Cutting up pieces of my abstract paintings into polygon (ish) shapes and then creating collages is one of my favorite ways of creating art. I love mixing and matching colors that I wouldn’t usually think to put together- although, sometimes my OCD kicks in and I spend hours gluing and ripping off, and cutting down shapes, hoping to make the “perfect” piece.
If you’re a mom and into fashion, you’ve probably heard of The Mom Edit by now and if you haven’t yet, well, you’re missing out. I’ve mentioned my love for Shana, the site’s creator, before and shared some of the art collaborations we have done together for The Mom Edit. Last month, we were talking about what direction we should head in this year for our monthly art/style collaborations when Shana suggested doing a mini shoot featuring both my style and my art. We were already at the beach, and a few glasses deep into our bottle of white wine so we figured why the heck not?! And then last night I got a text from my best friend who said she just spotted my feature on The Mom Edit, so I thought I would share some of the photos here too!
Top:
Marylin and Main’s Batwing Oversized Tunic Top, $29.30 on Amazon.
Shorts:
Mango’s Striped Cotton Shorts, $24.99, Amazon.
sandals:
Birkenstocks’ Yara Leather Thong Sandal from Amazon, $105.99 to $149.99.
It’s finally summer (hooray!) But of course, I can’t just enjoy the weather I’ve been waiting for all year long and instead I have to find something to stress over.
The summer weather poses a few problems for me:
1) Blindingly white, pastey legs.
2) Lots of uncomfortable sweating in areas best left unacknowledged.
3) And Shaving, lots of shaving…hours and hours of shaving…
Solution to this very first world problem:
Maxi dresses!
1) Complete coverage of said sunless legs.
2) Comfortable breeze to sweating nether regions.
3) Coverage of lazily shaved legs.
The above maxi dress is from Forever 21 although it looks like it’s not available anymore I found a similar dress also from Forever21 that I think I like even more than the one I purchased:
My Sandals are Enzo Angiolini Women’s Jeat Sandal
Now in no particular order ten of my favorite maxi dresses that I day dreaming of buying to cover up my pastey legs with this summer:
1. In a Dream Maxi Dress from Free People ($350.00):
2. Serilida Maxi Dress from Anthropologie, $198.00
3. Maybe Lady Dress from Free People, $118.00:
4. Motel Wrap Front Maxi Dress with Thigh Split in Floral Print from ASOS, $95.00:
5. Chloe Silk Full Length Draped Dress, for *cough* *cough*, $3,660.74 from Far Fetched:
6. All Tied Down Maxi Dress from NastyGal, $68.00
7. Lisbon Dress from Need Supply Co., $98.00
8. Tribal Print Maxi Dress from Forever 21, $27.90:
9. Faded Floral Flutter Sleeve Maxi Dress from ASOS, $98.00:
10. Summer Solid Lady Maxi Dress from Free People, $148.00:
and one more that doesn’t do much to cover up the pastey leg problem but I am day-dreaming of none the less…..
11. For Love and Lemons Marina Maxi Dress available at Free People, $202.00:
Any “must have” maxis for this summer that you think I missed??
Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at creating wallpaper designs of my own, using my own art. .This has definitely been a learning experience for me, the wide world of graphic designing is a bit overwhelming but I figure, I have to start somewhere.
I did three different designs and made two different pixel size versions of each….there are so many different display screen sizes out there (including the screen on the mockup photo I used…I still don’t know what size that is supposed to be) so if any of the sizes don’t fit for your screen, feel free to email me at thiswildpreciouslifeblog@gmail.com and I will add one for you.
My next task is to figure out how to link a google doc or dropbox account directly to my blog so you can download from there but for now, just click on each individual image to save the wallpaper designs to your computer.
I hope you enjoy!
hooray for all things Spring….Sun, flowers, rain, birds, allergies. I’ll take it all if it means I can stand outside for more than a minute without getting frostbite. I’ve been waiting for a day that was nice enough to wear my Free People Parker Dress
I’ve rounded up some of my favorite floral spring dresses I found online:
Free People Parker Dress
MINKPINK Women’s Moon Flower Midi Dress
Needle & Thread’s Summer Garden Floral Sequin Bodycon Dress ($360.00):
Free People First Kiss Dress
Free People Embroidered Austin Dress
Needle & Thread Gilded Filigree Three Quarter Sleeve Cocktail Dress
BB Dakota ‘Heleen’ Print Fit and Flare Midi Dress ($98.00) at Nordstroms:
Volcom Juniors Nevermore Dress
short and sweet today, just wanted to share a little design I did last night using some abstract art I’ve been having fun playing around with.
Her name is Monling Lee and she is my everything.
She is an architect and urban designer with a passion for vibrant colors and a sense of style that is one of a kind. I first discovered her via Instagram @monlinglee fell instantly in love with every single one of her photos. She combines her unique and brilliantly colored personal style in perfectly coordinated urban environments. 
By following her instagram account, I found out that she was teaming up with J. Crew to “Test-drive” Their new spring accessories on their blog: hello.jcrew.com. And was inspired to try to create my own color blocked outfit with my skirt I bought for a penny at Nordstroms Rack. JCrew and Monling Lee are having an instagram contest on how where you wear (and pair, and pile on) your J.Crew accessories with the hashtags #ACCESSORYFIX and #JCREWCONTEST for a chance to win one of three $1,500 shopping sprees. And although I don’t have a new spring accessory to actually join in…here are my outfits:
Today, the birds were chirping and the sun was out and the snow is melting into muddy lakes, but if that means spring is on it’s way…I’ll take it.
Some much needed refreshing of my studio walls and work space. I’d like to try and change my art wall at least once a month but we’ll see how that goes!
This one day of sunny weather has got me feeling all sorts of alive again.
Hallelujah! Finally, a shoe trend I can really get behind. Comfy? check. Stylish? Check. Versatile? Check. Fun? Check.
I’m a sucker for all things colorful and loud (It’s a problem I’m working on). so while scrolling through Free Peoples’ amazing online shoe collection, I stumbled across these bad boys:
The New Balance Classics Women’s Precious Metals Classic Sneaker
and got about as excited as a guniea pig getting a special carrot treat:
So, I guess you could I got pretty excited. And because there was no way I was letting those suckers get away, I added them to my little shopping cart and kept scrolling and immediately saw these Asics trainers (also on free people):
It’s like they were made for me..kind of tacky and bright blue. So you can imagine how excited I was at this point:
happy otter level of excitement.
I figured since I found two pair of sneakers I loved by just looking at Free People, there were probably more I might love even more available to me on the world wide web….
Fast forward to about 4 hours later where I had roughly 20 different sneakers in 10 different shopping carts. Here are some of my favorites I found:
Nike Women’s Internationalist Mid in Metallic Silver/Black-Hyper Jade, available for pre-order on Nike’s website for $110.00
These New Balance Women’s Elite 90s Running 530 Classics Running Shoe
These Nike Women’s Air Pegasus ’83 Trainers
and also another color version of the Nike Women’s Air Pegasus 83
These New Balance 620 Light Grey Sneaker
And one more brightly colored pair of nike womens air pegasus 83/30 running trainers
After my evening of scouring the internet for the best and the brightest sneakers, I had to narrow down my options. I told myself I would only get one pair but my materialistic impulses won out in the end and I got two pairs and Interestingly enough, I ended up buying the first two pairs I saw on Free People. I really like idea of pairing white jeans with the Asics but of course it snowed the day I got them in the mail and the the ground was covered in over 6 inches of fresh snow, but not one to give up easy, I jumped!
And although I found dry ground when I was trying out my OTHER new pair, I liked how the first picture turned out so I jumped again!
But here’s to hoping this trend sticks around for a bit so I can justify getting another pair…maybe purple? Or Turquoise?? The possibilities are endless.
it’s that time of the year when I begin to feel even more crazy than usual.I like winter but, a Midwest winter is a different kind of beast. There has been snow on the ground basically since Thanksgiving and by Mid-February the temperatures average below freezing and that doesn’t even include the windchill.
Going outside means putting on every single warm-ish item I can find in my closet and looking like Joey from the Friends episode where he puts on all of Chandler’s clothes: 
and then on top of that, there’s the robber face masks, scarves, gloves and beanies to cover any exposed extremities, like kitty:
I like hunkering down and having an excuse to do nothing, and a snow storm is the ultimate laziness excuse but even that is has gotten old by now and I’ve developed a serious case of cabin fever, going nuts, shuffling around the house, pacing in circles, starting out at the snow for long periods of time, and murmuring unhappily to myself (even more than usual). My boyfriend took a picture of me while I was peeking in on him just yesterday:
har. har.
all that just to say that my already questionable fashion taste is even more questionable than usual, given the previously stated circumstances. But, this led me to mixing prints and layering in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t have out of boredom, coldness, or craziness….
Details: Floral Print Lace Slip from Dailylook.com, $22.95, Ryan Crewneck Pullover from Free People, $98.00, Stripped Long Sleeve Top, Forever21, $14.90, Bettye by Bettye Zap Booties, Nordstroms, $141.95
oh and here it is with jeans:
Floral Print Lace Slip from Dailylook.com, $22.95:
Ryan Crewneck Pullover in Cranberry from Free People, $98.00:
Stripped Long Sleeve Top, Forever21, $14.90:
Bettye by Bettye Zap Booties, Nordstroms, $141.95:
The start of a new year means a new sketchbook. I get really excited about starting a new journal- especially at the beginning of a new year. It literally allows me to turn a fresh page in my life and re-organize, reflect and motivate. I’ve been slowly compiling pictures of some of my sketchbook pages from this past year or so and funny, I never realized before just how often my pages center around a quote or lyric that is inspiring me at that time. I think because a big part of the reason I keep a journal is to motivate me and to help me stay positive. Oh, I also apparently am big on bright colors and florals.
The Moleskine Art Plus Watercolor Album
(12″ X 8.5″) Professional Folio Series, Hardcover $27.37
pros: thick, heavyweight, high quality watercolor paper, super absorbent and doesn’t bleed through.
cons: expensive & only has 60 pages while most sketchbooks have at least 100 pages.
The Canson 180-Degree Art Book ($13.79)
(8.3′ x 11.7″) 80 sheets
Pros: Lays flat, nice design
Cons: Paper is not high quality, and poor quality paper, rips easily
Strathmore Hardbound 500 Series Mixed Media Art Journal
(11.5″ x 8.5″, 64 Pages)
Pros: Great size and Price
Cons:
What inspires you? Do you have a favorite medium when journaling? What is your go-to when you are sketching or journaling… I always wish I wrote more…. but I never do….
jessbobess 
