Joan of Arc

There is a lovely mini-bio of Joan of Arc on The Writer's Almanac today. This painting by Jules Bastien Lepage is my favorite image of Joan- not glorious in battle astride her horse, sword flailing- just in the woods wearing simple peasant clothes with dirty hands, overwhelmed by the voices of saints and angels. Quite beautiful.

Shower Pipettes!

Had such fun making these Pipettes to splash in the Spring Showers and twirl in the Spring Flowers! Petunia is my personal favorite. Such sass! Have you finished any springtime projects? I'd love to see how they turned out!

A Modern Ingrid Bergman

I love this coat- though sadly I think the weather has already turned too warm for it. (I'm already wearing summer dresses with shrunken cardigans.) But this reminds me of a modern spin on Ingrid Bergman's farewell ensemble in Casablanca. (Perhaps it's the dramatic lighting in the photograph too.) What are you wearing lately?

DIY Bath Salts

It's incredibly simple to make fancy scented bath salts at home. You just need some lavender, Epsom salts and a few muslin bags (to keep those pesky lavender seeds from clogging up the drain! When submerged in hot bath water, the salts will dissolve but the lavender will stay put with no messy clean up.)



First, mix together the salts and lavender to your liking. (I made a mix of 2 parts salt to 1 part lavender.)



Then pack the salts into the bags or a shapely bottle. Add a pretty tag and a little flower and give them as gifts or use them yourself.

Ballerinas+Chocolate+Cupcakes- Together at Last!

Whipped up light cupcakes (using nothing but cake mix and a can of diet coke!) and fancied them up with goodies from Bake it Pretty. (This frosting tip must put at least 1/4 cup of frosting on each cupcake! And since Madame B doesn't believe in light frosting, any caloric savings are promptly squandered. Even for a devoted frosting lover such as myself, it was a bit much.) But look how pretty they look! Expect more cupcake experimenting soon!

The Sassy Team!

I joined the incredible Sassy Team recently- (That stands for Sellers Assisting Sellers) This is one talented and creative team! Just check out this fun treasury we put together! Special thanks for our fearless leader, Anna from House of Mouse for organizing this treasury and keeping our team in fighting trim!

DIY Pillboxes!

Do you carry a pillbox in your purse? I always carry Advil and Altoids in my bag and I recently gussied up these little tins to stash them prettily. I spray painted some empty Burts Bees tins and then hot glued vintage buttons to the tops. Kinda cute, huh? What are you working on lately?

The Atomic Testing Museum

The Atomic Testing Museum is a look at the atomic testing that was conducted in Nevada in for more than fifty years. In fact, back in the fifties, tourists could watch an atomic detonation via bleachers and quench their thirst with an Atomic cocktail at the Stardust- the atomic age themed casino.

My favorite part of the Museum was Miss Atomic Bomb (above) who seemed to perfectly embody the carefree, anything goes attitude of Sin City past and present. I also enjoyed an exhibit detailing the amazing of Doctor Harold Edgerton. His mesmerizing photos of a drop of milk splashing gloriously against a red plate, the movements of a tennis serve, or a bullet cutting through a playing card highlight the startling beauty that is present around us in every moment, if we only look closely enough.





(And of course, this song ran through my head the entire time!)

Presenting Mr. Cat Stevens

I'm posting this clip because I want you to join me in marveling at all of the following:

A) His shirt is somehow both tunic and safari gear. Two items not easily combined.
B) The sheer girth of those bell bottoms is astonishing.
C) His hair is awfully pretty.
D) He sings this Sam Cooke tunequite well!
E)He's making music again!

Whispy Houses

The work of Patrick Dougherty has been featured all over the blogosphere, but here it is again just in case you've missed it. They remind me of the sort of houses Sleeping Beauty, Tinkerbell and Snow White would have lived in before Walt Disney got hold of them. (And the sort I'd live in if indoor plumbing weren't a major requirement.)

Book Review: Autobiography of a Wardrobe

Autobiography of a Wardrobeuses an unusual narrative device; the story is told from the perspective of the wardrobe. For some reason I had difficulty embracing this perspective- mainly because a wardrobe evolves so much through out a lifetime, it seems odd that it should have a constant voice. I mean, the clothes you wear as a child are long gone by the time you are an adult.

Eventually I began to realize that this narrative device gave the author the emotional distance that allowed her to write about some very painful moments in an insightful way.

We all have those outfits that make us feel glamorous, beautiful, powerful or sexy. But what about the ones that show how lost we are- how confused? We tend to excise them from memory because they are, well, embarrassing. But those missteps tell us something about who we were when we put them on, and what we were trying to be.

But of course, my favorite moment in the book is when the wardrobe and our heroine finally begin to make peace with one another.

"It was as if a foundation of sensation, dammed up by a years long spasm of grief and anxiety, had started to flow. With this inner release, B's body dropped into itself. Her breath filled her lungs, her hips received her torso's weight, her legs smoothed themselves downward, her calves felt thier power and the bones of her feet made happy little clicking adjustments to support the suddenly physically radiant B in motion."

Now there is a beautiful image of body and garment in happy communion.

You're my cup of Tea!

So pleased with how this little illustration turned out. So many dainty little munchies! While I'm back in The Twin Cities this summer, I may have to take my Mum here for a scrumptious indulgence that is all pearls, floral hats, white gloves, silver tea pots and teeny tiny bite sized tidbits.

Have you ever been to high tea? What was your favorite part?

Add yet another Subscription to my List...

Great Gatsby! Must get self subscription to British Vogue immediately! If each issue is even a smidgen this good, it might be worth the astronomical cost of getting it airlifted to me in Hawaii. (Images via Greedy Girl.) The colors! Do you SEE them?!?

Twenty Questions with Vivienne Strauss!

Today I'm chatting with the very talented Vivienne Strauss who has TWO shops on Etsy- one for her collage and one for her painting. She tells us about her favorite haunts in Portland, what it's like to be married to another artist and her all time favorite item of vintage clothing! Click on the images to go right to her listings and, as always, Enjoy!

After multitudes of photo takes I can't take any more!, originally uploaded by vivienne_strauss.

The Fab Miss B: First off, tell us a little about you! What is the best thing about life in Portland?

Vivienne: We've been in Portland just over a year now and there are
so many great things about it, it is hard to choose what is best.
Choosing just one, I would say just the natural beauty of the entire
Northwest. Being a great lover of coffee and books, we have a great
selection of both. We love our trips to Powell's for books and
Stumptown coffee over by the Ace Hotel is the best!

The Fab Miss B:Your profile says you studied philosophy. How did you get interested in making art? Do you find that the two intersect?

Vivienne:I loved studying philosophy but I also love poking some fun at it. I think the more
humans try to take themselves seriously, the more silly they become and I like to try and illustrate that sometimes in both my paintings and in my collages.

The Fab Miss B:You obviously have a love of all things vintage. Does your love of

vintage fashion and interior design inspire your art making?

Vivienne:It does! Honestly, there is really nothing in the contemporary world that
inspires me like vintage fashion, interior design or photography does. I think my preferred time periods are mainly 1920s through the early1960s.

The Fab Miss B:What is your favorite article of vintage clothing?

Vivienne:I would have to say my faux leopard coat. It took YEARS of searching for the perfect
one and I've had it for more than 10 years now. I'll never get rid of it.

The Fab Miss B:What is it like to be married to another artist? It’s awfully fun to

imagine the two of you painting side by side!

Vivienne:Matte and I keep our work completely separate from one another but he has helped me tremendously with encouragement and advice. I recently made the switch to watercolors because of him, he knew my paintings would translate much better in that medium than what I was trying to do with gouache. I couldn't be doing this without him!

The Fab Miss B:What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Vivienne: I would have to say finding inspiration and coming up with ideas. Usually just
getting the painting started is the hard part. No matter what, I always erase the first line drawn.

The Fab Miss B:The playful, rather naïve nature of your work really appeals to me.

Where do you draw inspiration?

Vivienne:I seem to find inspiration every where I look (unless I'm going through a blocked period). I get a lot of ideas from old movies, old photos, sometimes just a phrase I hear or a
name will get me started. I have been collecting old yearbooks and just the interesting faces and names can evolve into a pretty involved painting.

The Fab Miss B:The titles of each of your pieces give me the sense that each painting
has an intricate story that goes along with it. Do you make them up while you are working?

Vivienne:Each piece is different. Sometimes I come up with a title beforehand just from every day personal experience or something from a book or movie. Other times the characters and story evolve as they are painted.

The Fab Miss B:What do you wish you had known before you opened your Etsy shops?

Vivienne:I wish I had spent more time choosing more creative names for my etsy
shops or I wish etsy allowed the name of the shop to be changed.

The Fab Miss B:What advice do you have to people starting their own creative small

businesses?

Vivienne:While it is important to create things that others will want to buy, I think it is just as important to create what you love. If your heart isn't in it, it will show in your work and it just won't be as appealing to others.

Thank you Vivienne! It's been so much fun to learn about you and your work!

Happy Mother's Day

Hope you are showing your Mum some love today! (And always, really.) xo- B

June goes to the Carnival!

Late one dark and rainy night, the carnival came to town. They hauled out their tents and pounded their stakes into the mud and mire. Slowly the tents rose into the Midwestern sky.

The fortune telling gypsy was there, The tilt a whirl was there.

The Siamese twins were there, the Ferris Wheel and Thunder Bolt were there.

They plastered the town with posters that cried "On with the show!"

Mr. Henderson's daughter June put on her prettiest summer frock.

And her hand carved coral circus peanut necklace...

And she put her allowance into her zig zag bag...

She stood in line with her girlfriends, giggling and laughing and bought her tickets!

They bought popcorn to munch...

And big wonderful clouds of cotton candy.

They admired the tattooed lady.

And felt the magic of a summer night spent at a carnival. Come visit the treasury live on Etsy before it expires! (And you can see my other collections here too.) Long Live Summer!

Off the Beaten Path...

This is funny because it's true! And it inspired me to make a list of blogs that are off the beaten path. Here are five blogs that are full of amazing content I never seen anywhere else.

1) Hollister Hovey: This is one lady who follows the creed "To thine own self be true!" Her collection of pith helmets alone recommends her in my mind. Check out her mother's day post for further evidence of total originality.

2) Le Blog de Betty: This French girl pulls together endless permutations from her closet and always manages to look totally unique. She inspires me to be bolder with my combinations too. If nothing else, I've learned to worry less about matching and think more about texture and proportion in my own wardrobe. (And I love how she translates her French for all us English speakers- it's totally charming.)

3) Double Takes: Lauren has a knack for finding things no one else has posted yet and I'm in love. She always discovers incredible things- like this rug!

4) The Rag & Bone Blog: This blog is always full of the coolest new work from paper and book artists all over the world. Invariably leads me to something incredible that I've never seen before.

5) Yesterday was Dramatic, Today is Okay: I discovered this blog through one of Jimena's beautiful blogosphere roundups, and I'm in love. Amazing photos of daily life in India. Makes me want to go and visit even more.


What wonderful new blogs are you reading lately? I'd love some fresh ones!

If only Moving really looked like this...

Can't stay away. Just love this blogging thing far too much.






I would never complain about washing windows, painting rooms or moving house if it looked and felt just a teeny bit more like this. (For the record, it feels more like grungy sweatpants, stringy hair, half empty refrigerators full of condiments made useless by their lack of counterparts, and incredibly dirty ceiling fans you never noticed before.)

Also, I'd give up all my earthly possessions to own this dress. Imagine getting on the plane to Hawaii wearing this with no luggage at all. Hooray for fashion fantasies.