the new york city ballerina project

dane shitagi photography | new york city ballerina project

"I tried to take pictures of the ballerinas – not of their dancing. I tried to stay focused on the dancers – not on their poses. I tried to portray their souls – not their steps. Ballerina Project is more about the dancer than the dancing. As photographers we often try to capture momentums of the dancing without really acknowledging the obvious: the camera is not exactly the best instrument to do it. The camera can only take stills of something that is in its essence a flow."  
- stunning photos and shitagi quote via my modern met.

isn't this series utterly amazing?
i love creative people.
(i especially love when photographers + ballerinas + nyc combine.)

guess what? we're headed for the big apple. i. am. so. excited. dan's parents are generously taking the family for an unforgettable weekend, i can hardly believe it! am totally up for anything on this trip. am hoping to introduce dan to the moma and walk arm in arm a lot. i have high hopes to take more pictures than necessary. and we've already decided that we'll be eating constantly. enjoy the royal wedding this weekend. i may or may not be watching it live on the jumbotron in times square! am going to be back before you know it. xo.

preschool project / sink or float

will it sink or float? / this is a simple toddler activity that involves a large bowl of water, random objects from your drawers (our junk drawer held lots of good treasures) and a discussion about why things sink and float. we play it almost every day.

i'm super excited about our playtime / learning time activities and plan to share them in a new category, preschool projects. feel free to leave a link to an activity idea your kids love!

review / sugar fresh prints

lindsay of sugar fresh sent me an array of pretty artwork to review. they absolutely made my day. lindsay has lined her etsy shop walls with all kinds of cheerful prints. they include modern designs, fresh hues and sweet sentiments. the prints are high quality with a flawless finish. i especially love that her prints come in an array of sizes (small enough for a desktop frame and large enough to hang over a crib). she offers customizable colors too! i like the idea of letting your child help pick their favorite piece and customizing it with their latest favorite color. mister numbers is fitting for your funny man and these graphic butterflies are every girl's dream. i can't wait to frame this one.

bonus / enter discount code MARTA to save 10% on any purchase from sugar fresh.

p.s. thank you for all the hot nyc tips yesterday. keep them coming!

i love supporting small businesses. if you have a product you think my readers would enjoy, please contact me.

new york city / on the horizon

an excursion to new york city is soon upon us.

you may or may not already know it's my favorite place ever. i always love to hear what other people love about it. there is so much to love. a jam-packed touristy trip isn't on the menu. i'm hoping to discover (and re-discover) our faves and enjoy the best of the best gems while not feeling too frantic. do tell, if you had only a few days in manhattan, what would you be sure to see, eat, or experience? please tell me your not-to-be-missed nyc musts.

new york collage made up of pins.
one / two / three / four / five / six.

you and i. / my sunny sidekick.

a casual friday photo shoot. plaid shorts are my fave.


benjamin bunny all ready for easter sunday. look who got a haircut this weekend!

hello my darling boy.

you are 32 months old today. i can hardly believe how thirty-two months can flip my whole life around. as though life before you was a black and white movie with no sound. with you, my life feels completely high def, technicolor, surround sound; full and joyous. it's hard to explain motherhood and how it's made me feel entirely whole. i can't wait to see what the next 32 years are like.

the last little while i've been jotting things down (wildly) on a clipboard in hopes to gather my thoughts to help me sum up your big personality in one small post. an almost impossible feat, i realize. but i will do my best.

you are ever playful and love playing pretend and being silly. (i am convinced that joy is watching your two year old laugh at his own antics.) you get what is funny and like clowning around, trying to make us laugh. (you are so cute when you are pretending to be a big person.) we play chef and you utilize the little hotpads when picking up your 'hot' pots and pans. you like swapping from your fireman hat, to your train hat, to your cowboy hat - all while sporting your sunglasses. i like the way your imagination is growing. the other day you found a loose gold button from daddy's sport coat on the shelf. you handed it to me and said, look mom! a gold coin! like captain hook! you like sprinkles in your yogurt and still love blowing bubbles in your drinks. (it's hard to stop you after our hospital experience.) 

horsing around with daddy is high on your priority list, so is helping mom. and if you're not helping, then you are insisting on doing it all by-self. you also throw mini fits when i attempt to sweep, start the dishwasher, open the front door, turn off a light switch or unload the laundry without your assistance. what could i possibly be thinking?? you are the best little sidekick. i like hanging out with you. one of my favorite after-nap rituals (yes, you still take naps! knock on wood.) is watching oprah together with a bowl of dry-cereal on your lap. we chat about what you dreamt about and then you'll climb all over me and laugh hysterically when you get to mess up my hair. usually driving your trucks through it. i have no where to go, so letting you build a rat's nest with my hair is worth all the laughter i get to absorb. you study my face and i study yours. daddy still tells me how much you look like me. last tuesday, i taught you about butterfly kisses.

you enjoy having learning time together in the mornings after a round of curious george. we have enrolled in mini made-up activities each day to keep ourselves busy. and it's working! i'm amazed at how eager you are to turn off your show when i tell you it's activity time. your eyes light up and you are so happy to learn. i am grateful i get to be your first teacher in life and am striving to make learning fun so you'll never want to quit.

watching your developing language is miraculous to me. you stun me with not only new words, but these phrases you come up with! after i figure out what you just said, i can't help but smile (and wonder where you came up with it). you say things like, hmmm.. let me think... and which one's your  favorite, mom? and then to yourself, which one's your favorite, benji? and at dinner, i'll drink the water in my cup. not the water in my bath. and oh mom, you're soo funny. and when trying to master a task, this one's kinda tricky, am not sure how. and when you drop something, oh rats! and while at a traffic light, red means stop! green means we can go! and then there's always hey mom, come here, i have something to tell you. the funny thing is you never really tell me anything, you just need some company. you tend to mix up you and i and interchange them often. still, magically, your meaning always gets across somehow. and to me, it makes sense as you and i are cut from the same cloth, hearts beating as one. as the proverb goes, a mother's heart is always with her children.

you are good at details. there are little things you do and little ways of doing them, i wonder which of them will stay with you as you grow up. you are such a smart boy. after our easter egg hunt yesterday, we had a picnic of jelly beans and m&m's together. daddy and i laid in the spring sunshine (finally!) while you went around hiding all the plastic eggs again. you continued to hide the blue, pink, orange, purple, yellow and gold eggs in the same spots they had originally been left in (blue egg on the fence, orange in the bushes, yellow in the flower beds..)!

you love music and sing i am a child of god and edelweiss by heart. most nights i can get you to sing them to me. other nights you just want to snuggle after stories. you still love sleeping with your entourage of animals and matchbox car of choice. lately the red pick-up truck is your favorite. you say goodnight to each of them by name when i tuck you in. i hear your little voice having conversations as i squeak the door closed and leave you in your moonlit room.

the best thing is
i love you. and you love me.


easter egg hunt 2011. best apres-church activity ever.

shop update / if you ordered a mini diary last week–or late last night!–thank you so much. they are waiting by my door, all packaged up. b and i will be taking them to the post office today! they should arrive in 2-5 days. benji is going to love helping put them into the drop box one by one. am hoping no one is behind us in line. happy monday.

mini chocolate cakes baked in ramekins and stacked into towers.

this mini stack tower cake has been in my dreams for awhile now. i kid you not. ever since my open-faced whoopie pie birthday cake, i've dreamt of all the fun of baking cakes in ramekins. once again i used my favorite go-to cake recipe. the chocolate sour cream cake. it is the most adaptable recipe i've come across yet. bake it in layers, bake it in a rectangle, bake it in cupcakes, bake it in ramekins. pair it with fudge frosting, pair it with buttercream, eat it plain out of the pan. here is the whole story, in case you ever need a tower of mini cakes.


gather your ramekins. grease and sugar them. my mom taught me to spray them with pam and dust them with granulated sugar. then pour in your batter. i love this cake batter because it is thick and industrious like mousse. bake them a bit longer than cupcakes. watch them in the oven and do the toothpick test. i baked mine 26 minutes, however my oven is the most fickle thing on the planet.


while your ramekin cakes are cooling–but before you flip them–whip up your favorite frosting. (don't worry, this dessert is worth all the dishes in the sink.) when all else fails, i turn to the classic buttercream. i splurge on real butter if i am making frosting or baking bread. 3 cups powdered sugar / 1 tsp. vanilla / 1 cube butter / 6 Tbs. milk. the key is to beat it for longer than you think. that will make it super fluffy and fantastic. all the while praying that those cakes come out of their ramekins. turning cakes out gives me major anxiety.


loosen them, ever so gingerly, with a plastic knife. i feel that plastic knives give the most give to my precious little cakes. when you feel you are ready, turn and pat gently. if they are ripe, they will usually plop right out into your palm like good little girls and boys. if they resist and tug, that means they are gonna give you a run for your money.


one of my little cakes was naughty. it didn't want to come out and play. so benji and i shared a mid-morning treat; a chocolate cake stump. yum.


when cakes turn out nicely, i am so elated, i feel like giving an acceptance speech. seriously, a feat like this is such a rare occurrence in my life. the sugar crystals give the edges a bit of a crunch, which i'm obsessed with. this is the reason i do not frost over them. after cooling, toss the pretty cakes into the freezer for ten minutes or more.


frozen cakes are much easier to slice layers into. skim off the curved tops. which made me a little sad. but like director gary marshall always says, sometimes you have to cut your darlings. slice the cakes into halves or even thirds with a serrated knife. begin dolling the layers up with serious amounts of fluffy frosting. stack them into cake towers or one giant leaning tower of pisa. go wild. i resisted the urge to plaster mine with sprinkles. (for the record, i still think that would be super cute for easter.) and voila. a mahvelous mini cake fit for sharing.



when it comes to cake, i love sharing a plate and taking turns taking bites.

wishing you a happy easter weekend. 

review / handmade earrings

jewelry designer, kelly–creator of Linkel Designs–kindly offered me a pair of her handmade earrings for review. aren't they delicsh? the sheer pink shade reminds me of cotton candy. i had a tough time choosing between her unique, shiny, colorful pieces. they all seem to tell a story. it's nice when jewelry can say something without saying too much. i love wearing danglies for special occasions. am also a big fan of packing a few favorite jewelry pieces for a vacation too. when time lapses and i look back at snapshots, the accessories remind me of the era / mood i was in at the time. these pretty pieces would make any mama smile this mother's day.

bonus / enter discount code MARTA10 to save 10% on any purchase from her shop.

i love supporting small businesses. if you have a product you think my readers would enjoy, please contact me.

thank you + ten things.

thank you for your mini diary enthusiasm (and orders)!

happy things today.
shipping supplies dropped at my door. the UPS man yelling your welcome!
pulling out chocolate cake ingredients for a special delivery.
planning our own family easter egg hunt. plastic eggs!
piles of mini diaries, it seems like they are breeding.
playing mr. potato head.
picking seeds at home depot for planting. 
dan found a lunch truck selling bratwurst!
this nautical striped shirt on clearance at target.
benji recognizing target from his carseat.
zumba class tonight. am attempting a comeback.

the mini diaries are in.

the spring 2011 edition of mini diaries are stocked! they are back by popular demand (thanks to you) and are now available in the mini mart shop. i hope you'll love the cover designs as much as i do. once again, i've created two separate collections for your shopping convenience. find the subtle, charming designs in the sophisticated collection and the spunky, energetic designs in the youthful collection. for an assortment of diary designs, order the party of five pack.

mother's day / please place your mother's day orders by monday, april 25th. (i have upcoming getaway plans and need to ship them beforehand.) that way they have the best chance to arrive in time for gift-giving to your grandmas, mamas, sisters and daughters.

shipping details / please be sure the paypal address on your account is your correct shipping address. if you'd like me to ship it straight to a gift recipient, please note it at checkout. at this time, i am not taking any international orders. so sorry. (if you're located out of the country and would really like me to reconsider, please email me directly with your wishes.)

a big thank you / i am so grateful i get to do what i love and sell diaries on the side. i feel so happy many of you take time to write in them and jot down your favorite thoughts of the day. binding these babies has become one of my favorite springtime traditions. merci.

giveaway winner.

thanks to everyone who played along with the letterpress giveaway. i wish i could give away a hundred of these machines! thanks to random.org, the lucky winner is leah from doublyblessed. congratulations!!

a big thanks to lifestyle crafts.

something for everyone / enter the code MARTAWRITES to receive a 20% discount off your lifestyle crafts purchase. this code will be valid through monday, april 25th.

am getting egg-cited.

pretty patterned eggs with japanese washi tape via family circle.
a sparkly dot easter egg tutorial by kristen at domestifluff.
two of my favorite must-have supplies. i never tire of washi tape or glitter.


amberlee of giverslog is always thinking up clever items to ship in the mail (no envelopes required). i simply adore her plastic easter egg surprise. who wouldn't love to see one perched inside their mailbox covered in postage stamps?


an easter egg countdown by eighteen25.
it's not too late. start tomorrow with a darling half dozen carton.


simple and stunning doodle eggs (with a sharpie pen!) by alisa burke.
muffin tins for dying easter eggs. brilliant. via parent hacks.


a sweet (and sly) egg note. via pinterest.

to be truthful, the thing i'm extremely excited about is the spring mini diary launch. tune in tomorrow for all the details. if you act fast, they will be shipped in time for gift giving come mother's day, may 8th.

p.s. happy monday. tonight i'll announce and contact the winner for the letterpress machine giveaway. hurry up and enter to win. i love hearing your cleaning tips and inspiring links.

making the cut.

i landed upon this top 150 makers blog list yesterday. it was created (with painstaking efforts, i'm sure) by the wonderfully talented evie. after fighting the feeling that blogging is just a popularity contest, i got over myself and perused the list nodding my head in agreement to so many of my longtime favorites. when a blogger puts Effort (with a capital E) into her blog, you can tell. it's original, it's fresh and completely riveting. she becomes a friend that you want to know more about. you trust her judgement and enjoy her advice. you clap at her accomplishments and you start to care about her. i've come to realize a popular blogger really earns her readers by the heart she puts into her posting. this list is a great resource for some amazing sites, i hope you'll check it out. many blogs i am already smitten with and others i am excited to dive into. am absolutely thrilled (and shocked) to see marta writes listed, number 126. thanks to all of you who tune in every day to see what i'm up to. i hope you know, you are more than stats to me.

wishing you a fabulous weekend. i'm going to take your advice and throw my windows wide open. am going to be wildly binding mini diaries (while watching my-so called life dvds) and trying hard not to eat my hidden stash of easter candy. am also planning to make thinnies (aka crepes) rolled up with lemon juice, sugar and melted butter for sunday supper. xo.

p.s. just so you know, there have been more lists in my life that i haven't made than i have. hello, grease of '99. am i the only one with high hopes to play sandy someday? reading down the list of names printed on a white sheet of paper, taped to a classroom door is among my best and most terrifying moments in life. everyone should know how it feels to make the cut and not make the cut. both experiences are good for character building. at least that is what my mom used to say when i would sulk back into the passenger side door. then we'd go get a treat from a drive-thru window. we are good at sharing a tall coke and fries. (some may say i was learning to soothe problems with fried food or drive-thru's are the end of the universe or obesity starts at may i take your order. i say, life is short. eat smart most of the time, so you can treat yourself some of the time.) i'm totally okay with having happy memories over a happy meal.

review & giveaway / Lifestyle Crafts Epic 6 Letterpress Tool

am catching up on product review posts due to last week's absence. this one rocked my world and is every letterpress lover's dream come true. if you can make it through this post you can enter to win one for your very own. yay.


the design team at lifestyle crafts were rad enough to offer me a product review opportunity. (i only agree to stuff that extremely interests me.) i enthusiastically said YES, PLEASE. they kindly sent me an Epic 6 Letterpress Combo Kit and a few lovely accessories to get me started. this machine is perfect for making die-cuts and letterpressing small paper items.

to be frank, i have not played with anything this crafty since my days working at pebbles in my pocket in orem, utah, nine years ago. that place was über fun, however having cute handwriting was practically part of the job requirement. i felt major pressure (self-induced) to be scrappy and crafty and creative and therefore stopped scrapbooking before the craze even got off the ground. just saying this so you know that i'm not one bit scrapper savvy here. i did take a college course in letterpress. however, following the user-friendly handbook (very short and straight-forward) is all you need to get going. when it comes to getting crafty, practice is all it takes.




the epic six is the perfect thing for any letterpress project that is 6 inches wide, no giant posters here. however you can make designer greeting cards, envelopes, business cards, cupcake wrappers, banners, place cards and much much more. believe me i have dozens of letterpressed posters from college tucked somewhere in our storage garage, so i am delighted with the small, simple and practical format anyway.

i highly recommend using the stock that lifestyle crafts offers. it is the nice cushy cotton blend of paper and it's already cut to size! my regular cardstock did not take impressions as nicely. i also would recommend getting the accessory tool kit as well. it includes all of my favorite things - the very same things my letterpress teacher made us go out and buy. my old bone folder has bookbinders glue dried to it. so be forewarned, keep your bone folder neat and pretty. that way, you will allow it to touch your precious paper projects. the palette mixing knife, bone folder, exacto knife and clear ruler (i love clear plastic printed with grids!!) are indispensable.

when ready to letterpress, prep all your paper beforehand and line it up in stacks according to project. that way you can print, mix inks, and print some more. you will get on a roll and will be happy not to go cut / find paper in the middle of your letterpress magic.


i didn't have a defined goal in mind other than creating some nice note cards. so i played around with the different printing plate sets. they all have cute elements that are easy to mix and match. i loved getting the envelopes in on all the fun. prepare for a few mistakes. i was a bit heavy handed with the ink at first but soon got the hang of it. my final prints are great quality, if i do say so myself. the ink cleans off with handy dandy wipes too. i kept them close at hand as i kept getting ink everywhere.



then i got sucked into the simple circle design and went wild. you can do lots more with this machine, i was just a bit circle happy at the moment. forgive me. every day tags are the best to have on hand.  i like how the inks on these tags vary due to my un-mixing technique. you can go wild thanks to the creative license this machine allows for. did i really just say you can go wild when all i really did was letterpress neat, perfect, pretty circles?! whatever gets you going, i guess. i did a whole letterpressing project, start to finish, in one hour. i found that drying time (especially for metallic ink) needs to be at least 48 hours for no ink to rub off on fingers. all the more time to admire them.




i used the A2 flats and my own envelopes for this set of silvery circle stationery. the other side of this set is blank, ready for addressing and delivering mini speeches of handwritten gratitude. people are good and deserve cute note cards in their mailboxes. letterpressed with love, of course. i appreciate that this machine is petite (and pretty) enough to sit on my desk when i have my craft craze on (and going strong) and still perfectly small enough to tuck into my closet while awaiting a crafty bolt of lightning to hit. i also love how easy it is to use and experiment with. am super happy that making unique letterpress prints can now be at your fingertips and your kitchen counter. three cheers for readily accessible letterpress equipment.

bonus / enter the code MARTAWRITES to receive a 20% discount off your lifestyle crafts order. this code will be valid through monday, april 25th. hooray.

grand prize giveaway / comment on this post (tell me a spring cleaning tip, a favorite song to dance to, a killer recipe, inspiring link or other interesting tidbit) by april 18th for a chance to win a Letterpress Combo Kit of your very own ($169.99 value)! one comment per person please; the winner will be picked at random. don't miss their blog full of creative ideas and facebook page too. i'll announce the winner the night of april 18th. good luck!

review / snappy sturdy tote bag & a pretty pocket watch necklace

i love when things are both practical and pretty. the products featured today fall into that category. i can already tell these two items are going to be long-time favorites of mine.



salinya of fabric and handle creates gorgeous natural bags perfect for every day hauling. she and her crew kindly sent me the quint tote for review (all the way from thailand!). it's unlike anything i currently have. i love the simple, streamlined design, the interior pocket for important handy things and the roomy exterior for a plethora of library books and a water bottle. the material is sturdy and resilient. my favorite thing about the tote are the optional snaps that allow you to switch the length of the leather straps. genius! once snapped into place, the tote can carry a sizeable load. exactly what i need for the farmer's market this summer.



heidi of chick hardware is a mother of three and runs her business from home. she is continuously creating eclectic jewelry pieces for her etsy shop. she loves showcasing items that are unique. she does not do any mass production, so you can be confident your piece will always be special. heidi sent me a shiny silver floral pocket watch necklace. it's a subtle statement piece which has collected compliments every time i've worn it. pretty enough for church and yet tough enough for a toddler to play with while he sits on my lap. browse her shop for shiny baubles and charms to give this upcoming mother's day. i think this mama bird necklace would be a sweet accessory for easter!

bonus / enter discount code marta to enjoy free shipping for any order within the usa. hooray.

if you have a product you think my readers would enjoy, please contact me.