Archive for August, 2011

manoush and paris boutiques

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Manoush was one of my favorite shops in Paris. It is a young French label with an eclectic vintage style that is both sophisticated and cool. The brand’s name comes from the French word for gypsy, so it follows that these gorgeous pieces have a whimsical, bohemian edge. The entire store was pure eye candy, an oasis of bright colors, frills, lace and gold. The garments were adorned with pom-poms, fringes, gold trims, quirky embellishments and cheerfully vibrant patterns.

Other must see boutiques are Colette, Bon Ton, and Merci (which is like a French Anthropologie!)

 

type tuesday: seen in paris

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Here’s a small sampling of some of interesting typography that I saw while in Paris.  Enjoy!

levitating girl

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

I’m completely mesmerized by these magical photographs from Tokyo teenager Natsumi Hayashi. She takes photographs of herself jumping, until she gets a perfectly clear shot that looks like she’s levitating. It makes the everyday look not so boring.

p.s. A little more about my Paris trip tomorrow.

via the next web

paris space invader sightings

Friday, August 19th, 2011

While in Paris I had four space invader sightings, which at the time I was really proud of, but after researching for this post I discovered that Paris has over 700 invaders! …that definitely bursted my bubble. For those who aren’t familiar with the Space Invader guerrilla artwork it’s by a French urban artist that refers to himself as “Invader” who creates tiled “space invaders” and other characters based on the 70s video games. These mosaics pop up all over Paris (and the world.) It was a fun game to try spot the little buggers around the city, but obviously I wasn’t very good at it! I already forsee a Paris round 2 mission to see as many as I can!

Space Invader official website // map of Paris marked with Invader locations // Invader on wiki

Another resource to find out more is to watch Exit through the Gift Shop, a documentary on street art that features Invader which I reviewed in this post

 

 

monet and his water lilies

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

The first of my favorite experiences in Paris was seeing eight of Monet’s water lily paintings at the Musée de l’Orangerie. (Thanks Moira for the recommendation.) The paintings were so rich and colorful in person; their size alone is impressive. (My pictures really don’t do these paintings justice AT ALL.) To complement seeing these paintings I took a day trip to Giverny, the location of Claude Monet’s house and gardens. You take a short tour of his house and then get to explore the gardens. There are two parts in Monet’s garden: a flower garden called Clos Normand in front of the house and a Japanese inspired water garden on the other side of the road. It is truly a painter’s garden—full of soooo many colors and flowers. It’s obvious that the beauty that surrounded him was why he stayed inspired for so long. I’d recommend that any artist take the trip to see Giverny. More Paris to come tomorrow!

paris

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

bonjour everyone! I just got back from a short trip to Paris, I really wish I could have stayed a few more days, but c’est la vie. It was such a wonderful trip, full of art, food, wine, shopping and lots of walking. I’ve returned to the states feeling refreshed and inspired. Here are a few pics from the trip. I’ll post about my favorite experiences in more detail over the next few days.

shop update: fancy birthday card, fill in the blank set and thank yoü cards

Friday, August 5th, 2011

New items in my shop! I’ve been selling these items at local craft shows but hadn’t had the chance to photograph them for the shop, until now. You’ve seen the Fancy birthday card in one of my previous posts. The fill in the blank 3 pack is one of my favorite new items—these cards can be sent to absolutely anyone, you create the message and tone. And lastly, a simple thank yoü 3 pack. Be sure to check out my shop for more images and details about these products!

 

 

last week’s adventures: houseboat and whitewater rafting

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Last week my family rented a houseboat, on Cave Run Lake near Morehead, KY. It was an awesome week on the water, full of waterskiing, tubing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, jetskiing and attempting to barefoot ski, (which ended in some painful and horrible wipe-outs.) Being on the water is one of my favorite things ever and since I don’t get to do it as much anymore I sorta go all out when I get the chance; literally going nonstop from 8AM to dark. Some of my favorite moments were riding the tube backwards, driving my uncle in the tube and throwing him out multiple times (payback for years and years of him throwing me out of the tube) and riding the kneeboard on smooth water. I brought my little cousins and their friends some shark week fin hats, which they loved and looked so cute wearing (see picture below.)

After coming back from the houseboat adventure we did a day trip to go whitewater rafting on the New River. It was the first time me and my siblings had been whitewater rafting and being from WV, we had to fix that. It was a beautiful day with some great rapids. The trip consisted of lots of rapids, some slower areas where you could swim down the river and then a rock jump at the end, right near the New River Gorge Bridge (pictured below.) I look forward to the next time we go when the water will hopefully be a little more wild.