I’m interrupting this weeks 4th of July theme to participate in the Pin It Forward series today. Pinterest and Victoria of SFGirlByBay have gathered various bloggers to share their Pinterest ”pinboards” on “What Home Means to Me”. Pinterest is a new, free online image bookmarking site where images can be viewed and shared by others.

Above are just a few of the images I’ve collected of homes that inspire me and if you’d like to see the rest of my pinboards than click here! Tomorrow I’ll be passing the Pin It Forward torch to Lissa Rowe of Spruce Décor so be sure to stop by and see what home means to her!

Hi gang! Remember those super cool Lost Posters by Ty Mattson that I posted about a few months back? Well lucky for us, the folks over at ABC teamed up with him and are now selling them online at the abc.com store. Right now the smoke monster poster is available and the others are soon to follow. Ty was also fortunate enough to meet up with most of the Lost cast at LOST LIVE: The Final Celebration, here’s a pic of him getting his business card from Daniel Faraday!

Some other exciting news, the lovely ladies at The Bright Side project are in the middle of their month long series of featuring some of their favorite bloggers. I was asked to submit 10 of my favorite things and you can now enter to win a few of them for yourself! One lucky winner will receive a set of 20 personalized letterpress recipe cards from Petite Press, Two prints from artist Alyssa Nassner and a ‘Hello’ wood sign by artist William Dohman!

Is it wrong that I want to enter my own name?! Seriously, the prizes this month have been amazing and the series has been so much fun to follow. I’ve read about so many of my favorites and discovered more blogs to watch! Be sure to stop on over for a chance to win some of the fabulous prizes and say hello to the lovely ladies of The Bright Side Project.

I recently discovered Tartelette, a food and photo styling blog by Helen, and noticed that she used this plastic cutlery in several of her shots. Designed to look like classic flatware, these polycarbonate utensils would be perfect for outdoor dining or a casual party. Not only are they beautiful, they also happen to be re-useable and dishwasher safe. Immediately smitten, I was bent on locating their source. I found some at Amazon.com and just placed an order for my own set. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to get them!

Cutlery Image via Kate’s Paperie | Food Images via Tartlette

Hello, hello! My goodness it feels like I’ve been gone for ages! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and festive New Year celebration. I managed to squeeze in some rest and relaxation with both sides of our families and it was a great long break. In honor of the new year and fresh beginnings I wanted to start things off with a giveaway!

In the midst of all the holiday cheer Twig & Thistle had it’s 1st birthday! I had the best intentions to do some grand event but the day slipped by without much notice. So, I’ve decided to celebrate the blogversary this first week back. I went to one of my favorite paper stores here in Seattle and bought a few things that I would love to own myself and am giving away this little gift to one lucky winner. The set includes a beautiful fabric covered notebook from Elum, a set of 6 letterpress thank you note cards by Hello Lucky and twenty-five polka dot fabric thumbtacks from Girl of All Work.

In order to win, please answer the following question by Friday, January 8th, 2010. **Contest is now closed**

What one thing would you like to accomplish this year?

*The winner will be announced Monday, January 11th, 2010. Best of luck!

I can’t thank you all enough for your generous support and readership over the last year. This has been an incredible learning experience and adventure for me. There is something so special about sharing my love of design, weddings and crafts with an audience that is as equally as interested. Thank you all so much and here’s to another exciting year!

xoxo, Kathleen

Have I ever shared my obsession with Martha Stewart with all you before? Surly I must have. For those that know me, they know that I have every issue of every publication Martha Stewart has published since 1997 and my nick name in college was “Martha”. I fall short of being creepy (I hope) but it probably goes without saying that I completly and utterly adore the Martha Stewart brand. Thus, there is no possible way I could leave out some of my favorite MS felt crafts in this Five Days of Felt round-up. Enjoy!

From the top:
1.Possibly the sweetest Felt Slippers ever!
2.Quiet Book for the little ones in your life.
3.Snowflake-inspired Felt Coasters to protect those tables.
4.Inexpensive and easy Scalloped Tree Skirt.
5.Cheery Holly Corsage for a little added joyfulness.
6.Whimsical Tree Stump Trivet for hot pots!

I’ve been feeling a bit gloomy the last few days, not exactly sure why, but I needed something to pull me out of my funk. To brighten my spirits I decided to do a collage of all the pretty things I’ve seen around the web over the past days. This did just the trick, I feel refreshed and a whole lot more cheerful! The fact that it’s Friday is an added plus! Have a fantastic weekend and lot’s of love to all of you. xoxo

From left to right, top down: Tissue Poms via Martha Stewart, Loveology via ffffound, Sunshine Illustration via Illustration Friday, Shoes via ffffound, Prety dress via Flickr, Poster via ffffound, Scarlet Fig fabrics via Decor8, Letterpress Fortune Teller via Design Sponge

I was doing a photo search at work yesterday and came across this fantastic invitation to Anthropologie’s Press Preview Invitation. I consider this a lucky find and it’s days like these that remind me of what a fantastic job I have. How many professions require you to browse photography and work of your peers for hours looking for inspiration and examples?!

But I digress, this invitation had me at Anthropologie! I am a huge fan, as I’m sure most of you are, and it’s the simplicity and uniqueness that makes them stand out again and again. This Invite by Dan Gneiding is no exception. I adore the clothing reference while still maintaing a formal invitation quality. Be sure to visit Dan’s site, Gray Hood, for more of his great design work.

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! The sun finally came out here in Seattle yesterday and it made for such a perfect weekend day! I have to say that the sun really made me look forward to summer which of course made me think of long weekend trips and vacations. Sadly I don’t think my hubby and I will be taking any trips this summer but a girl can always dream… Which brings me to today’s post; these stitching postcards from Uncommon Goods.

The lovely Halli of Good Wifey sent me a link to these stitching postcards last week. This would be a great personal keepsake to remember the route of a favorite trip or share your adventures with friends. Love the simplicity of this idea and it’s affordable too! Thanks Halli!

I’m taking a break from Lost in ffffound this week to share a few more items I found like the glass water bottles from earlier this week. These are some of my favorites: ceramic milk carton and paper bag vases, porcelain plastic cups, french fry bags, hot dog wrappers and lastly ceramic paper cups! They have such lovely design and an irreverence that’s just too hard to resist!

I’ve seen images of similar bottles online and was completley smitten. I love it when someone can appropriate the language of something unappealing and wasteful and turn it into an object of beauty. With all the effort to be more socially responsible and care for the environment they seem like a cheeky way of doing your part.

You can imagine my glee when I came across these small ones at Crate & Barrel for only $7.95! My husband and I now have them on our desks at work and a set in our guest room. Love!