Tres Jolie, in downtown Littleton, Colorado, is a modern tea room slash confectioner slash boutique that delights the eye the moment you step into the tres chic space.
The colorful candies in apothecary jars, girlie glass chandeliers, salvaged doors and headboards, and fun artwork make the perfect setting for a memorable tea.
My mother and I devoured the best tea sandwich we ever put in our mouths - a buttery croissant with melted brie and a garlic peach chutney.
Sara, my childhood friend from Texas came to Denver for her first visit. She is a great tour guide for her city of Houston and I wanted to do Denver justice by serving as a proper doyenne for the Queen City of the Plains. Here are some of the must-see places I brought Sara.
Top left and clockwise: The Trinity United Methodist Church built in 1888; The Capitol Building in Civic Center with its towering gold dome; View through a sculpture at the Denver Botanic Gardens; Inside the opulent and historic Brown Palace Hotel; Preparing for a summer concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater- part of Red Rocks Park; once considered the eighth wonder of the world.
photos by sara and kelle
I swoon over the stylistic details of anna bé's bridal salon in Denver- it's hand-drawn tendril-frame logo, beautiful website, sumptuous events, elegant salon and dreamy dresses; every bride's sugar plum vision. Proprietors Breanna and Anna have created a bridal utopia and it's worth a trip just to step inside this heavenly space.
The anna bé ladies recently asked designsgirl to be the first guest blogger on their site and you can visit anna bé to see designsgirl's feature on calligraphy and wedding envelope addressing.
The Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver is the number #1 ranked outdoor arts festival in the country. Some of the world's finest artists in mixed media, photography, painting, ceramics, sculpture, woodwork and jewelry showcase their marvelous craftsmanship each July.
This past year, I discovered artist Viviana Bonanomi Santamarina, whose paper sculptures inspire wonder and enchantment.
Every year, the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies has a fund raiser to support its commendable work. A photo contest is held to see which adopted canines will be featured in the annual GRRR calendar and calendars are sold to raise funds for the organization.
My husband and I just know we have a winner here with our girl, Gibson, cooling off in a stream in the San Juan National Forest near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Maura Gauthier, owner of The Paper Guppy, creates beautiful letterpress wedding invitations in her Denver studio. She is a fellow Bella Figura designer and we work hand-in-hand with invitation design and calligraphy for Colorado brides. Above is a sample of designsgirl's calligraphy for a recent Paper Guppy promotion.
Cool design lures me to places. When I saw the fabulous retro typography and illustration of the "Hutch & Spoon" logo and heard of the restaurant's arrival in Denver's Northside, I instantly brought my husband for a Saturday morning breakfast of Novo coffee and homemade breakfast burritos. The food was delicious and the space just swell for this artist who loved the quirky spoon collection wall art and intimate brick-walled interior.
I was commissioned to do a logo design for Joyce Miyagishima, Denver yoga teacher and artist. I knew of Joyce through her restorative yoga practice at Om Time Studio and only learned of her artistic talent and interesting background once I began to collaborate on her logo. Her work is as graceful and lovely as she and I was thrilled that she shared some of her paintings (above) with me.
I love incorporating vintage threads, beads, yarns and inks into place cards, signs, table cards & guest books. I found a treasure trove of these at one of my favorite paper stores - Two Hands Paperie - in Boulder, Colorado, including a glass jar filled with the most unusual glass beads, odd-shaped sequins, springs, & charms.
a bridal shower place card with colorful gouache in pink, orange and blue to match the Japanese Kimono ribbon.
a few sweet stitches of yarn and glittered hand
Here, a hand drawn flower is filled in with a French ink. The iridescence of this ink is what makes it so special, adding unexpected spangle to the piece.
70 year-old gold vintage thread wraps around a hand drawn and hand-cut place card.
A scene from wordshop, a hip paperie in the Highland neighborhood of Denver. Stylish owner Jill Alyn is a fellow word lover who understands the value of a hand written piece of correspondence and devotes an outdoor space in which to write one. photo by erin k. sturga
I am a self-described wordsmith. My love of words goes back to sixth grade vocabulary class. I love how words can convey just the right expression and feeling when you need it.There is a quote, "With words, the mind is excited and the spirit elated." With Junk English infiltrating our daily speech, an eloquent speaker is a rarity indeed, and these rare people have a powerful advantage. I swoon over my husband's eloquence. Charismatic leaders hold sway over masses with their captivating speech.
It's not just individual words that are exciting, but when you assemble words that normally don't go together in a phrase, now that's excitement. Tropes- figurative poetic expressions- are the perfect example of this. -"A face that launched a thousand ships.""In two shakes of a lamb's tail." "Quicker than hell can scorch a feather" or if you are from the south, "Faster than a sneeze through a screen door." How much more descriptive and exciting can words be?
Think about the beloved people in your life and create words that describe them in an unique way. The next time someone asks about them, your thoughtful words will impress.
My husband and I never use the word "dog" when referring to Garner and Gibson- our Golden Retrievers. They are on a much more elevated status than this. They are our "girls". When talking with strangers, I say that I am taking "our girls" for a hike or "the girls and I are going to the grocery store". I am sure there is some misunderstanding about the family unit but I don't explain.
I call them "hogs" because we treat them as human dogs. They eat better than most humans. They get nightly rubs and wrestling sessions from the alpha male of the household and occasional paw treatments and "smog-be-gone" spritzes from their coddling mother.
When we adopted our girls from the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, it changed our lives. We can't imagine life without these precious creatures.
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