peek into my studio.

Hoping to be finished with the transformation of my studio in the next few weeks. Another good thing about us staying here longer is that I get to keep working on it. I'm currently on the search for a colorful area rug (something like these from Urban Outfitters) and the perfect fabric to reupholster my vintage studio chair.

 I love spending time in my studio, it's become such an inspiring space.... even if Chris does tease me about only being able to pin things at my height on my bulletin board (I'm a shortie). Excited for a big reveal post coming soon (hopefully!) 

What does your creating space look like? Will you be creating this weekend, or taking a break?

Psst. print found here. hoop found here. 

lindsay

Paint Chip Garland for My Studio.

I decided a few weeks ago that the big window in my studio needed a little dressing up. I didn't want to put the time and money into curtains so I decided to make a colorful garland to add some color and whimsy.

I gathered a bunch of paint samples from my local home improvement store. Some people might not be too keen on taking so many paint samples, but um, I'm keen.

I traced out big and small circles using lids from various things around the house. And then cut the circles out with my scissors. You could definitely use a large hold punch to punch out the circles, but they're about $20.00 (at least here they are!) and I wasn't about to spend that much for this one project.

I taped the circles in a random pattern to yellow string and draped them over the window! They are held up in the corners by clear push pins-- I just worked with what I had. 

I love the bit of happy whimsy it adds! And you might notice a few new additions to my wall since I last posted about it. More on those additions soon. :) 

My studio is slowly but surely becoming the fresh, relaxing space I envisioned back when I started transforming it. I think it's almost complete and I can't wait to take you on a full tour in a few weeks! 

lindsay

Art on Our Walls:: Fiji Painting for Chris

I thought I'd do a mini- series here on Aisle to Aloha --"Art on Our Walls" We have some treasured pieces of art gracing our home and I would love to share them with you. Some are original paintings, some prints that we love, as well as other art that is sentimental or beautiful to us in some way. I think the art on our walls says so much about who we are, where we came from and what we love, so hopefully this gives you a little more of a glimpse into who we are.

First up is a painting I did for Chris a few years ago for his 21st birthday. Chris spent four months in Fiji between high school and college and it's a place that is very close to his heart. I took one of his favorite photos from his time there and did my best to recreate it using acrylic paints on an 11x14 canvas board. I miss this style of painting and would love to get back into it if I ever have some free time!

Here's the original photo I chose to work from.

And here is the painting that is now hanging in our bathroom. 

I need to get a frame for it because it's starting to warp from the Hawaii air. Also, I would have shown you our whole bathroom but it was a mess as I was packing to leave for Thailand. So you just get the close-up wall shot. 

So what do you think? Are you interested in seeing more pieces of art on our walls? Do you have your own artwork on your walls? 

Happy Tuesday, friends! 

Craigslist Find:: A Dresser For My Studio

 I've been searching on Craigslist for a dresser to put in my studio foreverrrr. Searching Craigslist in Hawaii is really frustrating. Things are either really ugly, waaay too expensive, taken already, or all three. So, I was elated when I finally found just what I was looking for, for $30 and I was the first to respond! Woohoo!

Here is my new little dresser sitting pretty in my studio. Eh, she needs a little work, but I like her. At least she's got nice legs. ;)

I'm excited to have a place to organize my shipping supplies and display some pretties in my studio. Originally, I was thinking of painting it a fun color like this beautiful dresser by Erin of Domesticated Adventure. I love the bright yellow and the fun drawer pulls.

But now, I'm thinking of refinishing it with a lighter stain so it can be moved around our house in the future. And of course, it will be getting some awesome new drawer pulls. Maybe in some fun bright colors?

Joel Dewberry is in my bedroom.

 I'm in love with Joel Dewberry. Well, okay, maybe just his fabric collections. So, that was the first thing I thought of way back when I was considering a bedroom makeover. 

And here he is! Well, actually, here's his fabric in the form of curtains in our bedroom. And more specifically, his Herringbone pattern fabric in the color Pond.

I love how bright and airy they are with just a touch of pattern. They play really well with my Urban Outfitter Sunshine Medallion shams! (Oh, and with my name tag from Creative Estates, hanging on my lamp... :) 

And guys, they were so simple. I ordered 5 yards of this fabric on Etsy, from Lily Bella Fabrics. I asked the shop owner, Christy, if she would mind cutting the 5 yards in half, into two 2.5 yard pieces. She graciously agreed!

 (I figured, better someone who works with fabric every day to cut them, because heaven knows I would make them all wonky!) 

When they came in the mail, I pulled them out, ironed each fabric panel, cut off the selvage (the white strip on each side) and clipped them in using curtain ring clips that I bought for $5 at Home Depot. 

Yep, no hemming. Lazy man curtains. 

I think you can probably guess that I'm not really all nit-picky about finished edges. So, I probably will never actually hem them, because I certainly can't tell the difference. What do you think?

Yep, I have one glaringly orange lamp, and one black lamp. I painted the orange lamp and then realized how awful it looked so I've been stuck with that for a month. I may try to go a little more red with it and see if that works. What color do you think I should go with for the lamps? Or just stick with the original black? I feel like there's too much black going on in there. Hm. 

A few more projects to work on and share, but Operation: Curtains has been completed! 

Have you made any curtains lately? 

Are you a hem or no-hem kind of girl?

Home Sweet Colorful Home.

 I spent Saturday cleaning the house. Which actually turned into me prettifying the house by putting up some of the artwork that has been waiting patiently for frames and starting to piece together our new bedroom!

I started in the kitchen. Chris loves his toaster oven from college. He loves making sandwiches in there and it's been a permanent (*ahem* ugly) fixture on our counter for the past two years. Until Saturday. I never use it and it was taking up space on the counter so it got relegated to the pantry. Bye bye toaster oven!

And in its place, my bike petals print from My Little Buffalo ( a gift from my sweet friend, Ruthanne), a vase of bright and happy spider mums and some pretty towels. Ah, much better.

Next up, my studio! I've been wanting to put together a happy little inspiration wall so I started it on Saturday. 

My Language of Love print from SugarFresh on Etsy, a Valentine's present from my sweet husband. 

Printable from Kim. (Yeah, it's tacked up there. Gotta get a frame.) 

A shadow box filled with a few pieces of scrapbook paper from when I wrote out 100 reasons I love Chris 100 days before our wedding. (yes, I stole it from the gallery wall in our living room. It looks way better in my studio!) 

Aloha 'Olelo painting from Aisle to Aloha Studio. :) 

Two paintbrushes taped to the wall. (I think you can see the tape... classy.) 

A photo of some beautiful bloggy friends who inspire me. They thoughtfully wore colors that coordinated with my studio. 

I'll be changing this around and adding to it as I find more beautiful things that make me happy.

And the final stop in our "ooh, look at the pretty colors in our house" tour is our bedroom. Ooh la la. Remember when I showed you my lil inspiration board for the makeover? 

These shams from Urban Outfitters rock my world. And I just happened to have this little lumbar pillow I bought a year ago from an Etsy shop I can't seem to remember. Perfecto!

I painted this luggage rack the perfect shade of green and I'll be using it to organize my accessories once I can find the perfect tray for on top.

And finally, this gorgeous print from The Wheatfield on Etsy (a birthday present from my mama and papa!) will find its place on the wall. I can't look at it without smiling! Oh the colors! It's a weird size (13x19) and I was bummed that I'd have to maybe buy a custom frame. But I found the perfect frame in our closet after I took these pictures! Yay! 

Have you made any fun changes to your house recently? Gotten any pretty gifts for your home? What colors are making you happy these days?

Inspire Me Monday: Waking Up to Happy Colors

It's baaack! I know it's been forever since I posted an Inspire Me Monday post. I've been pretty focused on my Etsy shop and working on my artwork lately but I'm super excited to tackle a few projects around the house soon! First up, a bedroom makeover! I'm pretty tired of our dark peacock blue curtains and ready for a change! Before I show you my plans, here are a few fun, colorful bedrooms that I've been loving lately.

If I could wake up to one of these bedrooms every morning, I think I'd be happy girl, no doubt. 

Sources:: 1, 2, 3, 4

And now for the plans for our bedroom! We'll keep a blank canvas of white walls and our black IKEA Hemnes furniture. 

1. Sunshine medallion shams from Urban Outfitters:: I looove these shams. They're the perfect combination of pattern and color. I'll be keeping our crisp white duvet and let the shams add a pop of happy color to the bed. 

2. Curtains from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow fabric line (Herringbone pattern in Pond):: I'm going to buy some fabric from Etsy and attempt to make curtains. :) That should be a post all on its own! 

3. I love this Bloom table lamp from Crate and Barrel. Something about the beautiful "grellow" color and curvy shape makes me smile. A little out of my budget, so I'll be sticking with my Pier One lamps, but I'm thinking about spray painting them!

4. Aren't these vases from dahlhaus on Etsy beautiful?? I would love to have one or two (or eight) of these, in the Saffron, Summer Sky Blue or Turquoise Green colors. 

So, what's your bedroom decor personality? Do you prefer more mellow blues and greens? Calm neutrals? Or do you like to wake up energized with a burst of color? 

Hope your Monday brings you lots of smiles!

DIY Yarn Wreath Switcharoo

My Christmas wreath was up an embarrassingly long time after Christmas. In fact, I took it down on Friday and got started on a new wreath. Here's my original wreath along with a link to the tutorial I used back in the fall. 

I'm kind of obsessed with gray lately. So I bought some gray yarn to switch it up a little. I just covered the cream colored yarn I already had on there. No need to take that yarn off. 

I used some of the same yellow and fuschia flowers that I made for my first wreath (I like to use push pins to attach the flowers and that way I can reuse them.) and then I made some new bright pink ones too. 

I like happy colors. :)

PS. There's still a Click-Click cutie in the shop if you've been waiting for one! I know they've been a little elusive lately!

PPS. Don't forget to enter the Dodeline Design giveaway and my Cutie giveaway!

Studio Sprucing & a Vlog!

Oh hellooo friends! Happy Monday!

 I woke up on Friday and walked into my studio, prepared to do some painting and was immediately depressed. It was a WRECK.

So, I had to do some sprucing. Which resulted not only cleaning out all the trash, piles of mail and random junk, but also adding a few fun pops of happiness.

(I am kind of bummed my pictures are kind of blurry because it was rainy out and the light wasn't good. So that's a little disclaimer for you... ha.)

I lined up a few of my favorite business cards on my bulletin board. One from MadebyHank, one from my friend (and Creative Estates roomie!) Moriah from Josiah's Nest and one of my own. I need more fun business cards so I think that means I *need* to do some more handmade goodie shopping. :)

I printed out this free printable made by Kim from Oh Sweet Joy and matted it with bright yellow cardstock. And I love that calendar from Letter C Design on Etsy. 

I made those paper flowers out of tissue paper and love how they add even more color to my studio. (As if I reeeally need more color with all my happy paintings in there... but I do. I always need more color.) 

So, I bet every one and their mother knows how to make these tissue paper poms, but I'm gonna do a vlog tutorial anyway. Because I didn't know how to do them until last week. So there.

Okay you ready for a little vlog action? :)

So there ya go. Now you know how I talk in real life. Bet you were wondering. ;)

I hope you have a fantabulous week, my dear friends!