Toad.

Apparently there are lots of animals on and around my family's property (see here and here).
This is a toad.

I went outside one evening to watch the rain. The sky was a funny yellowish color, so I grabbed my camera to snap a few photos. I ran back inside to put my camera away, then went back outside to continue watching the rain - I love rain. As soon as I stepped out the door, I saw this toad. I went back in for my camera and carefully edged toward the toad to take his picture. He was so calm! I was about four inches away from him, and he didn't move the whole time. 

I have to admit, I was a little afraid when taking this photograph. This is when I was closest to him, and I figured if he jumped, there was a good chance it'd be right on my head - not a pleasant thought. 

Love,
Scout

May Calendars

 For different sizes, click here. 

For different sizes, click here.

Love,

Scout

Snapshots

Lunch with the grandparents.

The best crab cake I've ever eaten - from The Lemon Leaf Cafe in Chestertown, MD.

A CD my uncle gave me of his band.

My cousin is learning to be a beautician. Her head was on the stairs all week.

Coloring.

I have so many items planned for my shop! Most of them probably won't be up until May, as I'm waiting on some supplies to come in before I can finish most of them. I can't wait, though! I did list the fox clutch earlier this week, though.

Making kale chips - check it out here.

Some of our tadpoles are finally growing legs. Gross.

Love,

Scout

Sunday Morning Songs

I can't get enough of Ray LaMontagne.
I've been wanting some of his music for a while and finally bought some earlier this week. On the recommendation of a friend, I got Till The Sun Turns Black. It gave me some trouble at first - three of the songs cut off after about 30 seconds - and then Apple gave me some trouble because I'm too poor to own any of their products. Things finally got worked out, though, and now I have all of the songs from the album I paid for.
Here are some of my favorite LaMontagne songs to kick off your Sunday. Enjoy!



Love,
Scout

Mini Vacation in Maryland

Last week my mom and I went to stay at my cousins' house for a couple days. 

Crossing the Bay Bridge in the rain.

Coloring with my little cousin.

We made bookmarks.

Dutch Blitz.

Exploring Chestertown, MD. 

I really wanted one of these coffee mugs, but I was not willing to pay $15 for one of them.

Someone wrote this cookbook for me! 

A clever coffee mug - as the cup heats up, Van Gogh's ear disappears!

Lunch with my grandparents.

Crabcake.

Relaxing, drinking coffee.

Love,

Scout

Friday Love

I love that one of my friends is getting married! I've had other friends get married before, even a sibling! But for some reason I'm extra excited about this lovely lady's upcoming wedding - maybe because I see a little bit of myself in her, so it makes me excited for my own future :) 

Source 

P.S. Check out her amazing photography here and here. 

Isn't this the prettiest picture?

Source

Crocheting! I haven't done it in a while, but I have a custom order to start soon, and I'm pretty excited!

This beautiful song sung by Kim Janssen.

Love,

Scout

Artist Spotlight: Janelle Monae

Hey, guys. This was supposed to be published yesterday, but I've been getting my days confused this week, and since Blogger updated, I've been having trouble with scheduling posts. Anyone else having trouble? Or maybe some tips? 

Source

Source

I don't remember how I first heard of Janelle Monae. I think I happened to come across this spectacular song on Youtube.

If that one doesn't sound familiar, maybe this one does.

I loved her from the start. With a song as fun as Tightrope, how can you not get sucked in? She has an incredible, powerful voice. Her style is weird and blues-y and fun and has almost a light techno vibe to it. My words can't do her justice, so you should just listen to her. I haven't listened to all of her music in sequence yet (actually, I haven't listened to all of her music at all yet), but apparently all of her albums together tell a sci-fi story. I'm excited to look into it!

Check out her website, Myspace, and Facebook.

Love,

Scout

Advertising on Cardigans and Old Watches

I mentioned last week that I was interested in swapping buttons with people. Thank you all so much for your encouragement! I think I'm going to try to work things out. As you can see, I'm in the middle of renovating my blog (rather, having the wonderful Lauren renovate it for me), but I'd like to try and figure things out to start advertising in May. If you are interested in swapping buttons with me, here's what I need from you!

• Your blog or shop name
• Your web address 
• A short blurb about your blog or shop
• A photograph of yourself
• A blog button (150x150)
• And please tell me what size button you need for your blog! 

You can email the information to me at cardigansandoldwatches[at]gmail.com. I would like to swap buttons with blogs that either have similar vibes to Cardigans and Old Watches, or blogs that I am okay with supporting - not that I've come across any that I really dislike - but because of this, I would like to reserve the right to turn down any offers. I'm pretty open, though, so that's not really something to be worried about :) 

I'm excited for this opportunity! 

Love,

Scout

Consignment Shop Finds

I don't like consignment stores. I mean, I am way too cheap to buy used clothes/items for the same price as if I bought them new. If I'm going to buy used clothes, I want them to be thrift store cheap. Consignment stores just don't cut it.
However, I went to a consignment store yesterday in Centreville, Maryland, where I found a couple good deals.

Here we have:
Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Asperger's, by John Elder Robinson - I'm so excited for this one! I think Autism/Asperger's is fascinating.
Animal Farm, by George Orwell - a classic.
And The Shins' brand new album, Port of Morrow - it wasn't even out of the shrink wrap when I found it!

What have been some of your exciting thrift store/consignment finds?

Love,
Scout

Summer Check List

Never in my life have I wanted summer to come as much as I do this year. So, the other day when I was daydreaming about it, I decided to make a checklist for some of the things I'm most excited to do this year.

What are you excited to do this summer?

Love,
Scout

Giveaway!

I'm excited to be sponsoring The Perfect Pear this month! Check out Lauren's lovely blog and enter a giveaway to win something from my shop! 

Love,
Scout

DIY: Lacy Scalloped Shorts

This might not be the best DIY you've ever seen. I'm not very exact when it comes to...well, basically anything that isn't a list. I'll try to walk you through what I did, though, and best of luck to you in your endeavors! When I was trying to figure out how to start, I briefly looked at these three sites for help: 

Here's Looking At Me, Kid

Chictopia

Pixie in Pumps

First, find a pair of jeans to cut up. Try them on, figure out how long you want them to be, and mark that spot with chalk. 

To do the scalloped edge, find a circular object you can use to trace a makeshift pattern on your jeans. You could also cut out a paper pattern. I definitely recommend doing it Mandi's way. 

 Usually when I chop my jeans into shorts they end up slightly crooked, because I'm way too lazy to measure anything. However, I wanted these to be cute, so I measured the inseam and outseam on both sides to try to get them to match up. (Note: I'm terrible with this kind of detail, so naturally I messed up and had to adjust my shorts later). 

Voila! Try them on to make sure they look okay, and adjust as necessary. 

If you want to add an extra touch of girly, find some lace - I found mine on a thrifted pillow case - and pin it around the inside edge. 

Carefully sew the lace onto your jeans. Again, I'm not really meticulous when it comes to craft projects, so if you look closely you'll see that mine are a little sloppy. 

Take silly pictures of yourself wearing your cute new shorts! 

Love,

Scout