Sonya Nimri

 In an attempt to streamline and update the look of my house, I've been on a furniture painting kick.  Some of it is a definite improvement- but this matching of the wall in the kitchen is a questionable one.  Is it a good thing that you can't tell where the wall ends and the table begins?  I've yet to decide if I'm in love with this latest decorating move... I think I need to put the paint brush down and work on other things for a bit. After.  Cleaner, yes.  Before, as you can see, James is not pleased.  He demanded it be painted yellow to match the wall (can I blame my 1 year old?). A little Santa Fe for our taste.

On a recent pop into Anthropologie, I saw these incredibly colorful and totally unique necklaces by the London-based designer Akong .  I instantly fell in love.  They are like having a street fair around your neck.  The way they combine fiber trim, leather, and metal is a totally fresh, yet primally decorative approach to jewelry.  The technique is such a simple wire-wrap- I thought I'd try it and see what I could create using what I had.   I adore the outcome!  I think it's the best necklace I've ever made (although I say that after I make everything).  It's very versatile and can be dressed up or down and paired with something basic or worn to a wedding perhaps.  I'll see as summer wears on how many outfits this pretty piece ends up with!  Another version avec pom poms 1.  Use a long long 24 gauge wire and triple wrap end to start, then weave a strand of suede cord and rhinestones to a chain by looping throu...

 Marisa Lynch of New Dress A Day is not only an outrageously fun lady, she's also immensely talented in the crafting department.  We had the pleasure of working on a mystery T.V. pilot together  and I instantly felt a serious soul-sister connection to her.  She offered to babysit sometime which is an instant "LOVE" for me (for any of you who want to get me to "LOVE" you too).  Not that I would ever take her up on it because her mind is made for creating and that is what I see us doing together.  Here is the first of a series of projects we made together.  More to come!!! Get your hands on some brass or copper tubing at the hardware store.  This is made by K&S and was 1/8" in diameter. 1.  Cut tube with wire cutters by gently working the pliers around the tube in a circular motion. 2,  Paint neon then thread onto a head pin. 3.  Thread multiple tubes onto a loop chain in a ladder pattern. Voila!

I'm lucky enough as a crafter to work with some pretty amazing companies, and the creative team over at the S an Diego Hat Company is as good as it gets. They're always thinking well outside the box for visual ideas to support their products, which always presents a great creative opportunity. This year, for their Spring 2013 catalogue shoot, they had this idea of having some of their younger models holding striped fish under their amazing hats. It might sound random but I loved the idea right off the bat and rushed for my sewing machine first chance I got.  Also, it just so happened that they needed a couple more boys to model in the shoot, and Nanci , (my prop stylist and amazing jewelry designer friend) hooked up James and Grippy to get in front of the camera.  Of course, James had no idea what was going on.  I had my fingers crossed that he wouldn't tear the hat off of his head and eat it or just walk off.   Grippy modeled for them a few catalogues back, s...

Yesterday I attended the loveliest event called a Baby Blessing Way.  I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to it... thinking of all the boring baby showers I've been to with the silly games, then having to watch someone open presents.  Not exactly my idea of a fun afternoon.  Well, I was totally surprised by how lovely this party was. My friend Jessica Begum of Hipster's Teaparty threw it for herself.  A simple evite, no presents (it's her third child so she has everything), all that she requested was that we bring a quote to write on a card that she was going to put in a book, and a dish to share.  She hired a henna tattoo artist to treat us to a tattoo and we all sat around chatting and feasting on the potluck style buffet.  So simple and totally lovely.   Here are highlights of the party. A lovely hand sewn punched heart garland.  For directions check out Jessica's blog . . A simple and elegant flower arrangement and yummy cupca...

Andrea Luna Reece The awesome Patchwork Indie Art & Craft Festival took place today at the Helms Bakery in Culver City.  It was such an inspiring event.  Seeing all the fabulous wares people spent much of their time making so impressed me.   The dedication it takes a crafter to put herself out there and get it all together to sell at a show like this is really a feat.  Many of these talented ladies dragged their husbands/boyfriends to the festival to help them "man" the booth.  I just adore the fact that these partners-in-craft love their gals so much that they drove (I'm imagining), helped set up (heavy lifting), and endured hot 5'x5' spaces for hours on end to show their support.  When you fall in love with a crafty gal, this is your future, men. Anyhow, here are a few of my favorite booths. My dear friend Jen of Unurth   was selling her colorful/functional ceramics and home goods.  Her boyfriend Jeff is hiding behind the dis...

Okay...so I'm still on the neon train.  Maybe it's because I grew up in a neighborhood infatuated with Phil Collins, or maybe I just love the 80s, but whatever the case the fact is that neon is back  IN , finally, and I couldn't be happier. Seems like nowadays everywhere you look someone's added a bit of nuclear colored pop to brighten an otherwise dreary outfit, and why wouldn't they? Neon is instant color. So, my latest project is a suede wedge redo... The shoes themselves were just sort of blah, nothing special, been sitting in my closet forever and I didn't think they particularly went with anything.  Suede is a hard material to redo because you can't paint them the way you can paint plain leather but my solution was to add the detail on top.  I glued leather cut-outs that I cut with my Cuttlebug die cutter, then rhinestones with my Tulip jewel heatsetter tool to the heels to make them pop.   And while they didn't go with much before, I think th...