december (!!! WHAT?!?!) ( + november re-cap)

unbelievable. this year flew by. and so much happened! still more to come, so i went rattle off all my sentiments of 2012 yet. december will rule because: one of my best friends is getting married to a wonderful man, jon's grandmother will celebrate her 70th birthday, my nephew will be celebrating his 6th birthday, there will bea small reunion of my favorite high school gals (eek.. 10 years almost!), and i will unabashedly participate in christmas time cheer.

here's what went down in november...

october instagrams & fake november ramblings.
my calendars went on sale! get 'em, now.
local holiday shopping at #designcraft

and other fun instagram happenings...

a pomegranate tree grows in montrose.

craft night with andie! making a geometric photo background for one awesome smilebooth.

confusing dining choices in montrose, but an awesome hand-painted sign.

custom holiday cards for a great couple (she was my first client ever.. two years ago!)

two texas boys: sweet max & uncle jon.

these frosty snowflakes will be covering some christmas wrap this year.

amazing "earthscapes" stamps from the USPS. satellite shots of the united states.

carving christmas tags - available in the shop! 

a pretty watercolor thank you night from amanda medsger. << check out her stuff!

fancy gin & tonic from mongoose vs. cobra. somehow managed to visit that place 5 times in the past four weeks. not complaining. 

pull your own prints from workhorse printmakers at the #designcraft market.  my new work with your hands poster will be hanging up in my "studio" corner in our apartment.

 

local holiday shopping on the bayou: #designcraft market

photo by son of a sailor 

black friday sounded awful to me. which, is why I'm shopping the AIGA’s DesignCraft Market at market square park. the free, designer-driven market features designers from houston, austin and beyond, selling hand-crafted goods at the award-winning park nestled in downtown’s historic district.

shoppers can start the day with breakfast pitas and lattes from niko niko’s, or just hit the ground running with a pint of saint arnold brew. more than just a market, there will be printing demonstrations from houston’s workhorse prints, live music from young girls (i've seen them before, they are awesome!), poor pilate (another great houston band, and cool friends with cool girlfriends) and grandfather child and plenty of sparkly trinkets to ohh and ahh over.

here’s just a few shops i'm excited check out:

evens – the brainchild of the lovely kate de para, a great girl whom i've had to pleasure to see every now and then. she's a textile designer who just made her way back to Texas after studying at SCAD. evens offers silk textiles for men and women, digitally dyed in the united states and hand-sewn by ms. de para herself.

son of a sailor – a sweet jewelry collaboration with a nautical twist, from husband and wife team jessica tata and william knopp of austin. their brassy treasures necklaces and pastel leather bracelets have been featured on designsponge, NYLON, SF girl by bay, daily candy and more.

bonsai terrariums – the names says it all, but vernon caldera’s luxe terrariums are something to be seen. His artfully-designed succulent wonderlands have been showcased at BHLDN, lawndale art center and in lonny and luxe interiors + design magazines.

CVela Design – christopher vela’s designs span across every medium out there – motion graphics, print, web and beyond. shoppers wear his playful print on their sleeves, by snatching up some of his screen-print tees.

.. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  for more information and a full list of vendors, click here.

AIGA designcraft market

 saturday, december 1, 2012

10 am – 6 pm

market square park

301 milam, houston texas

77002

street parking is free on saturdays and $5 parking is available at the market square Garage. market square park is located one block north of the preston METRORail station.

note: a version of this article was published on the plugged in blog for downtown houston.

2013 calendars are here!

ah, feels good to get this project posted. i think i started working on my 2013 calendars in march, so i'm very excited to finally get it out the door. i made a print calendar (below) and a printable calendar option.

this 12-page printed calendar features original illustrations and a little french & spanish vocab (months & numbers) to brush-up on throughout the year.... exelente!

my favorite is june's diving girl -- i think i maybe, just might turn this into a screen print next year... 

see the full calendar below and click here to purchase it in the shop! (there's both christmas & hanukah versions)

snowflakes, india-inspired love nest, camping & rainy mountains

ocean scenes, diving girl, patriotic crest & desert camel (it's hot in august, y'all)

nautical anchor, dia de los muertos, autumn moon & feathers & christmas tree.

thanks for checking it out! 2013 is upon us... 

 

november ( + october wrap up!)

oh hey, october.. you came and went. here's what you we did:

september re-cap & instagrams

neon striped & stamped personal stationery

texas lakehouse wedding invites

modern baby shower

for november.. i predict spare blogging (because in reality, i'm backlogging this from december 2nd!) and lots of food with my family & friends. and better weather, come on houston! show us what you got. let's whip out those cardigans (and not just for our cold offices). 

enjoying eatsieboys at the city hall farmers market

jumping in front of the waterwall

tomato & avocado on toast.

the super precious elizabeth street cafe in austin, texas

want, but obviously don't need. a picture will do.

my frida halloween get-up. it pays to have an overload of cheap mexican jewelry from your grandmother.

andie the droodge

a sparkly number

and hooray for a husband who loves to cook! breakfast crepes & espresso.

modern baby shower - pink, poppy & turquiose

ohhh i love me some baby girls, baby girl. i pretty much got free reign on the project, with guidelines to use turquoise, poppy & pink (a fab color combo, if you ask me) and to make it kinda funky and girly.

it's been extra special because i've gotten to know the mom-to-be a lot better throughout her pregnancy and i'm anxiously awaiting her arrival! she's got some pretty awesome parents.

.. and just a side note - this shower was amazing. my friend andie threw it and made it EVERYTHING a couples shower should be. there was football for guys, crafts for gals (a onesie-making table), amazing cocktails, enough food to feed an army. and of course, i didn't take any pics at the actual shower because i was having too much fun. but this photo can give you an idea of the cuteness.

need custom work for a shower, party or shin-dig? contact me at charmandfig (at) gmail (dot) com.

 

custom texas lake house wedding invitation suite

hooray! i can finally share this wedding invitation suite that i created for my brother-in-law and his lovely bride, chelsea. (get a peek of their beautiful ceremony at her blog). they got married at the lake house (a great place to get hitched!).

chelsea was the easiest person to work with. she knew she wanted the pieces to have a texas look with touches of moss green & eggplant purple incorporated through each piece.

thanks for letting me be apart of the process, chelsea!

the full suite

invitation with moss backer

info card with custom wedding site map

response post card

need something custom for your wedding or shower? contact me at charmandfig.etsy.com.

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ultra-light & modern thank you notes (with neon green washi tape!)

i totally forgot to post these neon striped correspondance cards i made for some friends a few months ago, now on sale at charm & fig. they can be ordered as thank you's, or just good old fashioned personal stationery.

...and what better to remind me than to have bri from designlovefest pin them on the etsy pinterest account during her stint as guest pinner for etsy? (thank you, by the way.)

i of course, tweeted my shop to her when she said she was looking for products...working in social media and being on twitter every now and then definitely has it perks. totally made my week. and i pretty much want to purchase thing she pinned on the board. christmas shopping is coming up and i see a few things for the peeps on my list.

 

orange october ( + september recap)

october is the best. halloween, cooler weather and pumpkin flavored everything is what makes october one of my favorite months. and the abundance of orange is pretty cool.

 i'm looking forward to running outside without feeling like i'll have a heat stroke, a few wedding celebrations for some of my favorite couples, and a lot of work-related events that will keep my schedule busy!

here's what went down in september...

august recap
costa rica part 1- first impression
costa rica part 2 - earthquake & monteverde
bach party in the hills - a fab weekend
scarf swap - thank you crystal!
costa rica part 3 - beachy & fuzzy

...and here's some instagrams for september. i started off strong with costa rica then got a little lazy with my documentations. or i guess life was happening instead...

jon in a waterfall

sculpture at discovery green

me in a flower fridge, awesome sweater jacket on loan

my beloved kickball team! still going strong this season.

preparing for an anchorman movie night

what i'd like my pantry to look like

topiary gardens in zarcero, costa rica

vintage canada dry labels in costa rica.

 

costa rica part three - furry sweetness on the coast

the third leg of our trip started with some kittens. there was a littler staying at our hotel in manuel antonio, and it was a delight to see them every day. 

hoooray, i say. happy to get in the water after hiking in manuel antonio national park.

we spotted a group of monkey's ont he beach. there was about a dozen of them swinging through the trees and they entertained us for about half an hour. here's our best shot:

a few treasures from playa hermosa

me trying to snap some photos of surfers in playa hermosa

and i got one! they were SO good. scary waters though.

back in manuel antonio.. we lucked out and were able to borrow a waterproof digital camera from our friend. thanks cristina!!

pretty succulents in san jose.

jon, being a boy and climbing trees in manuel antonio. this photo is not color corrected at all..  the sky and waters were are THAT gorgeous.

eeep... a pretty big lizard. no thank you.

that's it! where to next?