I installed my Christmas branch. Hastily found in my yard, handily installed by my friend Matt, and lovingly decorated by moi. I loved my almost tacky branch. It was festive and lovely. I am just not in the spirit to decorate this year. (Especially since I am leaving for a month long trip on Dec. 28th, I don’t want to be burdened with pre-flight packing and de-tinseling) Bah Humbug! So, even though I am throwing a party, can I just print this crappy iphone picture and tack it to my wall?

I would love some simple ideas- maybe just suspended balls on ribbon over the table? A lighted Ikea horizontal wreath? Trees are kinda out- my kitties are maniacal and preditcable knockers-of-things-off-tables, and real foliage gives them the urge to chew and puke.  Or maybe just some luminarias on the front walk and patio? Bah Humbug!

P.S. Cajun-jew boyfriend could really care less either way. My choice.

A few weeks ago I co-hosted an event succinctly called Pop-Up Shop! with a few other Houston gals. All handmade, vintage, and original goodies- the five of us hosted it at Brandi’s salon Sunchild. We totally transformed it into a one day retail dream experience!

I designed this little e-poster…

Gnomes, jewelry, and clothing by Bleubird Vintage (featured in the new Lucky Magazine! Congrats Ms. James!)

Brandi (one Bueno and owner of Sunchild Salon) of BuenoBueno sold key necklaces, vintage boots, and pompoms.

Hand-studded vintage leather bags by Service & Devotion (That’s me!)

and Service & Devotion freshly picked vintage clothing

Kelly (the other half of BuenoBueno) makes handmade note cards.

I don’t have any pics of myself in this batch- but you can check out more coverage about Pop-Up Shop! on one of my cohorts more prolific blogs. here or here.

We all had such a blast, sold stuff, drank vinho verde and voted to make it a semi-regular event!

P.S. If you are interested in purchasing any of the studded bags I have all of them available (admired but not purchased!) They are priced individually- but affordably!

P.P.S check out the website of one of the other co-hosts- Rannie Balias of ChrisRann jewelry. Her stuff is high at the top of my Christmas wish list!

B and I are hosting a holiday party. I love a white elephant- but it’s kinda a hassle to get everyone involved and especially when our holiday party will prolly start around 8- and then the guests will ebb and flow as first our friends with kids will show up and leave. Our older friends might fizzle out, and then our late night friends will stop by and stay and stay… Waves of visitors make it somewhat impossible to have an organized gift exchange.  I have decided that in lieu of picking numbers and stealing from one another, a White Elephant Doorprize is better.  I am hoping that this little guy is gonna be a hit!

My swarthy little gnome is shown lounging on one my dining chairs (personally reupholstered in a geometric Sunbrella fabric with a Maharam bolster in The Story of My Life fabric by Maira Kalman.)

side note: I found, fell in love with, and purchased this fabric on ebay. The seller had no idea about the maker- we both guessed maybe Kravet?  All I knew was the nap was exquisite and pattern unaffected and original. So when I recently discovered it’s origins here, I silently patted my own back for my own excellent taste.

So now you know. Multicultural gnomes are awesome doorprizes and I have great taste in fabric*. I am going to scour my house and maybe Fiesta to find some other great doorprizes!

*why isn’t there a  punctuation mark for sarcasm on keyboards?

Everyone loves some Jonathan Freakin’ Adler. His style is ubiquitous and has spawned a million copies. Yay!  The only JA thing I own is a needlepointed eyeglass case that says “SPECS” in a funky multicolored circus-y font. I have always kinda wanted a piece of white JA sculpture like the giraffe or the cat or the boob vase. I once cohorted with my  friend Jaime when she needed encouragement to buy the JA condom caddy for her husbands’ birthday. He was partially amused..  But I don’t really think about him all that often these days unless presented with a blog post (what was that stupid banana bud vase all about?)

I first remember seeing the JA needlepoint series when he did a capsule collection for the now-defunct Williams Sonoma company Hold Everything. (This was around 2004 and a little before a designer collaboration with a lower-cost line was the veritable retail gold mine it is today.) Does anyone else remember those catalogs? He did a whole Christmas line with lots of graphic needlepoint stockings, tree skirts and accessories everywhere! I remember this because I was already following him, and I worked for the WS company at the time and I could’ve ordered it all at 40% off! Permanently put in the “regret not buying” file- because cool Christmas stuff is stupid hard to find.

Anyway– I love Jonathan’s stupid lil’ sense of humor and his stupid lil’ outfits**. Even the goofy way he spells his name and his inane antics on Next Top Design Star (or whatever show that is)  (**And I’m not even saying this in mock love like someone refers to “Oral”.)  He’s kinda someone you almost love to hate like Rachel Zoe, Anna Wintour or Kelly Werstler.

I really do seem to gravitate towards animal figures in my house, and bold colors and sharp imagery- so the graphic nature of his stuff does kinda appeal to me – but I don’t chase after his brand’s bath accessories so my Kleenex  box has a chic shell, or a covet a $695 tortoise lamp “As Seen in May 09 Elle Décor Magazine and June 09 Metropolitan Home.” I get his style- but I think I love the era of quirky vintage things that inspire him more! In our ever-aware world of everyone’s a designer and in big ol’ bloglandia – he’s the King of quirk.

It now seems that the only way to effectively describe a certain aesthetic is to refer specifically to him.  I may already have things in my house that could easily be inspiration fodder for the man himself. I just came to realize that in the course of the last few weeks, everything that I have purchased is undeniably Jonathan Adler-esque.

[Side bar: I squawk about too much whimsy and cuteness in product design- am I full of shit because I think that the vintage items I acquire have more gravitas because they are old and not expensive? I justify it by thinking that whimsy and pricey is bullshit, and quirky, old and cheap is valid- whatever I probably am full of shit]

OK. Enough ass gazing – on to the goodies!!

First up- a pair of wonderful lion-esque sunny modernist mugs (Pictured here on my sunshine-y kitchen window with wind up godzilla and little succulent). I only found a pair and I snatched them up!

This set of espresso mugs caught my eye- they are a slightly larger size (which I love) and the textured white ceramic looks great with my classic white  french porcelain dishware.  I also love the lopsided angles of the handles. They make the cups look less mass produced- and though unmarked- I am pretty certain they are.

This next item is so exciting! I have wanted a set of poison glasses for SO LONG! I originally saw a set on ebay advertised as a vintage set of  Neiman Marcus barware from their eponymous and extravagant Holiday Catalog- selling for around $100. My friend Robin collects old glassware and has two sets of these puppies!  Recently, Robin & I went thrifting and her eagle eye found 5 of the glasses at one thrift store and then- as luck would have it- we found the 6th at the next thrift! The missing one! The only slight difference is the decal is positioned higher, but whoever drinks out of Arsenic probably will never  know the difference! They will look great in my new bar that I’m currently refinishing. Also- In the original set there was an ice bucket that just said POISON with the “pick your..” words above and some sort of really great skull and cross-bone metallic emblem on the lid. I am keeping my thriftin’ eyes peeled for that piece!

God bless Picasa!  I just found the original pic I saved off of ebay and filed in my “to find or die” folder.  Dreams *can* come true.

Next up! My Jonathan Adler inspired shopping spree continued when I found an interesting hand-rolled silk scarf with great typography. I collect silk scarves and as a designer- letters on anything is great. Don’t try to adjust your eyes. There are no distinguishable words, and the letter forms are all twisted reversed and generally scrambled. I would love to know who the designer was.

And lastly: this mint condition vintage needlepoint purse that one of my friends will be receiving as a holiday gift… I LOOOVE me some geometric needlepoint (reflected in my very first blog post ever!) The back has a monogram, the trim is a rich chocolatey ultra suede and the lining a silk rust moire. Lovely!

Is it just me or I am channeling Mr. Adler these days? Or maybe his “genius” is more derivative than I realized? I am thinking way too much about this.

My boyfriend B is a soul & funk DJ. He buys and sells and plays rare 45 RPM vinyl in mainly in Houston & Austin (and occasionally all over the country and world!) His monthly dance party in Houston is called Dirty Honey. I have been designing his gig posters for the last 15 months. (give or take?!) I kind of love the process and dread it at the same time- he kind of acts like a client and I have to respect his wishes. I don’t always get to choose the direction or imagery, and he is not a designer- which boils my blood when he can’t articulate why he doesn’t like something, he just says “I don’t like it”. We fight a lot during poster week. It’s really the only time we ever fight. Aside from Mr. Opinionated, designing a monthly poster for a soul & funk show is treacherous. The genre has many pitfalls- aside from the normal struggle of staying fresh and creative, I dislike falling into any traps of excessive use of black-sploitation imagery, bikini-ed chicks with afros, or overly vintage-y or predictable pictures.

B and I both search for imagery to scan or for me to work on- I dig through his records (we have an entire room in our 1200 square foot bungalow dedicated to records- it’s a big deal around here, and I’m not complaining; it’s B’s bread and butter!), I look through photo archives, books, and take pictures when I’m out and about with my iPhone.  (the flourish-y box and the tinting of the photo were inspired by a phone pic I took of a 1930′s or 40′s Grand Prize Beer poster at our neighborhood BBQ joint Pizzatolas. Then I recreated it in Illustrator, and made a little “DH” monogram. The giant man hovering over the skyline was an already-combined promotional image for an artist named Bobo Mr. Soul. B scanned it out of one his music history books. The tinting was further inspired by this great post. (If I had gotten My way I would’ve played with opaque pyramids and laser beams shooting out of his eyes and hovering cubes with bauhaus inspired fonts…) But I must keep my Client happy and this solution was much more uh… soulful.

Looking back at the last year or so worth of Dirty Honey posters, I see reoccurring patterns in usage of similar colors, my steadfast devotion to Helvetica and it’s inherent versatility. I see little things I learned in design school and have not abandoned, and things I have taught myself or learned from designer friends and online tutorials. I really like designing for myself- it used to be a lot more intimidating; until I started having more faith in my own abilities. Though I studied graphic design (amongst getting a few other degrees – Agriculture, Anthropology long story! ) I haven’t worked professionally as a designer for a long long time. Dirty Honey is my monthly way of keeping my chops sharp so-to-speak.

So without further ado- the current Dirty Honey poster and a mini archive of the last year or so…

inspiration pic

December 2009

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

July 2009

June 2009

April 2009

May 2009

March 2009

February 2009

January 2009

Christmas Show 2008

November 2009 - did this by hand, just like Mr. Fairey did it.

More DIY’s coming soon!

What’s cooler than a piece of new art?  New art that’s vintage.  New art that has a story behind it that touches some part of you.  New art from a friend.  New art that makes you smile.   New art that you know exactly what to do with.

My dear friend V recently retired and moved to Thailand, which is very far from me.  This is a man who made me smile nearly every workday for 5.5 years.  Comforted me when I was about to go postal, taught me so many things about life, Buddhism, and the law.  He moved to Thailand with 2 suitcases and a carry-on, which completely blew my mind.  A lifetime of things were given away or sold over the course of several years as he prepared for this life change.  Could you do it?  I could not.

However, being his friend during this time was a good thing as he saved the very best things for his friends.  He was thoughtful about it, giving books to specific people who would like them, or crystal to someone who collects it.  But my favorite items that I got from V were things that I plucked from his home during his moving sale.  Yes, I was a little scavenger, but the irony is, these were things that he thought no one would want, like the print he had hanging over his kitchen sink for the last 20+ years.

I loved it as soon as I saw it.  Why?  The colors, the Japanese aesthetic.  As with everything I got from V, I asked him the story behind it.  It had been a gift in the early 80′s from his childhood best friend, a Castro-era Cuban emigre, who had grown up in West Texas with V, gone to UT with V, and later lived as a gay man in Houston.  On a visit to V in Dallas in the 80′s, he showed up on the doorstep bearing this print.  V said he was that kind of guy – the guy who would always bring something of indeterminate worth and origin, but something always interesting, always with the best manners.  V’s friend died of AIDS soon after bearing this gift, which hung in the same spot until I greedily grabbed it off the wall.

It needs re-framing and re-matting.  It’s stained from years of nicotine floating through the glass.  I love the way it looks with my little pumpkins, even though the print is probably of oranges or persimmons.  I will always love it, as a reminder of people who float through our lives bringing smiles and small gifts.

I know I have you mentioned several times about my friends the Getmans having a baby.. I am very excited about this baby; aside from my sister, these are my first close friends having a baby and I am already quite in love with Tess. She is due any day now!!!!!

I posted before about my contributions to the nursery area (aka the Tess Nest) – and just recently the mommy-to-be (aka Stephanie) called me over to help her with the last minute nursery area preparations. Daddy-to-be (aka David) is busting his ass trying to get a multitude of work projects done before the big birth, and my carpentry and installation skills got called into use!

They wanted a whimsical but not baby-ish baby area (the far end of their big master bedroom) that was not too gender specific, really functional and livable for everyone. So, besides giving a few gifts and being handy with a drill- I reiterate that this is all Stephanie and David’s doing- they have great taste!

First off- Stephanie is a knock out furniture refinisher. She wanted a combo vintage dresser/ changing table and (with a little inspiration from D*S) made this beauty come to life:

It has a beautiful antiqued gray painted finish was accented by this awesome paper top. Artwork above it is by a local houston artist.

and fun lined drawers!

check out the cute vintage blocks that spell "Tess"! A lot of the stuffed animals were Stephanie's or David's when they were kiddos. The books are held in baskets from walmart that I secured to the wall with anchored "L" screws.

Mr. Owl found a home under some neat name plaques that Steph's nieces made. And lookie! Something got festooned with my impromptu flower!

The flags that I made luckily span the entire length of the wall of Tess' Nest!

Don't you love the graphic bird organic bedding? And Stephanie's mom made the moses basket liner!

One of Stephanie's childhood Gunds in front on a bird pillow from Urban Outfitters.

I can’t wait to meet lil’ Tessie!

P.S. I know I need to work on this blurry picture business..  please bear with me while I try to figure out my camera! I am seriously anti-flash and have not figured out how to take the perfect indoor natural light photo… Lame.

Yesterday my friends Beth and Evan got married. I am normally not very “into” buying gifts off of a registry…. Yes I am that person. I try to be creative and original with all my gift giving. Several months ago at a rummage sale I came across a pretty neat mid-century Italian stainless 3pc. carving set. The hefty set has a fork and knives for beef and poultry with a lovely leaping oryx and curly cue motif. Price tag- $3. Moments later I found a Danish teak carving board- chipped and kinda- ewww- gooey. Price tag $1.  I immediately saw the potential for gift giving. Initially I had set out to give it to our recently engaged friends. They didn’t end up having  a wedding or a reception so I decided to save the gift for the friends who were actually hosting nuptials.

In order to get the carving set and board gift-ready I had some work cut out for me. To start: I hand refinished the cutting board sanding it in 5 layers from coarse to extra fine and then conditioned the wood. For the carving set- I designed and sewed a storage pouch for the knife set- lining the flap with vintage fabric from Mrs. T’s collection.

I honestly wanted to take the set to have it all resharpened, but I kinda ran out of time! Today while I have been recuperating from drinking too much champagne and wine I suddenly remembered back to my days at Williams-Sonoma helping hundreds of customers select wedding gifts and a memory flew through my mind that I hadn’t thought of in years – giving knives as a wedding gift is BAD LUCK. The belief is most prevalent in Latin American and Asian cultures (from which neither the Bride or the Groom hail) and the lore says that a gift of knives is equivalent to cutting off a friendship. The traditional folk lore continues  that the way around the severing is to have the recipient give you a penny – in essence “buying the knives” and then the taboo is moot. I had customers that would tape the penny onto the knife box prior to gift wrapping so the recipient would have a cent handy for instant repayment. Clamoring for self- justification in my hungover condition for giving knives without regard to bad mojo and with no penny for repayment I had a voila! moment.  While I was previously berating my poor time management skills and touches of laziness for not having the dull carving set sharpened, I decided that the dull knives were too dull to possibly severe any ties and my poor time management skills was somehow fortuitous. Long story short – people are so weird about their superstitions!

Without further adieu – here are the results of DIY wedding gift!

I have really been making an effort to learn more and more how to sew. I crafted this storage bag on the fly without a pattern. Every time I sew something and *think* I have thought through any construction issues- I inevitably realize that issues always pop up- always a learning experience. In this case- I line the top flap and then sewed the bottom pocket- and then they ended up being different widths- since I had used wonder-under to bond the lining to the canvas- I was able to pink the edges and sew a decorative zig-zag stich to secure it extra. I am pretty proud of the turn out and I can’t wait to hear if they like it! As the groom is a hard core foodie and they entertain a lot- I hope it gets a lot of wear and tear for another 60 years. Congrats Beth and Evan!

I love ebay. I mean I really really love it. Approximately 60% of my purchases come off of ebay. Seriously, from HDMI cables for my TV, to smoke detectors, to gifts and of course- shoes! . Occasionally I come across photos that cause me to have a major WTF moment. Pictures that are unabashedly posted on ebay to peddle their wares.  I have been debating about creating this post because I don’t know if  this mean-spirited ? However, I feel like this is my duty to relay these sartorial mishaps. and  I just can’t stand not sharing some of these examples of  hysterical DIY ebay- modeling. Let me know what you think!

The gnarliest toes in the world. gross. No wonder she is trying to sell thse shoes, and any other shoes that expose her toe knuckles and toenail claws.

From "Love me two times!" Vintage. and frankly... I'm not loving this once.

There is a slight Cruella quality to her photos. Like Evil on vacation.

Wow. That's all I really have to say.

All those hands on the rope swing is kinda complicated.

Basking in the glory of it all!

I have been on a several month search for the perfect fall booties.

Requirements: Medium height heel, Versatile color, Slightly Western riding heel, rounded toe.

Aside from the bootie thing being pretty hot- the idea I had in mind was not exactly the prevalent design for this season.My mission originally began last spring when I borrowed my friend’s pair of Isabel Marant booties that started it all. I wore them for four days straight at SXSW in Austin. They were exceptionally comfortable in tan suede and I felt like such an understated class act rock star that week. Unfortunately, not only is an Isabel Marant Price tag WAAAAY out of my league, but in typical Marant fashion, the boots were sold.out.everywhere.

Above in tan suede (currently listed on Ebay here for a starting price of $600 used! Insane!) and in black leather a few weeks ago, also from the ‘bay. See the nice hints of western styling? The classic toe? The mid height heel? Perfection!

The hunt was still on… My next flash of excitement was when I had pre-ordered a very similar pair from the F/W09 Rachel Comey collection from a local boutique that I occasionally did some side work for.. I thought the midnight blue colored leather was lovely. With similar detailing as the Marants. I was happy to be doing some work for them in exchange for a close-to-wholesale discount! Unfortunately- the downturned economy has had it’s effect on many boutiques of it’s ilk and they shut their doors and canceled their fall orders. (also Available here at Gimmeshoes)  Side bar: at $338 the Comey boots ain’t that bad, but I have had SUCH a hard time with her other shoes falling apart, that it’s a bitter pill to swallow paying that much for shoes that are basically fragile and always getting repaired…

Moving forward- I have been doggedly pursuing my dream bootie amongst the throngs of studded ,stilettoed and bubble toed versions of this season glam-rock bootie bunches. And then I stumbled across this: The Nine West Gabble. A multi faceted taupey-brown leather. Zipped sides and a more au-courant fold-over detail- I struck the mother lode! Though they were obviously popular in the spring (and were featured in Elle and Lucky magazines), I found my pair on Overstock.com for $79! While they are sold-out there they are still available here, here, and a few pairs here. I am not completely enthralled with one detail- the goldenly gold zipper. But eh… it will probably tarnish soon or i can always attack the zippers with some rub ‘n buff to dull them out. Honestly, I haven’t bought a pair of Nine West’s in YEARS, and I am excited to have a pair that I can scuff, wear in the rain and kinda break-in unabashedly.

Some quick shots of my new booties! I love getting new shoes and wearing them around the house while doing my chores-  the cut off denim shorts would not be my  fashion M.O. with these boots. Since the weather has stayed warm in Houston, I am getting my last few wears out of my summer flats, platforms and wedges- hopefully transitioning some tights into the mix until it is closed toe-time for good…