blogs y'all - pt. 1

Well, I haven't been crafty in a while because I have been supa supa busy supastar! And that means no blogging either. Sorry. But whoa, whoa, that just won't do, so here's something fun and easy; riding on the coattails of others' craftiness! This will be a regular feature, popping up whenever I am having a bit of the ol' "crafter's block." So, without further ado, the first six (in no particular order) of my very favoritest blogs!

1. jenslekman.com

This is first on the list because I am sosososososososososo excited about the Jens Lekman show I'm going to next week! I am super psyched about it. Jens Lekman is a totally amazing Swedish popstar singer/songwriter. When you read his blog, you can almost feel what it's like to be Swedish. Also, he talks about music he likes (usually it is awesome; afrobeat or more Swedish pop) and he sometimes puts some rad mp3s up from his EPs or mixtapes that he makes. My favorite thing about the blog is that Jens is not shy about his fondness for Paul Simon, which, hey, that's kind of a brave stance to take! Paul Simon is, I think, generally thought of as not very hip.

2. jezebel.com

Jezebel is my current favorite celeb gossip type blog. I have been reading the gossip blogs for a few years now and I've had my favorites, but Jezebel is, I think, really the best of the lot. They have the most pertinent gossip without going so in depth that it gets boring, but they also have actual news sometimes, and political news and clips from the Tyra Banks show and fashion and it's REALLY funny. And it's pretty rude. Sometimes it may be NSFW, depending on how conservative your office is. My favorite regular feature on Jezebel is the "Crap email from a Dude" which is basically emails guys sent to break up with girls. Oh, they are so cringe-inducingly awesome.

3. gofugyourself

This is my favorite blog of all time, as you may know if you are a regular reader of this blog. It's hard to elaborate on the basic premise: pictures of celebs and wannabe celebs wearing ridiculous clothes with commentary on just how ridiculous the clothes are. Sounds a little dry, but the Fug Girls are probably the funniest girls EVER. I laugh out loud at least once a day at gofugyourself.

4. Ace Jet 170

If you are a typography nut you will looooove this blog. If not, guess what?, you will probably still love it because it is just sooo stylish. The author is British, and that definitely comes across in his writing. It's like he writes with a British accent. It's all about type and design on Ace Jet 170. My favorite feature is the Found Type Friday, where he posts pictures people send in of writing in public places; signs, labels, graffiti, etc. Oh, and he talks about maps a lot. He has some of the neatest things I've ever seen. I am super jealous of him.

5. My Folk Lover

This is the blog of the amazing artist Catherine Campbell. She draws the sweetest pictures of things like bunnies and girls sailing in tea cups. Her blog is just as sweet as her drawings. She posts about works in progress and life in Australia. Often, she features other artists that she likes, and I almost always like them too!

6. Things I've Bought That I Love

The main author of this blog is Mindy Kaling, a writer and actress on the American version of The Office. I have never seen the American Office, but now I may have to watch it because if the show is even half as funny as this blog then it is HILARIOUS. I am seriously in love with Mindy Kaling now. Hello, this is a blog about buying really expensive things! And it's funny! Mindy seems like the coolest girl in the world. Hi Mindy, let's be best friends, ok?

mel

Boner!

I was thinking today, what with Halloween right around the corner and all, about these cute dangly skeleton earrings that my mom had when I was a kid. This innocent bit of nostalgia led, of course, to an Etsy search! and, once again, Etsy does not disappoint.

First, these Dancing Skeletons by TeaCupieShop

These are probably the most like the ones my mom had, but these don't move. Mom's had limbs that were connected by little metal rings so they would dance around when she moved. Like these by emmbob


Ah, reading the description of these Skellingtons, emmbob says they are "articulated." That's the word I was looking for. It means awesome, right? Ha ha.

Those two pieces best embody what I was looking for, but the great thing about Etsy is you always find something you never knew you wanted. Like these Pygmy Skeleton earrings by Dionythicus
and these Evil Green Glowing Skull earrings by whatshesaid which, Bonus!, are on sale!
Scary!
These Spine Tingle earrings by TillyBloom are definitely different, and soooo beautiful.I was trying to pick my favorite pair of earrings by JessicaFink that I came upon in my search, but I just couldn't choose only one, they are so cool! So here they all are
Day of the Dead Skeleton earrings




Fire Skeleton earrings in neon yellow, neon orange, and neon pink.

And, because I just can't resist, her adorable Monster earrings in yellow and pink.



Because monsters are for Halloween too, right?
I hope these amazing earrings will inspire you to come up with some great spooky outfits for your forthcoming Halloween parties!

mel

Frustrated at Everything

Okay, so remember the buttons I was so excited about making? Well, the supplies I bought to make them are totally janky, as in they don't work. So, I am gluing buttons. IT IS TAKING FOREVER. Also, sometimes I have to stop and be sad and frustrated, which is really time consuming.
And I realized I haven't seen a movie in a very long time.

mel

Strangeness

Hi, I am back. Back to blogging. I've been out of town for a week. I've seen some people I haven't seen in ages and ages. It feels very strange to be back home. Everything is a little bit surreal. I figured, what better way to get back in the swing of things than to do a little bloggity blog bloggy? So, what is up with me, you ask? Well, things are going better than I ever expected. My notebooks are selling surprisingly well. Tonight though, I am not working on notebooks, I'm working on buttons. The Sampler is doing a new thing called City Sampler where they feature products all made by artists from a certain city, and the first city is San Francisco! Since I've lost a week, I really need to get to work so I can make the deadline for submissions. I'm really excited about this because I had been planning on getting something together for the next Sampler anyway, but it will be much cooler to have my first sampler be a San Francisco sampler.

Other than that, I am just relaxing, trying to get ready for the shell shock of going to work tomorrow. I'm downloading music by Mika and Mickey Avalon; my sister introduced me to their music while I was away and I liked it, which is odd because my taste in music and my sister's generally do not overlap. I guess I'm just feeling the dancy trashy stuff these days. Also, I am shopping on Etsy of course! I'm really considering buying jewelry from one of my very first favorite shops, Marshatoh. All of her pieces are so gorgeous, I'm just worried that, if I were to buy something, it would become another of my jewelry casualties, because I almost never wear jewelry. For some reason I am super self conscious about it. But just look at these, how can I not obssess over them?

So pretty, right? I just love the lariat necklace. I like the polished wood, it makes the pieces look so light and cool. Decisions decisions....

mel