bricolagelife

another tea towel pillow cover

one of my most favorite lotta jansdotter prints ever.  her color sense kills me.  and the linen is so soft and crinkly.  everything about it is just right.  (my dream job... if only i lived in brooklyn)

i laid it right-sides together with a small remnant of a japanese print we call "time of healing" (because it says that on the fabric, among other things like "handmade space" and "time of sweets" {thanks pr!}), folding about a third of the tea towel in against itself.  straight stitch together around three edges leaving the folded end open.

when you flip it right sides out it looks like this.  i managed to get the tea towel hanging loop to end up on the flap end.  when the pillow is set inside and the flap folded over...

sew a button in place to fit thru the loop!

i'll be curled up here this morning with a pot of coffee and the complete works of jane austen.  it's pretty lame that i have only seen the movies and never read the novels so i am reading them all this summer. the penguin edition is mighty hefty.  i should have some nicely toned arms come autumn just from holding it up while reading :)

what are you reading this summer?

the thrift store is my photo safari

... an ongoing project.

a friendly reminder

i was having a lovely day yesterday and i was on my way to a lovely evening when i looked up and saw this on a wall in our neighborhood... i thought: i really need to have this tattooed on me so i could look at it every day and be reminded.

i may have to embroider it on something instead. tho i sometimes wish i was, i'm not really the tattoo type.

anyone up for a trip to paris? she is killing me with these.

i saw this at elizabeth crane's. i can not get it out of my head!

new work, economy, and the bricolage way

i've been working lately with my photographs and printer, making new and layered prints. today i got some framing done... in the bricolage way. i printed the tulips photo on an old piece of watercolor paper and the layered prints on strathmore textured stationery samples from my stash. both papers were hand-me-downs, donated by someone who had no use for them anymore. i prefer the way my photos look on the unorthodox matte papers rather than the glossies i get from the kodak plant. but i'm never sure if they will last as long as professional photo prints. the black frame is from ikea and the others were rescued from the trash. two of these prints are gifts. i guess one man's trash is another's gifts and art projects :)

thoughts of how these things are interconnected have been rolling around in my head these days. being greatly experienced in frugality and economy (but not loving it all the time), i have done things in a bricolage way for most of my life. the day i discovered the definition of the word {something constructed by using whatever materials happen to be available} it seemed as if a hundred light bulbs flipped on above my head, not just one. an inspired moment of recognition set me on a new path and gave me a sense of validation. it has become second nature to me; when i don't have the resources to go out and buy the perfect tools and supplies, i must stretch my creative muscles to come up with unique solutions and substitutions. some of my most important and beloved equipment has come to me as gifts from generous friends and family (for which i am grateful on a daily basis).

i have grown to embrace the challenge of my financial limitations over the years (but not love them all the time) and realize that i apply bricolage ways to almost everything i do in life. some my favorite recipes for cooking involve the meals i manufacture out of the last four ingredients left in the pantry. some of the best displays i have built consisted of lovely merchandise mixed with props found in the basement and alley. my home is a rented space, decorated in a mix of new, old, handmade and hand-me-down furnishings. and some of my favorite art projects are initiated by the desire to make something new out of scraps usually discarded.

over the past year i have happily discovered that this way of working, of living, is much more universal than i originally imagined. that's been the icing on my cake :) and i've been asked often about the title bricolagelife and what it means... but this is probably way more definition than anyone expected, so thanks for reading as i ramble on. my brain runneth over...

surprise! and thank you

i was taken by surprise when i came home friday night to find my hands collection featured in decor8's pretty things post! thank you holly - and to all of you who clicked thru and visited here and peeked in at my etsy shop.

i have received such lovely feedback about the new header and the hands collection photograph in it {and bricolagelife} , i wanted to say thank you and let you know how much i appreciate it. as anyone who has ever opened up their inbox to find it full of kind words knows, your comments brighten up my day and i'm grateful that you took the time to write them! comments make these posts a conversation instead of a monologue and i love that.

happy sunday :)

lotta jansdotter prints!

a most lovely surprise in the mail today from a kind friend! thank you! i can already tell i'm going to get a lotta use out of this good book :)

just look inside...

my heart is racing. seriously.

it's possible by autumn every surface in my apartment will be adorned in printed patterns.

sink fountain

i was rinsing these in the sink after one of my solitary meals the other day when i became mesmerized by the effect of light, color, reflection, movement and sound. very soothing. man, am i easily distracted.

i made a little video, but can't figure out how to show it here. so enjoy the image and imagine the fountain sounds. or, try this at home!

glue on tracing paper

got lots of work done today. blissfully happy. have the place to myself.*

this is glue on tracing paper, with light behind.

and with light on top.

heading down the hallway now for a french suspense film on cable.

*(this doesn't mean i don't miss you, dear)

new love

what do you get when you mix an accordian, drums, keyboards, ukeleles, mandolins, a guitar, upright bass, violin, lots of brass, and eight brilliant musicians, including a dynamic lead singer? what you get is beirut. and a magical kind of music that ties a string around your heart, then tugs away with abandon. at once nostalgic and new, the songs swing out round a spiralling tune, curl back in and burst out again.

a series of small serendipitous events led me to their live performance tonight. while clicking thru a blogroll about a month ago, i found an american in paris who had just seen the band and wrote lovingly of the experience (and the band leader). she provided a video; i watched and was instantly hooked. i'd never heard or seen beirut before. (i was reminded of another love, 3 mustaphas 3) i zipped on over to amazon and added them to my wish list. two weeks later i got an email from my nephew. he had tickets to a show he could not attend... would i like to see a band called beirut at the portage theatre?

leaving the theatre after the show i smiled to think of all the unlucky young men leaving the building with their dates, who were surely in love with the magnetic zach condon. "you have a new boyfriend", my husband teased me, watching my face. "you know you do!" i didn't disagree with him.