Monday, December 06, 2010

busy

for being partically employed and rarely getting moer thant 15 hrs a week. i am feeling quite busy.

maybe once i get the xmas cards done, the packages shipped and some drawings done for a friend i will have time to post some photos from our trip to ST. Louis.

woo. go go go holiday

Thursday, December 02, 2010

British Vogue

"British Vogue has just published one of the most beautiful — and original — fashion editorials in ages. It's all about the signs of the zodiac, and it is downright dreamy."

This. This is the kind of magazine spread that make me think December is the most romantic month.

















Friday, November 19, 2010

paper art.

ai continue to be fascinated by paper art. the things people make- and how, apparently, they don't completely lose it trying to glue tiny bits of stuff to other stuff.

stumbled across this, this morning. not a new concept, but i do love the example shown, and love that artists website even more.

"As an experiment, artist Sarah Musi sent blank postcards to forty-five famous artists. She invited them to create art with the postcards and mail them back:

So I had this thought the other day: what if I made little pieces of art and sent them to a bunch of famous artists, along with a tiny blank canvas for them to create something and return it? Would I get anything back? Would they even read my request?

Pictured above is the response from cut paper artist Jayme McGowan."


Below is an example of Jayme's work- featured on her website.

love it!

Thanksgiving

This year we are headed to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. The plan is for me to meet the rest of my husbands relatives, and for him to see people he hasn't seen in 6 or 8 years.
There will be several cousins there, who are all over 17 or so. We have a fun couple days planned that include a trip to the City Museum and the Art Museum.
[side note: i love to visit art museums everywhere we go. you never know what unexpected awesomeness you are going to see. in Pitsburgh we saw the largest collection of plaster architectural reproductions in the world... i think. and a wonderful set of sketches of California style houses from the 50 or 60s]

Who knows what will happen. every family has their crazy, on some level or another. Every family has their traditions.

Being away from home for the second Thanksgiving in a row has me thinking about my family's traditions and funny [now] stories.

Story: We were eating with my dads side of the family, who all live in another state. being the holidays things quickly diverged into their usual pattern. some bickering, some poorly worded comments, etc.
my grand mother made a Waldorf salad. it was good. this is the same grandmother who makes my favorite date roll cookies. after dinner my mother asked if she had put dates in the salad- it was different, but good. "No. it was SNICKERS. AND IT WAS GOOD."
heh. dont question it.

on the other hand, my parents have formed a tradition of pulling the deep fryer out into the drive way. making drinks and appetizers and inviting anyone who wants a deep fried turkey, to bring one over. people hang out, drink, eat, have a good time. it lasts all day. usually they have a invite to the neighbors house in the evening, for an actual sit down dinner. i really like the eating all day and seeing lots of different people.

Last year we hit tow different turkey days in Seattle. both involved a large number of people we are sketchily related to due to marriage. the first was the huge family and friend dinner, that i had been hearing aobut for years, on the account of their being just an awful lot of pie involved- like a pie or two for every person there. The other was also a big extended family party. where we were given some more pie. it was a good deal.
we followed all that up the next day with a family dinner involving crab, pie [:)] and ice skating.

Cant wait to see what this year brings.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

birthday

my birthday is coming up. it seems quite far away before thanksgiving, but it comes up quickly afterwords. ask me at any point in the year what i want and i can tell you, that is until about October. then i draw a blank. probably its because i don't really need anything. or the things we need are new windows for the house and car repairs.
but what i want usually rides along the line of pretty, sparkling and expensive.
my conscience tells me to ask for things that we need, that are also low in price. but i try to slip something in there that i want, thats also low in price.
price is a problem. the economy is down. we aren't rolling in it, and most people i know aren't either.
will i be happy if i get flowers and a fun trinket?
yes.
Here is my very expensive want list:

Fossil bag
i like to add one bag to my collection each year. some times i'm good and change bags with the season, but quite often i carry a bag for the entire year. This is the bag that currently makes my heart go pitter patter.

Dior nail polish from Sephora.
I tried on this color in the store. It. Is. Amazing. it's also $21, which is crazy. but beautiful.Ugg Slipper
i have been wanting a pair of warm slip on, outdoor soled shoes for a few years now. i love the royal purple/blue of this ugg moccasin. also, since my thyroid med.s have kicked in, i no longer find our 65 deg house to feel like 85 deg. and have been wearing socks and shoes out of my own free will.
Patagonia Down Sweater
i bought the long down coat a few years ago and just love it. i still heart my vintage wool coats, but as an everyday jacket the light weight and warm down is great. Now i have my sights set on the down sweater zip with hood.
Punched Tin Xmas Ornaments.
i love these- not just the ones pictured, but most in general.

Apple ipad
i don't like Mac. but i do like how the iphone and ipad work. so much fun, this is a great media viewing tool. I think it would be great for recipes- so were not printing them out every week, and it does everything i expect a lap top to do. Fox Mug
Darling 4oz, hand made mug, is perfect for tea. support an etsy seller [i also like the bear and squirrel].


Poppy ring

Someone posted a posey ring on a blog i read, about a year ago, ever since i have been on the search to find one that was not $2k and involving actual diamonds. I adore this hand sculpted silver poppy ring, found on etsy.


Branch Bangle
Love the branch design here. need to get back into wearing bracelets. also, i need a nice sized jewelery box. Doesn't etsy have the best finds?

When in doubt, anything sugar skull related is always awesome.

cover those windows!

if you're like me and living in an old house with old windows, you know that winter can mean COLD and that your heater goes into overdrive trying to keep the house at 68 at best.

one option is to buy the window shrink wrap kit. these come with double stick tape and shrink wrap. This works Great! ... except that you cant open your windows on a warm day to air out the house. also its not reusable.

option two, i read about this morning, and would be willing to give it a try.
Basically you spritz your windows with water and then stick up large bubble, bubble wrap. apparently the wrap sticks to the water. sounds like it works similar to the shrink wrap method. but it can be eaisly taken down and put back up, should you want to open your windows, and the wrap can be used for something else later.

Below images and info courtesy www.dailydanny.com

"Spray the entire window surface with water."
"Stick a sheet of bubble wrap on top."


"The entire window covered. "

"My understanding is that this boosts the window’s efficiency by double because the air pockets in the bubble wrap insulate the windows and also allow the sun’s rays to still come through the window during the day to heat up the house."

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

so cute

My god.. Cuteness that i could no longer keep to myself.


See the full range of photos and recipe at here.

Monday, November 08, 2010

what i learned in my garden today

what i learned in my garden today:

carrots have viscous sticker seeds.

its been so warm in Denver this year that my hollyhocks are putting out new leaves, as well as my rhubarb and the quince are blooming.

crazy.

glad i got some stuff done in the garden today. supposed to get below 40 this week. you know, like its supposed to.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

whats flowering?


yesterday, on the 3rd of November, i sat on my back porch in a t-shirt and jeans. the sun was warm and everything was dry. We have only recently had our first frost- and no snow. they trees are still changing color and have many of their leaves. I am thrilled that fall is lasting forever this year. it is, hands down, my favorite season.

i took these photos about 2 weeks ago. this was everything that was still blooming in my garden. a lot of it still is, even after the frost. just bizarre for Denver.



Garden grows

first set was taken June 1, 2010 shortly after we completed a large and almost finishing planting of the front yard.

The second set is from October 1st, 2010. things look good! i cant wait to see what happens next yr. [ i thought i had a photo showing the whole front, but apparently i don't.]

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Work

For the last few months i have been applying like mad to, well, everywhere. The market is tough, and its really tough with only a few years of experience.
I was recently asked to submit some hand and computer drawn textile illustrations. I haven't done a fabric print by hand since college, mostly its unusable. sometimes i sketch something, scan it and create the actual print in illustrator, but rarely.
Below is what i came up with to send them. I'm rather happy with how they turned out, I always feel my croquis are a bit cartoon-y.
p.s. click the images for a larger view.

Monday, October 11, 2010

makeup

I don't talk about makeup much. mainly i like clothing, and makeup irritates my skin- even the hypoallergenic stuff. so i just don't wear a lot.

Recently i discovered that a certain fashion/gossip web site that i frequent does reader submitted makeup/skin/hair advice.

It's worth a read through.

Beauty 101

Monday, September 27, 2010

i know what i want for my birthday

I want this.
Could I make it? Maybe. or something similar, that gave the same impression, but was less complicated. frankly i think you need an industrial machine to do some of those seams.
Absolutely stunning.

Friday, September 24, 2010

garden finds

Rummaging around in my garden the other day I found a few ripe tomatillos. This is the 3rd year we've had them, and the first year of any actually ripening. They came back from last year- most likely because I am a lazy gardener and left everything in the garden over winter. Clearly the seeds were incubated enough from the plant material to come back. I also found a tomato. Who knew?
We also had lettuce come back, and of course pumpkins of some sort.
Everything seems slow to mature this year, i hope we have some full size pumpkins by Halloween- assuming it doesn't freeze too hard. [Last year i planted giant pumpkins, only to end up with yellow squash.]
I had not really realized that leaving the plant debris would be enough for seeds to sprout in the spring. Denver- while it is fairly dry in the winter, does get quite cold at times. Last year our first big freeze was the second weekend of October, where it hit 17 F.
I recently visited a picking/ homesteading garden with my mother [you can read about it on her blog], in Boulder, where I learned that the owner overwinters her Zinnias by covering them with leaves every fall.

I'm hoping for some of these big flat red lovelies