2/20/2013

Really in love with these photos; 60s photoshoot via Vintage Postcards







recent purchase

I bought these cute lighters off of Ebay - they were 2 for $7 and free shipping so I couldn't resist. They are coming from Taiwan so who knows how long it will take. I hope they actually work.









Buy one here

2/15/2013

Patterned paint rollers



I just came across this crafty idea and I'm surprised that I'd never heard of it before. I'm very intrigued and would like to remember to try them out the next time I have a new apartment to paint. What I'm talking about, are wallpaper applicators. Basically, paint rollers that have built in designs so that when you paint the walls with them you create a faux wallpaper effect. Think of them as rather elaborate and intricate stamps. Available for many uses, there are rollers for fabric, and ones for paper/wood/walls. They are reusable and interchangeable though not for heavy use. From The Painted House.com there are a selection of designs reminiscent of vintage hand printed fabrics. A great DIY decorating idea; once applied you will have an interior that looks "sponged, gently handmade, like old, forgotten, sunbleached wallpaper".

 
I'd imagine the application wouldn't be as easy as one might hope, especially if the parts of the print need to line up at all, as it is with regular wallpaper. You'd have to be quite accurate and straight with the rollers if you wanted a neat print and be careful not to go over a print twice otherwise it would start to look very messy and unrecognisable. But it would no doubt be a fun application.

Out of the designs to choose from, my preferences would be:


Roller 3


Roller 7


and Roller 8

Purchase a paint roller of find out more about them here

the art of sewing part one

Part one of three

A few years back when I was still in school for fashion design, people would often give me things that they thought I could use as an aspiring designer. To this day my closet is still full of garbage bags and boxes containing just about everything from fabric, to zippers, patterns, shoulder pads, studs, thread, and books. I have a lot of books on fashion but my favourite ones are a set of 3 that my friend found (I think in the trash). They are by Time-Life books and part of a series called The Art of Sewing. I like them especially because each has its own unique cover and pattern; there is a sparkly butterfly book, a dark green snakeskin book, and a felted exotic floral print. They aren't in the best condition, but they are from the 70's and the content is great, as well as the images. I scanned in some of my favourite images from the first book, Exotic styling, and I will eventually post scans from the other two books as well. Keep in mind, accompanied with all of these images are patterns to make each piece. If I was feeling extremely ambitious one day I suppose I could give it a shot.

Front cover
Back cover


"A fashionable encounter between East and West"

"Exotic tones in Third World textiles"

"The doubly dazzling kimono"

"The free and easy dashiki"

"The flowing elegance of the caftan"

"Empress' phoenix robe" 

"A blouse from a swirl of paisleys"

"A symbol of the good life in China, the chrysanthemum is reflected here in intricate satin stitches"

"Provocative look in crochet"


"Paisleys"







"Proud peacock"





























2/14/2013

An art piece by Julia Dault



Sure You Can, 2011
Oil on vinyl
42" x 54"

I'm a fan, it reminds me of a fruit roll up

Source

if you were a pill I'd take a handful at my will, and I'd knock you back with something sweet and strong, plenty of times you wake up in February makeup

Scanned in some of my beloved vintage valentines that I purchased a few years back. They each have actual red velvet on them somewhere and some have pieces you fold in or add on. So cute!!!



I also made a Valentines mixtape, and posted it on 8tracks:


The track list is:


Here are some other old valentines I found in our basement:


And here are some images from my phone (my only camera):

Plastic containers with candy inside from mum
Hello Kitty chocolates from mum
Also got the french candy hearts I noticed
Vintage valentine in the window of a book store, Toronto
Picture for the month of February on my calendar
Plastic decoration in a store window, London