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Visual Splendor

Visual reviews of apartments, movies and more eye candy.

Shop Visual Splendor

Are Blogs Dead? Who Cares, Here’s Magical Girl Nicki Minaj!

07/08/2018

I suspect it’d have a bit more color in it’s face if I’d update at least one time a week.

You know how it is.

I started a new project recently since I arrived home from our beach vacation and I’m so excited to tell you!

I’ve decided to do Magical Girls pins which are honoring to actual female idols but in my own kawaii style (similar to my lucky cryptokitty pin!). They are each inspired by a real life magical girl whom exists in our culture and inspires others with music, fashion, charitable giving, love and mega heart beat motivation. She is not only a magical girl with super special powers but she is here to inspire you to be yourself and never give up.

These are ladies who are stars and have inspired me in a great way.

I also welcome suggestions and have received quite a few. So to be honest the list of future idols is LONG, but, if you suggest the next girl you’ll win a free pin of her. So get to suggesting, darling, and maybe you’ll be on the same page and win!

Our first Magical Girl is… Nicki Minaj. So please say hello to Magical Girl Nicki!

How can you get your own? Well you preorder her here, at my shop! Once there are 15 preorders she will be made and all 15 supporters will receive a surprise gift and their pin. And lots of love and virtual hugs from me. And a big discount for a future order in case you might have your eyes on some other goodies!

DIY Scans Shop Visual Splendor

Happy Valentine’s Day! from POOCHIE

02/14/2018

Valentine’s Day reminds me of the 1980s for some reason…
Perhaps it’s because I was born the day before Valentine’s Day and that happened to be in the 1980s.
So for many (the jewelry, candy and greeting card companies would hope) Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love.
For me it is a time to celebrate pastel hearts and the 1980s and all of the cute, pinkness splashed through the stores.
What does Valentine’s Day mean to you, if anything?

I was also inspired to add a couple of new love-inspired items to my shop!

One of them is a Lolita POOCHIE pin because I have always been a big fangirl of Poochie.

The other is a reprint of my Micro Zine (6 pages plus a front and back cover), 5 Reasons Why I Love You. It’s a “Valentine” for anytime, much like Poochie!

So my little Valentine gifts to you are…

and I would totally put these in the Valentine mail box you decorated and sat on your school desk

scanned 1980s Rainbow Brite Valentine’s~

a cute conversation heart coloring page~

Twin Stars Valentine wallpaper by Sanrio that I’ve had saved for years~

xoxo

Shop Visual Splendor

Shop is OPEN With New Pin Street Collaboration

11/26/2017

It’s official! The shop is back open! Pin Street invited me to do a collaboration and design a Kawaii Shop. It’s pretty much one of the coolest lapel pin collaborations I’ve seen. It totally reminds me of the “Quilting Bee” pixel club and so many of the old website clubs we used to have in the late 90s/early 2000s! What about you?

What is Pin Street?

Pin Street is an on-going collaboration between about 16 pin designers who are releasing new shops every month! Each pin has the same size specs so they will line up nicely but each is as unique as the Illustrator.

The Kawaii Shop is designed by me and is the 37th in our series. The last collaboration pin. It is a limited run, as the others are. The metal is rose gold and it is in all pastel colors as well as a glittery pink cloud with rose gold stars. I feel like I’m floating on a glittery pink cloud anytime I walk into a kawaii shop so it was a necessary feature! It also is a throwback to the old Times Square Sanrio store and Puroland with the rainbow on top!

If you’re interested in visiting the shop and checking it out, just click the link in the menu or HERE and stay tuned for a Cyber Monday sale~

Shipping now!

Follow @pinstreetshop on Instagram to keep up with the street!

Day With a Camera Visual Splendor

Day With a Camera: The Indiana State Fair

08/09/2017

I’ve always quite a fan of the fair. Something about the red candy apples and the lights of the Ferris wheel sends my heart a flutter and my eyes sparkling like prisms in the sun. Add fancy chickens being shown like prized trophies and I’m in.

So there you have it, this is the fair through the kaleidoscope eyes of Miseducated’s colorfully skewed looking glass.

That was very Warhol of this supermarket sculptor..

This Polish chicken is patiently waiting her time to go home.

As a kid this was always my must-play game.
It was once around $1 for 20 balls and the bowls were all side to side so you won a new pet fish every time.

Esra and I adored the pineapple whip.

Esra and I had a wonderful time and seeing as our fairs are just a bit different than they are in Turkey, it was entertaining for her~ The fair is always a mixed bag.. it’s over-priced, crowded by many people you don’t want to be around and filled with delicious junk food. The lengths I go to for the fair specialties and a few glimpses of chickens is laughable.

Also, pst! If you’re going to be at the fair next Tuesday you’ll be able to see my David Cunningham’s photorealism painting demonstration in the Fine Arts Building.

Visual Splendor

Pretty Modern Design Offices & Art Studios

02/14/2017

Don’t you love it when you type out a whole post and then it fails to ‘Save Draft’?

Same.

So I’m back from the 3 week trip the beautiful Uganda. My husband was teaching a course about understanding the culture through the arts. The people and the country were gorgeous. I was so homesick while there at first and now I miss it. We had a layover in Brussels on the way as well, beautiful! I hadn’t been there before. More on the trip later.

I’m really into decor as always but specifically offices — perhaps because I’ve been taking on new work lately and am still midway through organizing my own office/creative lab. So inspiring. These are gorgeous.


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Ruby Press Office via Kristen Loken

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Jamie Lauren Photography

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Zoe Feldman Design

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McKenna Bleu

Mew for Today Visual Splendor

Mew for Today: Dreaming of Spring POP Decor

05/03/2016

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I got the idea to do the following little survey via another lifestyle blog and I thought it was perfect for quick posts with current images you’re inspired by. I can be a big rambler and I thought it was concise and a great way to interject some gorgeous visual inspirations with a little blogger personality. What do you think? I hope you try it as well! I’m going to add a new post full of writing prompts next~ stay tuned xx!

Mew for Today

Listening to… Dr. Phil question a married pastor, who has been cheating on his wife with strippers, while I do design work and blogging. How embarrassing! You caught me off guard!

Loving… STRONG almond flavored coffee from The Fresh Market, Chicago Mix that our amazing friends Chip & Kim gifted us on our game night AND ban.do‘s new goodies, Ahh!

Reading… the Radical Self Love Almanac by Gala Darling ~ the design is adorable and The Secret as usual (have you tried the app?).

Wanting… to decide what color to paint our bedroom and hallway walls! I’m leaning towards gray but green keeps creeping in… I’m also really excited to see my husband when he gets off work.

Watching… We’ve been obsessively watching Game of Thrones every week and Fear the Walking Dead. I also, as you know, occassionally enjoy listening to reality tv while I work. Ack! Don’t judge me too harshly..

Wearing… black black black, geometric leggings with raised black designs and a black sequin bralette with plastic wrap on my head because I’m re-dying my hair blue & pink!

myself & my bf lauren in NYC last week~

myself & my bf lauren in NYC last week~

Visual Splendor

Visual Tour: Dreamy Pink & Gold Kitchen

05/02/2016

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We’ve been in the process of remodeling our kitchen slowly. It started with the walls and lighting and I’m still gathering ideas for the rest. We have a lot of wall shelves and I think I want even more.. then I found THIS kitchen. I want to move in and have tea here everyday. Who’s with me? Pink and gold.. depression glass.. marble.. yes.

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Visual Splendor

I Love Tea Packaging & Brand Design

03/11/2016

Tea is one of those amazing things that I can imagine will always be around as long as humans are. The trend never dies with tea, it only seems to grow as it slowly infects more generations. My daughter, 5, loves tea. She loves “plain ole green tea” and lightly sweetened dessert teas. My kids beg me most to have tea parties when we plan special “mom days” while dad is going to be away. Tea parties for us mean a big pot of tea, cream, sugar, a dessert and a tea sandwich. They love it more than Chuck E. Cheese! What is it about tea that’s so magically comforting and whimsically soothing?

One thing I’ll admit is I also love tea packaging. Someone has decided that many tea packages will appeal specifically to me as a person. To the point where I buy tea tins even when I have no idea what the tea will taste like.. and when I buy my staple teas or loose leaf teas I put them in prettier tins. I could ooh and ahh at tea tins all day so I decided we should do it together. Tea packaging inspires me and often finds it’s way into my brand inspiration boards (we spoke about before). Does it inspire you?

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Visual Splendor

So Little Time, So Many Things to Create

09/14/2015

David has been working in the studio a lot lately.. he has a couple shows coming up and some other art events. So I’ve been working up in my half on making a complete mess. As I said in the last video, I’m doing wedding decor so the studio is not video-ready. It looks instead like someone took a big, pastel puke in the middle of my floor. Really though with all of the glitter, ribbons, pompoms and flowers… it was only a matter of time. I’m making just about everything in the wedding and although it will be pretty minimal, the items I make will be pop surrealism crafty cute~ pastel rainbow = my favorite thing forever.

pastel rainbow wedding

I’ll also be using a lot of these pastel kawaii materials (I got bulk goodies because I found so many great deals on things I LOVE) to make some goodies for the shop but that will probably come around after the wedding is over, maybe not but probably! The shop will be getting a revamp next year due to our new tshirt printer and products getting finalized~

On that notion I also started doing some sketches again in spare time that wasn’t spent crafting. I had painted an entire painting of an alien scene when David left a canvas he didn’t need on my craft table.. and the only thing I liked about it was the HANDS. How often do illustrators feel that way? I’m not sure.. but it’s not common for me. So I wondered why I don’t sketch anymore and how much more fulfilling it would be if I sketched a bunch of my ideas out prior to sketching on a canvas. Like I used to do. So I’ve been doing little sketches of my moods displayed on a cartoon-y girl. I also pulled one into illustrator after David asked why I’m not doing them in Illustrator. Something about the actual sketching (besides the mobility of it) is providing some sort of therapy for me in my late-night busy brain, tired body situations. If I like any enough in the future I might make some prints of them, not sure yet!

night sketching

thinking girl sketch

whatever sanrio pop kawaii bow

deer fawn girl sketch

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And I’ve been doing dolly crocheting again while waiting for things like appointments or meetings to start..

kawaii kokeshi crochet

What have you been working on?