happy birthday, girls!

amy atlas dessert bar-blogged, originally uploaded by lulucarter.

happy birthday!!!!

to two of my favorite friends and bloggers, joni {cote de texas} and robyn {garden rooms}

can't quit looking

from the loeffler randall, fall '08 lookbook

I love how french, late 60s early 70s, just rolled out of bed the hair and make-up is.

beautiful designs taken one step further with glorious styling.

J' dig

faux deer antler bracelet~$80.00

to wear or display.

no tiny polymer deer were harmed in the making of this item.

shinzi katoh tape

This week is a busy one socially~ lots of kids' birthday parties, lots of wrapping to be done. I would love to have a bit of this on hand to swaddle the gifts:

from Japanese artist Shinzi Katoh {a favorite of mine}

happy friends and rabbit train tape~ $7.00 rare device

white dots on red paper~ $2.25 paper source

let there be light

Great light fixtures are like earrings for your room. They can be that finishing accessory that makes the space. If you can go the extra change, it's so worth it. Purveyor, Jeni Crawford of Rian Rae, provides an amazing, one stop shopping site that covers the gamut of styles.

bird and branch, decoupage chandelier~ $2,289.00

Steel frame accented by glass droplets with paper collage details.

bird and blossom chandelier~$1,600.00

Love, love this one. So unique and such a beautiful piece of art.

{if you say it like this: "sixteen hundy" it feels a little easier} Magical and free flowing, this nature inspired chandelier creates a tranquil ambiance with birds perched among twigs and blossoms.

butterfly mosaic chandelier~$1,198.00

This reminds me of the great vintage light fixtures found in older homes. I can just see this in a little girl's room.

savoy chandelier~$1,068.00 when your room begs to be called, 'vintage, modern and elegant all at once'

the reeves pendant~$598.00

wow, I can only imagine the lumens this guy emits. modern but so classic that it would work well in the most traditional of rooms {over a kitchen island perhaps?}

adjustable wood lamp~$438.00

and while this isn't a dangler, I had to include it for it's wonderful proportions.

Rian Rae...check it

felt up

Ignoring not a few public service announcements, we braved the acrid, smoke filled air of L.A. on Sunday and went to "Felt Club".

For those of you unfamiliar with Felt Club, it's a huge, shopping event featuring the indie crafts movement that's come to the forefront of the creative community in recent years.

With on line sites such as etsy and trunkt, it's so easy these days to buy and sell really great art. Felt Club offers a space to come see the quality of the work and get an idea for the vibe behind the movement. The line was long but moved quickly and once inside, it was a crazy, circus like atmosphere.

DJs spinning tunes, food, cocktailing, random performance artists. Much to the embarrassment of my children, I had to sidle up to Yo Gabba Gabba DJ, Lance Rock for a photo op. {because you know I'm just that kind of a, star *friender* }

one of my favorites, miriam dema, from whom we bought that really cool 'wish' print she's handing us here,

along with a great bike calendar. Her booth was absolutely packed and things were flying.

of course the super talented collage artist, michelle caplan ~below~was there {I'm not sure it would be a proper felt club experience without her booth}

and probably one of my absolute favorite etsy designers is miss natalie {oh, oops. her eyes are closed. I didn't realize that until just now. ~sorry Natalie!}

{I did a posting on her growth chart several months ago}

loved, loved these little hand painted eggs.

and a pirate supply kit! who doesn't need a few pirate supplies in their bag of tricks? I love this!!

All of her items are so, incredibly innovative, creative, beautifully designed. I highly recommend checking her out on etsy

this sign, of course, caught my eye and her work really was 'rad'. rings hand carved of different woods. gorgeous. gorgeous.

If you don't know about mahar dry goods. oh. seriously. Go right now and check out Robert's site. It's a mecca of Vintage and Artisan goods. Might be one of my top, top go to sites for gifts {especially for kids}

I'm not sure why I didn't take more photos of his booth. I think I was too mesmerized with everything. We did love these little snow globe jars:

handmade looking but so well done, that no way could you make these and have them, end up looking this cute. They come in their own little gray flannel pouch.

more cool stuff from various artists:

And of course, this whole experience wouldn't be complete without the debut of the new book:

HANDMADE NATION. The Rise of DIY, Art,Craft and Design

'the book that Chronicles the makers of the emerging indie crafts movement by the filmmaker {Faythe Levine} responsible for the documentary of the same name'

one of the co-authors, Cortney Heimerl

If you're unfamiliar with the work of Levine and Heimirl you really need to check out their work *here*

mixed tape monday

Great weekend.  Not so great is that, La La land is ablaze and our skies are an eerie orange haze. In the ashy air, I dragged the familia to felt club which was  fabulously crafty and fun. I was able to meet, in person, some of my favorite etsy vendors and see their work up close {more on that later}. All that and an impromptu dinner party with good friends. {yay!} Time to march forward into a fresh new week.

get my mixed tape mondays by email sign 'er up here

peace out

antwerpen tea towel, originally uploaded by Loraine@grijs.

::misato suzuki::

the beautiful artwork of,

misato suzuki

what child is this?

People assume that because I have two girls, I've been having a grand time over the years creating beautiful, whimsical rooms. But the truth is, I have two individuals with rooms that reflect their respective taste: one a sweet, creative but fastidious tweener the other a sunshiny scribble of bon vivant. Except for bedding choice and a few other pieces, I've had very little input on their rooms.

Which is why, when asked last week by my oldest daughter if I would re-do her room {she of the neat~nic gene} I responded like the loner girl at school being asked to eat lunch at cool girls' table. "what? of course, of course!" I jumped, clapped and squealed, a bit too eagerly. "Oh, it will be great, I have the perfect wall covering, we'll do one wall, an accent wall and then we can paint your bed a beautiful green {and be bffs forever}" and then....I was cut off.

"I want all of my furniture to match." not blinking, she thrust out her little arm, clutched in her hand was a page from a mail order catalog. whose child is this? Before you chew me out: I'm good with a few pieces here and there. But, must we match the whole room?

Currently her room is a collection, of flea market finds. mish mash of things picked up over the years, her favorite treasures and yes, even, catalog bedding.

But I heard the message in her pleading voice: "help me make my room look like every other 5th grader I know. make it normal"

Que the after school special music, fade to commercial.

I remembered back to my own 5th grade room. Having a father as an architect, it was normal in our house for the kids' rooms to have a Bertoia chair next to the platform bed or a Calder mobile dangling over a crib. Not really "normal" by most standards, and certainly not appreciated by me.

Back then, I wanted Mary Ann Flatley's room. It was a yellow canopied, 'French Regency' extravaganza. Her bed matched her night stands which matched the gold embelished dresser. It was all so "normal" with her matching shag carpet tacked wall to wall.

I can empathize. However, this does not mean that I must buckle to her innocent design ignorance. No, as with any client, it is my duty to inform and educate rather to admonish and dismiss. Shake it up, throw it at her, let it land and see what sticks.

And so in an effort to prove to her, that 'normal', uniform and safe design isn't always best, I've gathered a few images to share with her.

If we're going to go the catalog route, let's do it right. Serena & Lily have some of my favorite rooms hands down :

no matchy, match, just beautiful, complementary pieces. Interesting, each of them on their own and together; perfection.

and if we were to stick with vintage, we're going to get rid of the "shabby chic" paint job~ that's a given {the dresser's done, now for the bed}

and we could even go, bright, creative, modern and young. Let's be realistic, there needs to be room for soccer trophies, art projects and favorite animals. It's a 10 year old's room, not an art director's version of a 10 year old's room.

photo thanks to lisa congdon of course, if I had no budget and a child whose design preferences weren't changing with the tides, I'd unload the cash on some incredible wall covering, and YES possibly a bed from a {gasp} catalog and even some vintage finds. Something beyond normal. Something perfect in all of it's non-uniform lovliness.

photo: domino photos top and bottom: designer, ruthie sommers

in the mean time, my job will be to convince her that, really, you don't want the bed that matches the night stands, that matches the dresser that one day you'll want nothing do with.

Tiny McSmall, I Command+D you.

There are so many great shops on the Internet. Late night, I find myself weaving my way from one to another, via this link and then that. Like my own private, maze-mall. The next better than the last. I bookmark it only to find one better, after the jump.

Thumb/forefinger~Command+D. You're mine.

One of my most recent, late night, Command+Ds is Tiny McSmall. A shop that's for kids and yet, makes me want one of everything for myself.

Cute, right? Please, I want to wear this tomorrow. dress by kit and lili.

and these!

I want these crazy pants {and those metallic shoes} to march around in.

They have great boys clothing too {which I hear isn't always easy to find} and it doesn't end there.

How much do you Command+D this?

lobster paper placemats? Sheesh. Whatever. Send me a year's supply. Make that a life time's.

Floating, soaring, silent the swallow mobile. I bet this is just beautiful in person.

This little grouping of knit cupcakes make such a great baby gift { I've given this to a few, new babes in my life. More for the parents.... but you know.}

Oh! And their paper goods selection is fabulous. I sort of want this one blown up and framed.

If there's still a room that could use a Moroccan poof it's a child's. And this is one of the best I've seen.

The white owl lamp {which would scare the bejeezus out of my girls~but they're funny that way} again, I'd put this in my own room.

And of course they'll wrap it all up in a beautiful ensemble of paper and ribbon.

Tiny McSmall, I Command+D you for having, not only, one of the best names, a great looking site, but some of the finest 'stuff' in the great internet mall.