Miami Oink

This has nothing to do with trending, except that the tattoo thing is hotter than ever, but it is so strangely fascinating to me I had to post this. I guess beginning tattoo artist's have to start somewhere..........

Sleeveface

Back in February I became aware of this website called 'Sleeveface.' Sleeveface is where one or more persons obscure or augment any part of their body or bodies with a record sleeve causing an illusion. It started in Wales, but the trend can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. I found it completely intriguing. I printed some pics and brought them into my trend meeting as a possible fad or trend to watch. Well, within a couple of weeks PEOPLE Magazine (March 24, 2008) featured a story called Covered Up. They called sleevefacing a "hot web trend" and "the latest DIY Internet fad." Now thousands of music fans are taking pictures of themselves with their favorite album covers.
What to do with such a trend? Jump on it! That's exactly what Duncan is doing - incorporating a cool Internet trend while making a fashion art statement.

Long Live Rock (and Dean)

Yesterday I get to work and start going through my emails, without even having any morning coffee (imagine that!) and one of my emails is from my big boss, Valerie, requesting that we all dress as 'rockers' because the next day (today) it is Dean's birthday. Dean is a cool guy I work with who just happens to be a rocker by night, with his own band, HAT-TRICK. By day, he is 'Dippin' Dean', knowledgeable about all things ceramic.

Anyway, because we all love Dean and are all 'a little bit rock 'n' roll, some of us actually donned our rocker clothes and came to work. Poor Valerie is traveling and missed out on all the black clothing, band tee shirts, heavy make-up and Guitar Hero guitars. Believe me, V would have jumped right in and rocked with us!

Dean was very surprised when he arrived for work to see many of the marketing team paying homage to him. Allee went as far as to make a jacket with Dean's band's name on the back. That's what's awesome about working for a creative company. When the work day wrapped, we gathered with Dean around his truck and took a picture. Front row (l to r) is Nicole, Alyson, Allee and Alexis. Back row is David, me and Dean. Happy birthday, Dean!

Take a summer 'Staycation'

I am a daily subscriber to Urban Dictionary's, Word of the Day, ever since I got punked by my boss over 'coming correct' to work (You can read all about it in my May 1st blog posting.) I dare NOT know the latest 'uber cool' word, lest I be ridiculed by those in power who keep up on such things. Yes, you know who you are! Anyway, May 23's word of the day was 'Staycation.' The definition is: A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer. Good play on words. I get it. I'll think about it. After all, I love hanging out in my backyard, playing with my husband, two boys and our dogs, making stuff in my art studio....whew, I am relaxing just thinking about it. Yesterday I am reading MSNBC.com and there is an article about taking a home-based vacation, a 'staycation', to avoid paying high gas prices by staying closer to home. Hey, this is a concept that people should pay attention to - you're saving on gas, you're not spending as much money and your curbing your carbon output. Some of the tricks listed for having a successful 'staycation' are: Check out local travel guides featuring local attractions you've forgotten or never knew about; make plans for your activities like you would if you were out-of-town; get everyone in the family involved in your 'staycation'; and, craft like crazy, making cool stuff! (Now that last part, I just made up. But doesn't that sound like fun! I love to make stuff when I have free time at home.) The best part of taking a 'staycation'? Unplugging from work AND spending family time together.

Inspirations

Being relatively new to blogging, I find myself continually checking out other peoples blogs to see what they are talking about, what they're into, what they are reading, listening to, learning about. Of course, I have a number of favorite bloggers whom I visit on a regular basis, like Ornamental, Nina Bagley's blog. She is inspired by nature - sea glass, rocks, found objects - an artist of jewelry and mixed media pieces, yet it is her eloquent writing style that brings me back to her time and time again, to find out about the life she has carved out for herself and her dog, Aspen, on Firefly Road. (OK, I do have a life, for those of you who think I am far too knowledgeable about perfect strangers! But you see, when you read their blogs you start to know them, befriend them, wonder about them. And, it is part of my job to keep my finger on the pulse of artisans and crafters for new and wonderful ideas.) A new favorite blog is Stephanie Lee's. I took a class from her at Art & Soul, which inspired me to get into metalsmithing. (I still haven't actually made anything yet - lack of personal artistic time - but I did send my husband to the hardware store to buy me a torch.) She lives in the mountains in Oregon and is a mixed media and metalsmithing artist as well. I love how she tells you what music she is listening to at any given moment and then gives you the link so you can hear it, too. Reading blogs can be as soothing and escape-laden as reading a good book that you never have to finish. I actually start missing these women when they don't blog for a few days. Usually they are traveling toward a new adventure, holding out the promise of a good story when they return.

Another favorite blog is Jennifer Perkin's, Naughty Secretary Club. Now that girl is a faithful blogger. She is connected to everyone, everywhere, and has her finger in every artistic pie that appeals to her indie leanings. She is as real as it gets ...and I never pine for her because she is a blogging maniac! Me? I write this blog for my company. It is obviously about trends, but sometimes I like to use it as an online diary of my personal experiences. It keeps it real. I try to blog at least once a week, sometimes more, depends on my workload. I love blogging - it's therapeutic. Maybe someday someone will pine for my writings..........

Native American

I first spotted this trend, or at least had the Indian headdress motif on my radar, at the 2008 Sourcing At MAGIC show in Las Vegas. I only saw 3 or 4 Native American images on men's tee shirts. But it was so different from the norm that I actually pointed it out to my companion. I came back from the show and waited to see if I was right about my hunch. In March I received my Free People catalog. Wow! The Indian headdress. Inside were many garments and accessories inspired by this trend. My excitement was building. About three weeks ago I put together a whole trend piece on the Native American vibe that is happening in fashion - the leather fringe, the exotic prints, the beaded jewelry, feathers - then I got really excited when I spied Elijah Wood in BUST Magazine wearing a tee shirt like I saw at MAGIC. Very cool! Men can get into this trend, too.

Just the other day I am perusing one of my favorite catalogs - Sundance - and they are featuring women's tee shirts with Cherokee words on them. The catalog describes their Cherokee Word Tees "As lyrical as the sentiments they express, ancient Cherokee characters spell out messages that will inspire power, grace and philosophical conversations." Hmmm............


To get more of the Native fix, check out this page from the May issue of Marie Claire magazine for some fashionable ways to "go native."


For Fall 2008, Anna Sui designed some tribal-inspired couture for the runway; exotic mixed prints, embroidery and all things fringed. Read and see more on the Teen Vogue Intern blog. I love the ombre dyed tees...You could be wearing that look tonight with the help of Tulip One-Step Fashion Dyes. So go Native.....Anna's got nothin' on you!

Mother's Day

As if the car show were not enough excitement for one weekend, there was more! We all got up early and got dressed up to go out to breakfast at 8am at the Fresno Breakfast House. Mmmm, good food! Never been there before. We don't usually treat ourselves to breakfast out so this was especially nice. Then we headed over to church like we do every Sunday. After church we hurried home to get ready to head up to Bass Lake for the day. We had a blast! We hiked around a little and took the boys down to the lake to play by the shore. The water was a little cold but kids don't care. I didn't realize it at the time but it seemed like our lake outing was all about rocks: gathering rocks. . . skipping rocks. . . climbing on rocks. . .We ended up eating the best burgers at The Forks. We worked up an appetite collecting all those rocks! We decided we must spend a weekend here soon.