YIKES! It's been a LONG time!

I'm not even sure where to begin...
but let's start with one of my "distractions" :)

I received a package from Missy aka Boopsie Daisy
back in May and was really inspired by a few books she included.

 I set out the books as well as some other images, did a few sketches and drafted some lines on the laundry room wall.

In addition to these books, I was also inspired by

Peter Max and The Flaming Lips. 

In the early stages, it looked like this:

By mid October, it transformed into this:

and today... (although, I haven't worked on it over the past few weeks)

it appears like this:

Hoping to get back to painting again soon :)

Flickr Favorites: May Altars and Religious Kitsch

I guess my love affair with altars and shrines started when I

was little. I was raised Catholic and always looked forward

to gathering lily of the valley and setting up our May altar.

I haven't made a May altar in years, 

but plan to do so this year.

As always, I looked to flickr for inspiration.

This is one of my all - time favorite flickr photos

and possibly the best loo ever :)

I LOVE that floral swag draped over the frame!

 

via kitsch&curious

Want to wear a little Religious kitsch? 

I do, especially if it comes from 
Eclectic Gipsyland

via eclecticgipsyland
We had a Mary statue in our back yard 
when I was growing up,
but nothing like this Shrine!

via Channel Z

Are you making a May Altar? 
Creating something special for Mother's Day?
I'd love to see :)
Happy May 1st! 
Kristin

Things I LOVE: Plastic Flowers?

I would have never thought of PLASTIC flowers

as something I like, let alone LOVE! 

But under the right circumstances, I DO!

A perfect example of such love is this cake!

via * Eartha Kitsch *
You can purchase similar picks

 via etsy seller sweetestelle

I would love to have some of these plastic flower garlands

photo via dadimax

available at kitsch kitchen

 This FABULOUS display in India was an instant favorite!

via Rups1

As was this Our Lady of Guadalupe altar!

via Teyacapan

What do you think about plastic flowers?

Totally Tacky or Kitschy Kool?

Speaking of kitsch, I'll be back soon

to talk about my LOVE for

May Altars and religious kitsch! 

Have a great weekend :)

Kristin

"Wreck This" Wednesday ~ Magazine Cover!

No, this is not literally a "Keri Smith" way to "Wreck This Journal"
but for me, it's been the BEST way (yet) to Wreck It :)

Find a Way to get
YOUR JOURNAL
on the COVER of a Magazine!
 
Click on Image to View Larger
I had NO IDEA when I sent this submission

Click on Image to View Larger 
to "Cloth Paper Scissors Studios"
 at the end of January that I would be in the magazine...
You can only imagine my delight when they told
me my studio was being considered for the cover! 

Want to know what to expect in the magazine?
My story, why I created this room, what inspired me to
do it, my Summer inspiration space, as well as 
what inspires me the most throughout the year!

There's a second article, where I'll give you
directions on how to create this look as well as 
my "permission" to WRITE, PAINT, & DRAW on your walls. 
I'll share a great way to do this in apartments as well in a future post.

The Summer 2010 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios is
available for Pre - order NOW!
It will also be available at all major book and craft stores
nationwide on May 18th!
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! 
Send me photos if you see it at a 
book or craft store in your area :)
Bonus points if YOU are in the picture
with the magazine!

I plan to "wreck" a magazine or two when I receive them
and give them away along with a few other surprises to some of you! 

Sending the biggest virtual HUG to Melissa Averinos
of  Yummy Goods
(her studio was on the cover of  
Cloth Paper Scissors Studios last Summer) 
for her encouragement the past several months!
xoxo
Please send pictures!
Kristin

Color ME a Bright Parisian Mexican :)

Chances are this post will come as no surprise. 

If you follow my flickr, it's no secret that I LOVE bright colors, Paris,

EVERYTHING Mexican (especially The Day of the Dead and embroidery)

and crazy mixes of all of the above. 

So what am I craving right now...

Let's see...

My friend Mikaila found this awesome map online:

Click on Image to View Larger 
via Antoine+Manuel

which I absolutely adore!!!

My favorite local store, High Street has some FABULOUS

pillows for Spring. This one is my favorite:

Click on Image to View Larger 
Wouldn't it be perfect on my bed?

I am also LOVING this necklace from Anthropologie

and this Folk Bedroom from Livingetc

Click on Image to View Larger 
What's inspiring you this Spring?

I'd love to know!

I'll be back tomorrow to share

more about my first magazine cover 

and two articles :)

xoxo

Kristin

Busy... but I FINALLY made the April Bed :)

Better late than never... 

I've been really busy the past few weeks and struggled to come up with something I like half as much as my 2009 April bed with my hand painted sheets:

 The 2010 April bed is inspired by Spring flowers:

From back to front: 

Large pillow covers from thrifted fabric

Patterned pillow cases: Target (I used these

last April as well)

Flower Power pillow cases: thrifted

Brown corduroy pillow: Big Lots (several years ago)

Floral Pillows: Z Gallerie

Top Sheet: Urban Outfitters

Comforter: The Company Store

Sleep Tight :)

Kristin

Easter Favorites

Every year, I "think" about decorating and/or crafting for Easter but most years, I don't get around to doing it. 

This year was no exception. But, if I had...

here are some of my favorite ideas :)

Peeps Sushi

photo via Robyn Lee

Instructions here

eat me

via venus.

♥ zombie sugar prints ♥

I'd LOVE to make a garland out of her prints :)

Jelly Bean Soaps

via loveleesoaps

Fabric Easter Eggs

via Retro_Mama 

Tutorial here

Happy Easter, did you decorate?

I'll Be Back Soon...

with Wreck This Wednesday, etc. 

In the meantime, I'll be trying to get my 

groove back and practicing this:

via keri smith

"Wreck This" Wednesday ~ Postponed...

but March MODness Continues...with my March Bed

 Click on Image to View Larger  

 I'm constantly inspired by The Flaming Lips

and I wake up with this song in my head 

more than any other:

In The Morning of the Magicians

 Good Night.

Blogging it Forward

Welcome to eklektick.  I'm Kristin Krause, an avid crafter, creator, designer and decorator who spends a great deal of time restoring our historic home, making brightly colored crafts, 

painting frames and moldings on my walls and taking pictures.

I'm very excited to be part of Blog It Forward and want to thank Victoria for organizing this wonderful opportunity to not only discover new blogs but to learn what inspires others. I'd like to thank Sam of dwell deep for her post yesterday and invite you to visit enhabiten who will be posting tomorrow.

I've thought about what inspires me daily for the past month. In my lifetime, I would have to say that CHANGE inspires me the most. But in the past two years, there has been something that has actually inspired me a bit more.
 

What is it? It's flickr! Not the photo sharing /social networking site owned by Yahoo itself. But, the people I have met who have chosen to share their time, their lives, their collections, their comments and their hearts with me.

It would be absolutely impossible for me to acknowledge

each and every photographer in one post.

Here's a sampling of my favorite flickr photos from the

past two years.

If you find yourself looking for inspiration,

click on the links below to visit these inspiring

flickr photo streams!

 

1. ATLITW 2. boopsiedaisy 3. Cody-2010 4. danisoul 5. * Eartha Kitsch *

6. eclectic gipsyland 7. girlhula  8. Graça Paz lifestyle* atelier xt 9. halflatte 10. hippyxic

11. jek in the box 12. kaylovesvintage 13. kelbug 14. kittypinkstars  15. the little red hen

16. Little Rosy Runabout 17. Lost Star 18.LR Monkeytoes / Lisa 19. luzia pimpinella ♥

20. MADsLucky13  21. Marc Johns  22. mrybuckler 23. mawphoto.com 

24. myimaginaryboyfriend  25. Niña Murciélago 26.PaperNest
27. redshinynerp  28. RichArtpix  29. raining rita  30. sfgirlbybay
31. stOOpidgErL 32. venus. 33. verhext

34.yummygoods 35. (Z)ElfjE 36. zuglói lány

"Wreck This" Wednesday

MAKE A PAPER AIRPLANE

Click on Image to View Larger   
In keeping with the March MODness theme,

I made a Peter Max inspired paper airplane.

I have been dreading making this airplane
since I started my journal, but now that 
it's finished, it was not that bad!
Are you wrecking a journal?
If so, what pages are you dreading?
Are you scared to mail it?
Embarrassed to take it for a walk?
I know I am!

Keep on wreckin'

Kristin

March MODness: Mod Etsy Finds

Brightening up a gray Tuesday with some 
 March MODness Etsy finds :)

Vintage Bright Flower Power Wrapping Paper

via etsy seller recycledwares
Vintage Owl Key Holder 

  via etsy seller outofthepinksky

   Vintage 70s FLOWER Necklace or Belt

via etsy seller VintageStarrBeads 

Happy Flowers Vintage Wallpaper

via etsy seller LemonBlooms

Vintage Smiley Face Buttons

via etsy seller VintageFunland

Vintage Mod Flowers Suitcase

via etsy seller bluebonnetfields

 Childs Mod Vinyl Purse

 

via etsy seller thecherrychic

More March MODness throughout the month!

March MODness: Vintage Enamel Flower Brooches

Just a quick flower-filled post for the first day of March :)

via lovesmenot

 via chrispyworld 

  

via plaidponyvintage

I love them all, especially the pink and orange ones! 

Happy 1st day of March, I REALLY need a nap!

"Wreck This" Wednesday

As promised, here's the first step towards completing
my "Wreck This Journal". 

WRITE A LIST OF MORE WAYS TO WRECK THIS JOURNAL

Click on Image to View Larger
Some of the items on the list I've done, 
others I will probably do in the future. 

Will I ever use a page as toilet paper? Probably not.

I will definitely be disposing of my least favorite page(s).

I HATE this page!

I'm ready to move on to Keri Smith's

This Is Not a Book

which has been waiting patiently on my

shelf for the past few months.

Unfortunately, there are still funnels, airplanes,

and several "action" pages to complete first.

We'll see what I'm inspired to do this week :)

Wreck On,

Kristin

It's Time to Start WRECKING again...

I'm just about finished preparing for an unexpected but exciting deadline that I hope to be able to share with you very soon. No, it's not my blog graphics, but I am working on those as well :) 

One of the things I've sort of neglected in 2010 is finishing my "Wreck This Journal". 

Starting tomorrow, I will be posting a new page every Wednesday until the journal is complete. 

Here are a few of my recent "Wreck This Journal" favorites:

by thekathrynwheel

 by annie.benham 

by pansinsaul

Happy Wrecking :)

Kristin

Macaroni and Cheese Crayola Crayons???

As I mentioned before, I have been incredibly inspired by the the flickr group, sixty-four colors. 

Each week a new Crayola® Crayon is introduced and members are encouraged to go out into the world and photograph something with that color. Okay, great.

So far, I've done silver, magenta, sea green, sepia, yellow, pacific blue, and blue violet. But, today when they announced the new color it was MACARONI and CHEESE! Huh? I was meeting a friend just after I read this but I kept thinking about macaroni and cheese being a color for the rest of the afternoon. I stopped at a grocery store tonight to check out their mac and cheese assortment:

Hmmm... not that interesting. In the Kosher section, I found this, which was slightly better:

Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese was on sale (you may very well be seeing that as my 64 colors photo this week :)  I did  pick up a few items at thrift stores today that happened to have this "color". Yet, I was still left wondering, when did macaroni and cheese become a color? 

According to factmonster.com, Crayola introduced the following 16 colors in 1993: 

asparagus, granny smith apple, pacific blue, robin's egg blue, timber wolf, wisteria, cerise,

purple mountain's majesty, shamrock, tropical rain forest, denim, mauvelous, razzmatazz, tickle me pink, tumbleweed and macaroni and cheese!

Dilemma solved, but I need to pick up a few new boxes of crayons. Lizzi, I'll grab one for you as well :)

xoxo Kristin

Chinese New Year & Stalker Shrines, I never said I was normal :)

Last night I shared some of my favorite Chinese New Year flickr photos .
But, there was one more that I kept thinking about today while I was shoveling snow.

I have ALWAYS been inspired by altars, shrines and what I refer to as "stalker art".
You know, when someone gets obsessed with someone and hangs their pictures
all over their walls or builds them an altar.

Alicia Silverstone made one in the movie The Crush

and there was a creepy cool stalker art wall on the eighties tv show, Paper Dolls as well. If you don't think I've completely lost my mind, keep reading.

One of my monthly creative outlets is changing the look of our bed, inspired by jek and her "Making the Bed" flickr group.

 Last February, I did this...

which I really loved, but change keeps life interesting

which is where last night's inspiration comes in.
The February Bed for 2010:

Sweet Dreams :)
Kristin