Blah,Blah,Blahg

THE TRUTH...

I saw this somewhere while I was doing one of my fruitless searches on the web. It stuck with me because sad as it may seem it sums up my existence.  It's right cheeky I say and spot on.  I wish I could give you the name of the person who spewed this pearl of wisdom and if you know please let me know so I can give them credit where credit is due...

PETITE BOOKPLATES!

Well, I know it's Friday somewhere in the world!   I figured I would add this to the blahg sooner than later.  The other day on my bi-weekly jaunt to the library I checked out a book that had the sweetest little, lady-like bookplate that I ever did see!  I knew immediately that I wanted to make some for the download.  I have made them in a summer lime and sunset yellow.  They look a little bright on screen but they print pretty mellow (at least on my printer!)  If you still feel they are too bright you can play with your printers contrast settings you should be able to get a color that you are happy with.  Enjoy!

P.S.  I added the lines around the plates because I think it's easier to cut with lines (I cut like a drunk person without  them)

Petite Bookplate here...

 

J-O-B...

Well, I have been holding out on telling you that I got a job.  A J-O-B, a real job.  I am flabbergasted.  For 21 years I have had my own business and hustled and struggled and yes, huffed and puffed until I blew myself down.  I confided in my friend Jules that I was putting my feelers out to find a job as a receoptionist somewhere, something where I didn't have to think and I could be on the internet most of the day.  I know this because having my own business that's what a lot of my employee's would do--nothing.   It's not like they didn't like me, it's just that nobody will ever love your business as much as you.  The people that work for you will probably be good for 3-4 hours out of any work day.  Trust me on this, don't bellyache if you aren't like this, you then are a 'find' and  I do hope your company appreciates you!  I sent out a faux resume that had me as the receptionist of my own company.  I thought the resume was quite nice and if I were hiring I would hire me.  I didn't get one call after about six months of send outs!  I was getting weary, I wanted a job, something not taxing and something I could do while I did Bella Bella.  Well, it seems that being a receptionist wasn't in my stars, I couldn't waitress as I am old(er) and standing on my feet for extended periods of time would put me inches from my grave.  Also, being in Los Angeles if you don't look like Angelina Jolie's twin sister the waiting jobs are not in your cards.  I did get a call though out of the blue about a job, a BIG job.  I can't tell you what the company is, as I had to sign Fort Knox worthy documents not to discuss, but I will be their Brand Director a.k.a Secret Weapon.  I'll be their Agent '99' (if you are 80 you may understand that reference).  Even though I was going for non-taxing it looks like I signed myself up for the Olympics of PR + Branding.  I am up for the challenge though, even though I am nervous as all get out.

My PR doors for my boutique firm will be closing, but not to fret!  I am writing a book on PR, not any 'ol book mind you, but a PR Handbook extraordinairre!  I will be writing with a well respected and highly sought out Editor and you will have the perspective from both a seasoned PR professional and the Editors point of view, so if you have questions, ask away as I will need fodder for our chapters!  This is not a folly we will be getting this published as we have a million (conservative estimate) publishers interested!  I am doing this for you, everyone who ever wanted to know about PR, because it is quite 'Oz' like I know.  When I was in school and people would say I should be in Public Relations, I always wondered why they would want me to be in a government job.  I like shoes for goodness sake!  Anyway, I  do hope that you take me up on this offer and ask so I can help you build your business as I have been able to do for so many others.  I truly believe their is nothing quite like the feeling of getting up and being excited to go to work instead of dreading the alarm clock...

THE CHEATERS CLIFF NOTES....

We have already established I cheat (when it comes to home cooking that is).  I have little time and patience, unless it's the weekend or the very unusual dilemma of no deadline then I don't mind getting all gourmet and what not.  I do a lot of weird things, one is ordering things and never using them, which would be the subscription I've had for over a year for 'Everyday Food'.  Why I ignored these little sprites I have no idea.  I casually opened one last week and they have thus far changed my life.   I have gotten more compliments on my cooking then I can count and have added other continents to my repertoire, as I was stuck in two countries Mexico and Italy for quite some time, an occasional French jaunt but only when I was feeling really adventuress. I made this little ditty over the weekend, Brie wrapped in chicken:

In the mag they give you shopping lists, which is super convenient as I never remember to bring mine to the grocery any way and am convinced once I get there that all we need is Nestle Toll House cookie dough...So the convenience of tossing one of their mini mags in my bag isn't too off-putting.  You know what the best part of this all is?  You don't have to subscribe, they pretty much put all the recipes on line for those whom unlike moi don't want to add another expense to their lives.  The recipes are really easy and so far goof proof (trust me if I can do it a monkey could).  If you too want to seem like you have graduated with honors from culinary school than head on over to this mecca of domestica

MY NEW FAVORITE BLOG...

This little blog has stolen my heart.  It comes at a time when my heart is heavy with the demise of Polaroid.  My sadness is so real and much worse than when I heard about the demise of Gocco.  You see for years I have been documenting my travels and life via Polaroid.  It started (and this is so wacky), with a Gestalt photography workshop in Big Sur.  It's a looooooooong story, but it ended not with revelations about my psyche but a supreme passion for my instant camera.

Here's images from four year old Adie Fey's blog 'Adie Loves Polly', (Polly being the name of her Polaroid):

Adie's mum is the genius behind the photography studio Fiery Eyed a real talent she is and with the looks of it Adie is going to be too.

Adie Loves Polly.

Save Polaroid.

WHAT CAN'T YOU BUY ON ETSY?

I have been really into the Through the Viewfinder photography technique that I have been sporting on my Etsy site.  I have a Holga toy camera, all plastic, all goodness but I was getting bored of the same old shots so I was on the hunt for another vintage camera.  On a lark I put 'camera' in my search in Etsy and I ended the new owner of this pretty baby:

It's from very cool Etsy seller Domestikate. I was hesitant to write about her because I have a bunch of things marked favorite and I didn't want them to be gone before I could snatch them up, but I can not keep a secret and when I find something great I have to blab about it (it's the publicist in me). Here's another treasure I have my eyeball on:

You can find Domestikate here.

In my delight that I found a camera on Etsy, I got to thinking about some other random things I have wanted for my studio.  One thing I have been really interested in is a Phrenology head, they have always fascinated me in a cool medical chic way not in I am so cool because I like really creepy things way.  I did find one, not exactly what I was looking for but at least I know there's hope that I may one day have my very own:

If you'd like the one above, or to see what other items CliptheWings has stop by here. I didn't find any trophies,  I mean do a search for 'trophy' and you get a bunch of wacky stuff and you'll know what I mean by wacky...So then I thought the next useless item on my less is a magnifying glass.  I didn't find anything that whet my whistle but I found this photo that made me smile:

Happy Etsy shopping!!!

SLIM A MEMOIR...

I mentioned my Amazon selling frenzy a couple weeks back, I am starting to get books in and want to take this time to review my bounty.  I did get A LOT of craft books and I promise to let you know which ones I thought were genius and which ones I put back on the auction block.  The book Slim by designer Cynthia Rowley caught my eye awhile ago. I am a sucker for effortless watercolor, love the Daily Candy watercolor artwork:

So when I flipped through Ms. Rowley's book my mouth was watering.  Let me preface this by saying I bought it specifically for the pictures, the actual story is odd in an odd way, but hey maybe I just didn't get it. If you like pretty watercolor (my next skill I want to obtain) than you will enjoy the book, the best part, I got it for a mere $3's, it looks so pretty on my night stand...

You can pick up your copy here.

BAUBLE BUBBLE BATH

This my dears is something that if you don't know about it you should.  It's pretty simple stuff and the results are SPECTACULAR.  I call it the 'bauble bubble bath' because that's what it looks like to me. It's how to get your gems sparkly like new.  I have heard many, many bad tips on this subject, one of the worse is to use toothpaste. You might have been able to do this in your grandmother's time when toothpaste wasn't fused with chemicals to bleach your teeth and what have you, but it's just not a good idea.  The best tip I got was from a gemologist, she said to soak in Dawn and warm water, I use a small apertif glass and a drop of Dawn.  I do this every day, not because I am obsessive or anything but I don't like to sleep with any jewelry and I figured I can have a safe place for storage and clean it at the same time.  The Dawn is very mild and cuts out the grease, which is really what dulls your gems.  I just use a soft toothbrush (super light touch here) on it in the a.m. if I am feeling really ambitious, but usually I just use a paper towel or other lint free cloth.

The result always feels like the thrill of a goof magic trick, it just makes me smile:

I LOVE my ring and want it to last for many, many more generations to come, so I try to take good care of it.  My Fancy rolls his eyes when he sees me break out the toothbrush, but sheesh I wanted this ring since I was six years old!  I designed it myself it was inspired  by the Le Tour Eiffel and I love that there are no others the exact same on earth. One word of caution here, if you are cleaning your ring over a sink do make sure the sink drain is not open and I wouldn't recommend doing this over the garbage disposal or anything. This works for most gem stones, I haven't tried them all but so far so good....