I am feeling a little guilty because I wanted to get a Studio to Studio project announced this last week, but I had a last minute opportunity to go to Portland OR for a couple of days just to shop and hang out with my friend Denise….so that won out and I am so glad I did. We had so many great chats, spent dinner with our boys in college and shopped like crazy!
This small town girl loved soaking up all the inspiration of the big city. Our first stop was Anthropologie…. they always have the most amazing displays from cute sweater bunnies peeking at us from the window to cascades of circle garland flowing from the ceiling. It was great fun to be trying on armfuls of clothes there. Even if the $165 jeans were a little out of my price range it was fun to fit into them after having lost 80lbs this last year! This jacket was amazing…and the lining was adorable. Wish it had come home with me.
We stopped at Obalation Papers & Press in the Pearl District. Lots of eye candy for any paper & ribbon lovers. The best part was all the scrap letterpress pieces that we got for only $.20 each. I am sure they will add the perfect touch to a project or 2. See that bird book tied with jute in the photo…that was amazing. It is covered in fabric and they had all sorts of beautiful floral & bird prints. I think it may be fun to do my own version of this…
We made a stop at Lovejoy Bakery to get out of the rain and get a little something warm in our tummy’s. What amazing food. A place I would be thrilled to visit again for their specialty dinner menus. I had one of the best hot chocolates with a little heart swirled in it and a marscipon and & fig sandwich. The bread was so light and fluffy and perfectly toasted. I loved the clean crisp yellow and white logo and the chalkboard walls. If in Portland make sure to stop!
Next door to the bakery was a store called Perch Furniture….my love of birds had me intrigued right away with their sign. 2 little birds sitting on a wire. So we stepped in to see what kind of things they had. The most amazing Amy Butler rugs were on the concrete floors with incredibly expensive looking couches and chairs atop them. I thought for sure their furniture would be thousands of dollars and out of my price range. But I was pleasantly surprised, each piece is custom made to your exact dimensions, they offer a huge selection of scrumptious fabrics and so many styles & cushion options, it really was inspiring to see how much you could customize each item. I thought the prices were reasonable and would be a good investment to get just what you wanted for such a substantial piece of furniture.
We stopped a few more places, got some new clothes and some art journals to play in….I am still feeling a little bit guilty I didn’t work on getting the new Studio to Studio project and class announced last week, but I did enjoy my little jaunt to the city and came back refreshed and inspired and felt Free as a Bird….and here is a sneak peek at the Set Yourself Free project which is exactly what I did this last week!
Save the date to attend the in studio workshop on Saturday February 5th at 10 am. Studio workshop projects are a special experience and give you so much more than a finished project. Each workshop teaches you ways to grow your creativity and I help you find ways to make the project uniquely you. More info coming this week…no more jaunts to city on the schedule 
