Monday, March 30, 2009

Cat Fancy...

One upside to the aforementioned Epic Computer Fail of 2009: finding a million projects that I had either abandoned or simply forgotten all about nested in all the wrong folders on my hard drive.

It's a little known fact that I try to sneak collages of kittens into practically every design project I'm asked to work on, which, aside from a couple of googly eyed cats that made their way into a couple of compilation books and fashion editiorials in, oh, 2004 or so, has nearly always been to no avail. Here are a few of the collection still waiting for their forever homes:



Get Fancy...

Generally, the more desperate the financial situation, the more I tend to fancy it up, breaking out bowties and spats as everyday wear, and eating anything and everything on the 'good dishes'...



This set of tea cups and cake plates created by artist Laurie Simmons is still one of my favorite decadent purchases of all time, and absolutely perfect for splitting a late night ice cream sandwich, yes?


Hello Dolly...

Still in the throes of Spring cleaning, I've been trying to round up another batch of clothing to eBay, but seem to have narrowed the selection down to a closetful of things that I may never ever wear, but just can't bear to part with. Oops.

The perfect example of this phenomenon is this extravagant puffball of a mini that I found a few years ago to wear to an abandoned 1920s mansion garden party/photoshoot that I ended up not attending after all, which has been languishing at the back of the closet waiting for the perfect occasion ever since:


My obsession with dresses like this basically knows no bounds, despite their being absolutely wrong for me, and I've been eyeing this perfect trifecta of the 60s/70s novelty print, multicolored smocking and mock-Edwardian high collar for months on end:

By way of Vintage-A-Peel, one of my favorite vintage sellers of all time.

The very epitome of the dollygirl look, from the dolliest corner of the British Boutique Movement set, is, of course, probably Dollyrockers by Sambo, the king of perfectly puffed bishop sleeves, just the right bits of velvet, ruffles and bows, Liberty florals, crocheted bibs and tiny candy buttons. These dresses still turn up every so often, and are usually insanely reasonable which always makes them all the more tempting. I still regret passing up this absolutely perfect Dollyrockers frock from Iron horse Vintage, even though it was probably over a year ago:

Yeah, I still can't get over it!

Just making this post has me thinking that a garden party might be just the thing to kick off our first real Portland Spring... croquet and tiny sandwiches, anyone?

Monday, March 09, 2009

Spring Forward...

Happy maybe almost hopefully Spring everyone!

I've been absolutely preoccupied with creating new Spring color palettes lately, with the very first sample of my dusky mauve, banana yellow, salmon, and muddy chartreuse obsession seeing print just this week, in my latest ad for Screaming Mimis out now in the March issue of Paper Magazine!

Here's a sneak peek:


The weather here has been teetering wildly between sunshiny and mini snow flurries, and I've been trying to dash out into every temporary sun shower for a tiny bike ride. I'm so excited to finally break my beloved rickety French bikes out of their winter deep freeze for good, and I can't stop peeking at cute bike blogs for vicarious adventures in the meantime. I love love LOVE this cute girls on bikes photo story that one of my current favorite photographers Gemma Booth shot for the always adorable and art filled Amelia's Magazine!


Little bits and pieces of the Spring palettes of my dreams have also been creeping into my Winter wardrobe, with my all time favorite so far being the lavender, tangerine and strawberry pinkish red that two of my most cherished vintage finds of all time just happen to have in common!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Confection Perfection...

Behold the cutest packaging in the world:

By way of the cutest store in the world! Kiosk was on the very top of my must see list on a recent trip back to NYC, and did not disappoint, with tiny vignettes of perfect candy striped twines, traditional German chocolates, beeswax crayons and an enviable roster of mini exhibitions, all hosted in a tiny shop at the end of a labyrinth of dark hallways lit by tiny pink neon arrows ie the semi secret and super perfect shop of my dreams!

Wibele cookies soon to be perched atop our refrigerator alongside an ever growing collection of vintage tins of grandma candies and an ever rotating display of particularly kaleidoscopic peppermint sticks.