little home photo studio

I recently bumbled onto a project I thought would be easy, a project I now realize was an epic undertaking: photographing and putting envelopes in my Etsy shop. The count at this point is 57 envelopes in my shop, and that’s only the first 1/3 approximately. Ay caramba!

This is my “studio” (dining room table), where I set up my “light-box” (a pad of watercolor paper) and an “easel” for the envelope to stand against (a salt shaker we got in NYC on our honeymoon).

The ruler in the foreground not only holds the envelope in place as I photograph, but it’s also meant to give the buyer a sense of the size of each envelope.

You can see all the envelopes I’ve done so far, in my shop. 

Let’s all celebrate embroidery for a moment, shall we?

A little pop of color mid-winter never hurt anybody.

Anthropologie in downtown Seattle, by the way, has a brand-new display in the window that is FABULOUS, a giant painted dropcloth map of downtown Seattle. And inside, giant canvases of indigo. Whoever did the displays, bravo. I asked the lady at Anthro what they’re going to do with it when they’re done with it. She didn’t know.

I like that Anthro supports local artists for their window displays.

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I am really in love with this poster for the hunger games. Very cool.

Rainy skyscrapers

Boutique hotel lobby in ballard

bill murray sings bob dylan’s “shelter from the storm”

I get mesmerized by this video. Maybe it’s the Dylan song I never heard before that kinda makes me want to Commit To Bob Dylan. Or Bill Murray, who continues to be a completely unique person and fascinates me, and also said this amazing quote: “The more relaxed you are, the better you are at everything.” Or maybe it’s the photography, the whole video done in one shot that doesn’t move and captures the beauty of an ignored house.

Julia’s for brunch in wallingford

Sia – Chandelier (Official Video)

I am FASCINATED by this girl’s choreography and her commitment. Also, the costume design is really intelligent. And I really like the song and the lyrics. It’s about the singer’s struggle with childhood alcoholism. Which the girl’s dancing illustrates. Also, the photography is impressive (all one take through different rooms of an abandoned-looking house), the apartment looks real and oddly, darkly beautiful. All of it is oddly, darkly beautiful.

Photo shoot idea: a set or runway set that resembles the house on 40th Street.*

*40th Street: The house I grew up in from the age of maybe 6/7 years old to upperclassman in college. Would make an odd backdrop, as by today’s standards it would have been quite ugly. Originally had brown shag carpet wall to wall, orange terra cotta bricks around the fireplace, wood deck that became a slipping hazard every time it rained. My mom and dad (and then later my mom and stepdad) made a lot of changes to that house for the better. Wisteria on the front patio, exterior paint changed from peach/brown trim to stormy blue (a color I have, coincidentally, been fixated on lately for our home). Two cherry trees planted along the back fence, which, I discovered in senior year of HS, was a lovely place to do homework. Creepy back entrance sealed off and turned into a second bathroom (because why would you build a family home that only has one bathroom?).

Tove Lo – Habits (Stay High) Hippie Sabotage Remix

Oh, this is beautiful. She’s vulnerable but strong, at some sort of crossroads, trying to decide something big, chewing on it and coping with it and making the most of it, wringing the situation for all its fun because otherwise it sucks.