Pet Habitats

Today we added 2 new members to our family, Ziggy and Fugu, the betas. They had some really neat tanks at the pet store. They are even customizable. Ziggy is in the white tank and he is my fish. I made a quick background until I could sit down and create the perfect decor. The black tank is Fugu and my boyfriend designed the tank I really like way it turned out. Not only did the tanks come equipped with all you need to start a beta home, they are also wall mountable which is really awesome. I haven't decided where I want to hang Ziggy but pictures will follow.

Dreaming Big

I have been on the hunt for a "new" sofa for awhile. The one I have is older than I am although my mom and I reupholster it and fixed some of the broken springs about 4 years ago. Needless to say, it has outlived its comfort. I don't have a lot of cash so I am debating just building a simple frame and making some cushions. I like the idea of having a single cushion, I hate having 3 cushions it's just not that cozy. I have been searching for ideas and most of the mid century daybeds seem pretty simple but chic. Another stipulation is the couch must go with these chairs I found at an estate sale:


I wanted to recover them but the fabric has grown on me and it's very nice condition with the exception of some fading. I think I may eventually recover them but at this point I want to spend the extra dough on the couch. If I were rich and famous I would probably bye one of these couches (although I am not fond of the color white for a couch...not practical, but the silhouette is amazing):
The white one is from Jonathan Adler and the blue/gray is from Room and Board

Bargain Bin

Last Friday my mom and I found an amazing deal on some glass tile ($10/box for 16-12"x 3")!! Fortunately, they had just enough to do the backsplash in my kitchen. Now I just have to find some coordinating tile for my countertops. I am excited to start this project but I really need to finish the details in my studio. I had the day off for inclement weather and I just found out I have off tomorrow also so maybe I will organize the studio. Today it was so cold I just couldn't leave my cozy blanket on the couch. My house also needs a thorough cleaning maybe I will be super motivated tomorrow and get a lot accomplished, wish me luck!

Fun

Today we had some ice come in and I got to leave work about 4 hours early, which is magnificent. One of my friends ask me to help them with the problem room. I have never seen the room nor do I know the dimensions it's more just to help them establish some ideas. Since I had most of the day off I decided to make a mock up of what I would do. The room serves as a bedroom/office/piano room so there is a "hodge podge" of function and many very different pieces of furniture (pieces which I have also never seen). My them was vintage Hollywood. Hope they like it, either way it was fun to mess around in AI.
I know some of the scale, proportions and perspective are off but since I'm not getting paid I didn't spend days on end trying to achieve perfections. I can always use Illustrator tips/tricks.

Hollywood Nights

Tonight I had dinner with a couple of my girlfriends and had a few laughs. It was al ot of fun. I decided to get a little dolled up. After all, it is fun to fix-up once in awhile. Hope everyone is have a swell weekend!

ps: This pic offers a glance into the decor of the full bath, excited?

Moving Along

Today my mom stopped by and we worked on finishing the "infamous" studio. We hung shelves and I painted the desk a nice shade of willow green (disregard the messy sewing desk). We also bought some pegboard and hung it above the desk/table. I can't wait to start organizing the shevles and hang things on the peg board. Notice I also got rid of the dreaded mini-blinds and replaced them with a shade. I think its coming along nicely, I'm already inspired.
These are the dolls I made for my capstonestone project required for my BFA. They have been in a closet since the exhibit, last May so I am happy to display them and the wallpaper is a nice background for them.

"Little Boxes"

Beginning a subscription to Netflix has been wonderful. I couldn't resist Showtime series, "Weeds." I just finished the third season and impatiently await the fourth season on DVD. I absolutely love their theme song 'Little Boxes.' This song inspired me to make this quick drawing n AI this morning:

PS. For some reason when I upload certain images created from CS3 blogspot and photo host distort the colors, I suppose blame should be placed on html but just FYI the colors of most of my images are off so don't judge to coarsely.

Better

I think I'm finally recovering from my cold. I finally have some relief and can breath from both nostrils (Oh, the things we take for granted). I took this picture yesterday at the height of my misery and I thought I would share my ghostly complexion. Disregard the dingy-looking bathroom at work, it's really not that dark and scary.

Feeling Bad

Yesterday I started feeling bad. Today I can hardly breath and with the help of medication I was able to get a few hours of sleep last night but I'm still exhausted. I didn't get around to posting yesterday...I had an excruciating sinus headache which has waned for now but I suspect the mucus monster will be lurking as the day progresses. Hopefully later this week I will feel better, I have lots of things to photograph and post. (Note the preying mucus monster below.)

Free Time

Happy MLK day! Hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. I have been very busy working on the Sewing studio. I started painting my table and I finished with a third coat today (pictures to follow). I have drawn up a sketch of how I plan to layout the room but it may change once I move the table in. I was going to put the table horizontally on the wall but my mom suggested I put the table vertical so I can have 3 sides to move around when I am cutting fabric. I am really excited about everything coming together. I also hung the shelves today, next is organizing
(my weak point).

Pink Cadillac

I have had Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac"stuck in my head for what seems to be most of the new year. My favorite line in the song is "They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple but man I ain't going for that I know it was her pink Cadillac." Being a car enthusiast as well as a "feminist" of sorts this concept is very intriguing. Inspired by the song I found a painting of Adam and Eve and made a rough composite of a painting I intend to do in this lifetime. I plan to render the painting with my own composition and style but I must keep a "to do" list somewhere since I don't do well at keeping a sketchbook. Enjoy!

Digital painting

Lately I have been doing a lot in Adobe Illustrator. I am still working on my efficiency in Photoshop but it's difficult since I have become comfortable with the tools in Ai. I have been learning quite a bit from Bert Monoroy who does a very informative podcast. He is super talented and his podcast are pretty entertaining with the perfect balance between technique and geeky commentary. Check it out if you are a beginner or just an addict wanting to refine your creative suite skills. Bert's tutorials: http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/
Bert's website: http://www.bertmonroy.com/

Layout

I plan on doing a play-by-play of my house progress but for starters here is a layout of my house. It's a small ranch style built in 1964. It's a pretty simple rectangle with about 1000 sq. ft. Up next is a mock-up of my studio. I have a pretty good idea about the placement of the furniture but it can change pretty quickly once all of the pieces are in there. I have been really busy working on some new, simple pieces for my gallery wall. Stay tuned!

Creative Space

After painting and wallpapering my sewing/craft studio I have decided that I needed a work bench. I have been looking for a sturdy, affordable table with adjustable legs but have had no luck. Ikea sells adjustable legs but I would be looking at $60 for the legs and then have to hunt for the perfect tabletop and this is somewhat immediate. Today I took a free day off of work and was lucky enough to find a table/desk for $20. It's metal and very heavy and with a fresh coat of paint I think it's ideal for the space. Updates to follow.^ From Ikeahttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60105301

Portrait labels

I made these labels for Christmas gifts. Instead of using tags I just illustrated their faces and tied them on the presents. My mom was ispired and had me illustrate myself so she could use them as place settings...so inventive!

Weekend Project

This weekend I started our family silhouettes. There is a blank wall in my living room that I plan to turn into a ‘gallery wall.’ I have made up a rough schematic to help demonstrate the idea. I love looking back at my parent’s old photographs but I’m not big on hanging family photos (call me heartless but it just doesn’t fit my ‘design aesthetic). I did want to personalize the space a bit so I thought a classy way to do it would be handmade silhouettes done by yours truly. I used embroidery hoops to stretch the canvas to give them a folk art feel. I am very excited about the finished product and I can’t wait to hang them. Yay! for a productive and relaxing weekend. Cheers!

Laminate and Vinyl

Happy Friday! Today I worked in illustrator most of the day and I’m feeling a bit cross eyed. In light of my new resolution I wanted to leave you with a little ditty. My mom and I have done several, rather large (re)upholstery projects but lately I have been so busy that I haven’t had much time to help. I scored some chairs that were being thrown away and decided that I would begin to replace my dining room chairs. There were only 2 but I thought it would be fairly easy to find four (I’m still searching). I found the final on clearance and it goes very well with my laminate top dining table and mom was gracious enough to recover them. I think they turned out AMAZING!


(^courtesy of ebay) This is the color of my table although my table has straight, tapered legs instead of the curved legs. I would like to have four chairs similar to this photo and I would use the other two at the ends of the table. Well, that's all for now. Have a swell weekend!

Quicky

Below is a quick sketch done in AI. I have made a vow to myself to fork out the $200 for a Wacom tablet it's just a matter of getting that next pay check (fingers crossed). At work I spend a lot of time outside of the classrooms and I have random 5-10 minute intravels to sit and think. I decided to draw this sketch from memory since school is on holiday and I haven't had a need to be near the classrooms. As I recall, there are some photographs above the bench but instead of stressing over every detail I decided to leave them blank which seems to symbolize my recent creative itch. I think it's a nice 10 minute sketch...now it's time for a cup of hot chocolate. Toodles!

Return

Happy New Year America! I am officially back with a resolution to post every/every-other day. I have become enthralled with many of the home decorating/design blogs and want to continue to document my arts and crafts along with my home improvement projects. With new enthusiasm and inspiration this blog is hereby, committed to greatness. Another resolution of mine is to take more pictures. I have already started several new projects since the New Year and I will be posting them soon. During my holiday leave I began work on my soon-to-be sewing/crafting studio (see below). I also promised to post the progress of my house, which I plan to photograph in the coming days. Bloggers look out, this page has been revamped!