The Magic Word

So my friend Tina piped up and said the "fabric" word to me again, so I came up with this little number:

Then she dared mention the upcoming palette trends, so I changed it up a bit:

What color palette do you like? I've posted the blue one to Spoonflower; we'll see what where my endless tinkering will go!

Axelhoney

So I was trying to think of more creative people I know who I could brag about on my blog--someone whose creativity inspires me....hmm...(clanging sound in my head followed by slapping my hand to my forehead)...Duh!  Melissa Contreras and Axelhoney.

Melissa and I used to work together in an art department of a highly successful educational toy company. She was a diligent worker and typically rather quiet, so it wasn't until after she moved on from the company that I witnessed her own personal art and style. While perusing a craft fair in L.A. I stumbled upon Melissa in her booth selling a variety of her unique and beautiful creations. Jewelry, mini-sculptures, and paper goods were all lined up, and Melissa's smiling face peeked up from behind the table. I hadn't seen her in several months so not only was it a pleasant surprise to see her, but a pleasant discovery to see, in art, what Melissa was all about: Talent, tons of it. Here is just a sample view. I encourage you to go to her site and visit all the links possible as she has a very wide range of art that she does. Her style is distinctive, colorful, unique and refreshing. Take a look--what is your favorite thing she's created?

Coveting This

I covet a studio space. A lot. Visions frequently go through my head as to what that would be--rent an office space (out of budget); buy a small wooden cottage kit? (again, out of budget and space in the yard); convert the garage (sighhhh, again, budget and space). I'm surprise I haven't been in a car accident (knock on wood) from craning my neck around while driving thru my hometown, scoping out and fantasizing how the perfect little bungalow or cool loft space would make my nirvana-esque art retreat.

So when I see this post on Poppytalk Handmade. It gets my brain flowing again on the possibilities---oh, the possibilites--if I just had the budget and space. In the meantime, I do enjoy finding and being inspired by the spaces people are able to convert into something cozy and oh-so-useful. What would you do, if you could?

Cielo Roth Photography

And as long as I'm highlighting photographers whose work I love, I have, have, have to mention Cielo Roth Photography. I will admit I'm a bit bit influenced by the fact that Cielo took some stinkin' super precious photos of my little girl; and I'm admittedly influenced by the fact that I know Cielo is a hard, honest worker with a shiny personality that I love; but I must say that I truly love the moments she captures such as the one below...

Or this one:

Cielo does both color and B&W and has a wonderful portfolio filled with moments and precious faces. Browse at your leisure and prepare to smile! If you live in the L.A. area, I know she's having a special this weekend on photo sessions! Give her a call! Here's her Facebook link, too:

http://www.facebook.com/cielorothphotography

Thanks for sharing, Cielo!!

Melrose Trading Post

So I received a last minute call from Maude of "Stop Your Circus" and we hopefully will be sharing a booth at the Trading Post, located on Fairfax and Melrose, by the high school. I've never been there, but Maude is pretty confident that my furniture and trinket boxes will go over well there. I'll post how it oges! Wish us luck!

If you love B&W Photography....

After college, I did a short stint in an internship where I met Mel Cardenas, a very talented graphic designer, passionate about design. Well, over the years that passion must've spilled over into his personal life (without getting too personal), he married the equally and fabulously talented Katie Settel. Katie has been expanding her professional photography portfolio over the past few years and here is an example of why she has been successful and loved. Beautiful composition and light, and here's the tricky part: emotion. We all know color film can capture a lot, but for some mysterious reason black & white photography (to ME) captures even more.  Below is a couple photos proud husband Mel posted to facebook, but browse thru Katie's site and you'll see some gorgeous moments and faces.

      

Stop Your Circus

So I have gotten some lovely comments on the little owl fabric I created; I have to give credit to the inspiration of the little owl. Meet Maude, the creator behind Stop Your Circus, a lovely boutique chock full of fabulous little owls, purses, apparel, and more. She has an alternate website address, which I will post soon, but for now this is the link to her etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stopyourcircus. Here is the specific one--I love the shade of orange, and she has a fun and fabulous way of mixing different fabrics that work together. She uses a lot of vintage fabrics as well, which is fun. Stop by her shop and enjoy--it's a HOOT (slapping knee)!

The Royal Red

Here is the finished "throne" style chair with Anna Maria Horner's (from her Garden party collection) fabric on the seat. (I blogged about this project in previous posts). Let me know what you think!

Heaps O'Fun and Fabric

Miss Tina, who I mentioned in the previous post is the author of the Little Blue Cottage blog, which is about her passion and love of all things fabric & sewing, creativity and fun. She is an excellent author and she has a continual flow of creativity that, if a river, would outflow the Nile--no, the Amazon-- I'm sure of it. We'll for fun she is having a giveaway of a fat quarter of some of my fabric designs, which can be found on Spoonflower (under--what else: veryhappychair).

Go take a peek and leave a post for Miss Tina, and you'll be entered to win! Some of the fabric choices will be these (some are pending, but will be available in a couple weeks):

Could be a "Contendah"

So my friend Tina barely mentioned that maybe I oughta try to design fabric. A mere mention is all it takes to get the hamster turning the wheel in my brain. So...I love owls, and even though they are border-lining the saturation point, I decided to try my hand at some cutesy-but-modern owl design. I'll still probably play with it, but I just thought I'd share.... I might upload and make available at Spoonflower. I still have to get a test swatch to make sure all the colors are like I want them to be, but if all is good, I might even add it to my Etsy shop.  And then I'll make more and more designs--just for the fun of it! That poor hamster in my head is never gonna get a break.

Another Little Corner of Heaven

Anyone who knows me knows I love fabric and would like to design it someday. In the meantime, I look for fabrics and designs that others do, so I can covet, covet, covet. Here's a designer I just found: Pat Bravo and Art Gallery Fabrics! Yummy! Love the color palettes! Here's just a quick sample link to her upcoming line called Modern Affair, and here is one sample block from it....

"Lime Flirt Dance" by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

Here is another from the same collection (coming late summer/fall):

"Orange Peacock Eyes" by pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

Peruse her site and ENJOY! She has links tow here you can find her fabrics both online and in stores. 

I, in the meantime, will continue to oogle and be inspired!

I Kind of Like It

I have been seeing a lot of fabrics and other design items with these fabulous, simple, sketch-like art on them. They usually come in unusual color palettes as well. They have such a wonderful appeal, that I thought I'd try my hand at sketching one, even though it is not exactly my own art style. And I must say I'm kind of pleased with it for a first attempt. I have been thinking, too, of adding to my VHC line; adding simple, smallish art canvas designs, similar to what I find in the fabrics I use, and in the patterns I paint on the little trinket boxes. Hopefully they will appeal to those people who don't need/want the furniture, but would like some accent-sized art to freshen up a room or workspace. I plan to make the sketch below into a painting, my homage to the fabric designers I love. What do you think?