Style Lush

Custom house portrait

by Emily

I have been looking for a good excuse to gift someone with this for months now, and although I've come up with many Big Reasons to gift it (bringing a new baby home, celebrating a ten-year anniversary, moving to a new home), I find that the real reason I've been looking is because I ACTUALLY WANT THIS MYSELF. Very VERY badly.

Of course, this home I currently live in is the ONLY home I've ever shared with my husband (we moved in together the night we came home from our honeymoon). We brought both of our babies here, our only dog (who passed away more than a year ago) only knew this home as his own. It's filled to the brim with memories and I think this is the perfect way to take the memory of this home with me whenever we leave it. (And we will eventually leave it, SIGH.)

These are custom house portraits by Rebekka Seale. She does watercolors from photographs, and they are adorable and amazing and she isn't even OFFERING them currently because she's been so inundated by orders, and RIGHTLY SO. If you can even GET one right now (you can't at this moment, there's not one listed for sale), the turnaround time is four months. But isn't it worth it? So whimsical and gorgeous and the perfect gift for an anniversary, a new baby, a going away gift. OR FOR ME, ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS.

I am going to stalk her Etsy page until it comes back. And then drop some more VERY OBVIOUS hints for anyone around me.

[photo credit: etsy.com]

Thomas Kinkade Disney Princess Prints

By Tara

Right before Christmas, Steve and I swung by Parsons, a family owned store right outside of Atlanta with, and this is no exaggeration at all, the greatest Christmas shop in the history of Christmas shops. The store is divided into three sections, with one being that awesome Christmas shop, and the other two consisting of a home goods store and an art gallery.

While in the art gallery, I came across the Thomas Kinkade Disney Princess collection for the first time, and I instantly fell in love. Can you blame me? I wouldn't say I've always been a fan of the Thomas Kinkade artwork, but if his style isn't perfect for the depiction of my favorite princesses, then I don't know what is.

However, I do not have the hundreds and hundreds of dollars that they seem to be charging for the full-sized prints (that Snow White print above? yeah, Amazon is only charging about $900 for that one...), so I settled for the next best thing. In this case, that would be the 2012 calendar, which, at about $14, is much more within my daughter's decorating budget.

I have every intention of framing each and every print for my daughter's room at the end of the year, and when she outgrows them (or runs out of wall space, as the case may be), I also have every intention of being that person with the guest bedroom creepily dedicated to Disney.

You totally want to come stay with me now, don't you?

 

(Ok, I will not actually be hanging these in my guest bedroom. That would just be weird. I guess. Whatever. Kid's room only...

I still love them, though.)

Yarn Graffiti

By Lauren

One of the things I'd promised myself I'd do in 2011 was learn to knit. In the grand tradition of Better Late than Never, I've just this month signed up for a beginners' class at a local yarn shop.

Did you know, though, that knitting has gone . . . guerilla? David and I saw "knitting graffiti" or "yarn bombing" for the first time last summer when we took a weekend trip to New York City. It was a knitted bike, chained to a sign under the Brooklyn Bridge, and I was enchanted.

Charming "graffiti" that didn't damage the underlying surface? Lovely! "Oh, yeah," my always-more-in-the-know-than-me husband explained, "that's totally A Thing."

And it is! In fact, there's a new documentary coming out about it, and while I imagine it won't be playing at my local multiplex, I'm definitely going to have to track it down. You can read more about it here.

Have you seen any "yarn bombing" where you live? What do you think about it?

{Image credit: AldenandChase.com.}

Reader Help: Accessorize this corner

By Megan

One thing I really enjoy about our home, is that when we moved here last summer, we were a fully established family of four. That helped us know what furniture and room layouts would work best for us, and we bought our furniture accordingly. There's one giant exception to this, and that would be my husband's piano.

There's only one reasonable place for the piano, and it's here, next to the stairs.

We love this piano. It's over ninety years old, and for Christmas last year, my parents had it compeltely rebuilt on the inside. Someday we would like to have the outside refinished, and we plan to have the bench recovered in the same leather we used on the giant ottoman/coffee table that's behind me in the picture. Unfortunately, I just don't love this space.

Trust me when I tell you that there's no other place for the piano. Perhaps, when the playroom is no longer a playroom, we can move it in there. Until then, it must live here. The cabinet next to the piano is also non-negotiable as it houses all of the television related equipment. Since the television is mounted on the wall, all of the wires run through a tube to this location. The only option for moving them would require busting into walls, and we would prefer not to go that route.

So, with all of that explained, help me to accessorize this space so it's not such an eyesore. The painting on the wall and the (nearly invisible) hurricanes are just place holders. These are items that I scavenged from my mom's storage unit, and attempted to find homes for here.

Here's another angle:

Before placing the piano here, we had a chair in the corner. Now we're just not sure what to do. The space looks both crowded and empty to me, and I need the expertise of our readers to help me through this. I think I need something big on the wall above the cabinet, and... what else?

{Photo credit: me}

Great for Gifts: Hand and Footprint Art

By Amy H.

I am a fan of all things involving kids' handprints and footprints. I don't think I've bought a real birthday card since my daughter was born, but I've made some darn cute ones using her hands and feet. I also like traditions around this time of year and last Christmas we made something that has brought me so much joy to break out again that I thought I'd share it here:        

 
It's not too late to get to your local paint-your-own-pottery place and memorialize your kid's tiny little hands and feet on plates, ornaments, or picture frames!

Polish Trends

by Christina

There is some crazy stuff going on in the land of fingernails lately. I've gotten used to the colors and the glitter and the new take on a french manicure with two colors rather than just white tips and most recently the shatter trend. But now it's just gone off the deep end. Some of what I've seen is sort of cool, this one for example.

Pretty but then I checked out the blog associated with the design. Letthemhavepolish.com and holy balls,this would take hours. So, that's one that I like but there are so many that just have me shaking my head...... What is that?

And these?

Pencils, really. Really?

And the sock monkeys? These make me giggle, I will admit they are a little cute but still, they are sock monkeys, on your fingers.

And last, the ugly dolls.

I'm not saying for a second that the people behind these designs aren't insanely talented, it's not that at all. I just don't get it. I did go outside of my normal comfort zone and get a mani with OPI's Rainbow Connection this weekend and I loved it. My hands looked like christmas ornaments, but, 24 hours later it was pealing off in chunks. A professional manicure at my regular salon and it was pealing. Lesson learned? Glitter isn't flexible and when your nail bends, it wont like normal polish. That was a bummer. I really did love it which has me wondering if its just a matter of time before I go to the dark side of #2 pencils? Stranger things have happend.

What do you think? Am I off the mark with thinking that this trend is a a little extreme or do you love it?

(images via the daily nail and let them have polish)

All I want for Christmas

by Christina

I have two running lists in my head. A real one that is within the limt of our budget and the fun one, which is so not. The fun one has things like an $1100 camera and assorted lenses and a $350 cuckoo clock, and, really, that's just the start of that one. My real list is still fun though and it's been a really long time since I've put any thought into it. Typically my husband just knows what to get me but this year he asked for a list. Lucky me!

(via amazon)

Love Florence so her new cd is a must.

OPI, Black Cherry Chutney becuase you can never have enough nail polish.

(image via steffels blogspot)

A house portriat, though it's too late to get this before Christmas, I'd still love one.

(via rebekkaseale)

And finally 3 of these for the cities that my husband and I have lived in. (Tacoma, Chapel Hill and Columbus)

(via bird avenue)

And black frames with white mats for them. A pretty modest list of but all of these items would make me so very happy.

What's on your list?

Mokume Gane Jewelry

By Jessica

I find Mokume Gane jewelry totally intriguing, are you familiar with it? Essentially it's a metal process, stemming from Japanese Samurai Sword making, that results in a layered, wood-grain effect in the metals. Depending on how many metals are mixed you can get drastic or subtle color variations, but either way, I just find the effect completely stunning. I pretty much love wood grain anything and to get something so completely unique and gorgeously handcrafted? I'm so there.

Half Round Glacial Mist Mokume Gane Engagement Ring

Flat Profile Mokume Wedding Band

Mens Alexandrite Ring

Mokume Gane Pendant

Adjustable Mokume Gane Bracelet For Men or Women

Mokume Moon Rise Pendant

{Photo Credit: George Sawyer, Elkjoaillerie on Etsy, Brigitte Jewellry on Etsy, Andrew Nyce Designs and James Binnion Metal Arts}

Note Prints: Art on Sheet Music

by Christina

Not long ago I hit up a local indie craft fair and came across some prints on sheet music. I bought 3 sheets and let me tell you, I was holding back. This stuff is amazing! I played the flute for 8 years and the images are incredible, so I was instantly drawn to them. I have two hanging in my living room and one in my dining. They make me so happy and they are so inexpensive! They are, after all, just sheets of paper run through a printer but they are interesting and when framed well, in my opinion, art. Here are the three I have. Available here.

They're all over Etsy. You can get them in color and on pages of old books. I am so in love with this idea, I want more! Like these two.

So fun! Don't you think?

(personal images and collageorama via etsy)

Viva La Vida Fest

By Jessica

Saturday night, as I was driving 3 Lush writers to The Blathering dinner at Z'Tejas, I noticed a person with Day of The Dead make-up. Then I noticed another, and another. There were women (some in dresses and corsets, some in regular clothing), men with their entire heads painted and even a giant papier mache skull tetering precariously a top some dude's head as he was walking across the crosswalk. If I didn't already have a commitment to that dinner? I so would've pulled my car immediately over, figured out what was going on and joined. I wanted some of that face paint SO BAD. Contain your shock, if you can.

So what was going on? It was The 28th Annual Vival La Vida Fest which is put on by the Mexic Arte Museum and in addition to all the Day of the Dead things themed things that were happening, they were even looking to have 100 free-tailed bat costumes for the parade. Seriously, so cool! (Do you know about the bats under the Congress St bridge?)

Next year, I will definitely be there and have my face painted. I may even pop into Tesoro's to grab one of their Day of The Dead themed items or maybe I'll make my own sugar skulls!

{Photo via Pinterest}