Pin of the day: beach

Its one of those rare days in the north east where it's sunny and hot.  Unfortunately I'm one of those people who likes to admire the sunshine from the shade cause as soon as I step out into that sun I feel like I'm walking into the burning fires of hell.  Aka I'm too pale to really handle it.  But I also have the advantage of living near a lovely, popular beach.  So once it gets a little cooler I'll be venturing down to the beach with a friend to see a band at the amphitheater   And for todays pins I have went for a beachy theme.

Those stripes are fun and summery.  I want to live in those stripes!

Doesn't this just look perfect?

I couldn't resist throwing in a bit of driftwood.  I've just been to a great local shop where they sell a variety of reclaimed and upcycled furniture, and in amongst all the goodies were some truly lovely driftwood bowls and the nicest driftwood table and chairs I've ever seen.  Unfortunately I didn't have the good sense to take my camera with me but trust me when I say they're gorgeous.

I'd love to find a piece of driftwood and incorporate it into an interior like this.  As a rail to hang special clothing on or pictures.

Have you ever typed 'beach' into the search in pinterest?  Some odd pins come up and unsurprisingly a lot of bums.

Amazing interior: fleischerei bar

Have you seen this?

image © photographiedepot

Michael Grzesiak has turned this 100 year old butchers shop into a stylin' bar.  Just look at it!  

image © photographiedepot

Keeping most of the original tiles and features was a fantastic choice, they bring so much character to the space.  The addition of the huge ash bar really modernises the interior.  I for one would visit just to touch that beautiful bar.

image © thezimmer

It may be hard for some to remember that this was in fact a butchers shop but the original colour palette and tiles are wonderful and would have been sorely missed in this interior.

View more images here.

Pin of the day: Decorating red

This is a pin I pinned a few months ago.  I love it because for me it is a fresh approach to decorating around red which I find a problem colour, especially keeping it warm and modern.

The pin was originally added by house of turquoise, but the image itself comes from a stylin' hotel in Nantucket.  Click the image for the link.  I just love the places pins take me, don't you?  I've found so many great blogs, sites and places that way.

All hail the mighty pinterest!

Etsy find: Vintage sunglasses

Hi guys, I just happened to stumble across an Etsy shop selling THE cutest vintage sunglasses.  Get a load of these bad lads

Aren't they dreamy.  I have such a thing for cat eye frames.  They're soooo glamorous!  It's really about time I get myself some.  The shop is GreenFlamingoVintage and there are so many frames to choose from.  Here are a few of my picks, enjoy!

Stunning Jean Paul Gaultier steampunk sunglasses

These are so stylin' librarian

Fendi cats eye havana

SO Mod!

Flip-up sunglasses

The Sketchbook Project

I happened across this amazing idea, The Sketchbook Project, when I was perusing Designmom.com (it's a great blog).  Have you heard of it?  Its a fantastic project to get involved in.  They send you a sketchbook, you fill it up, send it back and it goes into the Brooklyn Art Library!  How awesome would it be to know your very own heartfelt sketchbook is in the BROOKLYN ART LIBRARY.

I think its a tremendous idea. . .now if only I could fill up a sketchbook.

While I'm on about sketchbooks I might as well tell you the sad story of my diary today.  Its short and isn't really sad for anyone but me.  The thing you have to know about me is I'm a total stationary addict/freak/hoarder.  I love it.  I love love love it.  My friends and family are aware.  They smile knowingly (if not a bit sympathetically) when I suggest we go look at the stationary cause often I will just stand and stare at it.  

Pine for it. 

 Moon over it.  

Until I'm gently ushered away.  

So getting to the gist of this sad story.  I bought a mid year diary cause I just didn't have my life in order in January and missed my window (who wants a diary for 11 months or less, what a waste).  Its a sweet little thing, all green and ordinary.  And I've been counting down the days until Saturday because that's when June starts and that's when my diary commences.  I've been dying to use it.  So much so I jumped the gun and tried to put in some important dates for next week.  ONLY TO FIND my sweet diary doesn't start till JULY.  Needless to say I'm gutted.  July is so so far away.  I'll have to manage with my wall calendar until then.  Sob.  

The only thing that could console me is my favourite stationary oriented blog papercrave.com.  If you have a similar stationary obsession then this is definitely the blog for you.  You can thank me later.

Pin of the day: pom poms

Today I was doing a lot of pinning (as usual) and this prettyness totally hooked me!

How totally cute are these pom pom bookmarks!!  I could burst!

I want one in every colour and everyone I know must have one too.

I followed the link which took me to Designmom.com (click to go to the tutorial) and now not only do I have another 'to do' on my to do list but I found a brand new blog to follow.  Don't you just love it when that happens?

Mini project: Wall art

After decorating my bedroom I never really got round to putting any pictures up.  The walls were so bare and lonely looking that I just had to do something.  So I decided to do a bit of DIY wall art.

Its super easy but does take a bit of time.  Here's what I used. . .

I forgot to add the sharpie!

1. I found the poem I wanted to use; Invictus by William Ernest Henley and picked a nice font, increased the text size and printed it out.  It spread over 4 pages.  
2. I then used carbon paper, which you can find at most fabric/haberdashery stores, and blu tacked it to the area of wall that I wanted to apply the poem.  I reused the carbon paper for each page of the poem.  
3. Carefully lining the poem up so it would be straight, I blue tacked that over the carbon paper and started to trace it with a mechanical pencil but you could also use a ball point pen or anything with a point.  The carbon paper transferred the poem to the wall and when that was finished I removed the paper and went over the whole thing in a fine tipped sharpie.  

This was a bit time consuming but was relatively cheap since I had all the equipment already.  I really love the rough effect of the text.  I finished off by printing out some images onto pages of old books and washi taped them to the wall.  Now the wall is no longer bare and I've spent nothing for a really personal piece of art.