Por Vida {Day of the Dead Art}

Tonight Rudy and I will be attending Por Vida, a Dia de los Muertos celebration here in Columbus. To kick off the evening, I thought I would share some amazing art by Sylvia Ji.

I am in love with her Day of the Dead inspired paintings, and have been for some time now. It is nice to finally share them!

Well dressed man on a bike.

To my handsome Rudy,
If you grew up to look like this, I would not be mad.
Love,
Chelsea

The Sartorialist

Dogs in costumes.

who dem dogs?
Originally uploaded by EllenJo

On my flickr homepage, there was a link that said "Dogs in Costumes". It was even better than I imagined.

Alexander Girard Bikes!

While waiting for a busted tire to be fixed, I noticed a BEAUTIFUL bicycle in our local bike shop. Upon further inspection, I realized that it was decorated with Alexander Girard's Tree of Life. I'm in love with his work, and even though I'm not much of a beach cruiser kinda girl, I fell in love.

See this and more over at electra bike company.

Sierra's crafting corner.

{a coffee table Sierra made out of a suitcase and some legs}

Sierra is one of my very favorite people. I was lucky enough to be her roomie for a couple of years, and now that we are separated by most of the United States, I miss her lots!

She has been doing some pretty cute things in her current residence in Portland, Oregon , and I thought I'd share some of them here! Hopefully this is just the first of many.

She says: "This is an old piece of luggage I found at Value Village. I like to think it was a trunk used by a magician but who knows. It would double as coffee table/game storage. I simply bought 4 table legs with pre-installed hanger bolts and 4 quick mount surface plates. Just screw in plates into the luggage and screw the legs into the plates. I found that once I filled the luggage with the weight of the games it was much more stable. It also smells really bad so its stuffed with dryer sheets. Oh well. It's a price I'm willing to pay."

The best fall weekend.

This weekend we went apple picking.

Made a pile of leaves.

And carved pumpkins on the porch with the neighbors.

Life is good.

Love, Chelsea

Dream home.

I came across this home a while back, and was so happy to happen across it again earlier today. It's in San Francisco and is home to an interior designer and a skateboarder.

It is the object of my desire.

I would die if I had a workspace like this.

The home has been featured in the New York Times.
A full tour of the home is at the design firm that one of the owners works for, here.

Make your own sofa!

Kim from over at desiretoinspire made this sofa. MADE IT! I'm very impressed.

To see how she did it go here.

Colorful closets.

I love this all white interior with very colorful closets. It would make grabbing the broom a whole lot more exciting.

Designed by EnvelopeA+D Architecture and Design, based in Oakland.

Entree si vous plait.

The sofa that finally arrived a couple weeks ago has created a natural barrier between our entry and the living room. This has got me thinking about those wonderful spaces that invite you into a home, entryways! Here are some from the ever glorious LivingEtc. Galleries.

That mural? Sharpie. On the list of things to do when I own a house.

I really love the bold simplicity of this room. Also on the list.

I forgot picture and a poem Friday.

"Funny hats and a tomboy equals instant party."

I'm IN LOVE with this site: 1001 rules for my unborn son.

One of my many favorites: "Never under any circumstances ask a woman if she is pregnant."

Autumn's colors.

Lately on walks I have been wishing I had my camera. So this afternoon I finally brought it along on a walk with Gatsby. Here are some of the amazing displays we've been seeing everyday around here.

You can click on any of them for larger views.

Pumpkins!

Halloween will be upon us in just two weeks! I've been itching to carve some pumpkins, something I haven't done for way too many years. Here is some inspiration from Martha Stewart's Halloween Central.

{Ok, not really carving, but still, it's cute}

Where the Wild Things Are tonight!

We are about to go see Where the Wild Things Are at our local Clintonville theater, Studio 35! I can't wait! I also love it that we can walk to the movies.

Pillows galore.

Hello room, you are looking lovely today.

Via ApartmentTherapy.

Roots salon.

{click the picture for a larger view}

My best friend Jenny opened her very own salon this summer, and asked me to design her logo. Because the salon, Roots, is back in California, I had yet to see how the vinyl sticker of the design turned out. I just got these pictures from Jen and am so happy with the outcome!

It feels weird to have a friend who I've known most of my life own their own business. I'm so proud of everything that my lifelong friends are doing. If you are in need of a great haircut and live close to Oceanside, give her a call (the number is on the first photo).

Oh how I love my skeletons.

Last week I unpacked the rest of my knick-knacks, most of which consisted of little Dia de los Muertos figurines. What a perfect time to get them out and display them. Here is a shot of our mantel, all ready for November 2nd.

Today I made some little cut out skulls and decorated them like calaveras and hung them from this branch I found while walking. It is now sitting outside our front door.

More Day of the Dead art and more to come later!

Hand carved stamps by Geninne.

How pretty is this stationary? It was made with hand-carved stamps by a wonderful artist, Geninne, who lives in Mexico City. You should also check out her home. It was designed and built by her architect husband and is absolutely amazing!

Small Stump.

I have decided that I could use some more flowers in my life.

All of these arrangements are done by Studio Choo.

The lovely ladies of the shop also contribute regularly to the blog-extraordinare, Design*Sponge. You can find all of their posts here.