Embrace the Yellow

A beautiful print by Maya Donenfield of the always wonderful maya*made.

She offers constant inspiration to me, and today, she is reminding me of something I am ready to remember how to do.

To embrace all the colors of our lives, even if we think they aren't our favorites, or aren't what we should like or aren't what we are used to or aren't what we are longing for.

Because there is beauty all around us and joy in all moments of life, if we can just see it.

Ruth Marks, Lovely Work

In the interest of Day of the Dead and All Saints Day here's a lovely new to me artist. Her name is Ruth Marks and she has all sorts of dolls and sculptures that are just dreamy and spirity (it's a word [okay it's not, but I'm working it]) and eerie.

Like this one

or this one

Very cool. I went through all her previous works of the various years, but I'm having trouble saving the photos. And I really wish she had a blog.

If you're out there Ruth Marks, can you start a blog? It's not that hard. I'm dying to know about your techniques and inspirations.

Gypsy Caravan

Because I just love this image. And gypsy caravans fire my imagination, even if all I know of them are myths and tales. I like myths and tales, so I guess that's okay for me.

found via robayre and her pinterest board. I should join pinterest, although if I were to do so, my little small and heartfelt might just go the way of the dinosaurs, since I use this blog as my pinboard.

Nancy Drew: Next Halloween, I will be the Girl Sleuth (if I plan ahead)

I was blown away by this suggestion for a Halloween costume.

If only I was not already set to be a witch (not sure if I'm a good witch or a bad witch). Yes, I know a witch is boring and everyone does it. In fact, I do this costume almost every year, as my stand by.

Next year, next year, I will plan ahead and get myself a smart outfit, tweed skirt suit and mary jane heels, a cloche hat. I really want this outfit. And I will carry a book for notes and a magnifying class.

Next year, next year.

via automatism

Nolan Haan-- You Are Not Alone

Sometimes I come across something in a surprising place.

Today it was on my google page. Artist a day.

Nolan Haan paints on cinder block walls. I was struck with this message. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that we are part of the human family, struggling together, in our aloneness. Plus I like the contrast of the hard edge wall and graffiti with the soft, spiritual message.

Retreat Cottage

I love this little cottage. It's a tad girly for my tastes, but I love the idea. I love it as a retreat. A place to write and be creative and have peace. I have a dream that someday I might own an old farm, with outbuildings and tiny cottages scattered about, and people would come to stay and write their novel or work on their opus or just get away from it all and find themselves again.
Here's a place to sit and read, or to recline with a laptop.

There's also an old beat up trailer on the property, which I kind of like too. Maybe my retreat can have residences of all types, from the fancy girly cottage to the rough and tumble guys trailer. All types of people feel the need to create. Why limit it to only people with your tastes?

via pink shirts and carwrecks.

A New Livingroom and A Blast from the Past

I just love this image from Skona Helm, a Swedish magazine. Not that I can read Swedish. Luckily we have googletranslate to mangle it into English. And even better, Automatism, to find the article and make more sense of it.

The thing I love most about this, though, is not the Swedishness of it, or the newness of it, but rather because it reminds me quite forcefully of my parents apartment when I was a little girl. We lived our bohemian, Buddhist, revolutionary artist life on the outskirts of Harlem in the seventies, in an apartment building that was condemned just a few years later.

It looked a lot like this, but with worn wood instead of painted floors. And our sofa, the mattress covered in patterned linens and pillows, sat on a door much like this. It was however propped up on cinder blocks. I think if I were to do this look today, which I might, I think I love it, I prefer the wheels. We even had a table that was much like this one, but again, the pretty wood sat on cinder blocks.

We had photographers lights every where, and paper lanterns. And many photographs, since my dad was a photographer and film maker. But behind the sofa, we had an old granny square afghan, possibly the reason why I hold a fondness for granny square afghans and really, really should finish the one I am working on now.

Eggman Studios

Loving this shop right now. The carnival/museum/specimen feel of the work is eerie-cool. It's hard to pick a favorite, but as someone who spends most of her time around people, I'm feeling a longing for this solitude print.

The artist is Michelle Knowlen and she also has a blog, here.

And Awesome Sleeping Porch That I Would Steal For My Office

How much do I want this screened sleeping porch with full sized bed swing? Oh, wow. A lot.

Really, I'm a lazy person who prefers to be reclining.

Wouldn't this be a fabulous place to hole up with a laptop to write that novel that I should be working on? Surrounded by notes, jazz playing in the background. Some chocolate not too far away for quick bursts of energy? The kids off somewhere else, far far away while I work. Sigh.

I found this on Piwackett. She actually knows this woman and gets to visit her and sit in that swing. And the other side of the sleeping porch is pretty awesome, too.

Hey look, a place to paint.

Nightwood Bed from Design Sponge

Awesome bedroom makeover from Amy over at Design Sponge.

This bed was made by hand by Nadia and Myriah from Nightwood, and shop that creates handmade furniture from recycled and upcycled bits of wood.

I love the mix of urban and country. Industrial and rustic. Oh and the girly to give it some romance. NICE.

There's even a video of the process. If you watch, you'll see clips from my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, to boot. I miss you, BK.

Dining Under Autumn Leaves

Wouldn't it be nice to live this life?

The simple dinner party out of doors. A table, some linens, some place settings, some fruit.

A hat, a velvet blazer and a skirt, some boots.

A pretty setting, nothing fancy, out of doors.

Created by Chelsea over at frolic. And here is even more in this story and some instructions of a few details.
The funny thing is... I could do this. I have the Autumn yard, surrounded by fall colored leaves, I have a round table I could take out, a table cloth and place settings, a bowl for the fruit. I have blazers and hats and scarves and boots and skirts.

The only element I don't already possess are those cool wine colored chairs.

What I don't possess is the energy to pull it all together.

Well. Hm.

Is creating something like this worth the energy output? Are the memories good enough to make the work worthwhile?

Am I just too lazy? It might be a nice reward for a job (all that work) well done. It might make for some nice pictures too.

The Sketch Book Project

I signed up for this project. It's a global art journal project and in the end, the journals will go on tour and end up in a permanent exhibit in my old home of Brooklyn.

It actually took me a while, like months, because every time I tried to sign up, for some reason, it wouldn't allow me to log on. And every time I saw it online, I would get the urge to sign up again and go to the site and go through the same frustration of being bounced back to the "sign in" page which would not let me sign in, or get a new account because I already had one. I bet I signed up last year on my gmail account and forgot the password.

Anyway, finally, I got smart and used my secondary email to sign up. Then I picked my theme and bought my notebook. My theme is "If you lived here..." which is actually the third or fourth theme I chose, since each time I went back, my previous theme was sold out.

If you want to do something so much that you keep thinking about it, keep having the urge, and keep returning to the same place, it's probably a sign that you should do all you can to make it happen.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to fill this journal.

There's still time. If you want, sign up, journal away.

Brilliant and Creepy Illustrator: Jason Holley

This book cover was done by Jason Holley. I love it. I love everything on his website, actually.

I am putting him here because I wouldn't mind him illustrating my book cover, when it gets published. (I'm putting that out there as a "when" not an "if" because I just finished the third draft of my novel, and I am gearing up to get it out into the world. Positive thinking, folks.)

Anyway, take a look at his illustrations. Great work, thought provoking, beautiful, chilling, slightly Audubon inspired, slightly graffiti inspired, full of decay and yearning. Me likey.

Also look at his archives. When I get obsessed with something, it gets featured here. I'm obsessed.

via the always inspiring automatism

they sacrificed everything to the stars, print by Amanda Blake

One of my favorite artists, Amanda Blake, and her new print available now in her shop.

Oh buying art could bankrupt me, at least if I bought everything I loved. I love everything about it, the stars, the houses, the bonfires, the family, and the tapestry-like details of the ground.

Love.

Wabi Sabi Living Room and Thrifting Dream

I love this living room. Adore those old and shabby leather chairs. I wonder if they are comfortable? They look comfortable. I think they redid the cushions... they are a completely different color than the rest of the chairs, which is part of their charm. And that little side table with its sexy shape, and the bar cart, and the make-do book shelf/bench thing on the side. And don't forget the black and white photos with their grid of frames, and the great industrial looking lamps. All good things in my book.

What a great eye for the find and for the composition. I would love to find some of these things in a thrift store or a yard sale. But the question is... if one FOUND these things, would one recognize them for the gems they are? Would one envision how they could make a space?

And by "one" I mean "I."

Found here via Aesthetic Outburst.

Google Earth Images: South West Florida Inspiration

These amazing google earth photos of the human impact on the South West Florida Landscape are found here.
To me, they look like modern day petroglyphs and I can't help but be dazzled by the graphic look.
There's a lot of outrage in the comments, about environmental damage and American wastefulness and American snobbishness, but you know, before I read it, I just went through each photo amazed at the visual drama.
What can I say? Sometimes I look for pretty first. Sometimes I see pretty in ugly. Sometimes the story told is more than just about evil or good, sometimes it's just about being human. As well as the evil and the good. This one reminds me of Jess Gonacha Swift's work.
This one I think looks like a cave painting or a piece of aboriginal art.

Anyway. They make me want to paint abstracted images. Patterns. Roughed up geometry and organic forms.

Discovered via the great automatism. Thanks Lori.

Toto. We Are Not In Kansas

I am afraid of tornadoes. I had to spend a few dark hours in a basement with my kids and my neighbor, after I heard the train rumble and a tree fell down knocking out the electricity all over town.

Fine. No one saw an official tornado, but I'm pretty sure that when I was running around trying to close the windows to the wind and rain, and found that ALL the windows had rain blowing in, that meant it was an actual tornado. Plus that train sound. Plus the tree falling and the light going out.

Okay, we were only in the basement for a few minutes before it passed but it was scary.

Oh. What is not scary but in fact fantastic and inspirational?

The above tornado is not real. Nor is it digital. Nor is it an illustration or a painting or any of that.

It is a diorama.

*blink*

This man is a genius. He does dioramas of all sorts of scenes. From outer space, to glacier chill, to conflagrations, to gentle landscape. Amazing.

via astulabee. Thanks, Nicole. I love your blog.

Bohemian Style, Cafe Version

I love this cafe. I found it at annekata. She's longing for european cafes, which I totally understand, after my history with Greenwich Village cafes, however... I want to live here. I would love to have this be my living room.

The funny thing is, I was sitting here, perusing my starred items in google reader, and my daughter looked at the picture.

"Two couches!" she said. "I love two couches!"

Then I looked up at my living room, and thought, hey, I totally have room for another, smallish not puffy sofa. And the requisite striped pillows lying about. Good for lounging, and also for fortress making. See? Family friendly. Then I'd be able to get rid of S's hideous pink lounge chair. Yes. Pink.

Yes.

Lounge chair.

I should get cracking on the second couch search.

I finally managed to navigate the Polish (?) site and found even more lovely pictures. I think I could work this whole cafe, not just one seating area. Really indulge my bohemian side. Yeah. Bring on the kaffe.

I'm Running Away to the Circus, If the Circus Looks This Good.

What a beautiful photo shoot. I don't know much about it, but I found it here and was entranced. It's years old, but I don't care. The photographers are here

What can I say? I love the strange, the shadowy, the slightly weird. My mind makes up stories about these pictures. Plus the clothes are pretty cool, too.

Found via Design*sponge

Do You Think I Could Repurpose a LARGE Man's Sweater Into This???

I want this sweater. Or I want something like it. I probably won't be buying it, because another sweater is not in my budget... but I wonder if I could make something like it. For those with bigger budgets, you can go straight to uniqlo and get one yourself. I think I like the gray.

via a cup of jo

A Chic Living Room, With DIY Hints

I kind of love Joanna's living room, designed by Jenny of Little Green Notebook. Also here. And don't forget her nursery. Check out that amazing window treatment.

I love how homey and down to earth it is, while also being chic. I could put my feet up here and watch tv, or let my 3 year old have a tea party and sleep over with her stuffed animals.

I like Jenny's idea about balancing the warm and cool colors in a room, which I'd never actually thought about. Also the details that I would never think to pay attention to in my own room.

I also love how she takes old, thrifted or hand me down furniture and slaps a coat of paint on it to make it into something new and stylish.

Of course, Jenny actually knows how to do that right, in fact, she shows us how. Did you know the torn veneer can be fixed with wood filler, a putty knife and a sander?

Thanks for the hints, Jenny. And perhaps this will give me the nerve to turn my old peeling veneer white dresser into a chic teal blue accent for my living room.

Paper Chains from maya*made

Maya*made is always a great source for inspiration for me. She is so creative and very talented in coming up with new things to do with old materials.

Here she's made paper chain/paper dolls out of the old standard-- newspapers!

I am particularly enamored of this one. I love these acorns. Such a festive Autumnal banner. I think I'd like to try some of this with my kids.

We've spent the last couple of years in Florida, so missed out on real Fall. It's kind of fun to watch the season tumble down around us. Some banners and maybe even some mobiles might be an interesting project.

Make Me Some Granola Bars, Please

I love alisa burke's blog, and I'm subscribed to her, enjoying her inspiration on a daily basis.

However, I really want to make these granola bars (without nuts so I can send them in my son's lunch despite the no nut classroom). I don't want to forget them, so I'm putting them here.

Plus, I realize I need to post here more often. I have a million things starred in my googlereader. Things that I love and covet and am inspired by. And I'm not posting any of them here, which is what I am supposed to be doing. Maybe I have too much inspiration and get overwhelmed with it all. But I think I am starting again, because it is a good thing to do to see all these wonderful things and share them with the world.

Some of Lisa's Favorite Things Are My Favorite Things, Too

Look what you can do with wine crates! I really like them. They remind me of old barns mixed with built ins, mixed with boards/bricks, mixed with barrister bookcases.

I do not know if I will ever be over this fixation I have with wine crates.

via apartmenttherapy

Beautiful Bedroom

bedroom
Originally uploaded by designspongeshop

I love the way this bedroom looks. So simple, yet romantic. But not too romantic. Not fussy. I wonder what are the elements of this I love. The blue is pretty, but I won't be painting my walls blue. I did have a large blue painting in mind though. And I have the lightweight white curtains.

I don't have the fancy sparkle-town bedspread, but I could probably find somewhere else to put sparkle. Where else is there to add sparkle. My duvet is a waffle knit cream, so the texture works... but sparkle? Err. A lamp? Grr. No. A mirror tiled box might work. Or maybe just a throw. Maybe with a little Indian flavor?

And I love the raw wood element in those crates serving as bedside tables. I do love those and have been on them for a while. Now I need to figure out where to get old wine crates. Any ideas?

Leah Giberson and her Pretty Trailer Painting

Land Yacht (three)

I love this painting/print by Leah Giberson. It's for sale in the Tiny Showcase and 250$ of her sales there will be donated towards the Gulf Restoration. Love also the rest of her work here on etsy.

I wonder where I would put this print if I were to buy it. Hmm...

Oooh. I bought it. That's too exciting.

Now we can have a print of one of these dreamy trailers, even if we don't have the actual trailer yet.

A Rustic Type Bench for Books and Lots of Stuff

Found this picture on Automatism, via Hus & Hem.

What I like here most is the rustic bench. I love those various boxes and containers underneath it for storage, and the piles of books on top.

Add that together with the feminine little granny chair, the masculine leather poof (can a poof be masculine?) and the gathered frames on the white wall... well I just like it.

Love the vintagey, gathered, rustic, utility look of it. It says, "I like what I like and I just don't give a damn about what you're 'supposed' to do." And that kind of attitude always exudes style to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert Talks

Awesome Elizabeth Gilbert speech. Thank Oprah.

I'm not going to get to finish it because I have to go take care of kids. So I'm posting it here for you.

And me.

This is my bookmark, in case you didn't know. This blog here is my scrap book.

I press the flowers I find online here in these pages.

googled pressed flower.

Another Lovely Apartment

I love this apartment. Perhaps because it reminds me of various apartments I've lived in over the course of my life.

That is all I have to say here. Love.

More pictures here

via designsponge

Oooooh. Purty Violets and Design and Handmade Displays. Just Ooooooh.

I just found this lovely online thesis from whatyoulove by aprile.

I'm not 100% sure what it is exactly. All I know is that it is wonderful and magical and beautiful and inspirational. And you know what? That is good enough for me.

via robayre inspiration junkie, who ain't no slouch in the inspiration department herself.

Fantastical Carnival-like Wedding. I Wish Eunice Was My Friend

Eunice and Daniel's wedding. So many lovely things about this wedding, found at Martha Stewart via Hello!Lucky , but I think this idea of having a procession/parade leading from the ceremony to the reception with the wedding guests carrying these giant shadow puppets is just a magical idea.

Other ideas that are lovely?
Parasols for the sun
Eco Confetti
Signature Cocktails (I have my own pomegranate punch that I created many years ago)
Coffee Filter Poofs and crepe paper flowers
Dessert Bar
Treats and Candies in little bags
The vaguely vintage carnival atmosphere with lots of fun things for kids or kids of all ages
Her gorgeous handmade dress
The striped sailor shirts for the waiters
Paper crowns

Lovely all around.

I Want to Try THESE Cookies

What could be better than the classic Toll House Cookie Recipe? It's always been my favorite... except for those chewy, crispy thin cookies they sold at the cafe when I was in college. Those were even better.

So when I saw the America's Test Kitchen recipe, (found on Oh Happy Day) pointing out the difference between Toll House cookies and their own recipe... aimed at making a chewier, crispier cookie, I said, STOP THE PRESSES!

That is a cookie recipe I want to try.

I like to cook. I like to experiment with flavors and combinations... but I am not a baker. Baking always seems like a science to me, while cooking is more like an art. I'm always afraid of mixing the flour too much or over baking or putting in baking soda instead of baking powder.

So I really liked the comparison recipe... showing that melting butter makes less cakey brownies than creaming it, and browning the butter adds to that yummy caramel like flavor. My mouth is already starting to water. And the eggs... fewer eggs mean chewier cookies! So that's how you do it...

I'm going to go get my oven ready.

Bleach Striped DIY Scarf

I want to make this.... or some other version of something similar that I can cobble together and smoosh around with whatever fabric I have or can recycle from old clothes.

Reduce reuse recycle...

BABY

How lucky that the HOW TO of this scarf has led me to not one, but TWO new to me bloggers, etsians and all around creative knock outs!

A guest post by Julia Okun (blog and etsy )
On this evaforeva's blog (etsy here and here)

How Would You Fake This Room?

Okay, I'm behind the curve on this one, but it just about makes me sick with real estate lust, and there's a bit of a personal connection here, so I thought it was a good thing to post for my return to small and heartfelt (sorry about the absence).

I LOVE. No. I LOOOOOOOOVE this apartment, and it happens to be catty corner to my old apartment on Elizabeth street. I would have been able to look out the window and see this building, the record holder for expensive in the neighborhood.

Okay. Suffice it to say, I will never be able to pay 7 mil for a penthouse (barring a miracle) so, why not think about what it is I really do like about this place.

I love the high ceilings, the wood floors, the clean but cozy lines of the furniture. I ADORE the black trim and all those windows/ french doors. The light is nothing to sneeze at, either. Love the white walls and the warm woods, also the organic feel of the accessories.

If I were trying to replicate this look, without the 7 million dollar penthouse, I might try to find a nice... or not so nice (I like the beat up leather look) black or dark brown leather sofa, maybe craigslist would do, or Ikea. For the coffee table, I think I might something a little more rustic... something like thisfrom Maya*made (who just one apartmenttherapy's best green home design blog by the way [yay Maya!]). But I'd probably like a square top, and maybe all in wood rather than glass.

And let's say I don't have a wall of exquisite windows and french doors everywhere...what is a poor (metaphorically and literally) home design lover to do?

Well, I can't help but think it might be really cool to have a wall of frames lined up as if they WERE french windows... something like this
which I found via littlegreennotebook, and she found via apartmenttherapy, though I don't have a link. I was thinking the frames could be filled with images of anything, but the thought of breaking up a map is kind of nice... almost like you'd be looking through the frames at the rendering of the city. A little google serendipity.

What if the house doesn't have those huge windows? Hey, why not a large work of art. Maybe something suggesting what you might see out the window, that you can gaze at and ponder the nature of distance and time. Like thisby Aisyah Ang whom I love, by the way.

Oh, and thinking about that organic looking lamp, but what if I don't have the chandelier budget and/or lamp? What about this string of tea light holders?
This is by oneblackbird. Don't you just love etsy?

And really, this room is missing books. If a room doesn't have books I just never think it's finished.Oh hey! How about a bookcase like this! The frames of the bookcase are reminiscent of those black painted doors....

Who says you need to have seven million dollars to have a lust worthy home?