My Moo Mini Cards are Here!

And once more I'm very happy with the result; the colours are great and the quality is superb! I will use them to make bookmarks and small magnets which you will be able to find on my etsy shop in about a week from now! What do you think?

Discover Evthokia's China

A Central St Martin's graduate, Eva Valiotou, is the founder of Evthokia Ltd a company that produces unconventional, humorous and sensual china dinner sets that challenge notions of etiquette and traditional values. With a strong interest in food symbolism and consumer psychology Evthokia products provide contemporary lifestyle solutions. All products are made in England and have gained a great amount of press attention and a loyal following of fans who love cutting-edge design married with quality. Needless to say that these bite marked plates are my favourites!

Selections from Zara Home

If you love Zara clothes then you'll probably love Zara Home accessories, an Inditex company which offers stylish houseware at affordable prices. I'm saying affordable and not cheap because you could buy some of these items at a better price, and if you are a regular shopper at Etsy you would also know that you are getting handmade, unique home accessories and not mass production items. Still, their stores look great and they make amazing shopping windows, so if you are close to a store, step inside just to get some ideas as to how you can put things together to create a lovely and elegant decor. Here are my selections from their latest Autumn - Winter 2011 line!

The Tory Burch Secret Online Sale

One more reason to subscribe to the wonderful home decor e-magazine Lonny is the wonderful Lonny Promo email that arrives from time to time to your inbox with amazing offers and suggestions! This week I got an invite to Tory Burch's private online sale and had the chance to purchase her wonderful clothes and accessories at a fraction of their normal prices! I have to admit, nevertheless, that I spent more time looking at the photo of her shopping window and studying the combination of rich and vivid colours such as green and orange with the textured, eggplant-coloured wall. For more on Tory Burch's boutique design you can check the photos from her new store in Seoul at Marcus Design blog!  

Video Tour: Net-A-Porter's Headquarters

I have to warn you that I admire Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-A-Porter, so much that I could constantly blog about her and her website! So when this video tour of her spacious, contemporary, black and white headquarters was uploaded I had to post it here! According to the video's description on youtube "when Net-A-Porter were compelled to move their head office to the top floor of 'The Village' at London's new urban shopping temple, Westfield, they ran a competition to find their perfect design partner, resulting with Studiofibre being awarded the task of leading them through this exciting journey from concept to completion, providing full project design, bespoke joinery design & production and furniture & fittings specification & procurement.This design took a very contemporary, almost industrial shell ( originally intended for a leisure centre ) and transformed it into a 40,000 sq ft. working 'wonderland'". And from what you'll see it's a fashion wonderland indeed!

New Business Cards from Moo!

Business Card  & Mini Card (front side)

My new business cards have finally arrived! I ordered them from Moo and I'm extremely happy with the result! They are thick and the paper has excellent quality! Honestly I can't wait to hand them to people!  I got a few mini cards as well, to add them to my packages as thank you note-cards! They are equally great  plus they look really cute on my black boxes! Woo-hoo! Or better Woo-Moo!

The Newsstand: November 2010

Fashion bloggers and fashion lovers constantly post about the latest fashion magazine covers; who is on the cover, a model or a celebrity? who is the photographer? what is text about? have the fonts changed? what colours have they chosen? Apparently the same topic is not that interesting to the interior design fans. Although the community is very active (there are many, many blogs, a lot of magazines and plenty of related forums),home decor magazine covers are almost never a topic of discussion...This monthly post titled "The Newsstand" will be featuring the latest home decor magazine covers in an effort to finally bring them to the spotlight! 

From top left (clockwise):

• Elle Decor - The cover features a photo from the LA based designer Suzanne Rheinstein's home
• Dwell - Live/Work (I'm sure that many Etsy sellers will find this issue interesting)
• Interior Design - Bright colours in the kitchen of modern apartment in Tribeca, NY
• Architectural Digest - Feautures the actor Rob Lowe at his Californian dream house
• Lonny - one year anniversary issue with Celerie Kembell

Crystal's Home: A Guided Tour

The person behind the gorgeous Plush Palate blog happens to also be the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Rue magazine (if you don't know it, click on the link! it's such a beautiful decor e-magazine)! With two home decor sites to run it's no wonder that Crystal Centinello's house looks as if it has come out of the pages of a magazine! Minimally chic, elegant and with a wonderful selection of colours on the walls and on the accessories it must be really hard to leave it behind...But I'm sure that once Crystal moves to San Fransisco, she will surpise us with an even more gorgeous home!

Elle Decor Tests its Logo

This month my favourite home decor magazine "Elle Decor" decided to test its logo and published a limited number of its October issue with a slightly different version of it: "We love when decorators mix old and new, so with that in mind we’ve done an experiment and combined an updated version of our original logo from 1989 with our September 2010 cover. What do you think—is it time for a comeback?". You can vote online here and help them decide! So far 79% of the voters prefer the current design (image B). And I'm one of them!

My Boxes Have Arrived!

Really glad to have found those black boxes that I'll be using for packing my pillow covers! They are arrived today and are exactly as I had hoped them to be; thick, black and beautiful! I'm sure they'll look great with my pale blue satin ribbons! I just hope they can also fit my fat quarters of fabric which I sell to other crafters...

Pink Martini Do Xmas Songs!!!

Ok, so this post isn't really design related but I HAD to let you know that Pink Martini - one of favourite bands - will release their first holiday record! Copying from the press release: "The band has created a globally-inclusive holiday album for the 21st century, performing 14 festive songs in eight languages. Featuring traditional holiday favorites alongside gorgeous, lesser-known discoveries, the album features an array of guests, including Japanese pop start Saori Yuki and NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro, backed by a fabulous gathering of Portland choirs". For a Christmas obsessed Pink Martini fan like me this is news from heaven!!! Got to go now, I'm pre-ordering the cd right away!!!

Sneak Preview....Xmas Cards!

I have finally ordered 3 packs of christmas cards with my designs printed on them! It's going to be the first time I'll be selling cards in my shop and the first time I'm ordering from the specific printing company this type of product; I remain confident nevertheless that the quality will be as good as the rest of their services! So here are the three original and exclusive Sacred & Profane designs! Hope you like them! Any tips on photographing and/or selling them are welcome!

Feeling Kinda Sunday!

I love a cloudy Sunday in the Autumn and this is how it turned out to be here in Chania today! Though the sun was shinning in the morning, by 14:00 the clouds had appeared in the sky and after a few hours in started to rain. What a lovely weather for getting down to work! I filled my mug with hot coffee, ate a couple of (small...he he...) chocolates, and started taking photos with the help of my light tent! It's the perfect solution for a grey day like this one! Today I'm shooting three new art prints and also editing the photos  I took yesterday while walking at the beach...What about you? What are your plans for Sunday?

Back it Up by Caro Emerald

I've been listening to this song quite a lot recently, especially when I work on my shop's creations. I think it's such a wonderful, cheerful tune, isn't it?!

My New Prints Have Arrived!

My new art prints-posters have arrived and I'm really happy with the result! I know...they are a bit creepy, but we've got Halloween coming up and they'd make a great gift for friends or family! Plus they are limited edition (only 250 will be printed), numbered and signed by the artist (a.k.a me!), and who knows? One day they might be worth much more than their current price (30$). I'll photograph them tomorrow and you'll be able to find them at my etsy store on Saturday!

My Bestseller...So Far!

I have had 7 sales so far and each time I get more and more happy with the thought of someone loving what I've created so much that he/she actually pays for it! But there is one item in my shop that "steals the show": the cute and small "What a Wonderful World" Art Print! I'm pretty sure that all my pillow covers are extremely jealous of this print's popularity!

Early Morning....with my Camera!

I woke up early today to catch the light and photograph my latest pillow cover, but I'm not really happy with all the photos....I will edit them later in the day with the help of picnik (I'm soooooo bad with photoshop) and decide whether I'll list them today on etsy or photograph the pillow cover again tomorrow. It's just that I get so frustrated when I can't list something on the day I planned to do so....Grrrrrr..........

Well...here I am!

....and I love it! I enjoy blogging so much that ever since I lost my first blog "Ostentatious Style" two years ago, I felt really more or less depressed, there was something missing from my life...This is why I created and tried to develop a second, fashion-related blog "The Fashion Conservative" which is still 'alive' today, but couldn't put in the same love, passion and commitment that I had about my first one. But I'm pretty sure that now things are different; I will be blogging about my beloved etsy shop "Sacred & Profane Designs" and about my love for design, art and entrepreneurship! I promise to do my best to keep you updated, informed and, why not, entertained through my posts about my latest design-related endeavours (and not only) and sincerely hope that you will enjoy it! Welcome!