Tiffany's Eye Candy || Week 51 of 52

A funny thing about me is that I never actually WANT beautiful things -- I just want to look at them. (Can I get a witness on this one?) I derive so much enjoyment from simply admiring a beautiful pattern or a unique piece of jewelry that owning it could not bring me anymore pleasure. Mind you, I'm one of those people who absolutely hate a full closet of clothing, shoes, or jewelry -- having less means less mess and less stress.

That being said, I still do collect a mental catalog of items that I love. I thought that it would be a good idea to take a few of those items out of my mental closet and post them here. Plus, I love any excuse to do a little blogpost designing. 

Click the numbers below to find the image sources or where you can purchase the items if you feel so inclined.

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Rachel Roy Earrings: I love it when someone turns a common object into something special.

Kate Spade Necklace: I've been drawn towards very short necklace lengths recently, especially collar necklaces and delicate chokers. Even though the bow necklace shown is long, I like to imagine that it has a 14" length.

Kate Spade Bangle: As you can probably tell from my blog color scheme or my favorite everyday wear, I love a gray, white, and gold combination. 

Thinking of making this a weekly segment on the blog. After this hectic holiday season, I could use a little more routine around here.

Until next time :)

The Great Gatsby Decorations Teaser

 

During the power outages last month, I spent most of my free time reading by candlelight. Scanning my bookshelves, I picked out The Great Gatsby and rekindled my love for the F. Scott Fitzgerald. I love Fitzgerald's beautiful writing style -- I'm a big fan of his run on sentences filled with incredibly vivid imagery and the depth and complexity in his writing. In honor of the book and the movie coming out in 2013, I decided to make dining room decorations inspired by The Great Gatsby. This winter season, I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from the roaring 1920's colors and art deco graphics. This inspiration has been filtering into my personal style -- i love vampy and luxurious color choices this season.

Until next time!

currently in love with: sarah hankinson

Photo credit: Sarah Hankinson

I rarely post about other people's work on my blog, but when I do, it means that I really love it. Even though I try not to do it,  it means that I love it so much that I couldn't not share it with others. Recently, I've been looking for artwork to frame and hang in my room. I knew that I was most drawn towards watercolor paintings and photographs but I couldn't find anyone's work that really stopped me in my tracks...until I stumbled upon Sarah Hankinson's gorgeous 2013 calendar currently available and I am dying to have it. Her illustrations have the perfect amount of drama, color, and sweetness that I love. Insanely talented, this illustrator, whew! You can purchase her calendar here. You can also find her other work on her blog or read more about her on her website.

sunny, bold, and graphic craspedia flowers

another favorite flower of mine is the craspedia, also known as a billy button. it is such a graphic, energetic, and unique looking flower, and i love their sunny yellow color. in the middle of this year's gray autumn and winter, i love the pow of a bright yellow paired with gray and white to bring down the energy and complement the icy weather outside. who says you can't have a warm and sunny indoors when its cold and gray outdoors?

last saturday, my good friend Jill taught me how to crochet. (thanks jill!) the crochet pattern reminded me of craspedia flowers, so i ran out to the craft store the following day for some yellow yarn to explore my idea. the photo above is the unfinished result. even though fresh craspedia are supposedly available year round, they can difficult to find. now i can have fuss free billy buttons in my room forever :) 

i'll likely make up a tutorial on how to create these faux flowers, but you'll need to know how to crochet first! if you don't know how to crochet, designsponge has a very easy craspedia tutorial using wool roving.

until next time!

thenoveltea blog redesigned

hello blogosphere! it's been quiet over here lately, hasn't it? i've missed this little corner. so many life changes happened since my last post, i can't even begin to tell you. as the new year is rolling around quickly, i just wanted to recharge and resume this blog as well as announce the official redesign of my blog! it is such a relief to finally rid of that "under construction" sign. 

a lot of my readers on this blog are people that i personally know. thus, since the start of this blog a year ago, i've never felt the need to formally introduce myself or explain the meaning behind the title "thenoveltea." as 2012 progressed, the blog expanded and i've had the pleasure to cross paths with a few talented food/lifestyle/photography bloggers. therefore, i think that an introduction and blog title explanation is in order. i'll explain the blog title today and save my introduction for a separate post (although, you can find out a few things about me from my blog title explanation.) :)

The title was originally created to mean "the new tiffany" ("novel" meaning "new" and "tea" standing for the first letter of my name, tiffany) -- inspired by ezekiel 36:26 ("And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.") thenoveltea blog was meant to document my life as the "new tiffany," being transformed by Christ daily, being changed by new experiences, and challenging myself to be different and improve everyday. It so happened that the title was also a clever homonym for "the novelty" and the mental image of novels and tea captured the simple and sweet essence of my style.

over the past year, this blog has been a filing cabinet for photography challenges, craft tutorials, and other things that i was and am still wildly passionate about. there's much more of that to come when the new year rolls around -- as well as a few life updates thrown in here and there -- and i hope that you'll stick around to enjoy the ride with me. 

that's it for now! feel free to leave a comment about what you'd like to see more of on this blog or just leave a word to let me know you dropped by if you prefer. :) 

love, tiffany

P.S - while i was redesigning my blog, a few of my posts had been republished, which may have spammed your rss feed if you are subscribed to me. my apologies! and if you aren't already, feel free to subscribe below ;)

Icons by Craftiments

Breathe

This week has been pretty chaotic. Some flower photos to help me slow down and breathe :)

All taken during my most recent visit to the Union Square Greenmarket. 

More photo to come from my day with Lois :)

Revisiting the Union Square Greenmarket

Greenmarkets are among my favorite places to shoot. On my way to meeting with Lois, I stopped by the Union Square Greenmarket. The last time I was here, it was early spring and Eric shot all of the photos from that set. Hey eric, looking back at that post, I think we need another "this is us photo" asap!

Usually, I lean towards shooting very light photos, but  I loved the dark shadows under the tents so I shot for some moody photos.

The first photo in this set reminded me of my Valentines Tulip photos. I can't believe how quickly 2012 is speeding by! Anyways, until tomorrow :)

Coffee Shop with Lois

You know how you meet someone for the first time and immediately know that you're going to be great friends? That was me with Lois :) It's only happened once or twice in my life before, but I absolutely love it when I meet someone new and instantly know that they easily run in the same type of circle that I do. We share an amazing number of interests and I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to finish each other's sentences by now :P haha

Lois and I met up in NYC at the end of last week, and we stopped into this coffee shop for shelter from the rain. 

Lois shoots film! (See above photos.) I'm ten steps closer to making the jump into film because of her :P Gorgeous. 

I've got to run but there will be more photos from this day to come! Have a great Tuesday everyone :)

Rooster & Hen Greeting Card

Tutorials are incredibly fun to create, but very time consuming! Last week, I posted a few teaser photos of this greeting card tutorial and finally got around to posting the full DIY today. Enjoy! :)

Above right: The actual pencil lines were too faint, so I photoshopped in the sketch.

And there you have it :) I'll definitely be making more of greeting card tutorials soon. Have a great week everyone!

Tutorial Preview

Speeding by today! The internet is down at my house so I'm at the library updating my blog. Here's a preview of a tutorial I've been working on this week! The rest coming soon :)

Hope you're having a great week!

The Highline II

I had a much needed, quiet weekend. Stayed over at my sisters place, which means spending a lot of quality time with two of my sisters, lounging and relaxing. Stephie, Alice, and I went for some ice cream and a stroll on the highline. I love the view from here and I wandered around some areas I didn't get to last time. 

Happy Monday :)

The Flower Farm

I remember my dad came running over to me one day and said in his thick Chinese Accent, "Tiffany, I want you to buy some Irish seeds for my garden." Confused, I responded, "Uh...Irish seeds? What are Irish seeds?" He brought over a book of paintings and with a stern look on his face, points to a flower. "I want to plant Monet's favorite flower, the Irish." My mouth upturned into a grin and I laughed, "Dad, it's called an Iris." A childish fit of giggles proceeded to assault my insides. Of course, my dad, with his indifferent demeanor, nodded and walked away, taking a piece of my heart with him.

 I like to think that my fascination with gardens and nature was passed onto me from my dad. He's been obsessed with all kinds of art for as long as I can remember and every flower planted in his garden is inspired by a painting or an artist. I like to think that its in my blood to take an interest in such things.

Anyways, I spotted a flower farm recently and I made a pit stop to take some photos. My favorite photo opps are the unexpected ones. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful summer's day :)

My favorite shots from this shoot are the ones below.

The farm grows vegetables as well. They were closing up shop before I could get around to shooting the barns, but perhaps I'll come back another day. By the way, I jumped through hoops to get this last photo! Don't ask what happened but it involved massive mosquito bites and a severe reprimand from a policeman. Oops.

Have a fantastic weekend, you guys!

Ferrara Bakery

My family decided to spend some time in New York this past weekend. After dinner, we made our way over to Little Italy for dessert. We took a lap around the area before deciding on Ferrara. I had to take a few photos of this place -- I couldn't help myself!

Left: My mom downing her mango and guava gelato. Right: Stephie scoured the streets of Little Italy for rainbow cookies. Mmm delicious. We also had pistachio gelato (my favorite flavor) and my older sister claimed it was the best she's ever tasted. I didn't get the chance to get a good photo of it before we destroyed it. :P

A nice relaxing evening :) Happy Tuesday guys!