Blah,Blah,Blahg

MODOFLY GIRL....

Hey, you still here?  I thought I may have grossed you totally out the door, but to my delight it looks as if I am not the only human in the world and others can share my pain (thank you for the comments)  At least I am not stepping in toddler poop like one of my other favorite bloggers is.  If you are a glutton for  bodily functions, mosey on over (warning do not drink and read as it is sure to spray through your nose.)

I would have put Bella to sleep, but then I would have to look at my husband to-be every time someone asked us why we did and then the whole 'incident' would be re-lived in slow motion for the rest of our days.  It's better just to pretend it never happened and get on with our happy, little existence.  Isn't that healthy?

So, enough of that, let me talk about this! I mentioned awhile ago that I was going to be doing a collaboration with a group called Modofly.  As I don't pay attention that much, I soon realized that I wasn't supposed to say anything. Sh*%&!  I noticed the rest of the artists were chomping at the bit to mention on their blogs and here I had written about it months ago.  Obviously, not only are these artists talented, they pay attention as well.  I sat in these virtual pow wow's biting my lower lip and praying no one found out.  So, when the time came to spread the word I kinda ignored the call of arms, as I kinda spilled the beans earlier.  I really, really want to spill the beans about what a guy who bought my design from Modofly is doing but I will wait because I will probably be flogged if I do tell and who wants that? NOT I.

So, if you are new to my blahg or don't pay much attention either, Modofly is, well, let them tell you:

Their medium is the laser and their support (what they laser on) is the uber cool Moleskine (you know, the notebook I can't afford).  I was surprised that I was included with all the talent they lined up.  These are artists that I truly admire, such as John W. Golden, his 'From the Management" series is really clever, perfect for the hipster parents:

 
There are so many more new artists that I got turned on to that have made me giddy with inspiration.  I love Marie-Louise Plum of Ink & Mess. Her name. Her company name. Her style. Her bio photo. So sassy:

You must check out the Modofly vibe, if you are an artist or are like me and just have a very powerful imagination, they are looking for new talent to highlight.  The guys that started it are brilliant in their own right (I swear I'm not saying that because they chose to work with me).  I mean, look at this description for my notebook:

The Elephant Trot

We all know about the elephant’s graveyard. What we didn’t realize is that elephants can cut a rug like nobody’s business! This beautiful piece by Tristan Brando a.k.a Bella Bella co. is more than just a beautiful piece of art and delves into an epistemic disclosure of the intimate graceful moments of the pachyderms.

I don't know about you, but I am pretty high on life about seeing some dancing elephants grace the legendary Moleskine (Thanks to Toi for the suggestion as I would never have the brain power to think of that myself) My elephants btw are experiencing their first taste of cyber stardom as they have been clicked on like crazy.  I am so very proud of them as the fame has not gone to their heads.  I on the other hand have quite the big noggin' and am hoping that I can sell enough to buy me this Modofly Moleskine:

I don't know why, but it reminds me of my bad dog...

REDRUM.

As if.  Really.  Just for your edification, I am an extremely modest individual.  There are things that are the norm, that are certainly not the norm for Miss B.  It is with great humiliation that I recount the following events, but since it has me in such a tizzy, I know I can share with you.  You see my cyber bestest friends, I love you and I know that you and only you can share my psychic agony that I have endured.

I came home tonight before my Fancy, no pups to greet me at the door.  Fine.  I understand, they both hate me now. I really was under the impression they had no sense of time, but my dogs must be the fittest species of their kind as they seemed to have evolved to not only understand time but completely comprehend abandonment. Whatever.  I am tired and over puppy pleasing.  It is then my dear friends that I round the corner to the loo where my life becomes a scene from 'The Shining'. I thought perhaps Bella had eaten her 3 pound sister G.G., but noooo, she had broken into our bathroom to find my feminine necessity and made a dire mess of the situation.  You see, here in lies the problem.  I don't even go to the loo when my Fancy is around or anyone for that matter (as I don't need to go remember?)  In all the time my Fancy and I have been together and my best friends and I have been best, I have NEVER, EVER gone to the loo in front of them (as I don't need to).  To see this horrible situation where Bella had taken something and basically created a crime scene was enough to make me check myself into the nervous hospital.  My only saving Grace was that my Fancy wasn't home.  I cleaned the loo, the dog and myself and locked the bathroom.  I went to work on some designs and duly got preoccupied.  A couple hours later when my Fancy was home and on the sofa, I heard a meek, 'honey?" coming from the other room. 'Yes?" I say.  "Uhm, I think you need to take care of this."  I come out and it looks like the bathroom did not stay locked for long as Bella had brought my business into the livingroom and proudly dropped it at my Fancy's feet.  If I said I hate my life right now it would be a gross understatement...And to think my greatest fear prior was her peeing on the wood floors...

Hello?

Hello?  My Mommy can't get to the Blahg right now as she has to go leave me for the next 10-12 hours.  She says it's so I can get more treats and she can put some kibble in my belly-whatever....Yeah she also said she couldn't undo the underline either....

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES, YOU KNOW WE HAD OUR SHARE...

I wanted to wish you all a Happy Memorial Day weekend and in a moment of somber, tinged guilt I realized that I am alive with all my limbs and faculties in place and that I do hope that we remember that this day is a reflection of those brave men and women that have suffered for what they believed is the greater good.  I hate the idea of any war, but worse I hate the idea of insane violent behavior towards innocents.   World War II wasn't that long ago and if you read anything up on it, I would hope it makes you enjoy your life just a little better that we have never had to live in the United States with bombs tearing down our homes (civil war was canons).  I do remember growing up in the 70's and having to duck under our lunch tables at school when they did air raid drills, this is something that I hope that none of our future generations have to do.  Life is short, let's eat bbq.

I found this on my walk and thought it would bring a smile to your pretty face...

THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO....

These are in no particular order:
1-Run with scissors.
2-Horseplay
3-Drunken dialing
4-I guess anything drunken--emailing, shopping, dating, etc.

Okay, I won't make any excuses, I wish I had an excuse.  I wish I could say I was intoxicated, that I wasn't of sound mind and body--but I can't.  One thing you should never do (especially if you are both near and far sighted like myself) is take your very cubersome (and super sharp) fabric scissors and decide that you have the ability to trim your own bangs.  How hard could it be?  I certainly have trimmed my bangs many times with the cuticle scissors without incidence..

Before:




After:

Need I say more?

I LOVE MY FANCY...

I really, really do.  We were watching the indie film 'Juno' the other night and the character Juno is a little bit
'alternative' there's a small part ( I promise I am not giving anything major away here), where Juno let's us know that all jocks really want the 'alternative' chick.  My Fancy said 'That's me and you, your Juno hon."

It's true he's a jock and I am a fashion girl, not really 'alternative' but what would you call a girl that comes up with Dancing elephants and a Time Machine?  Hmmm?  Well, this is what made me  REALLY love him. I officially start my job tomorrow.  I know you'd think with all my belly aching I would be full-on there but no.  This is where the dilemma is.  I only had enough corporate clothes to get me through my interviews and the few days that I had to come in to set-up my office, after that I have nada. rien.zip.  I mean, I have had my own business, I have been working in fashion, you know what my uniform has been?  The hot jeans of the season, t-shirt and flip flops.  I am duly unprepared.  I don't know why this didn't occur to me weeks ago.

This morning I was frantic, I needed to buy clothes--STAT.  I spent eight hours looking for appropriate gear.  I don't like to shop.  I mean I like to shop for paint, glue, scissors kind of things, but not clothes.  All my clothes prior have been perks of my career, but not gonna work in the workplace. Cocktails perhaps corporate luxury brand-N-O.

At 4p.m. The Fancy called 'How are you doing?"  "Miserable, I can't find anything.  I don't know where corporate people shop.  Banana Republic? I find things and they look good on the rack and I try them on and I look horrible, my feet are bleeding from looking!"  This is what he says (with all sincerity in the world), "That's not possible, you could never look horrible, even if you tried.  Just find two dresses and you'll be good, go to Lohemans."  For those of you who don't know Lohemans' (I didn't) it's a discount retailer, they sell Marc Jacobs for 80% off!  Of course there was nothing in my size (all those skinny B's got there before I discovered the joint), how in the heck did my jock Fancy know about Loheman's?  Who cares?  I found what I needed and 3 hours later exited Loheman's (it takes FOREVER to check out there).

When I got home, My Fancy made dinner (granted they were frozen pizzas, they were the best I ever had).   I was quiet during dinner and he asked in a soft voice, "What's wrong now?"  I sob, "I'm scared. I am scared I'll get fired and I will suck and then I'll have a closet full of slacks, button down shirts and blazers for nothing!"  He looked at me very confused and answered, "How can you be scared?  Aren't you the best in the world at what you do?"  And my lovelies, this is why I love my Fancy.  He's not perfect, but he's perfect for little 'ol neurotic me.

The "Jock' and the girls...


 

PILLOW TALK...

I bragged about my book binge a while ago.  Here's another one of the  books I bought:

I have to say I was seduced by the Amy Butler fabric'd pillow on the cover.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I didn't really like the book.  I'm sorry, I wanted to like it, really I did but it didn't get me all fired up to whip out the seam ripper and begin my 'sewing' excursion.  I mention seam ripper because when I sew, it seems that I spend a lot of time with the darn thing.  I did buy another sewing book at the same time on a whim, it was cheap and I was feeling crazy.  I can tell you this, I didn't want to buy the book because I didn't like the cover.  In fact, I think if they re-did the cover they could probably sell  heck of a lot more copies as I REALLY liked the book and the author Diana Rupp.

Here's the current cover:

I know, it's supposed to be 80's wacky or something, to appeal to all those irreverent alternative crafter types, but really, it's ugly right?  The French cafe font with this cover?  What were they thinking?  The colors, my goodness.  Okay, enough, now here's where I sing the praises of Diana's book.  She has a great voice, she's funny, she's inspiring, creative and cool.  This book is chock full of easy sewing projects AND 10 patterns! Here are a couple of my favorite projects:

Yes, pillows!  That bolster pillow is boss! Love the stripes, very Jonathan Adler-esque.

I thought this next project was perfect timing with my new job and having to dress more corporate:

Here's the cute skirt:

This is great for all those new babies being born left right and center that need organic, unleaded toys (how thoughtful of you):

And this is a super easy zipper project for those afraid of the 'ol zipper foot, this is great practice, plus you get to show it off.  You don't really go around showing off your other zippers unless they are down and that's just embarrassing. Be proud of your zipper efforts:

Now get back to work! Oh yeah, you can get your book book here.

MISS B'S TIME MACHINE....

One evening whilst perusing a book on the vast photo collection of The George Eastman House I was overcome by the desire to have access to the antique processing techniques and equipment that produced such dreamy prints as were featured in the tome.  The images were alive with texture, history and light.  I wanted to be able to take my images and have them developed into Daugerrotypes, Salt Paper Negatives, Albumen processed,  70’s instant photo’s, etc.

Then it occurred to me that I do have access to these techniques as I have a Time Machine sitting in the garage.  It was passed down to me, being in the B. family as long as anyone could remember.  I never really used it because I am prone to fits of travel-induced nausea, but I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

Now a Time Machine is nothing like they make it out to be in movies, that’s just crazy.  I can’t go back and change things but I can go find resources to develop my prints and find inspiration by being immersed in different eras. You see I’m not really taking anything back that wasn’t already mine in the first place,--rule #1 in operating the thing.

My little adventure thus far has been quite successful in being able to procure access to many of the photo treatments of yore.  I couldn't keep this for just myself and my little family  I know it would be something of a phenomena for others to have their photo's taken through the Time Machineas well (okay, I confess my Fancy said 'hey, I bet other people might want you to do that to their photo's, you should offer it, it's cool) I am dubbing this little project--Brandeaux and co. (it's pronounced Brando), I'll be offering the service through the the Bella Bella Etsy shoppe. Here's my little blurb:

Brandeaux & Co. was created to offer the finest in alternative processing and creative development of memories.  We like to believe we are experts  in our field assisting in the capturing of memories and memories created.   We do hope you feel compelled to utilize our services.

You might be sitting there reading this and wondering what the heck I am babbling about so I thought I will show you some images that have been through the Time Machine:

It's not a terrible photo and I am sure it holds a fond memory for the photographer (this is one of my 'found fotos') but it's not screaming 'frame me, stick me to your bulletin board, give me pride of place in your scrapbook...'

Here's the same image after taking it back in time.  This is treatment number 3 'Vintage Snapshot' as it has a feel like it came out of a camera from the early 50's:

Not convinced I have a Time Machine yet?  I know, it's hard to believe but here's some more proof:

Treatment Number 5 has the look of a negative printed on some sort of metal substrate, but that sounded a little too wordy so I opted for 'Vintage Slide'.
Each image that is processed by me will receive an official Certificate of Authenticity (but of course):

 

I am pretty excited by the project as it allows me to be creative and the stress is minimized(Time travel isn't as bad as you might think).  The whole bridal thing makes my stomach eat itself, I get so nervous.  Yesterday I drove miles and miles away from home to hand deliver a bridal project.  It was a total catastrophe!  The project was initially delayed because my outside printer botched the job, I then paid another printer to rush the job, print the recipients names on the things, paid 3 times (no exaggeration) the amount I was getting paid for the job.  I then hand-delivered the finished goods in a car that has no air-conditioning in 90 degree weather, only to get a half-hearted response by the bride to the finished pieces and then realizing when I got home that the bride never paid the balance of the bill.  If you don't believe that I need a break from the bridal market please re-read above...

FINITO!

I FINISHED!  Yes, I officially have finished the whole darn Potter series!  J.K. Rowling is amazing, her brain is a work of art, it should be kept at the Smithsonian when she expires.  I love creative people, really creative people, not Jackson Pollack creative, I mean I like the name Jackson, so his parents must of been creative but come on now, please..If you should be living under a rock or someplace where they never exposed you to Mr. Pollack this is his work:

Okay, enough said, back to J.K--Brilliant!  The books were anything but a children's story, they were suspenseful and filled with great  characters so well developed there could be off shoot stories on any of them.  I cried my eyes out several times (I can't remember the last time a book has brought me to tears).  They were great.  I am in awe of any writer that could make a whole generation of children eager to open a book and use their imaginations, it is quite an impressive feat with all the other external stimuli out there.  Does it deserve to be the third most read book of all time?  Hmmm? I don't know about that but if you have the desire to check out for a little while into a magical  place than I highly recommend the series.

Here's some great quotes to prove my point that this isn't just for the kiddo's and that Ms. Rowling has a way with words...

"Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them."

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

"In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger."

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. "

"It's a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up. "

TALK TO THE PAW...

So this whole work thing has me in a tizzy, it's so different from my 'normal' schedule.  Yes, I was my own worse slave master BUT I just had me to answer to.  Now that I have a boss I feel like I am walking on land mines, you never know which turn will blow your head off.  It's not bad and maybe I am making up the stress in my own brain and everything is kosher but it sure is scary going back into the work force after 20 years of owning my own companies.  Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to be gainfully employed, it feels like Gibraltar has been lifted off my shoulders.  The one thing that is bringing me down is my girls, they re taking my absence quite personally, especially my baby Bella, she's been giving me the ice shoulder.  This is an example of her behavior when I return from the office, no hello mommy, I missed you terribly, thank you for saving me from euthanasia or anything like that...