New Items & is Valentine's The Worst?

Valentine's Day is in a couple weeks.. are you ready? I used to love Valentine's Day when I was in elementary school- it was fun getting little anonymous cards and candy in class. Plus my mom always gave us little gifts and made those sugar cookies with frosting that are to die for. I remember when I was about 8 or 9, we sat down to dinner on Valentine's Day and we each had little boxes next to our plates. My mom had given me a little heart pin and my brothers and I also got these little toy frogs that jumped when you squeezed this little pump attached to them. As I entered my teen years, I started disliking it a lot- It seemed so commercialized and mushy. I always cringed at Valentine's Day if I had a boyfriend because the last thing I wanted was a stuffed animal, chocolates, and some roses. As I moved past that awkward phase in my love life,  I appreciated making it a little less mushy and corny as I got older. Making it more classy and just an excuse to give someone you love or care about something that makes them know they are special. Hopefully I've made that possible for you as well. Click here for some fun new items in the store.

Rhye- 3 Days

I wish there were a good video to this song.... in this type of mood today. I love this group.

Beauty Redefined Illoz

More illustrations up on Beauty Redefined- check out more of what they do here.

Faces & Things Milk Jug

New- online!

Personally I don't love milk... but if I had something like this to store it in (rubber cap included) I think I wouldn't mind it so much. You can store OJ, soymilk, any other type of drink in this cute container.

Hand-painted Swan Shoes

I guess since it's January I'm super optimistic for Spring-time. Hand-painted swan vintage heels now for sale here. These lovely yellow heels are perfect to spruce up any outfit that needs a little help- pair with red tights and a blue dress- CUTE! Perfect year-round. I wish they were my size- otherwise I'd be wearing them RIGHT NOW.  Check out more of our new items coming up for Valentine's day next week!

Beauty Redefined: Illustrations

I just finished up a series of illustrations for Beauty Redefined, which was created by these two wonderful women - Lindsay and Lexie Kite. They graduated with their PhD's in the study of media and body image. They have researched how the media directly influences women and the way we think about ourselves and our bodies. Everything they have studied is so fascinating- how women are taught to view themselves as they are being viewed, thus influencing the way they behave because of their fear of looking a certain way, how the media makes women feel low self-esteem, and how to gain back your sense of power, when we are living in a world that is training women to become powerless to their image. Their research covers everything from the sexualizing and objectification of women, to eating disorders, to ways to take back your own individual beauty. It's pretty incredible how they are pinpointing so many issue that are becoming normalized in our society and I'm so inspired by Lindsay and Lexie. For more information, plus a media fast, go here. I'm honored that my illustrations will be up and around their site and blog. 

When I was a little girl, The Nutcracker was the quintessential Christmas story- with it's accompanying classical music and beautiful dancing, it captures the true feeling of this season. I was mesmerized by Clara's adventure. The symphony, written by Tchaikovsky, was adapted from E.T.A. Hoffman's (a German Romantic author of horror and fantasy) story, called The Nutcracker and The Mouse King. It was full of incredible detail and mystery.  Her beloved nutcracker, given to her by her God-father, transforms into a large dancing man, who leads her through his world of danger and intrigue.

Our original inspiration for this shoot was to create some over sized ornaments and props for a dance-inspired theme. We wanted some fun DIY projects combined with an authentic dancer, so Brittany ( of The House that Lars Built) and I searched our ballet connections, and we were pleased that Nicole Choules-Paul was willing to be our chosen dancer.

A former Ballet West dancer, Nicole showed up with a pair of her point shoes (she says she still has about 40 pairs in a closet at home from her dancing days) which she allowed me to paint faces on. She told us she danced The Nutcracker so many times, she lost count. We created large ornaments out of round balloons and silver paper for the tops, I created masks to accentuate the scary element to the ballet (which there already is with it's freaky rats etc.. ) Brittany and I painted the nutcrackers, and finished up the rest of the props just in time for Nicole to begin her magic. Aubrey Nelson was kind enough to do hair and make up, and Nicole was immediately transformed into her beautiful ballerina self- looking not a day shy of having left the stage.

The shoot was incredible with all of these women involved. Nicole looked like she was still dancing hours upon hours every day (this is a woman who is a mother of four children people!) Brittany was wonderful and charming and creative as always, and we helped each other finish up all of the props as Jessica Peterson (of Jessica Peterson Photography) bustled about, with her usual natural finesse and eye for beauty. Aubrey braided and brushed, and sprayed gold onto Nicole's hair, created a doll-like look for our dancer- she has a natural way of approaching each person she beautifies.

The rest is really self-explanatory.

Merry Christmas!

Photos by Jessica Peterson Photography, hair and makeup by Aubrey Nelson, Props and designs by Brittany Watson-Jepsen of The House that Lars Built, and myself, guest ballerina formerly with Ballet West, Nicole Choules-Paul.