little red fox

vintage; both in finds and birthdays

I think I found my very favorite new purse :)

We just got back from a wonderful birthday celebration for my mom's 60th in Mississippi. We made and ate delicious foods including Ina's Lobster Mac and Cheese...we made a couple of tweaks that I think helped it.

I have come to the conclusion that anything served in individual ramekins makes it that much more special.

We also had (among many other delicious things as my mom and all her friends are into gorgeous, fun food) some beautiful roasted tomatoes with basil, perfectly grilled cornish hens, an improv-ed and perfectly delicious butternut squash soup (which I will try and recreate this week)... And for dessert, since Betty isn't really a cake person, I made her a beautiful lemon mousse...

(See the 'B' in the middle? My first attempt with a pastry bag went swimmingly!) The multi-stepped recipe is here. It was complicated, but so good I think I'll make this for Thanksgiving, as well. It's a gorgeous alternative to a cake and such bright lemon flavor!

We all went to the thrift store and I found the purse above, a new winter coat ($9!!) and both of these pairs of shoes which I just can't believe...

When I tried on the sequined flats my mom said "It looks like you could join the circus in those" which were, of course, the magic words :)

And this strange little plastic frame. The 70s pictures are horrifying, but I think if I paint this red or black and add some strange little drawings behind the window...it could be the neatest little Edward Gorey tribute or something similar, couldn't it? It's hard to believe the things some people want to throw away but thank goodness they do since we all have different tastes!

My mom also gave me these little milk glass candy dishes that belonged to my great-grandmother Mamere (she was from France). They're so pretty and I love that they were hers.

I also found this:

An old beautiful plate from 1923. Complete with the calender year laid out...

Looks like November 2nd was a Friday in 1923 :)

And I've been meaning to show these for a few weeks. I didn't thrift them, my friend Larry (or 'Eagle-Eyed Larry' as he shall henceforward be known) found these for me at a garage sale in Michigan...

Might they remind you of a similar something seen in a certain line of clothing you might have seen from a certain post? So delightful! What good fortune!

Oh, Eagle-Eyed Larry, I owe you one :)

And Happy Birthday, Mom! I owe you quite a few more than one :)

etsy love

Being a part of the etsy community is a really proud thing for me. It's such a wonderful idea and I feel so lucky it's there and I get to be one of the artists/people who are a part of it. And there are so many amazing etsy artists--I have to constantly restrain myself from buying a million things when I visit some of my favorite sellers, but every now and then--I'm not strong enough. Here are a couple of things I just couldn't resist...

The print set above is from the artist Sarah Blank who also has a blog I really enjoy. I was so taken with these prints. I especially loved that they both seem to be taking place on some mythical magical "stage." (Secret reminder: I'm an actress...) I've actually been working on a couple of drawings (more sketches at this point) that are framed out by stage curtains but these are so beautiful, I don't know if I'll even need to finish them since these are so beautiful.

I now need to find two mis-matched vintagey-looking frames...

And then this perfect little badge. It's by Julianna Swaney--who was one of the very first etsy shops and blogs I ever happened across and one of the ones that inspired me to try and do one myself. I just think this is remarkable. It's one of her lovely drawings (of which there are so, so many) turned into a gorgeous little piece of jewelry. Brilliant.

And goes so well with my outfit, don't you think?

(p.s.: That skirt is one I just thrifted and painted. The 'how-to' is coming tomorrow!)

OK I'm going to watch a BBC miniseries period drama and draw--which is the only acceptable activity on cold, rainy, gray days like this. Au revoir!

dreams sometimes do come true

I think I just scored the find of my lifetime.

Today--a gorgeous, lazy fall Sunday--we wandered up to Barnes & Noble because I wanted to get the November Italian Marie Claire after seeing these photos on Liebmarlene Vintage. They're just so amazing I have to own them--it's not enough to just bookmark them and look at them whenever I want. This particular B&N, however, didn't have it. I huffed and stamped my foot and accidentally wandered into the 'bargain books' section--where I never go! Because I don't remember ever finding anything worthwhile in that section ever. So it was completely random--and there it was.

I just can't believe it. I know I've talked a lot about my fascination for all things old-timey-circus related-blahblahblahI'mabrokenrecordetc. But get this: I have had the above book on my Amazon wish list for well over a year--never hoping to get it since it cost around $100. But there it was--and it was $20. Twenty dollars. I gasped out loud. And almost dropped my coffee. I picked up the book and held it to my chest, flooded with 14 emotions like guilt, joy, maybe a tear or two--and distinctly feeling like I was getting away with something and the feeling was delightful.

How could this beautiful beautiful book be only twenty dollars?? This book is huge! It's over a foot tall and almost 400 glorious color pages of the history of the circus. It is jaw-dropping.

 

 

Look at these drawings! My heart is beating so fast right now...

Oh my goodness the colors...

And these are just random pages I'm turning to. I can literally turn to any page and there's another thing to blow me away:

 

I will get the Italian Marie Claire because the photos are just too amazing, but this. This is my prize.

In the same section I also got the Vargas book for $15! I have to say--I do think I had some good luck coming to me and I think I just cashed in all my chips today. Look how beautiful:

(Yeah I didn't quite get the silly cheapy sticker off the front...)

 

 

Look at these women. I could look at them all day. I probably will...

And then outside we see this!:

It really was a day filled top to bottom with all kinds of beauty! It was so wonderful--we slept in, had a big breakfast, walked out into a gorgeous fall day (I liked my outfit even!)--sipped cappuccinos surrounding ourselves in piles of books and magazines and these amazing picture books...I really needed a day like this too. It's inspired a little project for the shop, too, which I hope to have ready to share in the next week or so...until then--I so hope you're having a nice day or night wherever you may be :)

sally scott

I need to write a heart-felt thank-you letter to fellow blogger Sally Jane Vintage*. I have just figured out that I wouldn't know thing one about any new fashion labels or anything new fashion-related if not for her posting about it. I almost always love the ones she falls in love with, and this Sally Scott which she posted about recently--has me distracted, jittery, seeing the world with new eyes--I think I'm in love. With every single item. With their concept. With the whole entire feel of the clothes as a cohesive idea. As far as I can tell, it's an Asian label and there aren't any shops carrying it. But it feels distinctly like a 'thrifted-and-cobbled-together-accidental' wardrobe which is top-of-my-list of favorite stuff.

Feast:

 

 

(There's so much more here.)

Usually at a loss come winter, I know exactly what I want to be wearing. I have really come to appreciate modestly pretty, feminine and quirky. A reaction to exposed navels and cleavage? It's a little on the nose, but sure. I just think getting older, being sexy has become a much more interestingly mental and emotional event for me, as opposed to anything physical. I get completely captivated by people's brains anymore and maybe that's reflected in what I appreciate fashion-wise?...

ANYWAY. I think most of the "Sally-Scott-ing" of my wardrobe will be taking place both in thrift stores and my sewing room; breaking out and reworking the patterns, seam-ripping and reconstructing. I'm so excited at the prospect!

Please tell me other people get this excited about things like this too... :)

and we're off

We're off to the Virginia mountains for a long, well-deserved weekend.

I think this is as good a time as any to say that I never feel guilty for taking breaks or vacations or long-weekends--any of it. I've heard about people who do. But I'm not one of them. Just like when we were kindergarteners, I think we are built for periods of unapologetic rest.

Ok. So--getting ready to rest...let's see:

Lap-worthy craft projects?

 

Check.

Handsome travel companion?

 

Double check.

Ok. (Exhale.) Let the rest begin.

Be back in a couple of days, friends... :)

the paper makes all the difference

I have blogged about this Booklovers Set before--recently, in fact. But I am so over the moon, thrilled about some new tweaks in their design that I have to show them again immediately. Really and truly it is a visceral, emotional experience when I make something that looks just like what it did in my head--it's like the sweet spot on a tennis racket. I will literally sleep better tonight. And it had everything to do with the paper. And the ribbon.

The beta version of these little items were printed onto ivory cardstock because that's what I had and I liked them fine but really I wanted the overall effect to be one of times gone by but still modern (I know) but then--THEN. THEN I discovered Paper Presentation** here in Manhattan (I had no idea it was there!) and I get there and that song from The Little Mermaid played and I might have teared up...if you like crafts, that means you like paper and this place has the most gigantic, wondrous selection of (what craft supplies are to me:) possibilities. I mean, it's wonderful. Expensive. But deeply wonderful. And there I found THE paper I had been looking for--both for this particular project and also for most of the things-to-be that exist in my head right now. It's an off-white, antiqued, lightly flecked and beautifully smooth paper that I can buy in weights varying from the light paper-weight, to the 110-lb cardstock from which the bookmarks are now made and they are just perfect. I still love my husband more than Paper Presentation but this store is pretty amazing :)

They also have ribbon. And not just "craft" ribbon, but really lovely artful ribbons like the one above that both matched my paper perfectly and exactly complimented the design of the whole shebang. Humbling. I don't know when I'll get to update my etsy shop with these new developments since we're going out of town in the morning, but hopefully very soon. All of the Bookmarks/Bookplates sets I've sold are made using these materials, which I'm very happy about.

My new discovery (again with the paper!) has inspired alllll kinds of new projects, one of which has to do with these little stickers-to-be here:

I'm not going to say more than that except one key word: gentlemen...

Curiosity piqued?? Do come back and see... :)

And if you're here from the TimeOut NY on-line article--welcome!! I thought that was really neat for them to feature etsy sellers and I was super-thrilled to be a part of it. So thank you TimeOut NY!! (Which I already loved and now am doubley-devoted to...)

(**Their site appears to be down, but you can google it if you NYers want the address. Also they have a printing service for business cards, invitations, etc and everything else. The place is a city block wide, people.)

magnificence.

(We're in DC for a wedding but I couldn't resist posting about this real quick!)

This is Tavi. She might be the world's youngest fashion blogger. This is her at NYC fashion week, so a lot of you have probably already heard of her and her blog, but if you haven't--it's here and it's one of my favorite new reads. It's not that I love her style necessarily, we're pretty far apart in what we like to wear, I'd say so I don't read it for the fashion. What I do read it for and what I LOVE--double, triple LOVE--is that:

1. She's completely hilarious and way too smart for a 13-year-old unless that's just how they're making them now in which case it's good to know how scary-smart kids today are (hi, Grandma).
2. She's teeny-tiny and often gets mistaken for a boy and dresses like somebody's crazy aunt who lives in Palm Springs=FEARLESS for an 8th grader.
3. She makes me wish I had a blog at her age. I was so desperate to put myself out there and God knows I had some bizarre ensembles to put out there for ridicule/mutual admiration. At 13, I was so teeny tiny and so loved clothes and could have used an outlet like that. Instead I wrote some really dramatic poetry and spent hours alone in my room dressing up in really strange things and talking to myself.
4. She mixes up high-end fashion with DIY stuff and layers it all at once and the effect is as bizarre as you think. At one point she was wearing a box on her head.

I hope my kids feel like they can be as much themselves as they want to be--as she seems to be.

Also right before we left I made some of the *cutest* notecards that I am sooooo very happy with...it was too dark to photograph them so hopefully I'll get a chance to do that while we're here, otherwise I'll show them Monday or so.

Do have a great weekend, won't you?

new art in the shop

(The Sewer's Triptych; Print Set of 3; 5x7 each)

Finally finished these this morning! They were an idea I've had for awhile but you know how it is getting around to actually making the thing. These are printed onto a nice textured fine art paper then hand-colored. I get really into colors and color-combinations and right now I'm powerless over this Poppy Red--and when I see it with white and beige I go a little nutty. You can see the individual drawings closer-up here.

I thought they'd make a nice little gift for someone who loves to sew. I pictured them in 3 different vintage-y frames. I guess you could always buy those pre-cut mats at Michael's or wherever and pop them into a 8x10 frame too, couldn't you?

Also from last night:

 

(The Bear Waiter, plush with hanging-loop. Measures 4" by 8".)

I've talked about this here before, but I love bears. When I was in junior high my room was decorated--nay, filled--ceiling to floor and wall-to-wall, I kid you not--in Teddy Bears. It was a teddy bear museum and my love knew no bounds. So I guess the grizzly is a grown-up version for me :)

A few months ago looking on-line for bear images (you'll know why soon) I found a set of drawings that were reproductions of old drawings that just thrilled me. And one of them was this:

 

Amazing, right? And also terrifying. I made mine a little sweeter :) I have no idea what this was (or where I found it, for that matter) but the idea of bears having jobs is so weird and wonderful. But my love for bears in odd circumstances goes all the way back to a bunch of years ago--like 10, probably--when my boyfriend-at-the-time-'s mother had a framed print that was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It was essentially this:

This is a terrible rendition because I just drew it in 4 seconds but it was a poster-sized print of a painting of a lovely 1920s girl and a bear leaning happily on a fence. Like it's the most normal, cheerful situation ever. It's one of the strangest images and I have never forgotten it and have been looking for it ever since--to absolutely no avail. Every once in a while I'll get to where I can't take it anymore and search high and low and spend hours on-line and...nothing. It really is driving me bananas not being able to find it. I don't want to paint my own version because I love THAT ONE. I think it was one of the first times I realized that I loved that time period, too. So it's huge for me!

It was a repro of something famous in it's time, I'm thinking. But here's the tragic part of this long and sordid saga: Once--probably 8 years ago--I found it online. And guess what I did? I didn't buy it. I was so poor--so pathetically starving-actress poor--I couldn't justify any dollars on decoration. So I told myself I'd go back and buy it later and I've never found it since. If any of you dear readers could point me in a successful direction--I'll make you anything you want! A peg-leg doll! I'll teach you to sew! I'll make you a weeks worth of dinners! Anything!

Anyway--thus began my fascination with bears. And my little plush waiter-version (one of two) as well as the triptych are both available in the little shop!

Ok. I'm all worked up talking about that print now, so I may go browse online for a sec just to see...THEN I have some super-secret sewing items to work on (nautical for the fall? Really?? Yes, really...!) And you shall soon see :)

polka dots and stripes

I love this dress. A lot. I can't remember how I got there, but it's Jill Stuart. I often really love her designs but I never seem to look for her on-line or go to her shop in Soho anymore. I guess knowing it's so beyond my meager price range has something to do with it, but still. I saw this dress and just knew--I didn't really think I'd be able to make it but I had to try something--anything! Then I was pretend-shopping** at Modcloth and lo and behold--look what I found and can you imagine the screaming:

 

It's basically the same dress! This one probably isn't quite as nice as the Jill Stuart version, but it was only $50! And I'm sure the other was in the $500-$300 range. Silliness. I need to hem about 10" off of this one, but that's totally doable (today, in fact!) I'd like to tea-dye the cuff and collar to a nice off-white but I doubt the polyester (I know) will take the color. I'll try, though.

And to me (awkward segue alert), polka dots go hand-in-hand with stripes, meaning that I love them both equally and intensely. Here are some delicious stripey goodnesses I've been gathering as fall inspiration:

 

(This was on some person I didn't know but how cute? I'll be making a version of this for fall.)

 

 

The above images are from Orla Kiely who I swear I had never heard of until Sally Jane did a post about her/them/it. And it's now one of my all-time favorite labels. I'm going to do a whole separate post about this new line because it's my dream fall wardrobe. It's beautiful, cute, colorful, quirky, and interesting with a touch of orphan chic that is exactly to my taste. So that's coming next.

On another note--A VERY SERIOUS IMPORTANT NOTE THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHICH ARE WORLDWIDE--I am seriously considering dyeing my hair dark brown and cutting my bangs again (though I am currently in the 4th unsuccessful attempt of growing them out) so it would look like this (which has been my haircut for the past 3 or 4 years):

Obviously she is adorable and her hair probably grew out of her head in a color at least similar to that one, but here's the thing: I've never been anything but blonde in my entire life. My hair is naturally a dish-water kinda dark blonde blah color so I'd have to dye my eyebrows and eyelashes, which is fine. But am I crazy? Will it look horrible? Am I making too big of a deal out of it? Will it make me look a lot older? I'm actually kind of scared but I also feel like--you have to be risky and try things, because who knows? What if I absolutely love it? What if it totally feels like me? But then again, what if it looks like a wig. Anyway. Yikes! Thoughts?? Have any of you ever tried this? Could the results be disastrous?

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! I'm actually going to the gym because I've been eating like I'm getting paid to clean my plate. I also have some art to show you that I am really happy with :)

(*pretend-shopping: a term I coined for the practice of going to my favorite on-line stores and pretending like I can buy anything I want and putting it all in my cart, imagining the perfect combination of items to make the most perfect wardrobe. I've spent hours doing this. I'm weird.)

fall adornments

Well, hello there! So sorry I was MIA for a bit. I was shooting an episode of "The Good Wife" last week (think it's going to be a really good show, by the way) and it ended up being pretty demanding time-wise. Man--filming an hour-long show is a brutal schedule. I got home at 4:30 am one morning, after having been there since 1 that afternoon. Crazy, I tell you. I was just a guest star but if you were the lead of a show like that--like Julianna Marguiles (who is so nice, by the way, as is Christine Baranski)--it must be tough to get the rest of your life squeezed in. I brought drawing and art supplies to set every day but never got to do anything except read a magazine--no time! I think I need to figure out how to blog from my phone--I actually missed it! I also missed making stuff so I got down to business today and made all those things you see above.

What are those and why did I make them? Well. Read on, and ye shall see...

I am so excited about clothes for fall--I'd be embarassed to tell you how much of my brain space is occupied by it. I've been thinking about and wanting a black bow-tie for awhile--probably since around this time--and for some reason it never occurred to me that I could just make one. So I finally got around to it--well, three 'its'--today. They were so easy! I used fabric I already had which happened to all be from hemmed skirts, funnily enough. As much as fabric scraps can clutter a space up, times like this I'm so happy I have them. I just made little rectangles, cinched them up in the middle and sewed these little pin backings on which I already had lying around (and by lying around I mean packed neatly in a small labeled box and stored in the section marked "jewelry supplies"):

 

The hat--also made from fabric left over from shortening a skirt--is a pattern from here. I wanted to try and make a beret using panels like this so you can have a bit more freedom with the fabric choices. And I don't knit. Probably never will. No interest. The hat is a tad shorter than I usually wear my hats, but still really cute. Look at this little detail:

That would be a covered button. Isn't that a great idea? I've already thought up about 75 different ways to snazz these up with different kinds of embellishments (and bedazzling is not one of them). Very excited about this. Never enough hats!

(**If you want to make either one of these and have any questions, email me or leave your question in the comments. I'm always happy to help!)

The best part is that the skirt also has a matching 40s-style little jacket, so I now have a matching skirt, jacket, beret and bow-tie. I can't imagine ever wearing them all at once, for Gods sake, but...never say never! I was partly inspired by this picture from somewhere on Flickr that I can't remember:

 

Cute, right? I would love to find a little collared sweater like that somewhere.

Well I promise not to be in absentia that long again. I have some recipes to share this week as well as some more head-wear things. I'm a maniac, I know.

Be well and as always--a big, hearty thank you for stopping by and leaving comments. It makes my day--no exaggeration.