And you can be one too! Art House Co-op is now accepting participants for the 2012 Sketchbook Project.
According to their website, “It’s like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks”. How fun is that?! They have a whole list of categories for you to choose from for the theme of your book and then they will send you a sketchbook with a barcode. After you’re done filling it up, you mail it back and it takes a little art show tour around the world. Because it has the barcode, you can track anytime someone checks out your book which is an awesome feature. After the tour, it is then catalogued permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library. Yes please.
There are different rules about how wide your sketchbook can be in the end and other stipulations like that, but for the most part – you can do whatever you want. And for someone like me who doesn’t spend a lot of time drawing, the appeal is in the ability to use other forms of art rather then just sketching.
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My friend, Nick, participated in last year’s project which is currently on tour and you can see some of his pages here. Awesome stuff.
I think a whole group of us is going to participate for 2012 – now the task is to figure out what theme we want for our sketchbooks…care to join?
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Best of Fridays to you loves!
Stormie Dae
The past 2 days have been filled with the glorious sounds of We Are Rising – the second full length album by Son Lux. I’ve been anxiously anticipating it’s release for what feels like years, and I am so happy that it’s finally here and tagging along wherever I go. I first heard about Son Lux (a.k.a Ryan Lott) via Nathan Johnson’s blog last year, and I was instantly intrigued to know more about his creative and unique sound.
The really amazing thing about this album is that it was all recorded in the month of February at the request (or challenge) of NPR’s All Songs Considered (read an interview about the project here). It seems like having such a short time limit would really affect the results of the album in a negative way, but it’s hard to imagine it being any better than it is.
You can listen to a full album teaser with explanations by Ryan here. I love SO much about this album – the sound of his voice, the unique placement of the instruments used (the celesta might be my new favorite sound), and the highs and lows felt through each song. Favorite songs – Rising and Claws….and All the Right Things.
Great music makes my heart happy ♥
Oh! You have to watch this awesome video about the making of the album cover (above) – I’ve watched it several times and now, my daughters come running to watch it with me when they hear the song Rising come on:)
Buy & buy.
Love,
Stephanie May*
Yes this is my kitchen. Yes I am getting a tattoo in my kitchen. Is that not normal?
I decided to give myself a birthday present and have my friend Chris come over to add to my neck tattoo. I had a cross tattooed on the back of my neck about 6 years ago and I always wanted to add something else to it, but hadn’t decided until a few months ago what that would be. So on Saturday afternoon, Chris came and set up his gear and away we went.
I think this tattoo hurt less than both of my other ones…which could be due to the fact that it swelled up like a balloon…which was weird. It was almost like an allergic reaction(which you can faintly see in the below photo). This didn’t happen with either of my other tattoos but it wasn’t that big of a deal, the swelling went down a couple hours later.
The goal was to make my tattoo a little more feminine, and I think my new addition definitely does. I absolutely love it! Now I probably just need to get my faded cross touched up….uhhhhhh, Chris?? ;)
♥ Stormie Dae
It has taken me a long time to grow my hair past my shoulders. I had it short-short for about 8 years, and I really liked it, but wanted a big change. My big change took a few years to achieve because my hair doesn’t grow fast (poo) but I finally got it to my (almost) desired length. Here are a few recent hairstyles that I’ve sported around town:
I wish I could say that I took advantage of my long locks and did really cool, unique hairstyles everyday, but it happens less often than I would like. I hope to do a lot more with my hair over the coming months – don’t you just feel so much more productive when your hair is cute? Here are a few favorite hairstyles for inspiration! Click on the links below the photos to learn how to achieve the look:
Cute maiden braids.
Soft and romantic twists.
Messy waves.
Yarn twist bun.
Lovely side braid.
Messy side pony tail.
Love,
Stephanie May*
Happy Monday dear readers! The birds are singing and today is a beautiful Spring day – or at least it is for us and we hope it is the same for you as well! This year has flown by and we (the sisterly team of MayDae) are still surprised that May 1st is fastly upon us already.
Although it is not our namesake, when we were younger our mom homeschooled us for a few years and during that time, we would participate in the Celtic festivities of celebrating May Day. For us, it consisted of taking the little plastic strawberry baskets – decorating them, filling them with flowers and/or candy and placing them on a neighbors front door – at which point you would knock or ring the bell and run away. This is something we always enjoyed and we wish it was a fun little activity that kids still participated in but it seems to be dwindling more and more in popularity.
In any case, we thought this year we would contribute to keeping the traditions alive by posting our Etsy picks this week to reflect May Day fun. We hope you enjoy them, and happy almost-May to you!
Stephanie May’s Etsy Picks:
(Flower head piece by Which Goose, moss covered bunting from Flora Bond, white month of may necklace from Love Little Darling, green tie by VKnit, bird nest ring from Oliver Wave)
Stormie Dae’s Etsy Picks:
(May flowers vintage dress from Vera Vague, Scandinavian wall hanging from Vakvar, Cake bunting by Vintage Green Limited, Natural vine crown by Which Goose, Vintage berry baskets from Over the Moon Vintage)
Happy Earth Day from me to you! Since it’s earth day, take a peek at my new front porch plants…
I know the rule – don’t plant flowers until after Mother’s Day – but I couldn’t help myself. My porch was looking so bare and lonely, which prompted me to take a little trip with my mom earlier this week to pick out some flowers. Don’t worry, they are all cold weather flowers and they have been doing fantastic with the chilly nights.
I think my favorite part is that I went ahead and planted a few herbs and some lettuce to get my garden going – can’t wait to get out in the backyard and go crazy with vegetables! I found this metal milk crate in South Dakota last Fall and since I moved into the new house, it has been sitting in my living room. Everyday I would wonder what would look best in it…books, toys for the nieces and nephews, records? It came to me all at once when I was talking to my mom about planting some things on the porch. Wouldn’t it look absolutely gorgeous with two potted plants in it?! And I think it most definitely does.
Yummmmm, that cilantro is just begging to be thrown into some rice or a fresh summer salad – I’m drooling just thinking about it.
Stock is now one of my new favorite flowers. They are so hearty and smell absolutely divine, plus they like the cold weather – major plus.
I’ve been keeping the plants up near the house for now because it’s still been really windy and I don’t want them to fall over or get whipped around by the nasty wind since they’re just getting established. When I get some furniture and other things out there, I will figure out better places for them – which I will show you of course.
{Can you tell I have an obsession with photographing my herbs?}
Enjoy Earth Day and this Good Friday!!
Stormie Dae
Annie Leibovitz is an amazing photographer and storyteller. All of her photos and shoots are breath taking and spectacular, but this one is my favorite.
The shoot features model Lily Cole, actor Andrew Garfield, and pop star, Lady Gaga. The middle photo with the cakes is my favorite – SO fantastical and detailed. The story of Hansel and Gretel is a little disturbing though right? I mean first the kid’s father abandons them in the woods (twice), and wasn’t the witch going to eat them? Strange, but in this case, it makes for some ultra-lovely photos:)
What’s your favorite fairy tale and why?
Love,
Stephanie May*
I know what you’re thinking – “You have fun at work?!”….sometimes. Since Friday was my birthday – thank you for all the well wishes by the way, so sweet* – we had a little fun with words instead of working. Well maybe not instead….but along with.
My co-worker and friend, Nick, is the keeper of all fun toys and gadgets to get one through even the most boring of work days. For my birthday, he brought out the magnetic words and off I went. It was a little hard getting any real work done when my mouse was boxed in, but I managed.
I only had time to put together one little sentence and then it was back to the grindstone – and time for cake of course…always time for cake. This is what I came up with:
“Attention inspiration – Below is a confessional. As a vintage apparel junkie with Apple electronic gadgets envy, I love and heart magical music.”
What do you do to keep entertained at work?
Kiss kiss*
Stormie Dae
Tristan and I went bowling last night and it was fun fun fun:) Our 3 kids went to spend time with their Aunt Stormie Dae, and they had lots of fun too. I love nights out with just Tristan and I, because we can spend time just having a good time, and laughing together. Nights like this make me appreciate my husband so much, and the fact that we have been together for over 9 years. I still love him so much, and I hope that we can spend nights like this together for many years to come.
Love,
Stephanie May*
Hip hip hooray for another Monday! Last week was a busy one for us, and we are drinking lots of coffee to try and stay ahead of the game….or at least trail closely behind. We made lots of new listings in our MayDae shop, so head over and take a look – they are pretty cute, and we hope that you like them too!
This week we looked through many many Etsy shops to find some really beautiful items – all in the color of lavender. A special thanks to all of these Etsy sellers, they are pretty amazing. Enjoy!
May’s Etsy Picks:
(floral dress from Closet Case Vintage, vintage crochet and wood shoes from Passion Flower Vintage, lavender lace tea cup by Flower Vintage, “May” photograph by Erin Tyner, lavender dress from Bread and Roses)
Stormie Dae’s Etsy Picks:
(Woven bootie from Gracyani, Millenium Falcon print by Kelly Newcomer, Thread photograph by Amelia Kay Photography, Lavender soap with shea butter by Pink Parchment Soaps, Vintage knit dress from Moxie Apparel)
