THOUGHT PATTERNS

Flowers, flowers everywhere...

I planted some dark purple ranunculus this spring and they finally started to bloom. I actually never believed it would happen (I planted little dry suspicious looking bulbs) but here they are. The first one that appeared is actually pink - it must have been a stray one - but the second one showing is purple. I'm so happy with our porch container garden, it's really looking wonderful. Even some baby tomatoes are making an appearance!

More on flowers... once again we picked some roses that grow wild nearby - I've actually started carrying scissors on my errands, just in case I need to do some pruning :) - and they bloomed so incredibly that I had to photograph them to keep that bloom forever on record.

My papercuts worked as a nice backdrop to the powdery pink blooms.

And, the most incredible cream-colored one...

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

xoxoxo

{photos by Tina Tarnoff}

Finders Keepers

I've been in need of a box to keep my paints in on my desk (not too small, not too big) and I had my mind set on a nice old wooden artist box. I've been scouring ebay for something appropriate but all I would find was either too expensive ($50 for an old wooden box!) or would get snapped up right away. Then, one of my favorite things happened, I found exactly what I wanted walking home one day from a cafe, left by someone on the sidewalk.

At first I hesitated as the box had a really ghastly old, torn, blue, velvet interior, but the exterior was "friendly" so I thought I would attempt to do something with it.

I stripped the velvet and was ready to decoupage the inside of the box when I remembered I had a roll of really cute contact paper. And 15 min later, voila!

Love it! And it will absolutely survive my messiness. Just wipe and all clean.

I love the pattern on the paper, I think the bathroom cabinets might be next to receive a makeover.

Paints and brushes feel right at home. Plenty of room for the stash of paints that I am using at the moment.

The only other thing I might do is decoupage something on the top of the box. Perhaps these two small prints of a couple of my favorite paintings by artist Walt Kuhn. One can't have too much inspiration lying around.

On a different note, our rose has been blooming beautifully...

It's a combination of white, yellow, red and dark red at the edges. The blossoms are smaller then I was expecting, but still gorgeous.

Hope your week is going well!

xoxoxo

{All photos Tina Tarnoff}

Inside my castle and out and about

(a treasure box, only fit for crowns and such)

(always be aware of octopi)

(nursery)

(rose, almost in bloom)

(holding onto the wall)

(a little preview of a new necklace design I'm working on)

(door to a secret garden)

(a mysterious mansion)

xoxoxo

{Photos by Tina Tarnoff}

Present favorite

I got this amazing jellyfish in glass thingy, or Jellythingy (for lack of a better word!) yesterday at a fantastic store called "Loved to Death" here in San Francisco. I absolutely adore it and had to make a little ocean photo-shoot to show it off...

... coming up to the surface...

... and deep in the ocean...

It kind of glows in the dark, too.

Hope your week is off to a good start. I've been forgetting to blog lately, hopefully this week I'll make more frequent appearances.

So, till tomorrow!

xoxoxo

{Photos Tina Tarnoff}

Porch garden

Some new additions to our ever expanding porch garden...

Lavender and three more suculents...

And our first rose! Waiting to be repotted. Can't wait for it to start blooming and looking like this...

xoxoxo

On apple tarts and lost and found cats

I made this apple tart a few days ago. I don't often bake but when I do I have a tendency and a desire to make something more fancy. Which usually tastes too sweet and not that good. On this occasion I decided to make something with apples as I had tons of Granny Smith apples wasting away (my favorite apples to munch on). I chose Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) recipe as I've already tried several of hers and they tend to turn out well. My edges got burned a bit as I left it in the oven too long, but that was easily fixed. The tart turned out very tasty. Simple ingredients - flour, butter, sugar, apples... + some apricot jam and a lot of brandy for glazing... 

The gorgeous Freesia flowers were brought by a friend. They are incredibly fragrant. 

Our visiting kitty Noonie stopped visiting for a while but appeared again a couple of days ago. While she was "missing" we saw a notice posted in the neighborhood "Tabby cat with white paws found, call Melissa." I was tempted to call and say - hey this might be Noonie, she's not really lost just likes to gallivant - but before I acted upon it (or made Terry act upon it) Noonie appeared again, the notice was gone and all was well in the world again (or our neighborhood at least). So, I guess whoever does own Noonie must have called Melissa.

Noonie, the troublemaker.

Here she is, back at our place...

xoxoxo

Paper, apples, comfort and cats

I love art paper and have tons of it lying around. I finally managed to get all of in order (they were just all over the place, under the bed, on the bookcase, floor, drawers) - now they are nicely displayed and easily found whenever I need them...

I simply cannot resist nice handmade paper.

Aren't these gorgeous?

...

After indulging ourselves on half a dozen cupcakes on Valentine's Day it's back to apple snacking.

Btw, I'm enjoying The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mittford immensely. Perfect comfort reading. If you're into comfort reading ("the literary equivalent of hot chocolate" ) here is a perfect and ultimate comfort reads list compiled by India Knight (quote by her, too). I'm looking forward to reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith next.

...

Our visiting cat - named Noonie by us - stopped by twice in the past week. I even found myself buying some cat food the other day so that I would have a snack for her whenever she comes over. I would like her to stick around longer but usually she's out the door in about a min or so. 

Here she is paying yet another visit to the neighbor's cats.

This whole thing is quite ridiculous. Noonie visits these cats practically every day. Sits in front of the window and stares inside, occasionally tries to break in. At first the cats were ignoring her but now they occasionally engage in a paw tease or two. Always with the glass between them. It drives Noonie crazy.

Btw, how would you like to have a cat sitting in front of the window every day watching your every move?

She spotted me observing her and decided to come over for a brief visit.

Here is Noonie, gallivanting about my studio desk.

And then off she went, in search of another adventure.

xoxoxo

This and that (decoupaging and dress-form)

I finally found time this past weekend to do a large decoupaging project I've been wanting to do for a while.

We found a bookcase/shelf on the street (I love street finds), and even though it looked ghastly I saw some potential in it. If nothing else it was a nice object to practice my decoupaging technique on.

Here is the shelf, in all it's weird glory, getting ready for some mod podge and paper and my loving touch...

For a while it served it's purpose covered by some Thai fabric. I thought about painting it, but couldn't be bothered with sanding it first (the design that was painted on was textured so without sanding the shelf first the design would show through.) So, decoupaging was a perfect choice. The lazy choice.

Tools. Not much needed. Mod Podge, paper, brushes.

And here's my shelf! (After about 3 hours and one extra trip to an art store for some more paper.) It ended up looking and feeling almost like leather. So, yeah, we got ourselves some giraffe skin covered bookshelf. 'Cause that's how decadent we are.

Man... this ended up being quite a task. But enjoyable, too.

And the result was a reward in itself. I'm quite pleased the way it turned out. Great project and a very small expense.

The little dress-form guy is Terry's present to me for Valentine's Day. Isn't he adorable?! I've wanted one for ages and I was over the moon excited when I saw him. I couldn't stop jumping from joy! The fact that it came from Al's Attire shop made it even more special. I wrote earlier about Al's here. 

We call him Pip. Master Pip. He immediately got awarded a little watch pin (as an honorary Tarnoff medal.)

See him here at Al's Attire modeling clothes...

In his little suit. How cute. I used to stare longingy at this little guy every time we would walk by the shop and now he's in our home.

Stamped by Al before he left the shop.

And, finally, at the Tarnoff residence... He's just perfect.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

xoxoxo

Key

I've been wondering how and where to display this 6 inch skeleton key I recently acquired...

It's old and rusty and large. Looks like an old castle key, or... an old Victorian house key?

So, I figured the best place for it will be...

... next to my papercut of a Victorian house. Perhaps as a hope and a dare that one day we will live in one? :) Been daydreaming again.

And the mysterious dark haired lady in my painting above sure looks like she could live in this old Victorian house. Or also dreams of living in one. House full of heavy curtains, Persian rugs and chaise lounges. High-ceilinged kitchens and wild lush gardens. And lots of outdoor parties.

No parties for us this weekend, though. Just some closet cleaning and catching up with home things. And, some relaxing, too.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

xoxoxo

{Victorian House Papercut and Thought Patterns Painting by Tina Tarnoff}

xoxoxo

Homebound

It's been raining a lot, I've been working non stop and gazing out of the window plenty. Love seeing our plants covered in raindrops, particularly this echeveria ...

The balancing rain drop.

It's stalk still continues to grow and is finally starting to flower...

The sunsets have been amazing lately. Usually, because of the fog, we don't get to see many nice sunsets. This one in particular was spectacular...

And, our lemon tree has had a daily visitor, this little hummingbird which I finally managed to snap a picture of...

The lemon tree is right outside my studio window and it truly warms my heart when I hear her chirping sound and see her enjoying the nectar. We had a brief encounter one day when I happened to be on the porch while she arrived for her snack. She stopped in mid air, a bit confused, stared at me, thought for a moment and then turned and quickly flew the other way. She returned though, as soon as I exited the porch.

xoxoxo