How To Do Scherenschnitte

Cute instructional video! I just might try this scherenschnitte.

IT'S A FIX!!

Saleisha has not only attended Tyra training camp, but she's also been booked as a model for Tyra on her talk show AND on a previous ANTM cycle! What happened to full disclosure?! If this kewpie doll takes it, I'm gonna bitch so hard (but I'll still watch the show again).



And my full disclosure: I am firmly rooting for Bianca all the way!!

Jezebel link

more like a home

I think Regina likes it.


Please ignore all the junk. I'm still working on storage and organization issues. But I'm pretty sure it's always going to be cluttered. That's how I like it!

This is the living room with my new daybed set up. I didn't think I was going to like it as much as I do. It's amazing what some elevation will do to a plain old mattress.


This is the corner of the living room. I'm not really sure how it's going to turn out in the long run. I always thought I'd hang that mirror somewhere else, like my bedroom or above a sofa (one day!). But It's kind of nice there -- it's what you see when you walk in the front door and look down the hall. And the chest is a good spot to showcase my little buddies.



I debated about putting the rug down because the floors are so nice, but I think it softens the room a bit and defines the sitting space. And I think Gina loves rolling around on it.


This kitchen was a lot messier than the living room, so I'm only showing this one picture. I now have a breakfast nook! The shelves separate the table from the stove, and it'll give me a place to store dishes and knick-knacks I forgot I had. Opening the boxes I brought back from my mom's attic has been like Christmas and a time capsule rolled into one.


The changes in the bathroom may seem less dramatic, but I'm proud of them the most. There was a lot of drilling and hammering involved! I took down the raggedy old medicine cabinet that came with the apartment, and replaced it with a thrift store mirror ($5) and an Ikea cabinet that I bought...at a thrift store! So now the mirror is more at my eye level, and I have tons more accessible storage. The elephant picture is from a Birmingham friend and the berry branch was stolen from my neighbor's yard.

dolly + amy = a new life philosophy

i.e. goofing off and being sweet. I'm going to try it.

truth in advertising

Probably a fake, but at least this AA billboard is honest about what they're selling.

to the matresses

I love Apartment Therapy's house tours for inspirational nuggets like nailing matress srpings to your wall. The shadows are beautiful.

I don't have the wall space to do the same in my apartment, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for something like it on a smaller scale. Maybe a piece of a fence.

why kids shows are the best shows

Cornelius on Yo Gabba Gabba (click picture for video link):


Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street:

golden gingerbread girls

just made me think of y'all..

i am going to make this, yes i am

This originally appeared as part of a todd oldham desgin somewhere...in any case I am hoping it will soon appear as an stool in my sewing nook. Anybody got a log and an electric knife?

romo mating call

Fun with Photoshop

Most of my tricks for vintage-y photos in Photoshop are under Image, Adjustments. There are the standards like Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation, but I prefer:

• Curves (my absolute favourite) - remember to switch up the Channels (between RGB, Red, Green, and Blue)
• Colour Balance is another fun tool - play with the shadows, midtones and highlights to give the photo more depth
• Photofilter - Warm it up! Cool it down! Comme tu veux!
• Under Filters - You can really get lost with all the choices. I tend to stick with Noise (for graininess), Blur (soft & pretty), or Sharpen (fierce!).
  

I love Photoshop, but when I want to do stuff quickly I use Picasa. It's especially handy when you have 200 vacation photos and you want to prettify everything so you can show off to coworkers on your first day back. The tools are really dummy-proof. Everything you need to make old time-y photos is under Tuning. Plus some of the filters give a nice touch (Warmify, Soft Focus, and Glow). Oh, and it's free.

hopping for happy accidents

So much good stuff on that blog. Here's what caught my eye today:

fur ear muffs by Tanya Hegan (which I'm pretty sure are made from "reclaimed" fur)


home inspiration from and instense domestic envy for flickr user twincat


tokyo polaroids

(ps - how similar are some of nori's photos to some of amf's?!)

hairball!

This is disgusting, but I'm compelled to share..

It is a hairball, but can you guess from whence it came?

Gigolo Gigolo Gigolo

Les roses fanées - Serge, Jane and Jacques

this reminds me of work somehow

more go-go

Francoise Hardy with Jacques Dutronc:



Jacques Dutronc just owning it all by himself:

Happy Thanksgiving Day Susie!!!

Ma Favourite

Marianne Faithfull - Hier Ou Demain

This was filmed a few years before her drug-induced coma. She later said in an interview that she couldn't speak a lick of French after her OD. Anyway, I think she's a fascinating woman.

yé yé goldmine

swinging mademoiselle compilation of French pop girl groups is posted for sharing on spiked candy in it's entirety!!! excuse me now i must dance with the pets.

skinny legs and all / joe tex

I love anything that advocates meaty gams.

Hard Knock Lives

a presidential primer

This will help put the U.S presidential candidates into perspective for all you Canadians and apathetic Americans out there:

Rudolph Giuliani/Nas -


Barack Obama/Lupe Fiasco -


Hillary Clinton/Jay-Z -


John McCain/50 Cent -


and all the rest!

(big ups to civ for the link.)

graphical hip-hop

for the giggles:

nice pad

i'm special

prime real estate

Pokhara, Nepal


Finistere, France


New Guinea


south coast of Iceland


Dokdo Islands, South Korea


Quebec, Canada


see more here.

what time is it?

Time for me to show you the present you gave me in action!

R. Kelly: King of Comedy

This gem is but the first chapter of R. Kelly's staggeringly bad rap opera, featuring none other than R. Kelly as the lead and doing every character's voice. About four minutes is enough to give you a sense of what's at stake, here. I think that there are like twenty chapters or something, so this bitch must weigh in at a soul-deadening three or so hours. Yikes.

on my mind

a different view

it's not all piss and vinegar in there>>>

a peek into sue's head

I have a lot of anger.

fun new game: this is my brain right now

the inside of my brain

is kind of like this:

baithe hain kya

comedy triumvirate

I don't know which one of them I love more:


Watch episodes here.

dance parties

Bye-Bye Birdie was one of my favorite movies growing up, and em's dancer in the gold dress reminded me of Ann-Margaret and this seqence. The ass-shaking isn't near as fierce as it is in the bollywood clip, but there's some similarities I think, especially with the sleazy singer in white. Also, dancing to make your boyfriend jealous is a tactic I can get behind.

The video's crap quality, but you get the idea:


I found this other Ann-Margaret clip from a different movie where it looks like her character is a studious tights-wearing co-ed who boogies from room to room. It's titilating (or trying to be), pointless, and ridiculous, so enjoy!

earning my keep

voilà emma-lee!

Welcome Emmers!

We have a new cake! And her name is Emma-lee. Maybe we can get some blogging out of her, if not, undoubtedy, some finely-tuned and delightfully-sassy commenting.

houseguest!

the best shirt

Drew Barrymore is playing young Edie Beale in the movie based on the movie (I know). I'm not quite convinced that the performance will be good, but the wardrobe looks like it's going to rule.

haute chocolate

I have an inside connection at this chocolate company so some of you may be getting a litttle delectible morsel at christmas this year. There are tons of options, but there's one thing that stands above the rest as far as my cakes are concerned: Mo's Bacon Bar. Look at this picture they use to showcase the ingredients (milk chocolate, applesmoked bacon, and wood smoked salt):

I love that the bacon's all shriveled up on one end. It looks crunchy, meaty, and perfect. But! I'm not going to eat it. I'm staying veggie in consumption on this one, but I just may have to buy one for you guys and enjoy it vicariously. Do you think you can do me this one favor?

good for the soul

The Staples Singers always make me feel better.

"Respect Yourself" from the movie WATTSTAX:


"Are You Sure" from the Soul to Soul Concert in Ghana:


"The Weight" sung with The Band in The Last Waltz:


Also, Mavis Staples may be one of the most beautiful women ever.

The Flirtations: Nothing but a Heartache

"Nothing by a Heartache by the Flirtations is one of the songs on Emily's northern soul mix, and it's been in heavy rotation on my internal soundtrack all weekend. So imagine my delight when I found not only this suprisingly good quality video on you tube (click on picture to play):


but! the fact that the setting is in some kind of ruins is coincidental, awesome, and perfect. Next time we go to Uxmal or any other Mayan site, we sould remember to bring our orange flares so we can react scenes like this:

and this!


Imagine the applause we'd get for that!!

ps - the sun spots/vag shots at the end are the best---

oh, how they take me back!