Beautiful Blouse

I am loving this look, as well as all of the lovely blouses I've been seeing lately. I wonder if you have to be the right type of gal to pull this off ? When I try on similar shirts, I automatically feel like this.

(via Alice Point)

that's some nice wedding stationery...

I also contribute to my sister company's blog {inBloom Events + Design is literally run by my sisters!} and last week I shared some wedding invitations that I recently created for my friend and new bride Jessica, who just got hitched on the 21st! Jessica had an art deco theme going on for her wedding, with little birdie touches thrown in {she got married at the old Eglinton Grand theatre in Toronto, and used bird cages of all sizes as her centrepieces}. She chose the very elegant 'parisian wallpaper' invitation, and had it customized in deep red and black with little birdies added in to symbolize the bride and groom.

As mentioned before, and I probably will again, I do love a birdie! A matching program was created too, as well as stickers for her takout boxes {picture pending}...voila! A set of wedding stationery as lovely as the bride herself.

paper lanterns

Paper lanterns have been popular in wedding decor for the past few years. But I am still a huge fan - what a simple {and cheap!} way to infuse colour and a feeling of celebration into a decor scheme. Check out these pics {from Martha Stewart, Home Companion magazine, Rebecca Thuss} and you'll see what I mean! Paper lanterns can easily be found in many markets in Chinatown, or online at Pearl River.

Thrifted books (and fabric)

Since we were already downtown on Saturday, I convinced D to stop in at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. It's enormous, hot, poorly lit, and completely disorganized. To most people, this probably sounds like a nightmare, but I see it as a challenge.

And I scored! I picked up several sweet vintage sheets. Sheets are an amazing way to get tons of fabric for very little money per yard, if you check the labels to make sure you're getting 100% cotton, and keep your eye out for sheets that don't look too sheet-y, if that makes sense. For some reason, many sheets are instantly identifiable as sheets, even when the fabric is cut up. It takes some effort to look for good colors in high quality fabric so that you avoid this problem.

Actually, one of these is a table cloth, but whatever. Sorry for the poor lighting. I swear the colors are cuter in the light of day.

I fell in love with this print, and in person, the colors are a great range of greens on white cloth.

But I really made out in the book section. $2.10 for each hardback, and despite somewhat limited patience, I managed to dig out three books I'm very glad to add to my library.

I grew up with the Jane Brody cookbook, and I love it. The subtitle is Living the High Carbohydrate Way, which thrills me. Of course, she really means veggies and whole grains, rather than say, Twinkies. The Silver Palate Cookbook looks great too, but I'm really excited about the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. This little gem has incredibly detailed descriptions of basically every sewing technique you can imagine, perfect for a novice like me.

You can get the new version on Amazon, but the cover isn't nearly as cute. And it probably doesn't have this amazingness...

Seriously, how cool is this lady? I heart the bag, the outfit, the massive sunglasses. I wish the scan quality was better so you could see all the detail.

And this really made my day. It's just a little skirt for wearing to the beach, right?

Wrong. It's also a makeshift tent for changing out of your swimsuit.

According to the book: Worn as a skirt over a swim suit, the coverup will take you in style to snack stand or parking lot. Take cover under the cape for protection against sun or breezes. In a pinch, under its generous width, you could even change from wet suit to dry clothes!

Amazing. Please note that the "cape" does not have slits for your arms, so you would have to walk around like a mummy.

It looks like there are copies of the old version up on Ebay. I can already tell it's going to be a mine of information as I do more and more sewing.

Marcus Walters

Marcus Walters' work is very hip. Check it.

SwissMiss

I am completely gaga over the minimalist look of Swiss Miss aka Tina Roth Eisenberg's home tour at Design*Sponge today. See more here.

Financial Attitude

I wrote this crazy long post about finances and how it is important to have financial goals etc... especially during this shaky time (probably brought on by our bank failing -- largest in history -- luckily bought out by another big bank ... and today was the largest single drop in the market ever). After re-reading my lengthy post, I thought it may be a little out of place from my other posts here. You come here to see pretty.... right??

Yet, I still wanted to share this quote by Charles Swindoll that has helped me expunge some financial fears and doubts.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think of, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church.... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you..we are in charge of our Attitudes."

What are your thoughts about what is going on??

(images from this flickr pool)

my crush

Is it possible to have a wee crush on a serial killer? Maybe this one! I'm not a huge tv person, but when there is a show I like, I get a bit obsessed with it. Dexter is one of my favourite shows ever and the third season premiered last night. I missed it, as I was at the Janet Jackson concert {thanks to free tickets from my hubby and his cool job} but I can't wait to dive into this season of clever twists and blood spatters...!

Random food review - Whole Kitchen Pad Thai

Here is what happens when you enjoy an incredibly long afternoon at a winery instead of actually making dinner on Sunday night as usual:
1. You get in approximately four hours of wine and cheese fueled girl gossip
2. You tipsily buy several bottles of moderately expensive wine to take home
3. You don't have leftovers to take to work and you're forced to rely on frozen meals instead

And sometimes....

4. You luck out and the frozen meal you randomly pick out is AWESOME.

I'm currently eating the Whole Kitchen (Whole Foods brand) frozen Pad Thai meal. It is a bit spicy, totally delicious, it's vegan (and healthy - 340 calories for a big portion) and it only cost $3.99.

Take that, overpriced fast food options! I have a new back up meal.

good imPRessions

Last year I created a logo {a funky 'inked' stamp motif}, business card, and stationery design for Alison Burke of the the Public Relations firm, Impressions PR. Alison just got her business cards printed on a thick white matte cardstock and they look amazing! It is really one of my favourite things to see how my onscreen designs translate onto paper, as I am a self-proclaimed paper nerd. I really love the vibrancy of the blue on the reverse side, and how the 'pr' is drawn out of the word 'impressions'. This card is a looker...

So with her branding done, Alison and I set out to create a simple but informative website that matched the Impressions PR brand. Alison wanted a very stark, professional look {we used a simple, striking palette of black, white, and blue} but with some quirkiness {in the form of vintage black and white photographs} - and a beautiful site was born! Check out the recently launched website, www.impressionspr.ca - this is one of my new faves!

By the way, if you are in the market for PR, Alison is your gal! I worked with her on a PR campaign last fall and she was able to get our enviro holiday cards into many magazines across the country. She comes highly recommended and yes, does create some pretty darn great impressions.

Wreckage and wine

Busy weekend here. Saturday D and I paid a trip to an architectural salvage yard. It's the same one featured on Top Design a few weeks ago. We didn't get anything, but we had lots of fun poking around.

Lots of old windows and doors.

I coveted these mailboxes, but the thought of having to get a locksmith to open each one was too much.

Sunday I slept in a bit and enjoyed some morning tea.



Followed by a very leisurely afternoon at Saddlerock winery with a couple of girlfriends, tasting the new wines, eating cheese and baguette and catching up. The weather cooperated and it was absolutely gorgeous.



Lovely.

Amy Atlas

Event planning at its finest, Amy Atlas has all the good stuff going on. Wow.. stop by her website and see her amazing inspiration eye candy. Be prepared to squeal with glee. (photos by Gemma Comas)

(She has gotten lots of buzz, here are some of the places I've seen her mentioned: Oh Happy Day, Oh Joy, Simple Lovely, Brooklyn Bride, Once Wed, Kids & Cocktails and other great sites.)

pink ribbons

I'm proud to say that inBloom Studio's 'Pink Ribbon' cards have been featured in the October 2008 issue of Style at Home magazine! Inspired by my mom, these purty little notecards work well as 'hellos' or 'thank yous'. I've even had someone order them as invitations for her mother's celebratory end-of-breast-cancer-treatment tea party! 10% of the sale of these cards is donated to Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada. Drop me a line if you are interested in purchasing them, or else take a peek at them in my Etsy store.

Button Giveaway -- by Guest Erin Jang

Oh my goodness... it has been a week full of creative abundance here at Black*Eiffel, thanks to Erin Jang's posts. From your comments, you all loved her too! Thank you Erin for sharing your über-talented ways and letting us glimpse into your creative world. I am inspired to be a better designer and productive creative person after reading your posts! I will definitely be frequenting Erin's blog often. She is also kind enough to offer a button giveaway as well, thanks Erin!

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Thank you for reading my posts this past week. I really enjoyed sharing a bit of my work and my favorite things with you, and reading your comments. Rachel, thank you for inviting me to show and tell here; I love this blog.

I'd like to end this week by giving away 10 custom-designed buttons to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment on this post by next Friday, October 3rd to be entered in a drawing to win. The buttons are about an inch wide. Each one will have a different design and I'll make them unique to you!

Thanks again friends for reading, I had a lovely time. Please visit me at my site, theindigobunting.blogspot.com -- I'd love for you to share your thoughts there as well.

*Please enter only once, and no anonymous entries will be counted.

Spain...on the Road Again

Remember this post? Did you watch the first episode of Spain... On the Road Again ? How did you like it? In case you missed it like I did, you can download it from itunes for free. Mine is currently downloading. After you see it tell me what you think.

howdy

A brand new shiny blog! I have coveted many blogs in the past few years, and I'm so happy to be stepping into the network of fellow designers and artists out there. Stay posted for inBloom updates, objects of inspiration, and things that are just pretty cool...
I will be back soon but I'll leave you with this wonderfully quirky image from a past Anthropologie catalogue. A sucker for anything green, I just loved this funky chair, especially contrasted against the black and white newspaper collage. Word on the street is that Anthropologie will soon be opening a store in Toronto...yippee! The store has not only the loveliest products, but the displays are spectacular. On a trip to NYC a few years ago, I stepped into the Anthro store at Rockefeller Plaza and just gaped for a good twenty minutes, unable to comprehend it all. I'm counting down the days.

The List -- by guest Erin Jang

20 things I am loving at the moment.*

1. Shirts from Print Liberation. Check out their store. The Palin shirt is terribly funny.
2. Fleet Foxes.They have beards, they are from Seattle, and they can sing.
3. If someone has an extra $495, please buy me this vintage Royal turquoise typewriter
4. Die-cut stencil card from Mary & Matt.
5. My nephew's drawings. He's in "The Blue Period".
6. I'm not a big handbag girl. But I love some of the purses and wallets at Hobo
7. Traveling with my husband. This is Patagonia. You must go here at least once before you die.
8. This Blue Note record cover. Who says exclamation points should be used sparingly?
9. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I love her recipes. I love her. She is the only person on the Food Network I don't find annoying.
10. My favorite Charlie Chaplin film.
11. Cat Power live.
12. This greeting card.
13. Be careful not to overdose on visual inspiration at this site.
14. My friend's photos of the NY subway.
15. The Modern List.
16. This book.
17. Mural at Coney Island.
18. Steve Powers
19. This album. They recorded at Jobim's house. If you listen closely, you can hear the birds chirping outside the window during some of the songs.
20. City Bakery's pretzel croissant.

*This is not a comprehensive list.

Etsy fun

Sometimes I just do totally random searches on Etsy. Today, I was thinking about squirrels, for no real reason whatsoever (I don't even really like squirrels, and D and I argue about it because he thinks they are adorable, or whatever the male word for adorable is, and I think they're a little scary). Anyways, I searched "squirrel" on Etsy and came up with this...

The prints are by Etsy seller berkleyillustrations and I just can't get over them. They are simultaneously hilarious and slightly scary and also perfect.

Check out the great white in a suit.


And how quizzical does this rabbit look?

I don't know why, but these have totally made my Friday. I wish I had a crazy gallery wall where something like this would just blend in and then jump out at you when you went to take a closer look. Although I'm not sure I could face down these stares on a daily basis.

Hope everyone has a cheerful weekend!

Tec Petaja

Tec Petaja takes top-notch dreamy sophisticated wedding photographs. His portfolio is full of beautiful shots like the ones above. (via Once Wed)

Gateway Arts -- by guest Erin Jang

When I lived in Boston, I volunteered in the art studio of a little non-profit called Gateway Arts. It's a remarkable space where those with disabilities can come to learn how to express themselves through art, and create and sell their work. They have a gallery and store where the artwork is exhibited, and a studio where volunteers help teach painting, printmaking, weaving, and sculpture. Check out their online store here. The profits of what you buy go to the artist. My favorite cards in the shop are the ones above, "Trees" by Christina Taylor, and "Yes" by Yasmin Arshad.

wedding face

Has anyone else noticed that wedding make-up and hair is often really old-fashioned and boring? Just because you're getting married doesn't mean that you shouldn't look like the rock star you are and throw all style consciousness out the window. It always looks so matronly and unnatural - like an older aunt who isn't up on the latest fashion trends. And the hair...its almost unspeakable sometimes. You spend a year painstakingly growing out your gorgeous hair only to have it curled, sprayed and pinned in ringlety curls Gone with the Wind style! So I'm on a quest to find natural and young looking pictures with wedding faces that glow! After all, getting married doesn't mean your whole style has to be gone with the wind. Here is what I've found so far.

I'm liking Hillary Duff's style. I'm feeling pretty partial to one or the other of these pics right now. Her make-up in the first one is young and fresh looking and not too much for a wedding face. I really like her hair in both pictures. Maybe the top one can be for my practice wedding and the long, beachy waves can be for my beach wedding! Now to decide on the colour...hmmm...

This pic of Mischa Barton is stunning. I love the glowiness of her face here. She looks so ethereal. And her up-do is pretty great too. Because there are no ringlety curls!

Natalie Portman is a great one to channel if you are still angling after that classic look. She does it really well. Somehow she manages to keep herself looking young and fashionable while every inch a hollywood leading lady. Of course it helps to have her cheekbones..eyes...mouth...teensy tinsy nose...

I found this hair and make-up combo in the InStyle Wedding Fall 2008 issue. I'm intrigued by the possiblity of having a beachy, casual up-do for the ceremony and letting your hairs loose for the party! Its like a bridal mullet....business up front and party in the back....the best of both worlds! Now that I've compared it to a mullet I have a feeling no one is going to want to choose it. I'm terribly sorry... I just couldn't resist. But her make-up is very nice as well. And has anyone else noticed the braided hair trend happening on The HIlls this season?!