The Craft Begins

I got to go to the Denver Botanic Gardens last week for a little party, so of course I brought my camera.  All of the plants were beautiful but I saw a few things that I really liked and thought would be fairly easy to re-create at home.

I like the way that a few mis-matched but color-coordinating pots are all lined up here, growing a festival of different colorful succulents.  For me, keeping the containers in the same color scheme really allows the attention to be focused on the plants but makes an overall significant visual impact.

Sweet potato vine happens to be one of my favorite things in a container, so of course I was drawn to this arrangement.  I also like the ornamental cabbage a lot.  That’s something I’ve seen really creeping up in lots of garden designs lately.  What’s most interesting to me about this arrangement is how bright and colorful it is!  A great way to wake up an otherwise lackluster outdoor area.

I understand that not everyone can probably afford a Henry Moore sculpture in their garden (if you happen to end up in Denver, you have to check out the exhibit) but why not incorporate some kind of sculpture into your garden anyway?  You could create something yourself or head over to the nearest art school.  A bonus – if you cruise by after school’s out a lot of the art school kids just throw stuff away.  You never know what you’ll find.

I threw this picture in here just because it was pretty, but it does illustrate two other ideas – using a water feature, and incorporating lots of color (especially when it contrasts!).  I’m sure this pond isn’t too deep but the fact that they’ve painted the insides black makes it look as if it’s gone on forever.

That’s it for me for garden ideas for the day – anyone else have anything new they’re trying out?

This is the beginning of the before and after house pictures!  I’d like to get everything totally perfect before I show you guys, so we’re starting with the basement.  I’ve got a roomate moving in this weekend so I will get some pictures up after she gets her stuff all in there but I did get a good picture of what the basement just looks like by itself.

Behold, the before:

And the after!

The wood paneling was terrible, and the blue carpet…ugh.  The worst part is, it went partway up the walls so we had to tear out all of that and put in baseboards instead. It’s pretty hard to see that in the before picture but trust me, the baseboards made a HUGE difference.  Make sure to look for the mountain scene paint-by-numbers in the first picture, as they will be making a reappearance in the house!  So, new carpet, painted the paneling, and a different basement emerged.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like with someone living down there!

I don’t have TV so I haven’t seen the latest episode yet – please, no spoilers!  In the meantime, I’ve been stalking about some photos of the unfairly beautiful Jon Hamm and January Jones.  I’m particularly enamored with this spread they did for Vanity Fair a few years ago.  Enjoy the photos!

A friend of mine sent me the link to these images, and I have to say, I was amazed.  From what looks like a pile of trash comes these amazing life-like shadow images.

Can you even imagine the foresight and patience it would take to create something like this?

Can you believe that these pieces are just made from paper and pins?  So amazingly intricate and unusual.  Lyndi Sales is an artist from Cape Town, South Africa, and the pieces shown above are all in reaction to a horrible plane crash.  From destruction comes beauty, I suppose.

There’s something very entrancing about Gregory Euclide‘s work.  It’s like the dioramas that you used to make as a kid, only infused with massive amounts of skill and political and social commentary.

He creates these little worlds that you just want to get pulled into, though there’s a bit of a recoil once you realize what his pieces are composed of.

If you want to see more of his work (and there’s a lot more), click here.

Hey guys!

I’m revamping and updating my little shop a bit.  I don’t have too much so far but I’m excited to see where it takes me.  Here’s some pictures of my first items:

A reader a while back pointed out this Japanese architecture firm to me – I fell in love immediately.

Such playful use of vibrant color – though my personal style tends more towards the subdued I really am drawn to color like this.

Words cannot describe how amazing these photographs from Lori Nix are.  She creates these intricate little miniature scenes that are somehow a tiny bit sinister, and photographs them so beautifully you’d swear that it was a real place.

She’s got other collections that are interesting as well, but there’s something so sad about these that draws me in.

There was this great import store in Tucson called Designer’s Craft that I used to love to go to.  What I found particularly amazing were all of these massive, intricate wooden doors.

Can you imagine having one of these in your house?  You’d be the talk of the neighborhood!  I could also see it being a really excellent garden gate, with vines crawling up along the sides.

I think the universe has been conspiring to constantly show me paintings by Charles Burchfield.  There’s an almost impressionist-esque hand in the way that he renders landscape, but the color palette that he chooses really conveys a sense of sadness and perhaps oppression.

Burchfield was an American watercolor painter who lived in the earlier part of the 20th century.  He’s a decidedly midwest presence in a world that seems to be dominated by art from the major coasts.

It’s amazing to me how his works can simultaneously be so joyful and yet so haunted.

Happy Fourth of July!  I have to say, this is my favorite holiday of the year, followed by Halloween.  There’s something about watching fireworks that just makes me so happy!  I got to see some last night, and I’m planning on the big show tonight.  Hope everyone has a fun BBQ and firework filled holiday!

I’ve been going through a bunch of personal stuff lately, so I’m sorry if my posting hasn’t been the most up-to-date.  One thing that’s made me happy?  Having fresh flowers around all of the time. It’s pretty nice when you can just get them out of your yard.

What makes you happy when you’re having a hard time?