Inspired By: Photographer Leela Cyd

I discovered the work of photographer Leela Cyd over on Karen Barbe's lovely blog, and fell in love. Leela is also the in-house photographic expert/teacher for Apartment Therapy, and has written a bunch of helpful photography posts that you might really enjoy. See more of Leela's work here.

Color Inspiration Daily: 08. 07. 12

"All The Letters That I Wrote To You" photographic art print by Galaxy Eyes

Pinterest Picks: 6 DIY Tutorials That Caught My Eye

Hi friends. Today I thought I'd share a little grouping of some of the great DIY projects I've recently spotted over on Pinterest. If you're the DIY sort, you can find a full board of mine on Pinterest wholly devoted to DIY tutorials and freebies right here. All my other boards can be seen here. xo Ez

1. Recycled Leather & Wood Shelf on Design*Sponge (via Naomi) | 2. DIY Hand-Stamped Fabric from Papernstitch (viaLuiza) | 3. Simple DIY Embossing Technique from Bookhou at Home (via Amber) |  Printable Articulated Strongman from Appracadabra (via Miss Lonny) | 5. Oversized Hand-Written Poster Project from Making Nice in the Midwest (via Meg) | DIY Sawhorse Desk by Besotted Brand Blog for Brooklyn Limestone (via me)

My Weekend in Photos: August 3-5

Hi friends! How was your weekend?

It's still as hot as the surface of the sun in this fine state, so what else could I do for mine but camp out in front of the stove and cook delicious things (makes no sense...but it was worth it)! Here's a little look at that and a few of the other ways that I spent the last few days (as shared over on Instagram). If you want to find me and more of my pics, my username is "creaturecomforts". I hope to see you on there!

1. It's so nice having fresh flowers in the house and somehow they always motivate me to keep everything just a bit tidier than usual. Does that happen to you too?
2. One of the two recipes that I linked to last Friday was this amazing Roasted Corn Soup with Tomato from Sussman Brother's: This is a Cookbook, shared by Williams-Sonoma. It was quite a bit of work, but oh my word was it ever worth it! I'm keeping the recipe in my "need to impress company" file for sure. Tip: if you're not a fan of super spicy things I recommend reducing the amount of Chipotle Flakes from 1 tsp. to 1/2 or even 1/4 (I used 1/2 and it was a tad too spicy for me).
3. On Saturday I took my daughter back-to-school shopping. Unbeknownst to me it was also a tax-free holiday (I didn't even know there was such a thing) and the mall was crazier than Black Friday! Fortunately we found a lot of great things, so it was worth the insane Disneyland-long lines in the end.
4. That night I decided to try out the second recipe link that I shared last Friday: Summer Corn Cakes with Chopped Tomato and Avacado Salsa from Ezra Pound Cake. I skipped the salsa (I'm not a fan of raw tomatoes) and served them with a Simple Aioli instead...and they were amazing!
5. Old things that I have laying around my studio are so much more interesting...
6. ...now that I have my new $15 Easy Macro Lens Band from Photojojo. This little gem makes ordinary things extraordinary. My daughter even figured out a way to attach it to her little point-and-shoot camera so that she can snap macro shots with it! So cool!
7. And on Sunday afternoon I used up the clay left over from my DIY Nursery Mobile and made myself a little Hanging Gem Art Piece for my office. It was super simple (basically just using the same steps as in the other tutorial...only it's easier). If anyone would be interested in a quick tutorial, let me know and I can probably post one for you.

I'm so glad you all stopped by today! xo Ez

Color Inspiration Daily: 08. 06. 12

Green Apples Photographic Art Print by Claudia Drossert