HOME TOUR - JULIAN'S ROOM

Slowly I will finish this house room by room, though I keep changing things every other day. The room I've felt was most accomplished is my son's room. I try not to spoil my kiddo, but c'mon who doesn't want to have their kid's face light up because there's a road map rug on the floor or a castle in the corner? I multipurpose a lot of things, like a side table turned into a chalkboard kid's table or a clipboard  turned into an art frame.

I repurposed an old Coke crate (the same one used in his newborn pictures) as a car garage. He loves putting them "to bed" at clean up time.

I painted this watercolor picture before he was born. I guessed his hair would be brown, not this blonde-red thing he has going on. I saw a print and I just had to recreate it.   

The quilt is made by my great-grandmother Peaches for my parents in 1975.  

And Doc says "Hello, welcome to my castle"

MOOD BOARD: RUSTIC BY NATURE

I've never made a mood board before for the fun of it, so I gave a fall inspired one a go. It was fun gathering images to meet the color palate I established. If designing a room, or working on a party, making a mood board is for more than blogging!

TUESDAY'S TUNES: New Bands with Oldies Sound

I was listening to the new iTunes radio (loveeee) and heard some music that I swore was old, turns out they are just the newest sensation of making new music that could blend right in with Patsy Cline and Connie Francis. As I'm getting older and discovering vinyls and not-so-huge bands I am finding music that has such good lyrics and music, which can be a great reprieve from the pop music that I've been hearing around.

GRAPHIC WORKOUT

I don't think I've done any tutorials, so I wanted to start with an easy one for how to quickly edit your photos with an Instagram type filter.

I used to edit my photos a lot by hand adjusting every nuance, and for the super important ones you should, but for everyday editing you can use a Photoshop Action to breeze through the editing process.

Firstly download some actions. Deviantart.com has tons of artist made resources like these:

Vintage Actions | Lomo Effect Actions | Washed Out Actions

Step 1: Open the photo you want to edit on Photoshop. 

Step 2: In the History window, select the camera or "Snapshot" button, especially if you've slightly edited any flaws before adding this filter. The snapshot takes a picture of your image before you edit and if you decide you don't like the Action, you are able to go back. 

Step 3: Select the menu in the Action folder. Once selected click LOAD ACTIONS. Select the actions that you've downloaded. 

Step 4: Select the Action you wish to use. I chose one labeled 26 which changes the colors and softness of the photo. A lot of actions are arbitrarily named, so it might be a good idea to change the names to something that you'll remember what it does like : Black & White, Lomo Filter, Blue Tint

Step 5: Once you select your action, press OK until the steps are finished. 

ALL DONE! 

WIDE STRIDES

So these pants might be a little eye-catching for everyday, but there's something about these wide legged, slouchy, print-centric pants that just scream TRY ME. I doubt I could pull these off without some outrageous heels, but I bet they are just comfy as all get out and breathe like a skirt. 

top left |  top right |  bottom left | bottom right

AND THE WINNER IS....

The Emily Riché Scarf Giveaway goes to Ray in San Francisco! I'll get in touch with you shortly to get your mailing info! 

BEYOND TIRED

image via weheartit

If I could have the opportunity to sleep for a week I would. Juggling a toddler, my now 48+ hour/week job, and graphic designing on the side, I feel shriveled. I am so happy to have all three things in my life, having too much of good thing doesn't make it a bad thing. Just makes one happy lady who is EXHAUSTED AS HELL. 

Again, as mentioned in past posts, future posts will be a little sporadic and/or short until November. Keeping up with everything while remaining creative is a struggle (especially since my two jobs are extremely creative in nature -- again I am so blessed!), so finding new ideas for blog posts are pretty much not an option. My brain is slightly fried so much so that I'm not quite sure what I meant for this post to be about. 

I will post the winner of the scarf contest Tuesday morning, so please stayed tuned! 

ONE YEAR!

Today is Ryan and my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Yes, I will be super girly about this because it's a huge milestone for us. We both haven't celebrated an anniversary with someone in years, so I definitely want to go all out cheese factor. If he cringes at my goofy gestures today my job is done.

                                                      ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

EMILY RICHÉ SCARF GIVEAWAY!

Not too long ago I interviewed New Orleans fashion designer, Emily Riché, about her newest fashion line. I can't begin to talk about how sweet this lady is. She was incredibly easy to interview and very thrilled about the post. She asked me if I wanted to do a giveaway with one of her scarf designs and i was like.....YES YES YES!

For the giveaway simply leave a comment on this post by midnight, Monday, September 16th. The winner will receive one gold chevron patterned infinity scarf made by Emily Riché.

Giveaway limited to the United States

RELAX

Wow, sometimes I don't know where my work ends and how I find time to relax begins. Posts have been a little inconsistent because my day job has me practically living there for the next 2 months. It's great being creative all the time, but sometimes the brain just wants to veg out for a while. Luckily the fall tv season brings a little bit of a brain spa for me. The new seasons of New Girl and the Mindy Project start on September 17th! So in celebration of my two favorite shows coming back on at a MUCH needed time in my life I made two mood boards for my main girls.

TUESDAY'S TUNES

Hello music lovers. I haven't introduced a new band in a while, so I've rummaged around the catalog to find a band that I have fallen quite hard for and *hopefully* will see in October.

The Helio Sequence is a two man band from Portland, Oregon. Their sound has a great mix of classic rock instruments and electronic elements to make something sweet and mellow. Having been a band for  17 years these two know exactly what they are doing creatively. Love 'em.

Check them out! 

TOP TEN TODDLER TURF

I'm finally getting Julian's room together, and I'm so excited to show it off once it's finished! I am torn between a few styles, because Julian is definitely all over the place with what he likes: stars, cars, animals and music. All of these top 10 have either things I adore, have already implemented in the room design or wish I could have for his room. 

1. maison & deco

2. design*sponge                                     //                      3. spearmint baby

4. boo and the boy

5. aesthetic outburst

6. in honor of design

7. etsy

8. barn & bo

             9. sf girl by bay                                       //               10. ralfefarfars paradis