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My favorite craft store was having all sorts of sales. Along with my favorite fancy watercolor paper for 75% off there were all of these fun plastic animals for a buck each. Not sure what I'll be doing with them but it was very funny to be walking around with a bag full of animals, there were some double-takes for sure.

gallery wall

It seems I have at least one gallery wall in my home at all times. Having gone to art school, and in particular cause I majored in printmaking, it was very easy to exchange work with people so that over time I've amassed quite a collection. To the point where I could have some crazy giant loft with super high ceilings and I would still have piles of stuff that I wasn't able to fit. And I just keep adding to the pile.
Anyway, I like to keep some sort of color or content theme, and this time I decided to unify everything by using all black frames. It ended up being a lot of animal and California art, with bits of red and blue. I'm sure I'll change stuff up but this is the current layout.

Turntable Makover

I've had this record player for years now, and while it is awesome at doing it's job (playing records from my all-over-the-place collection) it makes me sad that it looks so dreary. So I decided to change that. My favorite hardware store will mix paint in very small batches making it more affordable to do these smaller projects, so I picked my favorite minty turquoise, which always looks so fabulously retro, and got to work.

I'm not going to lie, it was a hassle to take of all the hardware on this beast as I don't think it was ever intended to be disassembled  and some of it I wasn't able to remove so I had to paint around it. But after many careful coats I was left with a result that was well worth the effort. I will now be proud to whip this beauty out for spontaneous dance parties (which in case you didn't know, are always better with records!)

Tonights Special-The Visitor

Now that I have a bar setup I have absolutely no excuses to no be mixing up delicious concoctions at home. I will try to note recipes for these creations and hopefully snap pictures of finished cocktails as well.
The Visitor
2 oz Gin
1 oz Cointreau
4 oz pineapple juice
Shake vigorously and garnish with a pineapple slice (or some other fruit if you have it)

At my desk

This is the mending pile that's been building in my closet. It has all been fixed. Very satisfying plus it's like having a whole new wardrobe!

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This is a chocolate-dipped peanut butter cupcake. That's right. It was amazing. I hope your weekend is as good as this cupcake...

Home Bar-update

Now that I've got my bar cart set up and stocked with glasses, libations and tools I should be good to go. However I felt like there was something missing, and that something was of course, decorations! No corner can be left un-embellished therefore this little bar nook needed something to spice it up.

I felt that, as it's a bar and will mostly be used in festive party situations, well festive decorations were definitely the way to go, and I've been wanting an excuse to make some tassels inspired by Confetti System so I could think of no more perfect time than this! 

I made a strand with a dozen over sized tassels in black, gray and gold and then hung them willy nilly so they sort of overlapped in the corner (I had to leave the intercom uncovered just in case anyone wants to come and visit). I added some framed bones on the other side (more on those later) and a huge thrift store tray I had painted with chalkboard paint to use as a menu of sorts.


































Now that looks like a sweet home bar setup to me, so I guess all I need to do is have a party?!

brand new bag

I've been feeling the need for a big giant bag for toting around projects or for picking up supplies, but I wasn't really a huge fan of lugging around shopping bags all the time. And rather than buy some sort of pre-made tote that would only be close to what I needed, I decided to make one of my own that would be just right. I actually had a gigantic matrix style black leather coat that had been given to me for cutting up and crafting that I hadn't gotten around to doing anything with, so I decided to hack it apart and give it some new life. It's a very simple open top bag, though I did add some interior pockets. So far it had been working splendidly and I have really enjoyed having such a voluminous carry all that doesn't look quite so scruffy and tote-bag-y which means I'm putting this one in the win column.

Home Bar-Update

So my home bar had been stocked with glasses and alcohol which meant the only thing between me and an awesome homemade cocktail was tools. I didn't want or need anything too fancy, but it's helpful to have some basic things to create a variety of libations. I went to the East Bay Restaurant Supply and was able to find most of what I was looking for and it is certainly enough to get me started (I'm still looking for a twist peeler for garnish's).


I've also been collecting some fun accessories for making cocktails look just a little bit more festive. There's some colorful paper umbrellas and drink stirrers, also a selection of different straws and toothpicks and some funny twirly straws I've had lying around that I'm sure I can do something fun with

At my desk

I've been experimenting with some label ideas for a new project.  I cut this little stamp and was testing out in my sketchbook, though I'm thinking of printing it in another color, maybe navy. I will also have to test out the print on fabric.

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I tend to take a lot of photos of textile prints at least that's what I would deduce from looking at all the pictures on my phone. Novelty prints are my kryptonite!I am already the proud owner of one cat print dress and yet this seemed to be screaming my name, therefore I have decided that my future cat-owning self is just a foregone conclusion.

You are invited

This is just a little bit of the most recent project around these parts. I'm designing some bridal shower invitations and was asked to go in a "rustic country" direction. Not too formal and lots of flowers. So I did a bunch of drawings, getting closer each time until I got what they were looking for and did a final drawing. 

They are printed on white paper with a combination of hand lettering and printed text. I clipped rounded corners because I feel that gives them a softer look, and because it was a small run I hand colored each one with watercolors. They are finished with a bright yellow envelope and a handful of yellow flower confetti.

Home Bar-update

Now that I've got a space set up for my home bar, the next step is of course to acquire some spirits to put in all the pretty glasses I've been collecting. I've read a variety of articles on the subject of stocking home bars and the conclusion I've come to is that it doesn't make sense to go out a buy every kind of liquor and mixer there is, unless you are having elaborate cocktail parties every evening, or are in fact running a bar out of your house. Rather it's best to start out with just a few things you know you like, and start slowly adding to those. For instance, I mostly prefer gin drinks so buying a big bottle of Bombay actually makes sense. I am starting a small collection of liquors (St Germain is pretty much the best thing ever), and am going to experiment with making flavored syrups and such for various cocktails, plus I've always got a bottle of vodka stocked in the freezer! I feel like this is a good place to start, now I just need tools and then it's time to start experimenting!

At my desk

 I've been crossing a whole bunch of little projects off my list recently including this one for a friend who asked me (probably six months ago-yikes) to make a case for her iPad. Well hopefully it's a case of better late then never!

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I've been working on some stuff to go on the wall in the corner where my home bar is set up, and I guess this is sort of a sneak peek.

New Project-Home Bar

At the end of last year I made a decision that 2013 was the year I was going to get my home bar together. It's something I've been saying I wanted in my house for years but I never got around to it, however, having made this proclamation I figured I'd better just get down to it. So over the course of several trips to numerous thrift stores I collected miss-matched glasses and washed them pretty thoroughly to wash away all the grime.

The next step was configuring some kind of bar cart. Not wanting to spend any money if I could rig something workable with a piece I already had I roped my handy father into helping me turn a old office cart from college into something that would work for me. We removed the wheels and all multicolored plastic drawers and then he cut some wood down to fit into the existing drawer runners to serve as shelves. It was actually really easy and I think I've found a little corner in the apartment where it will fit perfectly.

Next step, getting some liquor to put in the glasses.

At my desk

This is the beginning of an ink drawing that's taking shape at my desk...

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Just my favorite saying, and some really pretty sunset.