Art & Design of Kelli Murray

A few Etsy shops I’ve fallen in love with recently….

SIAN -

Are you kidding me!? Stuffed Succulents!? So genius. And this little llama needs a new home in Rylee’s room pronto.  All of the creatures in this shop are so endearing.

HOMAKO -

Really, I want everything. Quirky & unique jewelry designs with pretty killer color combos. My fave right here.

ROSS LAB -

I first spotted these ceramic mugs on Pinterest and had to see more.  And indeed, more I did love.  What perfect little mint vessels for your salt, pepper and sugar!

What etsy shops are you loving?

It’s no secret i’m a cat lover.  And I couldn’t be happier about a their recent emergence into the fashion scene.  Have you noticed!? CATS.ARE.EVERYWHERE.

1. Cats. Temporary Tattoos //  2. Block Printed Cat Tee // 3. Platform Cat Shoe  (similar) (similar) (amazing) //  4.  Mow. by Clare Owen  //  5. Bittersweets NY Cat Ring  //  6.  Roksanda Illincic for Lulu & Co Cat Print Silk Skirt. ASOS.

More Cat Stuff to Love:

WILDFOX COUTURE Cat Face Lennon Sweater //  Custom Pet Portraits by Sarah McNeil  //  Meow for Measuring Cups  //  This Tattoo  //  This Dress  //  Baby Cat Jumpsuit  //  Athropologie Feline Karma Dress (on sale!) //  Kissy Face Knit //  YSL Vintage Cat-Eye Sunglasses

Is this enough cat stuff for your Monday!!? haha.  So fun.

Also, a humongous (who says that?) thank you to everyone who visited and shopped Rylee’s Closet over the weekend.  So blown away that everything sold so quickly!  I have been a busy bee packing orders and most of them are on their way! Love you all!

So I finally decided to jump on the “shop my closet” bandwagon! Only I am starting with Rylee’s Closet!  Hopefully I can manage to do my own in the near future too!  At first I was thinking to do an “Insta-sale” (on instagram) but after I started sifting through all the clothes that no longer fit her, I realized I had far more than I was comfortable flooding instagram with.  SO, I did a bit of research and decided to go with Goodsie to host my shop.  Have any of you ever used this platform?  It’s my first time doing anything like this, so if there are any glitches….forgive me and let me know!  It was all pretty painless.  I slaved away all day yesterday taking and editing photos and setting up the shop.  Time consuming stuff I tell ya!  But hopefully it will be worth it and we’ll get pass along our stuff to someone else who loves it as much as we did!

All the items in the shop are between sizes 0-18 months.  Some have been worn often, and others not at all.  There were a few that I found buried at the bottom of her dresser with the tags still on them.  Whoops! Clearly, it’s time to downscale!  As I was going through all of her things, I was surprised to get a bit emotional.  There were some pieces that I just couldn’t get myself to part with.  Some of them brought back a certain memory and took me right back to that time in her life when she was just a little bundle in my arms.  Other’s were just pieces that I loved and that I wanted to save for my next baby girl (if we are so lucky).  I find it so easy to part ways with my own clothes, but with hers, it was like pulling teeth!  That little bag of extra sentimental items I tucked away for another special time! The rest are excited to find a new home. Sooooo…..have a peek!

-   SHOP RYLEE’S CLOSET   -

I would so appreciate if you could share this with any moms or soon-to-be moms, or even dads….or anyone for that matter who might take interest!  Thanks so much!

Oh!  And if you are in the market for a newborn Halloween Costume, the Cave Girl Costumes I made for us last year are for sale too.  (for both mom and babe!)

So, I think this might be my favorite DIY to date.  It’s just so practical and pretty! A few friends and I decided we would get together once a month for an all day craft day.  Just to create pretty things, simply for the sake of creating.  Weather it be something we wear, or something for our homes, decorations for the holidays, or even little somethings for our babies. I tend to get wrapped up in projects for other people that I fail to do all the projects I want to do for myself!  And although one day a month doesn’t sound like much, at least it is one day I can count on! Not to mention, it’s just a good excuse for girl time!  This DIY was our first of many to come.

We’ve been dying to try out gold leaf for a while now.  And we thought these paper mache bowls would be the perfect application.  Our intent was to use them as jewelry dishes.  Here is what you’ll need to create the shell…

ONE –  To create your bowl forms, you’ll need to start with balloons.  I bought a couple packages in different sizes, so that not all my bowls were the same.  I used 5″,  9″, and 12″ balloons.

TWO - Cut up your newspaper into small strips.  Using your foam brush, adhere the newspaper to your balloon using the mod podge.  Be generous!  The more layers, the thicker the bowl.  (My first attempt was too thin so I had to go back and layer on more.  Apply more than you think!)

THREE – Place your balloons upside down (or right side up, whichever way you want to look at it) inside paper cups and let them dry overnight.

FOUR –  Once dry, pop your balloon and remove the latex.  What you will have left is a bowl mold with imperfect edges.  Just use scissors to trim it down to the depth you want.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  I think the irregular shape is what makes these unique!

Paint your bowls entirely white (or any color of your choice).  It may take a few coats. Let it dry.

I wanted my bowls to have a polka dot pattern within the gold leaf.  If you want this look too, buy a pack of sticker dots and stick them down in a pattern on the inside of your bowl.

After your dots are adhered, brush on Gold Leaf Adhesive all over the inside, over the stickers.  Make sure to use the adhesive sparingly and don’t  leave puddles, otherwise the gold leaf will turn into a sticky mess!

Now for the fun part….carefully place your sheets of Gold Leaf all over the inside of the bowl, securing it to the adhesive.  Overlap is fine.  I used a soft paint brush to adhere the leaf and brush off any excess. This was definitely the trickiest part of the project.  I found that the less adhesive I used, the smoother the finish.  If you notice on the photo above, after I applied the leaf, I could still see the outlines of my sticker dots.  One by one, I went through and carefully removed each dot sticker, leaving the white paint underneath to show through.  The dots weren’t perfect, but the more I did, the easier it got!  Last step is to seal your bowls with Gold Leaf Sealer!

I hope you all have fun with this project!  Let me know if you try it out!  It takes some time, but hopefully you’ll love your bowls as much as I do!

photo source

Monday already?  I was not quite ready for you.  Yesterday, I had one of those days where I found myself blog hopping for far longer than I ought to on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  You know, those moments when you sit down at your computer to answer a few emails and check your facebook, and then find yourself three hours later forgetting the reason you sat down at all…..but thoroughly caught up on everyone else’s lives.  Ya, it was one of those days.  Most of the time I scold myself for moments hours like this, but yesterday I stumbled upon some posts that got me thinking.  I am really speaking of this one by The Man Repeller where she talks about the purity of street style and what it’s become today.

Once upon a time, fashion blogs were all I was interested in.  For me, my love for fashion came even before my love for art.  I have always had a love for street style photography and have been long inspired by photographers like Tommy Ton & Scott Schuman.  But over the last year or so I have found myself somewhat disinterested in some of  the fashion blogs I so religiously used to read.  Keeping up with the latest and greatest in the fashion industry began to feel draining, and unfulfilling.  Maybe it’s just the place I am in life….no longer with a job that requires me to keep up with the hottest trends and spending the greater portion of my day changing diapers and keeping a child alive.  (a job I do in fact love).  It’s no secret that my style posts have dwindled.  But it’s funny how that transition occurred.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love fashion for it’s artistic value, creativity, and self expression…and I will still blog about my personal style for those reasons, but it does feel different somehow.   And it’s clear that the industry is different now too.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve been loosely following the happenings at NY & London Fashion Week (mostly through the bloggers I follow on instagram).  It’s ironic that street style (with the purist of beginnings) is essentially becoming an industry itself, through blogger/brand collaborations and other marketing ploys.  And that “the pouring in and pouring out of show-goers pre and post shows have arguably become more entertaining than the shows themselves.”  All posing and vying for those camera clicks.   Seems a little backwards doesn’t it?  I guess the point is to love fashion for the emotion it evokes and how it makes us feel, not for the fame or recognition.  Speaking of evoking emotion….did you happen to see the Spring 2013 RTW collection by 3.1 Phillip Lim?!  I am such a fan.

What are your thoughts on the evolution of street style?