I Love Olive Box

Since I was a little girl, I loved, loved, loved getting mail. I'd get excited to go to the mailbox each day and, well, usually nothing for me. Maybe an American Girl catalog would show up and I would pore over it. And now, as an adult, it's mostly just bills. So, being the paper and mail lover that I am, I was so excited to discover Olive Box awhile back. I can't remember how I came across it, but I'm so glad I did.

Each month a sweet little box shows up on my doorstep packed with paper goods, books, etc. This month's box was particularly wonderful with a notebook from Rifle Paper Co., cute little covered thumbtacks from Girl of All Work and a set of floral notecards from Fawnsberg.

Do you all subscribe to any monthly delivery services? I'd love to know of any goodies I might be missing.

photos by: Olive Box

Chinatown: A Photoshop Endeavor

Photo on left is from clipart.com. Photo on right by Michael Spencer.

The other day I wrote a little tidbit for my personal blog and needed a photo to go with it. It had been awhile since I'd played in Photoshop so I decided to flex my Photoshop fingers and whip up a composite to accompany my prose. I'm a little rusty, but it was mostly fun and turned out almost as I envisioned it.

I used the two (royalty free, cc licensed) color photos above to make the photo at top along with a bunch of filters and The Pioneer Woman's actions. (You can get them for free here.) The action I used was the b&w and then I added several extra quick edge burn layers. I used Photoshop's patch tool to get rid of the two girls in the Chinatown photo and then cut out the couple, pasted them in their place and dropped a bunch of textures on them to mae them seem almost ghostly. I also used the paint brush to dollop circles of "light" in some of the hanging lanterns and then gaussian blur and glowing edges to soften them into a glow. I wanted a moody, ethereal feel, and I think I mostly accomplished that. I can see some areas that could use a little more work, but for something done between rocking a baby, I'll take it!

Eight Hour Day

Olive Juice Stationery System by Eight Hour Day

Bienville Identity by Eight Hour Day

Engler Identity system by Eight Hour Day

Uncle Goose blocks by Eight Hour Day

Oh, hello there. Good to see you all again! I was busy having a baby and then adjusting to having a baby. And, to be honest, I'm still adjusting to having a baby, but I'm going to try to ease back into blogging. What's new with you all? I am so out of the loop! But I was excited to see all of this gorgeous new work one of my favorite design studios, Eight Hour Day, has been creating. It gets me all excited to start on my own design work again.

Free Valentine's Day Printable: Love Prescription Labels

Love Prescription Jars free printable by Benign Objects.

Love Prescription Jars free printable by Benign Objects.

Love Prescription Jars free printable by Benign Objects.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a super easy, quick Valentines Day DIY project I created for you all: a prescription for love. To give someone a daily dose of love, just download, print out and trim the labels I created for you all (3 different design options), then glue or tape them to an empty vitamin or pill bottle (I used an empty glass probiotic bottle. Yay for probiotics!). Then just write some sweet nothings, happy memories or love quotes on bits of paper and tuck them into the bottle. If you're really fancy, you can get some gel caps to put the paper in and then put those in the bottle. I told you it was simple. It would be a great project for children, too.

You can download a PDF with all 3 labels by clicking here.

**As I get this post prepared for publishing, I am getting ready to go to the hospital to have my labor induced. It's our first child and I'm really nervous! Labor induction was not the route I wanted to go, but it has been deemed necessary and so I am trying to roll with the punches and adjust my attitude as best I can. Also, because I'm going in on a Sunday, I'm going to miss the newest episode of Downton Abbey. Le sigh! I hope to be back with you all soon!

A Peek at My Bedroom

My bedroom after: A much brighter, calm, happy space! photo by Rachel Wiles/Benign Objects.

My bedroom before: Holy beige, Batman! Look, there's the old useless nook that ended up becoming the perfect place for my dream clawfoot tub. This room is depressing.

The walls were painted Sherwin Williams' Sensible Hue. It's a great calming, neutral blue grey. I love it so much that it's in our nursery. The chest is a hand me down. The chairs are from Home Decorator's Collection, gotten 50% off during post Thanksgiving sales for about $200 each. Blue pillows are ikea. Florals are from etsy. Lamps from Ikea (about $15). The ocean painting is from Home Goods (about $40) and the mirrors are also from Home Goods and spraypainted glossy white (about $20 each). photo by Rachel Wiles/Benign Objects.

The King-size bed and slipcovered headboard from Pottery Barn were a wedding gift. I love that when I get sick of the headboard I can just have a new slipcover made.Photo by Rachel Wiles/Benign Objects. All of the bed linens are actually Ikea. The 4 picture frames were on sale at Pier One for $10 each. I spraypainted them a neutral grey brown. The lamps were repurposed from my mom's house. I spraypainted them white and added sandy linen shades. The bedside table (not my favorites) are also hand-me-downs from my parents. I'd like to eventually paint them.  See that little thing hanging down at the top of the photo? It's a fab chandelier from Overstock.com that I should have gotten a better pic of. Way better than the ceiling fan.

This is the little TV corner, though it never even gets turned on. The plant is from Home Depot. The hutch is from Ikea (Hemnes cabinet, $300) and the rattan laundry basket is from Home Goods ($35). I have a thing for Home Goods. Photo by Rachel Wiles/Benign Objects.

A year plus ago I shared our master bathroom renovation with you all. You can revisit that post by clicking here and see how we went from a dark, cramped space to an open, airy haven complete with the clawfoot tub I'd always dreamed of (you can see a glimpse in the topmost photo).

I have completed some other projects since then, but haven't been to great about documenting them and, honestly, sometimes they take awhile to evolve. But today I thought I'd share the master bedroom overhaul. It was originally a dark, dingy room with beige painted popcorn ceilings, beige walls and even beige trim, an ugly ceiling fan and zero personality.

Check out the captions above to see how I transformed the room. The first thing I did was paint the ceiling and trim white. I wish we could have replaced the carpet with hardwood and gotten rid of the popcorn ceiling, but neither were in the budget, sadly. So what do you all think? Do you like a calming space or do you like more pops of color and excitement?

I've been working on the guest and dining rooms, but they're not quite where I want them to be yet.

In the meantime, I'm still awaiting the arrival of our first child. She's being stubborn!

Coming up soon? A free Valentine printable just for you all!

Magazine Shout Out

Shout out to these fine publications for featuring my work (and twice in Southern Living Weddings!) over the past few months. It's always such an honor for me to see my work in print! I will never, ever, ever get tired of it or lose that thrill that comes along with it. It's such a gift.

If you want to see the clips showing my work, click "Read More" below. You can download the clips on my website here.

The Bright Side

Benign Objects featured on The Bright Side Project.

The Bright Side Project has been a long-time mainstay in my reader. Have you all checked it out before? It's a wonderful repository of beautiful, bright and uplifting things, and I am honored that they chose to feature my Piggyback Design: Good Things Jar labels today. If you haven't visited them yet, pop on over and take a gander at all the goodness over there. :)

Happy Friday to you all. I hope this weekend brings our baby!