Browsing Tag

Vintage

DIY Recipes Vlog

Make Homemade Lollipops Without a Mold

01/16/2016

Stay tuned to until the end of the “cooking” part and see mine and Colette’s super silly Lollipop dance to celebrate~ this is one of her favorite songs (she loves lollipops) and she has been wanting to make this video for so long haha! She also did one of her singing a Ramones song but I guess that one might come in the future.

I’m super silly in this but the recipe is on YouTube and our lollipops are super spicy but excellent adult lollipops! The kids decided on a different dessert after they felt they were too hot! I guess Mary accidentally put a bit much cinnamon oil in them. Oops! I’ve already eaten 3 so far! ha

Please subscribe if you enjoy! More videos on the way for this Youtubenewb~

xox

Design Your Life

Finding Inspiration to Climb Higher

01/20/2014

inspo

I sometimes hear I should find something to do when I’m sitting around puzzling over what’s inspiring me in that moment and which way I should move with it (which appears from the outside to be some sort of boredom or stagnation) but is actually me almost in a living/meditating state. I’m taking everything in around me, iI’m imagining and I’m stalling. I don’t usually move fast with new ideas; In fact I usually move so slow that I tire of them before I even get them finished. I also currently favor the idea that in your worst times (most depressed, most angry, most passionate) you make your greatest discoveries about yourself which in turn shells out some pretty brutally honest and amazing work. (ahem, Eminem)

Why is inspiration such a process? And how do you get inspiration? Sometimes.. I’ll admit.. I actually pull the inspiration and motivation to move ahead with ideas from dreams. I dreamt I finally went to Japan to study which let me to finally decide I would study in Japan while in college. I had to do all of the work to get there; my college didn’t really have any programs in Japan in place at the time. It happened! I couldn’t believe everything went as smoothly as it did (this seems to happen sometimes when you follow your heart — things go smooth and easy). They told me to pick several programs and apply because I might not get the one I want, I chose the one I wanted and didn’t even apply anywhere else. I got accepted.

My host family was the most rad family in the whole program because they also just started so they weren’t sure what to expect either and they had a daughter that was just a bit older than me. So that means lots of shopping, events, festivals, sake and karaoke with friends. They are so wonderful and amazing, I’m glad we’re still in touch. Eri, the daughter, and I practically became real sisters (and our bond is exactly the same after all of these years). That little push I needed to live in Japan as the Japanese do was not just a dream anymore, it was a reality.

Some well-known self-esteem experts, such as Jack Canfield, claim that a way of proving you’re on the right path in life: everything, no matter how hard it at first seems (change is often scary), seems to almost come easily and moves along smoothly. Now I’m not saying you’re likely to avoid obstacles if you follow your dreams. Because, in my experience, often times the harder something is to get, the more worth or value it carries. So whether obstacles get in the way or not, always be prepared for them. I’m only saying it feels right.. you just know it’s the way you’re supposed to go. There will likely be obstacles but not impossible ones, rather they are empowering ones.

I also dreamt (No, I do not live in a Dream Castle.) I started a store downtown (dream come true) and a magazine with friends and found happiness and fulfillment in that. I’m an artist and designer first and foremost. When I finally dropped News/Editorial from my major I felt a little remorse, but sadly not enough. Somehow writing was not something I was after anymore, it didn’t feel right anymore. So what did I do anyway? I took heed from my dream and started this mega blogazine that you’re staring at right now. I opened a connected shop and sold pendants, original artwork, prints and the most random handmade gifts. I (sort of) started working towards making that dream a reality.

If fact sometimes dreams you once had come floating back as if reminding you to keep on your journey but to perhaps try another route. Sometimes to become who you want to be you have to re-harness some of your past, favorable qualities that you let fall to the wayside. For instance recently I was obsessing over these more recent prints and images I was creating (never released) and now I’m considering listing them at the store here. They were pre-falling-down-the-rabbit-hole-again stage but became a pretty big series in my life for awhile and I actually enjoyed creating them a lot. I found again that I work well with dolls as models and I decided to mix typography in more like my web-based designs thus furthering my interest in print making once more. Finally.

teenmag

Some other ways I get inspiration are as follows:
Japanese fashion and interior magazines, vintage woman’s magazines, 20s records, having a cup of black coffee or almond tea to get re-energized, taking a bubble bath with or without a book or candles and champagne, looking through my photo albums, looking through my record collection, hanging out with family & friends, taking a walk, swinging, carrying my camera, listening to electro, writing in my journal or any nearby notebook, getting out a pencil and a blank canvas and, most importantly, love and kisses from my husband and daughter. Every time I have genuine bonding time with my daughter I get an instant dose of inspiration.. I guess that’s why I tend to stay up quite late after her bedtime to work.

So want to pump up the process of getting inspiration by reading a few tips about gaining inspiration from other artists? That’s exactly what I had in mind. Also remember I always ask our featured artists to explain where they get inspiration from.

Need Inspiration?

Four Steps To Finding Inspiration, From An Idea DJ – I especially like the idea of video art, collaging video clips with music and/or audio.
50 Ways to Find Inspiration – I’ve done a lot of these and found some of them that I’d actually like to try. There are tons of great ideas here. I really liked: 31. Ask someone you love what they consider to be the most important thing they’ve ever learned., 34. Ask your parents to tell you what you were like as a child, and remember what mattered to you then. and 40. Spend time with children and see the world through their eyes.. Very positive and inspirational.
16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re In a Slump

Artist & Designer Features

Lana Del Rey Plays my Heart Like a Harp

05/07/2013

I didn’t intend to fall for Lana Del Rey as my close friend encouraged me to for quite some time. She claimed her style reminded her of me and her lyrics of myself and my love (aka Mister). After finally giving in and accepting the cd to listen to I fell for her instantly. She lives the 50s/60s pop culture and feminine woman’s role beautifully but also incorporates Lolita and a delores-haze of similar undertones such as appreciating the interests, looks and feelings of a creative young girl. She coined herself a ‘self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra’ and, my favorite, ‘Lolita lost in the hood’.

Having learned about her music, received her personal videos and researched her brand I feel as though she is special, a very amazing new artist and her music is absolutely jaw-droppingly filled with love, lust and vintage style which both soothes me and eats me alive in my own current situation of a happily ever after love addiction.

“It sounds like one of those insanely rare moments wherein someone from the music industry says “Lolita” and actually seems to mean Lolita, as in the novel, and not some kind of porn-derived mincing, but as in the character Dolores Haze: lover of late-40s movie magazines (there’s that miasma of “old-Hollywood glamour” Del Rey’s inspired by), lover of chewing gum (Stereogum on Del Rey’s “secret” show in NYC: “she chewed a lot of gum”). The Dolores Haze who hails from nearly the same patch of the country as Del Rey; whose profession is once listed as “starlet.” Who winds up tough and blithe, casually schooled in all the ways people manipulate and control one another, living in a dump with a big, hard-of-hearing working man who, if video games had existed in 1952, would likely have wasted a few nights on them.” ~ Why We Fight

Escapeland

Vintage Pose, Boudoir, and Bradley Dolls

12/06/2011

I’ve recently become a little obsessed with another type of doll. The vintage pose doll. I’ve been planning an article on them for awhile now but digging up information on them proves more difficult than digging up a beautiful doll at a swell bargain! One blogger writes, “Certainly, Bradley Dolls don’t have the stunning quality of Madame Alexander dolls or those dear Betsy McCalls, but they’ve got nostalgia in spades.” I have to agree with that, just one glance at that kitschy face and many are hooked!

These dolls, manufactured in Korea and Japan by Bradley in 1954 to 1984, were most popular in the 1970s. They were known as boudoir dolls most often although they were also known as stockinette dolls, pose dolls, cloth dolls, southern bell dolls and more. A small selection of these kind of dolls have the big eyes and craved-for kitschy appearance. Many more of the dolls made by Bradley had more delicate and realistic features according to a catalog I saw in another blog.

Lucky for us, in addition to the dolls with victorian fashion, Bradley also put out a line of mod cloth dolls in the 1960s. These dolls had cute, cropped haircuts, huge hair and the sweetest mini mod dresses and costumes.


Buy this print here!

I found my first pose doll years ago in a large thrift store. She is a bunny doll which I’ve found, upon searching online auctions, was another semi-common style of pose doll. She won me over with one look and I’ve been hooked ever since. You see I had been hoping to find a pose doll for ages after falling in love with both Ayumi Uyama’s and Boopsiedaisy’s work. More recently I’ve been ogling these dolls again and I’ve decided to buy a few more and even start a side project devoted to these girls!

Do you own or want to own any of these beautiful dolls? πŸ˜‰

All of the photos seen here are by Boopsiedaisy, Ayumi Uyama, and myself.

AND it gets better. I happened to be surfing around Flickr, another obsession of mine, when I found out that Super*Junk actually makes and sells pose doll kits. Gasp. The day I have one in my grubby hands is the day I am a very, VERY happy girl.

DIY Scans

Kitschy Scans: Vintage Kitty Cat

11/04/2011

I have such a collection of vintage, kitschy goodies that I thought I would start sharing them with you. You can use these to make your own collages, ATCs and whatever else floats your rainbow sail boat! Please enjoy and stay tuned for more goodies.

Today’s freebie is a vintage kitty cat with a yellow bow and rose. So cute!

To download right click the image and load the link in a new window then save the image to your hard drive.

Visual Splendor

Getting Ready for a Lookbook Photoshoot

10/07/2011

getting ready


sea of sugar


i love mew

Cupcakes? Check!
Kitschy Animals? Check!
Sugar Junkie, Miseducated and Siren London? Check!

I can’t wait! Jamie and I have each been collecting cute stuff for this like little hoarders for years. It’s been a long time coming! I can’t wait to show you the photos when we get them finished. I’ve needed a lookbook for so long. Too bad I recently even sent off a bunch of my jewelry for another artist’s lookbook shoot so I only have a few items for ours. Boo! And if you have or haven’t seen Jamie’s stuff yet let me tell you it’s an absolute treat. I can’t get enough of her work.

Because I am so impatient for material I practiced a little bit of movie editing and made a test commercial (ha ha ha)…

I was smoking hookah after a long day at the zoo. My mother-in-law invited us to go — it was yet another beautiful day. I got some good photos and videos of Coco being enamored by the animals. She doesn’t really talk around other people though so she doesn’t talk much in them. When we’re at home she tries to mimic every word we say, tells us stories and sings us songs. She’s shy! So cute.

Diary

Sunday, Monday and Miniature Tomatoes

08/21/2011

First I want to say that I love you. I don’t think it’s too soon in our relationship for me to be professing my undying love to you, no. I say I’m having a bad day and, because of your sweetness, I immediately receive lots of genuinely caring responses that instantly cheered me up. I hate writing both personal and negative things, it’s always hard for me to do. It was very reassuring to hear that you also have those days.

Speaking of OFF days.. I started my online day off with a FOLLOW MONDAY on twitter only to realize, after a friendly reminder from my partner in crime, that it’s SUNDAY. What a dork I am. I’m so ready for the new week to be here that I completely forgot about how wonderful lazy Sunday is.

I also wanted to write another little nonsense post filled with nothing but blab for you to sink your teeth into. Isn’t that your favorite thing? My blabbing? No? Well bear with me.

Have you ever wore pettipants before? I bought some adorable lilac ones from eBay. I’m obsessed. Now I have 3 pairs. I know it looks like I’m wearing bloomers with my teeshirts but I don’t care (they’re longer than my shorts!). Colette needs some, too.

Have you tried The Sims Social yet? My friends and I are just a little addicted.. I lost my Sims 3 CD recently and have been sad ever since so this is just what I needed to waste time on.

As you know I’m very obsessed with my new balcony. This summer I started a garden out there and finally grew some pleasantly plump cherry tomatoes. The first ripe tomato was the perfect size, for my imaginary miniature grilled cheese, so I just had to cut some slices.


On the subject of miniature food, have you seen this book? I bought it years ago, before I had Colette, and now I cannot wait until she’s old enough to make the tiny treats inside. It has everything from miniature burgers to miniature petit fours.

Because I’m such a foodie, I’ll end this entry on more food.. I was lucky enough to have crab nachos today for lunch and I’m still craving them. Isn’t it the perfect time for seafood? My car agrees! It now smells just like old, soggy crab meat! On the way home from dinner we took a short stop and into the floor flew the box of crab and mussels. Mussels in my floor board. I don’t know if I’m more upset about the smell they left behind or about them not ending up in my stomach.

I hope you’ve had an excellent weekend as well. I’m as excited to hear about your adventures as you are for me to shut up about my tomatoes!