It’s party time! Don’t you love to hear those words? I do because who doesn’t love a good party? Photography Jeremy Harwell in Atlanta (the brother of the talented artist Anne Harwell) wrote in recently to give decor8 first dibs on sharing a party he recently shot. But not just any party, but a vintage themed puppy party for his beautiful daughter planned and styled by his creative wife Karrie.

I was excited to hear about and share this vintage party because Karrie went beyond the basics and had each girl in attendance make a pillow out of recycled fabric and vintage buttons. They also made their own book out of vintage prints from the 40’s. All of the fabrics used to decorate are vintage and the sweets were all handmade. Charming, right? Have a look at these beautiful photos as they may inspire a party of your own in the future, the palette for a piece of art you plan to begin, your wedding palette, or even how you imagine decorating your craft room.

Thank you so much Jerry for contacting me and sharing this party with decor8 readers. I think it’s just adorable and super inspiring — you really captured the moment so perfectly with your gorgeous photographs! And readers don’t miss Jeremy’s portfolio — it will make your day!

Doesn’t this party bring out the little girl in us all?

Psst: Jeremy has a beautiful blog, too.

(images: jeremy harwell)

It must be all of the sunshine and blue skies here this week because I’m definitely feeling ready for spring and have been thinking a lot about what spring brings… flowers, parties, pretty dresses and ice cream cones! I have a really sweet party to share with you in a moment so watch for my post that will follow this one but I think you’ll really enjoy how well Meri Meri products (shown below) tie in to the upcoming party peek.

I adore all of details when event planning, in fact the details and finding ways to be extra creative in new ways is the most exciting part for me. That is why I love these cupcake sets from Meri Meri — they make me smile because I hope to someday have a daughter and plan such sweet events at home for her as my mother did for me. My favorite set is tweet tweet. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a blogger party and to have the tweet tweet cupcake holders and toppers to pass around as a bit of a joke about our social networks — like twitter? Ha, that would be cute. What is your favorite cupcake set?

(images: meri meri)

One goal I’ve had is to be more diligent about posting a new blog of the week each and every week — I did really well with this for the first three years but when I relocated last summer I started to get behind and my blog of the week has been more of a blog of the month and this needs to change! I’m resolved to get it back on track weekly and so today begins a new week so let’s focus on a new blog.

Forever Is Today (reminds me of a James Bond film!) is authored by 22-year-old Hilda Grahnat who is a graphic designer living in Sweden with a great eye for vintage finds and a gorgeous, inspirational site. Her one room apartment is so inspirational — you can see it here. I like how she photographs arrangements of her vintage finds and that the photos on her blog are ones that she took. Hilda is a very talented girl and I hope that you will take the time this week to visit her and show a little community spirit and spread that bloggy love!

(images: hilda grahnat)

I shared the delightful handwork of artist Naomi Shiek today over at Real Simple and I loved this image from her portfolio so much that I thought I’d post it here too.

Naomi has an etsy shop that I’ve featured on decor8 before but in case you’d not heard it is called The Time Is Now. Lovely.

(image: naomi sheik)

I first wrote about Tine Kjeldsen and Tine K Home a few years ago, sharing views of her home and product line. It seems she has really taken off and now I see her work on blogs and in magazines — most recently Elle Decoration (UK) as her home was featured on the cover of their March 2010 issue (view the entire spread here). I found out that she’s on Facebook and I enjoyed her page there because she shares some behind the scenes views of her life and work.

For instance, a fan of her work recently inquired about the coffee table in her living room and she so generously provided an answer on her FB page, “As one of you was interested in my rustic coffee table, I would like to tell you how I found it… I found the old wooden plank in a backyard in Saigon City, Vietnam – owned by a little Vietnamese man. The first time I saw the place, I didn’t believe what I saw: the plank stood among at least 300 parked scooters! A small passage led me to the most amazing decayed wooden furniture. The “little antique man”, as I call him, restores everything from scratch, so even the most destroyed cupboard can turn into something beautiful. The wooden plank for my coffee table is 7 cm wide. I asked the man to make some simple legs of old wood, and after a long period of time, my unique coffee table finally arrived and is now standing in our living room. The white cupboard in my living room is also from the little antique man.”

These are the reasons why I find the fan pages of certain companies on Facebook so beneficial — often it provides a way for fans to ask questions and to get feedback directly from company owners and designers. It’s great! Tine K Home has a new spring/summer 2010 catalog that you can view online here (it’s beautiful!).

(images: tine k home)

You’re going to love these beautiful things for the home, I just know it! It’s been awhile since I wrote about Ferm Living but I was reminded of them today when a reader wrote in looking for some help with her bedroom walls. I sent her over to Ferm Living with some wallpaper suggestions and it was then that I noticed they’d added a bunch of new products to both of their websites in the US and in Europe. From wallpaper to poufs and candle holders… some of these things shown below are not available yet in the US online shop but you’ll need to check the website to know for sure. All things below are available in their European store though.

I really love mushroom soup wallpaper shown above — fun for the kitchen or to line cabinets. Here’s a decorating idea: It would also be nice to paint your kitchen a gorgeous chalky gray or even a warm, soft sand with crisp white trim and if you have a pantry for food, to wallpaper only the pantry with this mushroom paper. You could then use some of the mushroom tea towels in the kitchen area to bring it all together. How pretty!

How cute is this doll house and these bird pillows and soft mobile for baby?

I’m also liking the wall stickers called Sewing Room — and how they’ve artfully placed them in the kitchen around trash bins! See any favorites that you can imagine in your home?

(images: ferm living)

This week has come to a close and now I must be on my way to start my weekend doing all of the things that I love do like sleep in, work on projects that fulfill me and watch The Tudors on DVD because let’s face it, a little Jonathan Rhys Meyers goes a very long way. :)

And what about you? What will you do this weekend? What do you hope to accomplish? I think I will make pancakes in the morning and go for a long forest walk since we have fresh snow on the ground (again). To think that last weekend everyone was wearing spring jackets and out buying ice cream cones and today we’re back in mittens and boots… oh well. It is what it is so I plan to simply enjoy it by taking a long walk in the forest in the morning followed by reading the newspaper in my favorite local coffee shop. The little things often have the greatest impact on me and there is nothing more beautiful than a forest covered with fresh snow.

I’ll see you on Monday and by the way, Leslie and I just finished teaching Blogging Your Way and have decided to teach another in September so I’ll make an announcement here on decor8 sometime early August in case you are interested. Also, Leslie will be back with her Color Me Pretty column in two weeks and will visit us once a month with her color story. This month she’ll be focusing on pastels to get us in the mood for spring.

See you in a few days!

(image: holly becker for decor8)

I talked about Turkish wallpaper company Studio Nommo back in 2008 but was just notified today by Chicago-based artist Ashley Alexander from I’m Smitten that they have a new collection that I think you will just love (I do!), especially the foxes by Ashely. Oh and this one by Studio Violet in Sweden. My, my, my there are so many gorgeous patterns…

Seriously, aren’t they all such lively, stimulating designs and colors? Which one would you like to have in your home and where would you put it? I really like the trees against white for a baby’s room. I think it would be so cute for a little boy! But it would equally be beautiful in a stationery boutique as it’s so fresh and perfect for letterpressed modern papers and notebooks.

(images: studio nommo)

Danish illustrator Lisa Grue’s solo show “Owls Have More Fun” opened last Thursday at gallery hanahou in New York and was a smashing success. Lisa is my kind of girl — an oversized graphic woodland of black and white owls — sign me UP! Check out a few photos of the work in situ. Fabulous, right?

The show runs until March 26th so do me a favor if you live in NYC, attend and make me very, very jealous! :) And for those unable to attend, you can now view Lisa’s available plates by downloading the PDF at the gallery hanahou shop. (Click on the link directly below the “Go Shopping” button.) And you can see the show in the gallery hanahou flickr page.

And in case Lisa Grue sounds familiar, I showed her Copenhagen home back in 2008 because it appeared then in BoligLiv magazine. You can still see the article on the BoligLiv website here. Above shows just a glimpse into her colorful, bold world.

(images: gallery hanahou and boligliv magazine)

Would you like to see a fantastic new concept that combines a pendant light with the work of your own hands? LampGustaf in Sweden recently launched the Stitch pendant and it’s the best… leave it to the Swedish to combine craft with function and do it without one ounce of kitsch. The idea behind Stitch is that you can make your own design by hand, so it’s a little bit DIY rolled into a fantastic pendant light. You can watch a video of a few people making their own design here on YouTube to get a better idea on how this works. LampGustaf will soon launch a site of inspiration for Stitch with downloadable embroidery designs and the ability to upload customer photos and more.

In addition to the crafty modern Stitch light, LampGustaf carries a large selection of lighting that ranges from traditional to contemporary, mid century to elegant, they have a myriad of stunning floor, table and pendant lights to choose from. The Stitch is my favorite though, so original and fun!

A special thanks to reader Helena from Room And Serve who first told me about this darling light yesterday. Thanks, Helena!

(images: lampgustaf)

I received a nice email today from Jessica who is a jewelry designer and blog founder/author of Makeunder My Life. She wrote in to invite me to be part of her series of interviews called Design My Life which focuses on, “Sharing your intentions for your life and how you design your life around those intentions.” I like the idea so I couldn’t reply fast enough, yes!

If you are interested in reading what her current Design Your Life guest, Summer Thornton of Summer Thornton Design, has to say on this topic you can certainly do so here. Above you can see Shannon’s beautiful living room and if you visit Apartment Therapy you can take her home tour which is just fantastic.

And this makes me think of something… designing your life. What are some of your intentions and how do you do design your daily life in order to meet those needs, reach your goals, etc.? You can comment below over just ponder over this question for a moment on your own because I think it’s a great thing to really STOP and think about on a regularly basis, don’t you?

(image: summer thornton)