These photographs from Lisa of Parrish House Photos make me want to live at the beach! Lisa shared, that in the past, she had always shied away from color photography, but boy am I glad she got over that! These color images are just gorgeous!

I have a deep love of teal, aqua and turquoise so you’ll find a lot of that reflected in my work. I’ve also spent a lot of time in southern California and you can see that influence in the sun-drenched feel of much of my recent work. – Lisa

Lisa does all of her own fine art printing on a velvet matte paper that creates prints with amazing tonal detail. Parrish House Photos is offering 30% off to Ciera Design readers when you use discount code “PHP30″ at her Esty shop! Visit Parrish House Photos on Etsy and Facebook for more of Lisa’s beautiful work!

One moment. One meal. One photograph. Let’s eat. On February 24th at 12pm EST, thousands of people around the world joined in a simultaneous global meal… and I was one of them! Whether it was breakfast in LA or a midnight snack in Beijing, we took a moment from our hectic lives to share it with strangers around the world. We all snapped a photo of ourselves and our meal and sent a print to the Art House Co-op. On April 5th, they exhibited these self-portraits, documenting the world’s largest communal snack.

Our aim is to inspire a feeling of community across geographic and cultural boundaries, while addressing the statement that “you are what you eat.” However, for nearly a billion people around the world, hunger is a constant daily reality and “what you eat” is never enough. In conceiving of this project, our thoughts immediately turned to the chronic problem of global hunger and the amazing organizations that struggle against this persistent crisis. Take a look at the many ways to get involved today. – Art House Co-op

Visit Art House Co-op on Flickr for all of the submissions and more photos from the exhibition. If anyone spots mine on the wall PLEASE let me know! All photos (except my entry) from Art House Co-op.

My dad’s birthday was yesterday so I wanted to post this funny picture from a college project I did. I made him dress up, dirty his face and hold this sign like he was begging on the street. I printed the photograph in black and white and then painted over it for a submission to an art show. My dad always helped me with school projects and I have him to thank for my ambition and enthusiasm to do what I love! Happy Birthday Dad!

I created this collection that accentuates the subtle colors of fall. I just love the addition of blues and grays into the typical orange, red and yellow mix. And those moccasins…obsessed!  

Explore the treasury on Etsy.

I joined Etsy last October and I could not believe the talent I found while browsing around. I save all of my favorite items and shops internally on Etsy but I want to share all of this talent with y’all too! I’m starting a new monthly feature that highlights my favorites from small, independent shops and businesses on Etsy and anywhere else I happen to find them!

If you want  to be featured in a Think Big, Shop Small post just contact me. I want to help support all of the small businesses that have such big ideas!

I’m sure most of you have heard of Pinterest, the highly addictive, social bookmarking system for images. If you are not familiar, think of Pinterest as a virtual inspiration board — a place where you can create collections of things you love and follow collections created by others.

People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things. You name it, people are pinning it. Pins are categorized according to subject matter onto different boards. You can create any category you desire from home decor and design to science and nature. My boards, mostly art and design based, are shown below.

I have been having so much fun on Pinterest  and want you to join in! If you need an invite check out my boards and pins, then leave a comment below of your favorite pin from one of my boards and your email address.  I will send out as many invites as I can! If you are already on Pinterest leave a link below so I can check out your pins!

If you are still not quite sure what Pinterest is all about, Megan from Sorta Crunchy wrote a great post, Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide with the low down.

I discovered Jennifer Steen Booher’s amazing photographs through her shop on Etsy and became obsessed. She is an artist and landscape architect living in Maine. Jennifer describes herself as part magpie, part squirrel, part scientist, and part historian. I can’t get enough of her Beachcombing series.

I think I am drawn to her work because my dad also collects… a little bit of everything… he is the dumpster diver of our family.

If you would like to hear more, please visit Jennifer’s blog and her Flickr for tales of marine biology, photography, life on a Maine island and more wonderful collection photographs!

I got a late Valentine’s Day gift yesterday! Since I did not get the Ork posters that I wanted for Christmas, Z got them for me for Valentine’s Day! Can’t wait to frame and hang them up! We still do not have any artwork on our new apartment walls.

My favorite Etsy shop this week is Danny Brito. Danny says: “I like to illustrate girls in either cute dresses or nothing at all, monsters, and anything that pops into my head. I have a small brain and a big heart, it tends to reflect in the cutesy things I draw.”

ETSY NEWS:

I was featured in 3 new treasuries this week! Check them out:
No phone, no pool, no pets… summer road trip
Hipstamatic
NOLA Treasury 2011

I added a SALE section to my shop and a holiday clearance section. Shop Ciera Design on Etsy

I ♥ my Golden Half Camera. Just look at how cute it is! I am using the camera for the first time and will post some images as soon as I get them developed… yes… it is actually a film camera!

So the cool thing about this camera, besides how it looks, is that it allows for two shots on one frame. You get a cool diptych photograph with the two frames divided by a black line. This 35mm half-frame camera allows a standard 3″ x 5″ photo to be split into half (3″ x 2.5″ frames), letting you snap double the amount of photos. Anyone else have a Golden Half Camera with images to share? Subscribe to the Ciera Design RSS feed or follow me on twitter so you don’t miss out when I post the photos!

Update: You can view all of my Golden Half photos here.