Inspire, Admire, and Design

2012!

2012-01-03T14:20:00.000-06:00

Happy 2012

First off, this is a long all text post but as the year ends I find it refreshing to get it all out in writing.

I read a few articles recently. Start the year of with this article called “Screw the New Year’s Resolution – Try Designing Your career” and this article about "7 Questions to ask when you’re not sure who you’re becoming" that I found very inspiring.

To start off there are some things in my life that I would like to maintain, but improve on:

- Exercise 3+ days a week. Since last April I have been working out 30-60 minutes, 5 days a week during my lunch hour with co-workers. I lost 20lbs and have never felt better in my own skin! My group is moving to the ‘burbs this spring which will eliminate our opportunity to any similar classes at the YMCA near our new location.

- Which leads into my next, I would really love to continue working downtown. I love the vibe, activities, and the commute is traffic-free by taking the uber convenient bus. I also have a better opportunity to read my silly novels I love. This means if my group is moving I need to make a decision to either look at other opportunities within my company or branch out.

- Be creative! I (guiltily admit) that I love when I have made my own clothing/accessory/etc. and people gush over it. Take a few fashion sewing classes to get the structural issues I have been fighting with out of the way. Also, take a photo a day to get better at taking pictures. Which leads into the next...

- Blog more, now that I have a camera (thanks love!) I have zero excuses to put it off.

- Continue getting through school, these past 6 months have been a struggle. A lot of things were changing professionally and I am struggling through a lot of things personally. School was the easiest thing for me to drop.

- Continue working on my novel, even if I never plan on publishing it. I really enjoy writing it.

What do you think? What are some of your goals this year?

Fur Vest!

2011-11-08T11:13:00.000-06:00

I am loving the fur vests or fur-lined for fall this year :

Belk

ramzrevell.blogspot.com from Belk

Wilsons Leather

Macys

I am going to attempt to make one this week using a sweater and some faux fur. Fingers crossed I can get my sewing machine up and running.

A little exterior refesher

2011-09-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

We finally got around to painting the exterior of our outdated, paint chipping house.

Here is the house before:

After in Behr's Rocky Ridge.:

A few other things we're looking to update is the front door:

And maybe adding a few not too modern, not too country looking shutters:

I am really digging this deep peacock color as an accent, so we'd build a patio set to match for the new patio too!

And for the details, touch up the old house numbers (I might just go buy new ones though), hardware and paint the lanterns on either side of the garage door.

What do you think? Anything else you would add or change?

IKEA Fix This Kitchen

2011-09-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

Have you all heard about IKEA's Fix This Kitchen?

A&E, Apartment Therapy and IKEA are teaming up to fix up kitchens.

Send your kitchen design questions, along with some photos of your design-challenged kitchen Here

All submissions are due by next Friday, Sept. 16th tune-in for the next installment of kitchen design fun, airing Saturdays this fall at 9:30am (8:30am CT) on A&E.

I have submitted mine, view the 80's kitchen I am stuck with:

I'd love to rip out this wall with the bakers rack and the peninsula and make an island with trash and recycling pull outs.

Pintrest

A couple notes on these, we had a contractor out and told us this wall is not load bearing so thats good, but the bad news is the bakers rack wall has the TV on the other side, so I will need to rearrange my living room:

Next, rip out the sofits and install taller upper cabinets or just new doors and add glass front cabinets on top with lights like this:

Pintrest

What are your big design challenges? Are you all going to sign up for the contest as well?

Pfister Fixture Forward Sweepstakes

2011-08-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

Pfister's Design-Inspired Sweepstakes win $5,000 or one of three $500 giftcard by sharing your style!

My style (surprise surprise) was the Vintage Decor:

Click HERE to enter!

Looking Forward to Fall Fashion!

2011-07-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

It's something like 125 with the heat index outside today so I decided to check out some cool weather trends for this fall!

One trend I am noticing is color blocking:

AnnTaylor

Anthropologie

Rebecca Taylor

JCrew

Accessories! Loving the turban look

Harper Bazar

Mad Men! By Banana Republic This classic 60's look is hitting mainstream beautifully :)

Stay cool, have a good Monday!!

Updated Patio!

2011-07-03T07:00:00.005-05:00

We Finally bit the bullet and added a small patio to our front yard. I have been hating this awkward rock bed in the front of my door since I moved in. It ends up being a huge dumping ground for snow in the winter and weed infested in the summer. Here is a Before picture from when I painted the bistro set last year.

We pulled out most of the rocks a few weeks back and have been living with this mess in our yard and garage due to rain and overall too darn lazy to get started....

The process was pretty straight forward, just terrible work to dig down in an old rock bed 4 inches and rip out the old weed mat.

Once we had a good pattern planned out, we kept one off to the side so we could refer to it easily.

Next step is to lay out and stamp down Paver Leveling Sand, we angled this down a small slope from the house so water would run toward the driveway and away from the house. This keeps any water away from the foundation.

Once we got the sand pretty level next is just to lay out all the pavers

The last steps are to lay out a fine sand called Paver sand over the top using a broom to brush it across the pavers to fill the cracks between the so they don’t shift, then lightly mist water over the pavers.

We had to do this step a few times so sand would fill all the cracks.

So here is the final with our temporary furniture, we want to build a bench with a little table to enjoy the summers with our neighbors.

It took us about six hours and cost less than $300 to complete!

We promptly showered and enjoyed a beer just in time to watch the sunset :)

Happy weekend all!

Confess Today

2011-06-24T15:34:00.000-05:00

I Confess I hate eating breakfast even though it makes me feel ten times better if I do.

I Confess I haven’t done a real load of laundry in 2 weeks, I just keep running mini washes so I don’t have to put anything away.

I Confess that I have had a coffee cooler at least once a week for the past month (I never do this because I hate the price of them).

I Confess that I am ADDICTED to my gym! I even got a Badge on Foursquare from it. I went twice today... nuts I know.

I Confess that I am a social network FIEND. I even have a special internet browser (RockMelt) that helps me see all my feeds!

I Confess that while work is stressing me out, I love being everyone’s go-to gal and their goofy grins when I tell them I can fix it.

I Confess that I love all these rainy days.

I Confess that I can sit and watch whole series of shows if it didn’t drive my husband nuts (Dr Who season 4, X-Files again, Star Trek TNG again...etc.)

I Confess that last night I was supposed to do homework and laundry (see above) but spent most of the night playing StarCraft. Nerd.

What are you confessing today?

Happy Summer Solstice!

2011-06-21T19:14:00.000-05:00

I hope you all enjoy your longest day of the year :D Did you all get your $2 off Caribou Coolers? I was all over it, and dragged poor co-workers along with hehe.

Fun fact for all: My husband does most of the grocery shopping, this is why:

I was supposed to get ODouls and Crystal Light.... which you dont see coz I had to go back and get it...

Here is what happened, I went into the grocery store and saw my crazy messed up hair in the window and thought

1. oh I should get some black hair dye to put stripes in my RED roots!

2 and 3. Then I see the deep conditioning oil next to my fav hair spray which is on sale. Sweet! Dull hair no more for me! PS like the shirt? Says "I fight like a girl" World of Warcraft style <3

4. I see Tonic water on sale, love. My thought process "Yay! I'll have lemon tonic water while I do homework"

5. Back on track, I am perusing the rest of the beverage aisle and my ~~eye catches~~ I scream internally "is that an AQUA can over there?!?!?" And see this lovely set of energy drinks in Pomegranate, Mango, Berry, etc. My thought process: "OMG how CUTE I'll buy 3!!"

6. Darn Cub Foods puts the dumbest things on clips between shelves Me: "What is that thing sparkling... OMG Skulls... OMG They are tattoos!!!, buying those" And yes I talk like a screaming Bieber- loving 14 year old in my head. And Yes, I have already put 4 tats on before starting this post.... and before I started my homework.

7. I am done for with a zero calorie water thats lavender mint flavored. It didn't even make it home. Its seriously incredible delish. Go get some.

ANYways, happy Tuesday all. Happy Summer Solstice :)

Todays Farmers Market Flowers

2011-06-16T16:51:00.001-05:00

Digging today

2011-06-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

Long time no see! I've been a whirl-wind of projects, activities, and travel! So I thought I'd post a few of my fav things I have been digging lately.

I adore little reading nooks like this one

I am officially on a mission for cute silky scarfs and am wearing my hair like this all summer!!!
And aviators!!! I bought a pair and am in looove with them, my face shape isn't quite right for 'em but "I do what I want"

I'm not usually a fan of stacked books and frames wallpapering the walls, but this one I adore

COLOR! I want more of it like this pic, plus look at that settee. Tis Christy-bliss

Products I am lovin'
(These are all items I just happen to adore and am not getting anything to mention these)
Bronzers! Flash Bronzer Anti-Age by Lancome is by far my favorite! It smells great, dries a little quicker than most and lasts for a long time without having to re-apply several times a week.

My second favorite bronzer is a bit more wallet friendly: Tantowel there aren't any dyes or staining and looks incredible even the first day you use it, over the week you will notice an incredible difference. Cons: I really do not like the smell, I spritz a bit of my homemade body spray over it (make sure its alcohol free if you do this), also it takes a really long time to dry and if its muggy out, I will skip it. I cant even get my makeup on evenly with this product. In the winter though its perfect! Keeps my face moisturized all day.

Next, Génifique Youth Activating Cream Serum Lancome again: This stuff is incredible, the smell is gentle, its a cream but it goes on like silk. I used a sample from Sephora for about a month and it dramatically changed lines under my eyes and the bright red of my cheeks was gone.

Fat Girl Slim I hate the name too, but I have been a gym fanatic these last 3 months and wanted something to help with some old marks. This is sooo delish smelling and works so well, I noticed a difference in about 2 weeks!

LUSH! They have the best products I <3 everything. But quickly here are some top summer favs: Silky Underwear Dusting Powder Leaves your skin silky soft all day and has an incredible soft jasmine scent.

I am big into solid perfumes for the summer, I think it helps keep the bitter alcohol smell off during those more humid hot days. I just got Lust the other day, another jasmine scent but with a little bite to it. Its fantastic and lasts all day even after my lunch BodyPump classes!

Mwah! I hope you are all having a lovely spring, and I will work on posting my projects for real this time around ;)

My current obsessions!

2011-03-31T12:13:00.000-05:00

This House

This Chaise

This end table

Anthro Dresses!

Segovia

This color palate (Koh Lanta, Thailand via This Battered Suitcase)

Spring Finds!

2011-03-25T16:05:00.000-05:00

It snowed again, its cold again and I am having a pretty miserable day. So I decided to round up some pretties I have bookmarked. Check out these spring-ish finds :)

First up this giveaway over at Jones Design Company:

Birdcage card/picture holder. I am thinking of buying this to replace the one in my hallway I made last Christmas.

PlasticLand

Mirrored sparrows in flight! I have a set now as you can see here, and I kind of want to add more, making them look like a flock flying across the corner instead of scattered like they are now.

PlasticLand

How fun would a few of these look under my patio?! Love them!!

Anthropologie

Cute terreriums

Doodlebirdie on Etsy

Cute birdhouses

Mudpuppy on Etsy

Planting these, all from Burpee:

I have my seeds started, Christmas wreath and other lights down (dont judge they were all frozen to some surface until last weekend when it WAS warm)

Gorgeous Find!!!

2011-02-11T17:45:00.000-06:00

By Juan J Carretero

It looks so much like this antique find I blogged about in September! Have sudden urge to get it now!!

CSN Winner!

2011-02-07T12:33:00.000-06:00

And the winner of the CSN $45 giveaway is......

MaryBeth 3) I tweeted! (@tdrawervintage)

Congrats MaryBeth, I will contact you with your prize later today!

Thank you everyone for participating :) It was fun to read everyone's responses and I hope you all have a lovely week!

Tweet

CSN Giveaway!

2011-01-31T11:25:00.002-06:00

CSN is the place to go for practically everything, including modern bar stools!

As a preferred blogger, CSN has graciously offered me a $45 giftcard! Since I love you guys (and don’t want to seem selfish), I’m giving it to you, my readers! Great with Valentines Day right around the corner!

Mandatory:

1) Remind me that you’re a follower of this lovely blog.

2) Share a Valentine’s Day tradition you currently have, or would like to start!

For additional entries comment for each thing you do:

3) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter by using the fancy button at the bottom of this post.

4) Blog, post on Facebook, or get creative!

Giveaway ends Friday, Feb 7th and is for followers only!

Painted Living Room and Entryway

2011-01-29T17:34:00.000-06:00

Back in October I won some amazing paint brushes from a giveaway that A Life's Design put on!

I put these puppies to good use while painting a few walls in my living room and entryway. I loved the being able to rotate the brushes in the handle to get all those hard to paint areas *coughs*BASEBOARDS*coughs*

I tried to keep the same color tones but wanted to lighten up the space. So here are a few before and afters for ya!

BEFORE

AFTER

PS check out the tiny mirror sparrows reflecting light all over, love them (a gift from my sister)

BEFORE

*ahem* excuse the mess, Hubby, our friend and I were watching the world's worst movie: Star Wars Holiday Special and we felt like documenting the event (Check the end for the movie). This pic also happens to be the ONLY picture I have ~~pre-marriage~~ pre-decorating.

AFTER

And here are some pics of the hallways

And here is a picture where I left the window wall the original color, shows a good contrast of old and new. Keeps the overwhelming BROWNS down a little.

I used BEHR Ultra in Flat (a good choice for hiding imperfections in your walls) its a Primer and paint in one and I looove it, great coverage and only took two coats. Check this link I use for picking the right paint finish.

The hallway is in Pale Cucumber

The living room is in Interactive Cream

Thanks A Life's Design for the giveaway! And I hope you all enjoy the pics!

Here is Star Wars Holiday Special (I have warned you):

Etsy Finds of the day!

2011-01-26T18:00:00.002-06:00

I came across a few AMAZING pieces today while looking for a dress for my buddy's wedding in April.

PyxusPassionProject describes her style as 'womenswear with contemporary styling and a bit of an edge'. I love all of her pieces and has this STUNNING dress I want really really badly.

Check out the back:

And look at the details on the back of this dress

sdfgeee makes beautiful coats and I have been eyeing these fantastic thick linen trousers.

And this coat:

And another coat from xiaolizi

And this coat from Ivy Tang (what can I say I am in Minnesota and its cold out hehe)

Ok got side tracked by those but back to dresses

Love this cowl neck cocktail dress by makemeadress

And on the vintage side, I spotted this 50's dress, I am not a huge fan of baby blue, but I love everything about this little dress!

Lastly someone getting married needs to buy this dress! It is unique and incredible looking!! I am not a big fan of traditional looking wedding dresses, so this one is perfect!

PS. I just tried to link back to a post on how my wedding dress looked and how the wedding turned out to find... I never posted it... how did I miss that?! I might make it my 2 year anniversary project or something in June. Totally embarrassed

And on goes the search for a dress too ;) I'll let ya know what I find.

Goodreads | 2011 Reading Challenge

2011-01-12T09:54:00.001-06:00

A few of you are also avid readers or would at least like to read more books this year. Goodreads is having a Reading Challenge that you can track, watch, and encourage your friends along with fun widgets like the one on my sidebar to add to your blog or profile! My profile is here

Sign up here:
Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge

Will you be joining?

Fashion, Design, and Architecture Loves

2011-01-12T07:03:00.000-06:00

Loving these images by Christina Fluegge today!

2011 Goals and Resolutions

2011-01-07T13:53:00.000-06:00

Well it's 2011 (two-thousand-&-heaven as Gala sweetly calls it) and I finally got around to making a whole new set of goals/resolutions for the year

Lets take a look at last year's resolutions:
•~~Try cross country skiing~~ Loved it! Only went once though
•Go snowmobiling
•~~Start a reading log for the books I have~~ read I update my GoodReads page often with books I currently read, my own critiques, and can keep a sturdy to-read list all in one spot!
•Take a cooking class with the hubby. Never did this, however we do spend a lot of time working on new and interesting dishes from cookbooks my Mother-In-Law buys us every Christmas
•Get rid of old clothes and shoes I never wear and start figuring out what style I'd like: Start a scrapbook & fill it with images, words & ideas to keep inspired. Keep a list of "must haves" outside closet for easy shopping. This seems like an on-going task, but here is the before and afters:
•~~Create a new Budget~~ Mint.com is incredible! Take a tour here
•~~Have a personal date once a week: Go to a movie, eat an amazing meal, go for a long meandering walk or have a candlelit bubble bath. Just take time out for you. Regularly.~~ This one was hard to track, but I worked to keep good constructive times for myself to re-group.
•~~Write a letter to the one person you allowed to make 2009 more difficult than it needed to be. Be as angry & vicious as you like, but when you’re done, burn it or tear it into little pieces.~~ This I cannot recommend enough! A lot of times you cannot confront the ones that hurt you so you have to deal with it yourself.
•~~Learn to use Photoshop like an almost-pro (YouTube has cute little sessions, but I am at work so I will add the link later)~~ Took a class here
•Get active, get physical 3 times a week. Sign up for a class! didn't do :(

I didn't complete all my goals, but was glad to have one spot I could reference to. This year I have bigger and brighter goals for 2011!

Read double the number of books read last year (read 33 last year, 66 is the goal for this year) I will be tracking on GoodReads for this too!
Start making my hats for Etsy
Keep trucking through school, gotta get that degree
Finish writing my book (I am at about 25,000 words so far)
Publish the book?
Try going on different dates with the hubby, try new things, enjoy new things together :)
Blog once a week, I have plenty of posts started, ideas etc. Just haven't taken the time to work them out and post them with updated pictures.
Remodeling monthly goals:

January - Pantry organization
February - Update the bathroom: biggest goals is to finish the last bits of my lower bath and update the mirror and rugs in the upper bathroom
March - Closet trash/recycle/donate/organize: my guest closet is a blanket dump right now and I still have several mismatched sheets and pillow cases and even ones for bed sizes we do not even have anymore.
April - Wash all the windows, panes, screens etc to let in that beautiful spring sun
May - Prep, wash and setup the deck for Spring
June - Plant and move the gardens to the end of the yard
July - Organize the garage
August - Re-paint the house
September - December I want to work on the kitchen remodel

A few little things that have been in the back of my mind to do

Finish a project before you start a new one example1 example2
Update and delete all those songs I keep skipping through on my iPod!
WORK OUT, I like doing it once I get there!

What are your goals this year? Link em up, I'd love to check them out!

January Blues shopping for Reds

2011-01-05T16:48:00.000-06:00

January is the worst month for me. Its mid winter season up in the midwest and its just bone cold, you dont want to go anywhere or do anything because even running a quick errand into the store your car insta-freezes in a little less than 2 seconds.
So, when I stopped at my favorite store: Joanns I end up spending about an hour or so in there just wandering, staring at fabrics wondering what I could do with it at some point, coz my sewing machine is on the fritz and I dont have an extra $75 laying around to get it tuned up.

When what do my little eyes spy are these lovelies!

Shelving and brackets <3, I would love a little chair sitting on a shelf somewhere in my livingroom, and those little birds are so adorable!

Jewelry tree, lotus flower candle holders and that red box is too fun, loving the arabian look

everything.

Mirror is adorable (yours truly reflecting grumpliy), and look at those end tables <3

I have to go back soon and its all on sale, just waiting for 'spending money' day.

What do you think?

DIY steampunk/victorian and renaissance hats

2011-01-04T14:11:00.000-06:00

I have had a few comments and questions about some of the hats I have made in the past, so I thought I would share what I did!

1. Do you sell your hats?
I have seriously thought about selling a few hats on Etsy here. I will start making a few and posting them in February which I will announce here on my blog!
2. How much will they cost?
Depending on the style and materials, but they will start around $20!
3. What materials will you use?
I generally use buckram frames and cover them with velvet or taffeta and accents with netting and feathers
4. How do you make them?
Its pretty easy if you take the time and have a lot of patience!

For this hat I bought my buckram frame kit from here: http://www.denisenadinedesign.com/Dianne%20Home.htm. Sewing the brim on was the most difficult, make sure to have a thick needle. I used a leather needle with a pair of leather gardening gloves on (grips nicely). I used remnant taffeta fabric, ostrich feathers and a necklace broach from Joann's. Sew the fabric around the hat glue on some pretties and tada!

This hat was also from a buckram frame, but less sewing involved and more glue used. It was the quickest one of the two to make by far! I used velvet and a little trim to match the dress and a jewel I had stashed away from a pair of chandalier earrings that had broken.

Here are a few of my favorite stores for supplies:

Buckram frames:

Hats by Leko

Southern Importers

California Millinery Supply

Pattern Studio

Hat Materials and supplies:

Judith M Millinery supplies

Such Pretty Things

LimeCrime Last Minute Gift Idea!

2010-12-23T12:04:00.000-06:00

Nocturnal Bites: Book Holiday Giveaway: Best of 2010'

2010-12-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

http://nocturnalbites.blogspot.com/I have a paranormal/vampire book obsession! Check out Nocturnal Bites Giveaway!!

Nocturnal Bites: Book Holiday Giveaway: Best of 2010': "2010' is almost over and what better way to send it off than to throw a Book Holiday Giveaway! There were tons of great books released this ..."