Finally Friday

The tassle-eared squirrel. So so cute. In the shop now.

I am pleased as punch that it is friday. This has been an unpalatably long week. But now it is over and it is the weekend! Well, nearly anyway. I have vague plans this weekend to go through my wardrobe; I purchased a bunch of new clothes and shoes over the course of the last couple weeks and I really need to weed out some items to make room. My closet is an absolute mess, it's embarrassing.

Also on my plate for this weekend; barbeque with Steve's family (yum) and Pineapple Express tomorrow at the bargain show! And lots of maxin' and relaxin', cuz that's how I do.

Have a really beautiful friday!

mel

Post Secret and 21st Century Mail Art

I was listening to my not so favorite radio show, the one I've been relegated to since they took away all streaming radio access at work, the Bryant Park Project on NPR, and they talked to the founder of the Post Secret project. I feel like I've heard of this before, but I've never actually looked at the website or anything, so I'm glad the BPP spotlighted this, because it is really fascinating. In a you can't look away sort of way. This guy handed out tons of postcards with his address and asked people to anonymously write a secret and send it to him. The results are funny and depressing and heartwarming and, obviously, extremely personal. It's worth checking out, trust me.
The other cool thing they talked about is this exhibition of Mail Art in the 21st Century that's going on now at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. I so wish I could go to this it sounds so cool. It's funny because just the other day I was telling my good pal Erin she should see How To Draw a Bunny, a really good movie about the artist Ray Johnson, who did mail art. Anyway, you can listen to the BPP interview with Martha Wilson about the exhibition, as well as see a gallery of works from the show here.
mel

GLST

Yesterday I happened upon a documentary on PBS about Emile Norman, By His Own Design. Although I've seen Emile's work many many times, I'd never heard of him before, and after watching the documentary I was really surprised that I hadn't. Not only is his life story incredibly inspirational and romantic, he also created one of the most impressive works of art in San Francisco, the mosaic window in the Masonic Temple on Nob Hill (detail below).

Norman is a genius artist who was completely self taught, who, when he could not find the material he needed, invented a new kind of epoxy. That's the kind of innovator he was, and still is.
Also interesting to me at this time , since I'm taking my first Gay and Lesbian Studies class right now, is that he is something of a gay icon. He was born in 1918, and was out when people didn't do such things. He and his partner built themselves a house in Big Sur, where they lived openly (and happily) as a couple and he has been an inspiration to other gay artists. Since this is Gay (and Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer) Pride Month, I think it is happily appropriate that I have encountered all kinds of cool LGBT culture stuff in the past couple weeks, which I can share with you, like the Norman documentary, a really interesting (and kind of depressing) article about John Cheever in Believer magazine, a cute show on Logo called Exes and Ohs, and the upcoming movie Chris and Don: A Love Story, which I am looking forward to.
Anyway, the point really is that I highly recommend the Emile Norman documentary, or, if you don't have a chance to see it, at least visit his website to see examples of his amazing work, or, if you live in San Francisco, take the cable car up to the top of Nob Hill and check out the Masonic Temple in person. You could even make a little day of it; the Temple is right across the street from Grace Cathedral and the Flood Mansion and just a block or two from the Fairmont Hotel, home of the Tonga Room and their famous Lava Bowls. Yum.
mel

Marc Jacobs again...

Blah blah blah, everyone knows I have a love hate sick haggy queen crush on Marc Jacobs (btw, I just watched the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton documentary made for French TV and, if you haven't, you must see it.) So of course I wanted to share this video posted on Jezebel today where a young, fresh faced, 90s Marc talks about how nervous he is to be taking over as creative director at LV. It's cute to see him being all anxious and kind of spilling his guts on tv, and also kind of cute that he kind of looks like Stephen Malkmus, my other sick, grunge, 90s crush. It's unfortunate, however, that it has to be with Charlie Rose, because that guy is a douche (see: My Kid Could Paint That.)
Watch it HERE.

get ready y'all, get ready

That's right people, you better be getting ready, because tonight is the night...that I very well may be listing new books! I know, the excitement is almost too much for you. Well, just put your head between your knees and breathe in to a paper bag and it'll be all right. Anyway, yes, I made some books yesterday, they're pretty cute, and tonight Steve and I will be taking pictures and with any luck I'll get them up on Etsy by tomorrow! Yay! February will be a whole new month in the land of Roska.
Also, the piece on Roska Handmade I promised you is now delivered! Click RIGHT HERE to view it yourself. Go, bathe in the warmth of my genius. Or, you know, in the tepidness of me making an ass of myself. Whichever. But you should really click up there because the blog in question belongs to Mr. JJMFinance, the purveyor of awesome excel spreadsheets to help you keep your business in business, and he is obviously a real smarty pants and you will want to know what he knows. Trust me.
Well, that is pretty much that. I am working at getting some interviews with some of my fave etsy sellers for your blogreading enjoyment, so look out for that. Wish me lots and lots of luck, because tonight I am taking the Jeopardy Contestant online test! Oh man, my stomach is turning into knots just thinking about it. Oh, also, you should check out my other blog, 1+1=400, because I am trying to bring it back from the dead and I think, if you like movies, you will like it. You should probably add it to your internet favorites because it has a very long address that you will probably find difficult to remember. I know I do.
mel

Big Country

If you know me even a little bit you probably are aware that I am kind of really into Pandora Radio. As if often the case, I was listening to it today at work and for the first time In A Big Country by Big Country popped up on my Jens Lekman station. I got totally psyched as soon as I heard the opening notes because a few years ago this was my ULTIMATE JAM OF THE YEAR. I don't know why I loved this song so much all of a sudden in the summer of 2003, but, before today, I don't think I'd heard it since then. Somehow it doesn't sound the same on computer as it did played from the tapedeck of my stereo. Still, it sounded pretty awesome. This of course reminds me that this year I saw a movie called The Big Country, starring Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston:

The thing about this movie is that it is SOOOOO long. It's like three hours long. The other thing about this movie is that it has the best fight scene in cinema history. I used to give that distinction to Class, with Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy, but The Big Country's fight scene is in a whole other category. It's in a whole other galaxy for that matter. Just a The Big Country is an almost ridiculously long movie, the fight scene, between Peck and Heston, is ludicrously long. As you're watching it and it's going longer and longer you're thinking, "what the heck is going on? This is insane. How much longer can I watch these two grown men tussling about in the dim light of evening? There hasn't been a close up since this thing started." But as it goes on and on and on you slowly come to realize that it is the greatest fight scene ever comitted to film. I can't explain it. You just have to watch it. I know I haven't been painting the most flattering picture of the movie, but it is one the best movies I've watched this year. So, to recap, I am recommending Pandora.com, Big Country the band, and The Big Country the movie. Now it's all up to you.

mel

I Heart You, Porkins

Sigh. Ok, geeking out alert! I don't know why, but I am having some nostalgic Star Wars withdrawals. I guess watching Star Wars used to be a pretty common occurrence for me; my roommate and I both loved it, she had it on DVD and I had it on VHS. You know what though? My roommate moved to Sacramento and took her DVDs with her, and we got rid of our VCR and all our (my) VHS tapes when we moved. For the first time in probably 10 years or more, I do not own the original Star Wars trilogy! I can't just watch it whenever I want, which is pretty sad. Something must be done, or my once formidable store of Star Wars trivia will dwindle out of existence. I'll have to check out netflix and see if Star Wars is one of those movies you can watch on their website. Probably not I guess.

Anyway, enough of that geekery! Sorry for that. So, oh my gosh you guys, we have so much catching up to do! Obviously, I failed at NaBloPoMo, but that's ok, because while I was doing it I had so much fun. I have total faith that next year I will succeed! I'll be training all year. The awesomeness of the Jens Lekman show was enough to make up for my failure. It was sooooo good. I am so glad that I was able to go, and that I got my tickets early because it totally sold out! I recommend to all of you, if you get a chance, go see his show! He sounds awesome live, the energy is so high, and you can tell that he loves music, and the joy is infectious. I don't want to go on too long, especially since I don't have any pictures to share, but I will post this link to a song from his new album, and I hope you'll all click and listen to it. Click Here Y'all.

In more "music" "news", I am seeing two more shows next month! Both are at The Great American Music Hall, which is a super awesome venue that is only a few blocks from my house! First is Jonathan Richman (love love love) and second is Stephen Malkmus. I am a little leery about the SM show. Pavement is my all time favorite band, and I have been known to embarrassingly, drunkenly call Stephen Malkmus a genius, and I love the first SM solo album to DEATH....but I kind of hated the last two albums. So...it's kind of a shaky proposition. I hope it doesn't suck. And Steve is going to go with me! Even though he never goes to shows! I'm going to be keeping my fingers crossed. I know Jonathan Richman will be awesome, I saw him once before, actually twice, and I'm sure this show will be even better because it's not at some douchey bar in the Mission.

Let's get to the crafting, shall we? After all, this isn't a music blog, dude! There is some exciting crafting stuff to discuss, first, I made a sale! Very surprising, because I hadn't listed since the beginning of October and I was sure no one was even looking at my shop. I guess I was wrong. People are looking at my shop a bit now, because I finally posted new items! Two new notebooks, take a looksie:

Well, people aren't really looking that much. I have a bunch of new notebooks just waiting to be listed though! I'm really excited because I haven't had new stuff in so long, and I'm really proud of these notebooks, I think they're really cool and well made.
In case you were wondering, things are coming along very well with my homework. I'll post a picture when it's done, so y'all can let me know if you think it sucks.
love ya!

mel

Soft

All right, this is some exciting stuff here folks. Courtesy of the Etsy front page, today I discovered that there are items in Lizette Greco's shop! Her shop was on my personal favorites before I even really knew what Etsy was. I can't remember where I first heard about her, but I guess that doesn't really matter. All we need to know here is that she is amazingly talented. She creates plush dolls and other sewn items based on drawings done by her two children. I'm not exactly sure how old they are, somewhere in the four to six range. Lizette recreates the drawings in 3-d with an accuracy that is almost magical. I fell in love at first sight. Look at this rocket bag!

If I were richie rich it would so be mine. It's so cool. Another cool thing to do is to go to her website where there is a link to her flick page where you can look at all her work next to the drawings her kids did so you can do a little compare and contrast for your very own self! Neat, right? You should totally check it out

Tonight I am seeing Lars and The Real Girl, so, I gotta scoot. As Neal Cohnan would say, bye bye.

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

Lithium: The Lightest of All Metals

So, hooray, the lithium solution worked! I popped those babies in the digicam and; presto! Worked like a charm. And here is the evidence: two new listings on my etsy page! A cute lil' Kris Kristofferson notebook and a larger than normal Jane Fonda Workout notebook. How do the pictures look? With the Jane Fonda book, I used this lightbox that Steve made for me. I think they turned out pretty well. Oh, also, I have to give credit to Steve for the lithium idea, he is the author. Sorry for being misleading in my last post.

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I joined a bookbinders' street team on Etsy! It's called BEST for short, and it is awesome! Here is a link to the blog. I am psyched to be in the company of so many awesome etsy sellers like myhandbound books, comfortableshoes, operationpapercut, and lots and lots more. There is a list on the blog, and I highly recommend taking a look at all the shops. You should also take a look at the BEST treasury on etsy...because I'm in it! Yay, I love being in treasuries.
I'm hoping to make this a big crafting weekend; I have a few plans, like going to see Lawrence of Arabia. It's playing at the Castro Theater (which is pretty much the most awesome theater in San Francisco) as part of their 70mm series they do every so often. L o A is one of the films they show all the time, they also always show Ghostbusters in 70mm, which is SO awesome, but I've never seen L o A before. I was going to rent it through netflix, but Steve told me to wait. We'll see if it's worth it, because I think I'm even going to have to pay for it! Also, I think we might go bowling, which would be awesome, and I am supposed to go to a game night. Sounds pretty action packed, huh?

mel

Marc Jacobs Misses His Youth

I know I promised Vena Cava like a million days ago, but I have to talk about Marc Jacobs right now, and if I have time, I will get to more. But more likely, the other shows will have to wait again. Now, here's the thing about Marc Jacobs: I kind of love him, and I kind of hate him. I love his logo, I love his perfumes, I love the bottles his perfume comes in, I love the mouse shoes, I love Marc by Marc Jacobs with the cute totes and tshirts, I love the enamel apple clock pendant...but I hate the majority of what he puts out on the runway, I hate his advertisements with Dakota Fanning and Sofia Coppola and I hate his obsession with the 1990s. I get it, Marc, you were THE grunge designer, whatever. It's too soon to bring it back. He can't just let it die, though, so we get this: And this:

Nice midriff. Anyway, I read a few places that this show was supposed to be inspired by Grey Gardens. I've never seen that movie, blah blah, but I felt that the show was a little more Jackie O on crack. Witness:

What I do have to give Marc Jacobs credit for, which is also the reason, I think, that I am still a Marc Jacobs believer, is that he really has a great eye for color. Look at this:
Okay, please ignore the skirt (what is up with skirts this season?) and just focus on the color combinations. Red, turquoise and seafoam green? I never in a million years could have imagined this would look so hot. It's the perfect way to take advantage of how good green and red look against each other without coming off all Christmassy. And the shoes, even though I can't see them that well, I am totally coveting them. This is the look that made me fall in love with Marc Jacobs all over again for the first time. With the first few looks I was sad because I felt like it was really over for me, I was definitely done with him. I just can't parse with this:
Or this:

But then he blows me away with this:
Again, please focus on the colors. Yellow...and yellow-orange! Who know they'd make such a great team? I'm having heart palpitations here, I don't know if I can even handle the addition of the navy blue/turquoise handbag...it's all almost too much to bear. Ok Marc Jacobs, I can forgive you for this:
And even this:Yipes, almost. (Please god, don't let see through lounge pants be the new hot thing this year) But this may be your very last chance.

mel

i'm a Cutter

Well, the digital camera is still broken in that it will not take pictures, but not broken in that I was able to upload all the pictures that were on it! I was so relieved. I was already thinking about getting a new digital camera, and now I guess my mind has been made up for me. All suggestions are welcome, since I have little to no experience or know how. Let me know what has worked for you.

I went to IKEA today (I don't know why exactly I'm writing IKEA in all caps), and I got the cute little red cart drawer thingee, and I also got this which is really cool (and cheap!), you buy little bins to put in it (it holds 12), I think it will be perfect for storing paints and brushes and other supplies. Now though I'm tired from driving around in the East Bay heat (Steve's car doesn't have air conditioning) so I am blogging instead of putting my new stuff together. Organization may have to wait 'til next weekend.


Anyway, like I said last night, I was crafting all night long, so I wanted to share some pictures of that with you. Here is one notebook I made:

Note the clutter. I really like how this book turned out, I used all the same lined paper, it's about 100 pages. The paper is really thin, I was writing on it last night and it's really nice, especially for pencil. It's really smooth.

Also last night I tried out my Crayola Cutter that I got for my birthday. As soon as I saw the Cutter I knew I had to have one, my craft knife skills are so mentally challenged. With this you use it like a pen or pencil, it feels very natural. Here is a picture of me working on a cute little tag I made, and a picture of the completed tag:

The picture doesn't really do justice to how cute it is. Finally, I made another book as well, I don't have any pictures of the final product because it was completed after the camera was broken, but here is a picture of it in process:


There were a couple neat things about this notebook, one was that I used my corner rounder on it, which I've had for ever but hadn't tried until last night. At first I was having some trouble with it, but I got the hang of it after a while and it really made for a neat look. Secondly I used this vintage Laura Ashley wall paper as the binding (the pattern is the first picture at the beginning of this post). I am really excited about that wallpaper because I saw it at SCRAP (more about SCRAP later) a week or two ago and wanted to get it but I already had soooo much stuff that I passed, but I when I went yesterday and it was still there I had to snatch it up. It was only four dollars for the whole roll! I can't wait to use it more, it's so pretty.
The last thing from last night, I tried making a felt magnet because I had a bunch of felt and a bunch of magnets, so ... why not?



I'm not sure how I feel about it...it's kind of nice, but I'm not in love with it. I'm not really that into flowers, but I wanted to do something quick and easy while I was still experimenting. Maybe dinosaurs would be better...

Well, I feel pretty refreshed now so I think I'm going to go work on putting my IKEA stuff together. I have to hurry though because I'm seeing Superbad tonight! I am so excited. Oh, speaking of Michael Cera, if you haven't already seen this, seriously, you have to. It is genius.
mel

this new venture

Hi everyone, and welcome to my journal. I am Mel and I am trying to start a tiny little business selling my handmade notebooks, cards,buttons, bags and anything else that might catch my fancy. Here you can read about my adventures as I learn from my mistakes. Also, I will probably talk about blogs I love, music, and other general life stuff. If you would like to read what I have to write about movies, go here.
Anyway, I'm really excited about this new venture and I hope that you will enjoy my blog! Thanks.

mel