Snapshots

I figured it was about time to catch up on my trip home this past August!

I flew into Philly and spent a few days there before my darling sister came to pick me up.

From top to bottom, left to right:
Welcome!
Pancake breakfast at my bestie Kyra’s house!
WAWAAAAAA – if you don’t know the goodness
Thumper! – and the only time you will see a cat picture on this blog
The Phillie Phanatic
The Liberty Bell
Wallpaper from Edgar Allan Poe’s house
PAT’S – King. of. Steaks.
Wiz Witout

Images  ©Amy Tischer

Woodsy Type

Today I am enjoying this woodsy type from Danielle Kroll. How fun and summer camp-y!

Tim Gibbon’s Handcut Doilies

This weekend I came across an article about Tim Gibbon and his Fun-A-Day project.  Tim handcut and wheatpasted doilies around neglected areas in Philly neighborhoods. I think this project is pretty amazing and I’m disappointed I’m not in Philly to scope them out!

image credit: Molto Carina

Color Inspiration {3}

From one of my first trips into downtown Philadelphia.

Lace Fence

I fell in love with the lace fences that Demakersvan produces years ago. Their ingenuity in bringing beauty to such an everyday object is refreshing. Each one is custom made by hand, simply amazing. Imagine my delight when I heard they were going to install one on my college campus! In connection with a campus wide movement titled ‘Lace in Translation’ the fence was put up a few years ago. On leaving Philly, photographing this fence jumped to the top of my ‘before I leave Philly’ bucket list. Simply stunning.

Of course there are many other equally amazing installations they have done throughout the world as well – I want one!

{Etsy} Peg and Awl

I know I’m not in school anymore – but doesn’t this time of year always make you want to buy school supplies? For some reason these chalkboards from Peg and Awl remind me of school and would be perfect for list making. Among their other offerings are a few different styles of spice racks and little flower vases.

Snapshots {Around Town}

I’ve been living really close to the historic Valley Forge Park for the past year or so, but as it seems to go with all things close by I had never explored too much of it. When I knew I would be leaving the Philadelphia area it made my bucket list of things to do before I left. My grandfather is a huge history buff and we had talked about him coming down to visit and touring the park sometime together. When I knew that wouldn’t happen, I really wanted to take the time to explore the park, take some photos, and make him a little photo book so he could experience a bit of it as well. I gave him the photo book this weekend, so I am now free to share some of the images I took! The park is larger than I imagined and I ended up following a driving tour through the park that had several pull off points with significant monuments and facts about the troops being there. All in all a very enjoyable time and educational too!

Packing Up

Not sure when it snuck up on me, but today is my last full day in Philadelphia {pause for a moment of stunned shock}. It’s been a little over a year that I’ve been considering the idea of moving out of the area and through a series of fortunate events, that day has arrived. Today I am packing up all my stuff and tomorrow starting on a journey that will land in ARIZONA. Yeah, crazy.

Before this week, I was caught up in the excitement of it all – I get to spend some time with family, road trip across the country with my sister, land in a new area with new things to explore, new job opportunities, and new life opportunities in general. This week though, as each day is my LAST Monday in Philadelphia, my LAST Tuesday, etc. I find myself turning a bit sad. I’m not even sure if that’s the right word for what I’m feeling but whatever it is, I know it’s not a bad thing, but a normal feeling for ending my time in a place that I have lived so many stages of my life in and saying ‘see you later’ to the wonderful people that will stay.

To all I love and leave in Philadelphia, it’s been great, I’ll miss you – but at the same time, knowing the amazing times I had here makes me excited for the future and the new adventures, people, and experiences to come.

{Snapshots} Instagram

I’ve mentioned before my fun new iPhone and along with that comes all the fun apps I can use, including Instagram.  It a fun way to snap pictures, apply a fun ‘filter’ to it, and post it up to share with others.  I figured I would share some here to so you can see what I’ve been up to lately as well.

1. Some pretty flowers in Valley Forge Park
2. A sign for the Maryland Governor’s House I spotted on my way to a 4th of July parade
3. My plants keep multiplying!
4. An embroidery project finished up, maybe eventually I’ll get around to restocking my etsy
5. My backyard had some wild strawberries!
6. Maryland crabs!!! Thanks MD family :)
7. A shot from some Valley Forge Park wandering
8. Showing off my cookie making skills
9. This one was awhile ago, back when my backyard tree was blooming
10. My mint plants!

Daily Drop Cap

I don’t think I originally posted about this project when it first started since it was on every single blog it seemed – but I was reminded about Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Cap project and spent some of last night browsing through the beautiful drop caps she’s designed – she tries to design one per work day.  What’s a drop cap you ask?

t’s a fancy letter that is placed at the beginning of a paragraph, usually seen at the beginning of chapters in novels.  The capital letter ‘drops’ down 2 or 3 lines below the initial sentence of the paragraph.  And now the rest is just filler text to make a ‘full paragraph’ so you can see the drop cap cutting into the text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper.

Want to learn more about Jessica Hische?
View an interview about the show Jessica recently had in Philadelphia via Roger Allen and an interview from Design*Sponge font day about Jessica’s work in the lettering field.

Don’t Eat the Paintings

Recently, I’ve found myself being a bit more creative in the kitchen.  It started with attempting mint tea {I found mint growing in the backyard} and then this weekend I decided to tackle chicken parm – making my own breadcrumbs and everything!  These paintings fit right it with my cooking explorations.  Hayley from We Made it Home has combined her love of food and art into this creative endeavor she has entitled Don’t Eat the Paintings.  Make sure to pop over there and see several of her other paintings as well.

Etsy Find Friday – Girls Can Tell

Beautiful hand drawn illustrations from Girls Can Tell, each individually printed onto a floursack towel.  Lovely.

{and she’s from Philly!}