fabulous find!

I keep seeing all these wonderful chair makeovers with vintage chairs that are desperately in need of a new coat of paint and new fabric. I have been searching all over for one of those beauties. One that is in rough shape, but you know you could work your magic on. Well...is it cheating if you find a beauty that is already all done?

I know I won't get that satisfaction of the before and after. But check this pretty baby out. My mom actually found it at a store on clearance. It has the style I was looking for. The dark color that I would have painted it. And robins egg blue velvet fabric to match my living room. Could this be any more perfect?? It's fate right? I think we were destined to be together. What do you think?

office chair makeover

Since I moved, I've been working on getting my new office/art room all set up. I've painted and organized, but I needed a desk chair. I bought this one on Craigs list for $10. Its super comfy, but the royal blue didn't go with my decor I had in mind. I figured this would be a simple makeover...Not so much. First I thought that the back could be taken off the chair. Nope. Then I figured I would just pry it apart from the trim and tuck the fabric inside. Well after spending hours working on this, and many blisters later. I decided this was not going to work. I kept thinking maybe I'd just go buy a damn office chair. Wouldn't that be easier? I hate when creative ideas turn into so much more work than you had anticipated.

Then I bought this cute new polka dot fabric and feeling inspired again, decided to take another approach. I cut the fabric to fit on the chair and then tucked the edges and stapled it all down. MUCH easier than my previous attempt.

But this left ugly staples visible. So I simply glued red ribbon down with my glue gun. Now, I realize this is not the most professional approach. But it worked. I think it looks pretty cute. And from far away it looks ever better!

smart-mouthed china

I LOVE this etsy shop. What a sassy genius. Karen is the artist behind the vandalized vintage at trixiedelicious.etsy.com. She combines feminine, elegant china with sassy, bold, in your face type. Each vintage piece of china gets a makeover with hand-painted smart ass statements, creating a quirky new piece of artwork. I wish I could buy a piece for every one of my girl friends, just to see the look on their face when they open up a gift of a pretty teacup labeled with the word "whore." What a great shop. The hard part is deciding what to buy. This is the china I want on my on my wedding registry if I ever get married.

shout out to Cool Mom Picks

I'm sure many of you already know about the blog Cool Mom Picks. The women behind the scenes track down super cool stuff for all you busy moms out there. They share really wonderful creative products and services.

I was lucky enough to have my custom silhouette portraits featured this week! This is a really great blog (even if they didn't feature me, I would say this) and I wanted to give a huge thank you to Betsy and all the girls over there. They have a great eye for style and do a wonderful job to help promote emerging indie artists. It's one of those blogs where they aren't compensated for their reviews, so they aren't wasting your time with things they don't really appreciate. They just give their honest opinions and share items they actually think are cool. If you haven't checked it out, you should. I think it's definitely one of the best blogs for moms.

spice up your dinner table!

Join these lovebirds for dinner! I got this salt and pepper set at Bibelot. But I noticed they no longer have them online. Patina, however also carries them. I could not resist, thought they were so sweet. A magnet holds these cute little lovebird shakers together. Seriously, how cute are they?? They would look adorable cuddling on anyone's dinner table.

work in progress...

As you all know. I moved last week. I thought I'd show some pics of my new place. I'll start with my living room. I was inspired by the color palette in this CB2 interior. I really loved the grayish blue with the dark orange.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love anything green. So I needed the decor to also work with these wonderful lamps I already had. I guess you would say the lampshades are chartreuse or avocado? Then of course I have my enormous tan couch. So I landed on grayish blue on the walls. Tan couch. Chartreuse lamps. Dark brown furniture and the last step will be throwing in some dark orange accents...and of course some art on the walls. It's a work in progress. I've been searching etsy for dark orange pillow covers, or fabric to make my own. I haven't found "the one" yet.

So here is my before and after picture. It's amazing what a little color can do. Stay tuned for more decorating choices and dilemmas!

I moved!

I just wanted to fill you in what I've been up to. I recently moved. So if you were wondering why I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, moving, and trying to dig out and organize. I have decided I am not moving for at least another 5 years. So much work. And its amazing how you find out you had all this stuff you didn't even know about...and how much more you need in go buy in order to get settled in a new place. I've made trips to Target 5 times in less than a week.

I LOVE my new place though. I'm thrilled to have a place all to myself. So many windows (well, compared to the two in my other place) I now have 12 on my first floor alone! So much room and its super cute! 

I'm almost all settled and unpacked. I left my office/art room for last though because it was extremely intimidating. I seriously had the entire room filled with boxes stacked almost to the ceiling. Furniture, books, art stuff, computer stuff, design stuff, more books. It was terrifying. I worked on the rest of the house and kept passing by my office, peeking in, not even knowing where to start. But I'm tackling it now and getting there. You'll hear from me soon!

featured on epherielldesigns!

Fellow etsian and blogger, Jess from epherielldesigns.com and epheriell.etsy.com has been so kind to choose me as her featured artisan this week on her wonderful blog. Want to know a little more about who is behind STELLA + HODGE? There is an interview and a giveaway. Follow the instructions and sign yourself up for a chance to win a free set of custom note cards from my shop. Jess has beautiful jewelry and a great blog, check them both out. Have I mentioned today how much I really love how supportive everyone is on etsy?? I feel lucky to be a part of all this. What a great way to start the week, thanks Jess!

how I spent my 4th of July

What a wonderful Minnesota weekend. I feel bad I haven't posted anything in a while. I spent a long weekend at my family's cabin. The weather was perfect. Sunny and warm. Spent time fishing, relaxing, drinking sangria, reading, hanging out with the family including my super cute doggie nephews and watching an amazing fireworks show out on Bay Lake with my friend Sarah's family. I didn't catch any fish. I did get tan. And survived with only two mosquito bites. Other than the stop n go traffic for 70 miles on the way back in town, it was a fabulous weekend!