New Chalk Walls

Luv freepeople

I should make a scarf like this.

Leahs Easy No Bakes

2cups sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cocoa and 1 stick butter. Boil those 4 in saucepan for 1 min. Then remove from heat and add 2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 3 cups of oats! :D

Nom nom

The fun stuff I do at work...

Hot DAMN

Today I teamed up with an amazing photographer and friend Kevin James, aka Red Generation to photograph some pieces I made about a year ago. End result = AMAZING!!!!

Makeup artist Mary Sink is a friend of Kevin's who I will definitely be contacting for future work. 

She's awesome. 

Model is a friend of both mine and Kevin's...Kaleah Horton who has just recently joined Wilhelmina S2 modeling agency. She's gorgeous!!!

I cannot wait to see more!!! It was a lot of fun :)

Craft Day stuff!!!

The past two Sundays I've been crafting with some of my favorite ladies Emily and Krysti. We've decided to start having Girls Only Craft Days... in order to keep sane from being around our lovely boyfriends whom we all live with...and well to keep the art going! We did all graduate from art school after all.

I decided I would attempt to make little clutches/wallets out of scraps of leather. I needed to get a new leather needle and what's called a "walking foot" for my machine before I started. Now that I have both and huge pile of leather scraps I've gone to town on my little sewing machine...leather is definitely hard to work with...but I kind of like what I've come up with. I've made one with a zipper, and three with magnetic snaps so far. Here's some photos from one I made this past Sunday. Sorry for the poor cell phone quality...

The inside is lined with cute birdy fabric :)

:)

Bangles!!

Juicy has really cute bangles...very Spring!!

Very gypsy... 

Makes me want to wear a peasant skirt and not straighten my hair.

Spring Outfit Essentials

I hear the weather is going to warm up this weekend in Columbus, Ohio!

I've been wanting to pull out my denim short shorts for so long!

Here's my Spring outfit essentials.

1. River Island: Floral quilted heart coin purse.

2. Juicy Couture: Sequin-embellished hooded top.

3. Express: Cuffed jean shorts

4. Fossil: Knot Half 'n' Half Bracelet.

5. JCrew: Cut-wave leather ballet flats. 

Fossil.Life.Times.

I love Fossil. This is from the recent email they sent out. Love love love!

CrewCuts

I love CrewCuts. If I ever have kids...I will dress them like the kids in their catalog.

Jenny Lee

Working on a blog for Big Rock...about Spring and wedding stuff...and Jenny Lee. Her work is amazing. 

Fall 2011 Collection

 

 Fall 2011 Collection

Spring 2011 Collection

Can you guess which is my fave?

I heart River Island

Brown Embellished Butterfly Bag

Blue Floral Print Card Holder

Green Floral Tote

Beige Embellished Fringe Saddle Bag

Lady Gaga in 7 DAYS!

I'm so excited! I've been waiting for ever for this concert, and now its almost here! A week away!!!

Mark bought us tickets practically a year ago...I came home and there was a huge box with a ribbon bow...and inside were the tickets! Here's the dress I'm wearing (wings NOT included):

Got it for Christmas!!! I almost wore it for new years...but I decided the Gaga concert was a better time to wear it. :)

Lovely things...

I love coming across new outlets of inspiration. I love new things in general. While browsing one of my top ten favorite clothing sites Madewell, I came across a great blog!! Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Her last couple blogs have been great, I love today's blog titled "Five Things." She includes images of 5 things that make her happy...what a great way to start each day, thinking about 5 things that make you happy.

In another recent post she talked about viewing Anthropologie's new bridal line, BHLDN (pronounced “beholden”). It took me about a few minutes after reading that blog to realize what I had just read...ANTHRO HAS A NEW BRIDAL LINE??!?!?!?!?!?!?! I had to stop everything I was doing to check out the new line online...and all I have to say is...LOVE. :)

I have no idea what kind of dress I'd pick if I ever do get married, but the one above is darling. That in another color would be a great summer dress, too.

I'm in love with this one. It's under "Dresses" so not necessarily does it have to be something you get married in, could be a bridesmaid dress...but $1,000.00 might be a bit much for a bridesmaid dress.

The lingerie section has some super cute pieces. Love love love.

They also have hair pieces, cover ups, and other accessories. BHLDN was launched on Valentine's Day, I hope the new line does well, or is at least arround when I need it to be. ;)

Portfolio Update

My online portfolio has been updated!! I'm still working on adding a few more things, but I've already added a bunch yesterday evening. Here are just a few pieces added:

Here is a project that already existed in my portfolio, but the illustrator flats are updated. I've come a long way with my tech flats.

I have a lot more work that I don't even have photographed. I'll need to find some models to wear a few of my garments. Maybe a project I can start when the weather gets warmer. :)

Love Day 2011

For Christmas 2008, Mark made me some adorable little orange wooden puzzle piece earrings.

He always says that we’re puzzle pieces. J

I still have this picture of me wearing them saved in my phone, I loved those earrings!

The first day I wore them, I made the mistake of not wearing them with a post on the back, thinking they would stay on like most dangly earrings do without a post. I was wrong, that day I lost one forever.

This year for Valentine’s Day Mark surprised me with a new pair, again handmade! This time they’re pinky-peach colored and just super adorable.

 He even found a card to match. :)

Mark’s amazing, I love him so much. He’s definitely my puzzle piece. J  

Hand Made in 2011

On Jan. 7th this year I commented on someones Facebook status. In return I had to post the following:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment. They must in turn post this and send something they made to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011. Voila!!!

With that a chain of comments and status updates began. I haven't really kept track of who I'm supposed to be receiving something from, but last week I received this adorable little makeup bag in the mail! (Makeup not included, haha).

It's from my friend Michelle! Hand made from a fabric in a variety of prints, all quilted together. Michelle is the artist behind Mimi's Closet. Her beautiful hair accessories are sold at Big Rock! Her online shop features some of the other work she does.

I need to start making the hand made items I promised to my 5 people. Hmmm...what to make...what to make. I have a few ideas ;)

Socks!!!

For those of you who don't know I am a freelance designer at Justice. The department I work under covers Sweaters, Legwear, and Cold Weather Accesories. At one point we also worked on Cami's, and Dance Wear. 

I do a lot of stuff with legwear at the moment. Socks are HUGE for Justice. There's a big trend with our customer to mix and match your socks...so we sell "Mix Not Match" packs. You can buy a pack of 3 or 6 or even 9 socks that do not match, and are all crazy fun prints. A college classmate by the name of Patrick Doyle was freelancing at Justice before I was hired and worked on a 3 pack that I turned into a 6 pack of pairs (that we know our cutomer will still wear as mix match). He's responsible for the super cute fruit prints, I just added the simple prints. Currently in stores and online now :)

 

I'm now working on some stuff for the Back to School 2011 season, that will be in stores starting in May/June/July. I can't post pictures of any of those designs. But I'll give you some images I used for inspiration! They're super cute...I hope they end up in stores :)

Idea's I'll just have to use at some point in my life.

I was originally looking for some Spring related inspiration and came up with a lot of great ideas for Summer and Winter. Anthropologie does some amazing windows and displays. I had such a great experience while interning there as a visual merchant, too. It completely opened my mind up to so many more ideas.

Check out this snow execution. Very nicely done...and looks yummy, too!

For Summer I found a lot of great images on Etsy. The wheels are turning in my head...

The LOVE window is up!

I am in LOVE with this BigRock window! 

A lovely lady by the name of Leslie Ritchey is the mastermind behind the look of this window. She handcrafted the amazing letters that you see hanging. This window definitely took some time. The most challenging part was to get the letter "L" hung. You would not believe how heavy it is, with all those heart candies glued on. The smaller window is kept simple and romantic with faux rose petals trickling down behind the gown. 

Happy Valentine's Day

xoxoxoxox

Past Holiday Windows & Displays

I do a lot of visual work at BRLR.

Here are a couple of last years displays and windows:

For the Fall season we started with pumpkins, haystacks, and corn stalks. Vera's gown was perfect for the center floor display.

Closer to Halloween we added costumes to the windows. Spooky!!!

Vera wins again! That black horse hair sash pairs perfectly with a witch hat. :) 

For the Holiday season we went in a super playful direction. The Nutcracker was a main source of inspiration. I personally am responsible for the "Lady Nutracker" face, and the little Rat Soldiers. Aren't they cute?! Illustrated with pencils, pens, and markers then blown up to a larger size and mounted on foam core.