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Color Theory: Flora + Fauna

I have fallen in love with this luscious color palette! Seeing rich green hues of ivy & budding trees on the trail while reminiscing on this King Salmon catch exudes ultimate freshness & flavor to me.

I found this wonderful image of ivy on a wall while moodboarding for a client last week. We've narrowed down a more clear direction for his brand spirit but this particular color combo has stuck with me.

I've been imagining a mini garden party surrounded by lively flora ever since. Bees buzzing, sharing their hard-earned honey for our iced tea, extravagant hats & laughing like old English women at things that aren't really funny. Because sometimes I think a fake accent & laughing just to laugh is the best.

Ahh, dahhling, I think I'll have a spring party for this very reason. Ta-ta for now, E.

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Color Theory: Dreamin' Hues

This wasn't the color palette I originally wanted to post this week. I planned to share my recent infatuation with sea green & sienna. There's a house in town I drive by every day that is a crisp sea green with a bold sienna red door & I love the optimism of it. However, my own home got the best of me this morning when I woke up slowly & looked above my head. I was in a sleepy haze when this color combination came to me, all dreamy & meaningful.

I keep a eucalyptus branch & medicine bag full of stones on my headboard. I recently got this amethyst stone at a rock shop in Traverse City to add to the collection my MeMe started for me last fall. It's a stone said to bring pleasant dreams & help with insomnia. I'm quite the wound-up person so mixing the amethyst with the fresh scent of eucalyptus & a little bit of Yogi tea before bed does the trick to calm me down most nights.

Anyway, that isn't why I wanted to share these hues with you as much as I wanted to share the beautiful combination I discovered in my little headboard vignette! Maybe it's Spring Fever, maybe it's the meaning each of these colors has for me or maybe it's just luck but I love the fresh subtleties these three colors create.

I like naming colors based on how they make me feel or how they smell but mostly by what feels rights coming out of my mouth (I know, a very scientific process!). I've always wondered how people get the job to name Pantone colors, nail polish & paint swatches. I think it would be fun to play with words that way.

Amethyst Lavender. Euca Leaves. Tanned Pouch.

My dreams tend to be set in soft & muted colors like these most often. No technicolor, bold shades, or dark tones (unless they're bad dreams). Lately, they've been a lot of natural tones with bright skies & wide open spaces. I suppose that's what I've been daydreaming about too! What colors are your dreams made of?


If you're an Instagrammer you can find my day-to-day inspirations & happenings here.  I've gotten pretty obsessed with documenting things over there, especially with this photo-editing app, another obsession!

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Color Theory: Blush Me Pink

If my 13-year old self could see me a decade later, she would be completely confused with how in love I am with soft pink hues. I used to defy pink. Too girly. Too bright. Not serious enough. Oh silly me. I am so happy when I get over my color hang-ups so I can see new beauty.

Feminine. Delicate. Pure.

I've been defying pink for so long—thinking I would be taken more seriously if I didn't wear it—that I've been missing out on my true feminine strength. Now I've been putting on my pink skinnies, lace tops, some bright rouge & feel more en fleur than ever. And why was I wanting to be taken so seriously, anyway? A wise friend once told me, "life isn't that serious."

No, no it is not. So as I sit here bundled in bed with more winter weather raging outside the window, I'll be daydreaming of when I'm laying on the beach, soaking up the sun & feeling worthy of her warmth for simply being. In bloom.

A few pink-hued goods I'm saving for:

What colors make you feel sexy & strong?

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Color Theory: Midnight + Citrus

I am a recent lover of color. During my first year at design school, my favorite professor said to me, "Many people learn values first, which is good but they are limited to understanding only in terms of black & white. Wait until you start to see color, your world will come alive!" She was so passionate about color. The way certain relationships could make a hue vibrate or recede. The emotions a specific color palette would reveal. She taught me color theory & now I realize there was a method to her madness. My world really has come alive!

It is, for this reason, a little corner of Brave Girl will host the beautiful world of color as I see it (color is so subjective, Joel swears he saw a purple cop car once).

Lately, this navy and citrus palette is making me swoon. The energy of bold & juicy citrus colors (orange, grapefruit, lemon) bounces off of the deep & calming midnight sky. This color palette makes me feel energized & calm at the same time, like cruising on the boat in the summertime without a destination. I've fallen for these colors so much, they became the sole inspiration for our room.

I've always had feminine-looking bedrooms growing up so when it came to sharing a room with my man, I had to really stretch my design skills...& my selfish habits (closet space, anyone?). So we painted one wall midnight blue, added a rug in complimenting hues & started sprinkling hints of citrus on our gallery wall & bookshelves.

Our bedroom made me realize I'm really into simple spaces with a few thoughtful pieces. This ethos makes color choices more important & meaningful as well. I also found orange often represents change & movement while blue is associated with peace & spirituality. Ahh, a peaceful change.

What color match-ups are you loving right now?!

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Lemon & Honey Face Wash

I've been seeking new ways to take care of my skin since I looked on the back of my face wash cleanser bottle & didn't know any ingredient listed beside "water". After some research, I found this 2-ingredient moisturizing face wash that was easy to make & lasted a while. After trying this for a month, I've tweaked the original recipe to use 1/2 a lemon for lemon juice with 1 tbsp. of honey. My face feels softer & a lot of blemishes/scars started to diminish after 1 week of using it consistently. I was originally using it to moisturize my face but found the lemon's antibacterial properties prevents acne & its citric acid acts as a delicate skin peel, removing the top layer of dead skin cells (be careful of minor stinging if you leave it on too long or have an open wound).

Using a few homemade alternatives like the Lemon Honey, Honey moisturizing face wash makes me feel good about what I'm putting on my face. Lately, I've been more curious about the skincare products I use because when I go to the store the best-designed package stands out to me more than the effects the ingredients could have on my body (curse of a designer!). Making my own removes all of that nonsense, leaving me more money to make other poor buying decisions with.

All-natural baby! If only I could have picked that lemon myself...

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Coaster Spruce-Up

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This weekend was the first weekend I've been home since July! Being "bored" has been a luxury as I sit with my hard cider next to the open window to feel the fall air & watch the sun dance between the tree branches. I forgot how open your mind becomes when you let yourself sit still. Which is how this set of 4 coasters came to be. They've been laying around our living room, blank canvases waiting to be filled. I was inspired by these Luvocracy beauties on Pinterest. Instead of repinning, I decided to repurpose.

What you'll need:

  1. White acrylic paint (I used acrylic gesso because it's all I had. Worked great but it was a bit thick)

  2. Cork coasters

  3. Paintbrushes

 Total project cost: $10

I've been loving triangles & geometric patterns lately. I'm not sure if it's because they're the direct opposite of circles—which I've been obsessed with since design school (seriously, so many circles in my portfolio!) —or because triangles are a symbol of change.

I don't do well with the uncertainty that comes with change. Doodling triangles & incorporating them throughout my house is my attempt to embrace change a little more than I have in the past. I think more lessons are learned when you accept what life has handed you rather than fight it. Of course, this is super easy to write & super challenging to do. How do you embrace change? I'd love to get better at it.

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