flower power

I've been lucky enough to have a couple fun flower-y projects come my way as of late - the one above was actually just for fun though! Sometimes I like to pretend that I own a line of good smelling body products and that I get to choose the scents and design the packaging... and someone else does the rest of the work. Wouldn't that be ideal? Doesn't eucalyptus have the prettiest leaves? All answers point to yes.

Other floral things happening in my life currently:

On Saturday I took a quick jaunt out to the ocean to do a little boogie boarding (newest obsession) and Gwen Stefani ogling (she was RIGHT. THERE) and then headed back inland so I could be Katie's official floral crown-maker at the Bust Craftacular. The whole thing was MAJORLY fun, there were cute ladies and amazing goods everywhere. In case you want to drop some hard earned cash on something pretty and fun, here are some of the vendors I was crushing on:

Selvedge Dry Goods (for your fashion truck-y, watermelon shorts-y needs) | Sienne Josselin (for your earthy illustration needs) | Hannah Nance (for your Babe Alert print-y needs) | Paola Loves to Shop (for your dreamy jewelry needs) | Small Adventure (for your gorgeously illustrated cards-y needs)

And DUH, the Good Twin for your best letterpressed cards ever-y needs!

And here are two photos from my trip to Michigan - a gorgeous letter "B" made by my future sister-in-law's sister (what is that? is there a term for that?) and a happily full windowbox in my parent's backyard. If you ever wonder where my love for mint and teal comes from... well.. it's probably because I grew up in a perfect minty green house.

post haste

I'm kicking myself for not posting this sooner (or just in general not posting enough), but guess what? You can totes McGoats buy cards with my art on them from Postable.com! AHHH this website is seriously the cutest - you can either order a box set of cards and address them the old fashioned way OR write a card via their website and they'll send it for you! So handy!

Yes, this would have been more handy if I had posted this BEFORE father's day (see below) but I was off to Michigan to celebrate my brother's lovely lady's bachelorette party for the weekend. This, by the way, was terribly fun. I consumed... shall we say... a few shots.

BUT NO MATTER. If you have some card sending needs (maybe you forgot to send a father's day card?) check out Postable! 

california dreamin

thanks to laura we snagged a couple free tickets to the huntington gardens, and it was glorious

Obviously this blog is mostly about sharing my art, but it's also a personal blog and I haven't really been posting too many visual representations of our new life here in La La Land. It's been an entirely new experience moving to a new, vastly different city in my adult life. I thought I had a little experience moving from Michigan to Minnesota for college, but that was essentially like dipping my toes into the kiddie pool and slooowwwllyyy wading in. I'm a midwest girl, and moving to California was like jumping into the deep end and then losing my bikini top. 

That is to say, it's been awesome and a little shocking! 

So here, some visual stimuli for you. We've been here for just about three months and have already had three sets of visitors, all of whom I love: My parents & brother (who was living in San Diego for a few months, so we visited him too!), Alli & Alex, and Bill, Ben & John. See if you can spot them, it'll be like Where's Waldo but for people you possibly don't actually know.

 

gorgeous foliage in venice & silverlake

taking a walk with some fashionable fellas

 

a trip to disney animation studios / the aquarium in san diego

more san diego - we saw a guy catch a bebe shark here? he took a selfie and then threw it back in the ocean

 

malibu treats: sandy crabcakes / I would take up residency at sqirl if I could afford it

took a tour of the rosebowl with the fam, found some modern art disguised as an abandoned sign

fellas

Not much to say right now - it's too hot! Here, have a couple critters. Gotta catch 'em all!

in the pink

Yes, the requisite amount of time has past for step one of my hair cycle (the love it would never change it step) and I am now onto step two: oh my god I need change right now. Thanks to some particularly large monetary setbacks (turns out moving across the country and starting over again in los angeles is SPENDY) I'm not in a place where a big change is possible.... but a girl can dream right?

ABOUT PINK HAIR. YEAH, I know, I'm cray. Shouldn't I have gotten the crazy hair feels out of my system by 23? I did dye my hair jet black in college but we never speak of that. And here I am at 28, totally jonesing for some sweet pastel pink hairs ala Alyssa over at xovain. That color! Such perfection. Alas, I have the darkest of dark hair and to get that sort of pink I'd probably have to fry my hair up with something bleach-y first. 

Also that has to be expensive to keep up with, right? Especially for people like me that don't trust themselves with an at-home dye kit.

Instead I'm going to save my pennies and work on mermaid hair (aka no haircuts) and then splurge on some pink ends like Diane Kang, super hair goddess, did. My ends are mostly already lighter, so it shouldn't be as intense as going pink all over... plus if I end up realizing the error of my ways I can just chop it off! 

I will keep you updated, dear blog. 

Toasted

LE SIGH. Another session of Make at that Sells is drawing to an end. At least the last assignment was loads of fun - party paper inspired by Bavarian and Ukranian folk art? Yes okay! I had a good time doing image research - check out the National Museum of Ukrainian Decorative Folk Art if you want to spend some time looking at some truly gorgeous textiles.
I'm super happy with my final product too! Because I'm a crazy person I made a repeating pattern for the napkin design, even though that wasn't really necessary. YOU'RE WELCOME, NO ONE.

Now I'm thinking about summer parties (did I mention it's been over 90 degrees pretty much all week? HOT, DYING OF SWEAT) and all that fun stuff. My party supplies might look nice at a summer BBQ with a vaguely European slant, ja? Please throw such a party and invite me. Here are some recipes to get you started:

Pigs in a Blanket / Dill Pickles / Spicy Shandy / Raspberry Tart

this must be the place

Another week, another Make Art That Sells assignment! Every time I work on one of these I feel like I'm back at MCAD, making mac and cheese in my dorm room and then turning on my stupid lamp (you know the one) and hunkering down at my desk to get started. There are a lot of reasons I'm happy to be in the real world, but sometimes I miss college! 

Speaking of the real world, this week's assignment was to make a map of the place you live. Since we've been living in LA for a nanosecond I decided to focus on the little stretch of Sunset off of Santa Monica that we've been walking to on almost a weekly basis. There's plenty of cafes and fun shops to look at, and if you want there's a longer walk home so you can look at all the pretty houses.

Here are links to all the places on my map, for those curious:

Clementine Floral Works / Spellbound Sky / Intelligentsia / Forage / Tacos Delta / Secret Headquarters

Bryan was also inspired to make a little video documenting some of the neighborhoods and things we've seen out and about... starring this moi! That's right, I'm a famous. Please, respect celebrity privacy.

Video by Bryan Isaacs, who requests you select the HD option for optimal viewing.