1. Spanish-style split pea soup on Kayotic Kitchen
2. Valentino dress via color collective by way of south seas
3. origami mobiles by Kidivist via design love fest
4. Print & Grain business cards via design work life
5. artwork by Dawn (a.k.a. Dawbis) Cardona 

Weekend Event Picks for Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill:
Durham Bulls game (with fireworks!) tonight // free tour of Architecture and the Urban Landscape in downtown Durham, 10am Saturday starting at the Farmer’s Market // Durham walking food tour Saturday 2pm, $35, 6-7 restaurants // Taste Carolina food tours Saturday in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro // free wine tasting (picnics and cookouts theme) at Wine Authorities, Saturday 12-3 // Hops & Roots Fest ($15-20) on Saturday // N.C. Symphony’s SummerFest opening night concert on Saturday at Koka Booth in Cary // rug-hooking class at The Scrap Exchange on Saturday // Alfred Hitchcock retrospective at The Carolina Theater

Next week starting on Tuesday afternoon I’ll share some NSS & ICFF finds (we’ll be off on Monday for the holiday)! Have a good, long weekend!

—Ellie

I have a fabric scrap addiction, I think, and I have yet to figure out what to do with all the little pieces I’ve collected. Still, the collection keeps growing…

screen printed fabric from Umbrella Prints on Etsy

—Ellie

Love all the bold colors being used in interior design, but feel like you’re stuck in drab land? Thankfully, brightening up a space doesn’t require a huge investment, or gallons of paint. Focus on one or two statement pieces that really ground the room, but give it the punch you’re looking for. I love bright sofas, colorful rugs, or a bold armoire.

Katie’s little bungalow on apartment therapy is the perfect example of going punchy without going over the top. Artwork is always a quick and inexpensive way to add color to a room, and is personally my favorite way to draw attention away from gross carpet in rentals. And remember, don’t try to compete with the basics you have to work with in a room, try to compliment them.

+ sheepskin rug & karlstad sofa from ikea
+ anthropologie huari rug
+ mid-century burl wood coffee table via midcentury modern finds
+ carved wood accent table from world market

—Natalie

Patterns that make me want to make something! Screen printed linen fabric from Summersville on Etsy.

—Ellie

Rhubarb season has finally arrived. I picked up a bunch from the farmers’ market last weekend and have since been scouring through recipes. I think I’ll have my rhubarb and drink it too. Left: Orange Scented Honey Rhubarb Cake from Jacqui at Good Things Grow. Right: Rhubarb Mojito from Ashley at Not Without Salt.

—Melissa

Brendan and I are getting ready to build a fence and deck for our backyard. So I have no business looking at throw pillows (ahem, house budget) but… they do change a room, don’t they? A few faves:

knitted cylinder / crewel diamond / velvet pleated / block print / quilted velvet / patterned / dotted

—Ellie

Make an impression with this unexpected and summery color combination.

tank via / sunglasses / clutch / seeing spots scarf via / ballet flats / stripe skirt

—Maddy

Here they are! This was a fun and easy DIY business card project, just in time for my trade show trip. I had some Lettra paper cut down to business card size, then dipped each card into a cup of watered down gold acrylic ink. Tea would have been fun, too. The ink coverage varied depending on how long I left the cards in the water (5-30 seconds) and the angle at which I pulled them out. I let them dry flat and then printed the text on the bottom on a gocco with grey ink.

If I were doing this all over again—and I will, I’m sure—I’d purchase a stamp instead of using the gocco, and would try to figure out a way to line dry the cards instead of laying them flat to dry. Or, find a surface to lay them on that had less texture (I used paper towels) because the fronts are much prettier than the backs! I might also try a thick watercolor paper… one that was relatively smooth so that the small text would print well. I love that each of them are different, and that when they’re stacked they’re kinda wavy.

Today I’m off at the trade shows in New York taking lots and lots of pictures. Can’t wait to show you!

—Ellie

Do you need a tie for a ring-bearer or flower boy? Turns out it’s really easy to make a little boy tie from an adult tie. This is a great option if you want to match your ring-bearer’s tie to your groomsmen’s ties.

I found this men’s tie at a thrift shop for 99¢. To make it fit my 5-year old, I simply cut the bottom off – 13.5 inches from the bottom – folded the sides up into a point and did a simple stitch with blue thread to secure it. The beauty of it is you don’t have to be an expert seamstress, since no one will ever see that side. This project took me all of 5-10 minutes! That’s definitely my kind of project!

-Chiara

P.S. The top photo is my son Jackson’s school photo, taken by the amazing photographer Dennis Kleiman of Stomping Ground – a company on a mission to reinvent the school picture.  If you have a child in the NYC school area, you should totally rally to get them to take your school’s photos! They are fantastic!

It occurred to me earlier this week that I will need business cards for Mint while I’m at NSS and ICFF (obviously) and although I loved the old ones I wanted something new. So yesterday I dip-dyed a bunch of cut Lettra paper in watered down gold acrylic ink, and tonight I’ll gocco the text (gray) on top. A little last minute, but kinda fun, right? Above, experiments before I started and below, cards in progress.

UPDATE: You can see the finished cards right here!

—Ellie