my favorite artist of the month: Yto Barrada

all photographs are taken in Tangier, Morocco

picture titles (top to bottom)

"girl in red" 

"tunnel"

"babysitter"

www.ytobarrada.com

i love packages from my sister. the whole experience is a joy. the brown paper wrapping, the ribbon made of buttons, the fabric ties, the tissue paper... and then the gifts, oh wow! small and delightful like these little hair clips she made.

artist: eva christensen

"despues"

"pogo"

I received the top card from my friends sara and michael for christmas. made my day. thought it was just gorgeous so I looked up the artist. She even makes these sweet little animals.

essimar.etsy.com

vincent van gogh drawings. 

van gogh museum in amsterdam

i love yarn.

larimeloom.etsy.com

a lovely book to waste away a few hours with.

I'm such a sucker for origami anything.

I found these ornaments on a beautiful blog: bloesem.blogs.com

You can find a tutorial to make your own here: http://domesticali.typepad.com/domesticali/2008/11/origami-wreath-tutorial.html

my favorite christmas cookies ever. so easy and addictive (i'm serious, watch out!)

2 c flour

1 c butter

1 c cream cheese

combine in to a ball, cover with wax paper,and chill overnight or as long as you can possibly wait :) then give a blob of dough to each person on a heavily floured surface and roll away. Not too thin. Cut with cookie cutters.. put them on a baking sheet and then sprinkle with TONS of sugar, the more the better (make sure to press the candy in to the cookie dough to make it stick)! The best candy is colored sugar, red hots, and the multi-colored sprinkles. Bake for 10-15 min or so at 375 degrees. They're awesome for kids because all the sugar gets to go on top!

camper.com

a shoe/boot company. they have one of the most playful interactive websites I've ever seen. every few months I pop on to see the new "word" they've created for you to enjoy

heidi de gier (an amazing dutch photographer that nieke told me about. she's done a # of different facinating projects... check out her website)

www.heididegier.nl

marleenillustraties.nl

(rachel b. discovered this lovely dutch collage/postcard artist... her website is a dream!)