Saw this cutting board over at Design Sponge which can be purchased at Fine Little Shop >>> how fantastic are these leggings. I would pair these with my moccasins and Jesse's oxford shirt. :)

The leggings and this fine print can also be found at Fine Little Shop  reminds me a lot of  Ansel Adams  and my brothers. I have 4.  Would make a great birthday gift for either of them.

Saw this wall paper 

in my issue of House Beautiful this month. 

LOVE IT!

and lastly: paper horse and rabbit. If I knew sculpture, I would try and make enlarged versions of these in cement for my back yard and garden. Found via Small Happy Crane  These would also make for

a fantastic children's mobile. no? :)

 How can I help? :(

Under the wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai
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Japanese prints found in a kimono book

Yesterday I got most of my office/design area organized... It will be nice to finally get back to sewing, making, painting etc.  Earlier this morning I decided to go through my old photos from way back when I sewed clothing and made accessories [2002-2004] that I then at the time sold on my website roxymarj.com - school started and everything was put on hiatus. Thankfully! I couldn't help but laugh at all the things I made.  Many of which I would never wear or adorn myself in...HOWEVER, it is really good to have as much documentation of one's work I believe.  We always want to be better than our last design...that is what my teachers at Parsons would say to us over and over again. And it is true.  2011 has definitely been a good year for me so far.  I have so many goals and dreams that I want to attain as quickly as possible [instant gratification syndrome] I bet many of my dreams are probably the same or very similar to any of you guys reading this.   I have spent a good amount of time wondering the best way to go about doing them...and the only thing I can come up with is Nike's famous slogan: JUST DO IT! --- Right?!  How funny if their slogan was: Try and do it if you can, or  Try and make time for it! lol Yeah right! Nope - it is JUST DO IT!  I ironically got the bug? to start a mini clothing line...ironic because that is what I went to school for --- but halfway through school I realized that passion A was in illustration...Fashion Design was passion B.  Anyways, tables have not turned...just merged...and I find myself saying these last couple weeks: JUST DO IT! 

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Here are some of my "designs" that I made before I started school... it is hard to pinpoint the style I was going for... It looks like I was making clothes for the crafty country raver or something.

But first, my humble little sewing area.... teeny tiny. :)

2 weekends ago I was home all by myself.  Jesse went to Texas for an art manufacturing tradeshow.   I had a huuuuge list of things that I wanted to get done before he got back home.  The main chore being to finally get our place cleaned and organized!  I have noticed that when the husband is at home with me, it takes me a lot longer to get anything done...I think it is because I can get easily distracted and then forget entirely what I was just working on!? Does this ever happen to you guys? Please say yes so I don't feel like a total independent ADD child! : /  Anyways... any moments I have to myself I try and utilize as much as possible.  After the cleaning & organizing was done I quickly got started on home project # 1, which is our dining room.  When I moved into my own place last spring, my mother helped me purchase a cute little vintage dining table and chair set.  It was turquoise - a cute color, but not my favorite color...I had plans to gold leaf the pieces but now that I just got married....there is Jesse's opinion that I have to take into consideration, and he wasn't really feeling that.   So the next favorite color of mine...a dark charcoal gray or light black - whatever you choose to call it.  I decided to donate the two chairs and I replaced them with some fantastic mid-century ones.  :) I think the combination together looks great and more grown up.  Plus, the shadows that the sun produces on the table from our succulents is so artistic and graphic, it looks like a work of art all on its own.

>>> - <<<

After that was complete I then started to work on my china nook.  I want the bottom shelf to be filled solely with pictures of family and friends, so I started spray painting some of the frames I have - gold.... artsy side note: when I layed them on our newly painted table, I loved the light that was hitting them at the moment and thought about how neat it would be to use frames like this as displays for jewelry if one owned a boutique.

Like so .....

Wouldn't those be lovely showpieces - under the right lighting of course.
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Within home project #1: Dining room - the next quest is to find a rug.  Kilim rugs are among my favorites.  Anything handwoven adds such an heirloom quality which then also brings warmth to any space.  I have been having a heck of a time trying to find something within our budget that we both are totally in love with. Other reasons why Kilim rugs speak to me so much is because of the simple yet humble graphic designs throughout.  Which is also what you will find in Native American crafts, Latin America crafts etc. I find so much inspiration in those culture's arts and crafts, that it is easy to see where I get designs for my own art.
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The colors in our dining room are charcoal gray, gold, off white/white and then little pops of eames red, muted blues and mustards and teeny bits of silver. Here is a favorite kilim rug that I found on etsy through pasharugs that would fit so well within that color scheme- the plaid pillow is from sukanart, which I can't stop drooling over and the gold suzani pillow is from jayson home and garden.  I want to make some pillows for the chairs and am thinking that I will have to actually paint them myself...since again >>> budget. :[) I think trying to mimic this plaid on a heavy distressed canvas on one side and then the gold suzani pillow on the other will be nice so I can have two different styles that can accommodate all four seasons.

I was thinking about how to mimic the suzani pillow and I realized that I haven't done my favorite type of quilting in YEARS! That favorite style of mine is the Hawaiian style! lol I feel so funny saying that...but it is the truth!  My ex-husband's mother introduced me to it through some books years back in Japan and gave me one of hers to work from. I love American quilting as well, but there is a different kind of quality that the Hawaiian style offers. Google image it my friends. :)

Black crows and flowers will be the other decorative pieces in our dining rooms.  I am currently looking for different types of crow items and I REAAAALLY feel in love with this vintage target practice crow poster.  Definitely not for shooting animals of any kind but the graphic quality of that crow is fantastic. <- found on ebay.  The two portraits of the black flowers were found at meggyleves.

And this AMAAAAAAAAZING Hawaiin quilt was found at the cute Hawaiin blog: HappaHale.

+ I am tired... it is a little bit passed midnight...but I am going to pretend it is still Thursday.

+ If you have been reading my blog for more than a year then you will remember my winter character Bjorn the Woodsman.  + He is one of my favorites. I plan to make some paper-mache sculptures of him here soon...Below Bjorn are pics I saw online today of some Holiday windows back in New York....That righteously inspired me to make a little vignette of Bjorn and his daily tasks while out in the woods.  There is an apt. that Jesse and I are waiting to hear back from and if all goes well and we get to move in...the living room has PERFECT eye level windows for me to do my very own holiday window displays!!!! Oh I hope sooo badly we get into this place!  It is crazy how many BEAUTIFUL old homes there are here in SLC to rent/own.  Plus they are insanely affordable...well, compared to New York...

pics found here

Also,  if you happen to live in the SLC area....my boss and good friend Allison Dayton is having her annual

holiday sale on all jewelry!!!! YEAH!  It should be an event you won't want to miss! 

My wedding photographer friend Joshua Brown introduced me to this music/art video yesterday --- this was made by his friends Chateau Bezerra & Alpha Smoot back in NY.  I have watched this about 10 times now... my favorite part is of the cross walk people going back and forth! You will loooove this and I bet you will be just as addicted! Plus, the song is perfect!

On Melancholy Hill - NYC Lights from Chateau Bezerra on Vimeo.

This last week has been crazy - but good crazy! As you all have read, last Wednesday I got engaged [which was awesome!] and then....the next day, I was offered a full time position at DownEast Outfitters where I work, as their Home Store Merchandiser! That has been a huge blessing, mostly because it means I can now start paying my School debt off!!!!

Have you gotten sick of my marriage talk yet? Don't worry....it will all be over in 59 years!  So I need to move out of my ultra cozy cottage apartment here come next month. I cannot begin to tell you how sad this makes me. :( I wish I could stay here for a good long time, but Jesse is 6 foot 2" and this apartment is made for someone 5 foot 11"....truth! I am 5 foot 4" and it fits me like a glove. I hope to find a tenant to take over my lease who I think will be sweet to this lil lady of a place. She loves to be clean, smell good, sing songs, bake cookies and cakes...oh and looking out at the mountains from the living room and kitchen window. If neglected, she gets really sick...will catch a cold easily... and then....oh gosh, I don't even want to think of what could happen to her...upon my first night's stay here, lady apartment and I stayed up all night talking...she told me of old tenants who use to occupy her...they were mean... we cried that night. :( 

So to help me find the perfect tenant to take over my lease, let me introduce you to my apartment. 

Remember how I mentioned that I was doing a freelance project for Fred Flare back in New York?  They had asked me to design their holiday displays for their store for this upcoming season, as well as some graphic designs [digitally].  Here is a piece of what I have done so far [30 % off font] ....more of my designs coming soon.... 

oh, and check out some of the items they have over there for sale!  These boots! DROOL NATION! I actually have the same exact pair [Justin Ropers] but I don't have them with red laces! Only $70 folks!

And this Animal "Grizzly Bear" calendar!

Or this FABULOUS asymmetrical Gunnison jacket!?  Which is only $50! I confess though, I am not crazy about the zipper, so a solution: Take that off with your seam ripper and replace it with some hook n' eye closures. This would make the jacket look more sophisticated and classic!

+ heading to work now, but check back later tonight for some more digital freebies. +

Something I am in DESPERATE want of, is a good old fashioned stone fireplace!  When it comes to making a house warm and overly cozy, I think this type of fireplace takes the cake!  The house that I grew up in Washington state was nothing special, a California split built in 79'... BUT our living room had an awesome stone wall that was angled due to our vaulted ceiling. It was thee coolest stone wall and one of my favorite things about our home. Between the rocks there was black grout but then when I was 10 or so [?] my mom painted the whole wall white.  It did look nice, but I prefer natural elements like that to stay in their born condition.   Our wall looked very similar to this fantasticly painted faux stone wall that I found on Apartment Therapy .

Back to me dreaming about fireplaces....check these two lovelies out.  Found via >>> Country Living <<<

 Here is Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn's Stunning fireplace!  If you ever get the chance to go to Yellowstone, I suggest you plan on going there in August! Why? Because they celebrate Christmas in August! Serious!!! Christmas trees and all.  My family stayed there one night in August when I was about 8.. we were passing through Yellowstone, and it just so happened to be in August.  That was a fun memory.

 Then I stumbled across this !!! Found via >>>  Great Interior Design  <<<   + oh my! + How FABULOUS is this wall & with the perfect red window!!!  Cozy envy starting RIGHT NOW!

But wait...... IT GETS BETTER!  Friends, my heart literally skipped a beat and fell of a cliff when I found THIS! 

 A pre-fab plastic and steel frame is covered in a wood facade that gives it the appearance of a stack of logs. OH MY AMAZING! 

Found via >>>  Republica de Angola   <<<

All I can say about this summer is that it has been CAAAARAAAAAZZZZZAAAAY!!! I am finally catching my breath from the 3 month marathon I feel like I have been running. Words cannot express how happy I am to see September enter my life yet again. Fall is my favorite season, and it feels good to have my old friend back! Hi friend! Last week was my last week of crazy trying to wrap up 2 freelance projects aside from my two regular jobs. I did however, take a little break and go with Jesse to the U's first football game of the season. Jesse works for an art manufacturer here in Salt Lake City [Cambridge Collection...heard of them?] and they have been hired by the University of Utah to take this season's photographs of all the football games. So Jesse get's to be the one doing all the photography. Neat-o! I am not someone who follows football...nor do I really see myself following anytime soon, but when Jesse asked if I wanted to come with and go high up and see a great view of Salt Lake and then go on the field etc. I couldn't pass this up!

This is what we saw. :)

Then I tried catching up on some sleep....

The University of Utah won their first game! It was more fun than I had imagined being on the field and feeling all the energy of the fans.  The U played the Pittsburgh Pitts.

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Here I am greeting fall at my door in two of my favorite things.  Hand knitted slippers from my lovely and funny friendLady Kwok and then these fantastic Uniqlo leggings that my sister Sarah got me for my birthday! Thanks Sis!!!

Here are just a few pics of one of the freelance projects I have been working on this whole summer and FINALLY finished up on Saturday!

What is all of this for you ask? GOOD QUEST-EEE-OHH-NAY!  I have been asked by my friends Chris and Keith [owners] of the fantastic Fred Flare to do their holiday displays for their suuuuuuuuuper CUTE boutique in Brooklyn, NY! :) Soooo...come winter time in New York.... you can see their whole store decorated in some Native Roxy Marj.  Until everything gets set up, this is all you'll be getting to see for now folks!  I suggest though that if you are in the area to stop by and check it out... especially because I have heard that they are getting some pretty neat goods for this holiday! Start saving your pennies friends.  mkay, this lady is heading to bed now! Nighty ><><