Wall Decor

There's a huge blank space on the wall above Lukas's bed that has been driving me nuts. What should I put there?

Observe these very poorly photoshopped images for ideas:

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Open to anything (reasonably priced) right now.

Cat Print

Our days are full. Full and crazy and happy and sad and silly and EXHAUSTING. I've mostly accepted the fact that this is a stage of my life that leaves little time for hobbies (or friends or exercise or personal hygiene). At the end of the day, after the kids are asleep, Eric and I collapse onto the nearest piece of furniture; if we're lucky, we have a glass of wine and a chat. Most of the time, we we watch an episode of something on Netflix before dragging ourselves to bed (Person of Interest is awesome, by the way).

However, a couple of Sundays ago, I was able to carve and print a little linoleum block. It was a quick carving job, and my printing skills are rusty (though I was never that good at printing in the first place), but I really enjoyed myself. It felt really great to do something for myself, by myself. 

Thanks, Eric, for herding the children.  

Since then, I've been using our Netflix and chill (actually chilling, mind you) evenings to sketch. I might not have enough time or energy to do major projects right now, but I've been enjoying practicing being creative. It will be all too soon before the kiddos are in school and I have far too much time and energy on my hands. And I have a feeling that will be much worse than my current lack of both. 

My Version of Secret Holiday & Co.

Have you ever had a moment when you're in the store/art gallery/whatever and you're like, "omg, look at that cute/cool/trendy such-and-such, I could totally make that in ten minutes, and I can't believe they want (insert ridiculous seeming price here) for it." NO? Well I have that thought ALL THE TIME. For example:

This is the work of Secret Holiday & Co. These banners range from $65 to $85 and there is a huuuuge waiting list for them. Huge. It would take years to receive one because, as far as I can tell, they are produced by one lady who makes them by hand in her spare time.

So I decided to make one. The silly thing is, I don't even really like them that much. I think I was more annoyed that I could make this thing for less than $10 and that there are apparently thousands of people out there that want one and are willing to pay a ridiculous amount for them.

I felt a little weird just copying these banners exactly - I made my banner a little differently shaped and I tried to come up with my own verbiage... but that ended up being a total bust. I knew it would go in Cora's room so I wanted it to have some good advice like, "Be strong and courageous" but "courageous" is a stinking long word and wouldn't fit. "Brave" fits perfectly. I thought of doing a fruit of the spirit, but "Love, Joy, Peace" sounds like a Christmas card and, guess what, "Be kind" is already a SHCO banner. I should have just said, "Mama knows best." Omg that's brilliant; I wish I had thought of that sooner. Danggit.

Anyway, my finished banner turned out fine - since I couldn't pick one phrase, I made it double-sided; that way I can flip it over and be doubly indecisive. I just hot-glued the letters on instead of sewing them and now I'm wondering if I can peel them off and change the words around..... because "mama knows best".... at least the second time around....

Postal Paper

I had a couple of small gifts to send to the nieces and nephew (I don't want them to forget entirely that I exist), and instead of just shipping them off like a normal person would, I had to go and turn the packaging into a project for myself. But really, why the heck not, it's not like I'm doing anything else right now....

I carved a little stamp and then printed it one zillion times on a tube of postal paper. I doubt my brothers (or their children) will notice, but I had a lot of fun and I think the finished product is pretty dang cute. Even if I do say so myself!

Comfortably Blue

I have been tired a lot lately; and when I'm tired, I like to look at pretty, soothing things. Therefore, it makes sense that Comfortably Blue has become one of my favorite tumblrs. Comfortably Blue features a collection of drawings, sculptures, and photographs by a girl named Salome who lives in Switzerland. Her art is sweet and soft and feminine and I find it inspiring. It helps me to be excited for the day when I will have the energy to create pretty (or not so pretty) things on my own again. Soon :)

Zara is Amazing!!

Holy. Cow. I am so excited right now!!!!! Finding gender neutral baby clothing has been nigh-on impossible, but then I came across the Zara Mini lookbook today.... I love it all. So classic and amazing and adorable. I'm in love!!!

Above are images from the lookbook.
Below are some outfits from their website. I had a really hard time picking favorites - though their sweaters are too sweet for words. Eep! So cute!

Leah Giberson

Paintings that feel like summer....

... by Leah Giberson. Look at how shiny those airstreams are! They make me want to go camping again.

Folk Fibers

I am a huge fan of Folk Fibers. I've meant to post about them for a while now, and with all the quilt talk yesterday, this seemed the perfect time. Folk Fibers is pretty much the only reason that I think quilts are cool. I follow Maura Grace (the owner and creator) on Instagram, and watching her dye her fabrics and then turn them into these hand-sewn beauties is inspiring. If I were capable of quilting, my quilts would attempt to be as awesome as these:

This is an indigo-dyed whole cloth quilt. 

This one was dyed using pomegranates. Pomegranates, people!!

See even more amazingness at http://www.folkfibers.com/.

Cindy Rizza

After two weeks of solid rain, I've started looking at summery paintings to combat the dreariness. These by Cindy Rizza are just the thing to keep one dreaming of long summer days....

(you know, except for that last one).

Carmel Seymour

Loving these pencil drawings by Carmel Seymour. Especially the first one, A Walk with a Park.

Find more information about her process, materials, and life in Iceland at the Design Files.

Joël Penkman

Just so you know, we didn't do much this weekend. Well, I planted grass on Saturday, but then it snowed on Sunday so who knows if it will even grow. Boo.

Whatever.

Let's look at some artwork by Joël Penkman.

Joël Penkman is a New Zealand artist that now resides in the UK. As you can see, she paints a lot of food. Really pretty food. I love her popsicle paintings, her 100 teacups paintings, and her "Fictional Food" paintings (right column). The middle "Fictional Food" is entitled Holly Golightly's Breakfast :)

She also paints "Things." My favorite has to be these marbles. I love how they reflect the light. 

For those of us who can't afford her original paintings, she does have a few prints for sale in her etsy shop. It's probably a good thing that she doesn't have her marbles painting there or I would be really tempted.... Though a candy print is really tempting as well... So cute!

The Link Collective

Furoshiki. Have you heard of this? Furoshiki are Japanese wrapping clothes. They're used for carrying goods and clothing or even for wrapping gifts. I found some gorgeous ones handmade by Link Collective on Etsy.

They sell bag and strap sets so you can make a kind of purse, but their site also shows how to fold the scarves in order to conveniently carry different kinds of things.

It's like fabric origami!

Definitely check out Link's site as well as reading this interview about the dyeing and printing process here. Super fascinating.

Inspring Artist: Jeremy Miranda

I'm really clueless when it comes to paintings, but I really like the work of Jeremy Miranda. I like the contrast of stark interiors with the bright airiness of his greenhouse paintings. You can see some of his studies at his blog: http://jeremymiranda.blogspot.com/ or see his portfolio at: http://jeremymiranda.com/ .

Inspiring Illustrator: Liekeland

I've been enjoying these illustrations by Lieke van der Vorst. You can explore more of her (I think it's a her? I can't really read Dutch...) work at: http://www.liekeland.nl/

Sitting in My Shopping Cart: Artwork

Right now, our living room is a big, white void. Even the warmth of our red wool rug isn't enough to keep it from feeling like the slightest sound would fill the room with echoes.

As a result, I have been on the hunt for things to hang, and be pretty, and to stop sound from bouncing around so much.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Grid Objects Silk-Screened Poster by Ben Kafton via Etsy:

Monotype Prints by Raina Gustafson via Etsy:

Fox Hunt by Becca Stadtlander:

Pointy Poster by Make Like:

Hemispherical Neighborhoods by Edu Barba via Etsy:

Constellation Chart from Agent Gallery Chicago (I've been in love with this forever and the fact that it comes with its own hanging device is quite handy):

Tiger Says Meow by RK Design:

Himmeli Mobiles (L is plastic straws, R is brass; I actually tried to make one of these once, but the cat ended up eating it before I could finish):

Modern Wood Clock by Uncommon via Etsy:

Line-as-Pattern Planter by Half Light Honey Studio (love, love, love!):

Accessorizing: Artwork via Little Paper Planes

The search continues for artwork to fill our walls. Today, I came across the site Little Paper Planes. It is full of really great prints in an array of sizes that seem to be reasonably priced. Here are a few of my favorites:

David Linneweh

Julia Rothman

Alyssa Nasner

Caitlin Foster

Louis Reith

My only complaint about this site is that you can't see these pieces any larger than little teeny-tiny product images. I need to see texture, yo!

Would I actually hang any of these on my walls? Mmmm...not sure. Probably the house images if they weren't printed on stupid wood grain. Maybe the Julia Rothman prints on a giant, bare kitchen wall or in a kid's room. But for now, the search continues.

Weekend of In-Laws & Infections (and no, they're not the same thing)

The mother and brothers-in-law made it into town Friday night, and, after staying up far too late and drinking far too much wine, I finally succumbed to the cold I'd been warding off for nearly a month. So whilst the in-laws headed to a wedding reception (which, having been moved without their knowledge, had them traipsing all over the eastern part of the state) I laid around the house with a box of tissues and  art supplies. I wanted to try to do a simple screen print, but after laying out my design, I discovered my screen was far too small and ended up just making a paper cut. That way, I still have a design to hang and, when I finally have a screen large enough, I will have the paper cut with which to burn my image onto my screen. Perfecto.

Living Room Art

This wall hanging by Pony Rider would be groovy over our sofa in the living room. Or would it clash with our rug? Who cares, I love it.

Lookit I Made: Lino Prints, Papercuts, Chairs!

I'm glad things are coming together so nicely at home, because my hopes for Seattle are vanishing before my eyes.

First, I was informed that the behemoth red truck will NOT be making an appearance. There goes my dream of bringing home lovely furniture. Then, I was told by my husband that a stop at ikea (for a couple of sheepskins, a blanket, picture frames, and a rug) was out-of-the question because he has some MUSEUMS to go to. MUSEUMS. Gosh darn learning. 

Sigh. It stinks, but, realistically, the cost of driving that beast out there would have been ATROCIOUS, and there really was no guarantee that I would have found something worth hauling back in the first place. As for ikea, we can go the next time we're in Denver. It makes more sense to wait and do it sometime when our car isn't packed with man flesh. 

I'm just a little disappointed. Hopefully there will be lots of walks and days filled with cute little shops. That would be fun too.

But I digress. 

I've been working on some stuff. I finally finished a couple of prints I've been working on forevvvver. You would not believe how difficult it is to find white paper in Billings. Not ivory, not off-white, not cream. White. And then getting that piece of paper home without crinkling it....especially when you have a watermelon rolling around in the back of your car....even more difficult. 

The smaller one is a lino print, and the larger, geometric shapes are paper cuts. I kind of wish I had done them the opposite of that - airplanes as a paper cut, shapes as stamps. It would have been cool to have some texture in the shapes, I think.

Yay for more pictures that I probably won't hang on the walls!

This brings me to my most favorite project in the history of the world - my chairs! I have had soooo much fun sanding and oiling and waxing and upholstering these things. Uh. I seriously want to do this forever. So. Much. Fun. So far, I've completed two of the four.

I ended up getting some linen to cover the seats (sale! only $6!), and while I'm not the best upholsterer, I think they look pretty sharp! Hurrah for me!

Shall I show you "before" pictures so you're more impressed?? This is what they looked like when I first got them:

The seat backs were by far the worst. They were really faded and had quite a few nicks and gouges in them.
This is after I sanded the heck out of them:

And this is after being oiled:

This picture does not do them justice. It's amazing, but after being oiled and waxed, these chairs practically glow in the sunlight. And they're so silky smooth....

A side-by-side comparison:

I'm really proud of myself :) I'm having so much fun!

 Here they are hanging out in our freshly painted dining room....

Now to find a table! And a rug!