Paper Jewels

Here’s a great example of indie design - fab style - and recycling too! This dress is from Amanda Vaughn-Redmon on etsy.

First and foremost of course, is that it’s a great-looking dress - it would be fun and flattering to wear!

Equally important in my book - she makes her garments in the U.S. (North Carolina) and she uses recycled/repurposed clothing for all or part of them. Of course that makes each garment one-of-a-kind, which is terrific too

Think about it - this is style at its best. It looks great, those fabrics would feel good and be super easy to care for (here, she’s used an old t-shirt, and slinky drapy poly knit) - and she’s taking what would otherwise be tossed away, and turned it into something fabulous.

Talk about a feel-good dress! Love it

I’ve started doing “pet photo jewelry” lately and people are so enthusiastic about their pets, furbabies, fuzzy kids, whatever you call them - I have a feeling these are going to be fun!

There’s a twist though. I don’t just use straight pixel-for-pixel photos (well I can, but that hasn’t been the focus so far) - instead, I make a sort of portrait of your furbaby, and use that as the basis for the earrings (or pendant). For example, look at these sweet beagle earrings:

Custom Pet Photo Earrings or Pendant

These would be fun anyway, because this is a much-loved pet and her human really cares about these earrings - and the extra fun part is that, these aren’t copied from an “exact” photo. At my customer’s urging, I played with the photo a little, I changed it, stylized it, turned it into a mini-portrait. (Yes, I photoshopped it!)

I think it’s going to be interesting to go down that road a little more

The earrings are a great conversation starter, if you’re into that. And they’re a great keepsake gift for someone you love (hmm, can we can “paper anniversary present”?) For someone who loves their pet!

PS I’m going to be putting up some new and different examples soon - stay tuned for further developments!

Please take a look at these pics. And tell me if you agree with me - I bet you will - that they are beautiful, and refreshing, and soul-calming.

Beautiful rooms in Filicudi Italy - as seen in style-files.com.

It makes me feel good just to look at the pics. And it inspires me. Yes, these rooms are in an exotic (to me) island halfway around the world. But the ideas here are absolutely universal.

USE LESS STUFF. Clear out the clutter. Have a wonderful color. Let the light in.

Let me be sure to give credit where it’s due - I found these wonderful pictures, and more you will love, over at style-files.com. Totally inspirational!

This is completely do it yourself. GET RID OF SOME STUFF. Let the bones of the room show. Add some light. Take away some of the crap.

Do I seem to be stuck on that idea? Well, yeah, I am. Use less - and love what you have, MORE.

PS You may have noticed that I included this post in the category “Going Green”, and I haven’t mentioned recycling once (till now). But I have mentioned “using less” - and that is a very important green idea!