layla grace…

Maybe it’s because our house is in a constant state of renovation. Maybe it’s because I’m pregnant. Maybe it’s because their stuff is just so dang beautiful, but I’m enamored….

“Enamored with whom?” You’re asking yourself.

Layla Grace.

My friend Jen sent me a link to the website some time ago and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the home and lifestyle company’s aesthetic. They offer something for everyone in the way of home decoration, personal style and children necessities. One minute I’m browsing through home accessories and the next I’m dreaming of crib bedding for Braden’s nursery or  drooling over a delicious fall recipe on the blog! It’s a whirlwind of sweet ideas!

Layla Grace is breezy and substantial all at once. I adore that. To me, there is nothing better.

So go ahead, pour yourself another cup of coffee and take a daydream journey through some of their latest blog posts this morning. I know I am.

{Photo found: Layla Grace The Backroom} we're doing Braden's nursery in gray with pops of accent colors, which is probably why this layout appeals to me soooo much!

{Photo found: Layla Grace The Backroom} i'm dreaming of cozy fall fires and boots and apple picking and comfort with this...currently remodeling our living room space and adding beautiful details like these are on my to-do list!

{Photo found: Layla Grace The Backroom} i love how sweet, simple and traditional this crib is! for Braden, we're refinishing an older crib

{photo found: Layla Grace The Backroom} yum...that's pretty much all i have to say about this...what an easy and delicious fall snack!

once upon a rainy thursday…

We’ve been having such gorgeous weather (“hot,” according to my husband, but I LOVE it!) that I almost don’t mind the rain today. Plus, on the bright side, it’s washing away the yellow film of pollen that has absolutely covered EVERYTHING outdoors.

So, browsing the web it is!

Here are some of the things I can’t get enough of:

{From top to bottom, left to right, images found: Eden Roc (I just LOVE the lobby, it’s such a beautiful mix of vintage and contemporary); J. Crew ; Harbor Beach Resort (I’m going to be here in a week!); Peter Som (Spring-Summer ’09 Collection); BBB Craft Sisters (crafty blogging site)}

updates to ChrissyRox…

I’ve been prompted to post some of the things I’ve been working on recently to my very-neglected Etsy site. If you see something you like, let me know. Or, if you have something particular in mind I’m all ears! I’m DEFINITELY open to special orders! But, by all means, don’t get hung up on the price. Let me know what you want to pay. I’m really feeling all of those kinds of specifics out still.

For now, check out the new ChrissyRox stuff that has been uploaded to Etsy…and let me know what you think!

toddler chic…

Maybe it’s just the newness of spring in the air, but I’ve been inspired to get crafty again.

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to accessorize a t-shirt for her daughter’s second birthday party. She mentioned a few ideas she had and then left the creative process solely up to me.

With as many shirts as I have done recently, I hadn’t done any baby clothing, which made me semi-nervous. But, the process was actually quite freeing! Follow my logic here; adult women don’t want cupcakes on their t-shirts, but how adorable are t-shirts with cupcakes on them?!! If I wasn’t so chic-minded (riiiight…wink), I would be half tempted to make myself one! My point is, prior to all of our grown up style aesthetics the world is a much larger, more interesting place. A place where cupcakes on t-shirts are beautiful and not silly. A place where lovely possibilities are boundless. I kind of liked living in that wide open world…if only for a few hours.

See what you think about the shirt I came up with:

After I finished that one, I was on such a roll that I also designed this one for my niece:

Today, I’m hoping to do one for another niece and, who knows, maybe I’ll put them on etsy and take some orders?!

**NOTE** The mission to improve upon my wine bottle centerpiece is ongoing and I will be uploading new pics of how it looks as I progress.

do-it-yourself acid wash

Unfortunately I don’t have endless amounts of money to spend on my home or wardrobe…the Potterybarn and J. Crew coffers weep for me I’m sure.

So adjustments must be made.

This past week, after leafing through several magazines I decided I would try to acid wash/tie dye my own jeans.

Cue the ominous music.

I had the perfect pair of dark skinnies that were no longer in my regular rotation. And my sister-in-law, Brittney, had a pair of old “boyfriend” style jeans tucked away into some forgotten corner as well. We figured if we ruined them, they would be no worse for wear. After looking up a how-to guide on the internet we tried to follow it as best we could.

Um, problem.

The guide was fairly vague and didn’t explain every step, so I took liberties. I dunked the jeans in a bucket of hot water and added about two cups of bleach. When I returned to look at them several minutes later, the water was the dark color of coke and the jeans looked absolutely no different.

So, “emergency” measures were taken and the game plan changed completely. Here is a loose guide on what we found worked best – follow at your own risk…or rather, at the risk of your jeans

-Wear old clothes and latex gloves!

-Lay the jeans out flat on concrete. Place cardboard underneath if you don’t want the bleach to go through.
I was going for the splotched look, but if you have other ideas, wad up towels or newspaper inside of the legs so the bleach doesn’t go through to the other side.

-Using an old paintbrush, or drinking straw (dependent upon the effect you want) drip/brush on the bleach. I used both to create my effect.

-The bleach may not look like it’s taking effect right away. Don’t worry, it is. Let the jeans stand alone for 30-60 minutes, dependent upon how you want it to look.

-Place immediately into the washer on the cold water setting. The true look will be apparent once the wash cycle is over.

-Repeat steps as necessary.

(For the distressed look: snip cuts into the fabric where you’ve used the bleach. Pull at the threads to begin the distress. Take a piece of sandpaper and rubbed it down for several minutes. After it goes through the washer, the effect will be even greater.)

Here’s the final product…until I decide to distress them even more

front

back

positano…

Amazing Zara spring 07 fashions aside, this stunning dustjacket attic blog is completely captivating with photos by Carter Smith. The next time I go to Italy, I wanna go here!

Positano was on my shortlist for honeymoon destinations, unfortunately we got married at the beginning of the economic decline (prior to any reduction in travel expense, in other words, money was low and prices were high) and weren’t able to go. We did just make up for it with a 9-day trip to Rome last month, but I’m really hoping my next trip to Italy will be southern, sunny and sandy

ideeli…

For those of you who love fashion and great deals, I just stumbled upon: ideeli.

It’s a membership-based website (the bottom tier, or “2nd Row” as a nod to fashion show infrastructure, is free) that allows customers to sort through designer wares at sample sale prices.

photo by: jupiterimages

I signed up, but haven’t made a purchase yet. I’m waiting for that really amazing deal to make me pull out the credit card…and in this economy, I mean REALLY amazing.

italian beauty…

We got back from Italy Monday night and still haven’t fully adjusted to all the time jumping, hence the reason I’m up drinking coffee and writing before 6 a.m. It will all even out soon, but I’m trying to make the most of these spare awake hours while I have them.
Before I post anything about the trip, or post our own pictures I have to get into the Italian fashion trends that were most prominent. I’m not sure you could even call them trends. Actually, I was looking for more of the “fashion average” so to speak. Not necessarily what the most daring among them was wearing, but the feature or fashion that most Italian women seemed to have in common.
I picked up on a few.
1) Well-tended eyebrows
Let’s face it, pretty much everyone looks better with eyebrows that are in check. Most Italian women must subscribe to that theory as well since almost all of them – young and old from all different areas of society – have perfectly tweezed eyebrows. I pointed this fact out to Michael and he mentioned that he had noticed it wasn’t just the women who tended to their eyebrows, many of the men also kept a tweezed brow in a way that didn’t necessarily look over done or even very noticeable, just well tended.

2) Boots
Boots are probably “in” anywhere the temperature falls below 50 degrees, but let’s face it…when you live in a country known for your fashion houses and leather production, you are probably a step beyond the average American town with a Payless or a Target. The boots these women wore were beautiful, in variations much further along than what the average Atlantan wears. There were over-the-knee (which I’ve wanted since I first saw them last spring, as many of you can attest!), ankle boots, strappy boots, heeled and flat in a range of colors that would be very at home inside of a rainbow.
Oh, how I wanted to splurge and buy the most beautiful pair of boots strolling along Via Condotti! But “champagne taste on a beer budget” just doesn’t work for us, unfortunately. I pointed out so many boots to Michael, he told me I should buy some…what a good husband. Although, I didn’t take his advise and our bank account is the better for it, even if my closet isn’t.

3)Wool leggings
Most leggings here in the south are made of nylon or cotton, which may have more to do with the mild winter (even though it doesn’t feel mild to me!) than any kind of fashion sense. But in Rome the leggings were so intricate and made of a heavier wool or cotton blend. I think this look is easily translateable since the Roman climate mirrors our own quite a bit.

4)Skinny or straight-leg jeans only!
I literally didn’t see one jeans-wearing person who wore anything other than these two slim-leg options. I’m not quite sure I’m ready to give up my bootcut during the summer months when a t-shirt, flip flops and a pair of great bootleg jeans make me feel very free and ruggedly American for some reason. But for the winter I’m pretty much with the Italians.

5)Dark eyes
Last but not least, the make-up….We’ve stared in wide eyed wonder at the easy sensuality of Italian women since film starlets like Sophia Loren graced our silver screens. But the thing I noticed is that most of the Italian women I saw – from the metro to Via Condotti and Via Cavour – kept a clean, bare-looking face, only highlighted with a swipe of smudgy eyeliner and mascara. Oh, there were exceptions to the rule and definitely other makeup trends, but pretty much across the board women didn’t leave home without their eyes lined. I’m not talking all smoky and glamorous, just a simple deeping of their eyes. It’s a sensual and mysterious look that dates back to Cleopatra, which is probably where the Romans got the idea in the first place. Because, let’s face it, who couldn’t benefit from feeling a tiny bit mysterious

inspirational compilations…

I don’t feel very well today, so I am distracting myself with inspirational blogs.

There are some really good ones out there.

I don’t really feel like moving and at the same time I feel like running out and trying to spruce up my house on the cheap. Instead, I think I’ll compile some of my latest inspirations into a file so that I can continually refer to them. While I do that…check out this post on decor8.

I LOVE the way the photos make me feel, it makes me want to design a space around them. I probably won’t ever do it, but I love thinking about it for now.