Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m glad you’ve joined this party.
This week on the blog, I shared the leaf trinket dish I made out of oven-bake clay. It has a heart detail that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or any time you want to spread some love.
I also launched a new series chronicling the makeover of our Basement Workshop. We’re starting where most of our projects lately start – with fixing up the stone walls. How long will this series be? I wish I knew.
Thank you for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here. I hope you have fun, learn something new today, and leave feeling inspired.
It truly makes my day to connect with you. I work alone. It’s fun to talk to people. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook.
Here’s the Happy List!
DINING IN
I occasionally think about building a banquette around our dining room table. The dining room in this 1906 Tudor has a legit banquette. Look at the curve on the base trim.
See more photos of this warm and richly decorated home at Desire to Inspire.
(image: Laure Joliet, design: Reath Design, via: Desire to Inspire)
PERSPECTIVE
(image: Our World In Data)
DIY ANNIVERSARY LOCK
Loved this idea from Lovely Indeed to make an anniversary lock with the initials of you and your partner. You do need a metal stamping kit.
Get the directions here.
(image: Lovely Indeed)
DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOW SCULPTURE?
The International Snow Sculpture Championships just took place. Teams spent 94 straight hours carving 12-foot-tall, 25-ton blocks of snow into intricate sculptures. No power tools or internal support structures were allowed.
You have to check out this YouTube video showing the teams in action. It is fascinating.
The winner of this year’s championship was Team South Korea. You can see pictures of the other entrants at Nice News. The entries from Italy, Mongolia, and Ukraine were among my top picks.
(image: Breckenridge Tourism via Nice News)
PUMP IT UP
We carry a portable tire inflator in our car, similar to this one, and it gives us a little extra peace of mind during bad weather or while on road trips. This one is rechargeable and cordless, so we can use it on our bike and wheelbarrow tires, too. Other ones plug into a cigarette lighter, so choose one that works best for your situation.
Ours isn’t sold any longer, but it looks very similar to this one has 25,000 reviews. Tuck this idea away for Mother’s or Father’s Day, kids going to college, etc.
(image: Amazon)
DID YOU KNOW
Did you know coyotes can swim? A coyote in San Francisco successfully made the 1.5-mile swim to Alcatraz. That’s the famous and now closed prison.
You can read all about it at The San Francisco Standard.
(image: Aidan Moore via The San Francisco Standard)
COOKIE CUTTER SUB-REDDIT
If you want to kill some time and maybe help a person out, there is a cookie-cutter subreddit that helps people identify cookie cutters.
The wrong answers, sometimes cleverly drawn in, are the funniest.
(image: via Reddit)
SWEDISH CARDAMOM ROLLS
I’ve been to Sweden. Heck, I’m a quarter Swedish. I’ve never had Swedish Cardamom Rolls. Seems like it’s time to rectify that oversight.
I think this recipe by Gimme Some Oven is easier than it looks.
(image: Gimme Some Oven)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“The fact that there are so many men still alive in the world shows that it is based not on the force of arms but on the force of truth or love. Little quarrels of millions of families in their daily lives disappear before the exercise of this force. Hundreds of nations live in peace. History does not and cannot take note of this fact. History is really a record of the interruption of the even working of the force of love or the soul.” – Mahatma Gandhi (via)
Thank you for reading this week’s Happy List.
Be good to yourself and others this weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
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