6 Things- Language, Feminism, and Sesame Street

1.Fighting about language- Being reminded how much it matters. Knowing this job came along for a reason, even if there are no kids involved.

2.Feminist Inspiration- both of these come from the often shared buzzfeed list, but I love them. Also, the Diana Vreeland quote anout not owing prettiness to anyone is particularly hard to accept, yet it is so true! I love connecting with this rich population and history of feminists, ebcause I always come out of it fired up and challenged.
3."If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18 This is the verse that is on my mind this week, and I think it ties so well into the theme of stewardship, so I thought I might share. I have been thinking a lot about loving others (especially those in need) with actions and in truth. 

4. Lupita and Elmo on skin- Gah, so so cute. Sesame Street has been killing it with viral videos lately (did you see Janelle Monae's "Yet" video last week?). Sweet and inspirational without laying it on too thick.
5. Children on Kasmir Malevich- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/16/kids-talking-about-art_n_5806614.html- Basically, the cutest thing ever (and what I used to see everyday at work), this video shows the hilarious insights kids can have about art, but also their curiosity and enthusiasm. It has never been more important to encourage children to be critical thinkers, and engagement with art, especially difficult art, facilitates a type of thinking they may not have access to otherwise.
6. Baking blitz- This week is the Boy's fifth anniversary at his job, so tomorrow he is taking 5 different treats with him to work. You know the tricky part of baking multitasking? Everything bakes at different times and temperatures! It turned out to be a night-dominating team effort, but a fun one. Plus, I got to make my Mom's cinnamon rolls, which is the strongest card I have to play as a baker.

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1950s & 1960s wedding dresses - Vintage gets a Pop vibe!

Dear Reader,
After so much slinky glamour, I thought it'd be fun to try a very different look for your vintage wedding dress. Today, let's go POP!

1950s and 1960s wedding dresses can be so flirty and pretty, with a great pop feel. You can play this down, and keep it chic and simple. Or dress them up and really go to town...

And don't just think pastel. 1950s and 1960s wedding dresses are bold enough to carry off a more individual colour palette...

And - like this fun photoshoot for You and Your Wedding - you can be really playful with the accessories...

The dresses featured here are a mix of original 1950s and 1960s vintage, and Stella from my Heavenly Collection of vintage-inspired wedding dresses. If you'd like to see similar dresses, do contact me.

Cute! See you later this week when I'll be sharing pics from a lovely Real Vintage Bride.
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, try
My Guide to 1950s Vintage Wedding Dresses


With thanks to:
Venue: London Docklands Museum
Photography by Modern Vintage Weddings
Flowers by Euphoric Flowers
Hair & make-up by Gemma Sutton
Stationery by Hip Hip Hooray
Cake by SK Cakes
Groomswear by Tweedmans Vintage and Laird London
Hair accessories & jewellery by Olivier Laudus
Shoes by Irregular Choice and Benjamin Adams
Bags by Clementine Weddings
Tableware & furniture by Coordination Hire, LSA International, Northfields
Props by Preppy Owl Boutique, Vowed & Amazed, Planet Sputnik, Bubblegum Balloons

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Today's Inspiration- Gregory Thielker

from artistaday.com

If I could REALLY paint, I think I would want to create work like Gregory Thielker, who paints rain on windows, usually on cars. Yes, this is a painting.  I think this contemporary painter has taken something we all have seen and reminded us of its beauty and strangeness. Plus, they are just really freaking cool.

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3 Things for Yesterday- Ornaments, Eisenstein, and Being Boring

1. Starting Christmas Ornaments- It is weird to be making ornaments in 80 degree weather, but I figure it can't hurt to get some things done early this year. Also, our house is once again taken over by the blanket stitch.
2. Battleship Potemkin- Now that I have FINALLY finished Birth of a Nation, I am going to watch some Eisenstein before I get back to super racist (and narcissist) DW Griffiths and Intolerance. I could even handle it in 30-40 minute increments instead of 10 minute ones!
3. An Incredibly Boring Day- Sometimes, you need one. We got so much done this weekend, and that felt really good. Hopefully, we get our car back today, but I was kind of happy to have an excuse to not go far this weekend.

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Picture of the Week- Tying a Tarp to our Bushes

Perhaps not our most scenic or eventful weekend, but it was productive!

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Today's Inspiration- Beverly Pepper

Beverly Pepper doesn't often garner my attention, but this week I am thinking about green practices and stewardship. We may not think of monumental earth art as stewardship, but I think this work recontextualizes the world around us in a way that encourages reflection of the effect we make.

So, we saw this piece, Ventaglio (1967), by Pepper at the Olympic Sculpture Park last week. It really is beautiful in person, and the reflective surface pulls us into the frame around the natural world. We can't deny our own responsibility and part in this world.  This week I want to think about the way we live our lives like it is part of this sculpture, and we can't avoid our role as part of the frame.

from inspiration.teodorik.com

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Our Steampunk Travel Nursery Inspiration

This weekend our car is in the shop, so we finally had lots of time to put things together and start making the room our futon and printer is in into a nursery. The Boy and I love a project, and I am lucky to have a partner that responds to my crazy ideas with "Ok, how are we going to do this?" We have been buying little things and taking small steps toward getting it done, but now it is time to step up our game and make this thing happen.

I decided early on that I wanted the nursery to have a travel-y theme, because I feel like having adventures is a good (and completely genderless) foot to start on. When I started showing the Boy the things I was thinking about, he really loved the idea of making it steampunk travel, with lots of flying machines and mechanical doo dads. He got so freaking excited about it, and whenever he jumps on an idea like that, I basically go with it, because he mostly just vetoes until we find what we like.

So we had our theme- Steampunker Adventure- and our colors- teal, gold, black, white, and metallic business- way back in May or June, before we knew the gender. We scared people with the theme (if you just google steampunk, you don't find much that is baby-appropriate), but I think they are mostly on board now. As we get closer and closer to meeting our spawn, we have collected a bunch of inspiration and ideas, all of which are on my pinterest.  Here are the ones we love the most:

There are a couple of really cool rooms on pinterest with a travel or a steampunk twist to them: 

from thedecorologist.com

This is a very subdued and chic version of the adventure idea, which is not our style (I will never pull off chic), but I still love some of the ideas.

 

 

from laybabylay.com

Gah, I love everything about this one:

from thehandmadehome.net

from babyology.com.au

This is my favorite room we have found, so it is the closest thing to what we are trying to replicate in our room (though I think ours is pretty different). This one is whiter and lighter than what we are doing, but it inspired me to use white and metallic frames together. I also love that it is for twin girls:

from melodymelikianphotography.blogspot.com

from melodymelikianphotography.blogspot.com

 I also love this shelving, which we haven't figured out yet:

from theminimalistmom.com

 This one is the closest to our colors:

from designdazzle.com

The theme comes with tons of cool art options, but sadly we don't have too much wall, so most of this is just inspiration:

from society6.com

from minted.com

from etsy.com

from relaxdeco.com

I also love this clock, but it is so expensive, and again, no walls here:

from amazon.com

 You can find tons of really cool steampunk stuff on Etsy, though it is a little more challenging to find things that are baby friendly. Plus, you never want to go too crazy, because the baby doesn't care, and the theme will change in a few years (so we have tried to mostly pick things that can transition into other parts of the house or other uses when he wants Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something). But here are some of my favorites:

from etsy.com

from etsy.com

I love that this one is an iron on. Right now, our plan is really plain bedding, so I am thinking one iron on like this might make it pretty special. 

from etsy.com

 We did buy some hot air balloons to hang from the skylight too, but they are in boxes. Sadly, I never found it in this color. I also found black and white ones, which I loved, but they apparently only sell them in Australia. No one needs to spend 50+ bucks just on shipping for a nursery.

from casasugar.com

 The Boy is working on a flying machine mobile, and we couldn't find any too many examples out there, but this is the closest we got to what we are thinking:

from texassteampunks.ning.com

I am still obsessed with this rocking puppy, because I feel like it matches the room and reminds me of Bumbo. I may still go for it for a "Christmas gift" or something.

from rhbabyandchild.com

 What is Done so Far

So, we are 9 weeks out from baby, and we still have a lot to do to pull off all these cool ideas.

My mom came to visit at the beginning of August, and she helped me paint the room "Icy Teal." Then I mixed Icy teal with a couple of the more saturated testers (1 in the background) and painted the inside of the skylight. We are going to hand hot air balloons, our biggest splurge, from the skylight. 

 The Boy's big project has been turning this old steamer trunk into an eventual toy chest.We have to change the hinges so as to not cut off his fingers. Until he is is old enough to get in it, we will use it as a table and storage. The Boy has really transformed it, but I will show it off once he finishes.

 Yesterday, we stepped up our game and really got to work. The Boy painted my dresser a copper metallic color. We bought cool handles on ebay to fit the Steampunk theme, but they aren't here yet, so for now we just put the old ones back in. My plan is to put the changing pad on top of the dresser, so we can give it multiple uses.

 We also put together the crib, which has been sitting in a box in our living room for over a month. I thought putting this thing together was supposed to be a rite of passage, but in comparison to some of the things we put together this year it was easy peasy. None of the furniture is particularly where it is going yet, because I have no idea exactly what that will be anyway. We are also trying to figure out what to do about our router, which also lives in the baby room but probably needs to be out of tiny person reach (eventually).

The rest of the room (including the closet, which I didn't take a picture of), is just a collection of all the stuff that doesn't have a home yet. We have a map of Franklin from Debence, a world map, and some of the decor from our shower to frame and put up as art. We bought a neat surveyor's lamp that still needs a lampshade. I etsy-shopped a bunch of mappy, steampunky pillowcases since we don't have much wall to hang things on.

We still need to figure out storage, but we will either buy something vintage/used/cheap and repaint it, or we will buy some cubbies like I have my art supplies in. We are not planning a big investment here.

The Boy still has to get working on his flying machine mobile, and I am going to make an art piece out of maps and some sort of family pictures wall hanging. Plus we have to put it all together in a way that makes sense, and I still have no idea how we will do that. Luckily, our spawn will be bunking with us for the first 3 months or so, so there is really plenty of time. We are getting there, but once we finish, I will post more pictures.

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