Tune into HGTV on Saturday, June 15th at 8:00 AM central time to catch our episode on West End Salvage.

Here’s the episode synopsis they wrote up for our show:

“Buying an 1888 Queen Anne Victorian fixer-upper sounded like a good idea at first, but after a year of renovating it themselves, Luke and Marissa are running out of steam. They want their living room and dining area to be unconventional, and to spark conversations, but they’re not sure how to pull that off. Well, a design plan that revolves around setting a table on fire is bound to get everbody talking. The West End Salvage team comes up with a dramatic design plan that includes transforming a large hay hook into a hanging light fixture, building a coffee table out of a decorative widow’s walk from a torn down Victorian home, and installing church corbels to divide the two rooms. They’ll be plenty of discussion over the beautifully framed shadowbox containing vintage hair art that’s hung on the wall. While incorporating hair from loved ones was a common practice in the Victorian era, it’s not something we see a lot of in the 21st century. But the hottest project in the room has got to be their new sleek, black, fire-charred dining room table. Unlike any table they’ve ever seen, this stunning design was created by setting the table on fire, then applying multiple coats of Danish Oil. Luke and Marissa asked for something out of the ordinary, and the West End team delivered with high marks.”

If you can’t catch it I’ll be sharing still photos of the space after they revealed the room to us back in November, so be sure to check back next week if you miss the show!

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^^^ A few weeks ago our neighbors kindly gifted us a substantial amount of hostas plants! Not only did they gift us them, they also helped us plant them (our neighbors are nicer than yours / fact.) They are coming up beautifully..as if they were there all along!!

some of you may recognize this little guy from a few weeks ago. We found him inside our house (perhaps the work of our cat Doug) luke likes to think that the image below is this little guy all grown up..and Doug was back on the hunt.

15 doors! Some 7 paneled oak, some exteriors and a few pine, one pocket and a pair of swinging doors…a light fixture, window weights, various hardware, tiles, windows, baseboards, casing, trim..and i’m sure i’m missing some things..but either way Luke scored and saved us a lot of money in the process <3 and the best thing about it was that in days it would have all been destroyed if he hadn’t!

HGTV’s new show West End Salvage has been moved around a bit — and i’m not sure why — but it seems the time has moved from Thursday Primetime, to mid-day Saturday…and our episode(?) well, I’m working on trying to sign a document before it can go live (here’s to me forgetting about the e-mail…then almost two weeks later remembering…only to find the e-mail didn’t have the attachment….ooops! so who knows when ours is actually airing now?) But i’ll be sure to post on here as soon as I know —which maybe the day before or even of! so I guess you may want to keep tabs on here a bit if you’re interested in knowing.

PERRY

Occasionally..as you’ve seen in my last post..i’ll go on a walk..just recently I discovered the trail they have here and it’s actually really quite nice for a small town to have something like this!

this building is situated a block from my home…a few weeks ago my mother and I attended a little painting workshop class that was held there. We had a lot of fun and i’m seriously obsessed with this space! They hope to rent it out for weddings as well as host art&music events!! (GAHH did i move into the perfect little town spot or what?)

PAINTINGS & ETSY

This was the painting I started there — the workshop was focused on mixed media and using modge podge! I hadn’t used this since college, but loved the flat graphic effect I achieved with it on her shirt! – This little girl & cat print is now for sale on a new etsy shop I opened up.
 

I also saw this cute little vintage photograph of a boy wearing a rabbit suit with a a sign “i’m a rabbit” it inspired me to turn him into a little print which can also be found on the etsy shop.

FREELANCE DESIGNS

..worked on a freelance logo illustration for Miss Informed – a great program in Boston that helps teenage girls stay on track by providing a forum to discuss and learn at an after school program. // currently in a revision stage to look a little happier (any suggestions would be appreciated — smaller eyes? bigger mouth? Smaller pupils? bigger cheeks? hmm — doing “happy” i guess is hard for me

worked on my branding for The Moon & The Honey dolls! Pretty happy with how it turned out — there was one printing setup error on my part which makes one side of the tags upside down ((//reading directions isn’t something I like to do..lesson learned))

THE MOON & THE HONEY DOLLS

my sister took some beautiful product shots and I edited them together — (two separate photos above…could you tell? –i hope not.) and I put together www.moonandhoney.bigcartel.com! I will be doing a pop up show the first week in May at an event in Perry — as well as First Friday event in the East Village in Des moines at a store called Eden! Be sure to come and get one then — they’ll be available on a discounted price!

I spent a day making this little video to promote the opening of the shop this May!

currently working on the last revision of this logo! Millennial Housewife is a virtual assistant – no matter where you’re located she can help you organize, set up websites, blogs, documents.. etc! Pretty brilliant business really.

MORE FREELANCE DESIGN

put together two similar logos for an event in Perry surrounding Ragbrai this year! –it was a submissions based piece where they’ll choose the design..so this may not have been chosen, but I had fun doing it! — it’s 80′s hair metal band themed “party”..with thousands of bicyclists coming through// how’d i do?

working on a barelips logo and packaging label for some delicious organic lip balm! (i love mint!)

SELF INITIATED WEDDING DESIGN SUITES!

came up with 6 different wedding suites designs for planning brides and grooms to choose from // I need to sit down and figure out pricing…whether I’ll be responsible for printing or if the client will…((anyone do this have suggestions or tips?)) I hope to add more to the collection..they just take a lot of time to create.

THE MOON & THE HONEY BLOG: www.moonandhoney.com

I put together Wedding inspiration boards

I also put together interior decorating inspiration boards.. for adults & kids.

wedding…

interior…

I feature real Iowa weddings by talented local photographers and or submissions from the brides themselves. I also share real spaces // recipes…and so much more…come check it out!! www.moonandhoney.com

and lastly, when I get a chance I do DIY projects for the the moon & the honey blog! here’s one example going live later today!

I recently discovered some photos I hadn’t posted yet…a few months back Luke and I attended the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis show in Des Moines — turns out it was the largest show they had played on tour // good job des moines! I stumbled over the video below on my facebook feed a while back and probably listened to the song on repeat for a few weeks straight. I also, immediately bought the album — turns out macklemore is the second unsigned artist to ever hit the #1 spot on the charts…pretty impressive how much time, energy and passion goes into creating music, a fan base, releasing records, keeping up with merchandise, organizing a tour, all while playing shows, etc..he definitely deserves the hype & fame.

– i’ve been away too long, so here’s a little slice of what winter has been like for us…lots of hibernating and a few winter walks…i’m getting antsy for spring!

About Submissions:

My dream would be to focus solely on Iowa shops & stores & people & talent, but I will be open to accepting submissions from anyone really! The biggest obstacle for the site to overcome will be to get enough people interested in submitting, the scope of this site is far too large for myself .. so this site will only be as good as the contributors are..and it would be such a shame if it wasn’t successful! I have received some great things already! Seriously, I cried. (no joke) Iowa holds some really talented people — their work needs to be seen >> there needs to be a Green Wedding Shoes for Iowans..there needs to be a Design Sponge for Iowans..there needs to be The Moon & The Honey!…so if you have (or know someone) who has an amazing engagement shoot, a beautiful wedding (photography, video, DIY projects) > styled photo shoots (weddings, fashion, tablescapes, etc), if you’re a foodie and love to bake or cook and have a step by step recipe you’d like to share, or you have kids activities or kids rooms!.. or you’re obsessed with interior design and have some fun interior/exterior spaces you’ve done/designed..or a DIY project you’ve documented from start to finish…ANYTHING GOES — if it’s not listed and you think it’s something that fits into this // submit it..i could probably work it into the site. And tell your friends..and follow @themoonandthehoney on instagram and “like” The Moon & The Honey on facebook!

Here’s a link to submit: www.moonandhoney.com/submit
you can e-mail me at: marissa@moonandhoney.com if you have any questions!

What’s this Luna & Leo Doll thing all about?

It helps quite a bit having a mother who is a children’s book illustrator, but I tend to gravitate towards the whimsy and on my 27th birthday I decided to try something new. I dug out the sewing machine i received last Christmas from my mother and never used…and challenged myself with trying to sew for the first time. I had drawn this little character as a doodle one day and decided to turn her into a doll. The results were hit or miss at first, but I was starting to fall in love with this doll – I now call Luna and her brother Leo (though there’s some discussion as Luke loves the name Linus our neighbor had suggested and i kind of do too..what do you think?)! I’m currently working on building up a back stock of these little guys to sell on The Moon & The Honey in the “shop” section as well as at a local lovely store in the east village called Eden and perhaps another online store > more info on that as it’s just in the beginning stages. It’s all very exciting and overwhelming! Each doll is made of either flannel fabric or cotton, stuffed with polyester/cotton blend > their faces are hand painted, drawn and sewn. All hand done with care & love! I hope to slowly add new things to the shop on The Moon & The Honey as the site grows.

How to advertise?

I’m currently in the beginning stages of figuring out how & who I will allow to advertise on the site – I hope that this does take place in the future so e-mail me if you’re interested and I will give you info as soon as this happens. marissa@moonandhoney.com

Got other questions? leave me a comment! or e-mail me ^^ and be sure to check out www.moonandhoney.com and bookmark it for a spring Launch date!!

i. love. christmas. I love christmas because it’s the only time of year most of my family is together & I LOVE my family! (we miss gina & marcie and their families though!) remember last year when i made this video? with the help of my brother or these crafts?! //creative minds and lots of laughter! \\ this year my mom was asked by her art director at disney if we could make a few snowflakes for sandy hook elementary, so we directed our creative energies there!

this is around the time we found out Bryce’s flight had been cancelled… bummer.




…we had pretty much the worst service at the high life. granted it was two days before christmas…they were under staffed…and it was pretty packed…but i was starving (we had driven around for over an hour but each place we went to was closed) //and i get angry when this happens…because i’m a girl……right steven???! :/




so the service was bad..but the company was superior. brother brad (who is kind of a big deal) hung out with us too!!




beautiful miss halle joined us for a good portion of the evening…i hadn’t seen her in 8? years? wow. london’s treating her well.




from the high life lounge >> to the vaudeville mews for a frat party (???) >> to the alpine




to sherman hill…

it only seemed appropriate to end our evening at steven’s again…

Take two on Cornelison Christmas Kids outing..with Bryce this time!!!












the epic “cornelison/kephart” & “stewart” family photo at the lift (appropriately) /