pretty please?

my nineteenth birthday is already less than three weeks away, which gives me an excuse to post a wish list! :)


"PRETTY PLEASE" birthday wish list:
vintage eyeglasses.  i will keep scouring etsy until i work up the courage to purchase a pair.  bryce knows of a guy here in the city who can grind out your lenses from his house and rework vintage glasses into something you can wear, so i plan to take full advantage once i make the leap.

handmade nation on DVD!  i already own the book & i missed the chicago screening of the movie :(.   i'm dying to see it!

an embossing label maker.  i'm not sure what brand yet, but this pink one is pretty!

books like you wouldn't belieeeeve!

a cactus.  or two, or five.

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polaroid film.

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jars to sort my buttons and craft supplies.

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these wesc green headphones:

those are a few of the things i'm wishing for these days.  how about you?

<3melisa

the red balloon.

in my quest to substitute something inspiring for cheesy TV shows (think 90210, ANTM, etc.) i watched a short film titled The Red Balloon yesterday while i worked on a little bit of homework.  my verdict: what a gem!

set in 1950s Paris, The Red Balloon follows the adventures of a little boy and his unlikely companion--a red balloon!  the film itself has very little dialogue; it ambles along to a light instrumental score.  it's pretty slow-moving, but luckily that gives you time to take in all of the gorgeous imagery.  the cinematography is my number one reason for suggesting this film: each scene is breathtaking, dreamy, and definitely inspiring.

while searching for a clip, i found that the entire video is actually hosted online!  so here you are, The Red Balloon.  enjoy!

<3melisa

SMITTEN WITH SATURDAYYYY.

hiiiii & happy saturday!  i know i've been MIA for a few days here in the blog-world and i apologize--i was doing so well with posting everyday, and then my schoolwork piled up so much that i had to be absent to make a dent in it.  regardless, i'm back just in time for smitten with saturday!  (which holds especially true for me as today is my first day off in over a month!)


here we go...
1. i love this old, rusty typography!  not only that, i've been dying to go thrifting these past few weeks so this sign really hooked me.

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2. traditional-style CRAFTY tattoos, like the ones drawn here:

so pretty!

3. this embroidered owl, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

4. dreamy old homes.  (especially with turrets!)

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5. how cute is this little illustration?

6. gorgeous shades of pink.

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7. i find this painting to be really captivating...

8. striped shirts à la miss Audrey.

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9. fifi lapin's halloween illustrations.  i'm the teacup, for sure.

10. sketchbook inspiration:

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whew, hope you enjoyed that!  in between assignments (and sometimes instead of assignments!), i've been doing my best to get my craft on.  i started my second granny square two nights ago, but got hung up at the color change.  also, yesterday, DIY Hards had their second party--this time for Halloween--titled "How to Make a Monster."  for our stuffed monster, bryce and i decided to do something collaborative & completely unique, so we each sketched on our own and then sat down to combine our best ideas & make the pattern pieces to cut out our little creation.  we didn't get very far--we finished the pattern pieces, chose & cut out all of our fabrics, and spent the last hour or so hand stitching everything together.  i CAN'T WAIT to show you our little creation, she's going to be so cute!  a little sneak peek:

eep!  okay, off to spend the afternoon gorging myself on chocolate from last night's party in my death cab tshirt from 9th grade.  have a lovely saturday, all.

<3melisa

FINALLY.

hello cuties,

i'm thrilled to say that i fiiiinally finished the first project from the RVA autumn class!  in case you don't remember, i had decided on "into the wild" as my theme--the album is for my boyfriend, a thoreau-obsessed country wannabe.  anyway, here's a photo of the bound mini-album and my pages:

the pages are pretty simple.  the first is a place to brainstorm for our future garden.  my boyfriend is a culinary freak, so i figured it would excite him to daydream about fresh-from-the-garden produce.  the second page is a tribute to flannel<3 and the third is an image of a forest, with the phrase "this could be our view."  the fourth and final page is a quote by alice walker that reads "in nature nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.  trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways and they're still beautiful."  the last page got a little smudged, but overall i'm pleased with how it turned out! 

i wish i could say that now i'm off to play catch-up on the other 5245 projects, but i'm so busy with school, work, &my internship that it might be a few weeks before i can get around to finishing another one.  regardless, i'll keep you posted.

off to the darkroom to print a few photos!  take care lovelies.

melisa

PS: have you seen any good movies lately?  often, lately, i catch myself watching crappy TV shows while i work for lack of knowing what to watch...

as i head off to work...

i'm keeping this in mind.

sometimes it feels impossible to be arsty-fartsy wonky me when i work at a sandwich shop, but i won't let that stop me from getting things accomplished.  i can't wait to be making money doing what i love--and i'll keep preparing for that day with what little down-time i'm blessed with.

wishing you all the motivation and confidence in the world,

melisa