Pepper Design Blog

Saving the Bath Toys

Man oh man this has been one of those weeks where as a 35-weeks-along-pregnant lady you just wish it were all over (pregnancy, that is). The belly feels huge, the disabling heartburn crawls up into your chest and takes over every evening, you’re constantly short on breath, dizzy spells are a regular, the sore lower back muscles feel no relief regardless of what you try. My feet become frozen with legs cramps that I didn’t know were possible but make you holler and jump on one leg – back and forth, back and forth.

Sometimes I can’t believe I have 5 – maybe 7! – more weeks to go. I hate to complain and I cannot wait to meet this baby girl, but there’s a reason that most women have short-term memory when it comes to pregnancy and delivery. I’m sure if we could recall every moment of the previous birth we would probably stop at one!

Allright, enough online griping, thank you for listening. I always know you’ll listen.

Here’s a little tip for you fellow baby/toddler mommas out there that I’ve heard about and have finally employed with our bin of bath toys that was getting a little mucky.

After running all bath toys through the dishwasher, I separated out the ‘squirters’ and used my nifty little glue gun to seal up those squirting holes. Ignore how dirty that glue gun is. It needs a trip through the dishwasher. (kidding)

Gone are the cavernous spaces that hold onto mold and mildew! Wish I would have done this from day one .

Happy almost-weekend!

Five {Free} Favorite Fonts

I know that there are a few bloggers (and artists, graphic designers, creative ones) who read this blog so I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite free fonts. High five, fellow typographists (font nerds)!

While I love me some beautiful fonts, I’m still not quite to the point where it’s easy to hand over $60 for new computer characters (maybe one day… they are little bits of art for everyday use…).

But for today, free is a great way to expand on the font repertoire of one’s computer library. And they’re super easy to install. Generally it’s a download, double click and ‘accept’ away from uploading them automatically into your fonts folder where you can use the font in programs like Word, Photoshop, Illustrator, you name it to create labels, letterhead, name tags…

Here are the links to the downloadable versions:

 Happy fonting .

Large Abstract Art on a Budget

I’ve been on a pink kick. You’ve seen my diyed pink heart art, glimpses of the pink throw pillows for the living room (with a new coral glass vase for good measure) and my favorite addition – a big piece of pink dining room art. Pink is infiltrating the house.

In my dining room art post I mentioned just how tough it is to find oversized art on a budget. It’s really very tough! I continually find myself drawn to stunning pieces like this aboriginal painting over at Ish & Chi, an oil on canvas like this one by Jesse Mackay, and I hope that one day I can get my hands on an original Katherine Sable. One day I will choose art because it moves my heart and spirit and makes a room sing. But today price plays a big role.

As previously promised, today’s post is a round-up of favorite large pink art pieces that will rock a wall without totally killing the wallet (some of these are even originals):

1. Bethany Oliver Oberly, $189 2. Ora Birenbaum, $345 3. Sixth and Main Photography, $90 4. Annie Clark 5. Unknown landscape from Art.com, $24.99-199.99 6. Sarah Leslie, $34.99-69.99

Until that day comes when price is not a major factor in choosing wall art, there are plenty of creative ways to fill a large space on a budget:

*there are the do-it-yourself abstract options that involve a few tubes of paint and an oversized craft store canvas (purchased with a 40% off coupon, of course)
*the semi-DIY options (I turned this piece of fabric into a big piece of stretched canvas art, and had this botanical chart printed on fabric and then hung it with dowels. Other creative ideas include transforming a map into art or stretching an old flag over a frame – I actually have one ready to go and waiting for its stretch at the moment)
*the framed fabric or wallpaper look for a blast of pattern
*the thrift store, eBay or garage sale finds (I have a few of those hanging around)
*the small town artist (love art shows or even Etsy for these finds)
*or the print route (settling for a print is no big deal! There are plenty of creative ways to frame a print to even make it look like a canvas)

7. Tchmo, $17-57 8. Michelle Armas, $350 (my favorite) 9. So Very Happy, $45 10. Kelli Hall, $38-375 11. Unknown abstract landscape from Art.com, $24.99-199.99 12. Xilvar, $38-375

Some of these guys featured in the round-up are in the hundreds of dollars range, but many are in the double digits and with framing (see a great solution here if you don’t find a store bought frame that fits) might even come in below $100. Which is a total steal.

Happy art hunting!

PS A big thank you to SheKnows.com for featuring our dining room bookshelves in their favorite storage finds!