#it's lovely to see all of our unique art styles mashed together into one piece!

[tiddie-taylor]

SILLY ART COLLAB WITH THE LOVELIES @nyankewlll + @erranplayz !!! :D

I highly recommend checking out both of their other art works they r very lovely!! :3

[lazodiac]

Been awhile, but lets get back to Thunder Junction. There's artifacts aplenty and we need to note down where they're from! Last time we did the Multicolour cards, which can be found here. For now though, lets begin...

ARTIFACTS

(the uncoloured ones anyway)

As somewhat befits this project, our first one is a Thunder Junction original... by way of being so many planes mashed together that it isn't really possible to pinpoint exactly one. The coinage is all new marks, but the variety of other golden trinkets come from multiple different planes, from New Capenna to Ravnica to Amonkhet to Jund. Cute, though.

A Thunder Junction original, and another good example of how Thunder based magical enchantment works- you need a loop to run it through, so their TNT boxes are gonna be full of horse-shoes.

I will note that technically the detonation plunger SHOULDN'T be the actual, like, explosive device, since that ensures whoever is using it fucking dies, but close enough.

This is a native resource of the plane being gathered with a pretty typical bowl, so that's a point for Thunder Junction.

Also the emphasis of the art is on the diamond in the gold! This isn't inaccurate, many gold mines convert to diamond mines over the years.

Hellspur boots are, as you'd expect by this point, native to Thunder Junction. I gotta imagine these hurt to wear right?

A train! While the gigantic motorwheel is hilarious to look at, and the levitated tracks a bit silly, I think this is genuinely a very cool artistic design.

It's explicitly made clear all trains are from either Kaladesh or New Capenna, and this is clearly a Kaladeshi train.

Hah, good pun. I have no reason to assume this beyond maybe some minor artistic things but I choose to believe this is an Atiin made creation. They're nomads, after all.

A living scarecrow that attracts birds and generates mana? This is from Lorwynn/Shadowmoor you can't fool me!

Made of gemeralds found in the very rock itself, this natural golem is, of course, native to Thunder Junction.

There are a couple places this guy could be from. The floating shoulder spikes strike me as hedron esque, the armour evokes New Capenna, but the actual make of this guy... I'm gonna go with Dominaria. Whoever made this is from there, and has those design sensibilities.

Now this one? This one is obvious. You don't get this sort of smooth metalwork on any plane but the Esper region of Alara. There's a good chance that if you cracked this puppy open there would be some dog flesh underneath that has been completed sculpted over in Etherium.

There's a couple places this could be from. My gut was Innistrad, but there's no Innistradi markings- not even the faint sign of a collar. It's also not common for ARTIFACTS to be the walking dead, in Innistrad. With that in mind, and due to the prevelance of the very lovely looking skull, that this is from Ulgrotha.

A completely plane agnostic concept, but with a old west flavor. This is a Thunder Junction original.

This beautiful piece of work is, I feel, pretty clearly from Eldraine. The artistic style on the bandana feels like it could be viking inspired, but by that same token feels appropriately middle-european.

A fey-made bandana for all your sneak-thieving needs!

Sold by Honest Rutstein, so I see no reason not to claim this is from Innistrad.

Hey so as it turns out there aren't many artifacts in this set- that are uncoloured, at any rate. The rest are all throughout the coloured runthroughs, so go look at those if that's what you're most interested in. Lets look at our count;

Atiin Plane 1

Alara 1

Eldraine 1

Innistrad 1

Kaladesh 1

Lorwynn/Shadowmoor 1

Thunder Junction 6

Ulgrotha 1

Not bad, not bad. Next up will be Unique Lands... and then onto the Alchemy cards, the Vault, and the tokens, and we'll finally be done with this. Hope you enjoyed!

[the-sunlit-earth]

Your Morrowind graphics look sooo beautiful! Do you have a list of the mods you used? I'd really appreciate it if you could share it!

Sure! I'd be happy to share my setup =)

My modlist is cobbled together from various modding guides, suggestions by friends who've played Morrowind, and my own personal preferences as I've played and come across things I felt like changing (like the pond scum lol!).

I tried to leave out most mods that had zero to do with Graphics/changes you can see in the world, and I also tried to keep my descriptions short, though if you were only asking for a simple load order then I apologize, oops!

The Engine

MGE XE (this is absolutely vital for those distant views/awesome light and water shaders and other features!)

Morrowind Code Patch (needed for bump/reflection maps to look right!)

Meshes/Textures/Overhauls

Morrowind Optimization Patch (improves performance/fixes some mesh errors!)

Patch for Purists (squashes so many bugs while avoiding unnecessary changes!)

Intelligent Textures (full AI upscaled/hand-edited texture pack of the game, excellent as a base if you plan to add on more targeted replacers later!)

Enhanced Water Shader for MGE XE--OR--Krokantor's Enhanced Water Shader Updated: (depends on which version of MGE XE you're using; if 0.13.0 you'll want the Updated version, and if earlier you need the older one. 3 shades of water to choose from; improved caustics, foam, ripples, underwater effects; and no more weird immersion-breaking moment when you would previously tilt the camera just beneath the surface and it would suddenly be perfectly clear. Absolutely gorgeous water!)

Animation Compilation-Hand to Hand Improved Without Almalexia Spellcasting (idk if this counts, but it does fix the Visual of that weird vanilla running animation!)

Better Bodies and Westly's Pluginless Replacer (a friend told me to get Robert's bodies, but BB is also very good and seems to be the most widely used + many mods need it, like Julan!)

Pluginless Khajiit Head pack (prettier kitties!)

Improved Argonians (better looking lizard-friends!)

Children of Morrowind (adds realism by having kids running around your towns!)

Julan, Ashlander Companion [v3.0 at bottom of this page] (ok not a graphics mod, but will add much immersion to your game, so I will shill for him anyway!)

Vibrant Morrowind 3.0/4.0 (this one I actually don't have installed yet, but I love the way Vivec looks in the screenshots!)

abot Water Life (adds aquatic creatures/things like algae and coral to make Morrowind's waters more alive!)

Vurt's Corals (found on Vurt's Groundcover page; adds gorgeous corals and new water plants!)

Vurt's Ashlands Overhaul (can choose between gnarly trees or vanilla-style!)

Vurt's Groundcover (gorgeous animated grass and vegetation that differs for each region!)

Vurt's Solstheim Tree Replacer II (more realistic trees and snowy pines!)

Vurt's Bitter Coast Trees II (5 additional unique trees!)

Vurt's Bitter Coast Trees II Remastered (mesh fixes/optimizations for the trees!)

Vurt's Leafy West Gash II (more trees, and optional rope bridge texture!)

Vurt's Ascadian Isles Tree Replacer II (v10a recommended for better-sized trees without clipping issues; TREES!!)

Articus Bush Replacer for Vurt AI Trees II (new model for bush tree + bark retexture!)

Vurt's Grazeland Trees II (really cool palms and Baobab trees!)

Vurt's Mournhold Trees II (beautiful animated cherry blossom trees!)

I Lava Good Mesh Replacer (better lava mesh, has no flickering with effects like steam!)

Remiros' Minor Retextures - Mist (much nicer spooky mist in Ancestral Tombs!)

Unto Dust (adds atmospheric floating dust motes, kinda like in Skyrim barrows!)

Graphic Herbalism MWSE (improved meshes and Oblivion-style harvesting!)

Glow in the Dahrk (windows transition to glowing versions at night!)

Ashfall (super awesome and very configurable Camping/Survival/Cooking/Needs mod!)

Watch the Skies (dynamic weathers/weather changes inside/randomized clouds etc!)

Seasonal Weather of Vvardenfell (weather changes throughout the year!)

Taddeus' Foods of Tamriel (adds Ashfall compatible foods and ovens for baking!)

More Wells (add-on for Ashfall/more immersive since access to water is pretty important!)

Diverse Blood (because not everything should bleed Red when you poke it with a spear!)

Lived Towns - Seyda Neen (adds more containers/clutter to make it feel more lived-in!)

Better Waterfalls (adds splash effects/water spray, better running water texture!)

Waterfalls Tweaks (resized water splash to blend better!)

Dunmer Lanterns Replacer (smoother/more-detailed-yet-optimized lanterns + paper lanterns!)

Telvanni Lighthouse Tel Vos (fits in perfectly with Azura's Coast region!)

Telvanni Lighthouse Tel Branora (very atmospheric, works well with surroundings!)

Palace of Vehk (Vivec's Palace feels lived-in instead of sad and empty!)

Ships of the Imperial Navy (immersive addition to Imperial waterfront areas!)

Striderports (gives caravaners some shelter and comfort while standing there all day!)

Illuminated Palace of Vivec (decorates palace steps + shrines with devotion candles and flowers left by followers!)

Scum Retexture - Alternative 2 (better looking pond scum in Bitter Coast region!)

Full Dwemer Retexture (I went with Only Armor/Robots/Weapons; nice high quality retex!)

Blighted Animals Retextured (I chose Darknut's 1024; blighted animals have their own sickly textures now!

Vivec Expansion 3.1 Tweaked Reworked (adds a hostel/many wooden walkways to Vivec on the water!)

Atmospheric Plazas (Vivec's plazas now have weather/sunlight! Be sure to use MCP's Rain fix to keep it from pouring as if there's no roof!)

Gemini's Realistic Snowflakes (more organic texture with more depth!)

Severa Magia DB fix (makes hideout actually appropriate to Dark Brotherhood!)

Starfire's NPC Additions (more populated towns and settlements!)

Hold It (adds items for NPCs to hold and carry, based on their class; very immersive!)

Suran-The Pearl of the Ascadian Isles (I went with White Suran Complete package; stunning retexture that also adds docks/waterfront!)

Atmospheric Delights (a more fitting mood inside the House of Earthly Delights!)

Guars Replacer-Aendemika of Vvardenfell (pluginless makeover for our scaly friends!)

Silt Strider by Nwahs and Mushrooms Team (great new model+textures for these cool bug-buses!)

Skar Face (giant crab manor in Ald-ruhn gets claws and legs!)

Armor/Clothing

Redoran Founders Armor (Redoran councilors stand out in this cool set!)

Morag Tong Polished (bug fixes/Armor Replacer/restored cut content for the faction!)

Rubber's Weapons Pack (several unique weapons/shields get distinct models!)

Yet Another Guard Diversity (generic copypasta guards now have variation!)

Better Silver Armor (adds missing pieces of silver armor to make full set!)

Royal Guard Better Armor (pluginless armor replacer for the Royal Guards!)

RR Mod Series Better Silt Strider Armor (cooler bug men in your Ashlander camps!)

Armored Robes NPC Compilation (some Ordinators/Mabrigash/others will wear distinct robes of their station!)

Full Dragonscale Armor Set v1.3a (adds the missing pieces to make the set complete!)

Mage Robes (robes for every magic school, many MG members will wear their respective ones!)

Quorn Resource Integration (lore-friendly armor/creatures added to leveled lists to be encountered in game!)

Better Clothes (non-segmented clothing replacer to fit Better Bodies!)

More Better Clothes (additional shirts that were missed in the first one!)

Better Clothes Complete (fixes many problems and 1st person clipping issues for BC!)

Better Clothes Retextured (high-res retextures for nearly all base game clothes!)

Hirez Better Clothes (3 shirts retextured in high quality!)

Better Morrowind Armor (BB compatible armor replacer!)

Dark Brotherhood Armor Replacer (changes DB armor to look more like concept art!)

Bonemold Armor Replacer (much nicer-looking Bonemold armor!)

Westly's Fine Clothiers of Tamriel (very high quality clothes that you will see many NPCs wearing too!)

Orcish Retexture v1.2 (beautifully done armor retexture!)

Daedric Lord Armor (much improved Daedric set, very fierce!)

Ebony Mail Replacer (awesome new model+tex that changes it to actual chainmail!)

I use Wrye Mash to install my mods, though I think a lot of people use MO2. Haaa, now that I've made this list I have the strong urge to just run around Morrowind taking even more screenshots =)

[houseofvans]

SKETCHY BEHAVIORS | INTERVIEW W/ CRYSTAL HABITATS

Combining stain glass, metal smithing and mineralogy, founder of Crystal Habitats, Rachel Pitler transformed her drawing and painting skills into a magical world of 3D stained glass and molten metal sculptures – from jewel adorned cardholders, wands, daggers (athames), to ring holders, just to mention a few. Not only one thing, Rachel is also a co-founder of Bitchcraft, an unique holiday event featuring over 60 vendors, selling everything dark & magical. We��re excited to talk to Rachel and find out more about how she started her creations, what inspires them, and what she has planned for 2019! 

Take the leap below!

Photographs courtesy of the artist. 

Introduce yourself. My name is Rachel Pitler Hsiung. I am a mixed-media artist (stained glass, molten metal, oil painting, and clay). Originally I am from Detroit; however, I have been living in Los Angeles now for many years. My professional background is in the rock & mineral industry. Working in this field allows me to travel to all the big gem shows where I am able to work with interesting specimens on a daily basis... as well as being surrounded by these beauties is a huge creative plus for me and where I draw much of my inspiration.

Tell us a little about your background in art? I never had any formal training in drawing & painting. My mom is a fantasy illustrator, so growing up I often sat with my mom and watched her paint/draw, and I took to it myself pretty quickly. I got a job in my 20s teaching art to kids & teens on the basics of drawing, watercolor & oil painting. I taught art for 8 years. It was a really important time in my life for me to grow as an artist. Through teaching others I discovered a lot about myself, I learned to enjoy my process of making art, to never stop learning, and to push myself out of my comfort zone into new mediums.

How did you go from working with traditional material like oil paints and pastels to a medium like stain glass and solder?  When did you start creating pieces out of glass, metal, and so forth? A little over 5 years ago one of my best friends Erin Coovert (Moontan Stain Glass) started taking a glass class. She encouraged me to try out her class, I did and have been forever changed by this incredible medium. I am so grateful to her for sharing this path with me as it opened up so much more for me in terms of my creative abilities. It's really hard when you have a lot of creative ideas, but little tools to make them into reality. I was such a two dimensional art person trying to be a 3D artist and for whatever reason stained glass opened that part of my brain up to problem solve and tackle art projects that I would have otherwise given up on.

Tell us a little about Crystal Habitats and the unique pieces that you create for it? In mineralogy, the word crystal habit is a characteristic of crystal groups & individual crystals. I wanted to make artwork that reflected my own take on crystals and create pieces that are like little worlds within themselves, little habitats that harness magick and cast their energy onto whoever uses them. Art for me has always been a refuge and a place of healing. 

I love making tools that do just that. I make wands & daggers (athames) that are adorned with crystals & molten metal. I make three sided pyramids (often with crystals adhered to them), jewelry, ring holders, and a lot of other items. In my drawings & paintings, I have a fantasy world I came up with called The Ice Crags. Many of my paintings & drawings take place in this realm. My characters are often High Priestess (and wizards). Recently I have started to making these characters in stained glass.

Of the many things you create–from wands to daggers–which is your favorite to make and why? What is the process like for one of these, from start to finish? Right now I am really enjoying the process of making my snake athames (a type of dagger). Snakes represent healing & transformation, when paired with a stone setting and blade, these pieces really become a source of internal empowerment.

My friend John (@jabforge) makes my blades, I make the hilt with molten metal...I cut out a copper/metal sheet with my metal cutter to create a handle. I hand solder the entire base...there are different ways to solder...I have adapted a painting style of soldering, you can create patterns within the metal to give it a unique look. When I add the crystals I make bezels out of metal, and solder it to the hilt, and I hand make the the snakes out of epoxy clay. I give my pieces a dark patina and I often use my dremel to smooth out parts and I sand it down to give it an interesting aged look. I enjoy making these in particular as it is a collaboration which I always love and each piece has such a unique character to them. When working with molten metal, I never know what pattern I am going to make till I start soldering, it's always fun to see how they turn out.  

In your studio, what type of art materials and tools would we find on your desk? Too many tools and never enough tools! Lead free solder, soldering iron, flux, glass cutting materials, dremel, jewelry wax, metal cutter, thin wires, metal sheets, copper sheets, all sorts of dental tools (I use them for carving) epoxy clay, lots of glues, torch, hammers, paint, glass, wood, my lapidary wheel, patina, cabochons and crystals parts, there's a lot of stuff! Im super obsessed with working with new materials. Since I work in a handful of mediums, it becomes a real science project in my studio mashing them together to see what works and what doesn’t.

What are some of the cool collaborations you’ve done? How do collaborators incorporate your works into what they’re doing?  A recent collaboration I did was with my good friend Alex from Acid Queen Jewelry. She makes incredible jewelry and we often talk shop on a weekly basis. She made a gorgeous ring and I made a matching glass ring holder (glass base with a quartz point as the holder for the ring). She and I will have more collabs in 2019! Very excited to work with her again! And as mentioned earlier John from Jab Forge. He is a blacksmith, his blade work is my favorite...his blades look like moon craters, they have a real old world look to them and I enjoy matching my style of metal work with his work.  

What medium haven’t you tried that you’d definitely like to get your hands on? Metalsmithing. Well this is a medium I have dabbled in but really haven’t gone deep and it’s my goal for 2019 to get into it more. Specifically so that I can incorporate a different type of metal work into my stained glass & my solder work. Medium cross over is my favorite thing to mess around with, good for the brain ;)

Not only are you behind Crystal Habitats and its creations, but you had an active role in creating an event/community called Bitchcraft. Can you tell us more about Bitchcraft, how it started and the idea behind it? When was the last one and when’s the next one? Yes! 10 years ago I co-founded it with 4 of my friends. We all made things and wanted an all female handmade collective where we could barter/sell goods.  I believe we had like 10 vendors at the first one in our friend’s backyard...now there are over 60 vendors, it's a pretty large holiday event. It's a collective that celebrates everything dark & magickal, a curated group of like-minded makers filled with everything from metal goods, apothecary, altar items, capes, wands, jewelry, and really a lot of items related to other worldly and the occult. We just had our annual holiday show in December! There's always a chance for a mid year show but for now not till Dec 2019 :)

Who are some of your favorite vendors or artists from that Bitchcraft community? What’s your favorite thing about that community? Oh that is really hard for me to say!! Most of these people have been my friends for a long time and have been a creative support system and I cherish all of them and appreciate & admire all of their works. My favorite thing about the Bcraft community is the friendships! There is so much love and support with this crew...outside of this event a lot of the vendors work with each other on projects, do shows together, help promote and support one another. Having a strong group of makers is super important to me and has helped me grow so much as an artist, and I am so thankful for all of them!

Who are some other artists you’re inspired by? What kind of things inspire you? I have the longest list of artist who have inspired me!! But I have to say my very top inspirational artist would be my mom, Sheri-Pitler McClure. Her work is everything to me...she has a way of drawing people that is so out of this time, totally belongs in Middle Earth. Growing up my mom surrounded our household with fantasy - wizard & unicorn statues spread throughout our my childhood home...she is a big fan of science fiction, so as a kid I was exposed to all movies and books on the subject. She is also a rock collector (she did opal lapidary work back in the day) so I guess all of these things had a big impact on me. When I was really young she painted a series of these goddesses that represented the different seasonal full moons. These women were painted as strong ethereal beings, who’s magick reached out from the canvas and wided my eyes to endless worlds one could create. That was my first memory of how art can really change your perspective and it has stuck with me ever since.  

Other things that inspire me spans from crystal formations, old medieval paintings, everything Tolkien, old lore & fantasy books/movies. I am also really into the color pallet of the Dark Crystal, I often watch and think about that movie when I am making.

What’s been the most challenging part of maintaining Crystal Habitats? What’s been the most rewarding? What do you do to keep the balance? I would say compartmenting my time has been a big challenge….often people tell me to do my art full time but working in the mineral business is my dream job and it is also is a place where I come up with my concepts...its like one can’t exist without the other, so figuring out the balance of them has been something that I am always working on. The most rewarding part is when I have a really fresh new idea and I am able to execute it….there are some designs that I will do over and over, but when a new design pops into my head it becomes extremely exciting to work on.

Recently I have been bringing balance into my work space by not taking on too many custom orders or too many shows...allowing myself to have breaks...through these breaks I have been able to come back fresh and renewed, which is very important to my process.

What’s your advice to folks who see what you do and want to pursue it as a career? Don’t compare yourself to others. Keep learning, discover new mediums, always be a student of something it really opens your mind to concepts that otherwise could be dormant.

What’s your best advice for creative folks on social media platforms, like Instagram? Have fun! I know that sounds lame, be seriously don’t get caught up in it too much. The more stress you surround yourself with social media & the more it takes away from your art. I love using social media, I love using it to showcase my art and be connected to other artists/communities, but don’t allow it to become overwhelming. I think being true to your art is the most important part:)

What are your FAVORITE Vans?  Slip-Ons!

Finally can you share with us what exciting things you may have lined up for 2019? I’ll be working on a new line of handmade jewelry boxes. A lot more snake themed items for sure!! I have been working on some Shield Maiden jewelry through metalsmithing/lost wax mediums, it is something I have been really taking my time with and I am hoping to have some completed soon. I will also being vending at the Culver City Gem & Mineral Show in June 2019.

FOLLOW RACHEL | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE 

[eclectichippieca]

This is me!

My name is Chantal, I'm the Eclectic Hippie!

I work hard to keep balance in our very busy lifestyle. I believe that a balance between home, work and family is the most important thing on earth. I also believe that balance does not come without Jesus Christ.

As I learn to blog more and more, you will see glances of who I am. Not only will you see my crafts and  share in the projects of my life but you will also what kind of parent I am, What kind of friend I am, where my drive to keep going comes from.

I'm a mother of 2 very busy kiddos, an age 2.5 boy and 9year old girl, as well as the step mother to a 10 years old girl and 13 year old boy…. Teens and toddlers….. it can be a challenge at times! We are a yours, mine and ours family, my 9yr old is from my first marriage, his 2 are from his past relationship, and our toddler is ours together.

I work hard to make sure schedules are maintained, within my boundaries, and to make sure the children are loving, well educated and kind, my toddler can be a challenge in the “kind” aspect! But from what I'm learning this time around, some toddlers are just harder than others and we are all given different challenges in our walks as parents. I'm also learning that childhood is only once. My parenting style, as my children grow has changed a lot, our youngest is getting a very different mom than my daughter and step children got growing up as a young child.

I love to garden, although, I have yet to prove to be any good at it! I have good luck with tomatoes and lillies, but that is really the most I can get to grow for some reason! But I'm working on it! And will journal my gardening adventures here! I also have a struggling winter garden in our house. It contains mint and chives! That seems to be all I can keep alive other than Spider Plants.

We are a homeschool family. Not because we don't believe in the school system, just because it wasn't working for us! It has been a journey, that's for sure! We are currently in our second year and have been sticking to the philosophy that we will learn as we go; we choose a topic and we study it, watch videos, read books, etc. Wherever life kind of take us really. We just finished space and now we are on to cleaning and preserving our planet.. we were supposed to be studying circuit and coding, but sometimes passions of the child take over and we run with what they love.

Crafting is my true reason behind this blog. I love to take ideas from sources from Pinterest or Google and mash a bunch of ideas together to come up with unique pieces for myself and my friends. Nothing makes me more happy than giving handmade gifts! I will be starting a stream for my crafts, upcycling, and art work. I will chat live from there as I work on my pieces. If you want to interact live, just watch for the links! You will find more pictures of past art pieces on my Instagram page!

I'm a gamer, or at least a wanna-be gamer. I enjoy video games in small doses, and because of that I really only have time for one video game. Destiny 2 is my main game right now. Although, there are some new games coming out that look pretty awesome!

I'm not afraid to stand out. I have tattoos, piercings and dreadlocks. I'm not your standard stay at home mom, Dayhome operator, playgroup facilitator, I enjoy being myself. Who ever that is each day. I wear a lot of plaid.

I love to cook! Especially when I can make it once and have 4 meals to put in the freezer or for large groups of people! Ohh and baking! I love baking My husband prefers to cook on the go, fresh ingredient meals and just for our family. Both are yummy and come in handy for our very busy schedules we lead around here! There will be pictures of food!

I'm aspiring to reduce my items in my home to motivate mindfulness and self back into our home while giving more time to spend together and cleaning less. I'm following minimalism ideas, I love the comfiness of Hygge, being eco friendly and eco conscious, reducing our waste and global impact, anything that makes us feel like we are doing right by ourselves. So we don't really fall under a true lable; we could call it Eclectic Minimalism and Organization.

Volunteering and working with kids is a huge part of my life. I run a Dayhome as my day job, I run some local satellite playgroups in my area 2 days a week, a 2 day a month drop in gym program over the winter months. We opened a Community Garden last year and will be adding more to it this year. I am a member of Communities in Bloom, which is how we got the funding and land for out CG, and we are working to beautify the village we live in even more. This village will be my little hippie village if I have anything to do with it! I want my kids to want to come back when they are gown.

Before having our LO, we used to be a big part of the church. Teaching classes, singing worship, cooking for men's breakfasts, hosting church events like bible studies and the Christmas Morning Breakfast. We, even after having our LO, kept volunteering for the Soccer Camp put on each year for the Community and anything that works with our evolving schedules..

It may seem like this is a list of things I do, but to me, this is who I am! I am a mother, a crafter, a crappy gardener, a good and loyal friend, a wife and caregiver. This is who I am, I love to serve and to help where I can. I want to be involved in my community to help build it up to be a strong place to forever call home. This year makes 6 years in this village and home.

The people around me have shaped me to be who I am and who I am becoming. I have some dear friends who have changed my life forever. Their stories inspire me. I will write about them and how their lives impact mine and how I can see my choices affect them as well. And of course about the love we have for each other. Our kids are basically cousins across the board. Aunties fill our little world! I couldn't ask for better people in my life!

I want to speak my testimonies as they come up. I want to share my passions and gifts. I want to talk and interact with fellow parents and crafters, alike. Everything I post will hopefully inspire you to make yourself happier. I'm not a doctor or even someone with a college education, but I am someone who struggles through dark periods of time that being positive can be a real challenge for me. Depression and anxiety own large parts of my life. It's fight to stay out of the darkness sometimes. But with the support system I have, I can usually climb my way out of the hole I'm living in. It's amazing really!

I look forward to sharing my stories and adventure we have! Family, Community, Friends, Crafting and so much more make up who I am and who I will be representing here in my blog.

I look forward to interacting and sharing so much through the Eclectic Hippie. Join me for this ride!

Peace and love my friends

[shrinenose50-blog]

The basics! Paint & windows, + my BIGGEST DIY ever: Week 2 of the One Room Challenge

10.10.2018

I've definitely made progress on our master bedroom makeover since the "before" pics--starting with paint and window treatments which honestly has been a huge, incredible change. I'm also finally ready to SHOP for stuff which is a little unnerving (I have a hard time committing!) but really helpful to see it all come together.

(You can see all my One Room Challenge posts here.)

This post contains affiliate links.

Our progress so far includes the basics of making over a room:

Paint (unfortunately in this case, painting over wallpaper--more about that later) 

Replacing the 40-year-old window coverings with these linen Roman shades

And, progress on the biggest project of the room (and literally my BIGGEST DIY ever): making a slipcovered bed!! We're loosely following this thorough tutorial for a DIY upholstered bed, but my plan is to make it look like this Serena & Lily one on my inspiration board.

And finally, the hardest piece so far to choose and order for me is lighting. Such a bummer cause I looooove shopping for lighting, but when it comes down to it for my own room, I'm so stumped!!

1. The basics: Painting over wallpaper

The walls in this room are the same white as everywhere else in this house, Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. It's a little warmer than the white we used in our last house (White, OC 151, by Benjamin Moore) which feels good next to the warm trim--but it's still not as warm as, say, Simply White by Ben Moore.

I really will have to share more with you guys later about painting over wallpaper, but for now let me just say that we were told to do it that way (rather than take down the wallpaper) by multiple professionals and we followed a series of steps to make it work.

Here it is painted but still quite a "before" state. 

2. The basics: new Roman shades

We left that baby quilt up a long time, and the tan vinyl roller shades that were under the curtains on the other two windows. It was not my style. :P

I've shared on Instagram about these shades... I really debated going custom for all our windows but once you add up the features like cordless and top-down, bottom-up (pretty important for this side of the house with our neighbors so close), custom got prohibitively expensive. I wasn't sure how I would like the quality of these top-down, bottom-up, cordless linen Roman shades I found online... but aside from the extra length, I think they are about as good as I could expect on my budget!

Still need to take down that old hardware...

Love that they are cordless and versatile with how we open them.

3. DIY slipcovered bed

I'll talk more about this later on in the ORC, but let me just say for now... like a crazy person, I have decided to build a bed instead of buy one because I couldn't find one I liked in my price range. And because my dad is retired and very generous with his time and skills.

Progress... we're following the tutorial for the base bed part, and will tweak things with upholstering and associated things like feet.

I made some design decisions like how high the base should be, and thought about how much space we need between the bed and nightstands which will dictate the headboard width.

It's coming together! I picked up the batting after we got it assembled and I need to staple it on before we make much more progress.

We got the headboard, batting, and muslin cut out--almost ready to start stapling and assembling!

4. Light fixture indecision

Ironic and such a bummer cause I always say I LOVE shopping for lighting!!, but now it turns out, when it comes to my own room... it's hard! I think I like one of these options but as I kept adding them to this collage I think I just got more confused.

I want the light fixture to be special. A little unique, a little bit of a statement, and something that adds to the vibe of the room. I think the problem is I am mixing styles (a little tiny bit of midcentury modern, some relaxed contemporary, the vintage look rug...) and it's an old house, so none of the fixtures scream "compatible." I'd love to hear what you think!! (You can click on each of these below for more info on them. I did my best on scale.)

I also want it to go with our home--I am doing less boho than I used to go for, more of the "modern traditional" look (hence fixture 6), not much MCM, a little more contemporary which is really just a mish mash of everything else, right?... it's an older home, but I don't want to do something that's actually like what used to be here because 1930's Tudor interiors are not my thing. ;) But I don't want to go crazy with a sore thumb light fixture.

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I've also done some shopping like for bedding and lamps, and am making progress with the sourcing--good because shipping delays make me nervous. (I did order the rug--you guys have been super into that on my Instagram! It's an amazing deal right here till they sell out.)

I also pulled the trigger on the big art above the bed. This print from Unsplash in a "muted prosecco gold" frame. With a big mat. I think it'll add just the right amount of color on the walls.

Stay tuned on my Instagram stories for more updates!

Follow along to see what the Featured Designers and other Guest Participants are doing for the ORC too!

Source: http://www.create-enjoy.com/2018/10/paint-windows-DIY-slipcovered-bed-lighting-week-2-orc.html

[dulwichdiverter]

Sri Lankan style

WORDS BY ELIZABETH RUST; PHOTO BY PAUL STAFFORD

Mehala Ford has turned her 10-year self-discovery project into a thriving business in Dulwich Village: the Friday Sari Project.

It all started when she decided she wanted to learn something about her heritage. She was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in the UK but knew little about the country of her birth. “I didn’t know anything about my culture, except that it’s a nice place to go on holiday,” she says.

Then, after her daughter was born, she started wondering how she was going to pass on her family’s Sri Lankan cultural traditions. That’s when she decided that every Friday she would learn something new about south Asia, starting with how to wear a sari.

“The sari is synonymous with Asia, but I didn’t know how to wear one, so I told myself, ‘I’m Asian, I should know how to wear one!’ I then set myself the challenge to learn how to wear a sari in a different way on Fridays: my Friday Sari Project.”

Mehala followed the book, Saris: Tradition and Beyond, by Rta Kapur Chishti. This step-by-step guide has at least 108 ways of draping a sari.

Deciding to document the project on her blog, the first thing she needed to do was buy a sari. At the time she only had three saris in her wardrobe: a lilac one bought for her by her mother, a black silk one that was her mother’s from the 1980s and her wedding sari.

A simple sari, something cotton she could wear during the day, was what she needed to practise draping, so she headed to Whitechapel to find one.

After looking through all the beautiful, colourful saris with various prints and designs, she bought a black and white one with a geographic print – her first ever sari purchase.

After many Fridays of draping saris, she learned that a sari could be worn casually – not just for a wedding, as she had previously thought – but with a white T-shirt and trainers on the school run. That’s when she started becoming more interested in contemporary south Asian design. Soon followed the idea of opening a concept store where design from the Indian subcontinent could be celebrated.

Mehala had worked in the fashion industry for 20 years, specifically with emerging designers, and so she already understood how to navigate the fashion industry and foster talented creatives.

A pop-up spot in Dulwich Village soon became available, and she snapped up the opportunity to launch her concept store. The Friday Sari Project opened its doors in the summer of 2018, showcasing an array of fashion, photography, textiles and ceramics.

Since the Friday Sari Project’s opening there has been an exciting programme of events, including an evening with cookery writer Jasmine Hemsley and 2019 MasterChef quarter-finalist Ajay John. Ajay prepared a meal called At the Chef’s Table – a celebration of his favourite south Asian dishes, including a delicious potato and paneer kurma, Keralan mixed vegetable avial and Kadala curry.

An exhibition called Future Drape, curated by Mehala in association with Border & Fall’s The Sari Series, showcased future visions of sari styling and drape and featured drape installations, photography and a film screening of The Sari Series: An Anthology of Drape.

But could Mehala’s own personal project exploring her Sri Lankan culture interest anyone else? At first she wasn’t altogether sure the Friday Sari Project would be relevant to Dulwich – but the opposite soon proved to be the case.

Customers regularly come into the shop who are keen to share their stories about south Asia, she says. “Everyone who came in started telling me about their connection with that part of the world. I didn’t expect that at all.”

Every designer showcased in the Friday Sari Project space has been carefully curated by Mehala. Lovebirds, a contemporary womenswear label, was one of her first purchases. She likes this designer because she feels it’s very wearable.

“We talk to our customers about pieces that can be worn to the office and then worn for a night out,” she says – and Lovebirds is a very good example of these transitional pieces.

Their designs focus strongly on shape and form through clean silhouettes and architecturally inspired geometric details, like the vivid blue side pleat V-neck dress currently available in the shop.

NorBlack NorWhite is a colourful label with the aim of reinterpreting ancient Indian practices and textile design. An oversized checked and multicoloured button-down shirt has been popular, Mehala says.

NorBlack NorWhite was created by two Canadian women who moved to India in 2019 to discover their roots. The two went travelling across the country, where they were exposed to the many disappearing art forms and artisan communities.

NorBlack NorWhite was born out of their desire to reinterpret these ancient practices of textile design, while bringing together their worlds by mashing up their love for Michael Jackson, 90s R&B and all things old and gold.

Meanwhile Maus has designed the shop’s bestselling organic lounge trousers and T-shirts in various muted colours. “These are just lovely. I have quite a few of these,” Mehala says. Maus’s clothes are designed to be luxurious leisurewear made of organic cotton and jersey basics that can be worn every day.

Safomasi pillows adorn the modern seating area of the shop with colourful mint and white coconut palm trees. These contemporary prints are the result of the designers’ mix of cultures and influences observed and absorbed from their travels all over the world.

Every single product is handmade and totally unique, and tells the story of a journey through gorgeous colour combinations and distinct illustrative style, with the aim of bringing joy and a small part of their colourful world into your home.

These designers, along with all the others, are the reason Mehala’s customers have fallen in love with the concept store. Her careful curation of brands means that customers are truly only seeing the best of south Asian contemporary design.

“We found our customer. They tend to be a more mature customer, someone who understands design, is interested in textile and craftsmanship,” she says.

“Our customer is inquisitive, open-minded and appreciates what we’ve created.”

Many of these customers have found the Friday Sari Project either on their way to or from Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Inspired by the shop’s colourful, artistically designed window displays, they love how Mehala has created a space where south Asian design is celebrated.

“We’ve now been open just over a year, and we’re getting repeat customers because they know they’ve found something special,” she says.

Mehala likes to think of the shop as a place where people want to visit, a destination, but instead of having to travel to central London, it’s easily accessible to everyone in the surrounding community.

It’s a place of discovery, filled with beautiful pieces whose designers have been inspired by a place with thousands of years of rich history and heritage.

What started out as a personal Friday project really has turned into a local success story for many people to enjoy.

[homeguidedesignsg]

You may not have heard of the eclectic interior design, but its incredibly rich and layered style may be the perfect fit for your home. Eclectic style is all about the cohesion of opposing styles, contrasting colours, and mixing textures. It takes many elements that should not normally work and combines them together into something beautiful and dynamic.

This style involves a great deal of freedom and play, so it takes a trusted home interior design company like Home Guide to help you find something that works. The eclectic style is about a lot more than just mashing together two things that normally don’t work. It takes balance and the right amount of creativity to make this style work. If you like bold design styles that come together to create harmony, you’ll love the eclectic style. Here are a few tips to bring this style to your home in a way that works:

Pick Your Core Palette

The first thing you need to do when implementing the eclectic style is to choose what your core colours are going to be. This is necessary if you want to create a cohesive look, because you’ll need something to pull it all together. Choose one neutral hue and one accent colour to start with. By using a calming neutral colour throughout the room, you prevent it from feeling overwhelming.

The accent colour will play off of the neutral hue to give the room a sense of harmonious life rather than discordant mess. You can absolutely continue to add to your palette as you go along, but starting with these two colours will help you figure out what to build off of.

Make Straightforward Wall Choices

The one thing you want to stay away from with the eclectic style is anything too heavy handed. Therefore, choose something simple for your walls like a straightforward wallpaper or neutral colour. You want to be able to add interest in other areas of your home, and if your walls are taking up too much of the attention, you risk overwhelming your guests.

It’s a lot easier to add interesting accessories in front of a neutral backdrop than it is to add neutral accessories in front of a vibrant wallpaper. But that doesn’t mean your walls have to be the same boring shade of white. You can choose darker colours to add warmth and depth to the space as long as they don’t demand too much attention.

Play With Patterns

The real place where the eclectic design lives up to its name is in the use of patterns. You can show your personality and make wild choices with bold and expressive patterns. Mix and match different styles from striped decorative pillows to rugs with geometric shapes à la art deco. A little experimentation will help you find a unique combination that works for you.

It helps to use similar tones and colours to your two beginning colours from your core palette. This will help bring harmony to the space while allowing you to make some pretty dynamic choices. Make bold choices by pairing together elements that normally clash and you’ll end up with something entirely unique.

Have Fun With Textures

Patterns aren’t the only thing you can play around with. Working with different textures will add depth and life to your home in a memorable way. The eclectic style is all about choosing what’s most visually interesting, and different textures will capture the eye in a subtle but alluring way. Combine smooth vases with a rough wooden table, and pair a soft throw with a hard wooden chair to make the space as dynamic as possible.

Use A Gallery Wall

Gallery walls are a great way to provide a focal point for your living room, and they fit in perfectly with the eclectic style. A focal point is necessary in every room, but it’s especially necessary in a room with a style as vibrant and full of life as the eclectic style. This will give your guests something to focus on while it guides their eye across the space.

Mix and match different style frames and art pieces to create your own unique visual design. Different colours and dimensions will help you to turn other people’s artwork into your own personal eclectic design. You can even source frames from second hand shops and customise them yourself to create a cohesive look without having to spend too much.

Choose A Statement Object

Speaking of focal points, a statement object is an excellent conversation starter for any room. You want to choose something bold that gets guests talking. However, you have to be judicious with statement objects, limiting it to one or two per room. Use too many statement objects and you risk splitting the attention of your guests among too many things. One bold statement object should be enough to facilitate dialogue without overwhelming your guests.

From the Shabby Chic style to Mediterranean, we’ve got you covered. Home Guide is an interior design company that has more than enough experience to deck your home out in the eclectic style. We handle home interior design in Singapore, providing homeowners with eye-popping designs at an affordable price. Check out our portfolio to see some of the unique projects we’ve done, and contact us today for all of your Singapore interior design needs!

[gwynnew]

'Star Wars' and 'The Wizard of Oz': Back in 1977, People Couldn't Stop Comparing the Two

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on Tatooine at the beginning of ‘Star Wars’ (Photo: Getty Images)

Do you sense a disturbance in the Force? Maybe that’s because May 25 will be the 40th anniversary of the original Star Wars’ release in theaters in 1977. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we’ll be posting Star Wars stories all month, including choice vintage interviews, original videos, and some of our favorite pieces from years past. Just keep coming back here all month to see what’s happening in our galaxy. 

How would you describe Star Wars to someone who’s never seen it? It’s not unusual for actors on a press tour to compare their movie to other beloved films, in hopes of getting audiences into the theater. But when Star Wars — Episode IV: A New Hope was first released in 1977, there really hadn’t been another film like it. So when the actors were asked to describe the film in interviews, they found a comparison that might not occur to modern audiences: the 1939 musical fantasy The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy (Judy Garland) in Kansas at the beginning of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Photo: Everett Collection)

“It’s sort of a combination comic book, fairy tale, Wizard of Oz — there are so many different elements in the movie,” star Mark Hamill told an Australian journalist at the time when asked to describe A New Hope. 

Mark Hamill compares ‘Star Wars’ to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in a 1977 interview:

“Every scene is in some way reminiscent of a scene in a film that we all loved before,” Carrie Fisher told the BBC in response to the same question. “Like in High Noon, there’s a bar sequence, only this time it’s with monsters instead of Gary Cooper. And you’ve got The Wizard of Oz — we have a robot that looks sort of like the Tin Man.”

It wasn’t just the cast who made the association. Along with more obvious genre comparisons like the space serial Flash Gordon and 2001: A Space Odyssey, references to The Wizard of Oz come up over and over again in the earliest Star Wars reviews, including those printed by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time, The Guardian, and The Chicago Sun-Times. “Star Wars is a fairy tale, a fantasy, a legend, finding its roots in some of our most popular fictions,” wrote critic Roger Ebert. “The golden robot, lion-faced space pilot, and insecure little computer on wheels must have been suggested by the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.”

Watch a fan mash-up of a ‘Wizard of Oz’  trailer soundtrack with footage from ‘Return of the Jedi:’

There’s no doubt that The Wizard of Oz was one of many films that influenced George Lucas’s space opus, a far-reaching list that also includes the work of Akira Kurosawa, World War II dogfight movies, Metropolis, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and several classic Westerns. The MGM musical was also a touchstone for Lucas’ collaborators; concept designer Ralph McQuarrie, for example, told Making of Star Wars author J.W. Rinzler that the Emerald City helped inspire the look of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. As for the thematic similarities between The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars, the list is substantial: Both are stories about a teenage dreamer raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle, who journeys to a strange land full of wondrous creatures; whose companions include a furry creature and a metal man; who must use his or her inner resources to defeat a black-robed dictator, and so forth. As the official Star Wars website has noted, Wizard of Oz parallels continue into the prequels, the series The Clone Wars, and The Force Awakens.

Luke with Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, and Han Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon in ‘Star Wars’ (Photo: Everett Collection)

But the connection between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz goes deeper than similar plot points and villains with unusual taste in headgear. The reason Lucas’ fantasy evoked The Wizard of Oz for so many people is that both films created immersive, dazzling fantasy worlds that expanded audiences’ understanding of what was possible in a movie. Both films boasted special effects that were so unprecedented, viewers literally had no idea how they were made. Both played with genre conventions in unexpected and delightful ways: Star Wars was a Western in space with an orchestral soundtrack, while The Wizard of Oz was a children’s fairytale elevated by Broadway-style character songs and a unique story-within-a-story structure.

Fans who fell in love with Star Wars during its first theatrical run wouldn’t necessarily have seen The Wizard of Oz on the big screen (though Oz did return to theaters several times prior to the VHS era). However, they almost certainly grew up watching the classic movie, which was broadcast annually on network television from 1959 until 1991. And for many, Star Wars brought back that childlike wonder they experienced watching The Wizard of Oz as actual children, along with the giddy sense that the world onscreen was as real as the one they lived in.

Dorothy with the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Photo: Getty Images)

Now, Star Wars stands beside The Wizard of Oz in the pantheon of films loved by moviegoers of all ages. And the world of Star Wars has become immersive in a way that The Wizard of Oz, for all its onscreen dazzle, never could: George Lucas’ vision of an ever-expanding story continues to be realized in sequels, prequels, merchandise, and other media, not to mention the future Star Wars theme parks that will enable fans to literally enter Luke Skywalker’s world.

Cloud City in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (Photo: Everett Collection)

In some ways, it’s surprising that The Wizard of Oz never expanded into a Star Wars-style mega-franchise, since the novel it’s adapted from had dozens of sequels. But despite many attempts over the decades to extend and re-invent the story — including 1985’s Return to Oz and 2013’s Oz: The Great and Powerful — no movie has managed to fully re-capture the magic of Judy Garland and her co-stars dancing down the yellow brick road. The 1939 film, with its famously disaster-filled production, was lightning in a bottle. The Force ultimately surpassed “there’s no place like home” in the popular imagination because George Lucas figured out how to bottle lightning.

The Emerald City in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Photo: Everett Collection)

Back in 1977, the cast and crew of Star Wars could only dream that their “little space movie,” as Carrie Fisher often called it, would resonate as powerfully for audiences as the place somewhere over the rainbow. It has done that and more — and when George Lucas opens his Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, Wizard of Oz and Star Wars memorabilia will be displayed side by side.

Carrie Fisher Flashback: What She Told Us About That ‘Empire’ Kiss in 2015 (‘There Were No Tongues!’):

Read more from Yahoo Movies:

How Carrie Fisher Helped Create the ‘Star Wars’ Legend

The ‘Star Wars’ Cantina Scene: The Out-of-This-World Story Behind the Galaxy’s Favorite Dive Bar

How the Famous ‘I Love You/I Know’ Scene From ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ Really Came Together