WHAT THE CUSS!!!!! Grrrrr... I am so mad at myself right now AND illustrator that I could just pop my pinky off! The worst design habit I have is ALWAYS forgetting to continuously save my work on photoshop & illustrator. WHAT THE CUSS???? WHY WHY WHY??? Why do I do this??  I just finished working on a print that took me 2 hours to create and right when I was going to save it at the end...illustrator shuts down on me...  cuss cuss cuss!!!

Speaking of cussing? Have you ever noticed all the cuss words in Fantastic Mr. Fox? It is the funniest thing ever...and watching this video montage of all their cuss words actually made me feel a little bit better. :)

And then listening to Stornoway's "I saw you blink" sealed the deal. 

Have a good day >>> save your work! <

I was reminded of a funny story the other day while organizing my little office space. I was going through my zine collection and throwing away the ones that are uninspiring in writing,graphics,illustration OR just straight up NASTAY! side note: I had accidentally bought a couple crazy zines way back when... so crazy, that they deserved the "RD" rating.... Oh, you have not heard of the "RD" rating? I actually just made it up today - it stands for : raunchy disgusting! Yep, one zine had a chapter entirely dedicated to this writer's period & what she did with it!!!! That's all i'll say about that.... anyways back to my funny story. Back in my Sophomore year of college, I had one of my best friend's over for Thanksgiving dinner. I was showing her the zine I was currently working on and planning on submitting to Fred Flare. Hye Jung [my best friend] looked through it....set it down...and said this: "umm Roxy [you know when she starts out with an ummm Roxy, that something VERY FUNNY is going to come out of her mouth]... ummm Roxy...yeah.... I don't get it...anddddd...and I don't know why people would buy this." I remember laughing soooo hard and loving her candor SOO SOO much! My zine was just a collection of many of my drawings from 1999 to 2004 - no writing, just drawings/doodles.  Hye Jung then asked if people here in the states actually by this stuff... I was still laughing.  I said "yes of course they do Hye Jung! I BUY THEM! :-[) hehehehe lol well long story short, she is still my best friend, she is still so purely honest with me, and I still buy zines. :) If you have any for sale, or know of a great place to buy really nice illustrative zines...please do leave a note saying so...if you don't mind.

my little collection:

Here are some of the places you can find the above zines/graphic novels:

Nicole J. Georges - Invincible Summer

Allison Cole - Sketchbook party, Stress Mess, Science Fiction Affliction

Annie Poon - Me Good Me Bad

Karrisa Cove - Crackers + Honey 

Missy Kulik - Kneehigh

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& two other collections from Three Potato Four found via poppytalk, that I think are quite neat. 

Simon MacEwan via Magie Eye

Liane Rossler : founder of Dinosaur Designs via Karen Nielsen

below pics via The Crafty Minx

Zara Kids via Zara

I love everything about this photo. The styling, color palette, hairdo, her pose, her freckles...

French band: Odland via Call Me Vivi

Ödland, deuxième anniversaire from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

This summer, I have made a goal to customize my bike. Painting the body, getting leather grips, "gold" rims, leather seat, and decorating my basket. Here are some simple instructions [hopefully] on how to make a quick and easy liner for your basket. Should take less than 4 hours to make...or less than 2 1/2 if you already have the fabric you want. 

Below is my bike with some pretty pink plastic flowers attached on the outside....I decided to swap those out

with some daisies, so to better match my basket liner. 

This project requires wide masking tape. from the center to the sides, cover the inside of the basket with tape. Do this in 3 parts. 1. the back 2. the front 3. the bottom.  Mark seams w/ a sharpie like in picture. MAKE SURE that once you have taped length-wise that you then put a couple horizontal pieces over the long strips just so it makes it easier when peeling off from basket.  Once all three pieces are marked, spread onto paper.

To save time, tape & paper... make a fold on the tape patterns, and then REMEMBER to put them on the fold of fabric when ready to cut.

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For some more inspiration, check out this awesome bike all decked out in flowers!!! Found via Cycle Chic

AND.... with summer getting oh so close... here is a little fashion flash for you.

I'm gonna have to make a couple of these pieces...and show you how you can too! 

Oysho S/S 2011 Look Book

There are a handful of creative things that I wish I knew how to do...but realistically I know some of these skills will never be accomplished. Lace making is one of them. The intricacy of each piece is always amazing. My Great Aunt Annie never made lace [well, not that I was aware of ] but she was excellent at crocheting, and a couple pieces I have of hers are so tiny and detailed. I wish I had as much patience as she did.

Beligan & Alecon  Laces

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Do you ever peruse New York Public Library's Digital Gallery? This is something I do often. And an activity I religiously did almost every day while at Parsons. Each semester we would receive $90 of printing credit, which was great considering we had exceptional printers. I used up that credit in less than a month...with most of my money going towards printing images from the NYPL Digital Gallery & Corbis. With all my print outs I would then fill my books of all things inspiring. Aside from lace, Egyptian patterns [and their gold jewelry] is something I find very inspiring right now. 

Found via NYPL's Digital Gallery.

One can find soooo many inspiring images in the NYPL's digital gallery that you will be on there "browsing" and then notice that 2 hours have just passed.  It is that addicting.

I am still in love with the Burrow [Donkey] and have found these images via, what else... NYPL digital gallery of the sweetest Burrows to print out and pin to my mood board.  Yes...I want to create a *Donkey Mood* said in my ::: romantic swept away voice ::: 

Happy Friday friends! I am really excited for tomorrow because I will be having a wee little yard sale. If you are in the SLC area.... come on over... say hello and perhaps buy something marvelous. All my items are of good quality - I will have clothes, accessories, jewelry, dishes, tablecloths, craft supplies, fabric, books etc. and the prices are exceptional. :) It is a lot of good stuff - so much so that I am not selling things to make money, but to really just simplify my life. If you would like to know my address, just shoot me an email. Yard Sale starts at 10 am and goes till 2pm.

Other than that... I will be listening to this playlist all weekend:

Tennis - Marathon

Shout Out Louds - Too Late Too Slow 

Shout Out Louds - Throwing Stones

The Hundred in the Hands - Pigeons

Deerhoof - Behold  Marvel in the Darkness

Camera Obscura - You Told a Lie

The Boat People - Under the Ocean

The Big Pink - Velvet

Rubies - Diamonds on Fire 

Richard Hawley - Last Orders

and lastly.... a wonderful artist from Tel Aviv : 

I am hoping to get these prints... don't you love?

It is 2am and I am waiting for my lover to get home. :) One of my favorite things to do late at night is to take myself on a music-trip escapade. I just now discovered Richard Hawley 5 min ago and I have to share him with you.  Ever heard of him? You probably have! His voice sounds sooo familiar to me and it is killing me right now that I can't think of who he sounds like...Does he sound familiar to anyone out there? Also, do you ever read the comments that people leave on YouTube? They're my favorite because all these strangers seem to express exactly what I am thinking...but even better... Here is what larkin0002 said 2 years ago about Richard Hawley: " Woah!!! This is the best musical discovery I've made in months. What an incredible voice! He could sing the phonebook and I'd still love it." I really just love the phone book comment.  Right now as I write this entry I am listening to his song "Last Order" from his album Coles Corner - it's just piano with some synth.... so beautiful.  BAH! I think I just figured out who he reminds me of...Jeff Buckley [guitar riffs] and the male version of Mazzy Star!!!!

Switching gears.... Valium in the Sunshine by Maps was a song I listened to over and over again right after I moved here to Salt Lake City. I love this guy mostly because he just composes all his songs in his bedroom!
EEK A LEEBA DEEK! I gotta get to bed!! : /

Meant to post this the other day...Was listening to NPR on Tuesday I think it was?  John Prendergast & Michael Mattocks were on talking about their new book "Unlikely Brothers" if you are looking for some good summertime reading I suggest picking this one up! I was so touched by both of their stories... I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

This picture below is of Predergast with Mattock's family

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and then a lovely quote for you - have you heard this one by Robert Frost before? :)

I have a lot of leather projects planned this week... one of which is a remake of what I did a couple years ago...  back in school to go along with my Senior Thesis Project, I made a couple leather accessories.  This concho belt was one of them. I don't think most people realize how EASY and fun leather is to work with. Back in 2002 I took a shoe making class with my girlfriends Jenny & Erin down in the Lower East Side... it was sooo much fun and I didn't understand how easy till then that making shoes was not that difficult. It involves a lot of steps and some accuracy...but no real upper body strength or algebra skills are needed.  Annnnnnyways...

Get some scrap leather or go to the thrift store and buy a leather jacket/bag... this should

also be a very inexpensive project. 

1. find a "circle" to trace that you would like your concho's to be.

2. cut circles out [preferably with sewing scissors...anything else will be hard on your hands] & then cover

the suede side generously w/ rubber cement. Let dry [this takes about 5 min or less] 

3. put 2 suede side conchos together...press firmly, this keeps it from coming apart! LITERALLY - rubber cement will be your best friend when it comes to leather!

4. w/ scallop or pinking sheers - cut around circles to make decorative edge.

5. Hopefully you have a leather punch already - if not, they are between $20-25, punch tiny holes all the way around.

6. Take your Olfa/Exacto knife and slice two lines down the middle making sure they are at least 1/4" apart from each other and 3/8" wider than the "leather ribbon"

7. Cut two long strips of leather [width depends on you as well as length] rubber cement the suede sides, let dry, push together and then sew it up on your machine! 

8. VOILA! Thee cutest belt you ever did see! This should take an hour or less to make...if making for children, a 1/2 or less! Have fun... :)

Tomorrow I will get back to my usual posts of creative projects, and design...but today is dedicated to my most FAVORITE best friend EVAH!!!  :-[) My husband Jesse!!! He is turning 27 today! I can't tell you enough how much I love this man and how lucky I am to be his wife! We have been married almost 4 months and it just keeps getting better and better....

  Happy Birthday babe! I love you so much! :)

Hope everyone has an awesome Memorial Day Weekend planned!  Yesterday for work I drove up to Logan Utah with some other co-workers to quickly do some store merchandising. Check out how beautiful of a drive we had.... AND we passed some people having a Memorial Weekend Rendezvous in TEE-PEES!!! Oh I soooo want to be there!!!! And on a side note:  Tomorrow, Jesse's dad is getting married. I am very excited for this... Jesse and his siblings are as well but since their mom passed away a year and a half ago it kinda makes it a little hard at times. However, we are all so happy to see Lee [my father-in-law] find someone that he can spend the rest of his life with who makes him very happy! It is going to be a tearful day tomorrow. : /


p.s. if you are not going away for the weekend, check back tomorrow for a pretty rockin art project you just might want to try. :)


MAY 29 -  what was I thinking  with saying thee above ^ .... I had wedding stuff ALLL day yesterday. :-p  Bah!

I love The Ocean Blue.... especially THIS song of theirs... When I find a song I love I will listen to it over and over again - AT LEAST a 100+ times in that week!  I do this because it helps with remembering that exact time, season, smell and look of everything at that moment, or week etc... The Ocean Blue reminds me so much of when my old friend and I went on a month long road trip back when I was 17. We drove from Utah up to Seattle then down to Portland, San Fransisco, L.A. then back up to San Fransisco and back to Utah. That was one of the best trips I have ever taken. And every time I hear The Ocean Blue play I am instantly reminded of driving up towards Seattle in the rain and passing all the green pine trees....passing the truckers and doing the fist pull to get them to honk their horns.... fun times. :)

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If you would like, a free little print out.  It is 8.5x11 so just click on the image and it will open up to it's original size. :) This quote is one of my favorites. It's so true, and there is no arguing it.... how we view things, where our happiness lies is all up to us and no one else, no matter what the circumstances are. 

Hello hello! Today I have a fun little project for you all.  Those of you who go to the thrift store and often see beautiful silk or rayon tops that are way to big for you and dowdy looking might want to read on. :) I love to sew but some days I want my instant gratification. I want to snap my fingers and *poof* the coolest piece I've designed in my head is made. I love looking for big ill-fitting tops just as much as ones that actually fit me, because the big ones just need a 1,2,3 quick change with this little method.... and you kinda get to skip the draping part that takes quite awhile [not that it's a bad thing]. Try it for yourself, it should take about under an hour to reconstruct.

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And then while you're sewing.... how about some good work music? :) 

+ RUBIES  +