New Year's Day Bike Ride in Downtown LA

On New Years Day my boyfriend and I always spend the day riding around Downtown Los Angeles. The streets are usually empty on this Holiday--which makes riding in the street extra fun; however, this year the streets were actually pretty packed. But that didn't stop us from exploring and having fun. No matter how many times we're hanging around in the city we always manage to find new places. We always try to find new places to drink and eat every time we're there, and L.A. never disappoints. What I love about all of the hidden places to eat and drink is how old they are. I'm a sucker for old buildings because of the all amazing detail in them.

This was such a great way to ring in the new year, and I can't wait to get started with all of the new projects I have scheduled for my blog, the Lawn Fawn blog, and many other things. I hope 2015 is just as exciting as 2014 was! I hope you all had a great New Years!

A Bike Ride in Downtown Los Angeles

Yesterday was the perfect day for a bike ride in Downtown Los Angeles. The streets were empty, and it made riding in the streets much more enjoyable because we didn't have to worry too much about the traffic. I always love exploring downtown; and, I think the best way to do it is on a bike. Usually I’m learning the streets by simply taking a drive and viewing the buildings and streets from my car but every once in a while I’ll actually park and walk around; however, this was the first time my boyfriend and I, Gabe, actually rode our bikes. While we were riding we found this awesome pattern in street, near the library, so we stopped to take a few pictures of that. Isn’t it so cool?

I also got this cool picture of Gabe and his rode bike :-p

After taking a few pictures in the city we stopped at this restaurant named, Maria’s Italian Kitchen. When we walked in we could already feel the history in the design of the building, and the atmosphere was so warm and clam. While we waited we receive some warm garlic bread—garlic bread is my favorite! Plus, the food was so delicious and packed with so many flavors—I was amazed with every bite, hehe. 

While we were eating I stopped a few times to take a look at our surroundings; namely, because I like to marvel at everything in Downtown—and I found this apartment that had spelled out the word peace on their window using post-its. I thought that was super cool. 

After lunch we made our way up a couple of big hills in order to burn off some of our lunch and we stopped here so I could take a couple of pictures. You can see me waving in one of them, hehe. Exploring the city on a bike has got to be my new favorite way to get around in Downtown. 

Los Angeles Public Library—My Search for Vintage Craft Books

     I’m always searching the streets of Downtown Los Angeles to find the most unique craft and fabric stores; and one day I had a thought—I wonder what kind of craft books and crafting ideas can I find at my local library? Being that The Central Library, located in the heart of Downtown L.A., is one of the largest publicly funded libraries in the world—there must be books older than I am about crafts or paper crafting; and it turns out I was right. After asking the clerk at the information desk for directions to the craft section I finally made it to the isles upon isles of books on the topic; and I anxiously began to pull book after book until I had a pile so high I could barely even see ahead of me. The first book I opened was one titled, ‘New Dimensions in Paper Craft’, by Sadami Yamada, published in 1966. As I was flipping through the black and white pages I began to realize that many of the paper crafting decorations I found in this vintage craft book were much like the party decorations that are in style right now. For instance, I found what looked to me like the beginnings of the pom-pom—made of tissue; and a template for an Easter tissue paper party decoration. There were so many wonderful ideas, and I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I come here sooner?”

I took pictures of some illustrations and templates from the book to share with you, but now I’m wondering if there might be some kind of copy write issue so I’ll just demonstrate some of the cute ideas I found in that book.

Here is the Easter tissue paper decoration template provided by, ‘New Dimensions in Paper Craft’, and shared by me.

Here is the result:

And here is another cute idea I found that was so simple yet so fun!

Thank you for stopping by to share in this adventure with me. I urge you to stop at your local library to search for craft books that our ancestors left for us. To reinvent their ideas or to simply bring them back to life.