Category Archives: Construct

I’m Lovin’… Turquoise

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Connecting Four has become very real and important to me lately. With Michael’s passion and work on it over the summer as my foundation, and the blog office renovations coming along (see Office Project) I am feeling more determined than ever to whip posts out. Although school has been a lot to handle, balancing my time between academics and blogging has been a good challenge and learning experience for me.

This week I was inspired to pick a more unique color, rather than the generic “red, blue, orange or green.” The first color that came to mind was turquoise. At first I was going to add a beach theme into the mix (notice the fish-painted plate and earrings), but as you can see it then evolved into this! I think I’m learning because this post didn’t take me long to create which is surprising as it normally take me quite a while to finish these kinds of posts (I know… it’s lame). I hope I will be as inspired to work this hard next week as I was today!

Check out my other color collection post here!

Sources: 1: Chuck Taylor Side Zip 2: Are You Happy? 3. Pastel Swirl Cake  4. Turquoise Fish Earrings  5. Anthropology Plates 

Construction in Progress!

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The chilly breeze that met me this morning as we hurried to the bus stop reminded me that fall is on it’s way.  You know what that means, the whirl of business is upon us!  Fall and Spring always seem to me like the busiest seasons and right now I am definitely feeling it.   Student Council retreats, upcoming SAT exams, AP homework, and school trips are overtaking me like a tidal wave!  However, I know that if I work at it little by little and rely on my Helper and Provider I can ride this wave.  Speaking of which, I have here a few of the projects I am working on right now – you could pretty much say that time management consumes my life right now!  I am currently working on four different art projects, my beloved Elk painting, a “start ship”, an oil pastel parrot, and my little squid friends…

This elk portrait was a spur-of -the-moment project.  Michael and I got inspired when visiting a construction material market. The goal was to create an art piece on transparent plastic with a leaf, silhouette border. After many discussions, lots of paint, and a thistle broom, an Elk emerged from the plastic!

I was inspired to create this “star ship” by Michael. In this post you can read a little more about the process and idea behind it…

Above is my oil pastel parrot which I am quite pleased with so far.  This piece has definitely been a learning experience for me, being my first time using oil pastels.  Using this medium gives the feathers a very vivid color

You may recognize these squids from my Aquatic Sketches that I posted earlier this summer.  They were my inspiration for this piece, incorporating three squids ascending into a UFO.

 

 

I’m Lovin’…Yellow

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Summer is flying by pretty fast yet as the days shorten and cold months crawl in, the color yellow remains vivid in my mind. The thoughts of lemonade, the big bright sun, and playful yellow finch’s come to my mind alongside memories of my summer in America. I miss Crab Hunting with cousins, Family dinners at grandpa and grandmas, late night conversations with my favorite aunts, and most of all, all the loving  hugs I got from the most important people. Returning home to visit family and friends was such a blessing and I will cherish the times I spent with them. I miss you guys!

I’ve decided to start a Color Collection starting with (obviously) yellow.

sources: 1: crown, 2: horse, bright side, grapefruit, 3: yellow dress, 4: Rain Boots, Lace Pumps

Office Project 04

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I’ve moved in! Shelves are up, pictures are hung, my desk is clean, and work begins. I’ve begun mapping out my year and making goals for myself, after a long summer I’m very thankful for this sense of routine living again. Most of my time each day is spent alone as my sisters head to school each morning and my Mom works half-time. I use this time to think about the future, research schools and careers, read my Bible and seek His Plan, and study Chinese. I am so thankful for this year to take life at a slower pace and aspire towards what is ahead.

So if you’ve already seen my desk… who’s is this? It is Dad’s. He set up a temporary work-place for himself- I can’t really blame him, its such a wonderful place to work 😉

 

Dream House #2

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I was browsing over the blog this week and came across my previous Dream House post and decided to create another…

My family moved earlier this year during spring break and although moving over a vacation is never appealing, at least it inspired me to write this post! I found it very difficult to have a relaxing break when boxes lay strewn across the ground, cleaning had to be done, and tasks of organization awaited us around every corner. However the memories Jessie and I made during this time are priceless. Although even now 5 months later we are still hanging pictures and finding places for “stuff” to go, I believe we had a successful move this year and I am quite proud of our efforts. I used the same resources as last time (fresh home) but this time I decided to pick a theme for the “dream house”. Doesn’t “scenic rural dream” sound enticing?! Check out these two houses that I combined keeping this theme in mind.

I love how the floors of both houses are so gorgeous, they match the rural theme so well.

look at those gorgeous windows!

The furniture in the picture above really pulls together the thought of a countryside house.

 

Office Project 03

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The office is on its way to completion. Since our last update, we’ve finished:

1.) painting the chevron wall design
2.) cleaning and organizing the cube shelves (which we will hang like the ones sketched in this blog post)
3.) spray painting the bottom of the shelves (GOLD!)
4.) buying a gorgeous nickel-plated lamp from IKEA
5.) organizing the decoration pieces we will be placing/hanging around the room.

  • getting “stuff” done: inspiration from mimi&meg!

Check out all the planning and work we’ve put into it at Office Project 01 and Office Project 02!

From the Studio: DIY Chevron Clutch

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Cliche as it may be, I had to do something with this old pencil case. The Fidelity Federal Credit Union pouch was used for money, chequebooks or other documents (from my Dad’s first job at 16 years old!), but we now use it to store pens and markers. Some of the markers had discoloured the zip-up bag, and I knew the leather case could be transformed with just a bit of masking tape and some spray paint.

Time to make this into a chic clutch!

Use Masking tape to cover the area where you want to keep the original color, in my case this cool electric blue.

I painted some pink on the zipper, and lastly covered the whole clutch with silver. (Sorry for the image quality-iPhone pics!)

I really love how it turned out! The right-angled zig-zag is not quite a chevron, but it really gives a cool twist to the old chequebook carrier.

Pair this with a cocktail dress or keep using it for writing utensils.
Put it with this navy blue look, or these cute mint pants!

Office Project 02

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Today was step two of our shopping experience- FABRIC MARKET! Maddie joined me on the trip, which transformed the errand from a chore into a delightful outing 🙂 After 8 hours of searching through rolls of fabric, I pulled the prettiest yellow-gold fabric topped with a sea-breeze-blue pattern. It brightens the office significantly, and adds a bit of color to contrast the simplicity of the furniture and wall color.

We’ve also begun measuring, sketching, and taping the soon-to-be chevron designed wall.  I’m thrilled with the way its looking so far 😉 According to the pictures below we will be painting the thicker stripe white, that way the colors (taupe&white) will not contrast each other too dramatically creating a harsh feeling in the room.

 

Check out all the new update of our Blog Office here! or see all the planning that went into it at Office Project 01.

Office Project 01

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Michael and I “broke ground” today for the blog office reconstruction!

The morning hours were spent making donuts for Jessie and Maddie (before they left for school), office hours working on the blog, and brain stroming sessions with Michael. Then, at around 11:00 a.m. we embarked on our shopping adventures; searching for paint, mounting materials, fabric etc.

Later tonight we will begin the mounting and spray painting process, keep a look out for updates on our progress!

(below are some interesting marbles we discovered on our walk 🙂

Check out how far our Blog Office has come at Office Project 02 and Office Project 03!

Blog Office/Studio: Redecoration

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Today is my last day of work, and I have only two weeks left in China. One project I want to complete before I leave is our current office. It was a place for me to set up my studio when I come to visit, and also a place for my sisters to work on art.

Now that we are focusing a bit more effort and time on the blog, I want to inject some crazy colors, patterns and inspirations into the room to get those creative juices flowing and provide a fun place to blog and create.

I’ve been inspired by a few people, namely: Katie from Paperfashion, Bri from Designlovefest and Joy from Oh Joy!.

Here is Katie’s office:

Inspiration from Bri:

Got some ideas from Joy for throw pillows (This&That):
Pillows below from

I’ve started a pinterest board-and started sketching:

I even tried to see if I could render the space with sketch-up:

We are well on our way for the re-decoration project! So excited to get rid of this: