Mai Autumn

happy birthday to me!

it's my birthday on monday, and of course i'm having a sale :) take 30% off the whole shop through the month of may with code MAIBIRTHDAY. woohoo!

i'm celebrating a little early with a trip into new york this weekend to see the new great gatsby movie...! i've been excited about this movie since i saw the first trailer about a year ago or so. baz luhrmann has always been one of my favorite directors (moulin rouge, romeo + juliet) i cannot WAIT to get all decked out in my finest and dance the night away!

here's some gatsby inspiration to kick off the weekend!

for the top, click here. and this fancy pink cocktail is surprisingly easy to make:

In a cocktail shaker combine 1/4 cup each of gin and grapefruit juice, 1 tablespoon dry vermouth and a little crushed ice. Cover the container, shake the mixture well, and strain it into a stemmed glass over ice cubes. Makes 1 drink.  via gourmet.

of course i couldn't help but dress a little 20s-ish, so here's my modern take on a daisy-esque dress that i'll be pairing with my grandmother's vintage fur stole and some glitzy jewels:

hope you all have a happy mother's day and a lovely spring weekend out there! :)

lovely bits from the interwebs

i've become somewhat like one of santa's elves overe here, what with packing all these orders and such, (thank you! to everyone who is shopping!) and in my in between time, i've been wandering around the internet finding pretty things like it's nobody's business. i guess this is kind of like a little wishlist, although some of these wishes are a bit unrealistic (ahem, a new living room and designer sofa..) here are some of my discoveries over the past few days...

 pretty gift packaging via pinterest

spanish wine glasses at spartan (via daily candy)

beautiful greens via conspicuous style

wall stencil via royal design stencils

earrings via seed and sky

wool sweater via andy ve eirn

original illustration via betsy walton

silk ikat clutch via eclu

 

ok, no more daydreaming about all these lovely goodies :) it's back to work for me!

fall is creeping in

my mind keeps drifting to cooler breezes and the smell of crisp fall leaves. you know that time of year when you can sense the changes coming? here are some things that are grabbing my attention for a fresh fall season.

made by nanna

 

lorenzo durán via design milk

 

style me pretty

 

anthropologie

 

arrows design

 

bonnbonn

 

and did i mention that i want everything on this list? (of course, i have no patio to place that lovely orange chair on! but! a girl can dream :) ) sigh sigh

as the summer weeks drift by, i'm finding that it's getting difficult for me to focus on making new art. last week was another dud of a creative week. i'm hoping that i can find some time (and some inspiration) as august continues. we shall see.

hope the start of your week is going swimmingly! :)

 

planning some plans

if you recall back in february, when i started talking about designing a line of throw pillows, this post is going to sound kind of similar. i'm always dreaming up new things i want to make, and this week has been no exception. the throw pillows are still in the back of my mind, (don't you worry!) but i got to thinking what i would really love... to design a line of clothes someday. now, this is kind of just a distant, far out there kind of dream, for now, (since i hardly know how to sew, and i definitely don't know how to design patterns.. yet) but i wanted to throw it out there to see if it feels right. you know, putting it in writing and all. 

i mean, really, eventually, i would like to have all sorts of beautiful things available. i want to create my own little world and furnish it with everything i could possibly imagine! it's a bit insane, i know. but i think i'm going in the right direction. it feels good. and that's what matters, right? (sometimes i do feel like i might need to rein myself in a little though.) so for now, all i'm going to say... is that i'm dreaming up some pretty things to wear. here's some inspiration from the amazingly talented independent designers on etsy:

 

jamie and the jones

minx shop

janey clothing

lana stepul

isabelamyo

sabo shop

alexandra grecco

lana stepul

 

i'm keeping this notion in the back of my mind (probably for a few months, if not a whole year!) but it's there.. that little voice is saying *you can do it someday!*

:)

addicted to pinterest

i went to compose this post and i couldn't stop repinning everything there was to pin over on pinterest, so, here are some of my finds! enjoy the eye candy :)

here

 

here

 

 

here

 

here

 

here

 

and here

 

i could pin all day long! :)

 

found - knife in the water

clever, is what i thought of when i found knife in the water. beautiful, nostalgic designs and fun pops of color for your wardrobe and your home.

and there are lots of fun interior design posts over on the knife in the water blog!

knife in the water on etsy

southern charm - savannah, ga

with the humidity and warmer temperatures gracing us with their presence here in nj, my memories drift to a year i spent in savannah, georgia, at the savannah college of art and design (scad). here are some dreamy things that remind me of the way that magical place felt...

wrought iron fences were everywhere (andrea fanton), the old fashioned feeling of this cameo (arreign) completely sums up the graceful age of the city, and the lovely drink decanter up there is from the paris market, which is actually in savannah (i've never been to this particular shop, but it looks like i would love it!) (via pretties and posies)

green and lace represent it very well (starbags)

as do antique wood crates filled with wild plants (the primitive home), the night filled with a beautiful soft glow (racey tay), fresh linen (affaires nomades), and mossy trees (vlad)

and the light was always amazing (treefox)

to end this post, i think it is only appropriate that my pandora player has given me sara bareilles's version of sittin' on the dock of the bay ("i left my home in georgia...") what a wonderful coincidence !

:)

dreaming of the sea

i am supposed to make some new art or illustrations today, but i'm not sure if the high temps outside are going to distract me too much.. i can bring my watercolors outside, right? ; )

all i'm dreaming about right now are bathing suits..

old navy + anthropologie

 

diane von furstenberg + free people

 

gottex swim + j.crew

these are all so cute! perhaps one (or two) of these suits will be making their way into my summertime wardrobe this year! :)

enough dreaming for now - off i go to prepare my supplies for a field trip outside!

if i were a grown up

as i was getting ready for day 2 of my no-pj work day, i got to thinking - when i used to have a job, i wished i had all the time in the world to look fabulous! but, i never had nearly enough time with commuting and the long hours (besides that at one of the jobs i've had, i would get quite dirty). why haven't i been getting myself ready since i started my business? because it would take too much time? oh yea, a whole 45 minutes. wow. i'm sure i could be way productive in that amount of time. right!

having come to this mini revelation (which, if you've been reading for a while now, i seem to come to one of those about every other day haha) i realized, it could be fun to dream up some outfits for my new habit :) so here goes:

 

anthro

pauper and pixie

victoria's secret

ruche

modcloth

free people

raggedy threads

 spool no.72

 

 

so, now that i am a grown up, i figure i can dress how i want! silly me for thinking i'm not supposed to, just because the only 'person' who sees me is my cat, on most days :)

mm um also...

somebody better get me off of pinterest before i spend my life's savings (yea.. right.. like i have life savings) 

;)