the latest batch of photos from our fans on facebook!
bringing toys & joy in portland…
the free people portland store is participating in a toy drive and posted this cute pic on their facebook page :)
natural beauty
i’ve probably mentioned this before but our graphic designers are awesome…i love this artwork!
and since we’re in the holiday spirit, i’ve made it available on our flickr page for you to download! you can use it on your desktop, as a card, or whatever else you may want to do…just click on the image!
love heals
of all of the jewelry designers we have featured, this one is my personal favorite…
the name love heals immediately brings to mind the notions of compassion, spirituality and family, which are the core elements behind this jewelry collection created by adriana goddard. the line is run in collaboration with her son gunnar and daughter elisa. adriana spent the earlier part of her life traveling around europe and supporting herself by selling jewelry at markets. more recently, she has studied healing and spiritual arts, the influence of which is very apparent not only in the name of the jewelry collection, but in the pieces themselves.
each symbol and charm holds an individual meaning, and the jewelry also represents greater social and environmental causes, such as tree planting, child slavery and child blindness organizations. for each piece of jewelry purchased from love heals, 10 trees are planted, a donation is made to abolishslavery.org (to fund the equivalent of one month of a child’s freedom), and a donation is made to keep a child from blindness for one year with vitamin angels, who provide critical nutrients to children on the verge of going blind in inner cities around the world. in just one year since starting the program, 250,000 trees have been planted in the u.s. and africa. in addition, all of the love heals jewelry is made by hand inside a 30-foot geodesic dome on the family’s organic farm in ojai, california. the results are very earthy, bohemian pieces with a feminine touch, and the greater meaning behind them makes them all the more irresistible.
check out our selection of necklaces by love heals here.
we own the sky
monday quote
“a bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
– maya angelou
image: prismatic-effect
how-to: paperwhite potting
on friday another free people girl and i attended a ‘how-to’ session on potting paperwhites…it was really easy and they’re so pretty – it will be a great addition to brighten up my desk at work. they’re also a great decoration for your home. here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it yourself.
first pick out a pot or container to plant your bulb in – you can use pretty much any type of container, just make sure to allow about two inches underneath the bulb for the roots to grow. i used a pretty little glass one.
paperwhites can be planted in soil, water, stones, gravel or decorative materials like glass beads. i filled my container most of the way with stones and then a layer of cute little pinecones.
place the bulb on top, pointed side up. i surrounded it with some moss to add some color.
you can plant several in one pot, and they can be placed closely together. here are some other creations being made:
fill with water, but don’t submerge the bulbs, just have them sit on top of it. make sure to water the plant enough to maintain the water level.
store your paperwhite in a warm room (60-65 degrees) and if possible, set it by a south-facing window for best development of the leaves, stalk and buds. once the flowers bloom, move it to a cooler place with less light to prolong its life.
next…sit back and let it grow!
william eggleston
william eggleston is a memphis-born photographer who is credited by many for establishing color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. the majority of his photographs were taken during the 70s…i’m really drawn to the color and composition.
“this is beginning to be my new favorite kind of light. it brings out a spectrum that appeals to me, warmer colors that i don’t always notice at other times. it’s like when a thunderstorm moves through and the light changes swiftly from cold to warm.” -william eggleston
check out more of his work here.
happy hanukkah
office style: the roaring twenties!
party time, excellent!
good morning! i have lots of fun photos for you today from last nights 1920s themed holiday party here at the navy yard…it was a blast, and building 543 looked beautiful. here are some photos i got while they were setting up, followed by some taken at the party.
stay tuned for a 1920s office style post!
music really can change the world.
when edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, who i’ve posted about a couple of times, released their album up from below this year, they held a release party to raise money to help the gulu widows group of uganda so that they could start a farm to sustain their community. this group of incredible women have been widowed, abducted and abused as a result of the continuing warfare in northern uganda, southern sudan and eastern congo.
to thank the band, the women sang part of their song “home” after the first harvest on the farm…watch:
“home” in gulu from Voice Project on Vimeo.
the song is particularly meaningful, as most of these women have lost husbands and children who had to fight in the war.
i posted the band’s version not too long ago, here.
Read more about the voice project, which supports these amazing women in their efforts to reunite families in northern Uganda and live in peace, here.
pass it on.