I recently featured Modern Bird Studios, which blends digital elements with fine art skills to create a custom painting. If you're looking for other ways to incorporate images of your loved ones or your favorite scenic shots into your home décor, here are five more places that will turn your photos into cool pieces of personalized art.
I know some of you dislike TOMS shoes, but what if said TOMS have glitter on it? These TOMS Navy Glitter Canvas Shoes ($48) are philanthropic (the company donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every purchase) but are they also stylish? Your call.
Take all of my Love It or Hate It Polls here! To post your selections go to the Love It or Hate It? group. And if you want to learn how to do a blog post click here.
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It may be poking fun at the fact that exorbitantly expensive It bags are over, but this Longchamp "It Bag" Vertical Tote ($340) has stolen my heart. Could it be because it has French writing on it? Maybe. But mostly it's because it talks cheeky and looks chic without costing a fortune. Plus, it's canvas, thus super relevant to the times. I could see this bag meshing at the supermarket as well as at trendy soirees.
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We usually associate canvas with beach totes and summertime fun, but times have changed and so have all things canvas. This earth-friendly textile has been waxed, dyed, and embellished for our fashionable pleasure. You can take the natural route and opt for lighter colors, or dare to try it with a fabulous faux finish — some even look like leather! I dig the light, textural quality and breathable nature. Let loose, try canvas.
Some slogans are painfully cheesy and some are downright brilliant. Guess which category this Dogeared Canvas Bag ($23) fits into? Ding, ding, ding. We've all seen our fair share of canvas totes — hello, I'm Not a Plastic Bag — but this one takes the cake. "Your plastic bag can kiss my canvas." Canv(ass), get it? Carrying this bag will not only make you look caring, but comical as well. Plus, imagine how many new friends it'll help you make.
The tote bag is an iconic summer staple, in so much as one can raise a basic to icon status. The tote bag is already making appearances in our community despite the summer being somewhat hazy on the horizon. Bunnyshop is doing a tote bag a week feature. Shopping's My Cardio and Vie Couture have already picked out their favorites.
But we wonder if the rise of the tote bag might be tied to something other than the whims of designers. In fact, it could be a downright insidious plot to help us cut down on our consumption. Consider Libertarian Paternalism.
Human beings are lazy, busy, impulsive, inert, and irrational creatures highly susceptible to predictable biases and errors. That's why they can be nudged in socially desirable directions. A nudge is thus any noncoercive alteration in the context in which people make decisions. The libertarian paternalism behind it is rooted in Thaler's [author of the study] lifelong fascination with the power of small, seemingly innocuous details — the arrangement of food in a cafeteria, the drawing of a small fly in the bowl of a urinal, a pattern of lines on the road — to influence people's behavior.Perhaps Anya Hindemarch's I'm Not a Plastic Bag frenzy wasn't just designed to garner attention and sales. Maybe it was a subtle nudge to help us live better more sustainable lives. OK, we admit it might be a stretch. Fashion designers don't know shit about public policy nor do we wager they care except as it affects import tariffs. But designers do know a thing or two about affecting behavior. In fact, inciting desire and actions against all rational thought is something that the industry has perfected. Thus if you combine our penchant for behavior modification with a desire for change you get a text book example of New Paternalism. The tote bag just may be our summer savior. Sure you can buy an expensive canvas tote bag like the Hermes Garden Tote but there are plenty of classic affordable options like the Eddie Bauer Canvas Tote just waiting to help you make better decisions. And it is just so much easier to forgo a plastic bag when you are running errands if you have a roomy tote on your arm. So go buy a tote. It will help a fashion house and nudge you towards slightly more sustainable behavior patterns. And its entirely up to you. Except you know you REALLY want to buy one. Go buy a bag! And then ponder free will.
