Pin Up Life

Italian Etsian gloooo-rious Gloria of Scacco alle Regine featured my mini top hat on her Treasury East. I love her Pin Up Girl meets Burlesque spin on things. Is there anything better?

Click on image for Treasury

Something about these top hats with red lipstick...!

Thanks Gloria!

Under The Big Top

A big thank you to the shop owner of JustForKeeps for including one of my Carnival Mini Top Hats on her Treasury East! I am in love with this Colorful Clown. Perfect gallery!!

Click on image for Treasury

Click on image for Listing

Make sure to check back daily for more listings of my Peppermint Pretty Carnival Collection. And keep on keeping your fingers crossed for a great shoot in Austin on the 1st!

Can-Can!

Thank you to Little Sistah Studio for including my Moulin Rouge Mini Top Hat on her Treasury East. This gallery makes me want to dance my arse off!

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The Moulin Rouge Mini Top hat was actually my very first Two Back Flats Mini Top Hat design. I am thrilled that people love it! It is alive with colors, textures and surprises!

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Make sure to visit Little Sistah Studio's shop if you're in the market for home made paper goods!

Peppermint Pretty

The extremely talented Jessica Monnich of Jessica Monnich Photography is doing a Carnival Themed Wedding Shoot in Austin, TX on June 1st! It is sure to be out of this world!! She has several artists on board to prop the shoot with their brilliant and whimsical work!

Seven of Two Back Flats hats will be making their way to Texas this week and I assure you: They are READY for their closeup.

I am dying to share them with you but here is just a teeny sneak peek! Stay tuned for Jessica's gorgeous photos in June!

BanjoBaySoaps

It's really all in the name. Emily from Banjo Bay Soaps is Southern Charm in soap form. She is a true lover of art. Simply, a breath of fresh air. She did me the honor of featuring my work on her fantastic blog.

Please check out the link HERE

Make sure to check back often as she is constantly featuring amazing artists and fabulous giveaways!!

Not only is she a fearless Renaissance woman and a beautiful old soul but she makes some of the most delicious smelling and feeling soaps ever!

My absolute favorite is the Three Kings Bar. Made with Egyptian Frankincense and Indian Myrrh! Mmmm

BANJO BAY SOAPS

Thank you so much Emily!!!

Try one on!!

My mini top hats are now being carried at Accessories and More at the Harbor Place Shops in Baltimore.



Have a gorgeous weekend!

HAPPY SPRING! AWESOME MINI TOP HAT SALE!

PURCHASE ONE MEDIUM TOP HAT FOR $25 AND GET THE SECOND ONE FOR ONLY $20!! HURRY! ONLY SO MUCH STOCK OF MY GORGEOUS SPRING SATIN FABRICS LEFT!

You CHOOSE YOUR VERY OWN CUSTOM COLOR SCHEME and your hats will be made from scratch just for you! The options are endless!

Click on image for Listing

*offer ends June 21st or when Listing is removed*

Water for Elephants

My Victorian inspired Peacock Mini Top Hat was used on a gorgeous Treasury on Etsy.

Venenzia creates beautiful vintage inspired jewelry but she is also the curator of this awesome gallery of items based on the book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen.



Her blog is full of beautiful images so go check it out and make sure to comment on her Treasury!

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Good Morning Blue Sky

Please check out my petite Preakness top hat on a gorgeous treasury by AnnaLela on Etsy.

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http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4be038fb87808eef85b8c0ea/good-morning-blue-sky

Also check out AnnaLela's awesome shop filled with eco-friendly crafts including some of the most adorable bags you've ever seen!

SHOP

Happy Wednesday!

The Mini Top Hat Revival

Please check out my SHOP on Etsy

The Beginning....

10/2/07

Two Back Flats

The alarm clock flashes 5:55 a.m. I don't hear it, but I feel the shake in his stretch as he stirs out of bed. I know I have a few hours left to sleep because the room is still dark and moist but I sit up as he quietly gets dressed. I lean my body against the pillows and he looks up and meets my face. I smile. I still smile. He comes over to me and I hold his face. His scruff is turning into a beard again as the cold comes. And in a thousand years I never would have thought I would love it.

And as his footsteps fade down the steps and I hear him say "I love you" again that morning, I move to the middle of the bed and melt into the feathers of the blankets and pillows. I yawn and stretch my arms behind my head and extend my toes so I'm wrapped completely in the heat he's left on his side. I lay and I think about everything. How tired he must be, how tired I am, how he put the armoir in the bathroom like I had suggested, if the steam will warp the wood.

I think about how this weekend, we combined everything we have. And he moved in. How after 4 years, this is the most amount of stuff we've ever had. How my taste in decorating is still the same but has somehow managed to welcome what he has brought with him. How I see his eye transform to appreciate what I love. He brings home antique tins to place on the mantel.

I lay there and I run my fingers through my hair until I reach my dread lock in the back. I think about how I came home from the salon and presented my new addition. He rushed over from the kitchen to take a closer look. "That's so hot" he said as he touched it and asked a million questions. "I want dread locks" he said as he pulled his hair up so it was standing on top of his head. "Your mother will kill you, and then she'll kill me." He stops and makes a face as if I'm wrong. "Yea she will." he agrees and laughs. And I love that we're adults living and furnishing and antiquing together, but we still worry what our parents will think about our choices.

I think of dread locks. Period. As we moved in this weekend, Toni sat on his mother's rocking chair in our kitchen as I washed the dishes. She was rocking, sitting cross legged and drinking water out of a vase.

"Did you ever think a year ago today, that you would be living such a bohemian lifestyle?" she asks me. "Bohemian." I repeat and chuckle. "Well, you've been wearing the same dress for two days and you just got back from the Natural Foods Expo." I crack up and push my bangs away with the back of my wrist.

Before Greg and I decided to not rent out the 3rd bedroom, but convert the attic bedroom into a studio, we had briefly talked about Toni moving in. It wasn't until she had said 3 smokers in the house would drive her crazy that we nixed that idea. We had laid in bed talking and he said "Do you realize that if Toni moved in, there would never be a quiet moment? Jack would be over making dinner, Redds would be here smoking, Kelsey would be here. This would become where everyone converged." I stopped and agreed then smiled. "Do you realize that it's amazing that we have that?" That when I get home I have trinkets in the mailbox from friends walking by. Alicia relays messages "Mel stopped by to see if you wanted to grab a beer. Toni stopped by to borrow shoes. Jack stopped by for his Cd. Jason is coming to hang out after you close the bar." They step over 8 guitars to sit on the couch and 4 of them know how to play.

So, I lay in the twilight and think of how the studio with adjoined desks against the exposed brick will be ready just in time for me to make our Christmas cards. How we'll have our own space to create just like we've always talked about. I think of how he can make anything with his hands and knows just what color I'll like. I think of how in our pictures of when we met, we looked so damn young. He gave up baseball caps for gel in his hair. I gave up chandelier earrings for pearls and diamonds. He gave up suits for his old t-shirts. I gave up heels for release.

We know who our old friends are. We love them because they have been there for years. We love them because they knew us when we were wearing baseball caps or cashmere. They know us now even though Juicy purses have been swapped with Whole Foods shopping bags. They can laugh at us. Because they are family and they've known Greg and Jasika since we were us. They know all the ideas we've had and what we dressed up as for Halloween when we were 6 or 16. We love our new friends for knowing how we play guitars or board games. We love them for letting us dye their hair pink and cut off their Mohawks because they know we need the practice. We love them for teaching us how to disc golf or jump off of cliffs. We love them for keeping us company while we wash dishes and for knowing that we wore this dress yesterday.

But as I laid in his heat, I loved him the most. For watching me change from wearing my hair curly to straight to blue to dreaded. I loved him for letting me change and change with him. For knowing I would love him whether he changed or not. I love him for combining his things with mine and calling it home. I love him for loving me either way like a family, like a friend.