Shabby Chic Dreams.

I am very excited! I just purchased this beautiful bronze king sized bed from Cindy on Craigslist today! We upgraded from my adorable, little, vintage, metal bed to Ben's king sized mattress and box spring a month or so ago. Ben insisted that his mattress would help us to sleep better...and I must say I've been sleeping better (I secretly think it's because of the valerian root and chammomile tea before bed). But since then I've been searching everywhere to find an appropriate replacement headboard. Finally found the perfect one. We are picking it up this Sunday. These are the pics that Cindy had posted of it. Don't worry...my cute little double bed is now in the guest room.

Meow.

Got some cute pictures of Meow Cat sunbathing today. He is one of the loves of my life.

Bookshelf.

Thought I would share a little side project with you. I purchased a cheap bookshelf at a yard sale last year for $5 and finally had the chance to do something with it. I added a decorative wood piece to the top center of the shelf and then painted the whole thing a pale mustard yellow with an aged crackle finish. I finished it up by rubbing stain into the surface to warm up the color and then loaded it with books and trinkets. Voila!

Laptop Therapy.

I am officially full-blown sick. I've had an on/off temp of 100 and a very sore throat...not fun. I have been toying with the idea of vending at stART in the Park- an arts festival in Worcester this spring and I'm frustrated that just as I started to get inspired, I end up lacking the energy to put any of my thoughts onto paper or into art. So instead I've had to make do with the "paperwork" end of things: coming up with a list of items to make and sell, lists of materials needed, designing tags, searching the web for inspirational photos, etc... Thank goodness for my laptop. It will have to suffice as my medium of choice for now. I leave you with a few great photos from the talented contributors to Flickr that represent some of those ideas floating around in my head.

Spring 2009 Fashion.

I have been defaulting on my art this week. I've been super busy and a little under the weather so I'm going to have to catch up on projects this weekend. In the meantime I've been OD-ing on tea and new spring fashion. Many of these lines were shown on the runway this past fall to be launched for spring, though I'm just getting a chance to discover them now. Here are a few of my favorites.

Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti
Monique Lhuillier:

Christian Dior:

Stella McCartney:
Tropical Grapefruit Green Tea by Celestial Seasonings:

India.

I'm headed to my art class in a bit and just finished adding the final touches to my project. Thought I would share. My instructor gave us this Durer print as a starting point. We were told we could alter it in any way we wished. It immediately reminded me of India and I found these great National Geographic images that I used as added inspiration:


Here is the final product. I'm not sure what I feel about it. It is very different from what I would usually create but I am satisfied that I captured the "essence" of the images. Please ask if you have questions about materials used as I'm not going to bother listing them all....basically anything I could get my hands on.

Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day! Ben and I celebrated at Monsoon in Maynard...it's the best Indian food you'll ever have. Then he bought me ice cream and flowers and we watched a movie. Thanks babe. I made Ben an altered art memory box. I created it in a vintage Romeo and Juliet cigar box and added photos of us, ticket stubs and some other pieces. The lettering is lyrics from the Styx song "Babe" which I know is incredibly cheesy but it reminds me of him so much. I hope everyone spent the day with someone they love!
Love,
Amber

Benjamin Burrows Photography.

In other news: my talented, wonderful boyfriend just launched his new photography website. I am extremely proud of him (and maybe a wee bit jealous too). Check out the new site and tell him what you think. www.benjaminburrows.net

Eerie Art.

I have amassed a quite large collection of vintage pharmacist bottles and was wondering what I could do with them other than display them in my kitchen cabinet and this artist came to mind. I stumbled across her Myspace page about a year ago and I am in love with her work. Her name is Lisa Mei Ling Fong and she is an assemblage artist. Her work definitely has that beautifully creepy, ethereal look that I strive to create (yet somehow my love of glitter always takes over). Every piece looks like it came out of a victorian curiosity shop. She has such a unique style, though I can't promise that I won't try to borrow some of her ideas :).Check out her website www.eerieart.com and her Myspace page www.myspace.com/eerieart. Here are a few of my favorite pieces of hers. Enjoy!

And here is a portion of my collection. Many of these are Victorian homeopathic bottles.

Altered Art.

I began an altered art and collage class Monday nights at the Worcester Art Museum. So far it has been great for inspiring new projects. I'll be sure to post more as I create. In the meantime, my friend Gina and I have decided to organize our own art class. Every week we will be sending one another an inspirational photo or tidbit to base a piece off of. Here was the inspiration for last week:

And here is what I came up with:




The antique Valentine's that Gina sent reminded me of a vintage vanity for some reason so I decided to use an empty makeup compact. I distressed it with acrylic paint and sandpaper and then embellished it with bits of the actual print as well as roses, pearls, glitter and a small frame. What's great is that Gina and I couldn't wait to see how different each of our projects came out but they are actually very similar, I think we even used the same plastic roses that we salvaged from my craft room! Check hers out at http://abbreviatedfrom5feet.blogspot.com/ and stay tuned for next weeks project.

j.o.b.


So I haven't posted in awhile. I lost my job months ago and I've been hiding my head in the sand, feeling too guilty about not working to allow myself to experience any pleasure.

Not a shocker I know, given the state of the economy. And somehow I am sailing by on that excuse. At parties or meeting new people when that inevitable question arises: "So what do you do?" it's not so terrible anymore when I tell them I'm unemployed. More often than not I get a sympathetic nod as if to say "Chin up, we're all gonna pull through this" or "Welcome to the club". The next question then quickly passes onto health care or the worsening economy and my woes are forgotten. What I don't say is that I was actually fired. Yes. My evil, amazon woman of a boss decided to make me her target and try as I might I could not meet her standards. Not only did she just dislike me but at my 3 month review she called me "self-righteous, immature, and irresponsible" and told me I "had a lot of growing up to do". I retorted that she was unprofessional and lacked good managerial skills. I suppose I can understand the "self-righteous" accusation. A month later I was let go. Anyway, it's been months and I've been peeling off various layers of emotions regarding the whole situation. It's uncannily like ending a relationship. I outline as follows:

Stage 1: Hate. Vivid images of my stilettos impaling my ex-boss through the head danced through my dreams.
Stage 2: self-pity. "Why does shit always happen to me?"
Stage 3: self-doubt and blame. "Maybe if I had just worked 80 hours instead of 75...."
Stage 4: Hate. I strongly considered kidnapping her dogs.
Stage 5: Pathetic mental collapse. "I can't apply at McDonald's, I don't have the experience, no one would want me now!"
Stage 6: Acceptance. This is finally my chance to move to Paris and sell love spells in the streets! I don't need a steady paycheck! I'm a unique, free-spirited woman! Damn the haters! Who wants to start a commune with me?

I'm hoping that the whole experience, if nothing else, has given me some time to reflect. I am re-discovering myself. I had fooled myself into believing that I like wearing pant suits and carrying corporate credit cards because I'm good at being a pulled together professional who eats sushi and gets massages once a month. What I really want is to be elbow deep in acrylic paint and sequins or teaching people expressive dance and I want to be able to cry or laugh whenever I want and not be worried if my mascara is going to smudge because my next client is coming in. No, right now I have no idea how I'm going to pay the bills but....really...how expensive is it to live in a commune?

I know we spend a lot of time defining people by their profession in this country but with a rapidly increasing unemployment rate and rising job related stress levels, I feel like along with everything else, it's time for a change. When are we really going to judge people not on the padding of their 401ks and the honors on their resumes but on the content of their character? I may be self-righteous. I may be immature or irresponsible. And at 25 I certainly hope I have a lot of growing up to do. But I am not my job.

-Amber

*I am still an advocate of sushi and massages.