SEDONA IN SEPTEMBER: AREA ARTISAN FINDS & SHOPS

The hubs and I have two favorite months to travel: May & September. Neither are too hot nor too cold and it's not quite a peak time, so travel can fit into a budget. In may, we usually like to travel as an anniversary trip and in September, we travel to create a new more pleasant memory to replace a bad one. When we travel, we don't always take a flight somewhere: we use the time to drive and explore the area around us. Driving to the destination also means we can save on rentals, taxi's or trains for transportation. Although it was EXTREMELY dark at night in the Red Rocks of Sedona, after our Broken Arrow Pink Jeep Tour and lunch at the Cowboy Club, we walked & drove to some area shops. We saw so many wonderful pieces from local artisans like metal work, textiles, jewelry and pottery! One set of shops reminded me of Coral Gables or St. Augustine Florida: The Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. It was rich with Spanish architecture, lush tropical foliage, and amazing pottery + tile work. Another shop we popped into caught my eye because of a certain Steampunk vibe: The Victorian Cowgirl. The last shop we stopped at called Son Silver West had a unique mix of American Pickers delights (like the outdoor gallery of roadsigns) plus weather beaten vintage finds. On our travels in South Florida, I would usually collect shells, starfish and coral - here in Arizona I'm starting some new collections: horns, crosses and hacienda keys. I think it means something, but for the moment, I'll just leave that one alone :) Enjoy the tour of shops and finds...

 

Above is from the hotel ...

 

American Pickers delight!

 

Even some rustic Halloween finds..

 

Color inspirations...

 

Lovely weathered wonders...

 

Reminiscent of Florida...

 

Steampunk style at the Victorian Cowgirl...

 

I'm probably using some of this as Fall inspiration...

 

Elements of Arizona

Horns, Crosses and Hacienda keys

The links to the shops are above, but the online sites do not do justice to what the actual shops are like to walk thru and experience. This City girl has been going thru a huge culture shock living out west. Exploring and learning more about other parts of this state (vs. living in the east valley) was an enjoyable experience to learn about visiting Sedona.

 

It's not the energetic Concrete Canyon of New York City... It's not not the Metropolitan Tropics lifestyle of South Florida... but THIS part of Arizona is beautiful...

 If you're going to Sedona, use the links to get the locations. For accommodations, we used our points and stayed at the Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa. I'm grateful for the room upgrade they gave us. We had a beautiful view from our bedroom & balcony... and I'd image in the cooler months, having the fireplace in the room will be an extra treat! Breakfast was dee-lish too! Hope you enjoyed the tour...  A little get away to start off fall with :)

Thanks for stopping by!

About My Southwest Sophistication roomboard entry @Olioboard's New Year - New Challenge!

Hope everyone's new year is off to a great start! With the clean slate, the new year ahead is full of promise and fresh ideas! One of those places to capture some of those ideas is at Olioboard.com. I've been seeing boards with concepts for office makeovers, tablescapes, client projects, and even upcoming events such as a wedding. And Olioboard has one of their challenges set up as a NEW YEAR - NEW LOOK Challenge! Although my board may be a little "off" from the description of  "Create a perfect look to inspire the trend of downsizing, minimal, stress free living", it's still a new look for me - so I decided to enter the challenge with Southwest Sophistication!

 

At Olioboard, there is more than one way to create your mood or room board style: I like to first collect the elements on one board (above), and then create a room from the elements on another (below). For framing and adding fonts, I simply save my images, and re-load them to Picnik to finish the style of my boards look.

 

NEW YEAR - NEW LOOK BOARD CHALLENGE ENTRY:

Southwest Sophistication

VOTE NOW!!

Since I'm in a new location, I wanted to conceptualize a refreshed look, more in tune of our new location in the southwest. Coincidentally, I'm also noticing it as a decor "Trend" that just might be making a comeback - The Southwestern look. But it's NOT the southwest look of the 80's where EVERYTHING in a room had a southwest motif (Thank God!! What were we thinking??). The updated version is simply layering in a southwest textile or two plus mixing in a southwest element to your already modern decor. Mix in one other element - also on trend - something rustic like the finish on a casegood or table. And you my friend have got yourself a revived look on an old trend - making it NEW again. Here's another board I created on Olioboard based on the same southwest style, but utilizing two other style trends: Gold (brass) and B&W stripes.

 

Southwest Chic

For this board, I tried a different application offered over on Olioboard - and I LOVE it!! You can PIN items from the Internet into your Olioboard library! For some of these items I used, I actually pinned them TO Olioboard FROM my Pinterest SOUTHWEST STYLE board. Since October, I've been pinning items from ponchos to pillows over on Pinterest, and now it was so easy to just refer back to my Pinterest board for a few items to add to the Southwest Chic board. If it sounds confusing, it's really not. Think of it this way: Source all your style info onto your Pinterest Board. When you're ready to create a room or mood board, use your Add to Olioboard browser button (while at Pinterest) to add select items to your Olioboard library (includes the link & you change the description). Then all your items for your look, makeover, event or client are all available listed below your board.

 

Coastal inspired - Artist Studio

Earlier this past year, I had the opportunity to participate in a week long blogger event over at Olioboard. It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the way people put their boards together. Their really is no right or wrong way to put your board together. Your board is reflective of your organizational style and your vision. If you'd like to read more about the week long Moodboard Blogger Challenge, you can read it here at: 

The Coastal Cottage Moodboard Challenge Wrap-up

Coastal inspired - Painters Studio

Most recently, I was asked to participate in an interview about Olioboard - so stay tuned!! In the meantime, head over to Olioboard. Take a look around at the other boards, set up your profile (you can link up your blog, FB & Twitter), and start creating your libraries and boards! And while you're there, don't forget to vote at some of the challenges happening now.... Well specifically, please vote for my board!! THANKS!!

(click link below to head over to Olioboard - Click heart below board to cast your VOTE!)

Southwest Sophistication

Have you used Olioboard? What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Southwest Style Inspirations For Our Move to Arizona

Houzz.com and Pinterest have become some great sources for organizing new design concepts, thoughts, and style approaches for our new location. By collecting these style thoughts now, it can help me make some more decisions on what to give away or donate before we pack up to leave. I think I'd give my mom most of my more beachy - nautical blues, so she would have things to do her guest room. I 'may" hold on to some of my greens I love to use in the Spring - especially since I won't be seeing so much green out in the desert. And I'm glad I've been re-united with my reds lately, because I can see them being used more frequently with our new lifestyle & surroundings.



Geodes...

Already do love stones and rocks. Really like this look with long feathery grass....

Some of the new pieces & details I'm looking forward to collecting or adding to our decor is Navajo prints (blankets, rugs - even as a wall hanging - or pillows, geodes (gorgeous mineral rocks & stones), more silver & turquoise to grow my existing collection (I'm fascinated with the Navajo needlepoint design for a cuff), weather & reclaimed woods, pottery and some yummy brown worn leather. To help get us started, I'm REALLY tempted to take some sandpaper to Jeff's brown leather (recliner) chair in the living room... It needs a little more character and texture - don'tcha think? :)

LOVE the look of this muted turquoise adding life to

the rustic elements, furs, and skins...

Navajo Needlepoint Cuff

Would like to find a vintage map of Arizona to mix in with existing galleries...

Sandy, earthy mix of stone, wood, and metal.



Something I started collecting and taking photos of last year was of horses. Maybe I can capture a few more images of wild horses to put up in our new place. I know cactus is going to be a new subject (vs. images of skyscrapers). And something I was more into here, but I think I'm going to do less of out there are the more intense seasonal changes. I don't think I'll only have our shells & coral on display only in the summer. I think those are going to become more mixed in to our decor, along with more of our travel photos - AND MAPS - to tell the story of where we've been (New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Georgia, and Florida's beaches / coastlines).

New obsession: Tobacco / brown leather...

LOVE these colors & these horses...

Mixing textures, rustic elements, and industrial finds.



A new room I'm excited to get set will be a guest room, because I can't tell you, how many people are ready to book a flight out to AZ to come visit us. My mom's friends up in New Jersey are even wanting to meet her in an AZ airport and come visit all together :) and that would be REALLY nice! Something else that will be nice is getting to explore a different part of the United States, and learn more about its history. Might have to also venture out and do some American Picking out here, especially since some of AP's travels have been to AZ. And one of my favorite American architects - Frank Lloyd Wright has a place to go explore, Taliesin West, which I believe also holds most of his drawings.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West



LOVE this color pallet!

Navajo textile called Two Gray Hills

Great idea: Display some southwest (Navajo) textiles on wall to welcome guests to AZ.

 
A few people from here on the blog and on Facebook have even contacted me (thank you) to ask me to come help them with their home after we're unpacked (that will be fun!!) And even just to meet for coffee... Who knew when I first started blogging coming up on two years ago, this would be a tool to help bridge and connect us to new people and lives in the new place we'll live :)

I already love & admire Ansel Adams photography...

So I'm sure you'll see a few more, other than the two winter ones I have.

Desert Tracks Ansel Adams

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona 1942

Although I still have a few projects to share that I've done around here (like refinishing the buffet and decorating for Fall - while selling our place) I did want to take a few posts to share all the new information and inspiration I've been coming across lately... I thought it would have been sooner, but the house will finally be listed by this weekend. The other day, they hauled away Jeff's truck, which kind of finalized that this is "really"" happening... Right now, I'm processing all the new info and getting ready to "embrace the (new) place where I'm at." I read Ralph Marston daily, and recently came across this line, I thought was appropriate for now...

"Don't be too quick to place judgments on events as they unfold. What initially seems like it might hurt you, may very well end up helping you." ~ Ralph Marston