JEWELRY GIVEAWAY!

some of my favorite street style bloggers! sincerely jules (photo above), song of style, sterling style, late afternoon, lefashion, kendi everyday, and the glamourai. cute momma style: bleubird vintage & the rockstar diaries

what is your favorite street style blog? i always love finding new ones.

i always love when bloggers show detail shots of their accessories. today we are giving away & beautiful ariel gordon friendship bracelet & love knot ring over on my facebook page! i was looking for a little gold ring i could wear all the time with my other rings. this rose gold one never comes off now. click here to win them!

STYLE / 53

as much as i love color, i also adore a room full of neutrals. this allows the textures and fabrics to really shine. i was inspired by this photo of cholë moretz from wonderland magazine a few years ago. there is just something so striking about her sheer costume…

this is when i called in my favorite balloon trooper, jihan from geronimo balloons to create a dreamy tulle balloon. she knew exactly what to do. and that flowing beaded wonder of a dress? that’s an anna sui creation from BHLDN! the sequin details on that dress were beyond impressive. and i will say, it felt a little like my wedding day when i put that gown on…

the second neutral look was this short lace dress with lots of layered jewelry. and this vintage parasol added a nice texture.

when we are shooting these style shoots, i will say there are a few things that make it easier for me. since i am not a model, i sometimes find these shoots difficult because i am not sure what to do with my body or my face. something that makes it more natural is to have props. having something to interact with makes the photos less “hey i’m a model and i’m posing” and more like a story.

i love how max takes the direction that i give him and creates this dream world with the photos. he has such a talent for seeing a scene and looking at it in an abstract & artful way.

and speaking of art…my boyfriend shot a behind the scenes video that literally made my jaw drop. he has created a very very special video that i am excited to share with you next week!

as usual, here is how you can get the look (wouldn’t this be an adorable bridesmaid outfit?)…

delicate rings / lace dress / chiffon pom shoe clips / bracelet / star tiara / vintage parasol

…and make your own collection right here. it’s a great way to pull items for a shoot and keep them all organized! this was outfit my mood board.

photography: max wanger
art direction: bri emery & jen gotch
styling: jen pinkston
hair & makeup: alex michael may
sponsored by: beso

courtesy of BHLDN: spirit of the moon heels, star tiara, sheer dome food covers, anna sui gown

you can take a look at all of the past style posts here! like last week’s floral explosion.

CRAFT VIDEO!

my good friend and super talented videographer son of shark pig made us this video documenting our anthropologie craft event! remember those inspiration strings we made? have a look here…

1 the weaver house postcards / 2 washi tape / 3 neon string & metallic twine / 4 polaroids / 5 little gold scissors / 6 penguin book postcards / 7 yellow balloons

SAO PAULO

this eclectic house in são paulo over on the selby was full of charming details. i especially loved their colorful pool area!

see the full house tour over here!

KICK BACK

photo via milk & honey

i will be headed to san diego to spend some time with my boyfriend’s family for mother’s day (happy mother’s day to YOU in chicago, mom. love you!). arian’s dad is persian and his mom is spanish and there’s always wonderful authentic home cooked food whenever we visit. i’m full just thinking about all the rice i am about to consume. here’s to everybody eating well & sending love to their moms this weekend!

i love this photo of my grandparents, my mom & her brothers & sisters. check out her red hot shorts!

MAKE IT / 11

you guys know it’s mother’s day this weekend, right? why send flowers when you can make her a cute tasseled floral pillow? eh? ok, let’s do it…

what you’ll need:
- sewing machine (don’t be scared, this is easy)
- 1 1/4 yard of fabric (for an 18×18 pillow)
- coordinating thread
- pins
- scissors
- ruler and straight edge if you have one
- yarn
- yarn needle
- 4 medium sized beads (we used a wooden one)
- cardboard cut to roughly 3×4 inches
- 18 x 18 inch pillow insert (we got ours at west elm)

how to make the tassel (reference photo below)
- wrap yarn around a piece of cardboard. I like a nice pouffy tassel with lots of attitude so I do this
about 50-60 times.
- slip yarn off cardboard being careful to keep the loops neat.
- take a piece of yarn about 18 inches long and slip bead onto it. now use that piece of yarn to tie one end of your loops with the bead on the inside. tie it nice and tight, maybe even take the yarn around a second time to really secure the loops.
- now cut the bottom of the loops in half.
- smooth the yarn around the bead and tie a piece of yarn at the bottom of the bead. (the bead helps the top of the tassel to have a very round shape)
- now trim the bottom of the tassel so that the ends are all even. this is my favorite part, it’s like a little tassel hair cut.

how to make the pillow cover (reference animated photo below)
- measure and cut three pieces of fabric: 1 piece at 18.5 x 18.5 inches and 2 pieces at 18.5 x 13 inches
**helpful tip, I like to make a pattern out of a thick piece of paper so that I can easily make new covers in the future. I also find it a little easier to measure straight lines on paper than on fabric.

- on the two smaller pieces fold one long edge over twice and sew flat
- lay your larger piece with the right side up.
- now lay one of the smaller pieces down so that the unfinished edge lines up with the top, right side facing down and then lay the second piece down in the same way so that it lines up with the bottom edge. The two pieces should overlap several inches in the middle.
- pin around the edges and then sew together giving yourself a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides.

then:
- clip corners on a 45 degree angle taking care to leave a little fabric between the stitching and where you cut. This step helps your corners stay sharp.
- turn pillow cover inside out.
- to attach tassels use a yarn needle and feed the long loose ends of your tassel through the corner of your pillow case. I like to feed one through each side of the pillow so that I can make a nice secure knot on the inside with just a little bit of fabric in between.

finally!
- insert pillow form
- throw them all up on your sofa, pillow party!

let us know if you make them & tweet @designlovefest some photos of them!

(photos & creations by natalie shriver – see more DIY projects here!)

TO GOOD USE!

i am constantly impressed with our blogshop students and how they put their new skills to use! priscilla took our austin class back in january, and now she has launched her new clothing line crowned bird. pretty cool, right? love those funky eyelashes. we are excited to see all the businesses & blogs that grow after taking blogshop!

LUCKY SESH RECAP

hello there! i had the pleasure of speaking to a group of ladies about turning your blog into a brand at the lucky fabb event a while back. i thought it would be helpful if i posted it for all of you guys to check out! so here’s my little recap…

#1 one of the most important steps to take if you want to pursue blogging as a career is to make your blog look good! the reason i started blogshop was because people were always emailing me to see if i would design their headers, social media buttons etc…and i wanted to teach them how to do it themselves so they always could switch it out!

you need to invest in the design of your site…make the content stand out, make a clean area for your blogs to live, and call clearly call out your social media! like i told my group, i spent $1000 bucks to get my site coded, and it was worth every penny. having a custom look will make you proud to blog and will make your site look like a brand.

#2 people often overlook how far you can take branding and how far it will take them. anything that has to do with your blog, should be branded…media kits, invoices to sponsors, price sheets. companies will take you more seriously if you have these things under your belt.

#3 what are the emails that stand out the most to you? for me, it’s the ones with the beautiful email signatures! it’s just another way to make an email stand out in a sea of emails. here is some examples of some of my friends that are doing it right. and if you aren’t on twitter & facebook, it’s about time. and brand those too. (am i starting to sound like a broken record? ok good) i was pretty hesitant to get a DLF facebook page, but now i am sorry i didn’t start it long ago.

#4 first off, i have my contact number as my wallpaper in case my beloved ipad gets lost. and guess what, it’s also branded. yowza!

#5 blogging is NOT fast and easy. sometimes a post can take me hours. partially because i am perfectionist, but also because i want to be happy with the content that i am producing for people. i try to stick to a couple of fonts (too many will look cluttered) and i have a general color palette that i am drawn to (read this for more on the importance of colors) all this will create consistency for your blog. and people like a little consistency.

#6 start some columns! it will create discipline for you to keep up with them and will also give people something to expect…style posts on tuesdays, recipes on thursdays, DIY on friday…

and i loved getting contributors to add their own personal flair to the site! i recommend that for sure.

#7 and lastly – make an impression! above is a little box of things i would send to a client after we finished a project. something to say “hey, working with you was awesome, here are some things i love.” people love snail mail. and there is still something so special about getting a personalized gift in the mail to show appreciation. it doesn’t have to be all promotional, but a few branded items are nice. (i use this rubber stamp place – and here is how they look!)

hopefully some of that info was interesting to you all! i know it was a little scattered. we go over lots of this stuff in blogshop too! and did you hear we are doing a new class dedicated to creating unique video blog content?

happy blogging everyone! -bri

DRINK UP

my dear friend & ultimate MRS. has launched a cocktail book that is a definite winner. stunning design, simple steps and best of all? it’s a swatchbook! after lounging around in mexico for a few days I was still craving that afternoon cool down drink when i got back to LA, so i tried out the tequila granita! it did the trick & brought me right back to vacation mode.

these beautiful blue rimmed glasses are everywhere in mexico. we had to take a couple home for the memories. i wish i had a whole bunch of colored rims!

you can buy her awesome book here & read more about it here on mrs. lilien!

photos by designlovefest

NO WORK, ALL FUN

this was definitely my favorite photo from the trip. these hammocks were right outside of our hotel and they were calling our names the whole time.

i went to mexico with my boyfriend and my two friends emma & ryan. it ended up being such a perfect trip…and most of all it was easy! cabo is a short 2 hour flight from los angeles which is really nice.

i did a little post when i was there and told you about mama’s…i always ate there with my family as a kid so it was really special to be able to share this place with my friends as well. simple food, spicy salsa and fresh ingredients. we loved it so much, we ate there three days in a row.

another amazing food spot is maro’s shrimp house! they have local cuisine & some of the best shrimp & lobster i’ve ever had. all for 16 bucks. i can’t stop thinking about how delicious that meal was…

we went on a tequila tasting tour with grayline los cabos (we also went on a glass bottom boat ride!) and i spotted this little plant sitting against this ridiculously colorful pink wall.

the tour also took us to a bunch of the beautiful surfing beaches (my boyfriend loves to surf!) we also spent part of the day hunting for mexican blankets that we could bring home and hang in the windows of our new house. success photo here.

if you watch the video below, you will see it took me about 7 minutes to actually get situated in this hammock. all while looking like a total fool. it was pretty hilarious. (and how pretty are those color choices on the hammocks?!)

it’s hard to completely take off work because i really enjoy my job…but a balcony office was a pretty nice change.

we rented scooters for a few days and rode all around town. i was actually pretty scared to do it at first, but by the end of the trip i was loving it. i haven’t seen my guy that happy in a long while, so it was definitely worth getting over a little fear.

this month i decided i was going to take care of myself. worry a little less, take some more time to myself, and be more spontaneous. my life is really scheduled out and i tend to get really wrapped up in stress…so it was nice to just book these plane tickets randomly one day and let the rest work itself out. thank you hotels.com for the awesome room with a view & also to grayline los cabos for showing me around parts of cabo that i had never seen before! like i said, i spent years going to cabo with my family over the summer and it holds a great spot in my heart.

oh! and the video. emma and I shot some super 8 on our iphones (you can get the app here) and i put a little video together of all of our days there. and that boppy song? that’s all thanks to sharing an office with the best dj (the flashdance!) who always gets wonderful music stuck in our heads. this brenton wood song was played over and over on our trip…

thanks for following along on our trip! -bri