Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Etsy Spotlight!




Stephanie Teague
from Greensboro, North Carolina is the masterful, steady hand that stitches these beautiful summer dresses. All of these are 15% off, so visit her store and buy them for me. This girl is *going* places. The one at the bottom is my favorite! It's what Cinderella would wear, pre-liberation, were she allowed to sip on appletinis or champagne daquiris at biergartens beneath the stars on summer evenings.

Random Inspirations

All of these are from my computer's photos file, without a niche to include them with the other children. ? They are pretty unique, and pretty damned inspiring, if you ask me. The one above is an installation by Kristen Hassenfield called "Dans La Lune". Below is a photo that was sitting on my computer for longer than most things do, just because it's so intriguing to know that this place exists. It's in Japan and it's a Ghost Town of an amusement park. I wonder if the park sucked or if the rides were dangerous... Or...
By Edward Duarte, I imagine this to be the inside of the Ark, were Noah an enterprising metrosexual carpenter in the 21st century.
VW buses were made to become driving funky artmobiles.
This is what the Stairway to Heaven looks like. I never knew heaven was a treehouse.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

I Don't (Wanna) Believe It!

Hi, again! Sorry for having taken so long to update. Strep throat put my holiday cheer & blogging energy (imagine!) asunder, allowing me to do nothing but watch Old School Sesame Street and Baby Einstein videos. Mostly with the baby around. On the sunny side of it, I am learning sign language and french and spanish (well, the basics anyhow). Its much easier to do with patient children's programming and bright blue otters, as opposed to translating "Esteban and I need directions to the library".

During my unwilling, lonely ciesta, I was inspired by Cinderella - yes, really! Did you realize how many canopies belong to the evildoers of this Disney pic? Truly, the wicked stepmother, her cat and her two daughters all had canopies! I couldn't find any screenshots of this, but I did find other kids' rooms inspired by Cinderella. The only thing I resent is that they weren't around when I was a kid.
Hi, again! Sorry for having taken so long to update. Strep throat put my holiday cheer & blogging energy (imagine!) asunder, allowing me to do nothing but watch Old School Sesame Street and Baby Einstein videos. Mostly with the baby around. On the sunny side of it, I am learning sign language and french and spanish (well, the basics anyhow). Its much easier to do with patient children's programming and bright blue otters, as opposed to translating "Esteban and I need directions to the library".

During my unwilling, lonely ciesta, I was inspired by Cinderella - yes, really! Did you realize how many canopies belong to the evildoers of this Disney pic? Truly, the wicked stepmother, her cat and her two daughters all had canopies! I couldn't find any screenshots of this, but I did find other kids' rooms inspired by Cinderella. The only thing I resent is that they weren't around when I was a kid.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Is This Still a Design Blog?






I know, I know! This is really *supposed* to be a design blog, but it's turning into an endearing sort of dump... a netfill? No, not that kind of thing. No Cialis commercials here. I'm ADD and since this is my blog after all, I'll tell you all about the most charming and personal jewelry line I stumbled upon after just posting the last one.



BonBonOiseau is a place I would shop if I were a celebrity and could spend a couple hundred bucks on earrings. Forget Harry Winston. Forget Tiffany's. Everybody and their mama "borrows" their stuff for the Oscars and blah... how can diamonds be so interesting time after time?

Really, though, diamonds' "classic" status can only go so far. Do you have to look classic everyday? Go get a personality, diamond! These pieces are so humble, charming, and intrinsic, though, you just kinda have to adore them. Little things.

Flags and Ticker and Streamer, oh my!

I want to ticker tape my life like a Mexican Kids' Catholic Chapel. Oh, I can? Thanks to this lovely soul, every day could be like winning some strange hippie derby where all the proceeds are donated to Richard Gere's Tibetan Freedom cause. Speaking of which, I haven't gotten a letter from Mr. Gere in a while, nor His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They used to send me mini prayer flags. They're hanging up in my daughter's room right now. But that's for another day.



I thought about hanging Christmas cards this way - maybe next year. How hard can it be?

Creative Cakes

All of these are edible wedding cakes from Let Them Eat Cake - it's amazing how some people manipulate gravity, isn't it? They're not my dream wedding cakes, rest assured, but they're remarkably creative. This one at the top is probably my favorite of the group - very surrealistic looking. Part cake, part papercraft, part .. light? I'm like a moth to it.


It'd be adorable if a couple wrote their vows on their cake. Aww.
While I'm in the cakebaking subject, I can't help but bring up CAKEWRECKS! Yay, inappropriate and abused sugars for all ages to clean their teeth of! Here is a timely sample of the cakes you'll find there (and yes, Santa bleeds sprinkles!)

Friday, December 12, 2008

I Heart Misha Lulu

The hippie in me says, "OH! How bitchin' is this tunic?!". The parent in me says, "I must have it. For my daughter."

What does it bring to mind? If you didn't say the Von Trapp Family's playclothing made of vintage curtain fabric mixed with rural European or Russian thriftcraft, well, I just don't know how you expect to agree with any of this.

But really, isn't this line a refreshing change from the glittery, snotty styles sold in major stores? I'm so tired of seeing nine year old girls wearing hot pink sequins that spell out "Flirt". How can anyone send Sunshine off to Brownies with tight yoga pants that say "whatever!" on the ass? How has this become the status quo?

I'm no Amish, I'm no Mormon, and I never fell for "modest is the hottest". Please. I like wearing backless tank tops that tie up with arm warmers. That's just who I am (especially when plaid pants are involved). When I go to the bar in the summer, my mother would be embarassed for me in a way that I would feel was unnecessary.

My daughter, who isn't allowed to date until she's retired, doesn't need to get her clothes to do her cute-ifying for her. She is all the cute in the world there ever was. The girl could break hearts wearing a glad sack one day. That won't be necessary, though, because small businesses still exist. Mom and Pop shops are very much alive online; I'm so thankful for the quality clothes from Misha Lulu and others like them because they take us back to a fundamental idea of clothing.

Cookie Baking Optional

How boring would is this CB2 dining room? Not nearly as boring as it would be without the ornamented tree branch suspended directly above it. Just imagine - can a mind in this digital age comprehend such a bland space?

Adding touches of nature to make a big or small aesthetic statement never goes out of style! I'm a treehugger, as you'll come to find out, and as I'm decorating my living room - ahem - infusing and invigorating the decor of my living room, there's nothing I want more than a wise old tree-of-life strung up from the corner above my couch. It's so true - if I didn't have a baby to mind every minute of the daylight, I'd have found ticks in my hair by now.

Wow, I'm really kicking things off nice and classy...

Anyway. Doesn't sound appealing to you? Hmm? I dare you to do a quick flip through of a CB2 or hell, even Pottery Barn catalog. Well, did you? Go ahead. Done yet? Okay, now tell me which pages jumped out at you. It's my own philosophy that over half of the eye-popping photographers know how to work this nature angle against your better judgement. We'll see.

The best thing about decorating with nature is how affordable it is. Unless you live in a metropolitan area and would probably get fined for picking a flower in a city park, it's easy to take the branches that you pull away to mow the grass and boost the euphoria of your indoor atmosphere.

*Swoon* They're swoopy, lazy, cozy, but elegant creatures, trees. They really elevate the ambiance with such quiet and sincere aplomb.

(Coco Chanel knew what was up!)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Babywit.com


The functional eye-candy from BabyWit will make you wish you were a) as rich as Lilly Pulitzer without the horror of being Lilly Pulitzer or b) adopted by Daddy Warbucks and c) could be a stay-at-home, play-at-home mom. Who doesn't want this dollhouse? Something is wrong with you, ma'am, if this doesn't make you long to be a giggly, french-braided seven year old again. Very wrong.

You can't quite make it out, but this adorable unisex onesie says "I'll save the world someday". No pressure! For now, it's totally fine that you can't figure out how to open your hand to eat the cheerio locked inside your fist. One day that fist will lead the revolution!
Si, se puede!

This lovely dress, envied by every fairy without a checking account, is called the "hormiga" dress and is $78.
*sigh*

Stay Awhile

Congratulations, me! My very first post on this dreamscape-to-be! Hopefully, this little corner will become my gushing outlet of all the beautiful things I see and feel the need to keep or share somehow. If you're here, I think you know what I mean.

I also want to publish some of my frugal and sheerly mad designing ideas without the authority to do so. Don't you just love the internet sometimes? If its no longer 2008, but way, way in the distant future and you're here to see where it all started - to the left - THAT is the reason behind the Raezin.

I've found that in becoming a mother, which isn't as dull as the childless or mothers with ugly babies would have you think, I've come to understand why it's important to appreciate beauty in all forms: simplicity, bizarre, exotic, and etc. Take for instance the first time I heard my daughter say "mama": she had a miserable cold at the time and I felt like a walking snot rag, she vomits immediately afterward, but I couldn't really focus on anything but those two syllables: ma ma.

If you can't appreciate beauty in life, why exist? Where is the goodness?
Tomorrow I'll really get this at full speed ahead. *Curtsy, y'all*