Cutest proposal idea :: The Bebez Book

Friend and creative genius Bryan proposed to his darling lady Robbi with the most precious and clever idea of writing her a children's story. The two of them as kids... with Robbi's beloved lab, Marti as a pup. Each page is centered around a letter of the alphabet, describing what she means to him and it's just one adorable adventure with lots of personal flair. Of course, when we get to the W page, she was in for a huge surprise as he asked her to be his wife in the exact location as illustrated. (Marti was tied to the bench and he even had a plaid shirt on!)

Bryan came up with every single detail in each scene, so I had a blast just helping his funny vignettes come to life. It was my huge honor to get to be part of this project! Way to set the bar high for all the single men left in the universe :)

Sketched in pencil, digitally colored up, printed through Blurb. 7 x 7 square.
(Click to view on Flickr.)

Graphic Design: Oh What Fun

I know it's April.


But still, I'm posting our Christmas card from 2011 for your viewing pleasure and for me to have chronicled in my file of silly things I have designed. 


We like to think we're slightly odd (in an endearing way, maybe?) and we like to have fun! We wanted to put a smile on our family and friends' faces -- or at least make them raise an eyebrow :) So here's what we came up with.

I had them printed by www.moo.com and they turned out fantastic! 

Planning & Sketch-painting

I'm overjoyed to have an opportunity to paint two expressive and colorful pieces for my interior designer's client-friend. It's a great challenge!


Concept: abstract but loosely containing tree forms, expressive, not timid in color, fitting for a trying-to-step-a-little-bit-away-from-traditional family room.


24" x 48" x 2"deep canvases, acrylic paint


Some general composition planning.



Sketching and picking colors



Almost there

And with those last touches of deeper grey, our test-run is complete.



Stay tuned for the {large and in-charge} full-sized version. 

Recovering our Chairs

It's funny to think about the family in Houston two years ago who threw these chairs on their curb for trash pickup. They have no idea that some lady (Hi, Mom!) would spot them, call her newly-a-homeowner-with-an-empty-house daughter to describe the trashy chairs that had "good bones" and potential once you looked past the faded purple-gone-brown stained and dog-furry fabric.


Here are the beauties before.
stained fabric (although awesomely geometric)

mysteriously sticky

and torn

But free :)


And...Fast-forward to when I get around to recovering these trash-to-treasure finds. Here's a peek at my process.


Demo and deep cleaning

primer & paint

meet fun Ikea fabric
staple guns

All arms and legs were used to pull the fabric as taut as I could.

Here's how they turned out. 

I decided to trim the chairs with double welt cording because I read it is the most forgiving trim since it's nice and wide. My favorite local fabric warehouse (remember, the place where I scavenged for my table runner pieces...) makes double-welt cording for a few dollars per yard. It turned out perfect...I love the quirky Tim Burton-y feel of the black and white diagonal stripes.





I love the hand-drawn quality of the Ikea fabric I picked for the seat of the chair and the backside. 




We're happy to have our old chairs a little bit freshened up :)

Vera: textiles

I love our new vintage Vera kitchen linen from my mama.

Vera Neumann was an artist who started designing textiles in the 40s. Based on the cute little ladybug logo, I think mine is from the early 60s.  Read About Vera Neumann if you don't know her work.

I love it!

Graphic design: Honey Do

A cute little invitation for a couples shower.
A sweet friend {pun intended} gave me the concept from another one 
she had seen - and I drew it up. I love this sort of thing. 

Names and numbers changed to protect the innocent :)


Has anyone been to a Honey Do shower with bride and groom together? Definitely a fun idea!

graphic design: Southern Harmony

A talented friend is part of The Women's Chorus of Dallas. Bam.


They are a non-profit group who serve the community by raising money through their performances. And with an upcoming concert by the Secret Sisters, she was charged with designing a logo for the event...and wanted some creative help. I was recruited.  


Here's her email:

Coming up in September, there will be a concert by the Secret Sisters (from what I understand, they are kind of country bluegrass) and all of the proceeds from the concert will be donated to TWCD.   So I have been tasked with designing a logo for the event. This logo will then be plastered all over the web, posters, mailers and most other media you can think of announcing the concert. 

 SOUTHERN HARMONY, a benefit for the Women's Chorus of Dallas

Um, right up my alley!  A few of us got together, brainstormed on:
Feminine, southern, bluegrass....and with the vintage, cute vibe on the Secret Sisters website....


 Here's what we came up with.




A little song bird on an old-timey Shure 55 Elvis Mic. Lots of fun. 

Queen of the Kitchen

There's a new gal in my kitchen.

She's pretty cute.  And loves to do the dishes. 

She has a lot going for her.

My mom got me this cute little brush to scrub dirty dishes. Makes the job much more fun :) 


Bonus:  Reminds me a lot of these gals...

          

It's a whole lot of fun having little things around your house that make you smile.  

Surround yourself with treasures that you like even if they don't go together--who cares if it's not the way the magazines say you should decorate?

Take it from me, the goof who has hippos and dolled-up dish brushes that help with the washing. 

July Calendar

Dear one,

from the bottom of my heart to yours, I present to you 

     your very own handy dandy snazzy-jazzy 

desktop calendar for J U L Y.

I had some fun with paint and Sharpie and poof....

parrot feathers, elements of cactus, earth worm, and ever-running sprinklers that wizz around in my head 

[or...maybe just in our yard].

As always, click on this image to make it bigger, then save it or make it your desktop image from there.

Hope you enjoy :) Happy Fourth!

The Table - a pecha kucha presentation

Say what?


     Pecha kucha is a presentation style. 

{PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.} 
from http://www.pecha-kucha.org/


A principal architect at my firm heard about this concept and pushed for a pecha kucha "night" at our monthly office meeting, which happened to be a company lunch potluck. Even better. 
Five people gave five pecha kuchas - all tied loosely to architecture and design, but casual and personal.


It was lots of fun--and challenging to fit the format! I recorded it post-potluck to share :)



main source:

Titus, Devi. The Table Experience. HigherLife: Oviedo, FL, 2009.

     Print.

I Made a Table Runner

...Well actually, I made 1 1/2 table runners (before my time expired and Christmas gift-giving began!) with the help of my new {old} Singer machine.
I had a hay day at the fabric store (which is more like a warehouse of thousands of choices) where I grabbed lots of my favorite samples. Then I picked 2 neutrals {you'll see the butter yellow and taupe} to make the runner two-sided.
I roughly cut up the samples into rectangles and added a few samples I had at home {remember my roman shade and dining chairs? and my cornice boxes?}

I sewed on patchwork blocks out of the samples at the ends of my neutral fabrics, making sure my modern:traditional and earthtones:bolds ratios felt right.

Then putting the two long neutral pieces together with the sample-sides {pretty-sides} face to face or inside out, I sewed all the way around the perimeter except leaving 6 inches open for me to flip it back right-side-out. Got all that?

Okay, now it feels like a table runner!

I poked out all the corners with my scissor tips, ironed it flat {cautious of the not-yet-sewn part}, and then sewed all the way around the perimeter.

I love that the patchy, loose look allowed me to make lots of little rookie mistakes. It has character :)

And it was a really fun surprise for my sister {this guy's mama} and mama {this one's mama}

You can make one, too. It's quite fun--and now I see see skirts, pillows, and jackets with new eyes as my appreciation for the art of sewing has increased tenfold.

{Two runners are shown, 54" x 14"}

Sewing: Crash Course

Well, it's a new year (Happy New Year!) and I picked up a new skill.

Or at least I took myself through a crash course of sewing, with the 1956 Singer manual I pulled up online leading me delicately through each step. I'm now convinced we modern-day Americans have it easy with gadgets that practically work themselves...and are much more user-friendly than the antiquity of a sewing machine I now call my own.

My great aunt was probably charmed into buying her 1956 Singer 99K by a commercial like this one:

And I inherited it!

So of course, I had to dream up a project. I had to put my Singer to use before I "lost my ever-loving mind."

Stay tuned for what I made :)

Christmas Trees

We're feeling very festive with our decorations out, Christmas tunes on, and our Christmas trees lit.

Yep, Christmas trees. Uh huh...two of them. :)

Well....because we have lots of ornaments--my sweetie's mom has collected ornaments for him each year of his life and has lashived lots of Christmas decor love on us. Cool, huh.

And because I have always thought it was so pretty to see a tree twinkling in the front window from the street. And to have one to enjoy in your main living area.

So, we decided to have two. One traditional and cozy in the front.

With sweet, sentimental ornaments.

And some fun ones that represent the things we like.

And one casual, cute and a little unique--not too typical. Like us.

A friend commented, "Oh, so like a mullet."

...I raised an eyebrow...

"You know. Business in the front--party in the back."

Yep, exactly. We love our arrangement!

It definitely makes us smile.

And I didn't even think about how it would be a happy companion to our homemade roman shades.

What do you think? Are we crazy?! :)

Happy decorating!!

Anthro - polo - gie

Oh hi :)

*Hubs caught me drooling over the latest Anthropologie catalogue*

Such a whimsical, artful expression of style with love for the vintage and the unique. There are cupcakes, bunnies, clowns, a llama, and you have to see what stares out at you on 52 / 89, wearing leather boots, mind you. I love the presentation and the products.

I mean, have you seen it??

So thankful for the SALE section :)