Ferm Living kitchen accessories

Small Spear tray

The kitchen items from Ferm Living would look great in my house: clean lines, soft shapes, earthy pale cool colors. That minty green knocks me out.

Egg cups

Dinner set
(so cute all together)

hicks backseat blanket

Blanket from Pierrepont Hicks

I love this turquoise take on the Hudson Bay blanket. (Saw it on this site, which always features great style.)

elizabeth mayville on etsy

Bird's nest painting

Etsy art two days in a row! Though Elizabeth Mayville does paint animals, I'll focus on something else for a change. Her still lifes are sweet and vivid, with muted colors. They seem like student work, in the best possible way—I mean that they're casual and not trying to be anything more than pretty little pictures.

Cantaloupe painting

Thermos

Grapefruit 3 painting

mrs eliot boots on etsy

Circle garland print

I don't think I've done an etsy post in a while, and I found this artist via BKids. She's got a variety of styles, but I prefer the prints like these that show restraint, simplicity and clean, bright color.

Four Blocks 1 print

Overlapping circles print

Octons reminds me of connectagons

why we broke up

Available from amazon

I read this novel a few weeks ago, and I can't get it out of my head. Written by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and with illustrations by New Yorker artist and frequent childrens-book author Maira Kalman, it's a breakup letter from 16-year-old Min to her first real boyfriend, Ed. Min's smart, self-aware, and just a little pretentious in a dead-on artsy-girl way. If I were a teenage girl, I'd like it even more than I already do. Or maybe it would hit home too much? Maybe I like Min precisely because I haven't been her in a long time. Either way, Kalman's illustrations make me smile.

Min leaves Ed with this box

Bottle caps from their first conversation

(Handler has also put together a site where you can add your own breakup stories.)

heidi merrick Huntington dress

Heidi Merrick dress in Neapolitan

It's been all over the lady-blogs, but I couldn't resist including it myself. This dress (also available in a different color combination) is perfect. And oh, how I wish I could pull off a fedora. If sack dresses aren't your thing, and you've been wondering what to wear with leather mini shorts, it also comes in a shirt:

Tommy shirt

sanna annukka

Amsterdam card from Huset

I spotted one of Sanna Annukka's perfect prints on Design Sponge*(in this awesome house, to be exact). The Finnish/British designer creates colorful illustrations, prints, and other objects with a clean but folkloric look. Sadly, some of the screenprints at Annukka's shop are out of stock:

Call of the Cuckoo from Annukka's shop

Magic Berry Bush

Spirits of the North
(this one is available)

How good is this Angel of the North lithograph?

Luckily, I found Annukka's beautiful, frame-worthy cards on the excellent Scandinavian-design shop Huset. (Plus they're only a few dollars each, as opposed to the gorgeous but pricey prints above.)

Sun bird

Bird of paradise

Totem

*I've seen tons of inspiring work on Design Sponge lately. Credit where it's due, right?