Perfect pastel pumpkins, fancy tea parties and scenes straight out of a book about witches and enchanted gardens; Vanessa Valencia's Instagram account gives us all the Halloween goals we've all been waiting for and then some.
Valencia, an artist and blogger who has called Tucson home for the past 20 years after graduating from the University of Arizona, has built a little desert paradise where she creates elaborate set designs and art pieces for her blog and Etsy shop.
The results are simply magical.
In addition to to her whimsical scenes, Valencia also works in paint, clay, illustration, photography and design.
Here's what Valencia had to say about what makes her work so enchanting:
What made you start an Instagram account?
It seemed like a really fun venue to serve as a sort of snippet extension of my blog. I also love the social interaction with like-minded folks.
What do you like taking photos of?
Pretty much anything that makes me happy such as gardening, interior styling, dogs — a mashup of life and art.
Describe your style aesthetic
I would say that the name of my company encompasses my aesthetic quite well — A Fanciful Twist. I'm quite whimsical and fanciful with a collected vibe (due to my antique and vintage pieces) all sprinkled with a dash of fairytale.
You have a lot of really cool one-of-a-kind items? Where do you typically find them?
A lifetime of collecting in any sort of shop (I love to shop, but only bring home items I love), with my favorite being antique stores. We have a lot of good shopping around here, so many wonderful antique stores to visit in Tucson, I love them all. However, I'd say that my two favorite places (that I always look forward to visiting) are the Speedway Antique Mall on Speedway and Rosemont Blvd., and my friend's amazing place just north of Tucson in Oracle called Sue and Jerry's Trading Post.
Who else do you like to follow on Instagram?
I love to follow accounts that share vintage and antique home décor, gardens and snippets of real life. I don't mind a few culinary and fashion accounts either.
Anything else?
My Instagram account is just a very small snippet of the world that is my blog, afancifultwist.com. That space houses almost 10 years of weekly content. I share my art and life on my blog, with all my own photos and crafts — along with blog parties and so much more. My Instagram houses excerpts from my blog and a few daily pics added for good measure (and because it's so darned fun to share).
