anthropologie

Our retail therapy session ended at the Anthropologie at the Atrium Mall.

The thing I love most about Anthropologie is their displays. They are usually pretty creative and unusual because of the materials that they use. I'll have to go dig up some photos I took during the holiday season because they used plastic bags, utensils, and cups to create a gorgeous display. This time the reused, spray-painted, and reformed plastic items caught my eye.

It totally made me think, "Wow. This would be a really fun job to have, creating these things."

And of course, their usual way of clumping things together based on like colors always catches my eye. Like these tall stacks of green bowls. I love how the different shades of green are mixed together. And that they're green.

I loved this display of kitchen towels that they had on a wall because there are so many great color combinations to work with. Plus the images - like the two little birds facing each other and the silverware in different colors and patterns - would be neat on a greeting card or two.

To see more pictures from that shopping excursion, click here. And now I have to go find those photos that I took a couple of months ago.

portobello road

Ahhh, Portobello Road.

My friend and I had never heard of this store, but after walking through the doors we knew we would love this place. Plus after the fact that one of the employees was sitting at a table making beautiful tissue paper flowers - and that she took a minute to tell us how to make them - I knew we would probably be there for a good amount of time just gawking at everything.

And by everything, I mean pretty much everything. They carry some exquisite plants (orchids, myrtle, moss), gorgeous clothing, baby and kids' toys, stationery, lotions, vintage jewelry, home goods and more.

I love the combination of yellow, black, white, and green that they used in this display.

And the best part of the store? An adorable little dog named Kiki. And on this occasion, someone strapped one of the pretty paper flowers onto her back.

I ended up taking a lot of pictures there, and I'm sure the people that work there were thinking that I was nuts (sorry ladies!) but there were just so many pretty things everywhere. To see more pictures from the shopping excursion, click here.

Next stop: Anthropologie!

retail therapy = inspiration

Sometimes retail therapy leads to inspiration. In this case, a trip out to Chestnut Hill to the Container Store, Portobello Road, and Anthropologie provided much eye candy with beautiful color palettes galore.

This post is about our first stop: the Container Store. Whoa. Talk about being a bit overwhelming! I guess I've never been inside one of these stores before, but I had heard so many great things about it from friends. The friend who had accompanied me gave me a gift certificate to the store, and after just five minutes there, I decided that I would resolve to get organized in 2010. (I'm usually not into resolutions to be quite honest because I think it's just an excuse to make a goal for yourself, which you can do any time of the year, why just the beginning of a new year, right? Plus you're more likely to achieve a goal than a resolution, right? Can I get an amen?)

Anyway, I digress ... aside from all sorts of organizational structures and gizmos, they have a ton of cool storage products and ideas, office and desk supplies, and an awesome gift wrapping section. I like how they had some of the wrapping stuff organized into specific color groups. I can totally see making some cards or layouts using the same color schemes.

One of the things we saw in that section were these wine bottle gift bags that were made to look like shirt sleeves (or were made out of shirt sleeves). My friend and I looked at each other and said, "We could totally make that!"

I ended up buying two stackable shelves to use in my craft room to help clean up a table that is buried in craft supplies (before and after pictures to come soon, I promise), plus a couple of their inexpensive clear plastic shoebox sized containers for housing things like stamps and ink pads. Before we left, I snapped this photo of an adorable little girl checking out this kids activity table. It was the perfect size for her!

To see more photos from our excursion at the Container Store, click here.

Next stop: Portobello Road!