Shoes.

Oh hello forever21. Who would have thought, only $24.Also, I've been doing some intense crafting this break. Those photos still to come...

Love the work by Carleyrae Weber. Not only is she an amazing collage artist but she now lives in Italy-living the dream?

Inspiration

I am blown away by these compositions by stitch draw.

This christmas break I want to explore embroidery.

It's been a while.

So for the last few months I feel as though I've been unable to breathe, read, craft, or blog because my life has been consumed with and by GRAPHIC DESIGN. I did learn to screen print however.
These are glyphs from the font minion pro. My favorite.

I got to go home to Charlotte and see my best friend from high school.

Oh and thanksgiving and halloween happened, and I designed and printed two books, and two posters... the list goes on...

Letterpress

One of the things I've been struggling with in graphic design this year is the loss of the handmade craft. Needless to say I was excited and re inspired when we were shown....

The Letterpress Room.

I feel at home again and am pretty sure of what direction I'd like to head in...

Calligrammes

Guillaume Apollinaire worked at the same time as the futurists to "liberate words". Just some early graphic design work I found interesting.

Mushroom Prints

For some time now my roommate and I have been wanting to make prints from mushroom spores. It has been raining frequently so yesterday we seized our chance! When we woke up this morning they smelled horribly so we threw them away, oops. They did make for  nice composition though don't you think?

A long time coming

Oh my I know it has been forever since I've posted. What you've missed is me returning safely home from Italy, visiting New York, having a birthday, moving into a new house in raleigh, and the start of classes. These are many things, and this is a weaving lab.

The Filipino Paper Lady

Everyday when I walk out of my apartment, I pass a variety of small artisan shops. The flower shop, handmade paper store, fabric store, and small puppet store. Two days ago I walked into the handmade paper store and met the owner. She told me of how only 20 years ago Perugia was full of craftspeople. It was a town swarming with artists. She is closing her store in December, this town is rapidly changing. 

Gli apartamenti

Although quite small, I can't help but love our quaint apartment in Perugia. It's so pure and fresh with a breeze from the window and the occasional smell of italian cooking.

On the other hand, a larger sized apartment would have been nice too like some of our friends are renting.

Either way I love them both. I've said it before but this city is bellisimo.

The Fountains of Rome

These fountains were scattered all over Rome. Not only were they beautiful, but they were fully functioning and I frequently used them to refill my water bottle. My only concern is that they are constantly running, are the Romans recycling that water? Probably not.

Giorno 2 di Umbria Jazz

The second day of Umbria Jazz consisted of more incredible performances, equally interesting  street performers, and my ever growing love for this city.

Simon and Garfunkel being played in Perugia's streets.

Pastries in a bakery window shaped as musical notes and instruments.

The Hag Coffee girls giving free samples of unfortunately DECAF coffee.

This crazy street performer who constantly spun in circles. That's it.

Umbria Jazz

Friday kicked off the Umbria Jazz Festival in Peru

gia. I am fortunate enough to be able to walk 1/4 a mile out of my apartment and become instantly surrounded 

by jazz. It's in the streets and at the stages, I love the energy and feel at home.

Even the Italian street artists here are loving Obama!

This is the funk off parade to kick off the festivities.

The main plaza alive with people.

Perugia Anyone?

Seeing as I only have a limited amount of time to access the less than mediocre internet I have available to me right now, (borrowing from my landlady in the hall of my apartment in perugia) I am just leaving you with a few shots of some of the amazing things I have seen here.

Hai un buon giorno!

The Mountain Air

So this past weekend I made it up to Blowing Rock again. It's this quaint little mountain town with hiking, a beautiful park, and the nostalgia of going there when I was a little kid. I return there for that, the scenery, and the ice cream.

A Frothy Surprise

I've recently discovered and have become somewhat obsessed with throwing my cup of coffee in the blender with some ice. What results is a frothy treat topped with cinnamon. Yum... 

Crafting a Cloud

Wow have my posts been lacking in craft lately. This is my rendition of an idea I got from Camilla Engman's room. Of course I felt compelled to use doilies and old book pages to construct mine.

My cloud.

Camilla's cloud.

The Wackness

It's very hard for me to find a movie I really enjoy, and this one did it for me. 

It's the right amount of cute and the right amount of drama mixed in one. That's all you could expect for a sundance film about a teenage drug dealer dealing out of an italian ice cart.

And as a bonus, Mary-kate Olsen has a role as well.

Mountains in the Rain

This past Monday I took a trip to the mountains to enjoy the beautiful nature and mountain air. Then it rained. So I did a lot of inside mountain things like eating at mellow mushroom (sun dried tomato, feta, and pesto pizza) and getting ice cream from my #3 favorite ice cream shop. Kilwins.

I did, however, manage to capture a beautiful mountain-esque window box planter picture.