November 2011
1 post
October 2011
1 post
6 tags
September 2011
2 posts
August 2011
2 posts
5 tags
June 2011
2 posts
11 tags
May 2011
2 posts
9 tags
April 2011
1 post
March 2011
1 post
5 tags
November 2010
1 post
6 tags
Devastating drapery
We’ve reached the draping stage of my millinery course at FIT, I’ve been looking forward to it for ages. It means we are creating hats directly onto a head block, rather than following simply the form of the block the idea is to fold, mold and wind the felt or straw around the form creating a flowing, spontaneous sculptural piece.
There is so much you can do in this way, and I...
October 2010
3 posts
7 tags
A head for hats
From the most famous milliner to a face that could make any milliner famous.
Audrey Hepburn, in my opinion the most beautiful woman ever to be photographed, could make any hat look good by positioning her elfin little face beneath it.
Famous in a time when hats were still a part of any well put together ensemble, she wore a miriad of different styles, some almost bigger than her.
From...
12 tags
All about hats
My latest obsession, well that’s not quite right as I’ve always been a hat gal, but it’s come to a bit of a head of late, is hats.
I’ve started a millinery course at FIT, here in New York and I’ve just made my second hat - a prohibition style fedora for my man. We’re starting at the beginning with the basic skills of hat making, blocking and constructing...
August 2010
1 post
16 tags
art for pitties
My mother was surprised when I expressed a desire to support a charity working towards the care and rehabilitation of pit bulls. Since a friendly lick from an enormous dog as a toddler nearly knocked me off my feet and left me with a rash that looked like 3rd degree burns I’ve been verging on petrified of large dogs. But as I pointed out to her my fear of the animals is all the more reason...
July 2010
1 post
A cool breeze in a heatwave by juliaemily on Etsy →
It’s crazy hot here in New York and Ella and I have been hiding in the air conditioning all day dreaming of a day in the mountains. So of course I’ve spent most of the day wandering online.
This treasury on etsy is made up of items which evoke for me the idea of a fresh breeze - the one we don’t have flowing through this steamy city!
May 2010
2 posts
Crafts in Chelsea
One of my favorite things about spring is it means the beginning of the season of outdoor markets, mooching around the stalls in the sun, searching for that unique purchase, or perfect gift. We’ve already enjoyed a few but this weekend is Crafts in Chelsea, a market comprising entirely of etsians should be the best yet. A unique chance to see them and their products in person, with 100...
April 2010
4 posts
5 tags
12 tags
Miss Ella Louise
Since I was a little girl I’ve always loved making things, cooking, crafting, writing. I’ve been able to turn my hand to alot of different things and make some pretty cool stuff over the years - but on the 1st of April I made the best thing ever!
She is perfectly crafted - ideal in every way, and impossible to part with! May I introduce Miss Ella Louise. As you can see she is already...
March 2010
5 posts
5 tags
My new new new york team
I want to introduce you to my new new new york etsy street team - what is this thing I imagine you ask. Well let me explain, etsy, lively little community that it is encourages us crafty people to join together to promote ourselves both on and off the site. Teams tend to group either by product or location. I’ve been a member of the etsyhookers team for some time now - a group of lovely...
4 tags
Swapsies!
The sun has returned to New York and about time too - it felt like winter was going to drag on forever - I know it’s not over yet and that we have spring showers in our near future, but the sun has got his hat on and New York is coming out to play.
So lovely is it outside that my team mate from the Newnewteam. Anne of Muppetloon and I were tempted into central park, to chat while her 2...
5 tags
WatchOK Go’s vid for ‘This too shall pass’ possibly even better than their infamous conveyor belt video. Love it!!!
February 2010
7 posts
10 tags
WatchMy beautiful bridesmaid - Miss Akimbo performing at Under Construction - hilarious parody of Celine Dion’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
3 tags
Snow snow and more snow
New York is beautiful in the snow - I reminded myself as I forced myself out of my nice warm bed this morning. The radiator cold to the touch my breathe coming out in plumes of steam. A text promising heat by the end of the day doesn’t seem all that reassuring. As I wrapped my 35 week baby bump in layer upon layer I remember everyone telling me how lucky I was with my pregnancy timing, how...
To see the other side of the exchange click here... →
9 tags
Stock exchange
About a week ago this fabulous journal caught my eye in an etsy treasury, such a funky imaginative take on a traditional journal had me itching to buy - but I’ve been banned from spending money as our imminent visitor will mean I won’t be working for a while. So I screwed up my courage and decided to be a little cheeky. I approached the bookbinder of www.paperfetish.etsy.com - Cheri...
6 tags
Be mine Valentine
Considering how many people last year told me they were opting out of Christmas (or in one memorable case that they would only be giving gifts to people who still wet themselves, leaving just the newest members of his family and the oldest to enjoy the holidays) I shouldn’t have been surprised to get an even more negative response to Valentine’s day.
Valentine’s day has long...
December 2009
2 posts
9 tags
A little Christmas spice
I always feel like making something a little spicy around Christmas and this year I had an urge for ginger marmalade, I researched recipes on the net and had a little play with a few variations - I have now developed a recipe exactly to my taste - it sticky dark and very spicy - and even better it’s really easy to make and can be kept for months to add a little heat to your daily breakfast.
...
7 tags
Behind the mask
Masks utterly fascinate me, they come in so many different forms with so many functions : masks to protect us - from gas, from germs, from cold, from sparks, from projectiles from baseballs to spears : masks to hide our identities - when we are doing something bad, from breaking lent and acting lasciviously at carnival to committing bank robberies or terrorist attacks : masks to...
September 2009
5 posts
4 tags
Run chicken run
One door down from our place there’s a live chicken shop - we live in a Puerto Rican neighbourhood where quite a few people have a preference for fresh chicken that they can see killed in front of them.
So on Tuesday and Friday mornings if the windows are open I hear the trucks unloading their cargos of protesting chucks and for 20 minutes I share their early morning fear and anxiety.
A...
9 tags
Time to get cozy
I love the summer as much as anyone else, it’s great to feel the sun on your skin, to drag the summer frocks out of their moth balls, and flaunt a little flesh. But somehow after a whole summer of it (or often for me 3 summers in a row) I am just over it and dying to don the layers.
That first breath of Autumn that is gusting across Brooklyn as we speak hints that it’s time to get...
7 tags
The English invasion of New York
So the Brits have arrived in New York, it turns out I am not the only one, seems like I hear more English accents here most days than I would in certain areas of London. A few weeks ago I was sat in a neighbourhood restaurant in South Williamsburg, a gorgeous, but discreetly tucked away little joint called Moto, located in a wedge shaped building tucked away under the JMZ lines on Broadway. Sat on...
7 tags
Across state lines....
I finally feel like we have actually moved to New York. Yes we’ve been here for 6 weeks already, but staying first with friends and then living in our strangely empty apartment didn’t feel very permanent. This weekend however we finally made the trip down south to pick up Andrew’s furniture (and my sewing machine yeah!!)
Let me tell you it was quite a trek, 18 hours over night...
August 2009
3 posts
9 tags
The best of London's Burlesque
Flay and Deville’s Circus of Marvels has taking over Madame Jojo’s in London’s Soho once every 3 months for over a year now and has played each time to a full house. Their delightful mix of naughty caberet is universally appealing, combining comedy, magic, music, escapology with naughtier more risque acts they almost constantly have me in stitches.
Their last spectacular which...
13 tags
An eaters manifesto
You’ve got to love manifestos haven’t you - an individual writes a tome instructing the rest of the human race how to live their lives. At the Latitude festival we went to the literary arena to hear Vivienne Westwood (quite the idol of mine) present her manifesto, clearly stating in her own inimitable, faintly doddering, style what is high and low culture and instructing us in taking...
July 2009
5 posts
5 tags
Anticipating Latitude
This time tomorrow we should be arriving in Southwold for the Latitude Festival - we’ll be there to perform with the Immaculate Extremists and Noise of Art in the tribute to old horror film vampires on the Sunday night. So I’ve packed our fangs and my vampire gowns, and dusted off Andrew’s tail coat and I think we are ready to bite some necks.
The line up looks pretty amazing -...
7 tags
Etsyhookers Team Christmas in July promotion
My fab etsy team - the etsyhookers are doing a promotion tomorrow to celebrate Christmas in July! What the hell is Christmas in July you may well ask? Loads of my Aussie mates celebrate a second Xmas on the 25th of June (which is also my dad’s b’day so maybe should be called Trevormas??) as they miss having a chilly Northern hemisphere celebration as it’s stinking hot there in...