DIY Projects for My Closet as My Rip-off Skills Improve

When I'm online shopping (or browsing as this poor girl's case may be), I'm mostly thinking, "I could make that," the phrase that used to infuriate me when shopping with my grandmother because she never actually did make it for me. And I wanted the real thing anyway.

But now I'm broke, and DIY is cool.

So first I want to make this Sonia Rykiel dress by sewing an old lightweight cotton skirt to one of those silk tank tops that are always a dollar at the thrift store. I like the bow, but I'll keep it optional, and probably floral.


This dress is at Liebemarlene Vintage this week. It's a little trickier since I'll actually have to make it, but the baggy shape will be relatively simple to throw together. My favorite part is the little crochet collar - and I just got a book of crochet lace patterns I've been anxious to try out!

This Elizabeth and James dress looks easy, but there's a zipper on the side. Zippers are scary. I want to make this out of huge men's tee shirts. Dark grey ones. Yum.
This one's mostly just for my dreams. Eventually, I want to be able to tweak a pattern and come up with these adorable sleeves in a pretty, delicate fabric like Hannah's. But I'll really have to practice first - nice vintage fabric scares me too.

We Got Presents

Today I received a new (old) photography textbook and learned how to set the shutter speed and aperture on the camera I've had for over a year.
And Wednesday got an empty box.

I Need Doilies. Right. Now.

It's doily madness in the craft world right now, and for good reason. These two doily craft projects are blowing my mind with their perfection. Pretty, romantic, vintage-looking, yes please!

Rachel Denbow, at the adorable site Smile and Wave, whipped up this doily pillow. Check out the tutorial to see the peacock feather doily she used on the back. I love the butter yellow fabric behind the laces. (Wish I had thought to put fabric behind the granny square pillow I just made--you can see the garish white pillow form through every little hole. Oh well, you live and learn!)

Smile and Wave linked to this delicate table runner from Ashley Ann Photography. She just anchored the doilies together with thread so she can take it back apart if she thinks of something else she wants to do with them. Brilliant! Ashley Ann has lots of other gorgeous craft ideas and tutorials, so I'll be going back frequently for more projects.

It's funny, I'm so into crafting right now, but I don't have any supplies! My past lack of motivation finally just motivated me into getting rid of all the stuff I'd collected. Time to hit the thrift stores again!

Shut Up

Delusional Downtown Divas. So good! Three real-life friends who grew up together in the New York art scene created this lil show about clueless 'art brats' trying to get to the top without actually doing anything. They're making fun of themselves and the art world and it's so so so so so so good.

Watch Oona, Swann, and AgNess play dress up, crash parties, discuss the meaning of life with a cabbie, drink, smoke, toke, braid each others' hair, lie, laugh, and lust. It's supposed to be 'the art world's answer to Sex and the City,' but it more reminds me of AbFab. Yay!

The first few episodes are a little rough, but they're very short and by episode 4, you should be thoroughly hooked. I'm hoping by the end of season 2, I'll have even more ammo for the what-is-art discussion I've been having with myself.

Read the NYT article that sparked my interest.

Or just start watching the show. Hurry now!

Bubbles Blowing in the Wind

Today is a strange kind of day. We were warned that El Nino was going to take over California this week (and maybe next week too), so I've been holed up in my apartment since Sunday. I don't like rain and wind and cold unless I'm bundled up in warm cozies and completely sheltered. I love watching storms without being in them. So the farthest I've gone from home is to the corner market for sustenance and crossword puzzles. And I'm already getting cabin fever.
Like, seriously.

This afternoon I was standing on my porch watching the wind blow the rain down the street, and kind of teasing my tree by being just out of reach of the branch that really wants to whip me in the face, when all of a sudden a few bubbles came floating down the empty street! I was giddy!
A girl that lives down the street from me puts a bubble machine out her window sometimes, and every time I see the bubbles randomly appear, it makes my day so much better. Bubbles are just so happy! And who can remember a time that was bad and there were bubbles floating around? No one, because if there are bubbles floating around, it's a good time.

I want to make this girl a cake or something.


photo source here

Those Little Things

Warning: this list is a blatant rip-off from the adorable post on Oh, French!. But the idea was so perfect, and nobody reads my blog anyway, I thought I would copy it here for myself. I've found new pictures to go along, so as not to be a total plagiarist.

The Little Things I Want to Do Every Single Day:

Play music.

Draw and write in my journal.

Read.

Know people. Meet people. Love people.

Ride my bike. Or walk. Or do yoga.

Make things.

Learn.

It's hard to fit all these things into every single day, but I think it would be worth it to try. There are things I do do every single day that are not on this list, so maybe I should trade the time I'm spending already for one of these things. (Hulu, I'm talking to you!)
I'm not too into New Year's resolutions as much as 'general maintenance and improvement,' but this January, I seem to be looking for the type of big change that resolutions promise to bring. I've also been inspired by these lists on other blogs:

• Miss James' goals for 2010 - I don't share the exact same goals, but her emphasis on crafts and the sheer enormity of what she expects to accomplish is awesome.
• How To Pick Yourself Up Off the Floor - a list everybody needs to follow at some point in their lives. And even if you're not feeling down, the list is so positive, it wouldn't hurt to try a couple of the ideas just for fun.

images via we heart it, ffffound, design*sponge, miss pandora, and audrey hepburn complex.

The Shy Girl's Guide to Posing

I love pictures of backs of heads, is that weird? I don't think so, because if I was the only one that thought it was so pretty, it would have taken much longer to collect this many photos of the backs of girls' heads.










click on photos for sources.

Mark Weaver

Super, vintage, strange, and pretty art by Mark Weaver.

Girl Crush: Catherine Ireton

Oh, interwebs, you lead me such interesting places. I just found God Help the Girl, a Brit-pop girl band produced by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian. Hello cutest album I've heard in years! I watched the video below and immediately became smitten with Catherine Ireton's adorable style and perfect hair. I can't wait for them to get more famous so there will be more pictures!

Super Psychedelic '68

Stumbled upon this Dennis Olivieri track and it struck something in me. Didn't find much else from him that I liked (except the fact that he was in the 1973 movie Breezy which I fell in love with last summer), but these related videos from youtube are really working well with my mood today.

I'm really wishing it was summer and this was the soundtrack to me with my long hippie hair sitting in a park on a Tuesday.

Tierney Gearon and What is Art Then?

These first photos are from Tierney Gearon's Explosure exhibition (2009). I like them because they're pretty, and I like the color schemes, and some of them have balloons in them. The press piece that goes with this series, however, talks about juxtaposition and kaleidoscopic depths, and an ephemeral misplacement of time, yadda, yadda, yadda. I guess that's why I like these too.

I have this eternal struggle in understanding what makes 'art' art. Is it art because it was created by someone who calls themselves an artist? Or is it art because it is technically savvy and you or I probably couldn't create the same thing? Or is it art just because you like the look of it and wouldn't mind hanging it on a wall in your house? Does it have to meet all those criteria? Or none?




The series above is from Gearon's I Am a Camera series. Those are her kids. I really like the style of these photos. These images will probably stay with me for a long time. But why is something that looks like a basic snapshot actually art? What's the difference between the photo above and the one my mom took of me watching TV when I was that age? (And, also, why do moms do that?)

I really think the only difference between an 'art photograph' and a photograph is that someone said it was art. If someone found my mom's old photo albums and wrote about what each photo meant for them - maybe the angst portrayed in my face as my favorite toy gets taken away from me - then it would be art.

The good news is, someday I want to be artist. And you know how I'll become one? By calling myself an artist.

P.S. I really really do like these photos! This is not by any means a 'that looks like finger paint - my five year old could do better' kind of rant! Partly why I now like Tierney Gearon so much is because her projects (and a little interview I read about her in Hobo magazine) have made me think this hard.
P.P.S. Hmm, maybe that's what makes art art.