little red fox

tiny little houses

Over Christmas, my mom and I were reminiscing about past Christmases and she asked me which one was my favorite in terms of what Santa brought me. And, boy, was it easy: the year I got my doll house. I was in first grade. In the morning we walked (ran) into the living room and there it was: a huge, light blue, completely decorated doll house. Probably 7 or 8 rooms--with little rugs, curtains, tiny silverware (!!), a tiny refrigerator, little paintings on the walls, all different kinds of wallpaper--I could totally go on and on and on. I remember every single detail in every single room. I will never forget the explosion in my heart when I saw it. It was loved. For many, many years.

(Photo credit.)

(Photo credit.)

I don't know if getting my doll house started my obsession with things in miniature or if that love was firmly in place upon its arrival but it's an important part of my personality: tiny things are awesome.

I have the clearest memories of entire catalogs of teeny tiny doll things that my childhood and then my teenage self just drooled over...oh my goodness. Does anybody else remember these catalogs? Of course it turns out there is an entire community on-line of "doll house people." There really is something for everyone...

 

(Photo credit.)

And having that conversation with my mom put a bug in my brain that I just couldn't shake. And I brought that bug back home to New York...just thinking--how magical a doll house can be...

And I don't have a particular preference for a type of doll house; victorian or modern or whatever. I say yes to all of them. It's just the weirdness of a somewhat boring, everyday thing shrunk down in miniature that thrills me so much...

(All images are a result of googling images of doll houses on the interwebbies unless otherwise credited.)

Ideally I'd want an old one. And it would have to be wooden--definitely not plastic...

And guess what? I found one :) (!!!!)

Witness:

Super-duper-crazy cheap. $20. Second hand. Old. The previous owner didn't quite finish building it...and there are missing pieces...but it's alllllll mine. I can't believe it. 

(Mr. Wood is watching a poker competition on TV, by the way. I'm rebuilding an old doll house--making art, people!--and he's watching poker. Couldn't be more different, but it works ;)

Three feet tall. Three floors. Plus one secret little tower room (!!).

Here's my plan: to take my time and slowly, over the years if that's what it takes, make it as weird and artful and strange and fairy-tale-like as I can. To re-live my first doll house but as my grown-up self. To paint it, wall-paper it, collage it using my illustrations and other old papers, find little miss-matched furniture here and there and paint it/collage it...paint murals on the walls? Use my little broken dolls, channel a bit of Tim Burton here and there. Can't you just imagine? A crazy Gothic/Victorian/Vintage-Circus/Living Fairy Tale arty doll house? Little mushrooms sprouting from the floors...one room covered in my vintage buttons...My heart is beating fast as I type this!! (Nerd.) I haven't been this excited for a very long time. And I promise to show you little updates here and there. I've already ripped out all the old wall paper and linoleum flooring and glued/reassembled missing structural pieces. I think I'm also going to try using only found/second-hand stuff on the inside. Subject to change, of course.

AND. If it works--and of course it will!--find more old doll houses and re-work them, too. (Can't you just see a bunch of them in one room?) But for now--it's pure potential.

And look who else seems to agree with me?

Did any of you have a childhood doll house that you loved? I'm sure I'm not alone in this... And I'd just love to hear about them...we don't have to be weird-on-line-doll-house-people, either... :)

Have a lovely, lovely, cozy, creative Sunday!! xo

a lace dress three ways

So. I always love when you see fashion bloggers taking one item and remixing it to make more than one outfit. The one I'm thinking of right now is Sally Jane Vintage's recent posts like that--they're so inspiring and fun--and I'm sure lots of other girls do it, too. Do you? I want to see them! Please send them my way!!

Over Christmas, while we were down visiting my family way out in the woods in Mississippi--I had that happen to me--but on accident. Allow me to set this up by saying that I am a terrible packer. I always over-pack. I brought my biggest suitcase for the week-long trip, but since the airlines are charging per bag I could only bring that one and I had to fit a lot of Christmas presents in there, so there was not a lot of room left for a bunch of cute outfits. Just a few cute outfits :) What I ended up taking a lot of were tights, two berets (though I soooooooo wish I had just gone through the trouble of dealing with my cream-colored cloche on the plane...it was missed), and a couple of skirts and tops.

It's very typical in this part of the South, even in areas where you have lots of tiny, tiny towns--that people drive 20 or 30 minutes (or more) through completely flat farm land to a cocktail party or a restaurant 1 or 2 towns over--and often in some old, gorgeous Southern mansion in a town of 100 or so. It's just the coolest thing, in my opinion. Just incredibly old-fashioned and Southern. A lot of these houses were built back in the late 1800s-1930s and they're just beautiful all done up for Christmas.

Anyway. I knew we would be doing all that again this year, but there were a few more outings than I had outfits for. So I had to get creative. I was so happy I brought this little lace dress. It was something my mom bought for me (from French Connection) to wear to my engagement party a few years ago and while I've worn it a few times since, I had kind of forgotten about it until I saw Francesca's post about lace dresses, so out it came and into the suitcase it went!

This was the first incarnation on Christmas Day. 

I LOVE these tights. They are made by Eloise and I bought them at Anthropologie. I am sad to say I am basically anti-pink and have been for a very long time, sort of inexplicably. But this particular pink with the taupe-y brown was too much to resist. The beginning of my pink-therapy? Maybe...

The very next day we went to visit with some family friends in the next little town. It was an afternoon visit, and they're considerably older, so I didn't want to wear something quite so short, but I still needed to look nice, so I came up with this:

Beret: thrifted
dirty hair: laziness
wool pleated skirt: thrifted and hemmed
maroon tights: sock dreams
oxfords: vintage, probably 80s
handbag: vintage

I also was so happy to get to use one of my mom's Christmas presents to me--that sweet little tapestry handbag! I can foresee a lot of usage for that little guy...

Sometimes a pair of tights makes all the difference...

And I loved it with my grandmother's wool coat...

The next day--we ended up going into another little nearby town for lunch and pottery-shopping with some other ladies so I wore this:

 

Striped jumper: UO
scarf: vintage, another gift from mom :)
tights: $3 from some cheapie store in Brooklyn
oxfords: vintage (from the 80s, I think)

Better view of the jumper here...

I was so happy I brought those red tights, because they went perfectly with the vintage scarf my mom gave me--total kismet.

(Thanks for taking pictures, Mr. Wood!)

I love those colors together! And that red-orange is my all-time favorite color. It strangely goes with quite a lot (at least to my eyes)...

And that's it! I learned first-hand (yet again) that its all about the tights/hats/scarves/etc for me. This experience might help my packing issues, since I had to come up with a little fashion ingenuity and it turned out all right :) Perhaps I'll try packing a little less from here on out...perhaps...

some things making me happy today...

 

My bright red tights against the bright white snow and all the black and gray winter coats...

Beautiful new table cloth sent as a total surprise in the mail today from my sweet mother-in-law...those colors make me swoon...

O.D.-ing on hot chocolate...

Christmas...on a smaller scale...

Winter! Snow!

And these little love bugs...

Among many, many other things, of course... :)

Hope your day's been wonderful...

keep 'em comin'....

Another moleskine journal--this one for the boys! The same as the Edith and Her Thoughts journal--it's a 60-page blank moleskine journal with the signature pocket inside the back cover, and a homemade ivory and black ribbon bookmark with vintage menswear buttons (and a little red one). Would go nicely with the Gentleman's Notecard Set, if you ask me :)

These journals are 8.5" x 5" and are perfect as a lightweight on-the-go option for those artist or writer (or list-maker) guys (or gals). Plus the bookmark stays useful long after the journal has been filled...

Why are buttons so precious to me??

I'm having to take these pictures at night and learning that the lighting part is tricky...

It's so incredible, though, to think of all I've learned as I come up on the 2-year anniversary of this little blog and etsy shop. I knew absolutely nothing about computers, image sizing, or pdf files, or uploading pictures to the computer, or photography in general, or lighting for a photo (outside light, you say?), or how to make stickers at home, or sewing from a pattern, or altering and making my own patterns!, or sewing a quilt, or printing out your own artwork at home, or how a printer works, or photoshop, or baking cakes, or making frosting, or making up a recipe. And everything I learned, I learned by sitting here and looking up tutorials on-line, reading Photoshop for Dummies, reading sewing books and manuals, outrageous amounts of trials and errors (oh, the printer ink I've wasted), buying books on-line, checking them out of the library, and generally figuring out ways to do what I wanted to do. It's incredibly gratifying to know that I can find a way to learn something if I want to learn it. That falls under the "They Can't Take That Away" category. Because what that meant for me in particular, was that I could change my life if I wanted to. I am not going to complain about the actors' life, especially since I've been fortunate in many ways in that regard, but I will say that it can be challenging emotionally, and what began with a love of the group creative process of making theater has morphed into more of a business-y type thing, which is different. And to go from doing Checkhov and Shakespeare and experimental theater in school with no expectation of a paycheck or reviews but just learning--to hoping (really hoping) for a guest spot on a TV show is also...different. So I guess I'm saying I needed this. I needed to be able to connect creatively with all of you, I needed a motivator to keep doing things I loved to do and put it out there and try not to care if people liked it or not. This has been a profoundly cathartic experience all-around for me and has really shored me up as a person in ways I never expected. I'm terribly grateful to those of you who keep coming back, and commenting, and inspiring me to new heights and so generously providing oodles of entertaining, thoughtful, inspiring reading on your own blogs (those of you that have them). Thank you.

This feels like it should end with a big "Thank You Giveaway" of some sort but I don't have anything planned!! I didn't even mean to go off like that--but out it poured :) I'll have to do something like that to celebrate, though...coming soon! In the meantime I offer you my humblest gratitude and if you were here in my room right now just know I would totally hug you so hard...

Now I'm off to audition for a guest spot on Ugly Betty (and I'm not even kidding)! Wish me luck!

bow ties galore!

Amidst the 983 things I need to do right now I got an inkling last night to make polka dot bow ties. We allll know how that goes, am I right?  I used up the rest of my polka dot fabric (which wasn't much to begin with) and then got going on the red corduroy. Time consuming, but easy. I used what has become my standard bow-making method and I think they're sweet.

And cute! Here's the red...

 

Oh, look--they also seem to work on little hats, too!

How whimsical! (That laugh was genuine because I do get overwhelmed with silliness sometimes when I take these pictures all alone on my back patio...)

And the packaging...

I think if I had to describe my style I'd start out saying "fairy-tale-chic" with a "20s and 30s vintage vibe" but I'd also have to fit in "orphan-glam" with some cross-dressing elements. It sounds complicated now that I've typed it.

Oh yes--they're in the shop.

I have one more bow-tie color in the works but I won't be able to get to those until next week. My in-laws are getting to town as I type this and I have to go be a good daughter-in-law and get prepared--which I mostly am. I'm all about lists and planning ahead. We're taking them to a fantastic beer place around here and then making them a fancy dinner which I'm very excited about. (One of the recipes I'll be posting tomorrow--the carrot souffle--which I can't recommend highly enough.)

And then tomorrow I shoot a commercial! It's the first commercial I've ever gotten, actually. All the stage and TV and little bits of film I've done but these things eluded--and thus--frustrated me for years. So I gave up on them after a while but the thought of quick money lured me back in recently so I'm relieved. I was afraid I secretly looked like a troll on camera, or something equally offensive-enough to not be able to sell soup. Which is exactly what I'll be selling--Progresso soup, to be exact. It's not high-glam but it just might pay some bills and that's sounds pretty good to me!

That's it for now! I have a fancy dinner to make and cute outfits to wear! See you tomorrow...xoxo

paper moons

(Photos found here.)

A little eye-candy for your Friday...

I never knew paper moons were an early photographic setting trend but here you go. I can't get over how beautiful these are. I think I'll have to draw some myself since I can't go and live there. 

We had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving night and I took zero pictures. BUT. I do have a new recipe--a carrot souffle, if you can believe it--that is a must-share. So delicious in the most surprising way, none of us quite knew what to make of it. So I'll get that to you--I just need to recover first :) I'm currently cuddled up on the couch watching Hot Saturday. I love this movie for many reasons (not the least being that it's pre-code) but especially for the scenes of 1930s nightlife--the dancing and drinking and everybody dolled up. Nancy Carroll's wardrobe is to die for, by the way. It's all so good and just what I need on this chilly, gray day. Well, that and some kitties, drawing supplies, over-sized sweatshirt belonging to husband, fuzzy socks and chocolate. But that's it.

love nest

Since I've finally gotten around to doing up our little bedroom, I thought I'd share...

 

These are the pillows I made the other day. I bought the fabric because it was so beautiful--but I had no plans for it. Our bed has needed new pillows for a while and since we can't paint and I need color--voila! Made envelope-style with covered buttons...

This fancy flowery fabric is probably a tad too thin to be a pillow covering, but it was too pretty to resist and I'm weak.

I think the window might need a matching curtain, though, don't you?

I love my vintage telephone. I found this on ebay a few years ago and it works! It's so funny to talk on the phone and be confined to an area determined by the length of the cord--how old-fashioned to sit in one place and chat...

I also bought a vintage jewelry box a bunch of years ago that I just love--it's so girly.

 

Another gorgeous weekend--we must be doing something right. Waiting on Mr. Wood to come home again--he's been travelling a lot lately, huh?

Made a beautiful kale salad for lunch...

Chopped kale, parsley, lettuce, snow peas, red bell pepper, red onion, walnuts, pinto beans, ground flax seed, ground chia seeds, and nutritional yeast with an apple cider vinaigrette and a mug of green tea. Divine.

Also finished a drawing I started last night...

 

(Edith. Graphite on cardstock, 6x8)

I was watching Suspicion late last night and enjoying Joan Fontaine in all these beautiful 40s proper English ladies' dresses and hats and out of nowhere in a dinner scene was this tall blonde woman dressed like a man. She was nowhere else in the movie and then there she was in one scene and said 4 weird things and gave everyone around the table the hairy eyeball and you never saw her again. At least that was my experience of it. But it was really late and she hypnotized me. She reminded me of that large blonde lesbian in Pandora's Box who follows Lulu around at a party--know who I mean? I love her. It was so amazing and weird and it got me really inspired. I got to thinking about old-timey photographs and printed this onto a sepia-colored cardstock and popped it into a black oval mat...

 

(Edith. Print of graphite drawing, 6x8 in black matting)

And it was just the look I wanted. That doesn't always happen but when it does...dang it feels good :) I'm selling these in the shop also. Just 3 for now since that's all the mats I have. BUT--hopefully I can find some more because I think I want to do a whole series of these old-fashioned women in men's clothes. Got some ideas stirring...I also did one in ink, so that will also be something eventually perhaps... One simply never knows, does one?

Hope your Sunday is absolutely lovely...

waterloo bridge

Another film recommendation for you!

I'm a huge fan of the TCM Forbidden Hollywood Collections. I only own one (for now... :) but I've seen some of the films from the other two and I find them just thrilling and can't wait to see them all. In case you don't know--these are the films made pre-Hays Code and for the most part they have a raciness (read: honesty) about them that later movies of the 40s and 50s couldn't get away with. 

I finally saw Waterloo Bridge and it's now one of my new favorites. (There was a cleaned-up remake in 1940 with Vivien Leigh.) Not only do you get scenes with scantily-clad chorus girls (they had the best underwear back then!) and lots of great outfits, but oh my goodness the two leads: Mae Clarke and Kent Douglass are so wonderful, I hardly have the words. I want to see all of her movies now (like this one). She has such charisma! She's adorable and sassy, and so comfortable in her skin--you never feel like she's 'Capital-A-Acting'. Sexy and vulnerable at the same time with a deep belly laugh--I want to be best girlfriends with her! Oddly enough, Bette Davis has a small supporting role and seems so much stiffer and uncomfortable by comparison. Sadly, it seems Mae's career sort of dwindled away in the 40s but I have more research to do on her yet.

And he--(who mysteriously went by the name Douglass Montgomery later in his career) is this big, beautiful sweetheart of a man who actually cries a few times in this movie. There's one moment when he's exiting a shot and he's literally wiping away his little tears--I can't tell you how moving it was. And look for the scene when they're holding hands in the back of a car--he's precious. As much as I love old movies I never get terribly emotional watching them, but I teared up more than once in Waterloo Bridge. Especially because it got me thinking a lot about what it meant to be female at that time and not be born into wealth and priveledge. It's really quite moving.

found objects/saturday covets

Though it's not technically Saturday, but these are things I'm coveting so we're half on target...

I'm a sucker for Anthropologie. I try to be stronger, more creative, branch out a little in my on-line pretend shopping, etc but they consistently pull me back in with some of the most wonderful object-curation I've seen. So I just keep going back. It's a whole beautiful world they've created and as much as I fight it--they win every time. I should just surrender.

I'm going to find some new places this week! Mark my words! Any suggestions? Until then--

Look at that footstool above. That is one of the cutest things I have ever laid my eyes on. A crocheted mushroom footstool. Of course it's out of my price range (as are most things) and I don't crochet. It's the only craft outside of knitting in which I have absolutely no interest. However. I think I may have figured out a way to make that mushroom footstool in my own little way...very excited about that one...I will keep you posted!

And then there's this.

A bingo set made to look like the early old-fashioned ones. It's so beautiful I don't think I'd ever even have to play it.

This kills me.

I don't think it needs any explanation except that it's just absolutely wonderful. I feel like I could probably figure out someway to make something like it, but I took a metals class in college and that pretty much did it for me. I spent all my metal-making tickets in one semester. I really liked it, but after that, I just can't see spending any more time on wire and metal than is absolutely necessary. And some things are just better to just get and not have to make, anyway.

Like these.

Gorgeous old-fashioned astrological and solar system cocktail napkins. They're so good.

I also fell in love with these from etsy seller sweetshorn. Authentic 1920s bowling pins and balls. So wonderful! What is it about old-fashioned antique games? They seem to cast a magical spell over me.

It appears these have already sold--which is very sad--but she also has these (and lots of other neat stuff) which are just as weird and wonderful...

I have a (not-so) secret fantasy about decorating a room with strange old circus-inspired stuff and these would be so great displayed in there. 

Ok. I have to get a bunch of orders ready to go out tomorrow and I've successfully distracted myself long enough. 

Ooh but wait! One more thing: I just watched this again--for the first time in a long time--and it was just unbelievably good. Really it deserves a post all its own because it's 300 kinds of eye candy and is just about film noir perfection--so if you're looking for a movie night suggestion--here's one from me! While watching it I was doing that thing where I kept saying to myself, "I am having the best time watching this!" and "I hope this never ends because I am thoroughly enjoying myself!" etc etc. Especially the story between the two of them (you can read a little about it here and here)--it's just good, old-fashioned drama of the best kind. (And if you have Netflix, you can watch it on your computer right now!!)

Seriously--I have work to do!

Bon nuit, tout le monde!

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 :)