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Monday, April 30, 2012

Stylish Pet Supplies - Who Knew?


Get the Look: Dapper Dogs and Classy Cats

This week for Get the Look, guest writer Gabriella Cetrulo curates selections for your favorite furry or finny companion.
Living in New York, I’m always amazed to see how many of my neighbors own pets — and I’m not talking about goldfish. I see Siberian huskies twice the size of their owners! My first thought is, “How do they train their dogs to adjust to living in their teeny New York apartments?” My second is, “I wonder if those dogs are living like their owners?”
I used to work for a designer with two little dogs, and they dressed and lived as stylishly she did. They had amazing leather collars and rope leashes, wore chic sweaters in the winter, and slept on pillows that matched the decor of her apartment. In fact, what always impressed me  most was how she managed to seamlessly blend her pet’s belongings into her home’s design.
This inspired me to seek out pet items that enhance their surroundings, rather than compete. From modern to shabby chic, it’s now possible to find pet accessories to match any home.

Cat Beds


Pet Livin’


Modern Feeders


Shabby Chic



Antique & Feminine

Gabriella Cetrulo is a freelance illustrator with a BFA in illustration from Parsons the New School for Design. She is also the shop owner of vintage oasis Tomorrow Is Forever. She is in the process of opening a second online shop featuring her illustration work.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I'm the Featured STAT TEAM Shop on Etsy!

This wonderful team of artists on Etsy works together to promote each others' shops, through the creation of curated Treasuries, collections of pieces from our shops.  The STAT TEAM is for Self-Taught Artists.  I'm excited to be a part of the team and to bring attention to their works of art.  And I'm doubly excited to be spotlighted right now in the treasuries and on the Blog.  Here's what was posted on the team Blog today, and I've been "liking" on Facebook all the member treasuries as they're brought to my attention.

You can find those treasuries by going to Etsy.com, scroll down the left side to click on Treasury.  Go to the search window at the top and enter my shop name, NatureAngels, to search the Treasury section.  That will give you a list of all treasuries in which my items are featured, as well as all treasuries I've created.

Thank you!


STATTEAM SPOTLIGHT

STATTEAM Spotlight - 4/25/12

Dreamy, vintage, ornate, and downright pretty describes the pieces in today's spotlight shop, Nature Angels. This shop includes amazing assemblage collages, steampunk jewelry, and don't forget to check out the clearance section!

Becky Helmer coordinates the new Spotlight three times each week. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday a shop that participated by promoting the previous spotlight is randomly selected for the next feature! See the team discussions for full details.








Monday, April 23, 2012

Damn that Crawfish Festival! But it Had to be Done!


Houston, we have a problem....and it's called the Old Town Spring Crawfish Festival!  I'm not all the way back to square 1 with my health issues, but it ain't good right now.  I knew I couldn't go to that darn festival and behave myself.....gggggrrrrrr....no self control!  It started with the Wimberley Valley Winery sweet red and ended with the Black Iguana peach flavored frozen margaritas that you wear around your neck....OMG!  They were so good, but my insides are rebelling from the sugar, and I've got to get serious about killing the candida some more.  Why is there always a price to pay for fun?!  It's So Not fair!  But it was fun.  I was feeling much better and was almost completely pain free, and now I'm definitely feeling some abdominal aches and pains.  So it's back on the wagon for me.......for now.........sigh.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Cute Decorating Ideas

Get the Look Decor: An Eclectic Renovation

Iheartmoustaches
This weekend’s Get the Look Decor is inspired by Kate and Ed’s incredible budget-friendly renovation. Their Edwardian terrace home in Ely (near Cambridge in the U.K.) was in desperate need of repair, and the couple was forced to make some quick and clever decorating decisions on a shoestring budget. They created a home filled with character and charm using second hand items, wall paint rescued from a car boot sale, and vintage deals found at auctions and charity shops. The results are nothing short of amazing, filled with cheerful colors and unexpected decorating ideas.
Check out Kate’s blog for inspiring before and after photos of her home renovation, and visit her Etsy shop, Goodnight Prudence, for vintage items for you and your home.
Describe your home decorating style.
Eclectic and colourful. I don’t really do minimalism (quite the opposite!) and like to be surrounded by lots of inspiring patterns and objects. I think our home is a mixture of styles: 1970s bohemian meets English country cottage. I try to strike a balance somewhere between granny and contemporary.
    
    
Did you decide to decorate in this style or was there an evolution to your decorating process?
Until we bought this house 8 months ago, we were in a rented flat, so our decorating options were very limited. I think we had been dreaming of how we would decorate our own house for a long time. We definitely had a vision of how the house would look, and I think we have achieved it. Having said that, the house was in a terribly run-down state when we got the keys. We had to do the whole place up at once in order to be able to live there, so a lot of decisions were made very quickly. Budget definitely had an impact, but I think a positive one, as it meant we didn’t always go for the obvious option. For example, we couldn’t afford a new fitted kitchen. Instead, we opted for a free-standing antique dresser base and open shelving, which was so much cheaper and I think creates a much warmer, homey look. We also got a lot of paint for free, as my boyfriend works for a music venue and swapped some Hayseed Dixie tickets for a car boot full of rejected paint tins. Some of the colours were picked out totally by chance!

    
    
What inspires you when it comes to decorating?
The décor in old films and TV series. One thing I had in mind when decorating our home was Tom and Barbara’s house in the 1970s sitcom “The Good Life!” I also buy old magazines and cut out good ideas. Inspiration can be found all over the place; the trick is to pick out the individual elements that appeal to you and mix it up in a way that works for your home. I take photos wherever I go and am also a bit of a sucker for looking in other people’s windows!

    
    
Where are your favorite places to shop for home items?
Auctions, antique markets, charity shops and car boot sales. Because I sell vintage items, I spend a huge amount of time trawling round these places, and the vast majority of items in our home were second hand. I think it is important to be environmentally aware and do not believe in buying everything new, especially as many antique and vintage items are much better quality as well as being more unique.
What is your favorite part about your home?
I love the living room. The green colour on the walls is really inviting and relaxing, plus it has all of our books and knickknacks, loads of pictures and colourful blankets, cushions and lots of houseplants. All these aspects make it feel really cosy and uniquely our own. It is a great place to chill out with a bottle of wine (or two).

    
    
Does your home hold any strong memories?
We have only been here 8 months, so we have not had long to build many memories yet, but I know we will never forget the 3 months we spent decorating when we first moved in. We were sleeping on a futon in the spare room and had no kitchen or bathroom for much of the time. We were running back and forth to Ed’s sister’s house to wash and eat. Day after day was spent tirelessly scrubbing nicotine stains from the walls and windows, ripping up carpets, sanding the floors and painting. The smell of bleach and nicotine will stay with me forever! Also, although the house is fairly new to us, it does hold a lot of memories. So many of our things were inherited from friends and family, like the G-Plan sideboard that belonged to Ed’s grandma, and all of our enamel kitchenware, which belonged to my Nanna. We are surrounded by memories all the time; everything in our home is so personal to us.


Looking for more styles and interiors? Check out our video series, There’s No Place Like Here, where creative types show us their unique spaces — infused with their aesthetic and filled with the treasures they collect. Get involved and show us your amazing space in this Flickr pool.