My 2 cushions at Ohh Deer’s ‘Pillow Fight’ competition

I have two cushions taking part in a cool competition called Pillow Fight. The authors of this idea are none other than Ohh Deer, an absolutely inspiring & intelligent British online/offline shop that sells quirky illustrated gifts, from pillows to T-shirts, and, in between, gift cards and stationary.

First, I’ll talk about my cushions, then a little bit about Ohh Deer.

A personal cushion story

• This cushion is called: Nature v.s. Psycho-analysis. You can click here to see the pillow and to read the brief I wrote about it.

Technique-wise, this pillow “carries a photographed image of one of my hand illustrations using watercolor and acrylic,” and I forgot to mention, ink. So… a bit of recycling went into this pillow’s original illustration.

I’m not going to copy-paste the full brief, but I will quote myself  with: “This year, I started making botanical illustrations over yellowed book pages from my large library of New Age books. This is to celebrate the triumph of simplicity, and the return to nature, over complexity…  In other words, this pillow carries an intentional twist, where the botanicals signify the triumph of nature over 21st century melancholy.”

• This cushion, below, is called: Triumph of Nature over Psycho-analysis. You can click here to see the pillow on Ohh Deer, and to read the brief.

This pillow is basically about: “Return to nature and you’ll find happiness.” Love the way the paper grain is showing around the psychoanalysis type and the watercolor/acrylic/ink illustration.

About Ohh Deer

Ohh Deer is about “Quirky Illustrated Gifts,” illustration and photography that can be so cute at times and outright vulgar, at others. This is basically what stuck in my head from the brief I read on their About Us page.

Here’s a quirky example from their online store, a card dubbed Emotional Baggage by Gemma Correll, followed by 2 Pillow Fight competition entries; the first one is called: Audio Cassette – By Simon Pilkington… and… The pillow called: Huntress – by Sandra Dieckmann:

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

To view some of my favorite designs and pillows from Pillow Fight & Ohh Deer’s collection, visit my Pinterest boards:

1. Artisan’s Scrapb◎◎k

2. Pillows.Cushions

Ohh Deer Blog…  & Pillow Fight

If you visit Ohh Deer’s blog, you will find delightful surprises. My most favorite post, so far, is called “Something a Little Different.” It comes with images from a recent Ohh Deer booklet design that carries their concept, a concept of growing together and being a role model for others once we have matured ourselves. So beautiful!

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

This is exactly how Ohh Deer runs their endeavor, it takes care of you as an artist, and you take care of them, in the spirit of love. They offer you 25% of purchases from your artwork –  once you have won the competition and became part of their contributing team. But before that they do promote you on their website just by entering their competition.

As for Pillow Fight, the deadline is September 25, so if you are interested, please click here to read the specifications and to enter! Good luck!

I learnt about this competition through fellow WordPress blogger, “London Drawings.” Please visit this lovely illustrator’s post where you can find 4 pillow designs by merchesico. Here’s a lovely example:

Source: merchesico.wordpress.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

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Related articles:

 

• New-look Karboojeh

• DIY Table-setting Placemat | Pompom | Handpainted Floral & Botanical Design

DIY Prettier Magazine Files

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In the spirit of continuing the theme of pretty organizing, I noticed that when I place things in beautiful containers and storage solutions, they get an instant promotion around the craft room: From being a merely functional “thing” to a piece of “love” that you want to place in a prime location.

In this DIY, I basically upgraded 3 magazine files by attempting a wall-paper look. This is inspired by the lovely bird magazine files that are at the bottom of this post, and which I mentioned previously.

This is how these poor black files got their promotion up into a much nicer shelf at my workspace. The files are a bit unsteady since they are old, and I did stack up more magazines than they could hold, so they are puffy at the edges.

I had a difficult time deciding whether to decoupage the files or paint them. I had some nice damask wall-paper, but it looked too patterned, too well-finished for the look I was looking for.

So I decided to use:

• Acrylic paint (white, pink, green)
• Foam stamp (Motif: Grapes)
• Brush

Method:

1. I started by free-handing the shape of a pink bird, as if perched on a branch. I found an illustration of a bird and placed it in-front of me to help me keep the proportions right while I painted. I decided to paint the bird on two magazine files (I just had to hold them real tight as I sketched the shape). This is so that the final image would give the impression of a whole big painting that was cut into 3 parts (just like the original wall-paper idea was).
2. I stamped the grapes around the bird arbitrarily after dabbing acrylic colors on the foam stamp (pink on the grapes, green on the leaves), but the lines were too thin, so I decided to take advantage of this and add a vintage-y touch by dabbing paint here and there, on the leaves, around the grapes themselves, and around the bird.
3. I touched up some areas with light pink or white to hide mistakes.

The inspiration

Yes, here it is… the beautiful inspiration that got me thinkin’ about changing the look of my files.

The design of the files in the above pic is by British stylist Marie Nichols, whose blog  is so inspiring.

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Related Articles:

• Inspiration Board: DIY Shelves using Baskets & Crates
• Organizing 101: Ideas for pretty storage

Handmade Artist: Abigail Brown

These, my friends, are made from fabric!

The cute little birds are by textile artist Abigail Brown. So beautiful, and inspiring to see this kind of rendition of the inhabitants of the seven skies above us.

The work itself is so delicate, accurate  – yet  not too accurate to loose its own charm!.

To shop the birds, you can go here.

What a lovely dose of inspiration to start the day with!

 

 

Inspiration Board: Pom Pom fashion preview

(via curvissa.co.uk)

I’m cultivating a new interest, and love, for pom poms. They were once reserved for children (at least that’s what I thought), but now they are invading adult fashion, and even decor.

The scarf (above) is a pom pom scarf, although I would consider it a ‘tasseled’ one, since these are not round-shaped like ‘normal’ pom poms are. Let me linger a bit around this scarf. The tribal-inspired print is so beautiful, isn’t it, and the colors are so well together. Very nice, in deed.

(via Sugar Mill)

Back to pom poms.

Here (above) are some more-like-it pom pom scarves from a ‘Sugar Mill by India Hicks’ collection. Absolutely lovely!

(via Graham & Green)

Pouffes, and even curtains, have been seen around decor blogs & sites while parading a nice touch of ‘pom pom’ love. The ones above (Graham & Green) are eclectic, and to an extent bohemian. I love the pom pom piping that comes with each and every one of them. These are what I call pom poms, round-shaped, cute, and light-bulb like!

(via Bright Bazar: Because Beige is boring via Graham & Green)

Cushions with pom pom piping are also making it big on the chic decor scene. Look at these beautiful eclectic & nomadic cushions by Graham and Green – Autumn/Winter Collection 2011.

(via Flickr)

Finding descent pictures of pom pom curtains is next to impossible, but I was finally able to find this one over at Flickr. The pom pom detailing is both playful and fun and it can turn a ‘serious’ curtain into a fashionable piece of decor.

Personal accessorizing has not been left without a touch of pom pom. These two lovely variations from Akong London are so fun looking. They are so beautiful and creative. There’s a fleeting nomadic charm about them.

 (DIY Pom Pom Necklace via Honestly WTF)

And of course, we are always grateful to all those Fashion DIY bloggers who make it possible for us to create a similar pom-pomy look at a fraction the price. Here, Honestly WTF works it’s charm around a few ingredients to whip up a beautiful, colorful and eclectic, pom pom necklace that (almost ) any one can make.

Pom Poms have also been seen on brand bags such as Stella McCartney’s Pom Pom Satin Bag (above). Some one should coin a term like ‘Pom Pom Chic’ for this one, I guess!

Alexander McQueen, on the other hand, presented a pom pom bag within its original nomadic, bohemian atmospheres a few years ago. If I were to choose a pom pom look for my bag, I would go for the one below by McQueen.

(via purseblog)

And if you were wondering (like I was) about how you can transfer your pom pom affection onto your own wardrobe, PS. I made This offers an easy tutorial on turning one of your old bags into a cool & current pom pom accessory. I’d like to quote the blog with some insightful fashion info about the new pom pom fad:

“Peruse your closet and prepare to POM! Currently, we’re seeing the fluffy pom pom detail all around us.  Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney have made a seasonal statement with touches of pom poms on bags, whereas Sonia Rykiel took to the Pom as inspiration for the hair shown at her FW10 show.  We can’t get enough of this puffy and whimsical wonder.”

And finally before I go grab myself a glue gun and a handful of pom poms, here are other brands and blogs carrying the pom pom look:

(via Living with Punks)

• Living with Punks: Tutorial ~ Mondo Pom Trim Pillow

(via Anthro)

• Anthropologie: Toorie Curtain

(via Living with Punks)

• Living with Punks: DIY colorful pom pom pillow

Oh, one more thing… if you are looking for a nice tutorial to make your own pom pom flower, go to Domestifluff.

(via Domestifluff)

Ciao

K News: Barter deal ~ Give us your old accessories, we’ll give you a new one!

Do you, or other female members of your family, have old vintage-y accessories that you don’t know what to do with (old brooches, broken necklaces, one missing earing…)?

Give us your old jewelry, which we will then recylce and dismantle into parts, and we’ll give you a brandnew necklace (or bracelet and earrings) as a gift…

To participate, drop us a line at karboojeh.damascus {at} yahoo.com

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