Friday Favorites 8.15.14

Here are a few of my favorite reads and finds of the week, my friends. Enjoy!

This Article

Don’t be turned off by the goofy graphic: Why Are We So Nostalgic for Music We Loved as Teenagers? is actually a really good read. Ever wonder why you still love Britney Spears, even though she’s objectionably not the greatest artist? This article explains how our brain interprets music, and how our teenage years are incredibly significant in our memories. Combine the power of music and the brain’s nostalgia for our younger years and you’ll start to understand why the songs we loved as teenagers remain our favorite songs for years to come.

It’s no wonder then why the Backstreet Boys concert I attended this summer was the best concert I’ve ever been to!  (I wish I was kidding…kind of)

This Shop

It’s easy to find gorgeous photos of Paris; the city itself is so beautiful that it’s hard to take a bad picture there. But I especially love the Paris Collection shop from Anna With Love. In addition to the typical Eiffel Tower and building skyline photos, she’s also captured some lovely details that otherwise go unnoticed. The prices are pretty reasonable too: pieces start at $30 for an 8”x12” print. Be sure to check out the rest of her shop as well, there’s lots of gorgeous stuff there!

This House Tour

I love a good house tour, especially when the style (and budget!) reflects my own. The home of Caitlin Moran, editorial director at the lifestyle website the Glitter Guide, is filled with a stylish mix of big box furniture, special art pieces, and a few splurge items. Check out more photos here.

This Opinion Piece

This is exactly the article I needed to read this week. It’s easy to feel down about yourself and that you’re not good (or thin or successful or creative, etc) enough, but this article serves as a nice reminder that you’re not the only one feeling that way. And that behind that perfectly composed and filtered Instagram photo, there’s a woman with her own insecurities and doubts. Read more at The Everygirl.

This Art

Minted is primarily a paper goods (stationary, invitations, etc) store, but it also has a wonderfully curated art marketplace. One of my favorite artists there is Emily Jeffords. She paints some of the most gorgeous cloudscapes in beautiful shades of blues, pinks, and greens. They have such a peaceful feeling to them. She also creates really sweet floral paintings. Check out her prints here.

 

That’s all for this weeks’ favorites. Have a super weekend!

P.S. I went to a great blogging event hosted at the Kansas City Kate Spade store! Check out my Instagram feed (and follow me!) for a few photos, or search #GBSxKSNY for other pics from the night, and be sure to come back next week for my recap post!

Etsy Explorer: Hometown Love

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love living in Kansas City. I’m from a small town in central Illinois and I loved growing up there, but at this point in my life I’m so thankful that I live in a city like KC. There’s so much to do here: live concerts, festivals, sporting events, lots of shopping, and so many good restaurants and bars.

So if you love your hometown and/or your state as much as I do, why not express it in the form of some great art? Etsy has many amazing artists that have created some awesome prints in the form of map art, paper cutouts, skyline silhouettes, and much more. And if you don’t live in Kansas City, don’t worry: just about all of these shops have art for cities all across the country.

From top left: Missouri State Letterpress, Paper Parasol Press / Kansas City from Liberty Memorial, alibubba / Kansas City Skyline Watercolor Poster, Inkist Prints / Kansas City Map, Paper Finch Design / Kansas City, MO print, Albie Designs / KC Cut Out City Scape, Cropacature / Kansas City Print, Evelyn Henson / Missouri Map, Paper Finch Design / Union Station, Art by Joseph Dalton / Kansas City Travel Print, Just a Bit Outside

Which of these do you love? I’d be thrilled to have any of these in my home, but I think my favorite is is one by Albie Designs.

For a DIY option, check out my DIY State Love Art!

The Mindy Project Apartment: Part Two

Guess what day it is?! No, not Hump Day. It’s Mindy Day!! One of my very favorite TV shows, The Mindy Project, airs tonight and I am so excited for it! What is going to happen with Mindy and Danny??! I can’t wait to find out! And as a special treat Mindy Kaling is going to be live tweeting tonight’s episode, yay!

It’s no surprise that I love Mindy Lahiri’s apartment. It’s colorful without being overwhelming, feminine without being too girly, a good mix of modern, traditional, and eclectic…I could go on and on. I blogged about Mindy’s apartment last February and it’s been one of my most popular posts to date. I’ve been wanting to do a follow up post for a long time now and today it’s finally happening! Enjoy!

Photos from Mindy’s house party in the episode “Be Cool”

Aww how cute does Morgan look?! I’ve grown to love this quirky and weird character.

Puppy! And Jonathan Adler pillows!

To recreate the look of Mindy’s living room I needed a clean-lined white sofa, round mirrored accent tables, and some white or gray gourd lamps. I love the oversized scale of Mindy’s lamps but I couldn’t find any exactly like it so I went with some more traditional gourd lamps. I found almost the exact same throw pillows though: the Jonathan Adler pillows are the same print, just a slightly different color way, and the blue velvet pillow from a Pier 1 is a great match to the one on set.

White Nova Sofa, Bryght / Marilyn Mirrored Round Accent Table, Lamps Plus / Safavieh Amy Gourd Table Lamps, Wayfair / Multi Flame Bargello Throw Pillow, Jonathan Adler / Teal Velvet Pillow, Pier 1 / Multi Diamond Bargello Throw Pillow, Jonathan Adler

And now for the bedroom:

If you’ve seen this episode then you know how heartbreaking this photo is!

The last few episodes have featured some new springy orange bedding. I loved the old Chinoiserie duvet cover from Dwell Studio but I also love the updated cover. I also love the teal and lucite bench and I’m so excited I found the same, or almost exactly the same, bench! Mindy’s love of Jonathan Adler extended to the bedroom with the Aquarius pillow. That abstract art print is fabulous, and I found a great print with a similar feeling from Etsy artist Cortney North. The largest available size is 13” x 19”, but many Etsy sellers are willing to print custom sizes if you want something closer in scale to Mindy’s art.

 

Coral Lamu bedding, Serena & Lily/ Aquarius pillow, Jonathan Adler / Teal Glamour Bench, High Fashion Home / Blue and Orange Abstract Art, Etsy

Be sure to check out my first Mindy Project post for more ways to recreate Mindy Lahiri’s apartment in your home!

 

P.S. I really love creating these posts, so if you have a favorite TV or Movie home that you’d like to see recreated let me know! I already have one request for Olivia Pope’s apartment from Scandal!

Instant Art for $0.99

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I’m sorry I didn’t get to my spring tablescape last week like I said I would. I came down with a nasty cold that pretty much knocked me out from Wednesday to Saturday, so I didn’t get to my crafting like I had planned. So stay tuned this week, as long as I remain healthy I should get it done in the next few days!

While I was sick last week I spent a lot of time on the couch, playing on my iphone and ipad, and I downloaded a new app that I think might be my favorite app of all time. It’s called Waterlogue, have you guys heard of it? It costs $0.99 and while I don’t download very many apps that cost money this one is totally worth it. It will turn any photo into a gorgeous watercolor painting! Check out what I did with some of my pictures from Paris:

Aren’t they pretty?! I want to frame every one of these! I love that the app gives you a bunch of choices of filters so you can create a print that’s more detailed (like the flowers), or more blurred out (Notre Dame), or one that has heavy outlines (Sacre Couer). These are just a few of the effects available, there are a lot more that I didn’t end up using.

I also created a watercolor of my living room to see what the app would do with a more every day photo:

So fun, right! I haven’t printed any of the watercolor prints out because my cheap printer runs through ink like it’s air and I didn’t want to burn through my ink cartridge, but if you do have a good printer you should definitely try printing out some Waterlogue pictures! I would print them on to a nice cardstock so it feels more like a real painting. I’d imagine that they’d also turn out well if you you got them printed through a photo printing service. Just make sure to get a matte finish on your photos.

Have any of you tried Waterlogue yet? I’d especially love to hear from someone who printed some of their images to see how they turned out!

DIY Word Cloud Art by Tagxedo

I’ve got a really fun DIY art project for you today! A while ago I repinned this post from From High in the Sky about creating your own word cloud art using the free web program Tagxedo. Today I finally got around to checking out Tagxedo and I had so much fun creating my own art!

You plug in any words you want…whether that’s song lyrics, a poem, a random collection of words, anything…and Tagxedo groups the prominent words into a fun shape of your choosing. It also lets you choose a font and a color theme for your DIY art piece.

I took three of my favorite songs and turned them into these prints.

“God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys

“The Luckiest” by Ben Folds

“Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + the Machine

You can easily print your Tagxedo prints on your home printer, but you can also print them out onto items like t-shirts, coffee mugs, and tote bags in Tagxedo’s shop. That could be a really cute personalized gift idea, don’t you think?

Etsy Explorer: Abstract Art

I’ve found that I’m really attracted to abstract art lately. I’ve never owned any abstract art; my favorite art in my house are my photography prints by Alicia Bock.  But I’m loving these colorful, free form paintings on Etsy.

"Laura" Canvas Print by Michelle Armas

“Wisteria” Original Abstract Painting by Jennifer Latimer

"Flower on wall 01" Giclee art print by siiso

“I had a dream” by Elena Art Studio

Original Abstract Painting by Linda Monfort

“Cool Sea” 4 by Ava Avadon

"Poppies Land” by Hina Sayani

What do you think about abstract art? Any favorites in this group?

Incredibly Cool Canvas Furniture

I am utterly amazed by these images of hanging canvas furniture by YOY design studios. At first glance it looks just like a canvas art print of a chair, but it actually serves as a usable piece of furntiure. Would this be considered reverse trompe-l’oeil?

All images © yasuko furukawa via Design Boom

Amazing right? If you’re still curious how these work here’s the description from Design Boom

“presented at salone satellite during milan design week 2013, japanese design studio YOY have developed 'canvas', a series of two-dimensional hanging furniture pieces. constructed out of wood and and aluminum, the volume is covered by an elastic fabric - screen-printed with drawings of different types of furniture. the piece works when the frame is leaned against a wall, stretching when
weight is applied - accommodating the user within the newly formed void. available in three different sizes, the hanging seats come in stool, love seat and sofa variations.”

Obviously these canvas chairs aren’t exactly practical but they are so innovative and creative. What do you think?

Free Artwork Printables

A couple weeks ago I posted pictures of my new gallery wall in the upstairs hallway.

I still love it! One of the best parts about it though is how inexpensive the whole thing was! The mountain picture on the top left is a photograph from a vacation in Colorado, the Happiness canvas art is from TJ Maxx, the gold mirror is from a garage sale ($1!), the dog print was a gift, and of course there’s the paint chip art. 

The other four pieces were free! I downloaded them from Feed Your Soul: the free art project and then printed them on my home printer. They have so many cute prints to choose from!

Stephanie Fizer

Angela Vandenboogaard

Shuxin Liang

Ilaria Benedetti

In fact the internet is chock full of adorable free printable art.

Life Is A Beautiful Ride

Coldplay: look at the stars

Gandhi's Top 10 Fundamentals

Skidamarink de dinky dink skidamarink (Anybody else remember The Elephant Show?!)

Hydrangea Botanical Print

LOVE

You Are My Sunshine (I have this one too, so cute!)

Now you have no excuse to not have some fun artwork in your home Which one is your favorite? Have you found any other sources for free printables that you love?

DIY St. Patty’s Day Art

The DIY bug hit me again. Since St. Patrick’s Day is only about a week away I decided to make an Irish inspired art piece. I was inspired by this Easter egg art from julep. I also borrowed the quote from this DIY artwork by A Beautiful Mess.




I created a print on Word with a simple four leaf clover shape and the phrase “I was lucky like a four leaf clover” in a fun font about it. I printed that out onto a piece of white cardstock. In addition to the template I used:

• Blank white cardstock
• Glue stick
• Craft knife
• Gold sharpie
• Cutting mat
• Paper cutter
• Four sheets of green scrapbook paper

My first step was to cut out the four leaf clover using a craft knife.


Then I traced over the letters with my gold sharpie.




Then I cut strips of the scrapbook paper with the paper cutter. They’re each approximately 1/4” wide.



I traced the four leaf clover onto the blank piece of cardstock and started laying out the paper strips to make sure I had enough. Once I was happy with the pattern I glued all the strips down.


Then I used the cut out clover as a template to cut out the cardstock with the strips. I initially skipped this step but you could see the extra green paper behind the white cardstock.


I flipped it over and glued it onto the original print.


Ta-da!!


To make it look a little more finished I outlined the clover with my gold sharpie.


The final step was to trim the 8.5” x 11” paper to fit in my 8” x 10” frame. Then I popped it in and voila!


I’m really happy with how this turned out! The shape is simple and graphic but the different strips of scrapbook paper add a lot of fun pattern. I also love the little bit of extra glitz the metallic gold sharpie adds.
If you’d like to make your own version of my St. Patty’s day art, feel free to email me at blue11interiors (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send you my template.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!