28.4.08

~ Lil' Castaway ~




My two new pieces for this week are part of the Lil' Castaway collection. The tunic is a one-of-a-kind piece made from a vintage remnant. It looks so cute on Devon that I might just have to keep it. The sunhat pulls it all together and goes with anything and everything (now if she'll just keep it on her head)


I've been working on a "Grims fairy tale" style childrens book about Devon Rose. The Castaway Shores is one of the many places inside the Enchanted Forest that Devon lives in. It will be something fun to let the baby and child clothing line be inspired by each season and maybe Devon can read it to her children one day.

25.4.08

~ Now and Then ~





Last night I finished up a custom order of the "Mini Prairie Dress" (top pic) It was recreated in the cotton fabric from the "Peppermint Chemise" listing in my Etsy.






These same "hot pink" poplin and "mint stripe"cotton lawn fabrics have been stored on my shelves since 2002. I first purchased them for my "Minette" label (middle pic) "Minette" (French for "trendy young thing") was my answer to my life long struggle between wanting to design something "cute" and "girly" and then turning around and creating something "sporty" and "sexy" for my BRICK line (bottom pic) that I founded in 1997 and ended in 2003 (although I still do "one-of-a-kind" pieces for both labels when inspiration strikes)


Doing "Devon Rose" reminds me of the "Minette" customer and completely satiates my hunger for the "cute". I absolutely love making these teeny-tiny samples! But what about "sporty" and "sexy"? I'll have to lose that last 15 pounds super quick so I can save those designs for myself (hey, I need clothes too)

24.4.08

~ City Of Love ~







Isaac's sister, Rachel certainly knows how to have the "picture perfect" wedding of all weddings, the fairytale "every girls dream come true" in the place most famous for falling in love (and my favorite place on earth) PARIS!!!


Her dress reminded me of 50"s style glamour. The silhouette, a classic "sheath" style bodice that is nipped tight at the waist with a corset detail up the back and then spilling into a dramatic and voluminous skirt complete with a huge and wonderful bustle! And to top it all off, the dress (from an atelier in Germany) is a deep and beautiful shade of red in gorgeous silk taffeta. The shoes..Louboutin, of course! So, to complete her wedding gowns dramatic look, she asked me to create a hat and jacket (from the extra fabric she had luckily been given when she purchased the dress)



The hat was cake, the jacket was another matter....but it all came together beautifully in the end.



Ahhh Paris! (and her ceremony was even on a yacht, drifting in The Seine River, as they danced in the sunset) Can you believe it? Too Perfect :)

21.4.08

~ Petalouda ~





What a cute boutique! Even the avatar is adorable. Devon and I are in love with these silhouettes; peter pan collared polos with hand stitched whales, ruffle front zip-up "bomber" style jackets (the ruffles make it feminine, the cut and collar make it forward) and baby doll tees with hand stitched "Akward Owls" are too cute for words! All this with fast shipment and superb sewing to boot!


Devon wears her ruffle front jacket with "Snuggly bunny" You can check out this piece with an ice skating bear by clicking this link:




We love Petalouda and we know you will too!


20.4.08

~ Alchemy is Awesome ~



Recently, I tried out Alchemy on Etsy in order to have a "one-of-a-kind" gift created for my beautiful niece, Madolyn and her amazing champion pug, Ziggy!

It was awesome! I got tons of bids and therefore was introduced to several new Etsy boutiques; Artisans that make custom felted dolls of your pet, paint gorgeous pet portraits, handcraft beautiful jewelry, create yummy treats for your best buddy and the cutest doggie gear I've ever seen!

But the most unique bid was from EggSchells in Sacramento,CA


Kathrina creates intricately beautiful custom eggs. She uses real duck, goose, and even ostrich eggs, the result is an heirloom quality treasure! Please click on the link below to view her fine attention to detail in this lovely jewelry box egg.

19.4.08

~ My Little Indian ~



I 've made a promise to myself to make at least two new items per week for our Etsy boutique. This week I created a "Mini Prairie Dress" it's perfect with our "Mini Moccasins"! I even made Devon a mini headband to complete her look. (I really couldn't believe she even allowed me to keep that on her for the entire photo shoot!) I also made some "Fairy Folklore" baby shoes. These are "one-of-a-kind" little booties that I made as a baby shower gift. So unfortunately you won't see these on Etsy.


This also means that there will be a photoshoot with Devon at least once a week! (which, I have to say, has always been my favorite part.) I know that she LOVES it! Every time I take out the camera, she starts hammin' it up like crazy! Please check out our "Mini Prairie Dress" listing @

http://www.devonrose.etsy.com/

and see her INDIAN WAR CRY!!!
Love it :)

18.4.08

~ I still love you, Bik Wu ~



Ever since the day that Devon first came home to us.....things have not been the same for you. You're not "the baby" anymore, you're no longer allowed to sleep in the bed room, and your "lap time" has been significantly reduced.


Sometimes, when I'm feeding Devon I'll catch you with the corner of my eye, sulking...or maybe you've always looked that way? Anyway, It makes me sad nonetheless.


But when I see how gentle you are with Devon , how you let her pull just a little harder than you might like sometimes, how happy she is whenever she sees your squishy face :)


I know that even though you might be a little jealous now....soon you will be the best of friends!



13.4.08

~ Day at the Zoo ~


On Thursday, we took Devon on her very first trip to the Zoo. One of her all time favorite movies is Baby Einsteins "Baby Noah" so we thought she would most likely relate. She LOVED it! Although, she was more interested in all of the people around her instead of the animals. Her favorites were the flamingos and the ducks. We shared a Strawberry Icee, got fantastic pics of the lions and tigers, and rubbed friendly billygoats noses. Good times :)

4.4.08

~ I Love Lucy's Place ~




Hands down, Lucy's Place is the best Etsy boutique to get bottoms for your baby girl. Her sewing is impeccable, the fabrics are pure quality, and the cut's are genius! Just look at how adorable Devon's little feet look poking out of those cuffs on Lucy's much praised "Frenchy Pants" I can't wait to see how Devon will look in her Lucy's Place "Round Pocket Runners"


http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=8067140

If you (or any of your friends) have a baby girl, you gotta check out Lucy's Place :)

http://www.lucysplace.etsy.com/

3.4.08

~ We Love Etsy ~



Devon and I are addicted to Etsy! One of our very favorite etsy boutiques is http://www.cocoandmilkweed.etsy.com/


They have the most adorable and unique screens on super comfy onesies. Here is Devon hanging out in her Horsie l/s onesie from cocoandmilkweed. They also do the cutest hair accessories for your little one :)

1.4.08

~ A Love Story ~



For several years, I was married to a man that I no longer loved. Now this is not to say that he was a horrible person, it was actually quite the contrary, but only two years after we were married I realized that we were not meant to be. It was a classic case of two people marrying too young (I was 19 and he was 21) and there were too many aspects of each others personalities and appearances that we both wished to change.
And upon the realization that true love was loving someone for who they truly are (even what we consider to be faults) I knew that our
marriage would never last. So I tried countless times to end our marriage, sometimes amiable, sometimes not.
But he would always convince me otherwise and it was destined to be a vicious circle for ten long years. In fact it grew so tedious, and then so comfortable that I finally resigned myself to the fact that I would never find true love.
Not knowing that my true love, Isaac felt exactly the same as I, living in the same city as I , and working at one of the boutiques that I sold my women's clothing line to at that time.
In fact, it was my favorite one.
And, as fate would have it, Isaac began to flip through the pages of a fashion magazine where he found an article on my clothing line and a picture of me. And stopping dead at that page he exclaimed to his friend, "There she is! This is women that I'm going to marry!" " Good luck" said his friend "she's already married!"
"We carry her line, besides how would you know something like that?"

"I just know"

Of course this part of our story I would not know about until after we finally met on a crazy smoke filled night at a karaoke bar called "The Mint" I had invited Isaac's boss to this bar to celebrate our mutual friends birthday and he had used me as incentive to get Isaac to come along for company. I had actually been introduced to Isaac several weeks prior on a visit to his boutique to discuss our new men's line. He was very memorable with his super cute Mohawk and huge beautiful smile. " I think he might be into me" I told my best friend and business partner at the time " He was way too smiley!"

And so there he was with a bunch of my friends smoking
cigarettes outside of "the Mint" and there was that beautiful smile again!
And within minutes of our very genuine conversation, we learned that we were not only both Leo's but born a mere four days apart from each other. We were both "the middle child" with older and younger siblings that were the same ages and we were both artists with a love for fashion and a tendency to party extremely often.
So after a lot of flirting, which led to intense kissing and ultimately ended the night at my apartment (as fate would have it my husband was away on a business trip all week) I know what you are thinking " What a horrible wife!" and believe me, I felt extremely guilty. So I called my best friend the second Isaac left (it was already 11 am the next day!) and we talked for over an hour.
Just like a best friend he convinced me "no real harm done" as long as I

#1 Never see Isaac again

#2 Never, ever tell my husband

"N0 matter how guilty you feel, Emily, It will only make matters worse"

And for two days I did not speak to Isaac but I thought about him every minute of those two days. "could he be the one?"
"My true love that adored me no matter what?"
Of course I wanted my "dream" relationship to be everything that my current one was not. I wanted so much to experience deep attraction. I wanted to have common interests! My husband actually found everything that interested me to be laughable at best. But mostly I wanted to be so in love that I would never, EVER even think about looking at anyone else.
"sigh"

I needed to figure things out. So I decided to go to my favorite place in the world. A cliff with the perfect spot for a picnic and the most beautiful view of the ocean.
I had buried my lovebird there, "Chicken Hawk"
I would go there to regroup, to just be peaceful and take in all of the beauty, the ocean, the flowers, and the sky!
That day I went out there to think about Isaac. I looked up at the sky and thought
to myself " I wish that I would see a sign, something that would let me know that the way that I felt was right!
I mean I felt so guilty but at the same time I couldn't stop thinking about Isaac and it was driving my crazy! And no sooner had this thought escaped me when I looked up into the sky and saw two beautiful white seagulls. They looked like they were dive bombing
each other, climbing up into the wind and then spiralling out of control until one almost hit the other!
It looked so graceful and so beautiful and also like they were having the time of their lives.
I could almost hear them laughing as they played their game spiralling in the wind. And right at that moment I took it as my sign. I
knew that Isaac and I were meant to be, the funny thing was that I
could already feel it in my heart!
I also knew that following my heart would lead to the freedom that I
wanted so badly, the freedom to be who I really
was and actually have fun with it! To have fun with each other..what a novel idea!
And if I could actually have THAT,
have someone that made
me feel alive and beautiful and playful EVERY day for the rest of my life, then that would be worth EVERYTHING to me and more.


And so right at that very moment I chose
to be with Isaac and only Isaac forever and it has
made my life more beautiful and more passionate and more alive every day.

I Love you, Baby 2X

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