design sunday

I discovered a new artist. Not that she is new to the art world, just new to me. Her work is whimsical, girly and decidedly French. Her children's illustrations are reminiscent of the 1960's, which I find delightful.

Check out her website and read her bio. Scroll through her gallery. It's like taking a mini vacation to France.

Kristine Lombardi

In case you were wondering, the Top Rock Star launch had to be postponed, so for all of you who are yet to mention it on your site and be in the running for the fifty dollar gift certificate, you have another month or so. For those of you who already posted about Top Rock Star, sorry for the wait. We are all anxious to get the site up and running.

design sunday

For all you folks heading back to school this week, good luck and I hope you go back in style. As for me and mine, we're headed to Maui.

Check out these sites for stylish school supplies:

Present and Correct

Little Paper Planes

And a little something for the Moms:

Simplify Supper

design sunday

I wear aprons. I know this may seem a little passe', maybe even a little um, "Pleasantvillish", but I love them. They are practical and why women quit wearing them is beyond me. When my grandmother died a few years ago, I requested and got one of her aprons and her Better Homes and Gardens red check cookbook with hand written notes jotted in the margins. I felt like I inherited pure gold.

Maybe I feel that an apron is my mom uniform. I think people need uniforms. They give you a sense of capability and authority. Take security guards for example. Those guys think they are really in charge just because they have on a dark suit with a fabric shield patch. They get this Barney Fife attitude, telling me I can't park here or I can't walk there, that makes me want to reach out and thwack them between the eyes. But I digress. My point is just that people tend to become the uniform.

Back in March, the crafty chicks made crazy aprons. Here's the one I made.

I recently found this wonderful little book with simple patterns for making various aprons. I tend to like vintage patterns, especially bib aprons that cross in the back, but it is full of fun projects both modern and vintage inspired. One of my favorite projects is an apron with a tea towel sewn into the waist band to wipe your hands on. Talk about useful.

There are also some really great books on collecting vintage aprons and the culture behind aprons. Yes, aprons have their own culture. Check out Amazon for these fab books.

There are also a ton of super talented women making and selling their own aprons. I bought this one through Sundarose and I wear it all the time.

Check out the following links if you want to join my apron revolution. My motto is this: Aprons have nothing to do with repression. They are really about sensibility, fashion and self expression.

Apron Memories

Rick Rack Attack

Angry Chicken

Angry Chicken has more links for new vintage style handmade aprons.

design sunday

I have a corner in my living room that is sad and lonely and has been since the day we moved in. I have spent two years wondering just what to put there. I spent a year or so looking at different house plants that might work until I came to the conclusion that I didn't really want a plant at all. I then thought I wanted to find a great pillar sort of thingy to put a vase or finial thingy on. So I spent the last year looking at stands and pillars and cement artichokes and the like and I haven't seen a single thing I liked.

The other day it finally hit me. I want a terrarium. Not a simple one either. I want a full on, Victorian glass and iron, free standing terrarium with orchids and ferns. Why, oh why can't I ever like the cheap solution?

The good ones start at around $300 and go up. It is an item I will have to save for and convince Sugar Daddy of it's artistic value. Wish me luck.

Terrariums were invented by Nathaniel Ward, an English physician and botanist who placed a cocoon in a closed jar for observation and soon noticed ferns growing in dirt at the jar’s bottom. They continued to grow and thrive in the protected, humid environment, although they died when he tried to grow them outdoors in London’s polluted air. Ward concluded that many plants that could not survive in the outdoor climate and air conditions could live quite healthily in the biospheres he built and called ferneries, one of which has been preserved by the Smithsonian Institution.

The doctor’s discovery led to a new horticultural era. Rare plants could be transported across continents and climate zones in what became known as Wardian cases, and wealthy British families started commissioning elaborate versions for their living rooms. The word “terrarium,” from the Latin ”terra,” meaning “earth,” is commonly used in the U.S.

If you have been blessed with simple taste, you need not spend a lot to create your own terrarium. A bell jar makes a fabulous, smaller, environment for a little garden, as does a apothecary jar or even, (if you aren't into aesthetics) a milk jug. Visit a good (read- not Home Depot or Lowe's) nursery and ask someone to help you select a few plants that thrive in glass house conditions.

If you are feeling inspired, and actually do assemble a terrarium, send me a pic. I'd love to see what other people are doing.

design sunday

Mama Merit Badges

Okay, I need to order me up some of these little badges. I think I will sew them onto my bathrobe, next to the grape jelly stain. I thought about getting a canvas tote to sew them onto, but then I would be walking around in public with a breast on my bag. And besides, the breast badge is the one that I think needs a little tweaking ( not that way! get your mind out of the gutter!). What I mean is, here you have a badge for breast feeding and the breast they chose to represent this is still full and pointing up. Some thing's wrong with that.

Motherhood is a thankless pursuit. Reward yourself.

Also, I have decided to extend the Top Rockstar contest (see previous post) until the launch date of September 1st. Below you will find a graphic for you to use as a link in your side bar or main text, so come on people, get blogging!

design sunday

Green Sketches and Ham

I found Greg Ham's blog on accident and I have been in love with his work ever since. You must go take a look and have a good laugh. I would LOVE to have him animate our family into super heroes.