willow dawson

featured on drawn!, willow dawson is a lovely illustrator based out of toronto, canada. her work consists mainly of ink & acrylic on cardboard & comic style stories.

i want her opening page. adorable.

antiques at pike place

this is a great antique mall in downtown seattle, right near the market. teresa & i discovered this place a while back when she scored a few great pieces including a bench, toile chair & gold mirror. they keep a little bit of everything & the shop owner is very helpful. while most of the stuff they carry is great, i especially love their estate jewelry & mid-century rooms. there is an abundance of old photography which is always fun to go through, as well as a lot of great milk glass & ceramics.

david foldvari

beautiful work. uk based illustrator & blogger, david foldvari.

lula magazine

a new source of inspiration for color, style & layout - lula magazine. a uk based publication that comes out only 2 times a year. described as a magazine for real girls that love fashion, music, art, & make believe, it's aesthetic is whimsical & pretty - you can preview sections online for free.

how badly do you want to get made up like kirsten dunst in this picture? sigh

seattle tricks people

taken from the strangers, what i can tell you about seattle based on the people i've met who are from there, by tao lin. i really like this, i'm not sure why, but i do.

--

SEATTLE TRICKS PEOPLE

When I make myself think concretely about Seattle, I get an image of a 12-year-old Native American boy reading a Sherman Alexie story collection in a Starbucks and it's raining outside, then I seriously think, "The harsh reality of growing up in Seattle. Seems bad. Hard." But if I think abstractly about Seattle, I feel a strange emotion like I'm currently living in a clean, well-furnished house with expensive electronic equipment in Tennessee in May by a small river on a green hill with no other houses nearby and that I have a steady cash flow and am working on multiple projects each day with a lot of excitement and no obligations. It feels really good and the opposite of hard. So "Seattle" abstractly means to me something like "basking in the sunlight of overwhelming gratitude for life and art" but concretely means to me something like "feeling like there's no possible routes for escaping a life of poverty and alcoholism while staring at sentences written by Sherman Alexie in an environment of people shouting things like 'quadruple soy latte.'" I don't know. I feel "tricked."

mid-century inspiration

new flickr pool that i'm loving, mid-century, modern interiors, led by flickr member stewf, stephen coles. he also keeps a blog.

felt wall hanging - birch print

i decided to take it 3d. it was fun & really quite easy.

what you need:
1 large piece of dense fabric or felt, 11" x 13" in blue or background color of choice
2 felt sheets (9" x 11") - white, charcoal
thread (black, white)
batting
scissors
needle
staple gun
stretch frames (8" x 9")

instructions:
1. cut 6 varying birch trunks - between 3/4" to 1.5"
2. cut small arching triangles
3. using a straight stitch, attach triangles randomly on each birch trunk (you'll only need to do one side of trunks 1 & 2) with black thread
4. pin each detailed trunk on background fabric (should be centered on the fabric with 1.75"+ on the right & left side of the fabric, branches should extend from top to bottom)
5. using a straight stitch, attach 2 or 3 background trunks tight to background piece with white thread
6. stitch the left side of trunk a
7. leaving some space for batting, stitch the right side of trunk a. for example - if trunk a is 3/4" wide, stitch a 1/2" from left side. leave top & bottom of trunk open
8. continue through trunk d
9. fill trunks a-d with batting (i used a pencil end to push it through)
10. assemble your stretching frame
11. wrap felt collage around frame. use the staple gun (one side at a time) to attach.



















helpful tips:
1. make sure to have your background fabric extends well beyond your stretch bars when assembled. my felt had to be attached at the outside of frame instead of back.
2. you could you an adhesive to secure the charcoal details before sewing.

etsy wednesday

i really enjoy the neurasthenia shop. she has a lot to choose from - cuffs, clutches, skirts & leggings; but i am loving her high-waisted skirts & pants. great details & cute stylings. her prices are completely reasonable: $45 for most skirts, around $15 for vinyl clutches, $11 for cuffs.

craigslist finds

i just bought a couple great chairs from craigslist, but i can't resist looking some more. here are 4 that i love, somebody snatch them up.

turquoise rocker $55, olive chair & ottoman $99, patio chair $85 (wish i had a patio) & french wicker chairs $75 each

add it to the blogroll

this is going to be a new weekly event - as long as i keep finding new resources. if i don't find anything that makes my heart pitter patter, i'll just highlight ones that have been there from the beginning.


here is print a day. she has a great collection of repeat patters & beautifully detailed illustrations.


hula seventy is written by andrea, a portland resident. she is a photographer, dance educator & blogger with an incredible energy & spontaneity.