Dollhouses

I had a dollhouse as a little girl. It wasn't the fanciest, but holy crap did I adore it. Partially, I loved that it was handed down/loaned (?) to me by the daughter of family friends who I just idolized. She was older, cool, pretty, and she, too, had loved her dollhouse, but at the time was just old enough to think abandoning your dollhouse was the right "cool" move to make. If it was a loaner, they never came calling for it, and I hope (hope!) it's still in my parents' basement or garage, because I'd love to revisit it, or revive it, someday for a daughter of my own maybe. Anyway, I'm reminded of this dollhouse because I just saw a "modern" dollhouse on a sale on The Foundary. Um... This was not my dollhouse! Not by a mile! Living in an apartment at the time of my dollhouse acquisition, my three-floor Victorian (I think) was a mansion! A fancy mansion! A dream-house! But this is beyond. This is more than incredible. It's stunning.

(Emerson House)

Are you kidding me?! This souped-up mini-abode makes my mansion-of-memory look like a slum! How cool is this?! Brought to us by Brinca Dada, a NY-based "...team of people who believe that toys don't need to be noisy or flashy to be exciting..." and "...that toys shouldn't be marked 'For Display Only'..." and that "...Toys should be beautiful and fun..." and so they "...design toys that parents love to look at and children love to play with." They have dollhouses, and dollhouse furniture, and dolls. Here's another house:

(Bennett House)

I am in awe. My mind is legit blown. These are COOL. I want to *live* in these. I want to miniaturize myself and my husband and my dog and move right in.

Loving Me Some e-Magazines

If you know me you know how much I love and am addicted to magazines. (If you didn't know that about me, now you do.) It's a straight-up addiction. I love everything about magazines... pretty pictures, pretty things, great or trashy writing, celebrity stalking, inspiration, vicarious living, travel ideas, recipes, everything. I've been known to have upwards of 10 subscriptions at times in my life. It's a source of great irritation for my husband. I also keep magazines for a long time, and tag and pull out pages left and right. He especially loves that. I've recently gone in on a new idea to share subscriptions with a friend (why did it take us so long to think of this, RK?!). BUT! I've also recently gotten over my skepticism and jumped full-force on-board with e-magazines. I was wary. I am a flipper of pages (that's another thing I love about magazines), and wasn't confident that reading a magazine electronically would work for me. But I can say confidently that it does. It works! And there are so many incredible, beautiful, flat-out amazing magazines out there that only come in an electronic subscription. Plus, the electronic flipping feature utilized by these magazines (or your iPad or other e-reader, probably) makes it so like actually flipping magazine pages that it's basically the same as reading a hard copy -- some even make the page-flipping sound! Heh.

Here are four I've been drooling and swooning over recently:

LONNY

Launched in October 2009, Lonny is a bimonthly online magazine focusing on lifestyle and home decor. Founded by designer Michelle Adams and photographer Patrick Cline, Lonny highlights extraordinary interiors, innovative bloggers, and the latest market finds. Lonny speaks to linking design choices with personal happiness, and their mission is to open the doors to accessible design and connect our readers to products and resources with the click of a mouse. It's a beautiful magazine, and they have a great blog, too. Great ideas, beautifully styled photographs -- what's not to love? AND, they have a weekly blog feature called "Watercolor Wednesdays", which, if you read my previous post, you know is making me really happy right now.

RUE

Another great style and design e-mag, RUE's jump-off point is anything that inspires. Their "About" page sums up just what that means: "[They] believe...

• That every color can be your favorite color.
• That great taste comes in many forms: the fringe of a carpet, the pull of a drawer, the lines of a sofa, the curve of a smile.
• That a good can of paint atones for a multitude of sins.
• That friendship can be forged across continents by only a kind word and a shared lust for leopard print pillows.
• That a glass of pink champagne really does a party make.
• That everyone has the talent and drive to design their most beautiful life–we all just need a little nudge in the right direction.
• That inspiration is everywhere."

RUE also has a great blog, which features pulls directly from the issues but also other cool related inspiring ideas, designs, and the like from all over the design world - fashion, home, travel, etc. It's great.

MATCHBOOK
Matchbook is new, so I jumped on board with Issue 1. Launched just in January, Matchbook is an online lifestyle publication that covers past and present fashion, decor, the arts, travel, and culture. "Brimming with intriguing interviews, stately homes, captivating memoirs and swoon-worthy fashion spreads, matchbook seeks to inspire women around the globe to design a life they adore." I WANT TO ADORE MY LIFE! Bonus for me, they are ipad-friendly, which makes it even easier to read, say, when traveling (like I will be doing this evening!).

ADORE

My friend AS just introduced me to Adore today (by way of this blog post), and it's, frankly, adorable. Click the "read" heading at the top to flip through the current issue (I just did from cover-to-virtual-cover). I caught a typo on the home page (I am an editor, whether I like it or not), but I'll forgive them, as their colors and images are so bright and cheerful and fun. Adore Home is a relatively new home and lifestyle e-mag out of Australia. The mag's mission is to bring you beautiful homes from across the globe, tips and design advice from interior experts, as well as easy online access to the latest home treasures. Bring me those things! I want them all! Just perusing through this new issue is already inspiring. It's, in a word, lovely. Great ideas, great products, great great great. My favorite spread right now is the "A Little Bit Woody" feature in the Decor Adore section (p.12).

Do you know of other e-mags I should check out? Send 'em my way!

Pretty Art

If you ask me what my favorite art medium is, without hesitation, I say photography. But I've been trying to expand my art appreciation recently, and am looking in every direction for art and work that inspires me and makes me smile or feel or gasp or pause. And now that I'm looking, I'm finding it everywhere, and I just want it all!

Here are some examples of beautiful and startling art I've found recently, thanks to other bloggers, friends, and my own meandering Internet searching...

My friend RD linked me to Etsy artist HamjArt's Heavenly Creatures. I'm blown away by these colors and the expressions on the faces in these beautiful pieces... I am a fan for life. I will have several of these in my possession soon (if I can only choose!):

 

I have mentioned that I'm a celebrator of the Google Reader already. This next one comes from one of my subscriptions, Unstitched. A post yesterday led me to Guy Stevens' talent... his paintings and prints are so dreamy and fantasy-like, and just gorgeous. Each one of them. How to choose? Check these out:

 

 

 

I can't remember how I found Flora Douville, but I just love the simple ease of her work, and the whimsy in some of her illustrations. Plus she has some beautiful photographic pieces, too. I think one of my fast-growing art favorites is watercolor. Here are some delightful examples of her work (not just watercolors):

 

 

 

I discovered artist Robert Ryan (here's his blog) thanks to Lonny Magazine's Lonny Blog. How incredible are these prints? I am just stunned by the intricate paper-cut technique that created the base of the images. They're just beautiful. He has other stuff, too. His Etsy shop is chock-full of lovely things... some samples:

 

 

 

I know this is getting long, so I'll slow it down, but there's just so much! This will be the last one for this post (I'll save some more for another day!). From the Etsy shop The Haunted Hollow Tree, here are some drawings and prints that just have me dumb-struck...

 

 

Pretty art makes me happy!

Start at the Beginning

The idea for this blog has been marinating in my brain (and heart) for some time, but lately has been really nudging at me more and more, such that I finally started playing around with ideas on both paper and screen. And here I am. After three days of obsessing over fonts and feeling anxious about all the stuff I just wanted to get out of my head and my Google Reader and inter-web bookmarks, I moved onto obsessing over starting this thing for real. I have a couple of other blogs (Home Sweet Schwab and Reading Without Borders), but both of those are so intention/direction specific, that I honestly didn't think - I just started writing and posting. And both just are what they are. This one, though, even just in name, already means more to me, and I haven't even developed any CONTENT yet!

My grandma collected owls. Not in a kitschy way, but in a cool, classy, stylish way. When she was ill and my family was helping my grandfather pack up their house, my mother asked me if I wanted anything specific, as I wasn't there to be part of the process. I asked for a salad bowl, and one owl. Soon after that, I received a small package that included the salad bowl, and a small wooden box she used to keep on her night stand. The cover is etched with the image of two owls on a branch. Inside it was one beautiful, tiny, ceramic owl, which now sits on my nightstand (the box is in top drawer of said nightstand). In the time since that little owl has taken its place by my bed, I've come to love his simplicity, and to admire and absorb my Gram's appreciation for this wise, elegant species. Within the last year or so, I've noticed that I'm drawn to owls subconsciously, not yet collecting, but maybe soon picking up where she left off? I don't know. I just love them, and when I was thinking about carving out a nook in the blogosphere for my own thoughts, interests, musings, amusements, loves, likes, yikes, etc., it just seemed like I had to tie the owl in somehow. If my Gram was the Owl (she might not have appreciated this allusion so much, sorry!), then I would be the Owlet. So there it was.

As for content, that will come. I was telling a friend the other day that my fascination and obsession with my Google Reader was, I thought, getting out of hand. Hopefully this will help me sort some of those pieces out into more manageable, less-inbox-assaultive chunks. This will take shape as I go, and hopefully you'll like what you see. I hope you'll join me and let me know what you think. Born out of love (and yes, some work-day boredom), here I present: Owlet. My little personal blog, and collection of musings, amusements, and other stuff I'm currently enjoying.