn I had on-hand, and boy did that take FOR.EV.ER. It felt so good once I was finished and could finally join in on the fun of making the flowers!

We decided to stick to three main flower designs. This blogger's post does a good job of explaining how to make all three.

I wanted to make sure the "base" of my wreath was neutral enough to cross over all seasons and celebrations, so I followed the color pattern we have throughout our home - grays and neutrals. You might recognize the yarn I chose from my DIY yarn wall hanging post awhile back. It was important to me that the wreath integrated well with the rest of our home decor. 

That being said, I still wanted each wreath to have its own personality, so I created 3 letter "Ls" - one for spring, one for fall, and a neutral one I could use all year long. To attach them, I cut out twelve square pieces of velcro, attached three of one side to the wreath and three of the other side to each of the Ls. Because this was such a fun project, I will probably end up buying more Ls and decorate them for summer and Christmas.

Candace helped me create the charming little banners, which, in my opinion, totally pull everything together. We found the cutest fabric tape on sale and purchased a small pad of sturdy card stock that came with a ton of different colors. As the year goes on, I can't wait to update you with my Halloween, fall, and holiday wreaths!

Make your own all-season wreath!

Supplies you'll need:

1. Styrofoam floral wreath

2. Yarn in colors that match your home decor

3. About 20 pieces of felt in a wide array of colors

4. 3-4 medium density fiberboard letters

5. Card stock in various colors

6. Fabric tape in various colors and patterns

7. Scrabble piece letters

8. Sewing pins to attach the flowers and banners (I used these)

9. Misc: scissors, hot glue gun, twine, lids or jars to measure circles on the felt

Valentine's Day // Stationery You'll Love

I received the happiest of mail the other day from Tessa of Fox & Bear Paper Co! Tessa and I came into contact with one another through a group for creatives and we decided to partner together to feature her absolutely beautiful work on This Dainty Life.

Tessa runs her small business from her home in Eugene, OR (love supporting fellow PNWers!), creating handmade paper products using watercolor and ink. She prints and packages everything by hand as well, so you know her stationery, prints, and custom orders are made with love.

I'm honestly so impressed by the level of quality of this stationery. It's so, so beautiful. Photos don't do it justice! The Valentine's Day cards exceeded my expectations - from their whimsical designs to the high quality cardstock to the simply perfect neutral envelopes.

I'm obsessed with all of them, but anyone who knows me knows I love owls, so that one might just be my favorite. And the "Wood you be mine?" one for sure comes in a close second. But the quote and the cuddly foxes are just the cutest as well. They are all gorgeous!

While I'm creative in other ways, I'm not very talented with a paint brush, so I'm always in awe when I see such beautiful, handmade works of art like these cards. They're the perfect accompaniment to your Valentine's Day gift (but let's be real - the cards alone are gifts!).

You should definitely order your own beautiful stationery from Fox & Bear Paper Co for Valentine's Day! Tessa's deadline to ensure delivery by February 14 is coming up quick: Wednesday, February 8.

Spoil your Valentines: Owls | Foxes | Lumberjack | Keats Quote

Let me know below which card (or two or three) is your favorite and don't forget to give Tessa some love over on Instagram!