enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • my favorite family portrait gets framed.

    IMG_6589

    I am in the market for some big art to cover the walls of our new place. It's mostly going to be a mix of DIY (like this) and some prints I bought recently from 20×200. However, I want to toss a few photos on the walls too. I joked awhile back about hanging this photo above our mantle. That might be where it ends up.

    IMG_6600

    I think this is one of those images where the bigger, the better. I uploaded the black and white image to officedepot.com and printed it at 24×36. I paid online and then picked up in store in about an hour. It was printed on regular copy paper, but it was THREE DOLLARS. Three bucks for big art. I framed it with an Ikea frame & mat and ta-da : an awesome family photo in a super big size.

    I love it.

  • what i wore / a week of working out of the house.

    Kolowhatiwore

    The trouble with working from home is that I never seem to pull outfits together. Jeans and an American Apparel v-neck might as well be my uniform. I didn't think that would fly at Kolo last week, so I had fun packing and planning outfits for my visit. I didn't intend on following a color scheme, but that's sort of what ended up happening – lots of navy blue & army green.

    This was my brief encounter with actual weather (we even had snow on Thursday – though I know the east coast has been dumped on since then!) and it was fun to play with layers. I posted these images on Instagram last week and wanted to share them here as well because I love "what I wore" posts.

    Here are the daily outfit details, in case you're curious (Clearly, I re-wore a lot of the same stuff) :

    M : target dress & tights, madewell boots, gap scarf
    T : target dress & tights, j.crew & long-sleeve tee, madewell boots, gap scarf
    W : j.crew jeans, ann taylor loft top, gap blazer, bloch flats
    T : madewell dress & boots, martin&osa sweater, target tights, gap scarf
    F : j.crew jeans, madewell top & boots, gap blazer, lululemon scarf

  • elise starts planning.

    Firstfloor

    Welcome to Operation Decorate a New Place.

    As I mentioned earlier, I have not yet been inside the unit we are going to be renting. But I pieced the (not at all to scale) floor plan together from photos and videos of the space. It's a two story loft and the first floor is mostly a big open room. Which is awesome, but presents a bit of a problem when figuring out how to arrange furniture.

    There are a lot of windows and a lot of mirrors so the normal solution – sticking the TV up against the wall and the couch against the other wall doesn't work. My plan is to break up the space just like in the drawing above (except, not with those colors) with a two sided bookshelf.

    6a00d8341c71c353ef00e55070b5e58833-800wiThe best part of this layout is that a two sided bookshelf has been my dream since May of 2006 (seriously, this is why I blog). My original plan was to just get a 5×5 Ikea Expedit shelf like in the photo and then stick a small table with the TV on it in front of the shelf to face the couch. But yesterday, while walking through Ikea, I found this Expedit version that is built to work as a media center and thought that would work… until I emailed Paul and he reminded me that our TV is too big for TV spot in the media center.

    So I am back to the orginal plan and on a mission to find a low, thin table that can hold our TV and sit in front of the shelf. We will still fill the sides and top shelves with books (with spines facing both sides), vases & other odds and ends until it becomes a perfect room divider.

    If you look back up at my "sketch" you'll see the space has two built-in couches by the fireplace. I think the divider will help turn that area into more of a sitting room/reading nook/drinking wine/cozy space. The current couches have an older floral patterned fabric and I am going to cover them in something bright and fun and hang art above each side.

    Here's to executing decor dreams five and a half years later. I am so very excited.

    p.s. I know I gave up Ikea last spring. But the Expedit bookcases are real gems. 🙂

  • november : currently.

    Currently

    welcoming November with open arms.

    striving to find a balance between the boredom that was September and the chaos that was October. I know there must be a happy medium out there.

    hoping we get enough sign ups to run the minibook workshop. More information can be found here.

    dreaming about decorating our new apartment. I hope you'll excuse a bunch of decor related posts these next few months.

    nearing the halfway point of Paul's deployment.

    getting through it the only way I know how : my way.

    working hard to make and ship out holiday books. (p.s. covers are now available for those who asked.)

    celebrating a new milestone : 3000 items sold through etsy. Last year I had a party when I hit 2000, and I am skipping that this year because I have something bigger in the works for early December.

    settling back into a good food + exercise routine and realizing once again just how much I crave it.

    appreciating the simple joy that is red wine & a book.

    re-reading The Hunger Games.

    starting to think about holiday gifts for the family. (Pretty sure everyone's getting Kindle Fires.)

    burning CDs to drop in Paul's care packages. We are apparently old school.

    sending thanks for the time I got to spend with my family last weekend. I talked more to my brother in the last three days than in the last three years. It was good.

    feeling optimistic and inspired.

    (photos taken over the weekend / landing in chicago & driving through iowa / loving the contrast & how they magically lined up.)

  • perfect for a magic monday.

    Magicquote

  • magic monday.

    Magicmondaystart

    I spent last week in Hartford, Connecticut, making magic with Kolo. I wish I talk more about what we worked on, but it’s all top secret for awhile. I do not have any photos to share, but I do have some thoughts :

    I see great value in working with other companies. It’s fascinating to jump in as a consultant and observe a brand that is so much bigger than my own. In some ways, it’s like my business class case studies have come to life, only I get to interact and actually give input that makes a difference. It’s fun stepping into a more professional world and I am looking forward to seeing what we worked on come to life.

    I don’t know that I have ever mentioned this here, but I have no plans to ever grow my own business on a large scale. I definitely want to make more products and experiment with new ideas. I want to work on different projects and I would love to gain more exposure.  But I do not want to sell wholesale. I do not want to hire oodles of employees. I do not want investors. The key thing, I recently realized, is that I want to be able to change course in just one day and have that be completely okay.

    My business plan for this small brand is to continue loving work and making stuff. This blog and the shop that sprung from it, started very organically and I would love for it to continue that way. I am never going to get rich – at least not financially – but ideally I will always be able to contribute to my household. I am grateful for the opportunity to step out of my own office and my own work last week. I enjoyed turning my attention to something else, not just for the experience, but also for the fact that when I return to my life, to my desk, to my coffee mug and my business to do list, I am seeing it all with fresh eyes.

    The opportunity that is waiting in this Monday, more than any I have had in a long while, holds more than a hint of magic.

    Inothernews

    And also, I want to thank you so much for your sweet words, thoughts and prayers last week. My dad, brother and I were able to fly to Iowa and meet my mom and extended family for the funeral on Saturday. It was very well attended, including twelve great-grandchildren. She was buried on a beautiful hill between both of her husbands. She is finally peacefully at rest.

  • holiday books are here!

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    It's been a crazy, crazy week, but it was important to me to get the holiday minibooks listed. Watch the trailer & grab a book! I have two versions of the cover available. I'll be working with the one above, but I also created a style that matches the summer and autumn books.

    holiday books! from elise blaha on vimeo.

    Both versions can be purchased right here. And thank you so much! I have no plans on rushing through November, but the holidays are coming and I'm excited.

  • peace.

    IMG_1532

    My Grandma Bev passed away last night.

    She lived a full, but sometimes difficult life. Before her mid-thirties, she had lost two husbands and then she raised five children on her own for the next almost 50 years. I am comforted that it was with all of these children that she finally let go. I am comforted that surely her past husbands and so many other loved ones were waiting, excited to welcome her into heaven. I am comforted that she has found peace.

    Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.

  • some good news.

    We found a place to live in the Ventura area!

    Actually, a place found us. One of the sweet girls from my sorority reads the blog, saw that we were moving north and emailed about a unit that her family has available for rent. This is exactly why I love the Internet. And friends who reach out.

    We (well, me, because Paul will still be deployed) will be moving up to a (huge!) townhouse at the beginning of December. It's two bedrooms + a loft area which I'll use as an office. Plus, and this is the best part, it has a two car garage! We are going to have a garage! Which really means we'll have space for making stuff! The second best part: no carpet! The third best part: I am allowed to paint it!

    I'm taking it based only on photos and the best feeling ever. With everything else, I don't have time to get up there and make a decision before telling our current landlord we're moving out. (And this is a rental, it's not like we're moving in for the rest of our lives.) But I am so excited. This fell in my lap at just the right time; I was absolutely dreading the idea of house hunting by myself. I am going to have a few months to turn it into our home before Paul gets back. And then next spring we'll be BBQing because we'll have our own patio. And he'll be home from work for dinner because he'll finally be working 8-5 Monday through Friday.

    That sounds too good to be true.

    Can't wait to share before & after photos and get to work decorating.

  • maps on my mind.

    Maps

    Super inspired by these two pins. (Original sources : framed / hearts.) Not sure if it's because Paul and I are separated on a map or because shortly we'll be moving to a new city (Ventura, CA in early December!). Either way, I know I am going to need some DIY map decorations for our new place.

    I would love to do a combination of both the images above and do a row of framed map hearts of places that mean a something to us. Right now, that would be Bethesda, Maryland (where we first lived together), Downtown Sacramento (where we're from and where we were married), Bora Bora (where we honeymooned) and Little Italy, San Diego (where we live now).

    We're looking at about eight moves in the next fifteen years (remember, he's Navy), so this is certainly a project that could grow.

    And related : I love this project idea. Paul and I are planning a road trip down the CA coast for when he gets back. It would be rad to stitch our course and frame it.