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

Just A Reminder

Hey, I just wanted to remind everyone that tons of notebooks, like the ones below, are on a free shipping sale in my etsy shop! And I hope to have more items soon! I'd love it if you'd stop by and check it out. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

mel

Flower Girl Notebook - Made From a Percy Faith Album

Judy Garland Live at Carnegie Hall

John Travolta Urban Cowboy Soundtrack

Too Much Excitement!

yes yes yes! i am getting dark brown book tape! I am so psyched.

Markers

I think I mentioned before that I was using my prismacolor markers to make my spirograph notebooks, and that it was ruining the tips on the markers. I was bummed because prismacolor markers are a bit expensive, and so I was looking for some other way to achieve the same results. My first thought was just to get a few sets of Crayola markers and call it a day, but then I was thinking about the importance of the ink being waterproof. The covers of the notebooks are made of bristol board, which certainly is not waterproof (though it does stand up to water rather valiantly), but still I would want the design to remain unchanged it someone were to, say, get a drop of water on their notebook. So waterproof markers are a must. But which waterproof markers? The first answer is Sharpie.

We have here Sharpie retractable fine tip markers, which have the sort of tip I'm looking for, but a rather limited range of colors, and they still run about 2 bucks each.

Here's a classic, sharpie fine point. This may be the one, but I am a little concerned that tip is a bit to big for the spirograph. But these are only 99 cents if you buy them individually, and they come in about 30 colors. And you can get a set of 29 for $27.99. Sounds pretty tempting right now.

I've never heard of Artline, but their Twin Nib Markers come in a set of the above 8 colors for $7.99 The colors are a little blah though.

Ah, Pentel, the marker of my youth. When I was in elementary school you were so cool if you had a set of these in their yellow carrying case. I wanted them so bad! I've bought them a couple time as an adult, and they did not disappoint. Their nibs are about the perfect size for this project, they come in tons of colors and a 36 marker set is only $18.99. The drawback? Not waterproof, y'all.

And so we come back to prismacolor. Well, after my exhaustive research (ha ha) I think I'm going to try out some sharpies (since I've got some at home already), and test how the pentechs hold up to being dripped on. But I very well may stick to prismacolors...they're on sale right now anyway!
mel

I'm Chuck Bass

Okay, I know this is totally unrelated to, well, anything really, but tell me: is it wrong that I am like 1000% in love with this outfit?If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.
mel

Update

Just a little heads up that I updated my blogs and sites list over there on the right with tons more links. In case you need some new stuff to look at. Because I love you!
mel

Work Positive

20080530 :: bento diary :: tier 2, originally uploaded by vingt_deux.

Mostly I wanted to share the above photo because, hello, it is awesome. Star Wars bento box? I want it! But I also wanted to note this momentus occasion. At my work we are always participation in fundraising walks, and around the time of the walk employees are given the opportunity to buy a ribbon for 20 bucks that allows them to wear jeans for a whole week (i know, awesome life i lead, isn't it?). So July is the AIDS walk and next week is our jeans opportunity week. I'd been debating whether or not to buy a ribbon, so I was quite pleasantly surprised when my boss walked out of his office and started handing out ribbons for everyone on my team! I just wanted to share because, hey, it's not everyday I have two positive things to say about work!
mel

3 pm

All right, so I updated my flickr account to pro today, pretty exciting...I guess. We'll see, I'll have to take some time to play around later today. I got ten free moo cards with my upgrade, which I will use to...I don't know what, I still have an almost full box of moo cards from when they had that deal with etsy. They are nice little cards, I used them as price tags for my books at the Christmas Craft fair last year but that didn't go so well. I guess I can use them as business cards when I run out of my regular business cards.
I did a little extra time at work on monday and got to work pretty early today, and the result is that I get to leave at three today! I'm so excited, I cannot wait for 3'o'clock to come. I have so much I want to do, like go to paper source to get more PVA, go to the art store to get some different ink for linoprints, go to the post office and take pictures of new notebooks...and of course make more notebooks! I'm really excited by the possibilities.
I wanted to share this with you too, stolen from the Turtle Travel blog, it's super neat, animals found in the map of the London Underground! The animals are so cute. I'm going to have to check out the SF Muni maps now (especially with their impending revamp) and see what's lurking and hiding in there! Ha ha, probably not much, our underground lines are a little less complicated. I suppose if you took into account all the bus lines, maybe you could have something there.
mel

Kozue's Bag

I was just idly clicking that next blog button at the top of blogger there and I came across this blog, Kozue's Bag and I stopped and I was like: wowzers. It has some of the cutest purses I have ever seen, they are so avant garde and fun, full of free style stitches and pretty fabrics and abstract shapes. Some of look soft and squishy, like a totally huggable pillow. I just want to squeeze them so bad! I love them, and if anyone speaks Japanese and could help me navigate around her site, I'd totally appreciate it. If you don't speak Japanese, just go to the blog and drool over the pretty pictures.

Ok, I can't help it, I have to share one with you!

So pretty!

mel

Total Awesomeness

Check it out! Via the always wonderful My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses, news that Yellena James has a show at Giant Robot right here in San Francisco opening on this saturday! That is so exciting! See, I knew cool stuff happened here! Yellena is an amazing artist, I'm familiar with her work through her etsy shop; her paintings are some of the only ones that Steve and I both like. So, if you are in San Francisco you should totally go to see her stuff, I will definitely be there. You can click the pic above for more info.
mel

meh

Mel, originally uploaded by Difusa.

This is the first day in a while now that I haven't been super eager as soon as I got up to blog about something exciting. I think I am just unexcitable today. The only slightly interesting thing going on with me is that I've hit the 200 uploads mark on my flickr account, so I suppose I'm going to have to upgrade to a paid account. Anyone with a paid account want to weigh in with how awesome it is (or not)?
Anyway, my day hasn't been going super well from the moment I woke up this morning, but I'm hoping that a delicious burrito dinner will cheer me up. In the meantime, let me try to get in the spirit of things a bit and share the above adorable kitten with you. Hello, it's name is Mel! Just like me!

mel

Coastal Envy

I love the West Coast, but I've lived in California my whole life and I often get jealous of those living on the East Coast. Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening here, while in New York or New England everybody is going to awesome events and having a great time. Yeah, the grass is always greener, right? I'll make it to the East Coast someday, but for now I'm trying to enjoy San Francisco and never take for granted what an awesome place it is.

Anyway! The other day I posted some pictures of a sheet of bristol that I had linoprinted that was destined to become book covers. Well, the books have been made and they are in the shop!

I am calling these notebooks and the pattern Petal, because it kind of reminds me of marigold petals. Previously I had called this pattern Jellybeans, but decided I wasn't super in love with that name. I'm not married to Petals yet either. I'd love to know your opinion! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Titles are probably the trickiest part for me with my art. I also need to come up with new titles for my series of Mosaic drawings, I think. Oh, also, I made some new Spirograph books last night, so look for those coming soon!

mel

I want these so bad it hurts a little bit

Spongetta is one of my newest Etsy obsessions. I found her though the forums where someone was exalting her skillz as a treasury curator. Well, she certainly is that thing, but more importantly, look at these purses! They are so so so cute....I wish I could buy half her shop, but especially these two, Nubby Teal Purse and Stacatto Purse. Unfortunately, I am still not buying anything for myself...sigh. But you know, someone's birthday is just around the corner...

UPDATE - Boo hoo! The Nubby Teal Purse has been sold!
mel

h@bl

Frühstück 16.06.08, originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/haebl/.

Today I went looking for a group on flickr where I could share the photos I sometimes take of my lunch (when it is especially delicious looking) and I came upon the group yummy in my tummy, which is where I found haebl (blogger won't let me spell it right). I can't tell if he is German or French (or Austrian?) because I don't speak either of those languages, but I do speak clean, retro-modern, and so does he. His photos are equal parts gourmet deliciousness, 50s automat, and perfect lighting. The above photo is my favorite, but he has many equally as lovely. Please discover him for yourself!

mel

printer's progress

carving a linoleum block, originally uploaded by wickedfreshie.

I haven't done any printing in almost a year, but I was inspired by the Lotta Jansdotter book launch party that I attended with the amazing Erin last weekend, and last night I pulled out some linoleum blocks and my cutting tool and got down to business. Above is my work in progress, and here is the result:

I'm pretty happy with it. I need to clean it up a bit and work on my printing technique (I'm thinking a different kind of ink, this one is a little chalkier than I'd like), but then I think this would make a great notebook cover. In my mind, I see it in pastel pink, yellow and maybe green. The design is actually taken from a drawing I did the first time I attempted to take a drawing class at the local city college. We were doing a negative space exercise with eucalyptus leaves; it was probably my most positive experience in that class, the rest of which was taken up with drawing portraits of other students.

More printing from last night:

This is a linoleum stamp that I carved a long time ago, I used it to make a tote bag for my sister, and also the buttons that I use as free gifts in my shop. This time I printed a sheet of bristol board, colored it in with marker, and next I will be cutting it up and turning it into notebook covers. I'll be sure to keep you updated with all the printing happenings.
mel

ps - also, be sure to check the current etsy featured seller interview with rubyslounge. her shop is so neat.

Creature Comforts

Oh my gosh you guys, this is so cool. Unless you've been living under a rock or something you have probably heard about the birthday celebration over at the fabulous Creature Comforts blog. If you haven't, there is an amazing birthday giveaway going on. Check out this list of giveaway contributors:
-Beau Ideal-Caitlin Shearer-Clementine-Cursive Design-Freshly Blended Press -Holly Becker-Ink + Wit-Lab Partners-Lush Bella-Matte Stephens-My Folk Lover-Nest Pretty Things-Oh My Cavalier-Palindrome-Remake-Rifferaff-Shim + Sons-Skinny laMinx
Wow, right? That means you could have a little present from each of those! All you have to do is go over to Creature Comforts and leave a comment. I know I'm going to. And I would take a look around while you're there, because it's a really nice site.
mel

I am Yart

So, the amazing craftspeople of etsy, in their infinite wisdom, have put their heads together and come up with one great concept: the summer Yart sale. Yart = Yard + Art. It's like a yard sale for art...on the internet...anyway, I had been planning a sale for later this summer to "celebrate my birthday" (July 15th, ugh....) so I've decided to combine the two. I am, starting today, offering free shipping on all my renewed album cover notebooks until July 15th!! Also, there will be other special deals on other special items. So, if you've had you eye on any of these beauties, now is the time my friends.

Wings - At the Speed of Sound

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Miami Vice Soundtrack

Flashdance Soundtrack

And...if you'd like to see who else is participating in the Yart sale, you can go to Etsy and search for yart or you can click here and see some examples and click on some links. Happy shopping!

mel

P.S. - btw, there are waaaay more books on sale in my shop right here.

Treasuries

Well, I'm pretty excited today because not only did I manage to snag a treasury of my very own this morning, I am also featured in a treasury! Yay! It feels like a long time since I've been in one. And, since I finally figured out how to do screenshots (kinda) I'm able to share them with you (I hope). Let's see how this goes.

First, the one I'm featured in:

And now the one I made:

Well...it looks like I need to work a bit on the whole screen shot thing. But hey, you can click on those little pictures and that will take you right over to the treasuries. Isn't that fun!

mel

For Erin, pt 2

Hey Erin, have you heard about this? Check it out!

{CLICK HERE!!!!}

I Only Like It If It's Brand New

Well, all right then. New items in the shop:

Spirograph Notebook No 1

Spirograph Notebook No. 2

Spirograph Notebook No. 3

And here's that preview from the other day, now it can be yours!

Be My Light - Original Drawing on Vintage Sheet Music

Thanks!

Mel

under arrest

under arrest, originally uploaded by wickedfreshie.

For some reason, this photo is massively popular on my flickr page. Well, not massively popular like compared to someone who actually has a popular flickr page, but massively popular for my flickr page. Right. Anyway, I'm not sure why, but there you go. It's a picture of my pal Steph and her bf Louie, in line for the Matterhorn at Disneyland. I need to take a moment to reflect on how much I love the Matterhorn. It's such a great ride. Matterhorn, don't ever change.

Lotta

This was the scene yesterday evening at Craft Gym. My lovely and amazing pal Erin and I dropped in for the launch party for Lotta Jansdotter's new book, and I meant to take a bunch more pictures but I got overwhelmed by all the folks who were also there. It was super crowded! But it was fun; it was kind of a crafting party, they had a long table set up with inks and brushes and stamps and stencils. I enjoyed watching the other people there making lovely designs on their muslin swatches while I waited for a seat to open up. We got to talk to Lotta for just a second, she came over for a bit to give us some pointers on printing. She was really lovely and I was smitten with her accent (she's Scandanavian) and her outfit (she had the cutest sandals). Overall it was a very neat experience and I'm glad I was able to go. Here are some pictures of my printing that I took when I got home.
This was my first try, it's a little muddled.
And this is my second, it's more minimalistic, which was more keeping in the spirit of Lotta's work, I think. I like both of them though. I know Erin took more pictures than I did, so maybe she'll share some with me so you can have some better examples of what was coming out of the party. Erin's swatch in particular turned out quite lovely.

Actually, Erin and I had quite the full day yesterday; we hit up three of my favorite SF spots: SCRAP, Mission Pie Shop and Philz Coffee, and we eventually ended up at Target, where I was able to purchase a Spirograph! So exciting! I've been thinking about getting one for a little while now. Here are some of my first tries with it:

Aren't they purty? I did these with my PrismaColor markers and I love how the colors came out, but the process really ruins the tips of the markers, which is such a bummer. I tried some with colored pencil, and those turned out nice too, I just don't have very nice colors of colored pencil right now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the spirograph, but it's fun just playing around with it for now.
All right, I'm going to leave you today with a sneak peak of something that will be popping up in the ol' store soon. Enjoy!
mel

BTW

I just got a treasury, and guess what it's about?

{sweater weather}

yeah, i guess I have sweaters on the brain. anyway, i tried to use only listings that had photos with live models, i think seeing clothes on a person is so much better than seeing them on a dummy. the photos turn out more interesting and dynamic.
mel

Sweater Weather

Luckily for me, San Francisco is pretty much sweater weather all year long. I say luckily because I love cardigans. They are probably my favorite article of clothing. At least right up there with T-Shirts. And nothing goes better with a cardigan than a cute T-Shirt! Since I am always on the lookout for cute little sweaters, I was searching Etsy yesterday and I found some really nice pieces that I thought I would share with y'all. This first one is from the shop of BossaNovaBaby, which is chock full of adorably screenprinted clothes like this baby pink cardigan. I love the color and I love the embroidery. I also love that the Virgin of Guadalupe sits between your shoulder blades; I like decorations of the upper backs of shirts.

I like the sportiness of this Cosby Cardigan from chinedesigns. And, of course, you gotta love the crest. I am unabashedly one of those girls who shops in the men's discount section and steals clothes from her boyfriend, but if you're not one of those girls, they also offer a similar sweater made for the ladies here.

Regular readers may recognize the work of Fur Parade, one of my favorite favorite Etsy sellers. Here we have their totally awesome Ram's Head Vintage Sweater. Orange is one of those colors that I don't wear too often and that I think a lot of people are a little scared of, but really looks great on most.Here is a gorgeous little sweater from a Jubilant Collective, who says that this was handmade by her grandmother (and who, btw and speaking of orange, is wearing a Boy Scout Tiger shirt much like one I used to rock). I imagine it is pretty light, which makes it perfect as a little summer coverup.
Last, we have this fun little number from postlapsaria. I am totally digging the grey leopard print, and the juxtaposition of the retro ladylike color and cut with the kind of SoCal punk rockabilly pattern. Not usually my style, but there's just something about the combo that I like.

Here's hoping I can score some awesome finds like these at my local thrift store...but I doubt it.

mel

Lessons Learned

Circles are a gazillion times easier to draw than squares.

secret dreams

secret dreams, originally uploaded by topa mi.

My secret dream is that one day I will be "pouncing" on etsy and my shop will come up.

Etsy Find of the Day

Check it out! I found an awesome new shop on Etsy today that I am super excited about (even though I am on a break from buying things right now). It is called psarokokalo (which apparently means fishbone in Greek) and they have a bunch of cute stuff, like adorable little fingerpuppets, but what I'm all worked up about are these amazing necklaces.

Wowsers, right, they are awesome! I am so taken with them. According to psarokokalo's description, the plastic pieces were collected from the sea at Rhodes Island in the summer of 2006, and I feel like that totally comes through in the necklaces. They seem to ooze the essence of summer and the sea. Oh, and the best part? They are totally on sale right now! And (in my opinion) shipping is ridiculously cheap, considering psarokokalo is located in Athens, Greece. So, yeah, I'd suggest jumping on this opportunity while I am still under my self-imposed shopping embargo.

-mel

Today Is Lamer

Now Pandora is blocked on the server at my work. I'm crying on the inside.
But, to look on the bright side, it is really gorgeous out today.
And, check out this awesome new San Francisco street fashion blog I found! Well, I didn't really find it, they linked to it on fashioni.st. You should still check it out though. Fit To Be Tied.