lately.

I was left home alone over 4th of July weekend. It was terrible! Generally I enjoy some alone time and having free reign in the house but I quickly grew bored and lonesome and since I haven't made many friends since moving up here I had no one to call to hang out or go to dinner with. BUT I was kept pretty busy with my new internship. Geranium Lakes, an event styling and floral company here in Portland, had 9 weddings over the weekend and needed an extra hand. So I jumped in an worked two back to back 10 hour days. Oofda. With A LOT of hard work we made some beautiful weddings come to life. Here's a slideshow of one of them.

Really the whole point of this sob story is to...well there wasn't much of a point. But I did get a gorgeous bouquet for all my hard work and in my loneliness I took it on a little photo shoot. Pathetic, I know. Don't judge me. :)

but look at the peony! swoon.

It's the little things in life. :)

the tie in action.

Here he is! My handsome pops sporting his new tie :)

little lady lace.

Hopefully this is the first of many little lady lacy onesies! I love how feminine it is. I really wanted to add pearl buttons down the front but decided that baby safety is one of the few things that MUST take precedence over baby cuteness. Know any 6 month old baby girls? This would be the perfect special, handmade gift!

Fun right? I got all the lace for CHEAP at various garage sales and thrift stores and the coral piece was just ribbon that I ruffled. At least you can see the color of the onesies a little better in these pictures too! They will be for sale in my etsy store...

dyed laundry

I dyed my laundry pink... But I actually MEANT to. And it's not really pink, it's a fun peachy coral! Which you can't really tell in the pictures but it's fabulous. I was really scared it wasn't going to work out but it did and was super easy and now I'm hooked! I want to dye everything in my house.

I just started with two onesies because I was so apprehensive. I used directions both from the Rit website and from here. The Rit website has every color imaginable and all the recipes to make them happen.

1/4 teaspoon of scarlet and sunshine orange and ta-dah!

I love that the stitching stays white too! It just adds an extra little pop of fun!

I can't wait to try more colors! Soon I'll show you what I'm doing with these peach pretties!

happy father's day!

I'm always trying to come up with new ways to let my dad know how special he is on Father's Day. His birthday is less than a month before and I always feel fresh out of ideas when June rolls around. Since I had a little more time on my hands than usual this year I decided to sew him a tie! He wears a tie every Sunday so I knew it was something he would get some use out of!

I know the fabric is a little girly but I loved the aqua, yellow and grey combo! AND floral print is in! My dad doesn't know how lucky he is to have such a fashionista for a daughter. ha!

I bought the fun swiss dot fabric at Joann's for less than $5 bucks a yard. I love how much the dot's texture added to the tie! I used the tutorial here for my pattern.

I had so much fun making this tie but best of all, I learned so much! I'm never been much of a hand sewer besides the occasional button here or there but I learned a lot of cool things; like the blind hem or slip stitch. (awesome!)

I'm waiting for a picture of my papa wearing it, but I heard it was a hit!

fresh laundry.

Heavens to Betsy. I finally did it. I've wanted to make a blog for ages! I am always so inspired by the blogs I hound daily for their fabulous ideas and tutorials, it's about time I contribute something to the mix!

I want Laundry and Lace to be a compilation of everyday life, the little things that make me smile or groan and the BIG, important, fancy-shmancy things like flowers, fabric, lace and buttons, the things that really make my day.

SO. Let me introduce myself and the things I LOVE.

My name is Laurana. I know it's kinda odd but I really feel like if you incorrectly interpret the the way my name sounds then you don't really get a good idea of who I am. So I'm going to help you out.

laurana - (luh - rain - uh).

But if that's still complicated... just go with Raina. Most my friends do. :)

I married my soul mate and the most amazing man in

the world September of last year. I feel so lucky and blessed everyday because I know what we have is rare and something to be cherished!

I love love love thrift stores and yard sales! The thrill of the hunt, the euphoria of the find, and the all the money saved! I will get up early any saturday for a good yard sale, and that's saying something! :)

I'm obsessed with fabric flowers, refashioning, decorating, party planning, invitation designing, knitting, paper crafting, sewing and diy crafts!