August Obsessions.

August is probably my least favorite month of the year. While most cities are getting their last few weeks of summer before they head into fall, we are still in record heat and humidity with at least 3 months of it ahead of us. People that say they prefer the heat over the cold have never walked from their front door to their car and sweat thru their blouse. Trust me, it's not as cute as being all bundled up in a jacket and scarf.

Anyway, I have a few things to share so that you can obsess with me.

{photo via IKEA}

{photo via Jayson Home & Garden}

African inspired textiles. Apartment Therapy pretty much read my mind when they posted this trend watch on Kuba-style textiles. While it's nothing new, African inspired textiles seem to be popping everywhere right now and I can't get enough. I love the graphic simplicity of the designs. Totally on my wish list for my home.

{photo via Paper Source}

Hero Arts Doily Stamp. I've been eyeing this for quite some time now and it was well worth the wait. Paper Source finally wisened up and built a store here, so my friends and I went to pay our dues last night. I decided I had to have this stamp to commemorate the occasion. Once I picked it up, I swear every woman in the store told me what an awesome stamp it was. I can't wait to use it. On everything.

{photo via Window Farms}

Window Farms. I saw this on Good Morning America and I was amazed. You can basically convert your window into a garden! I LOVE this idea! You don't need soil and it uses recycled water bottles. Amazing. To read more about it, here's the GMA segment on it. It provides more links to get info on kits and official how-to's.

{photo via cnet}

Photoshop Elements. I know I am a little late in the game here, but PSE has always imtimidated me. If I ever needed anything done, my dear, sweet, kind sister would do it for me. I finally decided to just download the free trial and see what it was all about and now I am addicted. My first project was a watermark for my photos (in case you haven't noticed) and I think it was about the most fun I've had since art class in the 6th grade.

Amy Butler's new fashion and travel bags. They are gorgeous!!! Seriously, I want to take a trip just so I could check everybody out that is checking me out for my gorgeous bag. I would post lots of glorious pics but I am afraid I will get arrested for copyright infringement and I just couldn't live with myself if I upset Amy. We will be BFFs one day, you know.

In other news, I've finally gotten up the nerve to post some of my cards on Two Peas in a Bucket. I don't know why, but I've always been very shy about sharing the stuff I work on. Even though it's just paper to some people, it's still very personal to me (hence the reason I never really tell anyone I have a blog). But, a conversation with my Seester helped me realize how fun it is to share your projects with people that 'get it'. That appreciate what you do and understand why you do it. Two Peas is a world of people that get why letterpress makes me misty eyed and why office supplies can turn my frown upside-down. So far it's been really fun. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I thought people would start mocking me or telling me what I should or shouldn't do (because I know how snarky people can be when they are able to hide anonymously in the shadows of the internet). But, it's been really fun, and, actually, sort of invigorating. I feel like I got my mojo back. :)

That's all for today. Blogger has not been my friend the last couple of days, so I decided I'll ignore him for a while to see if he'll fix his attitude or blame his friend, My Computer. I am working on a couple of things of fun things that I hopefully can finish up by next week. I will share it all soon!