{D.I.Y.} design*sponge & creature comforts

i had to post these two clever DIY projects. the first one {above} is a project from Grace at design*sponge. she decided she would try one of the suggestions from Blueprint magazine's article about stylish jewelry storage. you can read more about Grace's shadowbox jewelry cases at her blog. they seem pretty simple to make and are excellent way to incorporate your new favorite patterns in small way.







secondly, i had to post about Ez's crafty project for chocolate valentine wrappers! these {above, and Ez's instructions the right} also look incredibly easy to assemble and Ez has been nice enough to make a PDF guide to download. read more about this project at her creature comforts blog.




thanks grace / blueprint and ez for these easy ideas!

{photos from design*sponge and creature comforts, respectively}

don't make me cut you.

i made this polyvore set last week or so and meant to blog about subversive stitching. these cross stitching kits are not very expensive and take a stray away from the pastel kittens and horses-in-meadows motifs. my favorite is pictured in the polyvore set {above}. (also if you are curious about any of the other items in the ployvore set, just click on the photo and it will take you to my ployvore and show you the sites the items came from.)

deeply madly in love

{1} deeply madly in love card from madebygirl.
{2} dna cowboy sunglasses from tobi.
{3} red doily heart earring from fred flare.

love yourself.

felt heart rings by the funkyfelter etsy shop.



love orgami {more beautiful photography from the cox & cox store.}



"like carrying around a little piece of art when you go to the store," reusable tote bags from melissa vest designs etsy shop.

sweet talk

chocolates send a romantic message: these sweet talking chocolates can be found at cox & cox and baska-jon fine foods.

{r.s.v.p. berlin} stickpostkarten

i love the idea of these maps with thread. the website they are from is in german, but i am assuming you are to use the thread to chart a path of places you went or are going to on a trip. how lovely it would be to have a whole collection of these showing your landmarks for each trip you've taken.

rose and radish {valentine edition}

i know it's a little early for valentine's day, but like i said in my earlier post, i've been poking around the rose and radish shop and they have some of the best valentine styled product shoots, i had to share.

(knowing me, i'd save the photos in my google notebook, wait until the week of the holiday and plan to post it then, but before i'd know it, i'd get too busy and the holiday would be said and done with. {this happened to me at both halloween and christmas.} so this time i'm not going to wait!)

melanie bilenker

i've come across another talented artist today, melanie bilenker. her exquisitely detailed images have something romantic about them too; this is what melanie says about her creations on her website:

The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants. I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes, the mundane, the domestic, the ordinary moments.

you can view more of melanie bilenker's work on her website or at the sienna gallery.

laura normandin

i've been poking around the rose and radish shop the last couple of days and one of the artists that has caught my eye is laura normandin. she is the one who made the painted bottles {above, which you can buy at the rose and radish shop here}.

so i looked her up and found her website; it is full of kinds of interesting artwork.

the art sort of gives me the feeling of the weather today: rainy and chilly. not in a bad way, but the feeling of being inside and cozy, peering out at an almost beautiful dreary day.







there is even hair embroidery.

you can view more of laura normandin's work for yourself on her website.

design police: comic sans is illegal

haha, i have seen this before, but my boyfriend just sent me the link again and i had to post about it (guess i forgot to the first time i saw it). behold the ever-clever visual enforcement kit by the design police. follow the link and it will take you to a page where you can download a PDF of 5 pages of the most awesome, rip-your-work-to-shreds editing labels to be found. this is genius.

{creature comforts} thank you, ez!

i received the sweetest note in the mail today (yes, the real u.s. postal service) from Ez over at Creature Comforts. and inside she included one of these adorable paper dolls from her wren eleven shop! {pictured to the left.} (such a neat idea! its a beautiful gocco print that has cutouts and when you place different patterned papers behind the print it changes the pattern on the girl's dress. you can buy them in the wren eleven shop here.) i have the perfect spot for it on my desk and it's now hanging beautifully. thank you so much, Ez!


let me just say, Ez is truly a talented lady. i adore her blog and flickr photos so much. in fact, the whole note she sent me was spurred from a comment i made on the blueprint magazine's blog, bluelines, concerning the closing of the magazine (yes, sad and true. a publication i will truly miss). the post was asking for advice from readers on how blueprint could continue to entice readers now that the monthly paper magazine would be gone. (you can read the post and the many many comments here.) in my comment i said:

One of the best things about Blueprint magazine was the styling and design. I've never gotten the same vibe with the blog. I feel like in order for the blog to replace the true feeling of Blueprint style you must consider designing the layout of the blog and posts better. The glossy large photos are one of the best things about a magazine, and this can still be achieved (somewhat) by blogging. I say look at Creature Comforts and Oh Joy! blog for great examples of stylized design blogging. And the best thing about those two examples, even in RSS reader form, they still have a great look. Just some advice to consider!


and it is true, i think of Ez's blog posts on Creature Comforts as some of the best looking blog posts out there. she has quite an eye for grouping items together for a perfect stylized match, and moreso she has a unique way of presenting the items with beautiful borders, lettering, etc. you can certainly tell she puts time and effort into her blog, home and other online endeavors. and i must add, it is rare to come across someone so gracious and thoughtful enough to send a lovely handwritten note in the mail.




so i continue to be inspired by Ez all the time, and I think if you have yet to discover her blog for yourself, now is the time you should check it out! she also has two online shops that you must visit, wren eleven and wren & chickadee.

{all photos from creature comforts blog, except first photo of the paperdoll, that is from the wren eleven shop}

matteart

i feel like i have posted about matte stephens before, but i couldn't find it in my archives... anyway, super cute and super affordable prints are available at the matteart etsy shop!

(reminded by bloesem's birthday post)

de klein zebra

i must introduce you to the most adorable belgium children's shop, de klein zebra. i had a hard time picking just a few items to share, so you should check the shop out for yourself. i especially love the robot pillow.

(via bloesem kids)

world map decals

i've watched the wall decal trend over the last couple of years and none of it has really grabbed me one way or the other, but i have to say that this one from ferm living is an exception. obviously i have a thing for maps (hence the post right before this one and the other post i've made about map murals and globes - i even used vintage maps as my wrapping paper this past christmas) , so naturally i would be partial to this sort of thing. even though one of my favorite things about maps are usually their color, i do like the sleek design of the map silhouette.

(via laissez faire)

make your own path.

from the makers of the keep calm and carry on posters (keep calm ltd.), comes this poster by douglas wilson. the make your own path posters are all printed on individual vintage maps. it's too bad they are sold out already.

however another one of douglas wilson's posters, kill them with kindness, is available. it's not as visually exciting, but certainly a mantra i personally live by.

polyvore amor

polyvore. i feel like i may be a little behind on this discovery, but thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, creature comforts, i stumbled upon this amazing website / application called polyvore. i mean really, it amazes me. it is like playing paperdolls for grownups (or pretending to design a page in Lucky magazine).

basically it takes thousands and thousands of products / items (clothing, accessories, furniture, artwork... you name it) and allows you to drag them onto an online editor and create your own collage of images. it can be used for putting together outfits, designing a room, planning a party or event scheme, really... anything. for people like me (those who find it enjoyable to spend hours in front of a computer and create pastimes of scouring the internet) this can equal hours of fun (beware, its addicting).

however, this doesn't even cover the ingenious part of this site; each and every item has been imported from the online store where it was found and links to that page when you click on it. it's like walking through the largest mall you could imagine and searching through it however you please (by outfit, items, color, style, seasonality, similar items, etc.). i think polyvore has serious revenue potential. and it's great for giving exposure to small independent designers and artists too.

and above all, this site is incredibly incredibly easy to use and navigate. anyone could do it. no need for photoshop skills, the built-in editor does everything for you. it really, truly is almost effortless. some people get really fancy and add all kinds of backgrounds and whatnot, so far i haven't experimented with that; however, simple design is more my style anyway.

oh, and another added bonus, if you have a facebook, polyvore has made an application where you can use polyvore directly from there... and you know send gifts and all that weird stuff facebook does.

if you like any of the items you see in the polyvore images above, just click on any one of them and it will take you to my polyvore page, and from there you can visit the store where each of the items came from. i'm thinking right now it would be fun to feature a polyvore collage i have made once a week. that would be fun. so, we'll see!

do you polyvore? will you try it now? if you do use it or start to, stop by and visit my page and add me as a contact!

organic ortolan

i'm in dire need of pillow refreshment in my living room, so i'm on a big hunt. although i don't think these are the perfect fit for my personal needs, i do think they are worth mentioning. using 100% organic tangius cotton, ortolan has some great linen designs for the bed, bath and kitchen. (i especially love the skeleton pillow.)

(via design*sponge)

jane d'arensbourg

i love it when i see a refreshing new take on such a simple design. jane d'arensbourg's baubles are made of glass, how neat is that?

wis design

two clever designs from wis design i wish i could see in my in my home:

1. decades chest of drawers "Chest of drawers made out of discarded drawers, found and rescued at flea markets. A mix of different styles from earlier decades, with woods and knobs of various kinds, in a single piece of furniture. The old drawers are enhanced by the new frame in white lacquered MDF."

2. the jewelry lamp "Instead of letting jewelleries get tangled on hooks, or hiding them in boxes, we literally want to bring them into the light. When the jewelleries are not decorating you, they are decorating your own personally styled lamp."

zara home online

as i've mentioned before, zara home is very amazing. i went to go see if they had a spring catalog available and i found that they have redone their website and you can now shop online! (now i just need to find out if they will ship to the states. gosh i hope so, one step closer to american soil!) i've only been able to briefly peep into what they have available and already i am coveting. maybe i will make a second post with more of my favorite goods. but in the meantime i'll let the photo above entice you into taking a look for yourself.

calendars

it's about that time to replace our calendars and datebooks. tonight i have gathered a few that i find aesthetically pleasing:

the human calendar



sampson may designs



the very infamous stendig calendar



blissen datebook
(i believe i also saw this in a local jacksonville store, violet in 5 points.)



enzo mari: timor desk calendar



colour calendar

mollie dash

today i am really loving the recycled designs of brooklyn jewelry designer mollie dash. on her website she says:

"In my work I use many discarded, thrifted, donated, and yard sale-derived materials. I prefer metal over plastic. I like to pick things up off the street. I use a minimum of new stones. I use cotton and linen cord, rather than leather. I make things last."


reduce, reuse, recycle. love it.