Detroit is ripe for artist takeover. You can buy a house there for almost nothing, you can live there for almost nothing, and everywhere you turn it’s a surreal landscape of inspiration. If you’re an artist in need of a place to create, I humbly suggest Detroit.

Have a look at these 100 Abandoned Houses before you hit the real estate listings.

Via kirtsy.

Of course, when we went to pick up the flowers we’d ordered, the florist didn’t have them. Had not ordered them.

So, instead of keening and rending our garments, the bride and I acted calm while we shopped for new-and-improved flowers. Here’s how they turned out:

Bridal bouquet

Bridesmaid bouquet

Boutonnieres

Hair piece

And also:

Windrider Bicycle Clips
Food for Thought Lunchboxes
Wasara Paper Plates

Screw Tape

Sparkler Candles

Vintage Cocktail Straws

Sculped Wooden Animals from Romp

Bouttonieres from Laurie Cinotto

Hand-stitched birds by Emily Sutton

My fun thing for yesterday was stopping by the Julia Rothman/Caitlin Keegan opening at Rare Device. There were so many women there who I’ve admired at a distance online but had never met in person, and every one of them was exactly as charming as I’d imagined them to be. Strange, no? You’d expect at least one of them to surprisingly catty, or awkwardly silent, or falling over drunk — something. But no! They were just fun, and well scrubbed, and generally happy with life. It was nice.

Among the pleasant run ins was Elizabeth from Browner Brown and Apartment Therapy San Francisco, Natalie who makes beautiful things for her shop Miss Natalie, and Evany who always makes everything better than it was before she got there.

I was especially thrilled to see Grace of DesignSponge, who was out from Brooklyn for the show. I’ve been wanting to meet her for years, and it turns out she’s aptly named. I refrained from grabbing her by the shoulders and cheering, because I’m so excited about everything she’s done in building her business. I held back mostly because I was wearing shoes that made me four feet taller than her, and I thought yelping in her face might be a little much on first meeting. Perhaps next time.

I also ran into Shoshana, the founding editor of ReadyMade Magazine, whom I’d never met — despite working on the ReadyMade blog, exchanging emails about cool old houses for sale, and having lots of friends in common. We started talking because I was making faces at her baby, and it took us a few minutes to figure out that we already knew each other.

All that, and I was in bed by 10:30. What a great night.

Excellent finds from Sunday’s Alameda Flea Market:

-A little yellow dish for keeping hair bands and such on my dresser
-A black and white ruffly hair cover, which I’m going to pin up and wear as a collar
-An incredible Bill Blass ball gown ($14!). I think I may cut it off at the waist and wear it as a shirt, because I’ll get so much more use out of it that way.
-A little yellow silk shift with a bow at the waist
-A small blue cashmere sweater, which has hooks on the waist, so you can wear it as a solid waist band, or have little meal-accommodating slits on the side.
-A pink silk cami, which looks like a reproduction of a ’30s style.
-A pretty handpainted silk scarf to wear over wet hair, Grace Kelly style.
-A Pendleton Blanket to add to my collection for the cabin.
-A Villeroy and Boch glass hedgehog.
-A collection of little trucks for the little guy, all of which passed the lead paint test.

Satisfying! Time to throw some things in the donation bin to make room.

Yellow, originally uploaded by MaggieMason.

I made a sunny necklace, and it is adorable. Hello! Hello, little necklace.

In college, I worked at a bead store, where I logged many hours with a pair of tweezers organizing mixed up beads. You’re bored just hearing about that, aren’t you? Wrong! Sorting beads is crazy satisfying. Like cleaning out your purse, or painting your toenails. When you’re done, that one little corner of the universe is perfect again. Then you can take a nap.

This little store was one of the most magical things about Vancouver. It’s a gift store devoted to the love of text. They’ve collected many local zine-type publications, and there’s a couch at the front where you can type a letter on an old school typewriter if you buy stationery there. Best of all, on the first Thursday of every month, they host a letter writing club complete with tea, cookies, and typewriters. These are my people.

Also, I’m in love with the wall of file cabinets at the register. I’d love to make a faux wall out of old cabinets. It would be a great way to block off a cozy office in a large space, and an even better way to store my ever growing collection of magazine tear outs.