The Paper Dress

I've been into paper dresses lately and have designed my own that I really want to create. I originally came up with it for an Ugly Betty contest where thy had viewers enter ideas of what sort of dress could be designed using only things found in the office. I came up with this paper butterfly dress. (I never actually entered it, btw, I missed the deadline). But I want to make this myself. It could be so beautiful and simple. White cut-out butterflies on a white jumper. I've noticed too that dresses made from paper or found objects seem to be all the rage. I really adore this plastic wedding dress from the cover of the latest I.D. magazine. I also enjoyed an article in the latest British Vogue all about craft work in fashion.

Jacadi Paris

I've been doing some pre-Parisian research por mon enfant and thanks to the help of my new French friend Nadja, I have discovered Jacadi Paris (their nurseries to be more precise). I absolutely love how they styled these rooms. I'm a big fan of the use of one color of paint over ornate detailed trim work. Very fun.

looking back...

I've been looking through my old files and came across this painting I did 4 years ago. I'm very sad because I never got a high res scan or photo of the painting before it sold and I have no idea who I sold it to (this was before I was knew what I was doing ;) ). Oh well, it's fun to remember. I still am very inspired by this look. Taking a trip down memory lane has inspired me for future work.

Martha Moth Makes Socks

My good friend Cambria Evans Christensen has a wonderful book out called Martha Moth Makes Socks. I believe it's doing really well and has received great reviews. You should all run out to your local bookstore and snatch up this little gem. Expect more great work from her in the near future.

I will be continuing to highlight my friends and their fabulous work so stayed tuned!

Giselle Potter

Giselle Potter has got to be one of my favorite children's illustrators. Her characters and colors are so charming and her style naive yet sophisticated. I particularly love her book The Year I Didn't Go to School which she both wrote and illustrated. In this book she tells the story of a year from her childhood when her family went to Italy where they all paricipate in her parents traveling theatre and puppet troupe. It sounds like something I've dreamed for my life with my children. I'm sure Atticus, with an actor as a father and an illustrator as a mother will have similar experiences. He's been on an airplane at least 8 times, been to 5+ diff states (the "+" referring to the ones he's driven through on a 3 day road trip), has a passport and will be traveling to Paris in May and Santa Cruz in June...and all this in the first year and 1/2 of his life! He'll either grow to love the arts and travel or to loathe it! Only time will tell :).

Sabyasachi

Ok, but my new favorite fashion designer has got to be, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. He is like an Indian version of Anthropologie. I absolutely adore the mixture of textiles and colors and I love his librarian chic take on today's trends. Very fabulous.

Amy Butler

Since we are on textile designers and their studios I had to mention one of my favorite fabric designers, Amy Butler.
The first pic is her in her studio. The others are from a trade show. I love how she painted one of her patterns on the cement floor. I have wanted to do that. One dream I have is to renovate a warehouse and have everything open with cement floors (I know, not very kid friendly) that I could paint on.

I also love Amy Butler's book In Stitches. I have made the lounge pants from it and am working on the kimono to go with them.

Heather Bailey

My dear friend Denise Plant, fabulous designer and artist herself, called my attention to fabric designer Heather Bailey, and in particular her studio. Isn't this so inspirational? I love how creatively organized she is. And her new line of fabrics, Freshcut for Free Spirit, are wonderful as well. I'll have to get some to play around with.

Zara Home - Breathtaking

These pics from Zara Home are breathtaking! This is absolutely my dream decor. I can't wait to go to their store in London as well! (No stores currently in the US). I read once that your dream home is what you see when you close your eyes and image yourself in a place where everything is right. Often times it has been there ever since you were a child.

These images are a perfect synthesis of what I love today coupled with what I have always dreamed of growing up. When I close my eyes, there is always white. White peeling paint, billowing white curtains and white ornamentation. There might be other colors to accent but everything is predominantly white. This may seem odd as I love color and paint so much and want to paint all the walls in my current home. However, when I do get my dream home, I think I'm going to have to go for the all white look in a least one room in the house (one where the kids can't go until they've grown ;)).

I love the few shots of the kitchen here as well. I've been trying to decide what my dream kitchen is and I love what they have done here. I would love to have self-standing cabinets and counters. I love hutches and open shelving. And of course I love white. As far as kitchens go, I think I know more of what I don't want than what I do. I know I don't want anything too modern (i like plenty of modern accents, such as appliances, but a super sleek bachelor pad looking kitchen is a definite NO.) I also know I don't want oak cabinets or anything that looks too middle America cookie cutter (such as my kitchen now - nice but not my dream. Jon likes it though and won't let me paint the cupboards white. He's most likely right that it's best for the re-sell as we won't be here for forever). I've been hard pressed to find pics of kitchens I like (most everything is so sleek and I like withered) so I was excited to see these.