Blah,Blah,Blahg

AMY BUTLER FOR CHANDRA RUGS-WIN YOURS TODAY!

I think if I didn't tell you that we were giving one of these beauties away this week on The Bright Side Project I would be a total dope.  I am so envious of everyone that can enter to win. I have loved everything about the alliance of Chandra rugs + Amy Butler, even their look book is one of the best I have seen in a long time, both the stylist and photographer need a round of applause (oh yes, let me not forget the graphic designer without that individual I am sure it wouldn't be so polished). If you are as fanatical about Amy Butler as I am, or if you just need a nice pop of color in your abode mosey over to the Bright Side Project. Good luck!  If you win, please don't forget to invite your pal Miss B over for a spot of tea, k?

psst...If you think this is great wait until you see what we are cooking up for the launch of our accessories month at the BSP March 1st! gah!!!!!!

P.S. Looking for cute?  This is pretty cute.

GOT A BURNING QUESTION? I MAY HAVE THE ANSWER...

 

Jules introduced me to FormSpring the other day, although it took a few repeats as she assumed that I knew what the 'H' she was talking about. "FormSpring, blah, blah, blah', she said, and "Did you read so & so's FormSpring?", "Oh gosh that question was hilarious that was asked of so & so"...Uhm?

Are you catching my drift?  If you know what FormSpring is you are having no problem following (and you must be really cool too), if not you are probably scratching your noggin' like I was. FormSpring, is a forum where people can ask you questions, a lot of big bloggers are with the program, ahem, I obviously was not sent the notice to join the club. I have to say I think I just may prefer FormSpring to Twitter. I have not come up with any questions to pose to some of my favorite bloggers/designers/entrepreneurs, like Victoria at SFGIRLBYTHEBAY, Holly at Decor8, Nicole at Making it Lovely, Amy Atlas and a host of others. I have FormSpring fright, I had some false starts but have not pulled the trigger on asking.  I thought it would be a GREAT idea for The Bright Side Project and we signed up right away.  I wasn't even thinking of doing one for lil' ol' Miss B, but then I opened my inbox and saw a ridiculous amount of emails (1366 of last count) and I thought maybe, just maybe, it might be nice to answer these same questions in one fell swoop. It might also be a way of you wonderful people that have emailed me (and it's been six months since I've replied) to know I am not ignoring you. I just get easily overwhelmed and when I see something so daunting as over 1000 emails I close the email manager and hide under my desk.  I am very good at working in the solution.  So ask me questions here!

Have a great weekend, I miss you already!

xo,

Miss B.

P.S. You really, really may want to drop by The Bright Side Project this weekend. Sunday may be our biggest  (and certainly one of the very best) giveaway's to date!

P.P.S. I am slowly but surely getting off my rump to update the Blahg roll located under 'Liittle Pretties' there's some really great new links there.

FIX-IT FRIDAY::I HEART FACES

It's Friday and I should be over at the I heart faces blog with a Fix-It Friday post.  Since I am obviously a slacker and am a dolt with the Blogger platform, I may not be. If not no worries, there will be some kick butt photographers letting you in on their post processing techniques.  I absolutely always learn something new each week from them.  I get a ton of emails asking about photo editing.  I don't really know what the heck I am doing (shhh don't tell the IHF girls) BUT the other contributors TOTALLY know their stuff, so go on, get over there..

LA VIDA ES BELLA

It is very rare when one of my billions, upon billions of ideas actually pans out.  If this idea then works out as planned, then I am pretty smug with satisfaction (since it is so rare, I am rarely smug or satisfied). If said idea turns out better than I could have ever imagined (and I do have a rather large imagination) than that's when I have to stop whistle Dixie, slap my knee and utter 'hot dog!'  Or something along those lines.

I started Souvenir Foto School to force myself to be accountable to shoot on a regular basis (photo's, just in case you thought I was in to gun toting--I am not). I knew that with the assignments I had stored in my skull that my students/victims and I would be seeing the every day in a different light after our six weeks together. I felt that I had started to do just that, not always but more than I had before. Yesterday though, well yesterday made me stop and thank God that I was alive in the world. I even had that thought after I found out my boss, (the same person that cut my salary by 30% a year ago), was looking for a butler and staff for his new 20,000 square foot mansion. I was pretty bummed especially after he yelled at me once more for not accomplishing the impossible (trust me I came this close).

I went home at lunch to walk Hannibella, grabbed my camera and strolled over to the tree which is my chosen subject for our petite Souvenir Foto School session. I stopped and wondered if I started crying like a baby if anyone would notice or call the authorities. I decided to not ruin my mascara and just shoot. When I did I felt like I was given a one way ticket to paradise via my viewfinder.  How could I be sad when life is so gosh darn beautiful? How absolutely unbelievably rich am I that I not only have eyesight to see something this amazing but can now stop and truly appreciate something so stunning? I may have noticed it in passing prior, might have thought it was pretty but kept walking.  The camera has become not just a tool for capturing images but for capturing moments in time, to make me slow down and really see something.  Like a great meal, I have  begun to savor my surroundings.  I wish this wealth on everyone.  If I could give you a gift, I would give you the gift of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. It's perfect--one size fits all, it never spoils, travels effortlessly and never gets boring...If you want to give me a gift though I will take this of course.

 

I*DIY--I'VE MISSED YOU SOMETHING BAD....

I would like to give a big, warm fuzzy welcome back to one of my fave blogs. Thank you for coming back, I was starting to take it personally.  I missed you so.

Oh yes and a big congrats on the baby news.  Besides puppies I love me some babies.  I urge anyone that's interested in pretty, fonts, paper and general loveliness to visit Luzel's blog, you won't be disappointed (unless of course she stops writing again and then you'll be totally disappointed).

OH, YES PLEASE....

Everyone always complains that it's so hard to shop for me.  They were right, until now....

{via my new favorite blog}

ALMA MATTERS

Last weekend was the much anticipated mini ArtWeekend retreat by Nicole's Classes.  I was really excited since I missed their San Francisco version (they taught letterpress at the SF one).  This was really a series of crash/mini courses, a little taste of what their full series would be like.  It was definitely enough to whet your appetite and of course I did learn a few things.  I do want to sign up for a full day course eventually or take one of the online classes but for the price I would say I got my money's worth.  Bonus? I met some really fabulous people.

One of those fab people was the darling Alma Loveland. For teaching a speed class in beginning Illustrator (a bear of a program) she kept her cool, was patient and had a few tips and tricks up her sleeve.  Alma is very creative in her own right and I felt like it was a great taste of what is possible with this robust program.  Am I proficient now?  Well, let's not get crazy but I can do a few things I couldn't before and that my dears opens doors for this here tinkerer. I also bought her Illustrator 101 text book, which I happen to think is very well designed and breaks down her class fairly well.  It does not beat sitting in class with her (didn't I mention she is darling?) but if you can't get out to meet her, the textbook and online class should prove to be just as enlightening.

In the lobby I met Suzanne of SheWanders.  Suzanne happens to be an excellent photographer and was so full of info for me for my future shoots. I was very grateful for her input and that she would even take the time to let me in on these things.  Her advice was something I wouldn't have figured out on my own and I felt that I was armed with a pocket full of treasures. 

I got lucky again and had jewelry designer Ariel Gordon in all of my classes (we took Nicole's Photo 101 a few months back).  I totally love this girl and would have loved to roll her in the parking lot because she just oozes effortless style--her bag, her jewelry, jeans, jackets, hair, even her computer!  Just a really cool girl.  Ariel is getting married soon and I am trying to convince her that we need to take a letterpress class together.  Heck we've been through four creative classes together, what's a 5th?

{beyond gorgeous photo by nicole hill gerulat. jewelry ariel gordon}

Last I met a very sweet girl Denise Cortez.  She came all the way up from Mexico to take the classes!  Now that's some serious motivation.  She was so nice and I felt horrible that I didn't get a chance to say good bye (so hi & bye Denise).  I loved that she has the same affliction as I do and she wants to do EVERYTHING!  I so get it.  If I could spend weeks on end being crafty I would.  I would sew a new wardrobe, build some furniture, create new recipes, design a couple thank you's, make my own wallpaper and then some. 

{photo via crafty blog by honey.huckabee}

I love to learn and I do highly recommend any of Nicole's Classes.  I know budgets are tight right now, I can justify the classes because they deal directly with what I do for a living.  For those that are trying to segue, these are really reasonable and worth looking into.  A lot of the same type of classes are three to four times the amount and you may not meet awesome individuals like I did.  Good luck!

HIPSTER PUPS

This 'Hipster Pup' link was submitted by Miss Alex Sears.  Now we are both thinking what images of our Frenchies we can send in.....

Is that a Ban.do you are wearing or are you just happy to see me?

 

Only mid-century Danish furniture for my abode and of course we only listen to vinyl.  Yes, I know it's 80 degree's outside but I like this scarf, I may even grab my knit beanie....

 

Happy Monday everyone!  I have so much to tell you about my awesome art weekend.  I am hoping that this week kicks last weeks butt.

ALLERGIC REACTION TO ALEVE

Monday morning I did things no one in my position, my age or my weight should do. I did said things for work and consequently messed up my already fragile disposition and right knee. Last night I took an anti-inflammatory medication called Aleve.  Three hours later I thought I was going to itch my eyeballs out of my skull, not to mention itch my entire skin off my face and body. This morning my left eyeball looks like, well let me just tell you what Ace said, "You look like a boxer."  A boxer that had been pummeled, mind you.  I wanted to illustrate my point for you and Googled 'allergic reaction to Aleve' . I looked in the Google image search and this one photo kept showing up. Odd. Well, I do feel rather swollen and unattractive right now...

EMILIE FRIDAY::STARTER CALLIGRAPHY KIT

I almost forgot that I promised to post some pics of my starter calligraphy kit from Emilie Friday.  It really did feel like a present. Emilie enclosed this very cool calligraphied magazine page which is a work of art. That piece alone would have been worth the (very reasonable) price. Oh no, Emilie did not stop there, beside what the kit comes with, she sent all sorts of delightful surprises-- little scraps with her hand script on them, hand-stamped wood veneer labels, and of course the super sweet personalized note to moi!  We discussed creating a more branded kit which I would LOVE to do and offer via Besotted Brand (if only because I selfishly want Emilie to write out her alphabet and numbers so I can practice the Emilie Friday signature style). Wouldn't that be the bee's knees?  Emilie is very enthusiastic about her craft and I have to say I found it completely contagious.  I have no pipe dreams that I will ever be as skilled as either Emilie or Danae, but at least I can play. There is not a kit like she is selling on the market and if you ask me if it's worth it, I will have to tell you it's worth ten times the amount I paid.  I love it, I love Emilie and if you are at all interested in starting out on your pointed pen journey this kit will save you some heartbreak. Trust me it's amazing what the 'right' ink, nib and paper will do for you.  I only wish I found it sooner...