Exquisite

I don't think I'll ever be too old for dolls. I love all the creations that Christine Alvarado, over at Du Buh Du Designs, makes.

At home where she belongs...

the emerald is really starting to grow on me...and just happens to be one of fall's "it" colors.

refinery 29 (photo edits made by mer)

why I've been banned from ebay...

...by my husband, that is. I purchased these two paintings for what seemed like a steel of $19.99 and $16.99...until I realized that one would be shipped from China (ouch...shipping costs would be killer) and the other had a thick heavy frame...also making shipping costs high. Ok, so I neglect to look at shipping info and the location of the seller far too often...bad ebay newbie mistakes. But hey...practice makes perfect right? I just need more experience. And wouldn't you agree that they just go so perfect in the rooms they were meant for?

Mystic Paper Beasts

I would love to take Atticus to a Mystic Paper Beasts show. Being in love with the book The Year I Didn't Go To School and with author/illustrator Giselle Potter it would only be natural that I would love the masked theater company her family started when she was little (which is actually what the book The Year I Didn't Go to School is all about).

Today I am Inspired by:

...painted on architectural elements and creative art arrangements.
*I'll probably never be a legit design/art blog as I don't source everything due to my large and somewhat disorderly design file (much of which I started well before I ever became a dedicated blogger). If you want to know where a particular image came from I'll do my best to track it down for you.

fabulous cake

If I was super interesting and fabulously well connected I'd throw a V-day party and serve this cake (and of course you would all be invited). Happy Valentines!

too cute decor ideas

overall a little too cute for me but I love the idea of using addition/subtraction cards for art and the "eat" sign in the dining area.

Vintage Inspired Jewelry

I LOVE these vintage inspired jewelry pieces featured in the March Country Living (a lovely issue filled with stories from women entrepreneurs). In fact I'm so into vintage jewelry that I had a dream the other night that I went to a workshop to create some similar necklaces to those above and I spent over $100 on the chain alone. I was so stressed about how I was going to confess this to Jon that when I finally woke up I was very relieved that no expensive chain purchasing occurred. Silliness.

brilliance

Just the other day I was getting Atticus out of the bath and thought, "it would be so nice to have a comfy chair to sit on while I dried him off like all those fancy bathrooms in magazines". Then I thought, "but it would get water damage, and I don't have room"...etc. Well I still don't have room but I was excited to see that Country Living has come up with a solution to the water damage aspect by slipcovering a chair with oversize terry cloth bath towels. Sheer brilliance I tell you.

Putting myself out there...at 2:30 in the AM

I couldn't sleep tonight as Jon was up working grading papers with his light on. The 2008 presidential primaries also came up right before I tried to go to sleep so...needless to say...exterior stimulation coupled with interior debating does not a tired girl make.

OK, so here is how I see it. Why would I shoot for the moon, take financial and emotional risks to create the American dream for my family and myself when after heavy taxes I could just as well work at Burger King, making more or less the same amount, and with padded health care? It doesn't add up to to burden the people with taxes (disguised as multiple reforms aiming to "make life better" when in turn it only perpetuates poverty, enslaving the recipient to a life of dependency) in the hopes of "freeing" them. It doesn't seem to speak logic to me. It sounds all warm and fuzzy yet does it really help? Does it really do good to shoot down those that can add more opportunity and jobs for those that need it? Shouldn't we be empowering our fellow Americans by encouraging them to work for themselves and their families and in a profession that enlightens their minds and in turn improves our economy (which then in turn improves their way of life)? To reduce a too large a percentage of America down to "those poor people who can't help themselves" is just well, un-American to me.

Ok, now I can go to sleep (hope I don't regret such musings in the morning...).

Don't worry, I'll be back to my usual pretty things and inspiring visuals. Such tangents won't become the norm...

inspiration board as art

Lovely Artist: Penelope Dullaghan

I love the artwork that Penelope Dullaghan did for the Emily Dickinson Museum 2007 poster. As Emily Dickinson has always been a muse of mine I fear I must have one.

mom's supper ware

I was perusing the etsy store White Elephant Vintage and found these cups and saucers. My mother had plates out of this same Corelle Crazy Daisy motif when I was growing up. Wonder where they are now...

The "A" List

Jon and I have been thinking of what names we want for our future children and everything seems to start with "A". Because we have used "A" for Atticus already we feel that if we name the next child with an "A" name we will have to continue to use "A" names thereafter. I used to think that this was a silly idea but now I'm liking the unity and feeling of belonging it would bring to our family. I also really have always loved the structured look of the "A". (oh and an "E" name slipped in there...but she could go by Angeline). Please comment with more names that you like that begin with "A". I'm open for ideas. Thanks!

I must paint Emily and Lavinia Dickinson

"[I]n this Emily was perfectly correct: home was, and has always been, something sacred for the Dickinsons. Nothing untoward could ever happen to us there, nothing that could make us lose faith in the goodness and nobility of humankind, nor lose faith in the future. Nothing could expose us to the storm outside, it was our private and fantastic kingdom, and we inhabited it naturally, like fairies do in tales, or those rebelious and passionate being in novels."

-Lavinia Dickinson on the Dickinson home in the novel: The Sister, A novel of Emily Dickinson

So many ways to spread the L-O-V-E

*Lush Designs: Elle Decor; DIY Ideas; Alphabet Discs by Wendy Addison

Vena Cava

Although I missed Vena Cava (one of my favorite team of designers) on the catwalk this past fashion week I'm super excited about their book coming out with the fall 08 collection. Just look at these beautiful graphics. These girls are sooo good.

my Amelie sopha

Ok, so I've had my eyes on this peacock blue Amelie sofa from Anthropologie for quite some time now. I even got to see it in person recently in their Denver, CO store - was a tad smaller than I thought (all of their furniture is actually much smaller in person). Well of course the price was way out of my budget (a grand total of $2,898.00, with $250 for shipping) yet I continued to drool just the same.

Well, recently I made the find of a lifetime. I was in a local Knoxville antique store, Nostalgia, and spotted this emerald green velvet beauty hiding beneath multiple miss-matched pillows and even a few end tables. The second I saw it my heart leapt and I raced over to see if it really could be as gorgeous and It appeared. In almost perfect condition (a few small tears on the back) and for only $250 (the prince of shipping for the Anthropologie sofa! and it's much longer!), I had to have it. Yes we are trying to save money right now but I've also learned that for me to earn more and create more art, sometimes I need a little more of an incentive than the lofty one of paying morgtage each month (Oh and I love how this follows my 2008 theme of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, etc.). I would love to recover this in a peacock blue velvet similar to the Amelie sofa above but for now I'm happy with the emerald. I'm super excited and ready to get back to painting!

DIY: Chilrdren's Place Mats

You can make these super easy but super cute children's place mats just by taking your favorite decorative paper to your local copy shop and having it laminated. Here I used 12"x12" papers from scrap line Bam Pop (one of my favs) and created 4 double sided mats - using 8 papers in all (I know some paper already comes double sided which would also work great). I love how these can also be used as a dry-erase doodle pads, play-dough/craft mats, etc. Aj loves to bounce his cars and animals up and down on these (which inspires me to create more with street and town scenes). If you wanted to make these for adults I would advise using larger decorative paper as scapbook paper is just too small for an adult size table setting.

Currently Craving: This Billabong Bag

Loving the hair on the model as well.

beautiful coats

Loving these elegant yet versatile light coats (especially the rosy gray color) from fall's 07 runway . Beautiful.

Recipe #3: Grilled Steak Bruschetta Salad

I now have #3 of my 30 recipe's completed. Tonight we had Grilled Steak Bruschetta Salad (recipe from BHG) and it was quite lovely. (I have to give Jon credit as well as he did grill the steak). I will say however that while it was appealing to our sophisticated pallete I am not sure this will go on our list of frequently made meals. When it was all said and done with everything was a tad overpriced (all the fancy ingredients and perfect cut of beef really added up). We had a great time with it though and still definitely recommend it.

Lovely Artist: Amy Abshier Reyes

currently inspired by the color and era of these works from artist Amy Abshier Reyes.

Branch photo holder

Loving this branch photo holder and want to make one myself.

Misiak Tea Set of my dreams

Ok, so I found a tea set that just might outshine the previous one I found and love. I don't know what it is about black and ornate but I can't seem to pull myself away from it. One major problem however? I can't seem to find out where this set is from. Sadness.

*Update: Thanks to Jessica I know have a link and might be able to get the tea set of my dreams. Check out all of Christine Misiak's other gorgeous tea sets while you are at it. Thanks again Jessica!

When Jon goes to the Oscars...

I'll have to invest in one of these lovely dresses.

Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts blogger and Wren Eleven founder, Ez, was kind of enough to add me to her design and style blog roll (and what a lovely blog roll it is!). CC just might be one of my all time favorite blogs so it's an honor to be a part of her fav's. It has also made me commit to taking this blog one step further and add all the things I've been wanting to for a while - so stayed tuned. Thanks Ez!