Don't EVER Ignore Tim! (project runway update)

Oh for heaven's sake!  I think I was more heated about this week's Project Runway than some of the political debates I've been glued to lately.  Who would have ever thought Little House on the Prairie Girl would zip out ahead of the pack?  That wave-inspired dress was delicious.  Even the bridesmaid dress- confection, er, perfection.  No doubt at the first glance that she was in.  And our Jerrell, sigh, so close and yet he forgot the most important and most basic tenent of Project Runway- LISTEN to Tim.  ALWAYS.  Don't they see it as clearly as we do from our couches?!  It happens over and over.  Tim gives a piece of sound advice that does not ask the designer to deviate from their signature style and yet the balk.  Politics, fashion, design- they're all the same and they all leave me yelling at the TV.  Ha!

P.S.  It's so mean that bravo.tv doesn't save my American Express info so I can watch the aftershow without having to run around in the dark downstairs, fumbling for my purse every week!

See? Bananas!

Okay, as promised... my little girl on picture day, styled kindergarten style. As for my son, well, let's be honest- he's just her accessory. Kind of like Ken to her Barbie. If he wanted to wear something more stylish, I'd be all over it but I had to barter to even get him in a button down collar (even one hidden by a plain shirt).  (Do note the forced, fake smiles.  I'm sure that's what the school photographer captured too.  I can't believe I pay for those shots! I can get forced poses at home for free!).

On a craftier note, I FINALLY figured out how to make hair bows for my little girl. When you buy off the clearance, uh, vintage rack, there aren't always all the accessories left (like bows) so I improvised this cute one. I added the Eiffel tower part from a much older (vintage!) Gymboree line that I had gotten years ago. Funny thing is, I kept buying those clearance ponytail holder things even when I knew perfectly well that my little girl didn't (and still doesn't really)  have thick enough hair to use them on. Rescuing it from non-use to add to this bow was a double score in that way.

Oh, and the best part of the ensemble? You know it was a big splurge to get the matching shoes. Totally unnecessary for a school photo (aka headshot) so I've felt a little guilty about them. In true sitcom style, when I picked up my little girl from school, she had expertly picked the buttons off both shoes. Well, not BOTH, as she informed me- just ONE. The other one fell off  "MOSTLY" on it's own. Now they have long navy thread hanging all off the sides where the cute buttons used to be. Sigh. Maybe I can add those buttons to a matching hair bow, though...

 

Surround Yourself with Beauty

To all of you meanies who persist in encouraging my reality show spoofs (when you know I should be using my energy to be more ARTFUL), I give you my philosophy on ARTFUL living:  Surround yourself with pretty or inspiring things whenever possible.  These darling salt and pepper shakers are a good example.  For the past forever years, we have been using a very utilitarian set at home but I have been admiring this handmade set at the local cooking store.  They were FAR out of my price range but I've kept them in mind.  Yesterday my patience finally paid off and I was able to buy them 1/2 price.  Its such a little thing, really, to have pretty salt and pepper shakers but it can make all the difference to a small, solo meal.  Just a small, little smile added to my daily activities.

Now, if you MUST insist on knowing why I had to dig these salt and pepper shakers out of the trash in the dark last night, you'll have to go HERE to read that story.  It's just not the kind of thing I need for this entry if I'm going to continue to try and stay ARTFUL.  HA!

Kids School Photos (I Die): The Rachel Zoe Project through my eyes

So yesterday?  Like, I TOTALLY had to go shopping for my kids school photos that are coming up on Tuesday.  Wait until you see what I got to style my daughter.  It's bananas.  Seriously, I die.  I mean, I don't have a petulant, overly-negative assistant with a bad attitude so it's easier in that regard to do all this WORK of shopping but, on the other overly bejeweled hand, neither do I have a fabulously adorable and bubbly assistant to make my WORK of shopping fun so there you have it.  I would cry at this point in my posting but I am wearing some pretty amazing eyeliner.  It's bananas.

Anyway, I digress.  I went to my favorite designers this week to style my daughter.  Target had some possibilities but, after they had sent  their collection to my flat, I decided to go with some vintage Gymboree.  I know, you're wondering where I find vintage Gymboree here in my small town. Easy- it's on the racks in the back of the Gymboree boutiques and greatly reduced.  The shopkeeper even found a pair of vintage matching shoes.  Seriously?  I die.  I had to have them.  They are a collector's item.  After many air kisses, I asked the store owner to follow me back to my flat with the outfit.  I did pick up something complimentary for my son- unfortunately he won't do bow ties or vintage RL but we do the best that we can.  These items NEED their elementary school moment.  I will post photos from the event next week.  *Air Kisses*

I am SO tempted

To delete that freaky orange/doll head photo but just in case someone (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) thinks it's ARTFUL, I will leave it. Still, I have to blog a lot this weekend to bump it down the list. Just thought I would reiterate my goal of getting into Somerset's Artful Blogger. It did occur to me last week that the best way to get IN the magazine would be if they knew I existed so in true shameless self-promotion form, I wrote the Somerset editors myself and asked to be considered for the magazine. Good thinking, right? Here is the detail from my correspondence for those of you keep track of my quest (from most recent to least recent).  I can read this as the editor being super nice and encouraging or as a nice brush-off... I choose encouraging... what do you think?:

Go for it. :)
S.

On 9/22/08 5:03 PM, "Daniels, Angela" <adaniels@Fiskars.com> wrote:

Staci:

I am so excited to be under consideration! I will continue to work on my blog in the hopes that I make it in the magazine. Do you mind if I blog about getting this letter from you? Everyone following my “Hoping to Make it into Artful Blogger” saga will get a kick out of it.

Thanks again,
Angela Daniels
http://angeladaniels.squarespace.com/

---

From: Staci Dumoski
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 3:56 PM
To: Daniels, Angela
Subject: FW: Artful Blogging Article Idea
Hi Angela,
I’ll be happy to add your blog to our list for consideration. I’ll contact you if it is selected to appear in a future issue of the magazine.
Thanks,
Staci Dumoski
Managing Editor

****
And just to get an ARTFUL photo in here.  Did you know someone on Ebay custom makes SHOES?!  And you thought it was a pain to make your own Christmas cards every year!  These are SO my style.  LOVE them.  Click HERE to follow the link to the Etsy seller's store.

Etsy Took My Orange Photography Challenge

Coincidental no doubt but I clicked on Etsy this morning (I'm on a quest to find large scale but fabulous Halloween items for my front yard- have I mentioned that I adore Halloween?) and the whole front page was orange items.  Fantastic from the perspective of my orange challenge the other day but I think I might need therapy after having to look at this item.  It's exactly the kind of print I would be nervous about finding on the wall of a mysterious old bed and breakfast after a late night registration. I would link you to it but I'm thinking someone wrote Etsy and complained that they were scared because the print is no longer on the home page and I can't for the life of me figure out what to type in as a description to find it again.  Seriously?  Disturbing... 

Color Photography

There's nothing like it.  It's amazing, inspiring and really just plain magical.  Color photos.  It's easy to get in a rut, though.  If you're like me- you take photos of your kids and drive them crazy by expecting them to be living, breathing photo ops on a daily basis (the upside is if my kids ever become famous, the paparazzi won't phase them a bit).  I did indulge in some post-college photography classes a few years ago, though and it really helped me to step outside the realm of what I typically take photos of.  To take a series of photos is a fun way to stretch your creativity so I would like to suggest that you grab your camera this week and concentrate on one color.  Yesterday, I had my eye out for anything orange.  I won't necessarily scrap any of these photos but it was interesting to see how much orange was around me in my daily life that I wasn't really aware of (the photo of me in the orange circle was taken last week at ScrapFest but I thought it made a nice centerpiece to all the orange).  So pick a color, and spend the day exploring with your camera- then leave a link so we can see what you come up with...

Napoleon. I Get It.

Imagine a few of your choicest swear words (I have been trying to teach my daughter to yell, "Oh SUGAR!" instead of "darn" so that might do for you.  Me?  I should have been a sailor).  Anyway, you might hit on a few of the words that crossed my lips when I realized Clustr Maps was going to clear off the hard-earned and coveted red dots on my map tracker (see it there in the left side navigation bar?).  Now I have to campaign, not unlike Napoleon, for world map domination all over again.  So, if you have a cousin in one of the "Stans" or  plan on visiting any of the countries  from THIS article, please do think about giving my blog a click from that ip.  You have no idea how gleeful one woman can get over a tiny red dot.  Especially when she is sporting her most fashionable blogging attire.  I think I wear the appulets rather well, don't you?

Beauty in Repetition

Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement on the whole new blog look thing and the stand-up comedy thing.  Funny but I meant this to kind of be a joking quest but I think I'm really getting into this whole artful blogging idea more each time I spend a bit of time tweaking my blog here.  What do you think?  I love that I can finally do 3 columns- I plan on changing the layouts every so often... assuming of course that I ever take the time to scrapbook anything again.  I'm just having too much fun being a Lead Fiskateer and writing on all of my blogs.

To add a little artfulness to this entry, though, I thought I would suggest some inspiration for your next photos.  I am always a little ashamed to admit I don't truly swoon about nature.  I know so many people that do.  They're enraptured over sunsets and they scoop up handfuls of dirt in admiration.  Frankly, nothing  bores me more than looking through a collection of photos someone has taken of nature.  My feeling is- that's what postcards are for.  Some professional photographer has been there before me, with a much better camera, a significantly higher skill level and captured the shot.  And I can buy it for a buck twenty-five. So what do I like if I am forced to take a photo without a person in it?  (And people photos are my favorite which is why I would choose Diane Arbus over Ansel Adams any day of the week).  Man-made repetition.

Take this photo of a scrapbook store I visited lately.  I love the aisle of paper.  All the same size, so uniformly lined up.  With only the colors to set each compartment apart, what's not to love?  I like photographing a small part of everyday life that you can't find on a postcard.  Something ordinary but something that deserves a closer look.  A tray of marbles, a shelf of scrapbooking inks, an aisle of colorful paper.   There's something soothing in the repetition.  Andy Warhol so got that.  And thinking that always makes me crave tomato soup...

An Artful Entry

I have a new plan. I will title all of my entries to trick  the editors of Artful Blogger.  When they Google "Artful Blogs" I'm planning on having MY blog pop up about 25 times... if they just look at the photos, I might have a shot.  I'm sunk if they read the content.  I have to give credit to my friend Rebecca and Cheryl though- they suggested that maybe spelling "Somerset" correctly might really help me toward my goal of being in Artful Blogger so I think I'm going to go with that.. no more Sommerset.   Is it my fault spell check isn't hip to the hot magazines?

Okay, so artful photo out of the way, let's discuss last weeks "The Cho Show" shall we?  I know I'm supposed to be a scrapping blogger. I am.  I promise.  If you hate reality shows, good for you.  I aspire to be more high brow, I really do.  So for the more intellectual scrapping crowd, you can check out my online album of my weekend at ScrapFest HERE while I continue.   Okay, those of you who are left (hi Angie!), Oh-Em-Gee.  Seriously, Margaret is totally ripping off Kathy Griffin.  Fine we already agree on that.  But then bringing in take out food for her parents?  Hello "Flipping Out" rip off moment.  The truth is, I liked this last episode.  It was funny but you know what?  I want the whole show to be about her parents and her Little Person assistant- that chick is genuinely funny and really stylish.  I could watch a security tape of them eating cereal and those dresses?  It's better than this season's Project Runway (and yes, I do THINK I'd love Jerrell but really, who knows?  Don't make me tell you my story about Patrick here in town...).

So new goal (attention Oprah Winfrey):  After someone asks me to appear on QVC (last year's unmaterialized goal), and I get a page in "Artful Blogger,"  I'm going to sign up for a stand up comedy workshop.  There I put it out in the universe.  It's gonna happen.  If Margaret Cho can sound that cute in a pop song, I think I can make one row's worth of people laugh.  I'm not inviting my DH.  He won't admit I'm hilarious.