Decoylab Design Studio

Grace over at Design*Sponge blogged earlier today about Decoylab Design Studiowhich is run by over in Kansas City. I absolutely love her paper clock but was her Grow Your Own Poster: Fairy Tale really hit a soft spot for me! As I child I usually had my nose buried in a book and I made sure to take out every single fairy tale book in my school library even though the evil nun librarian told me that they too hard for me. (Swedish fairy tales were my favorite). I feel like this poster captures that childhood awe so well, add this to my christmas wishlist please!

ohh Martha...

On a more personal noteI am not looking forward to the holiday season and everything that comes with it. My grandmother mentioned to me on the phone earlier that I should check out Martha Stewart.com because she saw something the other day that she thought I would be interested. Instead of looking for it I cried my eyes out for 12 minutes straight to the video tribute of Martha's mother who died two days ago which can be seen here

On a lighter note I think that Martha Stewart is a genius which reminds me that I want a subscription to Blueprint.

Lists!

I have been in a sort of creative funk lately. I blame it on a multitude of things, cold weather (brrrrr), the holiday season approaching, and an anniversary approaching too which is understandable. I have lots of ideas stirring in my head right now and they are slowly becoming a reality. Inspired by Tricia over at Bits and Bobbins here is my creative to-do list.

-Redesign website and move this blog over to KimberlyLewis.net, this is in progress as we speak!
- Research different grants that I would like to apply for in the next few years
-Get portfolio up to speed/find amazing job so I can get said grants
-Learn to crochet, this is being accomplished over thanksgiving, my grandmother is giving me a lesson
-Learn to knit portuguese style, will post more on this later.
-Relearn embroidery skills and learn how to ribbon embroider (perhaps this is another lesson with my grandmother over christmas)
- Set up Etsy store
- Try to fully comprehend my digital slr, I am so embarrassed that I have had i for so long and don't even use it to its fullest extent!
-make all of my patterns in my sketchbook into repeats in illustrator
-Make dress with the DVF fabric I thrifted two summers ago and is sitting in my closet!
Oh yeah and you know the usual...
- Finish all of my school work, have fun teaching creative movement to preschoolers, and surround myself with really expensive table settings at my internship that I will never be able to afford on Fridays!

Parable Ink

A few Sundays ago I ran into Cora Fisher of Parable Ink selling some of their designs on the streets of Soho and immediately fell in love with their printed tees. My personal favorite is their Leaf design feature below. It is a print that is silkscreened from an actual leaf from the Ciales Jungle in Puerto Rico and is actual size! Really beautiful!

Soon to be Kitchen Curtains

I thrifted this fabric over the summer in Copenhagen for around $2 and they will soon be restyled into a pair of cafe curtains for my kitchen

Weekend Musings

This weekend has been extremely refreshing for me even though I am coming down with a cold. The above photo is not from this weekend but last weekend of Alli and and is just an excuse to show off my show girl bird costume. But back to this weekend, after work on Friday I spent 2 hours trying on dresses that I could not afford and finally buying a pair of new shoes. This may not seem like a big deal, but here is my secret, I have not bought a new pair of shoes since 2001! All of my shoes are thrifted, stoop sale finds or second hand, which is why I have way to many pairs!




The pair on the right were thrifted in downtown Brooklyn, left are my new pair, Nine West



On Saturday I did a multitude of small errands and then headed over to Boreum Hill to check out Lotta Jansdotter's studio and shop. I arrived just in time, Lotta was there shooting some photos for her spring product line. I poked around and she graciously answered my questions and we chatted a bit. Although my time there was brief, it was a breathe of fresh air, and reminded myself how I too am looking towards the future but not ready to give up the personal, and down to earth ideals that make me tick. Thanks Lotta!

Second Hand Rose

I have so much to blog about! Yesterday at my internship I was asked to pick up a roll of wallpaper from Second Hand Rose for the spring product shoot. I had heard the name of the shop before but it wasn't really ringing any bells but when I stepped inside the Tribeca store I was floored. Why hadn't I been here before?!?! I honestly could have stayed for a few hours and just sat down in awe of all of the vintage wallpaper in front of me, rolls and rolls and rolls but I did have to go back to my internship. The storekeeper was friendly and extremely helpful and answered all of my questions as I drooled and he rang up the transaction. Must. Go. Back. Soon. Heaven!! He kept telling me to go to the website and I picked out some prints that caught my eye.


This print reminds me of a dress that my mother wore when I was little


I have a soft spot for bicycle patterns, and this one satisfies it!


This looks like one of my doodles in my sketchbook, not to mention that I have been drawn to this color palette a lot lately.