Meet: Mary Kate McDevitt

Good morning friends! Today I'd like to introduce you to a very talented woman name Mary Kate McDevitt. She lives in Portland (where else?) and is quite the busy little bee. She's an illustrator/designer/reseller of vintage awesomeness. Her mini "to do list" chalkboards and clocks have been featured on lots of blogs and she's featured in the August/September issue of Ready Made magazine. Here are some of my favorites of her work:

Don't those little chalkboards seem much less daunting than a random post-it? I might actually get some things completed!

As an artist/designer trying to find my voice, I really appreciate that her commercial work looks so much like her personal art.

Her illustrations are really silly - which you know I love! The top three are from a children's book about characters from mythology at an elementary school. I absolutely love "Medusa's makeover party". Check out her work on her site/blog/etsy shop/flickr stream. Have a good weekend!

Over the Bed

For some reason I've always had a bit of a tough time with the space over the bed. You have your headboard and then what? It's an awkward space, usually between doors or nightstands with other walls in need of something as well. I don't know why it's a mystery but I don't think I've had anything on the wall above my bed for the past 6 years. This ends now people! And just in case you're wondering what to do with your own room, I thought I'd share some ideas.



The pretty fabric and "smith" are from my archives and I wish I could tell you where they're originally from, but I just can't. Enjoy them anyway! Here are the rest of the sources: polaroid heart // shelf // canvases // mirrors // birdcage mirrors // vintage arrangement on purple // paper airplane // banners // arrangement // love (technically a headboard but so, so cute I had to share it)

This American Life

I adore the radio program "This American Life" (you too?!). I love Ira Glass, I love the music they choose, I love the stories. I love it all. I'm not super familiar with the television show (mostly because I don't get Showtime), but what I've seen of it I love. Of course a show as beautiful as this would produce beautiful merchandise and tour posters and product design, so I thought today we'd enjoy a handful. The first three shots are of our beloved Ira from the television show.



Visit the shop of TAL to purchase some of these items and to see what else they've got available. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast (for FREE) on itunes. It's so, so good.

PS. The squirrel is from here and use to be available on a t-shirt.

Bar Carts

Mad Men was not a disappointment last night—as slow and subtle as usual. It's so easy to romanticize the era, even with all of the debauchery and political/social/relational nastiness. I still love to watch it. But it always makes me want a Brandy Old Fashioned. If I had a stocked bar, I'd definitely deplete it on Sunday nights. Which is part of the problem. The other part of the problem is how expensive it is to keep a home bar. All that said, if I entertained more or had more money or it simply was more important to me, I'd love to have one of these delightful bar carts stocked with beautiful liquor bottles and funky, retro glasses and all the bar tools they make. It's such a fun little piece of furniture.


The trays and tables are great, but I love the idea of a rolling cart full of liquor. No matter what room you're in, you can just keep pulling it behind you. And it's easier to bring outside with you for those late summer evenings.
Pictures via Restoration Hardware // The Jewish Hostess // Honey Living // Maison 21 // Noel Marie // Anh-Minh

Retro Styling

Mad Men is back on Sunday and I'm so ready for that distraction! In honor of the shows return I thought I'd share these photos from artist Alex Prager. I don't know much about her except that she's awesome—her fashion styling and set design and perspective is all so intriguing to me. Every image tells a story (and it's usually a little disturbing). These images of hers remind me of Alfred Hitchcock and the Valley of the Dolls and Mad Men...



And these stills from Beyonce's video "Why Don't You Love Me" fit so perfectly with Alex's aesthetic. (warning: the video is a little steamy).

This is my favorite era for fashion and makeup and hair—it's all so theatrical and put together. I could never pull it off (nor would I want to do all that work every day just to feather dust my Grammy's) but boy do I love to look at it! Can't wait until Sunday!

Recipe Storage

Coming off the heels of yesterdays illustrated recipes post, I thought I'd share some lovely recipe boxes and letterpressed recipe cards. If you can't draw out your recipes you can at least record them on beautiful cards and store them in something fun!

Sources: wood with utensils // flowers + stripes // favorite recipes // blue in clear // red metal // handwritten

Sources: yellow cupcakes // blue berries // lounging girl // timer // dividers // blue cupcake

Illustrated Recipes

Today we combine two of my favorites: fun illustrations and recipes. I don't actually do a lot of cooking, but I love cookbooks and recipes and beautiful photographs or illustrations of all that goes into creating in the kitchen. This is why I got so excited when I found the British blog recipe look. The creator of this resource invites anyone who has a recipe to share to illustrate said recipe and it'll get posted to the site. Fun huh? And you haven't even seen the products yet!

I've had this beautiful blackberry pie recipe for quite some time. It originally came from design*sponge. Aren't the colors glorious? I had it as my desktop background for awhile, but I got hungry every time I looked at my computer (which is ALL the TIME) so I had to change it. But it's gorgeous and worth sharing.

And then I found this charming "Chai Tea" recipe from a funny little lady named Lucy (I found this via greenwala though). Read it, it's clever.

Speaking of clever and things you must read, look at these funny little "recipes" from Laura George. Recipes for enjoying a banana and relieving stress. (If you can't read it let me know and I'll translate. So. Stinkin. Cute.)

Jim Tierney

Mr. Tierney is another amazingly talented illustrator and graphic designer. His style is whimsical and intimate and reminds me of something you'd see in an old storybook.



Visit his site and blog for more work and to learn a little about him and to see some of the fun covers he's currently designing for Penguin Books (lucky!).

A Few of my Favorite Things

Sigh. This is one lucky lady. Not only does she live in one of the most beautiful, charming and romantic cities in the States (Savannah, Georgia) but she spends her days doing prop styling and event design. It's kind of my dream world. Look how talented she is:

She works with publications such as Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living. (all images on this page are from Liz's Flickr, except the first image from Design*Sponge)


LOVE this circusy wedding! The striped curtains in the barn, the kissing booth, the pom-poms, those HUGE, glorious balloons! All of it is so fun and somehow manages to not be over-the-top obnoxious. She's truly talented.


I love that she re-purposes so many items that others may just put in the trash can: broken fruit crates, rusty flower arranging inserts (used cleverly as a pen holder), musty suitcases, random (but oh-so-lovely) drawers. Her detailing is so fun and clever and inspirational. The only problem I have with looking through her portfolio and noticing all of the interesting items is that it gives me one more excuse to collect and hoard random items. And believe me, I don't need another excuse! But you see how it all comes together? Let's go garage sale-ing!

Alice by Annie

My cousin is throwing her sweet Grace an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party (and her son [whose birthday is right after Christmas] an Unbirthday Party) tomorrow. I've seen a lot of Alice themed everything, especially since the movie came out a little while ago. But I'd never seen these fashion shots by the one and only Annie Leibovitz for Vogue, so I thought there might be a good chance you'd never seen them as well.


Hope you're lucky enough to be going to a tea party this weekend!

The Kid's Got Talent

I found Simon Filip via designismine. She shared the amazing tent image with the profiles and I just had to find out more about him. I'm so, so glad I did (and so are you). This little guy (ok, he's not THAT little, but he was born in 1991 which seems absurd to me) is extremely talented and has already gotten some press for his fashion photography. Which he says he's been doing since September. When people are so incredibly talented and it seems to come so easy it both inspires me and irritates me to no end. Oh to be young and talented. Let's just enjoy him shall we?





The composition... the lighting... the fashion... the Zooey look-a-like (his sister!)... the styling... geez. Looking forward to watching this talented young man grow.

More of the sea and stripes

Ok, so it's not exactly the sea, but isn't this picture lovely? I wish I was standing on the banks of something with swans and paper boats wearing a newspaper hat. I've never felt comfortable in socks and shoes with a dress, but I'd be willing to try again.

I haven't done a fashion collage in a while and since stripes and nautical themes in general are so plentiful this time of year I thought you might like to see some of the ways you can spend your summer dollar? Good, I thought so...

All three from Modcloth

Sweaters from Boden // Skirt and Robe from Anthropologie


Bag from JF + Son // Shoes and Sailboat Necklace from Anthropologie // anchor necklace from In God We Trust // Knot Ring from Fred Flare

01 // 02 // 03 // 04 // 05 // 06

The sea and stripes

(Oh my friends! Today was a big day and I hope you'll forgive my late post! I'll try to be better but the truth is that things are a little hectic for me right now and I can't make any promises. Stick with me though! Things'll be back to normal in no time [fingers crossed]. On to the day!)
I would love to be able to draw. I can doodle 'til the cows come home, but when I sit down to actually draw out a character or animal or funny seagull smoking a pipe, it just doesn't seem to want to come with the ease that I'd like. Luckily for some it does, and we get to enjoy their art. Here's a gathering of illustrations around the theme of the sea and stripes: perfect for a summer daydream don't you think?





Created by: Wayne Pate // Klas Fahlen // Blanca Gomez
Let's continue this conversation tomorrow shall we?