vol.25

inspired by art- industrial-ness

Hello !

Today I'm finally implementing a new category to vol.25. I've had this idea in my mind for over a year, but always pushed it away because I worried I would humiliate myself somehow to those a little more "knowledgeable" in the design department! :) So, bear with me here!

My idea in a nutshell involves designing rooms around various pieces of my art. It is super fun setting these up, and decorating without spending any money! I'm finding that they do take quite a bit of time though. So, I probably will not get to them nearly as often. Is this something you guys are even interested in seeing? If so, feel free to leave me ideas for my next collage. Is there a print you've purchased from me, and your trying to find colors or a general theme to coordinate? I tend to gravitate to more of a modern style, and I cant promise you will like what I come up with... but I would love to know what print your struggling with. :)

So, without further ado... here is my first collage. This was inspired by two prints available in my etsy shop. It uses quite a few pieces from Target's "Industrial Chic collection."

 

Inspiration Prints available in my etsy shop: If the link says sold out, don't worry its probably already re-listed in the shop. I will never be sold out of a print. :)

b. I will be grateful for this day......................................20.00

e. Home is where our heart is (vanilla color optoin).........20.00

other items:

a. persika vase...........................................................2.99    IKEA

c.wire milk crate (currently sold out no price available......  ?     TARGET

d. barometer floor reading lamp in nickel plated finish.... 49.00    IKEA

f. tupplur pair of curtains..............................................29.99    IKEA

g. plaid pillow.............................................................17.99   TARGET

h.granat cushion....................................................... .3.99    TARGET

i. flokati rug................................................................79.99    TARGET

j. cable knit pillow.......................................................17.99   TARGET

BRINGING OUR TOTAL TO:                                        241.94   (before tax)

The area rug definitely added a huge chunk of that price, and you could easily add any neutral color rug in its place for pretty much the same effect. :) I am in no ways a professional decorator, most of what I've learned has been a result of reading blogs like designsponge, decor8, design is mine, making it lovely, made by girl, etc. etc. There are soo many great inspiring resources out there. :) BUT, just to kinda cover myself I put together this "not so serious" disclaimer.

                      

Hope everyone has a totally awesome week planned. :)

a quote for your week chap. 13

Some see a  weed patch, others see beauty. :) Just a reminder to look on the bright side. Every cloud has a silver lining. :) Anyhow, I'm reminding myself of this! 

photo credit:

jess

more fake graffiti art, inspires a new series!

photograph taken by: kellilynnphotos

I totally love this idea, and I think it would be suuuper cool to have a series done in the shop like this. Subtract cute family, and add in various illustrated characters mixed with a wide variety of brick backgrounds. I think this could be SO fun. I will be photographing/ collecting various shots of brick walls in my area... and hey if you have a brick wall in your area you'd love to see vol.25 art plastered on, send me your image(s) at  ( vol 25 @ hotmail dot com ) preferably taken with a 6mp (or higher) camera. This will allow the image to be enlarged without loss of quality. :) If I use any pictures you send, I'll send you a free copy of the finished print! :)

This idea could even work on a real industrial-ish area, like garage doors etc. I havent been this excited about a new series for a long time. :) I'll keep you posted on the progress, and I'm super anxious to see what you guys send. :D

Happy sunday!

Jess :D

interior design inspiration- architecture

The architecture in this house is sooo charming. It makes me wonder what the outside must look like! The little frames hanging are really sweet. :) Happy Saturday!

Designing Keds can be fun!

I mean, like alot of fun. :) I have a few different pairs (14 to be exact!) available in my zazzle shop, but on Tuesday I sold my first pair. I could be seen and heard doing a happy dance in front of the computer. :) These little guys are on they're way to a new home... and I soo hope that they're new owners decide to share pictures! :)

I love zazzle and how easy it is to set-up a shop over there. I like that I do not need to carry inventory, nor do I even have to deal with the shipping aspect. However, I feel desperate to make somewhat of a personal connection with the buyers. I am always super excited when I see I've sold a t-shirt, and always look to see where my design will be residing. :) Maybe I'll bump into someone wearing my shirt? I kind of doubt it, but it is still fun to think about it. Anyhow... I'm leading up to an idea I have had running through my mind since opening my zazzle shop a few months ago.... BUT I would really appreciate your input on the matter.

Here are my thoughts, I really want to see the items being used. But I know your busy and there are more important things on your to do list. :) SO, I'm trying to come up with a creative way to engage and make sharing your purchase fun. Maybe a monthly contest to see who can submit the most creative product shot? The entries would be voted on, voters being you and me, hubby, Trin and little miss Journey. The winner would receive a $40 gift certificate to my etsy shop. You could e-mail me your photos, and I could randomly post them throughout that month, with a re-cap just before the voting? 

Or, does that sound too complicated? Would you rather just send in your photos and have your name go into a jar, with a random drawing?

Any other ideas? I'm also considering holding random zazzle giveaways. But, I've been so busy that I havent had time to organize much. :)

Thoughts, opinions, ideas? I'm all ears!

Btw- Thank you to everyone who has supported my zazzle shop. This month I've qualified for pro seller status! I think thats reason enough to host a thank you giveaway of sorts! :)

too cute thursday- nature themed

This house is sooo neat. If someone was lucky enough to have a few wooded acres I think this would be adorable as a guest house. :)

  

I've been talking about doing it for months...

and I finally did it! I upgraded my typepad account to pro, which means I am now able to add background images. :) It took me the better half of the morning trying to figure out how to do it, and I think I've already forgotten  how, but nonetheless, its there! :) I wanted to configure the image to be fixed, so that it wouldn't scroll with the posts.. so it was tricky trying to get the sizes right. Which makes me wonder what it looks like on your computer screen. Here is what it looks like for me:

how does it look to you?

family pictures?... check!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have these pictures! :) I wish that I'd have had more time to do up my hair differently, we had about an hour after church to get ready... so I kind of had to just deal with it as is! BUT.. Kelli still did an amazing job. She was super fun, and easy going. She worked really well with the kids, (who were lacking naps!) and had some creative ideas. Like this one:

and this one:

 

The tricycles were part of her prop collection, and they were perfect. I honestly dont know if we would have gotten any still shots of the girls without them. :)

She did an AMAZING job, and burned them off on a cd for me. She edited a few, but gave me free reign on the entire cd. I'm having loads of fun, adding fake text/graffiti to the brick. I need to do a photo with the robots added to the wall. What do  you guys think?

I actually painted the "and they lived happily ever after" canvas painting for the wedding I photographed back in January: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vol25/sets/72157613259561720 But, completely forgot to even use it! So, I was glad to finally put it to use!! :)

I also made some props of my own. A few painted cardboard cut-outs, like some books,

and a birdcage with a speech bubble that says "Happy Holidays" I'm planning to use for our Christmas cards this year. 

I discovered that using props like this really is easier when you dont have a 15 month old that was just allowed to walk all over town the night before collecting candy. She did not  want to cooperate,  and I'm shocked we even got her smiling in this picture. My cousin was in town, so we stole her so she could help with Journey. She was also our extra pair of hands/ pack mule. :) Thanks Shannon!!

For some reason typepad is doing some weird things, and it doesnt look as though I will be able to add any more pictures to this post. I'll have to continue more pictures into a second post. Maybe after I come  back later the problem will be resolved.

Anyhow, if your in the Washington area and looking for a creative photographer, not afraid to think outside the box, I definitely suggest Kelli. :) Be sure and check out her website! http://www.kellilynnphotos.com I'm not sure how far she'll travel, but you can always ask her! :) She has a flickr account too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellilynn/

Well, I  hope your thursday morning is positively  perfect!! I'm going to take today to try and finish up a print that I know you'll love. :)

finally... a finished complete tour of our home!

{you can click the pictures to make them bigger}

Whew... So that is the grand tour! I'm excited to work some of these into a photo book, to kind of chronicle our time here. Its been a ton of work getting this house to its current state, and now that we're selling it.. I'm having mixed feelings. I know that our next house will undoubtedly need some work, if its going to be in our price range. But, I guess there is no way it will need as much work as this place did. So that should make me feel better. I'm really looking forward to finding a house a little bit bigger then this house. If your new to the blog, be sure and check out this post for a few pictures showing just how much love this place needed. :) Or our home category for all things pertaining to our house. :) You can also check out my flickr set titled "our home" for other pictures. If anyone has any questions as to where something was purchased, I'll try to help out as best I can. HOWEVER, chances are it is from either pier 1, ikea, or target. :)

interior design inspiration- green and red

I love everything about this, although I am not really sure why. :) I dont play any instruments, and I think it was the green with that little pop of red that did me in. :) Very inspiring. 

I'm constantly stumbling across interior spaces that inspire me. It seems kind of odd to do write a post centered around a single picture, but I think I'll start including some random pictures at random times. :) It seems that lately my blog is lacking in the interior design category. So, hopefully I can inspire you and me at the same time.

Loving this picture. It is giving me the urge to start a new print based solely on these colors, and I think I have the perfect sketch, already finished waiting for color. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for that!

{click the image for the original source}