Children's Book Illustrations

 Elise Gravel

 Elizabeth Brozowska

 Kate Pugsley

Kate Pugsley

Carolyn Gavin

These are some of my favorite styles for illustrating children's books. Color saturation, imperfect lines, fun patterns and textures. Ten extra points for people who use animals as their subject in children's books. 

Crazy for the Hanbok

It's been a while. Too long! Since I'm wedding planning now (it's still over a year away but you can never start too early?) figuring out what dress to wear is the hardest thing ever. The only dresses I've tried on so far are traditional Hanbok's. They're so colorful, airy, flowy, and original. Here are a few modern Hanbok's that I'm falling for.

 

For the inspiration board

On the subject of painting plants and hanging wall art.....

Miss Moss and Skinny La Minx for the win

Gallery Wall

I've been thinking about how to hang a gallery wall these days. Since everyone and their dog has a 'how-to' on hanging an art wall I figured I'd just point to a bunch of them rather than write one myself. The West Elm Blog has a great post on how to do this. Check it out! And check out these fun walls (and their how-to's) for inspiration:

Go with small frames?

Go with big frames?

Black and white and patterns and leather. My favorite combinations.

House Plants

Our apartment has some lonely corners. It's still in a state of emptiness (we have too much space for two of us at the moment). One room is still completely bare aside for our bikes that are hanging out against the wall. Furnishing the place has definitely been a process and we're taking our time with it. We have been craving some greenery though. Timmy bought an avocado tree that will be here sometime within the month. And me? I'm going to paint some plants. Inspired by these talented people:

 Jonas Wood featured on Miss Moss

 The Jungalow Blog

Justina Blakeney's Instagram

Winter Blues

1 2 3 4

I snagged a job as a Home Stylist at West Elm here in Seattle, and with all the training I've done so far, I feel more confident with fixing up our home. Before I was overwhelmed with all of the patterns, textures, colors, and arranging spaces in general. I was afraid of committing to a color or a pattern and didn't want to clutter up our space.  But I'm taking it one room at a time. Starting with the foyer! So far, its a storage room and the dining room, it's small, and the walls are dark blue with a red ceiling! (I know...red ceiling?) I keep thinking it's a good spot for our dining room table but Timmy thinks the table would look better in our first living room (we have two living rooms). SO! Currently, I'm working with the foyer as a storage room/place to hang out and chat with whoever is in the kitchen. I wanted the paint the walls a lighter color to make the room feel bigger but since I'm broke and we're not going to be here forever, I'm working with what we have. These blue pictures are inspiring because I can see that white, dark blue, and natural colors all look pretty great together.....Here's the foyer so far. The wall behind the table has tons of shelves that I've covered with a piece of dark blue cloth. It helped the room feel cleaner and more spacious without sight of all that clutter. More later! 

Don't mind the blurry photos!

Interiors

We made it to Seattle! And now we have a comfy home by the bay that needs some interior design love. This before and after blog is helping me figure out what to do with our super awesome apartment. So far, the notes I've taken are: paint floating shelves white in a white room to make them 'disappear', hang curtain rods slightly higher than the windows to make the ceilings feel higher, large carpets in small rooms make the space feel larger, and don't be afraid of large light fixtures if the ceilings are already high. I'm planning on adding lots of plants to the space to make it colorful without having to paint the walls. It is a month to month rental, after all. Transformation pics to come! 

2015!

This year I want to:

 Read more

 Create with more colors

 Create with more shapes

Eat well with good people and take that moment of silence before the meal more often

Find a home with my man in Seattle!

Michael Ondaatje

"Everything is biographical, Lucian Freud says. What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross." 

Zack Seckler

I'm still trying to figure out what moves me about these aerial photos of Botswana. I'll be coming back to this one soon. Thanks Zack Scckler!

Reflections

Cambridge, MA

To the mountains!

Snowy Pines

Timmy and Mr. Bill

Pheasants

Before winter completely escapes us on the east coast (and I'm not trying to hold on to it by any means), here are some of my favorite moments of winter 2013/2014. All of these photos, aside from Cambridge, were taken in either Wisconsin or outside of Seattle. Check out more on instagram! 

Green Thoughts

Images found here!

Sick in bed today. Luckily my fever dreams are leaving me with visceral sensations of the sun's warmth and lush green summer days. 

Childhood Photos

 Wengenn in wonderland

My daughter Kanna

My favorite pictures of my siblings and I are the ones of us being silly or crying, mostly because they seem to be honest and natural, or posed in the ways we wanted to pose. I wish we captured the imagination of our childhood in photo memories like these two artists who engage creatively with their children. One draws inspiration from her sleepy baby, and the other by letting his kid get weird on a road. 

Fantasy Dress

Just dreaming out loud. Found these Lauren de Zagazan dresses at Missmoss a while ago.