Pink and lace is so feminine a combination, I love the idea off balancing the look with a location that has a bit of a dark and moody side. A forest or a long table setup in a grove of trees would be oh so pretty…

Description: Pink, lace, forest

Photos, from top, left to right: {Row 1} 1. Polly Wreford 2. Melanie Acevado {Row 2} 1. Melanie Acevado 2. Jo Tyler {Row 3} 1. Elizabeth Messina 2. Sandra Lane

Ms. Megan is a bit under the weather, so I’m filling in today. I recently bought a bunch of Matte Stephen prints and I’m so in love. This one hangs above my bed. Gotta love an Owl rocking a pipe, bow tie, and umbrella!

This print is perfectly on theme for this week. Its been pouring here!

I may have to get this one soon. A cat family portrait is just too silly and awesome. You can see more Matte’s work right here.

Kelly Oshiro Design has a wedding this weekend, so that means it’s time for the guests to party. I think this gold prism is perfectly festive, don’t you?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lately, I’ve been loving colorful, bold palattes, and this still life of hot pink, yellow, and orange, is right up my alley.

I’m loving these color swatches with a pop of white. So modern and playful, and a great color palette to get you through the last days of gray winter.

An orange fork, a hot pink spoon? Too darn fun! Photos by Polly Wreford for Red Magazine.

Needless to say, I was really inspired by Kelly’s post yesterday. Early methods of color photography are fascinating.

My first exposure to the autochrome was at the California Museum of Photography at UC Riverside. One of my best friends curated a small exhibit of photographs that revolved around this early type of photography.

This is one from their collection. I’m still a little iffy on how this process actually works, but I know that it involves microscopic grains of potato starch dyed shades of red, green and blue that create a screen on a glass plate for light to pass through. When you look at an autochrome up close, you can see the individual grains of starch, which makes it look almost like a microscopic pointellism painting.

This image, and the ones that follow it, were taken by Albert Kahn. He was actually a very wealthy French banker, and in 1909 decided to set out on a trip around the world to photograph people from various cultures. This is a woman who was living in Vietnam at the time.

This was taken in Norway.

This was taken in Ireland.

The thing that really strikes me about this project is that it was never intended to be artful. It was simply a documentation project which he hoped would promote peace and understanding.

The images and information are from the California Museum of Photography and the Albert Kahn website.

This post is slightly off topic, but the colors and textures of these images are to amazing not to share. I found out about these color images of Russia circa 1910 via my husband. The photos were taken using a special camera with red, green, blue filters to create the stunning colors. I love this image in particular, the richness of the blue robe and the delicate floral print of iris is truly remarkable.

Likewise, this lady’s dress of deep red and blue velvet is such a classic (and royal) color scheme. I love her colorful hat too.

This is my kind of tapestry shop. The richness of the colors, red, and pinks are so sumptuous. And that pattern in the foreground is so timeless and modern it would work in most anyone’s home.

These children robes are amazing. The one on the far right with a mix of pink, purple , yellow and aqua looks like it could be a pattern from an anthropologie dress.

Now this is what I call a church. Vibrant red and white, it commands your attention and the ornate detail is as fine as a faberge egg. To see more of Russia in Color click here and here.

Photos by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.

Ever since Kelly sent me a link to Maira Kalman’s website, I’ve been a little obsessed. Just a little, I swear. I admire how she’s got her hands into so many projects – kids’ books, posters, magazine covers, and I love her blog over at the New York Times.

This is a page spread from her kid’s book “What Pete Ate.”

Too adorable. I love her style! I love the handwriting, the colors, and all the little imperfections. Her work has a wonderfully handmade quality to it.

Images from her site.

I’m super excited to be hosting my second William Sonoma $150 giftcard giveway! I know everyone recently got engaged over Valentine’s day and the registry is one thing people start asking about immediately. So here are a few of my current must haves from William Sonoma’s registry.

I love to entertain, and registering for gifts to entertain friends and family is a win win for everyone. Fine linen just adds a certain classy feel and hemstitch is always in style. I love a good inspiring book for table decor, and their Entertaining book is sure to give you plenty of ideas.I’m a sucker for candles and these hurricanes (which you can have engraved) are perfect either on a buffet or tabletop. I bought a mandoline recently and I have to say it saves so much time during prep (and it makes prepping scallop potatoes a breeze), which means you can spend more time hanging out with friends and family.

Want to win the giftcard? Here are the rules:

1. You must register with Williams-Sonoma to enter the giveaway. If the your already registered with W-S, simply add another item to your registry to enter the giveaway and include this item in their comment.

2. You can leave a comment on this post and state what you have already registered for from William Sonoma. Please list your favorite registry item in your comment.

3. You can get  an extra entry if you include your public registry link in your comment.

4. Contest ends Monday, March 7th at 12am PST.

Good luck!

*this is a sponsored post.

These images from Aliette are pretty exciting. She’s an artist living in France, and I’m in love with these prints.

The layers of neutral shades look really perfect next to the bold solid colors. Her artwork remind me of pieces of cut fabric and wallpaper, and washes of water colors. Excellent!

You can see more of her work here.

Lately I’ve been inspired by minimal, graphic assesories. I love these grid pattern totes. They look exquisite the way they are, or you could fill in the boxes with your own ideas…

These scarves are really neat. A colorful take on pin stripes!

These upcycled tote bags are pretty rad. I bought one for Kelly for her birthday! It’s recycled, and they’re all different so it’s a surprise when you open the package.

I’m really digging all these items from Poketo.

Kelly pointed me towards this wallpaper she found on The Style Files. We love letterpress…

Then I started perusing Wall & Deco‘s site some more. I’m really into this idea for a kids room.

I just had to share this with you guys. How awesome and daring is this? Perhaps I’ll need to dedicate a room of my dream home to this wallpaper. That chair is hot, too.

Images from Wall & Deco via The Style Files via Kelly.

These book cover prints are so sweet and nostalgic. Not to mention that the illustrations are exquisite.

I love how minimal they are, with just a punch of a single, graphic color.

Images via Joe at Monster Gallery.

I love Ranunculus, from their sweet and delicate rose-like shape to the rainbow of colors they come in.

Placed in a vase, they can stand on their own as beautiful floral statement.

Or grouped in mass, they are gorgeous either way.

Photos from top: 1. Jim Franco 2. Richard Powers 3. Left: Thibault Jeanson Right: Deborah Jaffe

Too cute. Too cute. I love the sweetness of bunting flags.

They add a really lovely splash of color to a room. I like this idea – using paint chips!

I’m loving this tape. How awesome would this be for wrapping gifts?

And this is super fun. It’s made out of upcycled materials and is really light weight. Sounds good to me.

Photos from top: 1.Natasha Early, 2. Marchare, 3. Polkadot Magpie

I’m digging these designs by Gary Andrew Clarke of Graphic Nothing.

I’ve always liked checkerboard spaceships. This is really cool!

You can check out his work here and here.