I have always preferred to refer to Indiana as OZ. One of my favorite movies growing up was “The Return to OZ” (it never gets old) and when I would share photos of “home” my friends from elsewhere (mostly from California, my home away from home) would call it OZ due to the bright green grass, saturated yellow goldenrod, and cheerful blue skies adorned with fluffy white clouds. Indiana has a lot of issues, as most places do, but it also has a lot of sweet spots. One of those sweet spots is the state fair which its only 6 blocks away from me!
I have always been a fair and carnival girl, I love the kitschy lights, balloons, and over-the-top sweets. I also chickens. The goat and chicken encounters are a must-see for me and I cannot leave without having the holy trinity: an elephant ear, a candy apple, and a pineapple whip cone.
Lately I’ve gotten back into collaging. I need to revamp and update my portfolio but I have been putting it off for years. The thing I did many years ago was make little worlds using photos of random things. I stopped doing most personal/creative work when Bea was born (your focus just changes). My poor shop hasn’t had many new updates and I certainly haven’t been making collage artwork for a long time. Recently I started making graphics like I did in the early days, too, like 1997 logos and wallpapers. I think it’s fun and it’s reminding me some parts of myself that got lost along the way.
I used to LOVE making those animated buttons. (32×32 or 88×31 — remember?) and I’ve been using that silliness now to make little animations for Reels, Shorts, and Tiktok. No one likes them! But it’s so fun and nostalgic to me that I can’t stop. It’s silly. I’m even working on a web 1.0 website (like Miseducated used to be)! I’ve made a ton but only uploaded one so far to market my bumper stickers~
I get really obsessed with random things sometimes and it’s usually something to do with animals or animal care. One of my lifelong hobbies that I’ve never wavered from is my adoration for animals and making sure they are treated well (I have quite a zoo at home). I’ve noticed this little frog has been making a big stir these days. They are pretty available in Japan in pet stores but not so much here. Most of the care guides are wrong so I translated specifics when looking through many guides, worked with breviceps frog owners, and made a short care guide about them for English-speaking owners: Chubby Rain Frog Care Guide.
What do you think of the Breviceps or chubby rain frogs? They are so stinking cute and their little expressions and bodies kill me with cuteness.
I’ve also made a new section with these sort of ebooks which I’m calling Miseducated Mini Mags. Blogging is not as common these days so it seems like a good idea to make small guides or articles you can read that have the usual Miseducated flavor of our bigger blog days gone by. Please enjoy!
I am now happy to announce that my designs are not only nostalgic and limited, I also offer one-of-a-kind pieces that you will not see anyone else wearing or holding. I scour thrift stores to find objects that still have a beautiful soul but have been tossed to the wayside. In this era of constant consumption and production it is extremely beneficial to reuse, recreate, and utilize pieces that have so much life to give. In this way I feel I am also giving back.
We are at a place where the over-production of items begins to feel out of hand and the appreciation of once-loved pieces are more cherished than the brand new. It feels good to wear something that is one-of-a-kind and yet has not created more waste or loss of energy and resources. It feels good to know this is yours and yours alone.
In Japan we call this animism, which means all objects have a soul. I love the opportunity to search high and low for objects with a soul that speaks to me so that I can use them to create something new for you to appreciate and love once again. Thank you for the opportunity; I just know you’ll find your next favorite piece in my shop.
To briefly preface this, this is the first time I’ve been away from Beatrice overnight. She’s two and a half. We decided, since it’s coronavirus life and mainly because we have never been apart, that we would just go to the country and stay in our cabin for our yearly anniversary trip. Our cabin is on a little secluded hill in a next to a small pond. We’ve never been there without our baby.
One of my anniversary gifts!
When we go to the cabin we like to wear our “cabin clothes” or what we deem as a country style. LOL. My style is mostly the same except I have a Hello Kitty camping themed backpack that I use and I’ll wear a pastel flannel occasionally.
While out in the forest, I found Turkey Tail, a healthy mushroom you can use to make tea. I made a spiced tea with it when we got home. David’s was black tea and mine was green.
We rode our 4-wheeler that we got exclusively because we wanted fun, silly things to do at our cabin, and found a beach on the White River. The river is not super clean near cities. I wouldn’t say it’s safe to swim in even away from them. It’s sad. But also confusing why when traveling on dirt roads in the country we found a big sandy beach completely undisturbed!! We relaxed here for awhile. I always bring snacks and things to do. It was perfect.
It seemed so long and so short at the same time but I know that I needed the break. We even went to a town about an hour away (Bloomington) and ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Chow Bar, and a cute coffee/juice place called Soma that I featured in the past.
At Chow Bar, I asked if I could order sesame balls and they were happy to make them off-menu (they used to have them and all of these pretty buns and bao on their amazing buffet) and I was elated).
My husband used to live here. Bloomington is another nice city-ish place to live in Indiana. It feels like a cute district of Indianapolis only it’s over an hour away, but it’s not like an acutal city. The State college is there. A great thing is they are very forward-thinking, and there are a lot of cute shops and diverse restaurants, that even Indy doesn’t have. Sadly, of course, it looks as though coronavirus has taken down some of the cute vintage stores there such as, Cactus Flower.
One of the cutest parts of our trip was that we had to bring our, not one, but TWO dogs with us to the cabin. One of them is new to the family so she cries while I’m away. I’ve started taking them everywhere. Walking them around the forest and being surrounded by them at night was definitely a highlight. Even now I’m writing as I drink my coffee in the forest watching the sun come up and while, on each side, a small Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is sleeping quietly.
It’s not Monday, but it still seems far from Friday.
Tuesday.
It doesn’t blow my hair back with force, but it is full of opportunity for finding treats, teas, and treasures. My favorite new Tuesday ritual is to make a mood/inspiration board to inspire myself for the rest of the week~
Go on and make a cup of TUESDAY TEA while you look for inspiring mood board photos~
I’m not really sure why I’m drawing them now but you know picnics have just hit different since Covid, huh?
Not to be extra, I am just as happy with grabbing a bag of food or a pizza and heading to the park. That’s the best thing about picnics, they can be made out of literally anything. You can be as fancy or as low key as you want and it’s still fun.
What’s your favorite think to take to a picnic?
I’m going to offer postcard packs of these soon! Stay tuned. xx
the FIRST onefor National Mental Health Awareness Month xx
“Artist Amber Renee’s shop, Miseducated, is ground zero for the best in kitsch, retro, kawaii, whimsical, and psychedelic pins and original art products. Active since 2018, Miseducated has over 600 sales and counting and a solid five-star rating. The positive energy and creativity is infectious and Amber prides herself in putting customer service as a top priority.”
