Kitchen Artwork

I haven’t mentioned much about decorating the kitchen since we moved in to our apartment. I did mention this post about inspiration for the kitchen, but that is about it. We haven’t done much in the kitchen, because it is pretty functional and looks fine for now pretty much the way it is. We did need a little bit of artwork though. The nook above the sink was a little bare.

Especially with that spotlight right above there, it definitely emphasized the fact that it was empty and bare. Perfect place for artwork! After settling into our apartment and seeing our existing kitchen decor, I noticed that it consisted of neutral beige and whites with pops of greens, blues, and pink-y/coral/oranges. I had been contemplating what kind of artwork to put up there when I realized the kitchen print from this post last May would be perfect!

So of course, I ordered it immediately. It came from Canada, so it took a week or two to get here, but arrived in perfect condition. The only downside is that it is an odd size for framing–10.5 x 14 inches. I took it to Michael’s to see how much it would be to have it custom framed, and they said it would be upwards of $130 for just a simple white frame and matte! How ridiculous! Instead I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a pretty white 16×20 frame with a 40% off coupon and had Michael’s cut me a custom white matte to match the dimensions of the print to the frame. This was much cheaper, but still not free– $22 for the frame and about $22 to get the matte cut as well. Why it costs as much to get a matte cut as it does to buy an entire frame with wood, glass, and backing, is beyond me.

So anyway, this process took a couple weeks. I bought the frame at Hobby Lobby while I was at home visiting a few weeks ago and then ordered the matte as soon as I got back to New Orleans and it took a week and a half for them to cut the matte. (again, kind-of ridiculous) As soon as I got all the pieces, I put it together. I love the way the matte and frame look with the print!

Drew installed the hanging hardware on the back of the frame and we hung her up!

I love the way the frame looks in there! The simple edges of the frame match really well with both the kitchen cabinets and the trim around the windows and the door.

I just love how it fits perfectly with the feel and look of our kitchen. I love the colors, the old-fashioned, home-y feel, and the pretty flowers, cups, tea towels, and rolling pins.

The name of the print is “Hot Chocolate.” How sweet!

The kitchen (and the rest of the house too) is really coming together. I love the feel of our house so far. It is becoming so cozy and home-y and I love being here!

In case you noticed in the pictures above, that is more basil growing in water by the sink. I broke off a few bits of my bigger basil plant in the windowbox and put them in water to grow roots so I could plant them and grow more basil plants. I planted one of them the other day and it is about time for me to plant this one as well.

Oh and if you like my kitchen print and would like to check out more work from the artist or order one for yourself, visit Janet Hill’s Etsy shop, here. She has such pretty paintings! I want them all!

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Evie’s Playdate Cards

My niece, Evie, started second grade last week! I can’t believe how old she has gotten. It also reminded me that I never shared the playdate cards that I made for her before school got out last May. She wanted some cards with her name and her mom’s name and phone number so that she could give them to her friends at school so that they could easily set up play dates over the summer. Such a good idea!


I think they are a really good way to have kids exchange numbers–easy for kids to hand out to their friends and convenient for parents to keep track of their kid’s friends and other kid’s parents as well.

Evie was excited to have pretty little cards with her name on them!

If you are interested in any playdate cards, business cards or contact cards for yourself or your little one, I would be happy to help create them for you! Use my contact page to send me an e-mail. 🙂

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Makeover!

How do you like our new design makeover? I’m so excited about it! I’ve been wanting to update things for a while, mainly to add a sidebar area to make social media connecting and subscribing to my rss feed easier. I hope you like it! Let me know if you encounter any problems! 🙂

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SouledStyle

Recently, Drew and I worked on a design project for a friend from our hometown that I went to school with when we were younger. She has since moved to Los Angeles, studied fashion design and has become a designer/fashion blogger/stylist. We designed both her website and her logo for her SouledStyle branding.

Check out her website, here.

 

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Paintings by Janet Hill


It has been way too long since I’ve done an inspiration post! I am constantly being inspired by everything, so I’m not sure why I haven’t shared anything lately. (I’m currently LOVING Pinterest for inspiration! Check it out!) Anyway, I stumbled across this shop on Etsy today that has the loveliest little paintings. I should have narrowed them down to just a few to post, but they are so amazing and I couldn’t pick! (so be warned, this post has a lot of pictures)

They are all so pretty, I don’t know if I can pick a favorite! I definitely think I’ll have to pick one to go in our new house once we move in and I can see what wall space I have for art! I really like the first one of the kitchen, the third one of the blue dining room, and the seventh one of the office with the yellow desk. I also like the colors in the living room of the fourteenth one. The one with the three girls’ skirts/shoes/books one reminds me of me and my little sisters though. My grandma used to always buy us things with sets of threes. The one with the shoes is also really pretty. Goodness, I love them all! You should definitely check them out in Janet Hill Studio’s Etsy shop!

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Do It Yo’ Damn Self

Sorry, I don’t generally use foul language, but this has a point, I promise. 🙂

I (well, P.S. Designs) just finished a blog design for Drew’s landlord, Annie. I did all custom graphics for it!

Annie already blogs at Eat Drink NOLA where she tells wonderful tales of her adventures in New Orleans cuisine, but she wanted to expand her blogging repertoire to cover home DIY projects and tales of parenthood. That is where Do It Yo’ Damn Self (the blog) and P.S. Designs comes in.

Here is her custom header design:

I even made her matching custom social media icons:

I’m so excited with how the design turned out! Be sure to hop on over to Do It Yo’ Damn Self to check it out! She is even giving away Food & Wine cookbooks to two random winners from those who sign up today for her blog e-mailing list! Don’t miss out!

 

 

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In Retrospect, Final Painting

For our final in my painting class, we did a painting completely different than any others that we had done in the class thus far. This one wasn’t strictly from life, we could use photographs and it was up to us to morph multiple things/images into one final image. We were to pick two things, one 2D object and one 3D object, with one being reminiscent of our past and one being related to our lives now. This is what I ended up with:

So what does it represent about me? Well, the background is a fabric pattern. I liked this pattern- a quatrefoil pattern reminiscent of Gothic Architecture and I love art and art history. It is also very graphic and I love graphic design. It is also fabric, which I love and want to design my own collection of one day. Fabric represents a lot in my life. Learning to sew when I was young, my mom sewing all kinds of things, my love of the home and home decorating.  I’ve been looking for fabric for curtains for our new apartment and I was drawn to lots of pretty graphic patterns like this one. It just seemed fitting.

The watering can and flowers represents my childhood, home, growing up, my parents. I was always outside in our backyard as a kid, so obviously something related to nature would be perfect for relating to my past. My dad is an avid collector of various old/antique things and I guess my mom mentioned to him sometime how she liked watering cans and that began a period of him collecting all kinds of them for her. Most of them looked really similar to this one. I remember as a kid, filling them up with water from the hose and dragging them around the yard to water all the flower beds. The flowers inside this watering can are the same flowers that my mom would let us pick out at the feed store every summer in little cartons to plant in the yard and help her do the gardening.

Tying the two together in a cohesive way represents the meshing of my past with my present and how they are ever intertwined, but separate in a way as well. But then again, that is kind of obvious.

I’m so thankful for all that I learned in my painting class and I’m kind-of sad to see it end! Although I am happy that I’m done with school for the semester! I’m so ready for this summer!  I can’t believe that I’m halfway done with college though. It has gone by so fast!

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Paris Prints

I’m so excited!!! Remember my post about Rose Windows from last week? Remember how I was talking about the rose window illustration print that I wanted, but that Little Brown Pen’s shop didn’t list it? I had sent them an e-mail about it, but never heard anything back. However, I saw today on one of the blogs that I read, that Little Brown Pen was having a sale through all of April on all their prints and illustrations. So I visited their blog to get the coupon code. (They are offering 20% off through May 1st!) I saw underneath the coupon code that it applied to not only their Etsy shop, but their website as well!! I didn’t know that they had a website, so I hadn’t even thought to check it before! Sure enough, I found the illustration of the rose window on there! It is available in yellow, gray, charcoal, and brown! PLUS they offer free shipping in the US! I ended up getting this one:

So excited!! Not only did I find the print I wanted, but I got free shipping and 20% off!!!  You should definitely check out their prints and illustrations. They are all of scenes around Paris and are so pretty! I talked about more of them in this post a while ago. Get their coupon code at their blog, here.

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Rose Windows

Today was my last day of my art history class. I’m really going to miss it. I’ve really developed a love for ancient art history, especially the architecture. I’m fascinated by the amazing things that people were able to build without any kind of fancy modern technology or huge machinery to aid them. The intricacy and detail is astounding. I particularly like the patterns and little embellishments that they use. I could go on and on about art history and all that amazes me for days, so I’ll stop here.

The last time period that we discussed in this class was Gothic Art and Architecture. Lately I have really been in love with the Gothic rose window patterns that adorn almost every Gothic cathedral. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is an example of the Notre Dame in Paris (with my 17 year old self in front of it):

See the really pretty round window in the middle? I’m in love with these. They are on all kinds of ancient buildings, but this is just one that I happen to already have pictures of. They are even prettier on the inside, because they are completely filled in with stained glass:

Sorry, I had a crappy camera at the time, so these pictures aren’t the best. Here is another one on the other side of the Notre Dame:

In one of my inspiration posts a while back, I wrote about an Etsy Shop that sold these rose window prints. I really, really want one, but there aren’t any in their shop. I e-mailed to ask if I could get one, but I still haven’t heard back from them. This is what I’m talking about:

The other day Drew and I were in Restoration Hardware and I saw this matelasse/quilt/coverlet in AMAZING Belgian Linen in the most perfect brownish grey color with a rose window pattern on it:

I fell in love. Immediately. I pondered and looked and touched and had the salesman get out the packages and almost went to the sales counter with them. They were even on sale. But they were still WAY expensive for my budget. 🙁

I can’t get them out of my head though. I know I can find other, less expensive bedding for the bedroom in the new house, but I really, really love the rose window pattern on this! (and the color and the texture and the grain lines of the linen…Ahhh!)

So there you have it. My obsession with rose window patterns.

 

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