Neet-o

This gal is one busy lady. She puts together an online magazine and focuses on independent artists, designers,etc. Everything in the magazine has a hyperlink that takes you directly to the seller's site. I found this jacket available at Vendima but it's more of a fall purchase.
There were dozens of things in there from designers and stores I hadn't seen before and Neet has an A-Z list in the back for all the sources. Very neat, Neet.

Deck the halls

I am having some serious fabric cravings lately which is odd because I can't really sew. I've done some embroidery and some basic things, but I think the last time I really tried to make something was for a Halloween costume in 2000 that started with dreams of Arabian nights and ended in staples and tears. In that order.

I am ordering the fabric for my curtains in the living room ( I didn't post it here but it's very sunshiney) and I'll just have to fake my way through those. In the meantime, I'm also loving some of the other Springalicious fabrics I've seen.
Amy Butler's fabrics are always perfect and I'm a sucker for lotus blossoms:

These crazy dots would actually work well with the colors in the room, but it is just way too crazy to put anywhere in my itty bitty space.

Marimekko Melooni (what my name would be if I were a Finnish fabric!):
This one wouldn't match the room at all but I love it: Urban Paint by Numbers

Can I just make a bunch of little pillows and toss them about in the manner of a decorator?

Fabric at Reprot Depot .

Etsy stroll

Things that have caught my eye:These blown glass birds by Matthew Stewart (available here).
Handpainted screen prints by Magic Jelly
Colorful prints by The Black Apple

There is such a variety of independent artists' work on Etsy it is really easy to spend a lot of time looking through everything!

In my spare time

I had planned to free hand swirly florals on my bathroom ceiling. Now I see someone (textile designer Oorbee Roy)
has beaten me to it. Dang.
Spotted by Terramia who's blog is becoming like all my favorite magazines all rolled up into one.
Can you imagine having such a beautiful and bright room? I love that vanity. Correction: I covet that vanity.

Online Galleries

Projekt30 is an online gallery with different monthly exhibits. Sometimes they select works around a given theme--"Noir" is coming up next. I haven't checked it out for a little while now, but I'm glad I did because the sculptures by Jamey Grimes are really beautiful. I posted a few shots from Projekt30 but Jamey's artist statement and more images are here.

"Merge"
"Flow"
"Merge II"

I love the lighting on Merge and would love to see Flow up close--they're both using transparent materials.

Food cravings

Shelteriffic is having a post-off on food cravings and I'm a little behind on it but thought I'd jump in anyway. I don't know if this could be considered food, but I have been craving a chocolate martini for about 2 weeks now and haven't done a dang thing about it.

I got this image from Modern Martini and there's a recipe there too.

By the way, my husband (who does some bartending) has his own way of making a chocolate martini that differs from mine. I prefer to use a little Frangelico and the recipe from Modern Martini does just that. He gets like crazy fancy and this divide on the proper way to make one has effectively cut me off from my craving.

My new craft rug

Okay, I haven't done this yet, but Holly at Decor8 posted this the other day and I'm going to try it. Take a fake grass mat, draw your design on the back, cut it out and ta-dah! New cool mat! Holly links to a Danish site with a downloadable pdf pattern but I'm going to try to freehand something and see how it comes out.


Holly's got some crazy Danish connections so she always has something new on her site. I love so many foreign language blogs but I'm obviously only there for the pretty pictures--thank goodness someone out there takes pity on me and my failing language skills!

Handmade goods

I've yet to add items to my etsy store, thanks to too many home and work projects up in the air right now, but I could spend a lot of time on the site searching through others' work (and I have).

I really love the colorful graphic designs of these pillows by Frazier and Wing:

Over the past year I've really become weirdly obsessed with pillows but these are a little out of my budget. I still love the color combinations though...

Ashley G always has pretty and affordable prints like this one.

I just recently came across Not Too Pink and the shop is full of birds and cupcakes! These are very affordable prints too.

Unbranding

I admit I am a sucker for marketing and I love pretty packaging. Recognizing this does not mean that I like it though so this idea is really compelling to me. Keri Smith at Wish Jar has been replacing her labels with all of these lovely illustrations. Isn't this little family cute? Keri even named these little characters. I love that not only does it eliminate some of the branding we bring into our homes, but it also adds a happy breath of art into the more mundane parts of our lives.
Keri has so many great ideas throughout her blog. I can't remember when I stumbled across it but I love checking it out to get a little pop of inspiration.