619 miles

blog design

Welcome to phase uno of the blog design! I started to call it a "redesign", but since I didn't design one bit of the previous design, I am designing it all, which I am very pumped about. I love taking photos, schoosing textures, colors and designing graphics... I foresee many late nights ahead with me, Reese & some photoshop elements.

Enough of me blabbing.... What do you think so far? I was debating on waiting to make the changes appear "live" until I had it all figured out, but I was beyond tired of the previous dark grey. It seamed dark and not very reflective of how Kerry and I are. I'll be tweaking it along the way, but for now I think this is WAY better than the default freebie template I had. So much brighter and clean looking.

I must say THANK YOU! THANK YOU! GRACIAS! to Elise for her super awesome blog2.0 workshop. I'm in the midsts of trying to learn as much as I can from this talented and creative gal. Another fun thing about this class is seeing what the other "students" are doing to their blogs. 

I hope you like the new look! More improvements to follow as I continue with the workshop.

The under construction graphic was designed by Elise and all the other graphics (fabric tapes & background) were designed by Katrina at Pugly Pixel)

CREATE! GO!

Today I started the Nurture your Creativity - Be Bulletproof 2 online class. I am beyond pumped on how this class may jumpstart some creativity. The need to exercise some creative muscles has been bubbling to the surface for the past few weeks (see quilt and pillow). I took part1, which was fabulous, and part2 looks to be just as awesome. It's about developing the skill of creativity and making it a regular part of life. Being creative doesn't mean being an artist. Creativity is inside all of us.. let's let it OUT! 

Kal is so passionate about these topics of creativity and being bulletproof that you can't help but feel the energy. I am a huge fan of her blog and art, which I highly recommend checking out.

I'm ready to CREATE... are you?

Let's GO :)

these are a few of my favorite things: online magazines

I, like all other interior design fans, enthusiasts, & professionals, was saddened the day I found out that Domino was to be no more. While I still get a couple of printed magazines, I am enjoying several on-line magazines as much as the real-deal-hold-in-your-hands ones. One of the coolest things about the on-line magazines is that you can click on items and are linked instantly on where to buy!

Numero uno on that list is Lonny, I [heart] this one! If you devour design blogs like I do then you already know about this one. It's awesome and their website is always expanding with photos neatly categorized for searching out inspiration. Here is the cover of the Oct/Nov 2010 issue:

I can't remember exactly how I found out about Southern Flouirsh, but I do remember thinking it was pretty cool to find out that the editor in chief lives in my hometown, Louisville, KY. I discovered their premier issue this spring and I have to say that I enjoy seeing features from places that are near me... from places I've actually visited and could visit again. It just seems so much more of a "local magazine" to me, I think that is why I like it so much. I don't remember needing a subscription to look at the first issue, but now it's $10 to subscribe. Not too bad of a price. You can flip through the on-line version or download your own copy to your desktop. For a limited time you can get a discount by checking out this blog, Thompson Family- Life, which is one of my daily reads. The Holiday 2010 cover:

I found out about Sweet Paul Magazine on decor8 fairly recently and I already have saved the mashed potatoes with crispy Parmesan recipe onto my desktop. I can't wait to get home to cook, and especially to try that one out. The magazine is full of gorgeous photos of food and recipes you can save to your desktop with the click of a mouse. There are also articles about entertaining, crafts and shopping. I think the Holiday 2010 cover is super cute, but not in a cheesy way.

Due to the slow internet connection I'm dealing with, I haven't had a chance to look at this next one all the way through. However, from what I have seen, It's worth the wait for the pages to load up. And, not to mention, it is very timely with the holidays approaching. I'm not going to be home to celebrate on the actual holidays, but I will have Christmas in January presents to shop for and Gifted Magazine is full of great ideas. Their latest cover:

I know there is another interior design one, that I thought I had bookmarked but I just can't find. Do you know of any good online magazines?

currently...

...I am chilling on the couch feeding my addiction to all things turquoise & blue (and helping Cam play angry birds on my iPhone), while Reese is snoozing on the floor next to us. A nice relaxing Sunday morning.

I've been devouring this blog, House of Turquoise, for the past 2 days, talk about eye candy!

And I have been pinning all this ridiculous eye candy on my newest favorite thing Pinterest!

Here is a screen shot of one of my boards. It's THE coolest way to collect and share images.

why didn't I think of that?

The very creative Belinda, on her blog The happy Home, featured the simpliest, yet coolest little crafty idea... I wish I would have thought of something so clever as making magnets out of buttons! Click on over to her blog for the button magnet "how-to". She also has a lot of great posts, just the other day she wrote one about re-vamping furniture pieces... now you know I was reading every word of that one too!

these are a few of my favorite things: blogs (part dos)

These next favorite blogs are a little more difficult to categorize.  Last time (part uno) I talked about decorating type blogs, and I, of course, left out several other GREAT ones.... More to come on those later.  I love the following blogs mainly because they are written by ladies that are doing their own thing, following their creative dreams and sharing their stories with the rest of us blog readers.  They truly are some creative ladies, take a look, I know you'll be inspiried.. I AM every time I click to read their blogs.

First up is [i] love life, written by Kal Barteski.  I recently took part in her online creativity class and it was awesome.  Kal is so full of passion for what she does it's contageous.  She is also an amazing artist and I am a very proud owner of several of her prints as well as my much commented on iphone case from uncommon (not sure if it's available anymore). I love reading as she shares her love of life and her passion for art and creativity in everything.

 

Next, is Elise's blog, EnJOY it. She makes lots of cools stuff out of paper, more specifically some really rad mini books.  I bought a little mini book paper kit a while ago from her etsy shop, and it was filled with some great little papers. She has her own business and is full of inspiration on how to make that work.

A Beautiful Mess is a blog by Elsie Flannigan.  She paints, she crafts, she runs a store called Red Velvet, and she blogs about it all. and more. fashion, art, vintage & crafty stuff are all blog topics. Elsie also shares the story of how she followed her dreams of owning her own business. I've taken online craft and journaling classes by her and best pal Rachel. The classes were so much fun with an overwhelming amount of great ideas.

Speaking of Rachel, I also love reading her blog Smile and Wave. She sews, she crafts, she decorates and she shares her family life. I took an her Home Ec online sewing class from her and her pals Leigh-Ann and Courtney. It was a great class and I still have MANY projects I wanna make from it.

As many of you know when you're wandering around blog land you can end up many many sites away from where you began.  The next blog is where my reading of all blogs began. I first came across Ali Edwards from a scrapbooking magazine, I think. I looked up her blog and it was over from there. I love her inspiration, photography and super super creative approach to scrapbooking. I'm really excited about her latest idea of downloadable self paced project classes. I can't wait to try one.

Where do you find inspiration these days?

these are a few of my favorite things: blogs (part uno)

It's true. I am a fan huge fan of design blogs. Actually, it's not just design blogs, but blogs in general. I mainly look at design, craft, and sewing blogs.  I can, and have, spend hours wandering through the overwhelming amount of images and ideas I come across on all these different blogs. I tell my amiga, Amy, that if I spent half the time implementing the great ideas I find online, I'd get A LOT of things accomplished.  Fact is, lately I just look and rarely implement.  I'm going to be helping decorate an entire house this month, so hopefully I can put all this inspiration to use!! Right now these are my favorite home decor/design blogs:

The Estate of Things

decor8

Design*Sponge

i suwannee

desire to inspire

young house love

Casa Chaucha

Mabel's House

So, these are just a few of the home decor blogs I'm into at the moment. Do you have any new suggestions to feed my addiction share???