With a lovely, long holiday weekend what else would you wanna do but sit on a roof top sipping mimosas with friends and shopping for pretty little things. Williamsburg!

Hey it’s Easter so why not start at my favorite  boutique of girly wonders. “Catbird” ! If you love strange, earthly, delicate jewelry inspired by the natural world this is your store. So much eye candy, my basket overfloweth.

I love to ogle the precious gems, sculpted silver and brass things.

The swan earrings and little bird wristlets make me swoon.

Great little plates for just about anything in your boudoir.

I love these little doll arm hooks.

Who wouldn’t feel like a Goddess with this opulent octopus ring on?

Soooo pretty but I couldn’t get the posts to stay in my ears. So I got these little cicadas instead…

Such a sunny cool day, we found a great cafe, Juliette and made our way to the roof top.

So nice to finally feel the sun on our faces…

The food was good, the place was” hopping” with mimosas for all!

After taking communion in the sun we set out to find more curiosities of delight.

This boutique b conte had lots of great silk dresses, billowy tops and accessories galore. This girl was so much fun, showing me around and telling me about the new merchandise.

Ironically, everything was expensive at “In God We Trust”. I liked some pretty little necklaces with messages that made me giggle in a dirty little girly way. They also have a great selection of vintage inspired carpet bags and engraved flasks.

If you Like Vintage…

Amarcord has some great finds.

Monk Vintage : a huge place with a lot of personality. I thoroughly enjoyed these red phone booth changing rooms. What an awesome idea for a boutique.

Then it was Up to East Village to Tokyo 7! My favorite Designer consignment shop.

This awesome  jacket was on the mannequin for a cool $1,800. I was smitten. Turns out it was custom made for Britney Spears, which made it a little less desirable.

I walked away with this really cool scarf instead. I can’t wait to wear it over a tank top and jeans, sooooo rock n roll.

My companion walked away with this wicked cool T-shirt, it’s one  part Rorschach and 2 parts burn out photo x-ray of lungs. I totally dig it. I would have snatched it right out her grubby little fingers if I had any sense about me. Word is, she cut the cap sleeves off. MURDERER! ;P

Those were the highlights of Williamsburg Easter 2012 street style shopping my Samurai Mamas!

I’ll just leave you with this ethereal window decor bathed in sunlight. Meditate on it a while…Do you feel that? It’s Spriiiiiiiing!

It’s spring! and you know what that means!? Time to crawl out of the dark hole you been in and find beauty in the world again. Such a lovely long holiday weekend I took myself to Williamsburg for some shopping and mimosas with the cool kids.

“Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”

(shopping blog post to follow, stay tuned. I found some pretty little things in lovely little places.)

This post however, is about all the beautiful, ugly, ironic, and just plain inspiring things I saw along the way. It’s Brooklyn, a giant collage of strange and cool. So walk with me if you would…

The Future Perfect…

Don’t Panic!

“Life is Hard, but Not Today”

“The World ain’t always Disney”

“You’re Face to Face with the Man Who Sold the World”

“Not Swallowed in the Sea”

“Helping Hands Will Show You the Way”

“Which Way Would You Like To GO?”

“There is a Crack in Everything,That’s How the Light Gets In”

“No More Pipe Dreams”

“The World Turned on it’s End”

But Everything’s Coming Up Roses”

“You’ve Got Tulips: Speak”

“You’ll Find Home…”

“…When You’ve Found Yourself”

When last we spoke in part 1 , I discussed color and living up your life with it. I hope yall went and got some paint chips and played with some crazy ideas. Cuz now, I’munnah show you how I arrived at the favorite place I call home.

After playing at Home Depot’s paint department I landed on this color selection:

Once I picked these colors, I wanted an idea of what my new space would look like and how I would arrange the color blocks from room to room. Photoshop and a few pictures of the empty rooms and I had a sense of what I wanted to do. What a great invention Photoshop is, you can play all you want without making expensive mistakes “Undo” is a wonderful thing.

I was so excited, I emailed pics to my family… When it got back to me that my uncle commented “I can see why she’s in a hurry to paint, the place looks like a damn circus!” I KNEW I was on the right track!

Once the painting was done and I had finally moved in, it was time to fill in the space with new furniture. Bajeezeees, where to start? I knew I didn’t want ordinary stuff, or those fake out couches that aren’t really comfortable to sit on anyway. So it took a long time and a lot of searching. Then I found this pimped out ride at Raymour & Flanigan.

There is a fourth piece and they all snap together to make a queen sized bounce house. You KNOW how much I love bounce houses? A LOT! I love this couch and the color is so me, RED! It also came in chocolate for all you neutral peeps out there.

I’m a big fan of irony, and I always wanted my space to look like some kind of modern apothecary/art museum. So my bug collection, as well as the coolest urban home accessory I ever found, I named him “Emerson” as in Ralph Waldo. I was going to paint him to match the wall but I really liked the wood color so he remains a naturalist.

In keeping with my obsession of the color red, I proceeded to call my dining room the “Zen Room” this would be an artful area to dine in and entertain. Going high/low with furniture purchases is an easy peezy task with Ikea and the selection of inexpensive basics. My two hutches make excellent storage for all my portfolio stuff, photo reference and fashion swipes. The inspiring Gustav Klimt painting is also an Ikea find. It pairs beautifully with the art prints of David Mack and Andy Lee that I acquisitioned at comic conventions through the years.

That green doorway leads into the kitchen where my other creative juices flow.

How about personal space? The bedroom and the bathroom tend to be neglected and where we leave a mess. Sure, few people will see it, but the clutter and disorder affect you weather you know it or not. I try to keep mine as tidy, colorful and cozy as possible. Since the bathroom is the first place you hit in the morning it should be a happy place where you can easily find your way to the world.

I went with the color purple and a sage green in the bathroom and the cream colored fixtures soften everything into a feminine “powder room”. I love it. It is also a good idea to paint your bathroom in a color that compliments your skin tone. You should always look beautiful when you look into your own mirror, I say.

Girl power originated in the 80’s with “Punky Brewster“,” Jem” and “My Little Pony” so this little ComicCon exclusive rocks my little girly world.

A little nod to “Alice in Wonderland“  cuz that’s how I roll (out of bed). Surround yourself with things that inspire you, even in the bathroom.

The bed room: it should be the cozy, comfy, nucleus of your life. Think about it…this is where you drag your tired bones at the end of the day and seek solace.  Leaving clothes strung about and bits of things everywhere is no way to unwind. But surrounding yourself with the comforts of fabric, colors, and photographs of things that bring you joy are great for this space. I always wanted a canopy bed since I was a kid. I love closing the curtains and waking up with the sun coming through.

Sometimes though, you need to include a work space in the bed room. Though it is not recommended by certain Feng Shui experts, I say, if it inspires you and you keep it orderly (most of the time) Do it!

Fashion is a part of my life and what inspires me. Having my dress form and occasionally, a new design hanging up, makes me so happy to get out of bed and get to work.

Work space! Now you’re probably saying, “Right, all this cleanliness is godliness, how are you suppose to get your artist on if everything has to be tidy? “

You neeeeeed your work space, and it should be a place you don’t have to clean up and move things out the way just to eat your Lucky Charms. But it SHOULD be inspiring and conducive to FLOW.  Find a corner, a closet, under the stairs, in the basement or ANYWHERE that is yours, for your drafting table or a card table or whatever. Pin things to the wall, have action figures, porcelain dolls or whatever you like in that space.

Wall of Inspiration

Be sure and keep lots of books for inspiration and reference. Someone awesome once said “A room without books is like a body without a soul”.

I have a thinking corner which is also my “design” area. This is where I have tea every Saturday and Sunday and plan out creative projects for the day. I journal here and thumb through art books and tear sheets.

Speckled throughout the apartment are little things that I call “Ironic Home Goods” little pieces of art that make me giggle when I see them. Things I’ve bought on line or assembled out of things I have.

This hand is a design by Harry Allen; there are several designs, this one holds my keys at the door.

“Edgar” not only provides skull reference but watches over my thinking corner with his “one eye”, a nod to the “Tell Tale Heart“.

“Thoreau” lives in a corner, quietly content. He was a gift from a wonderful friend of mine.

Fill your life with all the things you love, be creative and live artfully. You’ll experience creative “flow”. A professor of mine at SCAD use to write on the board every day:

” SERIOUS WORK IS BORN FROM SERIOUS PLAY”

It’s a mantra worth repeating in all aspects of your life.

And so my friends, that is a look into the world I live and create in. I hope you are now inspired to make a place for yourselves in which you love to “Be” and “Do” in your own “Artist’s Way”.

A few of my favorite on line places to find “Ironic Home Goods” are:

Unica Home

Uncommon Goods

A&R

Fishs Eddy

Lekker Home

Well Dressed Home

W Hotels Store

Anthropologie

Apartment Therapy

Cafe Press

Kaboodle

Y Living

Dwell Studio

notNeutral

ZIPPERgifts

I’m a big fan of peeping in windows as I drive down streets to see how people live. What colors are the walls? What things do they surround themselves with?  Does it look like a happy place to live? You can tell a lot about a person by the respect they show for their living space.

It seems like everyone has that corner of a room or home, or yard that they just hate to walk by but get use to. I really think that exposing yourself to clutter and unhappy places in your house hinders creativity and well being. It’s just bad feng shui and “You don’t have to take it”!

People often say they want color in their life but are afraid to paint the walls, or buy large furniture in COLOR.  Why not  color your life happy?  I recently moved into a bigger creative space and designed myself a pretty cool pad. So I’m writing this to help you figure out how to decorate your happy place, starting with color!

Enter my coveted issue of Home and Garden April 2000.

How to use COLOR!! I got this issue when I was still in college, and I loved to look at the ideas and use of color in spaces and dream about how I would design my space, post dorm life.

I love this color story, very modern, clean, lively and crisp.

I have always insisted on having the coolest pad I can no matter where I live, or what my budget is. I want to love my space and feel at home in the warmest way.

How about a warm inviting elegant and sophisticated arrangement?

I Love the color red, and I have always been inspired by Ms. DianaVreeland’s “Red Room” It’s so “Moulin Rouge“!

Or how about a playful use of color?

Have you ever stopped to consider green?

Or get really crazy and go with pattern AND bold color!

Soft neutrals don’t HAVE to be boring…

So, think about what colors make you happy, go to Home Depot pick all your favorite colors no matter how dark, bold, or  acid and pretend you could do ANYTHING you want with them.  Once you’ve got a few color pallets laid out, come back here for the second part where I show you how I arrived at a happy place with my wicked cool newish art studio/living space.

There is nothing I hate more than being bored. Holiday traveling always means an excruciating amount of waiting in line, in terminals, in planes, utterly uninspired, to say the least. I’d way rather be painting in my studio, listening to Florence and the Machine. But you know, there is a way not to have to stare at the blank faces of dazed travelers and white walls of sanitarium terminals.

It’s true! it just takes a smidge amount of forethought and some key supply purchases. Check my set up on the tiny plane I took over the hills and through the woods to Grandma’s house…

I got my Florence and Snow Patrol fix with my beloved ipod, (for instant MOOD  just add Cherry Anger play list). The compact watercolor set by Windsor and Newton. My small lil cup o water disguised as a Noxzema 3.0 travel jar, and the best and largest brushes I can afford. Personally, I mostly paint with my Squirrel mop brush and a 12, 10, and 8 round as well as a 1″ flat. A rigger is good detail fun and tons of  paper towels by Viva fo sho.

See, since terminals rarely offer inspirational brain food I tend to keep boxes of swipes and tear sheets under my bed and stuffed in my sketchbook. A fist full of random images accompany me on most trips. I pull a lot from fashion magazines and photos I take around the city. It’s up to you to build your reference library. “Build it and they will come”… ideas I mean. What’s important is to keep the flow.

A very wise professor at SCAD once said “If you’re bored, you’re boring”. So true Cap’n, so true.

Check out this hot bustier and peplum skirt from the 2012 Garrott collection. It’s called “I a Dior You” and it’s a classic. Now available for wholesale and retail contact garrott@garrottdesigns.com for details.

I’d like to take a moment to feature one of the most influential, creative geniuses I know. Mr. Bob Pendarvis, is a friend and former professor of mine from the sequential department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. In fact, Bob founded the department and is the reason for the season. So I’d like to tell you about his Kickstarter project .

A GIRL CALLED ANA TEACHES KITTENS HOW TO DRAW, is meant to provide inspiration for the next generation of young sequential artists and storytellers. It is the first in a series of books aimed especially at young girls, but hopefully entertaining for readers of all ages, girls or boys. Each 8.5″ x 11″, hardcover, full color book has over 200 pages and tells the story of how ANA helps kittens realize that communicating with art is simpler than they’d suspected, yet much more complicated than they’d ever imagined.

And since I’m a bit of a girly girl, and love Bob’s idea, I urge you to support him by going to the Kickstarter page and donating even a 1/4 of your penny jar to this project. His goal to be able to produce a high quality, full color hardcover book and send copies to potential publishers and school libraries. The long term, ultimate goal would be to develop the ANA books into an animated tv series.

And Bob doesn’t stop there, he advocates women in sequential art by putting together SUGAR NINJAS! Which also touches the giddy little art girl with fat crayons, in me.  So please help out a genius who’s moving the girly art world forward.

P.S. you also get prizes with every level of donation so check out the plethora of artistic SCAD talent you could get your hands on.

The first look from the new Garrott collection is a hot little number called “Dominique Deco”. It’s bamboo viscose jersey with leather accents make this an easy breezy little rocking thing to wear just about anywhere. Check out the whole collection at garrottdesigns.com The store will be up soon, until then email us with order inquiry at garrott@garrottdesigns.com

Now available for whole sale and individual order. Inquire at garrott@garrottdesigns.com

It’s Halloween Garrott style! Failing to ever actually HAVE a Halloween costume at the ready, I managed to pull from my closet of Garrott couture.

My posts have been sparse for the last 2 months, and I am  so very sorry about that. You see, I was completely absorbed in the studio with the Garrott 2012 collection and multiple freelance projects.

Claudia Kiss, my muse and model at the hands of the brilliant photographer, Damian at SCIsquared ,made this season’s collection a truly “Garrott” conceptual vision for spring 2012. I want to thank them, it was a great shoot and a pleasure to work with you. I also cannot WAIT to show all ya’all the whole look. Seriously, it’s amazing and I am not just saying that cuz I designed it

Here is a little tease shot, for your pretty eyeballs!

More soon, stay tuned lovelies!