design

dreamy

by Lara on May 29, 2010

in art,crafty,decor,fashion

For a while now, I’ve been escaping into this dreamy world of soft focus pictures and an ultra-feminine aesthetic. I love my clean minimal apartment with all my heart but; there is another side of me that would be just as happy in a little country cottage, growing my own vegetables and making art.

I posted about the image bookmarking site called We Heart It a while back. Every few days, I peruse the pics and add a few more to my collection of these fantasy images. This is my latest favorite picture:

Outdoor party in the country anyone?

Yesterday, shoppher tweeted about this post which ended up turning into one of those internet perusing explosions where I discovered a few new blogs I think I’m going to love. You might too!

Habit

Dreamcats – if you love dreamy cats. I submitted some pictures of Nibbles when she was a kitten. Here’s one:

The Snail and the Cyclops – love this girl’s style

Fieldguided – a nice little life

Any recommendations?

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+ & -

by Lara on May 6, 2010

in + & -

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  • Andrea from Toronto is one of my new favorite bloggers. She just participated in Cupcake Camp! I want to go!
  • Tretorn is a sneaker brand from Sweden that you don’t really think of very often, in the sea of huge sneaker companies. How cute are these slip-ons though? The Reva Nylons are pretty sweet too!

  • The Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio has an online store. This happy little monkey sugar bowl by Stefano Giovannoni is too cute!

 

  • Art blogs are the best sources of inspiration for me. I’ve mentioned one of my favorites before – My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses. It’s modern, descriptive, interactive and just plain friendly. My other favorite is But Does it Float. I discovered it by accident and mentioned it in this post a while back and have been a faithful follower ever since. From to the titles of the posts to the images selected, it haunts me. All of the images are vastly different but they all strike a chord in me… something deep… dreadful and magical all at the same time. Check it out.
  • If you can somehow get your hands on some sweet stuffed Korean pancake mix (Hoddeok) give it a shot, or try a from-scratch version. They’re really easy and sooooo flippin’ good! Bad pic and I didn’t get a shot of gooey center. Oh well.

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  • Trying to sell something on Craigslist is the worst. People are such flakes! I recently listed a big jewelry armoire that I’m not moving from my parents’ house. It’s been collecting dust and I figured I might as well get some money for it. I got a ton of interest and then when I responded to let the people know how flexible I was for a pick-up, no one got back with me to set up a time to come get it. Finally a super nice girl and I made a deal but I feel like a lot of my time was wasted by people who just like to waste time.
  • Mail-in rebates. I’ve heard a lot of statistics about how many people forget about them and the company ends up keeping the money that was owed to you through whatever deal you participated in. Well, I’m not one of those forgetful people. Sprint has been jerking me around for almost 2 months making B.S. excuses to not send me the $100 they owe me. From what I’ve heard from multiple people who have worked in the same industry… this type of behaviour is pretty much the standard. You really have to keep up on it. It’s finally in the mail now.

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+ & -

by Lara on April 18, 2010

in + & -

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  • Outlet shopping! While most of the shops at outlet malls really aren’t at what you would think outlet prices should be… I did manage to score a pair of grey satin lo-top chucks for $15 and a $300 BCBG dress for $40!
  • I loved this post from fellow Richmond lady blogger Terra. Her excitement over animals is something I can relate to and she really is dear.
  • This was made fun of on the mogg blogg but I have always been envious of pets who can curl up on a big pillow and fall fast asleep in decadent comfort. (by Tom Kühne)

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  • Oh… can I relate (via):

  • When a company quits making (or a store quits carrying) your favorite product. How many times has this happened to you when you found a perfect shade of lipstick? It’s happened to me at least 4 times. There’s also been a perfect scent of body lotion, a perfume, a foundation, an eyeshadow, a leave-in moisturizer, a scent of deodorant, a mascara, socks, an amazing wrinkle relaxing moisturizer… I could go on. So you go on a wild goose chase. You hit every store you know that carried it hoping to find the last stash. You scour the internet and stock up. Then you have this stockpile of perfect lipstick and you’re all “gosh, I’m never going to use all of this” so, you get generous and share with your girlfriends and when you get down to your last tube of perfect nude pink lipstick that managed to stay on all day without feeling dry, you start to rue the day your were so generous with your friends because they didn’t really appreciate it for how wonderful and perfect it was. Well not this time bitches! I’m stocking up on my Olay In-shower Body Lotion and you can forget about getting a bottle in your b-day bag!
  • I have a weird habit of exposing myself to things that irritate me. It goes in spells. One example is a now-ended obsession with watching Rachael Ray so that I could make snarky comments and shake my fist at the tv. Another was actually listening to any song by Kings of Leon on the radio so I could gag at how repulsive I find the singer’s voice. I’ve also had a little problem (which only is possible through the powers of the internet) of following blogs of people I can’t stand. It’s fun to “tisk tisk you suck”, or if it’s someone I know in real life and really don’t like… even better, “tisk tisk you stupid lying twat, man do I have have some dirt on you.” (Before you get worried, it’s no one I openly follow or communicate with. I’m not two-faced.) It’s something I’m seriously working on. Seriously. I’m trying. But while I try to quit this dirty little habit, I’ll enjoy Godammit, I’m Mad’s delightful rants.

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+ & -

by Lara on April 8, 2010

in + & -

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  • This post of closets belonging to some serious divas gives me major envy issues.
  • Spring pictures from The Big Picture
  • Our nice neighbor (there are some real assholes in my building) has made me his official kitten sitter since he travels a lot for work! This pleases me to no end! Meet Buddy!

  • Making money off of expensive shoes I’m selling on eBay so that I can get my own pair for free. Find out what’s hot, what’s not being sold overseas, offer international shipping based on location, make a short term investment for a nice return.
  • White bedding. I have always wanted an all white bed. Stores like TJ Maxx are selling these great thin cotton quilted comforters for around $40 right now. They’re great for warm weather and they come in a ton of designs, and a lot of them have reversible patterns. I scooped up a white one quilted in a leaf pattern. You can kinda get the idea from this picture.

  • Are you reading Tweetbaggery yet? oh man.
  • Whenever I see a last name ending in “vic” I always go “Yay! A Serbian!” and I’m eager to see what one of my fellow Slavs is up to. I love this Ventricle Vessel by Eva Milinkovic of Tsunami Glassworks.

  • I wrote about Miette last year. Love their jewelry soooo much. They have a bunch of new designs out now. These “golden bubble earings” are big but light and fun!

 

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  • For those you who follow me on Twitter, I’m sure you’re tired of me complaining about being sick ad nauseam. Well, I’m sick of being sick as well. 2 weeks of this crap with no end in sight. First it was an ear infection with antibiotics that messed my system up like whoa, then the bf got allergies from all this damn pollen. I got him a neti pot and I have never seen someone so determined to get the pestilence out of his sinuses. That which has been seen cannot be unseen but I sure wish I could unsee the stuff that came out of that poor boy’s head. Then the allergies hit me but the neti pot didn’t work so great for my issues in the long run. I actually got a fever and swollen glands and now it’s settled in my chest. I haven’t had a restful night of sleep in over a week. You should see the things I’m coughing up. So. Over. It.  
  • I wear a lot of white in Spring and Summer. With that damned painting I just finished and the super saturated blue/black hair dye I use (sweating from my fever has left little blue dots all over the necklines of my tops and brand new white pillow cases)… I have ruined pretty much all of my white tees and tanks in one week. Ridiculous.

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geometry

by Lara on April 7, 2010

in art,decor

I didn’t think it was going to be so soon since my last painting project that I would find new inspiration for another! Here is the newest piece that has struck me as something I would like to see on the wall above our bed, could see myself actually painting, and all the supplies cost $20! (You can purchase prints of Simon Page’s work here.)

I purchased a 22″ x 28″ canvas for $15. Ben Franklin Crafts was having a great deal on craft acrylics – 3 bottles for $1 so, the bf and I picked out a ton of muted tones that we liked to use along with paint I already have.

The next step was to figure out the math. 22″ divided by 8 vertical columns = lines spaced 2 3/4″ apart. I carefully marked those out and marked each inch along the left and right sides. Then I started intersecting lines accordingly with a straight edge and pencil.

Well…. there was a minor problem. I hadn’t realized the canvas was 1/8″ of an inch off and after a few horizontal lines, I noticed things weren’t intersecting right. Yeah. Lesson learned – double check your base measurements before you start! I had to erase everything and start over again. I just about lost it and had to calm down and think for a second. I found the center (with 1/16″ off on the left and right) and started over again. Success!

Oh, and these clear grid rulers are THE BEST for stuff like this! You can line things up perfectly!

Time to paint! Here’s my messy grid with some color filled in. I found that with light colors, after I had picked which area I was going to paint, it was smart to erase the inner lines so that I didn’t have to put tons of coats on to cover up the pencil marks. Oh, and with cheap paint… you pretty much get what you pay for. We won’t go into how much I hated using those damn cheap craft paints. I also painted the entire thing with my most favorite 1/4″ flat brush. It allowed me to get into teeny corners and keep clean edges.

Here’s a crappy phone cam pic of the painting in progress.

Over three weeks later and here’s the completed project! (Sorry for the bad pics. I kept forgetting to bring my good camera and I’ve been sick as a dog for 2 weeks.)

So yeah, it’s all done and now I don’t know what to do with myself in the evenings.

So why go through all this trouble when I could spend over $100 more and just buy the print and have it framed (framed because I’m not a teenager and I don’t tack up glorified posters on my walls)? Well, I think I just answered that question. I’m cheap.  I’m also a glutton for punishment, slightly OCD, and I like having projects that are customized for my own decor. So there.

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+ & -

by Lara on March 17, 2010

in + & -

I haven’t been bookmarking many awesome things this week except for LOL cats so here’s an attept at a + & - post. Let’s just start with an LOL cat and get it over with.

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  • After three years and one horrifying attempt to give my cat Nibbles a bath, I finally got a grip on the back of her neck and gave her a real soaping (after clipping her claws). It was about 4 minutes of human-like screams and anguish and I recorded the whole hilarious thing! Only, the file is too big to share it with anyone, anywhere and I don’t know what to do about that.
  • I had a $9 credit at Sephora.com so I got a big thing of grapefruit body lotion (I can’t eat it anymore because of the Lipitor so, I’ll smell like it), picked out my 3 free samples, then they gave me a deluxe 3-piece sample of face treatments, then they let me pick my free b-day gift of 3 mini lip glosses. In the end, I paid $4. Hell yes.
  • This is the perfect combination of my father’s and my style. Love this walnut console table by Gareth Neal.

  • As much as I was annoyed by having to switch to Sprint and getting a new phone and all the mess that comes with that, I’m really loving my Blackberry 8530. It’s so much better than my old phone!
  • Meeting an awesome lady who has gone through some of the same caregiving mess as I have and understands, giving a kid my SLR film camera that I don’t use anymore so he can develop his passion for photography, overhearing a lady say she was ugly and setting her straight, collecting clothes for couple’s new foster kid who came to their home with nothing – these have been little life-affirming moments of the past week that have made my heart smile.

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  • Foursquare. I don’t get it. I don’t mean to offend because I know a lot of people who are waaaay into it but honestly, I am tethered to the interwebs enough as it is, I simply can’t imagine telling the world every place I go. I also don’t give a rat’s ass if you went to get coffee or groceries. I also think it may be a wee bit dangerous. There are a lot of stalker freaks out there and well, when you let everyone know where you are and when you left your home unattended… that just seems to be opening up a potential shitstorm for your life.

  • I want these pants sooooo much but I am not paying $168 for them. Anyone know of something similar for less? I really like the slender leg.

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stitches

by Lara on March 15, 2010

in art,crafty,decor

I love embroidery. My grandmother, mother, aunt, and cousin all were extremely talented in this skill. I’ve tried my hand at cross stitch a few times for some small silly gifts but really don’t have the patience to see a large project through to completion. It’s a great way to pass the time, but certainly not as mindless as knitting, where you can knit a scarf over a weekend while watching movies. You have to pay attention to every stitch, the pattern, and neatness. Typically associated with women, it’s great to see a young guy like Aubrey Longley-Cook execute these amazing pieces. Check out his blog Spool Spectrum. He showcases his own work, other talent, as well as vintage pieces he collects.

Here’s some of his amazing work:

 

 

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uncommon

by Lara on March 13, 2010

in decor

I just discovered this online store called Uncommon Goods. Being lazy last night, I looked at just about everything on the site and found a few gems. Most of the stuff is not my style but here are some interesting items I wouldn’t mind having if money were no object. None of these things are exclusive to the site so, you may be able to do some digging on Amazon and find them cheaper.

5″ diameter tape effect porcelain vase

cardboard wall-mounted animal heads

bubbly fused recycled glass plates

swirling fruit bowl

looooove this fused glass tray by artist Orfeo Quagliata

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+ & -

by Lara on March 9, 2010

in + & -

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  • Camelias are blooming and there are buds on some trees in Richmond!

  • Warmer weather makes me want to eat like this every day.

  • Like spirograph designs, I am really digging this string work for a wall. It would take a bit of time to map out a perfect circle and place all the nails neatly but it is so flippin neat and you could do any type of design in any color.

via

  • I love wall decals and I love rodents. These are adorable!

via – buy them here

get these here! I just got 2!

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  • Alzheimer’s. It sucks beyond anything I thought that sucked could suck. My mom is experiencing the beginning stages of it now. The double-edged sword of her already struggling with MS, is that it’s better that she’s immobile because she would probably wander off or set the house on fire. Right now, she gets fixated on things. For the past six months it’s been her checking account, which I manage. She can’t remember her balance, I have to tell her every day, she doesn’t believe me, we have to call the bank, she thinks there are mystery checks from unknown sources tucked away in drawers that I have to dig through every day to keep her from having a fit… all while trying very hard not to have a fit myself. Before the money stuff, there were mysterious things in the bed with her under the covers that I had to constantly show her weren’t there. There was the broken mirror she said she had cut herself with, the strange plastic bits, the wire wrapped around her finger, her thinking she had pulled her catheter out – all this and she knows intellectually that she can’t move but reality separates itself from her brain every day. This went on for 2 years until we figured out what was really going on. Like I said, it sucks.
  • Spring is coming! Can you feel it!? I have a few fashion requests for the general public. Can we all try to avoid wearing scarves when it’s hot outside and can everyone stay away from boat shoes? Oh, and dirty looking dudes in sleazy tank tops… stop the madness. Thanks guys.

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no artist

by Lara on March 7, 2010

in art,decor

There’s a big difference between being an artist and simply having some skill. I am no artist. I have a hard time coming up with original ideas and actually making them real. I come up with ideas all the time but something gets lost in translation from my brain to the canvas, unless is purely geometric. SO, I’m a really good copy cat. I can draw photorealistically from a picture and I can handle a paint brush if I have a pre-existing guide.

Over the holidays, I copied this Hannah Stouffer painting, with my own twist and color variations for our livingroom.

my version

Last week, I needed to run to Ben Franklin Crafts for some crafty stuff and saw they were having a huge sale on canvases. They always do. So, I swiped up three 11″ x 14″ primed canvases for $2 each to do a little series. I have had this Central Illustration pillow bookmarked for a while. I really like the design and well… I painted it!

Since the design is square and I was stretching it horizontally over 3 small canvases, there was some improv involved. I also didn’t feel like doing those precise stripes in the background. I sketched out a loose plan on paper and drew directly onto the canvas where I wanted the big sections of black and white to go. I filled in the black and white then that huge amount of grey and the rest of the fine leaf/root detailing was done freehand. Taking note of the layers and steps I had to work in was the only moment of pause. All was done with Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics I’ve had lying around for over 10 years from design classes, a white paint pen that I ended up using for the white skeleton part, and some old sable brushes. $13 total and some free time. Not bad.

Here’s a shot mid-way through:

Here’s the end result:

I did post a while back to help you make your own art on the cheap. Check it out.

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