Mas y mas cerca

I am listening to Jonathan Richman's self titled album. I haven't listened to it in quite some time. I am one of those people who have very specific associations between music and moments in time. This album always reminds me of being on the bus listening to the CD right after I bought it at Amoeba, heading towards Steve's house.
The notebook above was made using a copy of Billy Joel's Glass Houses. It reminds me of New Year's Eve, 2004.
I don't have any very good memories of Halloweens. Halloween has been either boring or kind of a sad day for me over the last 6 or so years. And, to be totally honest, I find Halloween a little scary since I moved to San Francisco; there are just soooo many people out and about. So usually I like to fortress myself in my house. This year I am fortressing myself at Sarah and Bryan's house. And I am making these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from Bakerella...yum, I can't wait. The frosting is a maybe, I'll have to determine how ambitious I feel this evening. I'm considering getting a pumpkin to carve....we'll see. Perhaps there will be some sort of Halloween themed cocktails...
I hope you all have a great Halloween!
mel

rar!

My little sister is in New York right now! That's where she snapped the awesome photo you see above. I'm so jealous. But hey, even though I'm not there, I can shop like I am! So here are some picks I found using Etsy's shop local tool.

This purse from pesky cat designs is so cute! And the color is gorgeous.

Squee! The cuteness of this little owl family from ManiMina is too too!

I feel like maybe I've shared this fern leaf bangle from EmilyEJewelry before, but I can't help it, I think it's great.

This sweet sweater from theAnecdotes looks so warm and cuddly...I wish they had it in an adult size!

I'm loving the warm colors in Gwen Meyerson's work.

mel

Coptic

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while, but check it out! I made a couple new books! They were made with the coptic stitch method, which is definitely a new thing for me. Of course, they are still made with the same recycled materials; vintage record covers and rescued papers. They are a bit larger than my normal notebooks, 8.5" by 5.5" instead of 5.5" by 4.25" I think they're really cool and I'm excited to update my shop with them over the next few days. I hope you'll check it out! And I really appreciate you still stopping by, even with the dead air over the last couple weeks, look for more frequent posts like in the old days from now on.
mel

Sorry

Yes, there are loads of new books in the shop.

Sorry I fell off the face of the blogging earth. I haven't been feeling very well this week, but I feel like I'm snapping out of it a bit today. I have a big project to work on that is due on Saturday, but as soon as that is out of the way I will have lots of new exciting products to offer you. But until then, things may continue to be pretty quiet around here. Just a heads up. I hope your week has been great!

mel

Fashion Heroes

Did you know that the Library of Congress has a flickr stream? Well, they do. And it is pretty awesome. If you find yourself with nothing to do and a few hours to spare, browsing through it is a lovely way to pass the time. I do this every so often, and today I've decided to pull out to share with you. Here are my fashion heroes for this week.

mel

Trendy

Well, I finally did it. I jumped on the fascinator bandwagon. I've been pondering it for a while, since my ever awesome pal Erin brought my attention to a fetching one worn by the femme fatale in the movie Brick, and recently they have been popping up everywhere, all over the blogosphere and, of course, on Kenley on Project Runway. I've been dragging my feet because I am not normally one to accessorize and my overall look is pretty low-key so I was worried I might clash. But Erin counseled me through my doubts yesterday and today I bought the above pictured feathered headband from victorygarden (a San Francisco shop, woo hoo!). I'll let you know how it goes.
Also! I found myself another food related blog; LifeFlix (though at the moment it looks a little more like a moving/new house blog). Lots of awesome recipes, I'm going to have to try this one right away. What else is awesome? The author of LifeFlix, Marichelle not only has a lovely name but also writes another lovely blog; hearthandmade! I'm sure you know that one, so you know you'll be getting into a good thing with LifeFlix, you don't just have to take my word for it!

mel

Yum

I'm getting myself all psyched up for the farmer's market in a couple hours, and I realized I've never talked about my love of cooking on this blog. It's something that I've only recently been doing with any regularity; in San Francisco it's soooo easy to fall into eating out every night because there are so many delicious cheap eats here. Also, going to the grocery store is more of a chore when you're on foot than it is when you have a car. But eating out is not especially good for the health of your wallet or your body, so I have been making a concentrated effort to eat at home.

My dad cooked these amazing meals for my family when I was younger, so I learned an appreciation for a wide variety of foods and cooking techniques from him. I think one of the reasons I like cooking so much is that I can recreate things he made for us. Another reason I like to cook is that it's something I'm fairly good at and am confident in my ability to do it well. That always makes things more fun! And I really like the creative aspect of it, the art of seasoning and spices. It's so satisfying when everything comes together in deliciousness.

My go to for recipes, after my mom and dad, is epicurious.com. They have the archives for every issue of Gourmet. It doesn't get much better than that. But they also have the bon appetit recipe archives, which definitely pale in comparison to Gourmet's, but they're nice to have nonetheless. Also, they have a "recipe box" so you can save all the recipes you like or think you might want to make. I recently made a delicious roasted acorn squash from one of their recipes.

I also get recipes from a couple food blogs. My favorite favorite favorite is 101 Cookbooks. 101 Cookbooks is a recipe blog by Heidi Swanson, author of the James Beard book award (!)nominated Super Natural Cooking. It is updated often and always with the most mouthwatering recipes and photos you will ever lay eyes on. And they are vegetarian and seasonal and healthy....and generally really simple to prepare. Really. My favorite so far is the Spinach Rice Gratin, which I just happen to have at home right now.

Another new favorite blog is Bread and Honey. It is written by two busy moms and is a really enjoyable read. The authors are funny and personable and take gorgeous photos. I've been reading this blog only about a week, so I haven't actually had the chance to try any of their recipes yet, but there are many for which I am itching for the chance. I'm especially interested in this no knead bread recipe; I haven't made bread since I was in middle school and we had a bread maker, and I just bought some whole wheat flour, so I figure I'm ready to go.

Do you have any favorite food blogs? I'd love it if you'd leave me the URLs in the comments! Thanks!

mel

BOOKS - No, not just more books I made, but yes, there is that too

Yep, that's my new notebook. I love it. It's exactly what I wanted. I went to the Big Book Sale at Fort Mason last weekend (and I know I say this a lot, but I mean it: if you live in SF and you've never been, put it on your calendar for next year right now. It's so awesome). I was shopping for more materials for my books and was specifically looking for botanical guide books. I found only one, but as you can tell from the notebook above, it is really wonderful. It's a Golden field guide and it's for Identification of Trees of North America. It was published it 1968 and it has the most gorgeous illustrations. I'm really really pleased. I also found a couple other guide books, including my first that focuses on East Coast flora/fauna; it's a guide to sealife of New England. Very cool. I also got a fun Jacques Cousteau book for kids and a Disney book about animals, both with awesome photos and illustrations. I also got some books that I actually intend to read, imagine that! I'm really looking forward to reading A Year in Provence and America by Alistair Cooke. I'm not sure exactly when I'll get around to those; I have, in years past, become a very bad reader, but I've been trying hard to be better this year. I just finished Craft, Inc. and am now working on The Adventures of Augie March, though, to be honest, I'm not sure I'll make it through that one. I am really really tempted to preorder this book; it is taking all of my self-restraint to hold myself back.

mel

update: speaking of books...ok, I really am trying to be good about not spending, but I just found this via the obsessive consumption blog, and there were no two ways about it: I had to have it. HAD to.

Etsy Finds: Replicca

Patchwork the Second by replicca

This morning I logged on to Etsy and surfed over to the front page to see what was going on. I was scanning the treasury when an item by replicca caught my eye. I thought to myself, "Hey, I know that shop! And I like it!" (you may recall that I posted one of her items here a few days ago). So I clicked through to the main shop and, as I was browsing her items I realized that I hadn't added replicca as a favorite shop. And I felt kinda stupid, because Hello, EVERYTHING IN REBECCA'S SHOP IS AWESOME! Yeah, sorry to be so forceful, but I really love these clothes! They are adorable and modern and feminine and sporty and colorful and bold and .... well, just see for yourself.

Giant Hoods are Good

Ruffle My Shoulders Longer

Slouchy Wonderful

Ruffle Ruffle Bow

As if that weren't enough, Rebecca also makes these adorable pulse protectors out of fabric remnants. They look super hip and they have pockets, which seems so handy. You want a peek? Ok, if you insist:

Yes, they are cute and functional and affordable...I think I just convinced myself to buy one. And I hope I've convinced you to take a peek at replicca! Don't forget that it's about that time, you know, that time when you might need to do a lot of shopping for a lot of gifts for a lot of people...if you happen to be buying for any fashionistas, I think replicca would be a great place to start.

mel

PS - Oops! I have a bit of a bias for women's clothes, but I'd be remiss if I didn't alert you to the fact that Rebecca also makes great menswear! You and your bf will love it!

ha ha! POUNCED!

So I am truly distraught over my inability to check out the treasuries. It is one of my favorite things to do on Etsy. To console myself I decided to indulge in some serious pouncing. Of course I quickly found loads of awesome undiscovered shops that I cannot wait to share with you.

This Love Birds cut-out card by pocketstudio is so sweet and pretty!

I am loving the over the top old school glamour of the cuffs (like this geometric gold one) by lizncoco.

I am totally digging the colors and lines of Growing Young by JohnStorm.

These pastel fabric bangles by MelissaWarren are totally 80s, but in the good way.

There something I find so appealing about this mixed media piece by ksantiago. It reminds me of the best children's books. Click over to the listing to read the interesting inspiration behind it.

More birds! More works on wood! Butter yellow! Yes, Little Yellow Bird by KimFoxArt is a no brainer for me.

I found a lot to love in the Lighthouse Designs shop, but I think I was most enamored with these El Tango earrings. Gorgeous.

Tomorrow: POUNCED! pt. 2!
mel

one of those days

Yes, I am having one of those days. Bad hair day, bad skin day. Tired and achy. Late for work. Bored. And, worst of all, I can't check the treasury on etsy at work anymore! So so sad. I'm trying to cheer myself up with this cute picture of Ava in a box and by eating a delicious roast beef panini for lunch. It's working just ok. Actually, the picture is making me feel a little guilty; it seems like I have lots of pictures of Ava, but not so many pictures of Nick Nolte. I have a good reason for it; Ava is much less camera shy than Nick, and she's good at posing, whereas Nick doesn't like to stay still very much. But still. I'm going to be trying harder in the future to take and post lots of cute photos of the cuteness that is Nick Nolte.

Anyway, I did have a reason for posting today other than to complain and talk about my cats. I am trying a couple new things with my notebooks that I think are pretty cool. In the past I have used matboard to make my animal books; I cover the matboard with the pages of illustrations and use those as the covers. Recently I ran out of matboard. I haven't been able to get to SCRAP in ages, so I haven't had a chance to restock. I tried using the chipboard that I use in my bookbinding class, and it was fine, but just a little too thick and heavy for the size of book that I'm making. So I was kind of stumped when I wanted to make some new books the other night. Then I noticed the back cover of the Air Supply record I had just made a book out of. Usually I save the album sleeve scraps I have to use in packaging, but I don't use that much, so I end up with a big pile of scraps that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. So I though, why not use that scrap cover as I would use matboard to make animal books! So I made a couple and was really happy with the results. The album cover is the perfect weight, not to heavy but not too light, and substantial but still flexible. The first of these is in the shop, it is covered with cute owls and it is pink and lavender! You have to see it, it's adorable. And more will be popping up in the coming days. Yay!

mel