Category:

all the posts!

friday favorites #563

by Kaylah Stroup

this post contains affiliate links.

This vintage snake lamp is… just amazing! I found a black version too.

This bat pin!

I got it in my head that I’d like a swing in my future home and now I spend oodles of time looking them up. Isn’t this one cute?!

These hand earrings!!

I cannot express how much I love this opossum print! There are other animals playing instruments too.

Spine candle!!!

I’ve got a massive crush on this green couch. I think my bright blue one is reaching its end days. I definitely want another bold piece. Green feels like a solid choice!

Loving this little kitty planter from YasyaCeramics. I’m a big fan of their work. I bought this cutie for myself.

Love this brightly color pendant lamp. I think it’d look really cool to hang a few of them at different lengths and in different colors.

Danial Ryan’s work is ridiculous and I can’t get enough of it. This print is hilarious.

This doorbell button! Oh my!

Holy smokes. A raccoon lamp!

I don’t think this is the first time I’ve featured this ghost pin but gosh, would ya just look at it? It’s cuuuute!

Link love…

Happy Friday! xoxo

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

Stapelia grandiflora bloom!

by Kaylah Stroup

this post contains affiliate links.

My last blog post was a plant unboxing from Nova Plantae. (Watch the video here + read the post here.) By the time I actually got around to editing and posting that video some of the information was kind of out of date. Namely the fact that the flowers that were on the plants when I received them but had died in transit had started to come back. The unboxing blog post showed photos of the brand new buds I had but I most certainly was not expecting a bloom so soon.

I’ve been so terrible about blogging lately but the fact that I am literally writing this post the same day this is happening should clue you in on just how excited I am.

First thing in the morning. I posted a photo on instagram that said “Would you hurry up already?!” around 8am.

Two hours later, I had this!

My Stapelia grandiflora has bloomed! Ahhhh! The whole reason I got into these succulents, Stapelias, is because the flowers that most produce. Large, colorful blooms… that smell like death.

No, seriously. This flower smells horrible. It has stunk up my kitchen and my living room. I actually realized it was starting to bloom because I smelled something off in the kitchen. It’s so bad I moved it close to an open window and lit incense. I bought this knowing it was produced these ‘carrion flowers’ but didn’t think it’d be something I could smell other than when up close. Noooope. This one small flower is quite odorous.

I truly wish I had smell-o-vision for you. There was a fly buzzing around it before it was even all the way open. Within ten minutes of moving it near the open window there were four flies up against the screen trying their darndest to get inside.

Still, I am so excited about this stinky flower that I keep walking near it and taking big deep breaths. I’ve examined it about five billion times. It’ll most likely be the last thing I think of before I fall asleep tonight and one of the first things in the morning. I am just totally in awe.

Consider me officially hooked. I cannot wait to get more plants that produce smelly flowers. I want a whole dang greenhouse full of them. Someday!

As previously mentioned, I bought this Stapelia grandiflora from Nova Plantae. Mine lives in a south-facing window that receives direct sunlight all afternoon. I have it planted in regular potting soil mixed with perlite and small stones to help with drainage. The pot I am using has a drainage hole drilled in the bottom. (A definite necessity for cacti and succulents! I have a tutorial on drilling here!)

Updating a mere ten minutes after hitting publish to add that I’m not quite sure this is Stapelia grandiflora. I’m leaning more toward Stapelia leendertziae at this point.

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

eastern prickly pear time lapse

by Kaylah Stroup
eastern prickly pear flowers

Another time lapse! This time my newly acquired Eastern Prickly Pear! The Eastern Prickly Pear is exactly what the name suggests – a cactus that grows in the eastern part of the United States including Ohio! That’s right, we have cacti that grow outdoors here and manage to survive the snow. To be honest, I didn’t know this until a few years ago!

The house next door to my apartment has been uninhabited for quite a while now. I noticed shortly after we moved in that there was a massive patch of these cacti on the side of the house. I’ve admired them for years. Each summer beautiful yellow flowers explode from this flower -er, cactus- bed. I finally decided that ‘borrowing’ a couple of pads wouldn’t hurt anything, especially since no one lived there.

I had no idea how quickly they grew! While looking up the proper care, I actually found a video that said during a growing season they can triple in size! Wild! I don’t quite think we’re at three times the starting size yet but I did get a bunch of flowers already and that’s darn exciting.

There are just under 500 photos here condensed down into 38 seconds. I shot them over a period of a day and a half. Based on my other time lapse experiences, I definitely expected this to take much longer but the flowers opened so quickly! Such a beautiful treat!

eastern prickly pear flowers

So much smaller of a plant less than a month prior to flowering!

eastern prickly pear flower timelapse

sources – ▴ shutter release ▴ Canon 35mm 1.4L ▴ Canon 6D ▴ Dolica Proline tripod

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

friday favorites #562

by Kaylah Stroup

this post contains affiliate links.

A cat with a plant.

Oh sheet. These are cute.

These colors on this dress are perfect!! I actually have sandals that match almost perfectly.

Aren’t these handmade earrings so cute!?

Look how cool this secret storage planter is!!!

Be well!

I already own this dress in the black and white polka dot pattern and gosh darn it, I’m digging this one too. It’s such a cute dress.

This handmade mug! So pretty!

I’m kind of on a mirror kick at the moment. I just love the look of this one.

This lamp!

This stay weird sticker from Redbubble looks so cute on my mirror. I have a list of some more of favorites from Redbubble here and you can use code RBC-B2S20-thedaintysquid for 15% off!

Loving the color of this throw blanket!

Link love…

Happy Friday! xoxo

1 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

still here, still sewing.

by Kaylah Stroup

A couple of days ago, on instagram, someone asked me if I had quit blogging…

Well, I guess I accidentally did. Crap. I do have a good excuse though – I have 100% been in mask making mode. Basically since the beginning of April, all of my work hours have been dedicated to sewing masks. I’ve blogged a couple of times since my first post on mask making but trying to carve out time for taking photos and blogging just hasn’t been my top priority.

I miss it though. I miss this space. I miss sharing photos and writing things about my life. I love browsing through my own archives just to see old photos and read about whatever silly little thing had me excited at the moment. I feel like I’m going to be a little bit bummed out when a huge chunk of time is missing from the blog.

Buuuut it’s not like I’ve been holding on to anything exciting. It’s basically been 24/7 masks over here. I eat, sleep, and breathe masks. Not too much else is going on. I sew a bunch then decompress by playing Zelda : Breath of the Wild late into the night. Oh, and I spend a lot of time caring for my plants. I’m basically living it up.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it. I was really worried about what the pandemic would mean for my small business. I wasn’t sure if business would just come to a halt or what. Making masks has been a lot of fun. It forced me to work on my skills, spend time perfecting them, and of course, it’s kept my business alive. I’m thankful to have been able to adapt in such a way.

Over the past few months, I’ve switched from tie masks (which take so much time and fabric) to elastic and then to elastic with adjustable stoppers so they fit a larger variety of folks. I’m so happy with the evolution of it all. They aren’t just cute, they’re comfortable too.

I’ve been so consumed with masks, I hadn’t even had a chance to update the shop with some stuff I made right before the pandemic that I reeeally reeeeally love. Double zip wristlets and pouches!

I had them tucked away in a basket that I just rediscovered over the weekend. I decided it was finally time to get them listed. It’s been so long since I’ve made any type of bag that it was really exciting to see these again. I’m a huge fan of that dalmatian polka dot cork!

My latest big update which included everything in this post (masks + bags!) went live this morning. Right now though? The shop is looking pretty empty. At the time of this post going live, there are a couple of masks left and a handful of wristlets but that’s about all. Bags probably won’t be restocked for a while but more masks will definitely be hitting the shop this time next week. If you’re interested in staying in the loop, the best spot to find update details is in my instagram stories.

All that to say, I’m still here, I miss you and I’ll try to make a better effort to show up more often! ♥

shop The Dainty Squid on etsy!

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

friday favorites #561

by Kaylah Stroup

this post contains affiliate links.

Plant person. It’s me! I really just love everything from Hemleva!

These opossum stickers are so silly. I love them.

LOVE these earrings. If you even kind of like these, you have to check out the rest of Lace & Pearls handmade jewelry.

A recent favorite purchase – this striped dress. It is PERFECT for summer. It’s breezy, comfortable and looks great without anything else added.

Elena Zaycman’s work is just incredible. I love this moth suncatcher.

I think the fact this pin is called ‘tiny dancer‘ is what really draws me in. So silly.

No touching!

A surprise mini cactus in a handmade planter. This is such a cute gift idea.

Mmmm! Cinnamon Chai!

The universe needs more humans like you!

How cute is this phone case!?

This shirt cracks me up.

link love…

Happy Friday! xoxo

3 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

sixty four-leaf clovers!

by Kaylah Stroup
four leaf clover collection

In the month of May I found sixty (SIXTY! 60! SIIIIIXTYYY!) four leaf clovers in my own very, very tiny yard.

I’ve had a ~thing~ with four leaf clovers for a little while now. In 2018, I found my first one and then immediately became obsessed with finding them. I was constantly looking for them. I found seven total the whole year.

In 2019, my mom died and I started finding four leaf clovers ALL THE TIME. I wrote a post about it here. There’s a kind of ebb and flow to it. Some months I’ll only find a few, then the next month I find a ton. At the beginning of May I realized I was finding a lot of them every single time I took Klaus outside. Instead of just shoving them randomly in my notebook, I sectioned off an area for all of them so that at the end of the month I could count up my total.

four leaf clovers

Pretty wild, right!? I can’t believe I found sixty of them in my yard. There is barely even any grass, just what lines my driveway. I’m still not saying it’s anything related to my mom but then again, I kinda am…

Check out my tips for pressing plants here.

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

friday favorites – black owned small biz edition!

by Kaylah Stroup

Nash + Pino has 10 free vegan nail polishes! Caramel Macchiato (pictured below!) is my favorite. Issa Vibe is also gorgeous.

NaturalAnnie’s candles are so fun.

These cocktail-inspired soaps from Soap Distillery sound great! I’m particularly interested in the one called ‘beer and cigarettes‘ (hops, tobacco and lavender! Gosh, that’s gotta be so good!)

Diggin Studio Nom’s work! She even has a DIY kit available if you’d prefer to make something for your wall.

Worthy and Badass has a wide variety of goods I think y’all will like! I’m particularly fond of her mirror sticker & monstera propagation station (which comes with a cutting of your choice!)

No Justice No Peace!

This planter by rkitekt is the cutest!

Blade + Bloom makes skin care balms, candles, scrubs, soaps and more.

Loving BobbiMadeThis’s earrings!

Hello Wildflowerrr has so many cute sticker designs!

Same!

Within three minutes of discovering Paige’s Candle Co I had one of her candles in my cart. I bought rum & tobacco but I REALLY want them all.

Love this junk food wrapping paper by Siyo Boutique!

Even more!

Etsy also has a Black-owned shop feature right now. Check it out here.

After you’re done clicking around here & checking out all these black-owned small businesses, please check out this link. It has up to date links to petitions, places to donate, and perhaps most importantly, resources to educate yourself. xoxo

Also, just gonna note that at the the time of publishing, these shops all still had stock left. If they’ve sold out, bookmark them and come back another day! This isn’t a one time deal. Make an effort to support black-owned businesses everyday!

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

friday favorites #560

by Kaylah Stroup

this post contains affiliate links.

A recent purchase I am SO excited about – boob planter! I liked it so much I bought a butt planter from the same company.

Digging these overalls. They look super comfy! (This pair is cute too! Love that baggy fit.)

Emily Kinsella’s work is so lovely. I really like her style.

Very very into these earrings!

The colors of this dress are so pretty. I’m featuring a dress that isn’t black and white striped?! Who am I?!!!

Love this weekly to-do list!

I feel like I feature Calhoun & Co’s blankets every other week. They just have such cute designs.

Aren’t these planters so pretty!?

This pillow!

I just love this dress! Perfect to just throw on with some sandals and be all set. It comes in a handful of other colors as well.

I LOVE this rug!

Link love…

  • THIS RUG HAS A FACE AND I LOVE IT. Yes, all caps.
  • Iridescent shower curtain!
  • This washi tape set in earth tones would be perfect to tape down pressed plants in a notebook. That may seem oddly specific but I’ve been finding TONS of four-leaf clovers lately so I’ve got pressed plants on the mind.
  • I wish this dress was photographed on a model because it is very cute and I’d love to know how it actually fits.
  • These PJs legitimately made me snort because they have bananas and ketchup on them? It just seems so random.
  • I LOVE the color of this shirt.
  • Oh hello. This bra sure is something! Also, this one!

Happy Friday! xoxo

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts