ICFF & Stationary Show Walkabout

card I love and the "sunprint" section from

the new book buy Christine, Yellow Owl Workshop
Must to buy this book asap.

Watery prettiness, a sneak peak of Linda & Harriet's new calendar

A hint of the new amazingly intelligent and gorgeous collection by SusyJack*

favorite calling cards from Set Editions

Bluff City lamps from Brooklyn based Roll & Hill.
These I will have, the perfect lamps for my newest Frenchie/seaside/early 60's interior project, TBA.

Really Love the Sky planters from Boskke at the ICFF

like a lyrical library/ butcher cart from akmd

new wall coverings from the gorgeous new collection from
eskayel. This will be mine.

Took a (six hour) walk through both the ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and the National Stationary Show Sunday, with the very sweet Melissa of Melissa Loves fame and finally got to meet Vana (!) from Le Papier Studio, in town for the show. I was really inspired, not only by some of the incredibly creative and down-to-earth new industrial designs at the ICFF but by all of the talented and smart ladies I met at the Stationary Show. The hard work and beautiful products created by Breck from Sesame Letterpress, Susy from HeySusy* , friends I specifically came to see, was impressive as was the good conversations with all of the above.

Pictures above, my favorite picks from both shows.
I sense a theme?

P.S. I particularly loved meeting Christine from Yellow Owl Workshop, hoping she'll come and live with me for a while.

Oh and also take a look at the Bamako Collection by Katherine Ladd...love

a little color

credit where credit is (totally) due for brightening my (very wet humid gray rainy) day:
1. pretty dresses in a row via chloé van paris
2. emily henson's pretty office (via design sponge)
3. an iced heath ceramics tea set
4. simply lovely celebration flags and photo (by simple lovely)

Design on a dime.

Hello, bonbons! It's Bee from The Lil Bee, and I'm honored to be your guest host. Like you, I come here for style inspiration—jewelry, design, photography...whatever Deb's got cooking on any particular day. So, I thought I would share with you some of the things that have inspired me in my quest to decorate my not-so-new home.

The first thing I did when we moved from NYC is search for wallpaper. Beautiful, lush, delicious wallpaper. It's inconceivable to put up wallpaper in a Manhattan rental, so for the last decade I coveted the stuff. Florals, toile, ikat, abstract, Baroque... you name it, I needed it.

But there was a problem. Wallpaper is... expensive! And you have to COMMIT to a particular STYLE for a long, long time! I chickened out. I humphed and pouted in frustration. And then... then I discovered the magic of decals.

So, for you, sweet bonbons, I present some of the most darling decals I've found, to date. They can instantly spruce up any space, and they're all quite affordable. Take a look...

Wouldn't laundry day be so much sweeter with a colorful clothing line?

A gorgeous design for a Sex And The City-worthy walk-in closet.

This pretty print* would be the perfect backdrop for reading a book and sipping hot tea.

Here's a stylish substitute to a pricey chandelier.

And for the little bebe...

...or la bambina.

I do hope these designs have inspired you, as well. Thanks for indulging me and have a wonderful day!

*via Belle Maison

Grupwork

Whose are these?

Discovery while looking up George Lois the other day: Class-O-Matic, a private blog (whoops) designed for a design professor's design students. Outtasight verbiage and so much to see, I'd say it's a hotbed of inspiration. It's like being his/her student. I'd like to be his/her student.

Agree, agree (!) with the post of April the 12th about the amazing art direction for the film Marie Antoinette --I had downloaded some of these as screen savers off of the "official site" just after watching the film, a film, which, I had watched twice in a row--the feathers-I mean come on...
Tim Walker's photographs, below, posted on class-o-matic on June the 15th. Loving these muted and sometimes messy fairytale allusions, esp. The Princess and the Pea inspiration for that first photo.Thanks Class-O-Matic.

A Terrarium Story

There's a lot of moss growing around my parent's house

And little plant-lings

The Process: Rocks, Dirt, Moss, Plantlings, Water

Terrariums

I've always loved terrariums -quiet little peaceful places where you can imagine yourself real tiny laying in a perfect tiny mossy forest. I've been wanting to make one for a long while.

The backstory as I remember it: In the 70's, my dad started to subscribe to this series of groovy D.I.Y./How-To books called Family Creative Workshop - he just got the first three volumes, don't know why he stopped getting them but I was in love with those books. I made anything I could from those awesomely hippy-dippy crafty pages: beanbags, beach glass mobiles, bonsais, birdhouses. I decorated birthday cakes, fixed the derailleurs on my bike, poured liquid acrylic into a rubber glove to make a ring stand (that one didn't work out too well) and really wanted to brew my own root beer but I needed too much adult supervision and my own garage so I scrapped that one too.

The chapter I loved the most was the one on Bottle Gardens. It had pictures so enticing, I just wanted to make terrariums all the time.

So last week, when I was out at with my dad, I picked up some glass containers and some river stones and came back to his house, laid out my stuff, went searching for moss and some tiny saplings and plantlings and this is what I came up with. Finally.

(They don't look like these but hey, I fulfilled my own wish. Also, check out my blogger pal over in Sugar Hollow. Her terrariums are lovely and she has some good links!).

WORD

Anthropologie! How beautiful your displays are.

Above pics lifted off a blog whose name I can't find in my list.
Working on it!

With all my heart and soul I want so badly to create a window display for Word, the best local bookstore I've ever lived around the corner from (and I can safely say I've lived around the corner from quite a few).

The sign in their window looking for artists has been up for months but it was only last week I got the courage up to ask. The lovely Christine, owner and fellow Long Islander, told me the only slot she has open is the second half of this month and I just can't see how I can make it happen, it being the second half of this month today. And not with the plans I've got for that window.

But can I do it in November or December, my busy season? I suppose if I plan now. In the meantime, I've found some other windows from different kinds of shops, above, for inspiration.
Anyway, check out Word's blog to see what's happening there and to see their window displays.

I just like this shoe tree.