happy weekend + joyful sunny day art

Welcome to the end of another week; time for some sleep after many early mornings!

I came across this very colorful and cheerful illustration by Katie Daisy a few weeks ago via ShareSomeCandy, and every time I scrolled through it I paused and smiled.

I visited Katie's Etsy shop and found even more illustrative joy. So ethereal.

As soon as I saw this birdie I fell in love. I even made Gabriel promise he would buy it for me (my first original art piece!), but when I returned today to save it for the blog it wasn't there anymore. My heart literally sank. I love the colors and the shapes so much I must have it but its sold out, :(. Luckily it was on Katie's site so I could share it with you.

Much of her work is watercolor and/or acrylic and she prints digitally in small runs. I love her use of vibrant colors with yellow undertones!

Being a Cali girl, I need to add this to my 'Art Collection' as well. Please visit Katie's site for more colorful lovelies. She is truly a great artist. Happy Weekend!

{ Images Via :: Katie Daisy }

vanity barcodes

Hello all, I'm a bit late posting today but I've been working hard all week and just got a chance to touch my computer.

Thought I'd share some cool barcodes I found the other day via ShareSomeCandy. It's finally the barcode's turn.

Aren't these the greatest? As a student in design school I remember always being reminded by teachers to include the barcode on packaging designs and we would always grunt at the thought of those black bars ruining our designs. I'm sad to say that no one ever thought of a creative way of incorporating them into our designs (doesn't say much about our creativity, huh?!). Well, the folks at Vanity Barcodes got it right. These are just a small sampling of my favorite designs, but they have other great examples on their site and can even design a particular one for your product. Make sure to check them out!

{ Images Via :: Vanity Barcodes }

brightly colored lofts

The bright colors instantly drew me in to these very modern lofts in Chile.

I came across this very cool series of lofts via ArchDaily, my new favorite Architecture blog.

It's interesting to see the contrasting architectural types, and quite possibly, the economic as well.

I wouldn't mind living in these modern-day townhouses. The inside looks so warm and cozy, quite a contrast from their exteriors.

Check out the ArchDaily post to see more great images of modern living.

{ Images Via :: ArchDaily }

24 hours in...

I found these great cityscape illustrations by Fernando Volken Togni...24 Hours In... for Qatar Airways Oryx Magazine. Of course I had to post them.

I like his use of color perfectly fitting each city.

All the icons and elements depicting the cities with simplicity yet with much involvement.

Each one of these illustrations makes me want to visit the city it depicts and have a great adventure.

Visit Fernando's site for more fabulous illustration work. If I could I would post it all here.

{ Images Via :: Fernando Volken Togni }

aesthetic apparatus

I've been admiring the great work of Aesthetic Apparatus for some years now. I absolutely love their style and use of color.

They're better known for many gig posters for indie and popular bands.

I really like their use of familiar icons and objects to create decorative motifs.

I would call their work decorative grunge. There's always a very clean and stylized decoration with addition of a textured element.

And of course I would love this one, what a great pattern! Is that an insect I see in there?!

Owls are everywhere. Love it!

Make sure to check out their site (as if you haven't already) and buy yourself a poster...or two. These guys print their own stuff, too.

{ Images Via :: Aesthetic Apparatus }

happy weekend + an illustrated city

I came across these great travel-inspired posters of my favorite cities via Cosas Mínimas.

I've never been to London but I'm sure I'll love it! I love the simplicity of the illustrations just with the quintessential icons of each city.

New York City: Central Park, The Buildings, and A Walk in the Park...what could be better?!

It's April Showers season in San Diego so I'll surely be dreaming of these three cities to take my mind off the rain. Happy Weekend, see you back on Monday.

{ Images Via :: Cosas Mínimas }

a roll of the dice

I came across the coolest use of dice through enormouschampion yesterday.

Isn't this the most ingenious way of using dice. Imagine the endless possibilities of designs you can come up with.

These orangy posters are the creation of Bryan Baker. Brilliant!

Even the plate created by the dice for printing is a piece of art in itself. Check out his Etsy Shop to see more of his work.

{ Images Via :: Stukenborg on Etsy }

e-inspired pattern + invitation

I was designing a quick invite yesterday for a series of jewelry parties a friend will be hosting soon. She wanted something simple but with a decorative motif.

I immediately started playing around with letters to create a pattern I could use as the decorative element. My friend's name starts with the letter 'e' so it was easier than usual to instantly get some ornate motifs (versus using the letter 'i'). These are a few of the initial icons I created.

This is one of the patterns I created with the icons...

and another.

These are a couple of the invitation comps I created for her. The size fits perfectly 4-up on a letter-size sheet so she will be able to easily print these at home. Very budget-friendly, but with style. Now I just have to wait and see which one she chooses.

{ Images Via :: LizzyB Loves }

an eight a.m. {hand-drawn} calendar

I know we're four months into the new year (can I still call it 'new year'?) but I've been wanting to share this awesome, hand-created, calendar for a couple of months now.

The guys over at Eight A.M Design designed, printed, and assembled these calendars all by hand. They screen printed the covers with silver and neon pink ink on various colored cover stock.

The inside pages were digitally printed on textured, coated stock, which gives the final piece a semi-glossy look.

The art on each of the inside pages was hand-drawn to represent a particular holiday falling in each month.

The final assembled calendars were then packaged in hand-sewn (by me, :) ) bags created out of various patterned and multi-colored fabrics.

Check out Eight A.M. Design's blog to read more about these cool calendars, and if you ask them nicely...you might get one sent your way.

{ Images Via :: Eight A.M. Design }

chinatown + a homegoods haven

Well, this weekend Gabriel and I took a drive up to L.A. with his family and we visited Chinatown, which after living there for almost a year we'd never been. We had lunch at Hop Louie (delicious!) and walked around perusing through the various shops.

Just a few of my favorite shots from the day.

You probably know by now that I love collecting home accessories, be it for the kitchen or anywhere in the house, so I was in heaven when I came across REALM, my favorite shop, of course because it was filled with the most beautiful, modern, Asian-inspired home accessories. These are a few of the items I am lusting over...a bit too pricey for my current financial budget, though.

The store is housed in what used to be a Chinese restaurant in years past, and it was catered by an architect, so you can imagine the lovelies I saw at my every turn. I especially loved the colors, both of the objects and the architecture, deep reds, bright greens, watery turquoise. From their site, "Realm not only seeks to provide a source for lovely objects for the home, but to also fortify and preserve Chinatown’s rich history and culture.", and it does just that.

{ Images Via :: LizzyB Loves :: REALM }

happy weekend

{I took this shot on my weekend field trip to the Little Italy Mercato. It's so simple but says so much.}

In these times of financial hardship and uncertainty one tends to feel down in the dumps too often. From trying to find a full time job, to finding creative ways of paying for essentials it's always hard to keep a chin up and a smile on your face. But, after many months of struggle I've found that the only way one can go from here is up.

It's these hard times that help me realize what I have and be thankful for the people that surround me. As the quote above says, happiness comes from appreciating what you do have and not from getting something you don't.

Well, this weekend marks three months of me turning 30 and starting my blog. This is a check-up of sorts of how I've been doing and what I've accomplished, and let me tell you, I'm proud! Not only have I kept up with my blog on a daily basis (which I so enjoy doing), but I've launched my LizzyB Loves website as well, something I had been attempting to do for years. I've met many great people through this blog and I've been inspired to create many new things.

So, in retrospect, these hard times have been the impetus for me, and many people, to do what I really want and accomplish all I want in life. I am able to do what I've been wanting to do for a while now, which is sit in a coffee shop and work at my leisure (and be paid for it!). Sure, it's not the end of bad times, but it's the start of many good times to come, and this video was of great inspiration!

Just Be, Love All, Stay Cool. Happy Weekend.

{ Images Via :: LizzyB Loves :: LizzyB Loves :: Happy Serendipity :: Lemonade }

a new look

{ I fell in love with this illustration since I FFFFound it. This seemed like a good time to use it. }

It happened all of a sudden. I was cleaning out my inbox and saw an email from Blogger which I'd saved from a couple of weeks ago regarding their Template Designer. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the design of my blog  from the beginning so I saved the email to test the designer out later, and well, this is the outcome. It's wider and that means LARGER images...love it!

{ Image Via :: FFFFound }

a lovely {handmade} gift

Last week Gabriel brought home the most special gift I could have ever received. A beautiful Acholi Beads bracelet created from recycled paper by Ugandan women.

Now, you know I LOVE any little bit of jewelry I can get my hands on, but when what you pay for it goes to a very special cause...well, it's even better!

A short intro to these talented women: having fled from a brutal civil war in the north of Uganda, the women of the Acholi tribe earn a professional wage by creating hand-crafted beads from recycled paper and assembling the beautiful jewelry you can find in their online store. Visit their site to learn more about them.

The jewelry in these images are just a sampling of my favorite pieces.

I love the green tone to this beaded necklace.

And this bracelet is similar to mine, but I like this orange version as well.

This colorful bead necklace would go great with the colorful earring above. I think I might have to go buy myself some new jewelry...as if I didn't have enough. :)

{ Images Via :: LizzyB Loves :: Acholi Beads }