{Weekend Plans}

TGIF Peeps!!!

{Pullin' From the Archives - Necklace DIY}

For those of you that are new to Flourish {and even for all my loyal readers from day 1} I thought I would go back into my archives and post one of my favorite DIY projects again. {...sigh - ok, you're right, I was too lazy to create a new blog post today because I was out cruzin' in my new car last night...priorities, I know! You would have done the same thing, right? For those that I haven't seen it yet via my Twitter or Facebook, I'll post a pic tomorrow}. LOL -  really, this is one of my favorite DIYs and every time I wear the necklace, I always get asked if I created it. My answer - "well sort of - I re-created it"...

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DIY projects are great because there is no other way to show ingenuity and inspiration than doing a project on your own. There's something about making one-of-a-kind pieces that are not available to the masses. Today's project is a necklace that I purchased in LA at Madewell 1937, which is the casual sister company to J.Crew.

At first glance I immediately loved the various silver and gunmetal chains, and of course the crystal clusters, but I didn't care for the green neon beads dispersed around the necklace. But because the necklace was on sale, and I really liked it, I decided to buy and reconstruct it.

I started with taking apart the entire necklace by cutting the wire and removing the neon green beads (as shown below)

Once I had the necklace completely taken apart, I took some time to figure out how I wanted it to look. While at Madewell 1937 I saw another necklace (much more expensive, btw) that had the crystals clustered together on one side and strings of chain on the other. So to create the-look-for-less, I started to wire all of the pieces back together...

...and here's the final piece!!!

So...what do you think, again? :-)

{Etsy Love}

No rhyme, no reason, just really love these Etsy items...

1. Mustard Clutch - I so love this and have blogged about this bag before...{clearing throat, my birthday is coming up in October}

2. Stacked Antique Gold Necklace - I bought this necklace for my sister several months ago, and I am thinking I should have kept it for myself! Maybe when I visit her in LA I can steal it {as she loves to "borrow" my stuff - lol - sorry T, you do!}...or I may just buy one of my own!

3. Gold Dotted Notebook by Bailey Doesn't Bark - I received these cups last year for Christmas and I more than adore them. The notebook above is so lovely and for only $17 it's a must have. Love love love...

4. Mustard Organic Cotton Fabric - I really like this simple and modern pattern and would love to make a couple of pillows out of it.

5. Rustic Handmade Stacked Ring - so elegant, so simple, an I love the mother of pearl stone in the center.

6. Vintage Fedora Hat - you know me and hats...nuff' said!

Great finds eh?

{Travel Journals}

I promise Flourish isn't going to turn into a blog about my trip to Italy next month, but I'm just so freakin excited - I can't help but to plan and talk about it. While I'm away for 10 days, I will not be able to blog, however, I plan to have several guest bloggers entertain you while I'm away. Because I do want to share every detail of my trip with you once I return {I mean you deserve at least that after having to listen to me about it for the last several months}, I'm on the prowl for the perfect travel journal so that I can write a daily entry of all my experiences as I travel through the various Italian cities. In addition to something that's durable, has lots of pages, and has a convenient space for my pencil/pen, I would like something that has space to hold all my little findings (receipts, menus, matches, etc.). I've done a little research and am thinking of choosing one of the options below. What do you think?

1. O-CHECK TRAVEL JOURNAL - "JOUR": Available in grey or brown, the diary features a durable soft cover, tabbed stickers, various planners, ruled and plain note taking pages and an inner rear storage pocket.

2. Baggage Check Travel Journal. This is journal was originally on the Fred Flare site, but it's no longer available. {booo...} If someone can find this for me, I promise I will bring you back a gift from Italy!

3. Travel Collage Journal from Paper-Source. I really like the organization in this one, and the secure place for my pencil. Not wild about notebook portion as I'm not sure if the pages are really secure.

Hmmmm....decisions, decisions.

{Lovin Anthro)

This weekend {in between shopping for a new car - still in negotiations} I got to do a little fun pre-Italy shopping with the girls. I had every intention of buying some comfy shoes, and great messenger bag, and a few outfits...but of course I found several things I wanted {and felt I needed} but just not for Italy, sigh...

Now a shopping trip with the girls without going to Anthropologie wouldn't be complete ~ the moment we passed by the store front we immediately started our oooo and ahhhh chants. After about 45 minutes of drooling over...well - everything, I did good and only bought this amazing blush colored infinity scarf, and some $4.00 Japanese tape - score!!

While we're talking about Anthropologie I thought I'd share a few of my current handbag and shoe crushes:

{My fave fave - top left...you know me and sparkle. The bottom right cognac purse is also fab}

{Ummm...I'll take one of each in a size 9... please and thank you!}

Don't you just love Anthro???