New Modern Pillow Design

I have a new pillow cover design now available in my shop! This was designed by me and digitally printed onto a durable 55% linen and 45% cotton fabric. It measures 18 x 18 and features a bold diamond print in black, white and grey. The back of the pillow is made from a 100% cotton black fabric and features a envelope opening to allow pillow insert to be removed for easy washing. The pillow has a black cording around the edge adding a nice finishing touch. 18 x 18 pillow insert not included.

Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair This Weekend!

I will be heading up to Los Angeles this weekend to take part in this weekends Renegade holiday craft fair! I will have most of my usual items along with some newly designed pillows that I haven't had a chance to photograph and get in my etsy shop yet. I will be selling at booth #47 so come on by and purchase some unique, handmade holiday gifts! Click on the flier below for more information.

Packing my bags!

Good morning everyone! I know I've been absent lately from this here bloggy blog but I've been a busy bee preparing for the Austin and Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fairs coming up! I've had to put the etsy shop into vacation mode until November 24th but it will be open again soon and I'll have a few new items available which I'm very excited about!

This week I'll be packing my bags and heading off to Texas to visit family for Thanksgiving.

November 26th -27th I will be in Austin, Texas selling my handmade home décor items at the Austin Renegade Craft Fair. I will have a few new designs available along with most of my other designs I've been selling in my Etsy shop. I will be sharing booth #45 with Seaworthy who makes beautiful jewelry, check out her shop! There is something for everyone at this handmade craft fair. Come get your holiday shopping on and support handmade! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope to see you there!

Austin, TX Renegade Craft Fair November 26th-27th

Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair December 10-11

Holiday Madness Has Begun!

Well the holiday madness has begun! My etsy shop has been busy and I've been preparing for not one but TWO holiday Renegade Craft shows! The Austin, Texas show is just 3 weeks away! This will be a great place to find unique gift items. It's free to attend and has something for everyone. Support handmade, attend the Renegade Craft Fair nearest you!

Renegade Holiday Craft Fair, Austin, TX

I'm very excited to announce that I will be selling my handmade home décor products at the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair in Austin, Texas! The fair will be November 26-27 at the Palmer Events Center. It's free to attend and is a great opportunity to find those unique, handmade gifts and a little something for yourself. Check out all the other wonderful artists who will be selling their goods here.

Get more information on this event here

Hope to see y'all there!

Thanksgiving Dinner Table Décor

Thanksgiving is coming soon! Are you preparing a huge feast for friends and family? Perhaps a holiday dinner party? It's always so wonderful to eat dinner at a beautifully decorated dining table with wine glasses sparkling and flickering candles giving off a warm glow. My 100% linen feather napkins are perfect for a fall dinner table! Reusable and easy to wash, these natural colored napkins look lovely when paired up with some bright fall colors of orange, red, brown and yellows! Add a festive napkin tie and a beautiful centerpiece and you've got yourself a stylish table that will have your friends and family dining late into the night!

Purchase a set of these linen feather napkins at my etsy shop.

 

San Francisco Trip!

I spent the last three days in wonderful San Francisco! I love that city so much, if it weren't so expensive to live there I'd seriously consider moving there. Usually when I go I stay in the city we do city stuff, but Friday my husband and I decided to venture across the bridge for a little hiking in the Muir Woods. The redwoods and sequoia's hold a special place in my heart and Muir Woods didn't disappoint with it's large display of redwoods. After a nice little hike we decided to follow highway 1 to Stinson Beach. Along the way we stopped off at Muir Beach overlook, well worth the stop with it's breathtaking views! Here is a photo I snapped using my iphone.

 

After enjoying the wonderful views we continued on to Stinson Beach. Someday I want to drive the entire highway 1 from San Diego all the way to Canada. I've traveled parts of it and it's beauty never fails to amaze me. This part of the highway was so pretty with views of the ocean, cliffs and the city on the other side.  Once we arrived at Stinson Beach we parked the car just off the highway and walked to the pretty little beach there. The weather was nice and the town was so cute! I wish we had more time to explore. After all the hiking we had worked up an appetite so we walked over to this cute little cafe with outdoor seating called the Parkside Cafe.

The outdoor area was filled with flowers such as lavender and had a very relaxing atmosphere. The food and beer was good and we left happy. 

I love all the things San Francisco has to offer but it was really nice to venture out past the city and enjoy the quieter side.

Exhibitor on Papernstitch

This month I am a exhibitor on the wonderful website Papernstitch. Check out my page here
There are so many cute items by other exhibitors on this website too so be sure to head over and take a look!

I have also been featured on the Papernstitch blog today along with a couple other fabulous aritists! You can read the Papernstich blog here  Not only are there a lot of wonderfully talented artists featured on this site, there are diy craft project tutorials, business tips, and loads of other great information and inspirations so check it out!

Geometric Pillow Even Bigger!

My black and white handmade Geometric Pillow cover is now available in a larger 16 X 16 size! This original design was created by me and has been printed onto a durable linen-cotton canvas. This bold, modern geometric handmade pillow cover makes a great accent pillow! Looks great alone or combined with other pillows. Whether you display it on your sofa or side chair, or use it to brighten your bed, this handmade pillow will be sure to add bold modern charm! Can be purchased at my Etsy shop

New 100% Linen Napkins Now Available!

I just added two new linen napkin designs to my Etsy shop! The first design was made from a pen and ink drawing I did of a feather. I screenprinted this design by hand onto 100% all natural linen using a dark brown water based non-toxic ink. These napkins are sewn by me in my San Diego, CA studio. I think these may be my new favorite napkins, I'm going to keep some for myself!

 

My next new design is a fun one! This Origami Swan napkin is screenprinted by hand using bright red water based non-toxic ink. These cute little napkins are 100% linen and are easy to wash. Simply throw them in the washer using cold water then hang or machine dry. Ditch those paper napkins and go green with these reusable, eco-friendly cloth napkin!

 

New Fence Almost Finished!

We spent most of the 3-day weekend building our new fence and it's almost finished! We still have some finishing touches and I have to apply sealer. Once it's completely done I'll have a full before and after post for you. It's looking really good! Here is a little sneak peek from day 2!

Day 2, Wall Removal

Yesterday the demo crew showed up right at 8am to start the removal of our cinder block wall that sits between our property and our neighbors. I'm sure our entire neighborhood hates us right now because the past two days have been so loud (sorry neighbors) but it's all for the better, I promise. The house is going to look way better when we are all done, helping improve the neighborhood and property values.

I don't think the cinder block wall was constructed properly, it was leaning over into our yard and had large cracks all over it. This is what it looked like:

So I was in my kitchen making my morning coffee when I heard a loud bang! I think I had a small heart attack, I seriously thought the bobcat tractor had run into our house! I ran to the window half expecting to see the backside of our house missing but to my relief this is what I saw:

The bobcat in just one pull had knocked down more than half of the wall, it shook the whole house and probably the entire neighborhood! I'm sure there were a few unhappy neighbors who were jolted out of their sleep. They probably thought we were having an earthquake haha.

After the wall was removed we had to deal with a large palm tree that had grow between 4 fences, ours and 3 neighbors and it was knocking everyones fence down. We decided to have it yanked out by the bobcat which was a pretty intense moment I have to say. Our yard is tiny and watching that bobcat straining to pull out the tree while getting closer and closer to our garage had me on pins and needles. At one point the tractor was on just two tires, it was INTENSE! The tree came down in one piece though and no buildings were harmed in the process:)

 The work crew cleared everything out and did a excellent job! So now the yard is a big empty lot, well small empty lot actually. Tomorrow we begin work on the new fence and  once that is completed we will begin building our new covered deck which I'm super excited about! More photos coming as we make progress on this project!

One of our friends said this reminded him of the T.V. show Big Love hahahaha. No, we are not polygamists, lol!

Featured on Unstitched today!

Today I am featured on the lovely blog Unstitched. You can check it out here http://www.unstitchedblog.com/2011/08/personal-museums-behind-tangerine-home/ Thanks Lillian!

A Blank Canvas

Yesterday and today have been a whirlwind of activity at our house! Yesterday we had a demolition crew come in with a bobcat tractor and remove all of our landscaping in the front and backyard. We purchased the house as a short sale and it took 9 months for the sale to go through. During that time nobody was living in the house or taking care of the landscaping. When we moved in a lot of the landscaping was dead and what was still alive was overgrown. The landscaping didn't seem thought out and there was really nothing we wanted to keep except one agave. This is what the backyard looked like when we moved in.

And this is what the front yard looked like.

 

We decided that we want to replace the front yard with drought tolerant plants such as sage, succulents, native plants, etc... San Diego is basically a desert and with water rationing, clay soil and not a lot of rainfall grass just doesn't do well here. In the backyard we want to build a large deck off the back of the house, a fire pit and possibly a jacuzzi. So we brought in some hired help to remove all the landscaping and now our yard is a blank canvas that I can't wait to get my hands on!

This is how our backyard now looks. There is nothing left and today that ugly cracked cinder block wall will be gone too! We will be building a wood fence this weekend to go in it's place.

Our front yard is now completely cleared out too, as well as the parkway.

 

I'll post more photos as we go through the process of rebuilding our landscaping. I have so any ideas I can't wait to dig in and get started!

Operation grass and wall removal

Today kick starts day one of operation grass and wall removal! After trying to remove our lawn ourselves and breaking our back in the process we decided it was time to call in some help for this project. So the bobcat arrived early this morning and is removing the lawn in the back right now. Today they will also remove all the front lawn and tomorrow the broken, falling down cinder block wall between us and our neighbors will be coming down! We will be spending our 3-day weekend building a new fence, ahhh the joys of home ownership! It's not all that bad though, we will be spending Sunday on a boat relaxing and then it's back to fence building on Monday. Lots of photos coming in the next few days.

I'm also still working on getting my office/sewing room finalized so hopefully I will have before and after photos soon!

Black and White Geometric Pillow Covers

I just got done with this new design and I'm really happy with how it turned out! I designed this bold geometric pattern and screenprinted it by hand onto 100% linen fabric. Pillow covers are hand sewn by me in my San Diego studio. Available now in my shop

 

 

Backyard Deck Plans

Last weekend my dad, who is also a architect (lucky us), came down to show us some plans for our new deck we plan to build in the backyard. I've been imagining it in my head for so long now it was really exciting to see it on paper! Now we have to figure out what materials we want to use. I prefer the look of real wood but I know it can be high maintenance so we are going to shop around and look at the wood alternatives. Anyone have any good suggestions for something that holds up well and doesn't look too much like plastic?

For now I leave you with some updated photos of our living room. We still don't have shades, ugh. BUT I think I have FINALLY found a solution (fingers crossed)! I'll let you know if it works out!

Accordion Pillow Cover

I have this lovely new pillow cover now available at my etsy shop

 

 

 This handmade pillow cover is made from 100% linen which is a natural material. The accordion folds gives the cover a lot of texture which I love! Cover is 18" X 18" and is great alone or can be paired with other pillows.

Squash Blossoms

Wow, the weekend went fast, but doesn't it always? I spent all day Saturday cleaning out the garage and pricing items for our garage sale which took place on Sunday. I have so many house projects in the works but it was time to take a time out and get the garage situation under control. We want to make this space into much needed studio space and I just haven't had the time to go through all the boxes just sitting around since we moved into the house so I finally did it and it feels great to have cleared out all that clutter! What a load off!

Since I've been busy ripping out our lawn, working on new designs for my shop and cleaning the garage I don't have any new photos to share so I thought I would share this photo I took of one of my new favorite things, squash blossoms!

We have been hitting up the local farmers market a lot this summer and we have taken a liking to squash blossoms. Check out this delicious squash blossom recipe on Vegetarian Times website. Have a great day!

A Modern Farmhouse

I've always thought it would be really awesome to own a old rustic farmhouse with a huge barn that I would turn into a art studio for me and a music studio for my husband. The house would be rustic with those old wood plank floors. I would decorate it with modern furnishings, with touches of vintage and rustic farmhouse décor. I created a treasury on Etsy of items I would put into my dreamy modern farmhouse and yesterday it made front page! You can check out these beautiful items here

Patti Smith Just Kids

I love to read. I use to spend my summers lazying around the swimming pool engrossed in a book. It seems now though, I'm always too busy to read and when I have time I'm so exhausted I read through two paragraphs before I start reading the same sentence over and over until I just fall asleep.

In June I went to Mexico for our wedding and honeymoon and so I had time to lay around, relaxing and yes, reading! After hearing several good reviews of Patti Smiths Just Kids book and after hearing her wonderful interview with Terry Gross on NPR I knew this was the book I wanted to read on my vacation! I read this book in just a little over a week and I just fell in love with it! If you're an artist and/or have any interest in the art/music scene of the 1960's and 70's you must read this book.  I am in no way a book reviewer, all I can say is if you're looking for a good inspirational book to read full of 1960's-70's New York art scene history you should read Just Kids.

Deers on the table!

I just added these lovely Stag Deer 100% linen napkins to my shop yesterday! I love working with linen, it has a really nice tailored look to it, the clean lines are very modern.  And I can't get over how beautiful this grey linen is, the color is fantastic! Such a great way to add some personality to your table. Hand sewn by me in San Diego, CA studio and hand printed using water based ink. Ditch those paper napkins and go green with these reusable fabric ones!

These linen napkins are easy to clean. Just wash in cool water on the delicate cycle and toss them in the dryer!

New House Projects

Not too long ago we completed our laundry room make-over which I blogged about here http://tangerinehome.blogspot.com/2011/07/laundry-room-makeover.html Well, with the completion of one project begins the start of a new one. We have two projects in the works right now. The first project is finishing up organizing and decorating the 2nd bedroom which doubles as my workspace/office. A few weeks ago my husband built me these wonderful shelves on one side of the closet.

It may not look like much, but to me it looks like organization! When you live in a tiny 820 sq. ft. house you have to take advantage of every bit of space available. I am currently going through all my tons of art supplies, fabric, paperwork, etc... and organizing it all so it can fit neatly in this space. I've been working up some ideas for this closet office to make it pretty and I'll post updated photos once I finish with this project.

Another project we are currently working on is ripping out our mostly dead, weed infested lawn so we can replace it with drought tolerant plants and a deck! Ripping out your lawn is not a fun project at all, in fact, I think I rather repaint the entire exterior of our house again rather than do this hard physical labor. We may have to call in help for this one but for now we've taken it on ourselves. Here is our sad backyard now.

We've managed to remove almost half of the lawn so far in the backyard. Everything is getting cleared out so we can level the ground and have a blank canvas to work with. I have so many ideas for the backyard I hope I can pull it all together!

Our house featured on Etsy!

Today our little bungalow is featured on the Etsy blog, Get the Look Decor! Check it out here http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/get-the-look-decor-old-charm/

New Scallops 100% Linen Tea Towel!

New handmade Scallops tea towel now available at my etsy shop!

This pattern I created was inspired by sea scallop shells. The scallops are screenprinted by hand onto a medium grey 100% linen fabric using a water based non-toxic mustard yellow ink. Linen is a natural material made from the fibers of the flax plant. It is very absorbent and gets softer and softer with each washing, perfect for drying hands or the dishes! Looks great in a kitchen or bathroom. Towel is completely handmade by me in my San Diego, CA studio including the sewing and screenprinting.

Tea towel measures approximately 16"W X 25.5"H and features a 100% cotton twill loop on the backside for easy hanging. It is pre-washed and pre-shrunk.

Pillows Available at Dekor in L.A!

A few of my handmade pillow covers will be available starting next week at the new home furnishing shop Dekor in Echo Park, Los Angeles! If you live in L.A. or are planning a visit I highly recommend checking out this store, it's filled with beautiful Swedish-American modern home furnishings and décor! I was there just last week and all I have to say is I'm lucky I took the train to L.A. otherwise I may have emptied out my entire bank account at this shop.

Teardrop Trailer Love!

I just love teardrop trailers, they are super cute, especially the old ones from the 1940's! I've seen these mini trailers being towed behind old woody cars and Volkswagen Beetles. As much as I enjoy tent camping I can't help but want one of these cute little trailers to go camping with! Some come equipped with a little cooking stove in the rear. I really like the mid-century modern shape of them and I've seen them in colors of mint, red and yellow! I love them soooo much I decided to put one on a pillow since it's probably the closest I'm ever going to get to owning one. Perfect for the camper, the retro home or the vintage car collector! Go on over to my etsy shop and pick one up!