Cracked Logs

STUMP - table / light / stool 

Cracked Log Lamp 

Beautiful cracked log tables and lamps by Duncan Meerding. 

Quote Of The Day

via Words Over Pixels

Definitely puts things in perspective...

My Secret Garden, Los Angeles

photo by: Lena Sekine

A beautiful florist specializing in one-of-a-kind floral arrangements located in Grand Central Market, Los Angeles.

My Secret Garden  / The Grand Central Market / 317 S. B way Los Angeles, CA 90013

Sakura Mom and Me Contest

Thank you to everyone who participated in our #SakuraMomAndMe Mother's Day giveaway! We hope you all had fun creating art with your kiddos. Stay tuned for more fun events like this where you'll have the chance to win art supplies from Sakura. This mandala was created by giveaway winner @lenasekine and her daughter!

A photo posted by Sakura of America (@sakuraofamerica) on May 11, 2015 at 4:52pm PDT

Maya and I were fortunate to win the #SakuraMomandMe giveaway contest put on via Sakura of America's  instagram account. The contest was to make a collaborative art with our child as part of their way to celebrate mom's on Mother's Day. Maya and I created and submitted the two mandalas above. The one that was chosen, was created with a black Sakura Pen-Touch. Maya and I took turns building the mandala, then we colored it in with Sakura moonlight and Sakura metallic gellyroll pens.   

We were so ecstatic when we found out because we have always used and been a fan of Sakura art products! My father even used Sakura crayons growing up in Japan! We will be receiving $80 worth of art supplies which Maya and I cannot wait to receive! Yay!  

About Sakura : Sakura initially started as a crayon company in 1921. Disappointed that traditional crayon colors didn’t mix or overlay well, the innovative founders of Sakura began to experiment with different formulations to create an ideal stick drawing material. By 1924, Sakura invented the first-ever oil pastel that combined oil and pigment and named it Cray-Pas®, a combination of the two words crayon and pastel.

Our company heritage in art materials led to development of a specialized ink technology, Pigma® ink, which is used in our Micron®, Graphic and Brush pens. In the early 80’s, Sakura’s labs identified the need for an inexpensive drafting tool that used superior pigment instead of low-grade dye inks. The breakthrough came with the discovery of how to reduce the pigment particles to submicron size so that the inks flow evenly through even the narrowest of pen nibs. Today, Pigma ink continues to be the most reliable archival quality ink on the market and is loyally used by architects, calligraphers, scientists, artists, cartoonists, and scrapbookers, to name a few. 

Spruce up store-bought flowers

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Jaxon and Maya's elementary school. 

We are always looking for unique ways to appreciate the teachers. 

This year we decided to go with long-stemmed flowers versus a bouquet of roses or carnations. 

I purchased this Gladiolus bundle at Trader Joes for only $5.99 for 12 stems.

I created two bundles of 6 for both my children's teachers.  

I simply wrapped them with decorative paper, tied with hemp string, and attached a little note for the kids to sign. Voila!~ easy and beautiful bouquets.

Coloring postcards

 A friend of mine recently mailed me this lovely postcard illustrated by Johanna Basford, and challenged me to color it!

 I used Sakura gelly roll pens to color mine! It took several hours for me to complete, but I found the process calming. 

This one I received is part of a Secret Garden series of 20 detachable coloring postcards.
I think it would make a nice Mother's Day gift if your mama likes artsy things!
You can purchase it here. 

DIY - Recycled bottle vases

My lovely in-laws are in town from Hawaii and my children are on spring break!
They took the kids to the The Flower Fields in Carlsbad yesterday and they had a lot of fun!

Jaxon and Maya bought me a mini succulent plant and my in-laws gave me a bouquet of vibrant Ranunculus that are in full bloom at The Flower Fields. How sweet!

Instead of putting the whole bouquet in a  large vase, I decided to divide them up into different vessels so that I can enjoy the flowers in more than one room of my home. 

I recycled used bottles I had laying around. I like to keep bottles with cute shapes.
I have here a large cold brew coffee bottle, a natural soda bottle, and a spice jar.

This one I have on our dining table since it is a larger presentation. 

This dainty guy will look cute in our restroom against our white walls.

This cluster will look great on our kitchen counter. To jazz up the spice jar, I simply glued a piece of paper from a catalog to it. 

So don't throw away your glass bottles and jars...they make great flower vessels.

I hope you enjoy creating your own display of flowers in your home this spring!