12 Months of Neon Love

You won't find these neon signs adorning the walls of your local dive bar.

Victoria Lucas and Richard William Wheater are taking their love of song lyrics and immortalizing them in pretty red tube lights via 12 Months of Neon Love. 

The project, which began on Valentine's Day, will feature a new sign erected on the roof of a studio in Wakefield, West Yorkshire each month for a year. The previous installation will then be auctioned on eBay on the 14th of that month.

I can't wait to see what lyrics they use in the rest of the series. Do you think this falls under the satellite category, therefore allowing the landlord to let me attach one to the roof of the townhouse? 

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Five for Friday: The art of inspiration

I've been inspired to paint lately. And these beauties have a lot to do with the reignited passion to create with a paintbrush and canvas.

1. Vanessa Briggs: Sunset 03

2. Matthew Heller: Homage to Music #7, Against All Odds

3. Laura Trevey: Girlie Girl

4. Kate Long Stevenson: The Mirror

5. Jamie Shelman: Untitled

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Cha-cha-cha-CHANGES

As you may have noticed, the blog received a makeover just in time for the start of summer. Actually, I got bored with the old design and wanted to test out my Paint.NET [think Photoshop for free] skills.

Trial and error style:

After creating a few different headers, I achieved what I think is a pretty, yet clean look. The minimized depth and fun berry mosaic don't dominate the page as the original header did.

The finished product:

 

I also eliminated the background image to reduce the busy feel of the blog's first design. I think the flag and plain background are enough to carry the page, yet don't detract from the elements in the posts. I still haven't decided on the background color, though. Suggestions are welcome.

 Another addition is my newspaper page design and headline portfolio. With the sad demise of NewsPageDesigner, my clips were tucked away on the computer without a public home to call their own. It's nice to be able to share my past work now that I'm not longer a print journalist. Click the pages below or the link on the right hand side of the blog to check it out.

I'd also like to welcome fellow bloggers and rad friends Brandon Jones, Sarah Reijonen and  Andrew Marden as the newest members of my "Homies" section. Brandon writes on all that is the NBA, Sarah gives us a glimpse into her life as a South Dakota resident and Andrew will update you on everything Central California-related and its connection to the sports world.

I promised to change up the blog and I'd love your feedback on the revamp. I hope you enjoy reflecting on the creative process with me.

And in keeping with the theme of this post, a little David Bowie to take us home.

May flowers ...

Bring a sneak peek into the progress of the townhouse decorating venture. 

 

I chose these lovely flowers at the grocery store for the mason jars I got last Saturday. Please pardon the paper towel holder. Glamorous, I know.

 

Pink, yellow and white are really inspiring me right now, so I divided up two bundles for the four jars, and you have "custom" arrangements for only $9.

As I was trying to find places for the blooms around the house, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to update you on the progress of the townhouse design. I couldn't very well let the sight of these pretties go to waste.

Please remember this is totally a work in progress. I'm not sure any space is ever truly finished. But ours still has a long way to go. But for now .... glimpses of the living room and master bedroom.

Living room

Master bedroom

Any thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated!

All in the name

HomeGoods definitely delivered the goods and Hobby Lobby should think about calling itself "Lobby of Amazingly Cool Ish." These two stores produced some fabulous finds this past weekend.

We went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday on the recommendation of my cousin who basically lived at the store when she resided in Kansas. And now I can see why. They have everything from fabric to ribbon to model rocket kits [Bruce was smitten] to furniture. Think a combo of Jo-Ann's, Michaels and HomeGoods on craft store steroids.

The objective at the Hob Lob was to get a knob for the revamped coffee table.  Mission accomplished.

 

 I also snagged a few other project goodies:

My search for a reasonably-priced framed bulletin board came to an end Saturday. This beauty was originally $39.99, but marked down to $13.60 because of two small holes in the cork. Hello! I'm going to cover it up with pictures, words and other assorted inspirational items anyway. So I had to snatch it up. I'm thinking of painting the frame and covering the cork board with fabric or pretty paper. Stay tuned.

You can never have too many mason jars in my opinion. They are good for vases, votive holders, trinket catchers or just on their own.

I have an idea for a project in the master bedroom that includes stencils on a huge canvas for over the bed. And there's nothing better than Helvetica.

The final and most-needed purchase was this sectional frame for a print of my favorite painting I bought at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art almost two years ago. The print is an odd size at 24x24, and we had no luck finding a regular frame in stores. I was resigned to the fact it may need to be custom framed, which is a pretty penny. I had my Modest Mouse concert poster done at Michaels, and while they did a great job, it set me back almost $200. With a coupon.

Enter Hob Lob's sectional frames. They sell length and width sizes seperately, so I got four 24-inch pieces for about $12 total. Granted it doesn't come with glass, but I can always have Home Depot cut some later.

And now Richard Diebenkorn's Berkeley #57 has a proper place on the wall. A lot of my color inspiration for the living room came from this amazing piece of art.

And let's not forget the object of my obsession: HomeGoods. Each time I go there, I have to restrain myself from buying the entire store. Most of their stuff is super cute and the prices can't be beat. I like to think of it as the step-sister or long-lost cousin of Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel.

Here's a sneak peak at my latest HG acquisition:

Oh, HTML ... Why do you hate me?

Those were my thoughts most of yesterday and a good portion of today as I fumbled through giving the blog a makeover. Nothing against the standard template, but I'm more of a bells and whistles kind of girl.

I'm pleased with what I've accomplished, considering my HTML skills are way rusty [Myspace you were good for something other than stalking back in the day].

I'll probably change her look quite often just to practice and try different outfits as I, hopefully, improve on my Web design knowledge. Making the blog pretty also gives me the creative outlet I used to have in newspaper page design. :(

But for now, I'm sticking with what I have.
 

Here are the headers I created/modified before settling on the one at the top of the page. It's clear I have a sick obsession with the chevron/zigzag pattern. It's so stylish, though.

I was a little nervous revealing the blog before I got the design how I wanted, but I figure you'll understand I'm not super HTML chick ... YET!