taking a quick break to blog... :)

MMmmm. I love black + turquoise. It is so fresh and also loving how the space remains looking clean with the stainless steal appliances and white counter tops. I am loving this. color + clean. yes yes yes!

I am taking a small break from editing tons of photos for my last school project- a portfolio design book. I just took tons of pictures of my capstone project...so I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow. 

Last week, I was kind of sad about nearing the end of my college career. BUT, this week...I am SO excited about the creative endeavors to experience in the future. Not having school will open up SO much time for me to work on the creative design that I WANT to work rather than HAVING to work on mandatory school projects. After talking to the wise, creative and wonderful Shannon Ho and her husband, I am so encouraged and inspired! 

if i had a mantle...

If I had a mantle...I would want it to look like this. Clean, pretty and a splash of color.
Pic via I Suwannee, lovin' this design blog!

inspiration

lovin' this color palette. 

Image via Seesaw Design

Inspiration! It's wonderful!! I know I've said this before but I love that I can truly find inspiration anywhere and everywhere. There are so many wonderful designers out there whose work can be viewed with just one click of a mouse. I love browsing endless amounts of images in search for inspiration for my next project or design job.  

When I find a graphic design image that inspires me for a project, I always keep in mind: reference but don't copy. It is perfectly fine to reference your inspiration in your design whether it's with color, style, theme, era etc but it isn't fair to a designer to reproduce something they've created without paying for it. When you see great design it means that a designer somewhere put a lot of creativity and time into making it, probably with the intentions of getting paid for it. 

Inspiration is a beautiful thing but there's a difference between referencing and replicating.

Just a little thought as I am quickly jumping into the real design world very soon!

im pretty in love with these floors...

Dark distressed hard wood floors + white furniture = lots of contrast. Yes and Yes. I am also loving the pale blue with pops of orange. Lovely.

pic via I suwannee, one of my new favorite decor blogs!

hello lovely table setting.

OhHh what an innovative way to add variation in height to these table settings not to mention lots of color!...From large scale table settings to arranging a book shelf...items ranging in height is key to achieving a strong looking design. Remember...unless you intentionally want rhythm in your design....watch out when placing items smallest to largest...the eye instantly catches rhythms first...we don't want that. We want the eye to see your good design before anything.  

time, where'd it go?

My senior design show is tomorrow. I can't believe it. I am SO excited. I have never once been sad about graduating college...until the last couple of days..what is wrong with me?! 


College and specifically my major (visual communications) has taught me so much about design, concepts, immaculate presentation, having perfect craft skills and elaborating on my ideas until the best creative solution is found. I have learned that I truly love design- all types. I have a huge appreciation for people and their creativity and though I may not like certain design styles, I love that peoples creativity pushes them to produce such interesting concepts. 


Through the past four years, I've loved design classes and genuinely hated them to tears,. But, I am quite proud to finally be done (almost). But, so sad that this particular creative journey will be over soon. School pushed me to be creative even when I didn't want to be and I am thankful for that...it made my designs stronger. It also made me extremely observant and notice design everywhere I went, I mean everywhere....and I think about design 24/7 literally,  I even think/ talk about design in my sleep....so my husband tells me :)


Though I won't miss the huge lack of sleep...I will miss them below..all nine of them!

us with saggmeister 

those are the only pictures I have right now. We just did a photo shoot for the show...so ill post some of those shots- they're money!

pink and ruffles!

Mmmmmmm I must be on a pink kick this week :)

My senior design project came back from the printer a few days ago...I will post pictures in the next few days! I am SO happy with how it turned out! If y'all are in Norman on Sunday April 25th, come to the senior capstone show! from 2-4!!!!

lovin' this bedroom.

I LOVE being married to my sweet husband, but sometimes I miss having the opportunity to decorate with pink. You wouldn't believe how girly my rooms were all through college. PINK PINK PINK and a little lime green, some yellow, and a bit of orange...And those were my wedding colors, tastefully done that is. Those bright hues tend to freak people out sometimes...so I always feel that I need to end the sentence with "don't worry, our wedding looked great!" Gosh, I just got way off subject...


ANWAY, I am really enjoying this room. It's completely DIY and totally feasible to have a fabulous looking room like this. A few coats of paint on some old furniture and some fun throw pillows really add to it. What I love is that this room completely grabs my attention. The color is in all the right places. I love that the walls are white leaving the furniture and accessories to pop. Yet, some of the bedding is white to tie in back with the walls. All coral would be too much. So, the white is just the right balance. But, it's not just white..the white has been lightly accessorized with a fabric tape in green. Love the coral green color combo..so springy! 


 What a fun room. So happy and cheerful. 

loving this designers advice...

These are the design rules of interior designer Summer Thornton and I love each one of them:

-Do at least one thing your mother wouldn't
-Reference the past, don't repeat it
-Use patterns and colors recklessly!
-Insist on natural fabrics
-Colors don't clash
-Never say never
-More IS more

My faves are: use color and patterns recklessly, colors don't clash, and more IS more. YES. Great advice to work by when designing just about anything from an interior space, wedding, party or even a photo shoot.

yikes!

YIKES! I haven't blogged in 4 days! I love blogging and am so sad to have neglected it for days. Though, I have been blogging for my job- English Paper Company so that counts right?!?

Anyway, I have been oh so busy with my senior project and would like to proudly say its FINISHED! It was a stressful project. I'm thinking it was more pressure than any ol' project because it was "my senior project" yeah, that added a lot more stress. But, my teacher loved it and that made me very happy after working for so long on it. Now, its currently being printed and made into a book. YES!! 

I am so excited about a project I am working on. I am helping style a back to school photo shoot for a magazine here in OK. What a fun opportunity to be creative! The images above are a few of my inspirations. You'll have to hold put a few more weeks and I will definitely show pictures of the shoot. Can't wait! 

oh peony

My sweet mother-in-law bought 2 peonies bulbs the other day. One for her and one for me. We're going to plant them and see how they grow. March-April is the best time to plant them. I heard that these take a few years to start producing big flowers...we'll see. I can't wait to fill vases up in my house with these beautiful flowers someday!

okay, i love the sartorialist blog

He always captures lovely people expressing really unique fashion. The images are incredibly fascinating. I typically just look at the nice images he photographs and I dont read any of the content. Today was different for some reason and it made me laugh a lot: 

"Why is it that old-school boutiques seem to be the only retailers left that understand the idea of the "hidden treasure".

Shops today over-indulge in the visual display of product and images. Shouting at customers to dance to their music and submit to their own experience. Shops of yesteryear seduced, like a strip tease, slowly revealing themselves to those that gave their time and attetion.

It is strange that these shops of yesterday are so much more seductive than the "tits-out" stores of today"

The images in his post help make what he was saying make more sense:

tortilla chicken salad + homemade guacamole

I worked at a bar + deli through most of my college time at OU. Its called Bison Witches. They have delicious sandwiches and soups. If you're ever in Norman, OK you should go there. It's local and unique. But my favorite thing on menu was their tortilla chicken salad. Tonight I tried to recreate it! I think it was a huge success!! So good!
I have no pictures for this post because I ate the salad up before I remembered to take a picture :)


ingredients:
romaine lettuce
salsa
sour cream
avocado
grilled chicken (seasoned with poultry seasoning) 


Mix all together = yum!


tonight i made homemade guacamole to put in the salad. I don't have a recipe because I tend to just throw ingredients in until it tastes good. But it goes something like this:


scoop avocados into a bowl, add some salsa, add some garlic, add some onion powder or onions if you want, a little cumin and a little chili powder. *it helps if you use a whisk or fork when stirring it all up. those pesky avocado chunks can be hard to break up sometimes...

learning my flowers

I've always had a love for flowers. But lately, I have been seeing amazing arrangements and I want to know the names of all the flowers.  I am beginning a career in becoming a florist but I just would love to be more knowledgeable in this area. I saw this image on Design*Sponge today and thought it was a helpful first step. I know my favorites from planning my own wedding- sweet little ranunculus, peonies, green button mums. But i had no idea what a muscari was?!? or what geranium leaves looked like. I did know what an anemone but it did take me a while to get the pronunciation down. I love black + white anemones.  

As I am working on my senior capstone project (book design of how to to design your wedding), I have viewed so many fabulous bouquets and have been dying to know what the flowers were.  Here are some lovelies:

Ah, my beloved peonies. My fav flower...I fell in love with it when registering for our china..Kate Spade used a peony in her vase advertisement in 2008. Big fluffy flowers in a modern and clear polka dotted vase..love.

Such a lovely and detailed bouquet

Neighbors on the color wheel looking good together.

so vintage

Here are some of the sweet black + white anemones

oh man, i love color.

I'm working on my senior design project and it involves all of these color palettes. Along with using all these colors in my book design, this cool color block layout will make an appearance somewhere in my final design too. I AM SO EXCITED! Color is my absolute favorite. 

lovely frames

I am loving these frames. I love how they are pushed together with no wall space showing. I love the vintage quality of the images and how the color in the images works so well with that pretty throw pillow. I want to do this somewhere in my home. Above the couch? yes.

maybe my all time favorite room

This room is amazing. Maybe my favorite room I've seen in a while. I love the cool color scheme with pops of warm yellows. The white walls drift back out of focus while the color jump forward. There are splashes of modern style in this room but mostly I see vintage. Vintage frames, furniture and vintage inspired patterns. This room is so clean yet has so much personality. Each item in this room has been arranged with intention. I love that. This person knew what they were doing. BRAVO.


I am SO incredibly thankful for inspiration. I am inspired by something new every 5 minutes it seems like. But, I am so thankful that God has given each person a unique set of skills to express to the world whether that be in a creative way or not. When I see work that inspires me...I am instantly thankful for creativity and how different people use it. It keeps me inspired to keep going and designing on my creative path. 


  

Apparently I am all about wedding stuff today. I am designing a 'how to design a wedding' book for my senior design project and it's going to be FILLED to the brim with beautiful images of weddings. I have spent so many hours looking for just the perfect photos for my book. ANYWAY, I guess thats why I am blogging about wedding stuff...i've been starring at it for hours...I don't mind though. 

I am loving these save the dates. There is something special about a photograph on a save the date. It's so sweet and personal. I LOVE these save the dates/ mini month of wedding calendars. Especially the top one with the date marked by a little red heart. Love. 

wowzas

Saw this wedding featured on StyleMePretty the other day. All I have to say is WOW!! Love the color. I didn't post the pictures but the bride had the entire ceremony all white and outdoors and then the reception was one big celebration! I LOVE that. You get the classic ceremony and then a playful fun party! I just can't get over those color lanterns. What a fabulous visual statement they make.