the citybirds nest

home is wherever im with you...a tattoo!!

2012-02-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

hi and oh happiest of thursday to you all! first, off i want to thank everyone regarding my post yesterday. this community is so wonderful and i am so happy to be a part of it, thank you.

today i am super duper excited to share with you a design i just completed. as some of you know i just recently started offering tattoo design. a bit ago the lovely larissa emailed me about getting a tattoo design.

we discussed what she wanted, she sent me images of things she liked and then i got down to business. i did about 4-5 rough sketches of the idea i had in mind and then sent those to her to have a looksy. the last drawing i did ended up being my favorite and hers too.

i was so happy. it is always so nerve racking to put yourself out there and have people view your work, even now as i am typing this i am nervous about sharing but i love doing this so much i just can't help but share.

i had so much fun designing larissa's tattoo. what i love about drawing tattoo's for others is that it opens me up to designing things that i normally wouldn't draw. as an artist we always need to be challenged otherwise we can never grow. that also goes for being just a human too, if we don't challenge ourselves we can never discover new things about ourselves.

life as an artist is an interesting and wonderful journey even with all the stress & nervous butterflies i get about expressing myself through my work it is all worth it and i wouldn't have it any other way.

xo,
cb

love thyself: a bit of honesty

2012-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

if you take a gander to your right you will see a round black beautiful button. this button was created by amy from a is for ampersand. february is the month of love. typically to express love to others but amy has turned the tables inwards making it a month of self love. this act of wonderfulness really really touched me. we all struggle with some kind of self hatred whether we are men or women. self hatred is not sexist by any means.

amy touched on how the blogging world can portray a world of perfection, something that all of us have strived to attain at some point in our lives. at some point most of us have realized that what we think is "perfect" is unattainable to achieve or at least i have come to that conclusion. what i have learned is this: i am not perfect, nobody is, and that is the way we are meant to be. our imperfections are what actually makes us perfect.

i wanted to share my struggles to show that i too, am human and just like everyone else i have a story. here is mine. (please bare with me, it isn't something that can easily be expressed)

since i can remember i have always been extremely hard on myself. i don't know why, i mean i could take a stab, point fingers but when i sit down and really think about it, it has always been me that has allowed myself to go to those dark places and wallow there.

i have never felt truly beautiful. i mean this in a superficial way. i have never had a problem with who i was internally, i had a problem with the shell that my soul resided in. i always felt the awkward ugly duckling, with the big ugly nose and horrible posture and just all round just strange looking. i didn't get teased much, a couple of jerks were mean, called me toucan sam but all kids are mean. i tried not to take it personally but at a young age it is hard not to take what others say about you personally. i always felt odd in my own skin and i had a bad case of image distortion. what i wanted to look like or what i thought i looked like was not what i actually saw in pictures or the mirror. who was this person and why didn't the images match up?

i didn't know who the person was when i looked in the mirror, why she didn't look like the perfect girls i saw on tv or magazines. i thought if i could change the way i looked then i would be happy. i dreamed of plastic surgery, getting my nose fixed, thinking it would solve the problem. years of staring in the mirror and smashing my nose to what i thought it should be. i felt ashamed of what i looked like. i hate and still feel uncomfortable when people stare at me. i always thought people were looking at the ugly parts of me when it in fact who knows WHAT they were even staring at. it is crazy what we allow ourselves to think.

all of these thoughts consumed me, twisting into monsters making me think i was never good enough. the thoughts would get darker as i got older, thoughts that i am am even ashamed to think of now. looking back at it all, it seems almost silly, that i let something like beauty hold me back from leading a happy life. really, what is beauty? it is all in the eye of the beholder and that saying has stuck with me.

until recently, i have moved from that dark place and into the sunshine where it is bright and warm. i still find myself sitting in the shadows at times but i am much better now at pulling myself up. what was it that brought me into the light? a mix of things....

i found someone who loved me for me, not just my shell but for my mind. he is an artist and what i find interesting about artists is that they capture and hone in on things that others may not. i was tom's subject for a lot of his art. he would extract the features that i found hideous and turned them into beautiful works of art. seeing that he loved my imperfections made me think more about what beauty was. being able to step back from myself and see what somonee else saw was one of the most eye opening moments that one can hope for. it was truly life changing. from then on whenever i complained about my body, he would tell me to do something about it. that is when i started biking, instead of being down about something i did something about it. i got my first big tattoo and then my world forever changed. something about expressing myself and putting a stamp on this shell made me realize what beauty was for me.

what inside me is what truly is beautiful not what the outside looked like. covering the outside with my designs is what got me over the hurdle, let the inside out instead of the letting the outside hold the inside back. now when i look in the mirror i do see someone that is truly beautiful throughout. i have let the insecurities melt away and now lead a happy life full of amazing adventures.

we all struggle with something and it is what we do with this struggle that makes us who we are today. i can not say i am happy that i had let myself hate myself for so long, but now i appreciate so much because of it. life is about growing and i am happy that i still am :)

thanks for reading, i know it was a lot but honestly it felt really really really good to put it out there. i encourage everyone to write their story out even if it never gets published, it is so therapeutic and you will thank yourself later.

xo,
cb

super silliness: a photodump!

2012-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

ha! hope you all had a fantastic weekend! this weekend we celebrated kelly-anne and her husband's birthday. it was good times, super good times :) it is actually her birthday today so pop on over and wish her a very merry birthday!

so if you are ready....let me commence the silly yet oh so amazing pictures!

starting the night off right with some yummy champagne!

we walked to the bar it was super close, so why not!

met up with kelly-anne's friends at the bar. her and pitty have been friends forever! aren't theys sooo cute! kelly makes me want to dye my pink! so pretty

tom sporting the crazy cat glasses

these last few pictures is our walk home from the bar..... :D

i stole a orange cone for our enjoyment home....i'm such a rebel, HA!

as i went through all our pictures there were so many opened mouth pictures! not sure what was up with that...we ended the night finishing our left over burritos and watching human centipede, luckily for me i feel asleep. i don't do well with horror films :(

the next day we all woke up super happy, well except for boz, poor guy but there is nothing like a little thrifting & super yummy locally made ice cream to chase those hangover blues away. sadly, i got skunked at the thrift store so no gems to show you today but tom scored some really cute 50's style button ups, he looks so handsome in them!

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!! i miss you terrible already and can't wait to hang out again! lots of love.

xo,
kiki
(p.s. kiki is the name clemie, my niece and kelly-anne's daughter called me when she first started talking)

p.s.s. as a big thank you to all my readers, i think it might be a giveaway time! anyone interested in contributing shot me an email!

how about a trade?

2012-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

oh happiest of fridays everyone!

recently i traded buttons with rachele from the nearsighted owl and for the month of febuary she is doing portraits of the ladies who are sponsoring her blog! isn't it so cute? check out her shop and get your own portrait!

it got me thinking, trading is such a wonderful thing. both parties win from it and who doesn't love a little free marketing. if anyone wants to trade buttons give me a shout out and we can do a little swap and if you have anything you want to promote like a discount in your shop of a fun project you are working on, let me know and i will make sure i do a monthly shout out!

hope everyone has a great weekend. tom and i are headed up north to spend some time with kelly-anne and boz who are having a joint birthday celebration! good times will be had a long with a trip to our favorite thrift shop!

have fun everyone!

xo,
cb

happy little things #7

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

hello!

does anyone else have a hard time entering giveaway's? i love too but then in the back of my mind i always think, i'm not gonna win and then don't enter. well many months ago, amy from a is for ampersand, was hosting a giveaway for the cutest little locket and i was set on winning it.

sadly for me i was not the winner of this cute little locket so i made it my mission to find one. i discovered a new bead shop in sf that is absolutely fantastic, i could be there for hours and only just scratch the surface of the amazing treasures they have there.

while browsing a while ago i happened to cross this ornately designed oval locket and just fell in love with it. i loved how large it was and the crazy little fellow that works there, who will literally talk your ear off told me it was from a old jewelry factory in italy. he went on and on about it but my eyes started to glaze over and my brain began to wonder but i gladly paid for it and went on my merry little way.

i love lockets. they have a wonderful sense of nostalgia and are so charming and hold a little secret inside. for mine i wanted to add a picture of me and tom so i printed out black & white pictures of two i fancied, cut our heads out and just slide them right in! now tom will literally be with me where ever i go.

xo,
cb

what i wore: my lottas!!!!

2012-01-31T21:31:00.000-08:00

hiya everyone! this week has been a long one so far, gatherings with friends and wrapping up a few projects for some lovely ladies which i will share later :)

for christmas i bought myself a little present, a pair of shoes i have been drooling over for, oh about 2 years now...lotta's from stockholm! it took them a very long to finally reach my loving arms but it was well worth it! they are just AMAZING and every bit as beautiful as i thought they would be!

i have been wearing them like crazy ever since i got them. they go with literally everything in my closet. i often get in fits where i am so uninspired by my clothes but these shoes have opened up a plethora of combinations. i love how retro they look and they look great with both skirts and pants.

i wore this outfit to work. i realized after looking at these pictures that i wear this new backpack of mine soooooo low and loose, it looks kinda ridiculous! i haven't worn a backpack in so long, i guess, oh well!

this is a go too outfit for me. black cardigan, my upcycled lace peter pan shirt (which you can get a better view of here) and my leopard print high waisted skirt. after taking these picture bright & early it realized you can barely see what i am wearing which is okay because the shoes are what really matter to me! hehe they take a bit to get used to for riding but are super comfy to ride in and i think a bit sexy too. i just love adding a pop of red to all my outfits. i apologize in advance if you see these shoes a lot in the posts to come :)

what shoes are you lusting over?

xo,
cb

oh the salty sea

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

happy monday peaches! what a GLORIOUS weekend it was here at the city birds nest! thursday tom kidnapped me and drove me to san francisco and bought me a wetsuit!!! another thing to check off my 2012 list and then took me out to dinner for pizza and beer, it was pretty fantastic. we ended the night early because...........

we woke up at 5:00AM to go surfing the next day! waaaaaay too early for my liking but the early bird always catches the good waves or something like that :) we drove down to santa cruz which is about a 2 hour drive. we drove along the coast which is a super beautiful drive. it was pitch black and super foggy but by the time we reached santa cruz the fog had peeled back and the sun was shining.

a flock of seagulls, hehe. we had no idea why there were sooo many flying about. we were pretty lucky that none of them shat on us!

the spot that we typically surf at is called cowells which has a look out which we stopped to have a look at the waves. the water was spotted with a few surfers and A OTTER!!! you could tell he was a otter because of the way he was swimming, i couldn't get a great picture of him because he was so far away but you can see of glimpse of him, isn't he the cutest!

tom and i parked at the local surf shop and waited for it to open. we didn't want to use the board i just got as it needs some repairs and we didn't want to damage it further so i had to rent a board. the way of the surfer is to dress in the parking lot with a towel around you. you get used to it after a while....and now the moment you have all been waiting for....ME IN MY NEW WET SUIT! sexy huh? haha, im sure more then you ever wanted to see of my body :)

we had to walk a bit to get to the beach and the board i was renting was very big so it made it really hard to carry. carrying it on my head was the easiest way to get down to the beach.

the paddle out to the waves is far out, so my arms instantly turned to noodles. the waves were very small and lazy so it was a lot of work to catch one BUT i did however catch one! it was the greatest feeling EVER! i don't even know how to really describe it. i only wish tom had gotten a picture of it so i can look at it forever but he was trying to catch the same wave but failed, hehe.

it was soo exhilarating which gave me tons of energy to keep trying. that was the only one i caught but so god damn worth it!! i was smiling for the entire rest of the day.

it can be really scary at first to surf, being out there all alone, in the deep cold water, seals playing about and waves coming towards you. you just have to remember that it is just water and nothing else. that wave gave me the confidence to keep coming back for more. but the fog set in, and the tide grew higher so the sets were coming less frequent or dying as you were trying to catch them. so we headed back in and did a bit of bodysurfing on the beach, i was super excited that the above picture came out! just look at that face, priceless.

we dried off, ate some left-over pizza we brought and cruised around a bit. we drove over to another local break, called pleasure point. the waves were great there and maybe next time will hit up that spot.

nothing like the perfect day and sharing some waves with the one you love <3 until next time!

xo,
cb

its in the details

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

hi everyone and happy friday! today i have the lovely larissa from miss larissa bree to share with us a bit about herself, oh and some of her cutie pies! i am sure all of us have a furry friend or two that we love oh so much and couldn't imagine life without. take it away larissa!!

Hi all! i'm Larissa from Miss Larisaa Bree and I was so excited for this series that Cristie put together. It definitely helps make you stop and think, don't you think?

Now I think its safe to say a lot of people have pets, my mister and I always had 3 little fur babies until recently and suddenly we lost one of our cats. It broke my heart into a million pieces he was only 4 years old he had so much life to live and I always thought to myself I always had tons of time with him and he would be around till he was an old man.

It really made me think that I need to love my other animals extra hard now because in reality our animals love us unconditionally ( sometimes it may seem they only do when they want food or treats ;) ). But they don't care what we wear or what we look like or anything. They just love us.

So if you have a furbaby or two or three give them a big squeeze even if they don't seem interested just so they know you love them.

Thanks so much Cristie for letting me share a little something here.

sooo glad to have you larissa! if anyone else wants to be a part of "its in the details" you can contact me at ccpb83(at)gmail(dot.)com.

xo,
cb

there's a first for everything.

2012-01-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

when my co-worker and some of my new found work friends found out i could sew they were all super excited. one of my friends is a fellow bike rider and he loved the hats i was making and made it his mission to find some fabric so that could make a hat for him. his hat would be my first custom hat for anyone besides me and tom.

weeks went by and then one day he came into work and handed me a vintage "hawaiian" print button up shirt. we talked about what he wanted and i got to work.

the shirt was so cute and he really wanted one of the birds to be on one of the panels so i made sure to cut out the pattern very carefully. what i didn't take a picture of is that i also put a bird on the underside of the bill.

he was so very happy with it and i was excited to see how happy he was about it too. what i liked about it was that he found me the fabric. i have another hat i am working on for a fellow blog buddy and will show that when it is done.

-->> if any one wants a custom hat we can totally chat about it. contact me and we can discuss more!

xo,

what i wore: after the storm

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

awww mid week. feels so nice knowing that today is my friday.

i wore this to work last saturday. it didn't rain that day but it was SUPER windy. i rode my bike all the way to the train in my highest gear which is reserved for hill climbing. at one point i felt like i could have walked faster.

i love this sweater so much and finally figured out how to wear it properly. since it doesn't have buttons or anything to secure it, it sometimes feels cape like. belting it really made a difference.

i got my leather backpack at the thrift store this weekend and i am not sure about it yet. i am having my yellow pannier fixed by celeste's mom. i really like the color and how small it is but since i am totting around my HUGE hardcover game of thrones book it doesn't leave much room for much else.

sporting my black triple triangle necklace i made for myself. i tried to add a pop of color as i have a hard time leaving the house in all neutrals so i threw on a bright orange lipstick. my ears have been a bit sensitive since i slept with earrings on so they are irritated at the moment. otherwise i would have worn a pair of bright orange studs i bought the other day.

xo,
cb

breakfast and treasures

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

aint nothin' better! this is my serious breakfast face...lets do this!

hope you all had a great weekend! ours was filled with rain rain rain but it didn't get in the way of having a great day off together. tom wasn't feeling great and we had planned to ride our bikes out to the city and with the rain pouring we decided to stay local.

we headed out to get breakfast and i am so very happy that they serve grits at our local diner. it is my favorite thing to eat for breakfast. so warm and creamy.......here is my perfect way to eat them!

first, sprinkle with pepper......next.....

break up bits of bacon and scatter on top of grits...

then place an over easy egg on top and DEVOUR!!!!!!! so so so gooooood. there was a point though that i couldn't stuff anymore in my tummy so i had to call defeat but we will back and i will get my sweet revenge! muaahh!

after our delectable breakfast tom and i headed over to ecothrift, our favorite thrift store. this place is HUGE! they recently just moved into a warehouse so there is tons of space and lots and lots of treasures to be had.

i found this sweet red colander! now just need a tiny one for fruits :)

tom found me this agatha christie book. two of the stories i have read but the others i hadn't. once i am done with the game of thrones books i will be reading them. i love when tom finds me things, best husband ever!

also found this little cutie hiding amongst all the frames. she goes perfectly on the wall across from our bed :) i will be adding the poppie's with the faux bois frame when i get a chance to watercolor & ink it.

i have been really wanting to make a pair of shorts and found this pattern amongst the others. what really sold me was the two tiered shorts. isn't his outfit just fabulous? it deserved a close up picture. i am trying to convince tom to bring this style back but with no avail....maybe i will just surprise him with these bad boys one of these days.

lastly i found this really awesome vintage reversible raincoat for $5!!!!!!! i don't own a rain coat besides my bike cape so i was pretty stoked on finding this. i wore it to go see the girl with the dragon tattoo and this concludes a fabulous day around town.

xo,
cb

p.s. the movie was awesome btw! everyone who hasn't seen it, should. i have been wanting to get a septum piercing for a long time and seeing that movie gave me the courage but still a little worried about it....any thoughts??

bits & pieces of my all girl weekend

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

yay, tomorrow is my day off! hope you are all having a great week and have great plans this weekend. tomorrow tom and i are gonna try to go into the city and spend the rainy day indoors at the de young museum.

last weekend i had a great four day weekend this last weekend. several of my lady friends ventured up to lake tahoe. i tried my hardest to take pictures but it was just not in the cards. there was LOTS of laughter.... and don't ask what is going on in this picture....this one was my favorite of the bunch....

there was a lot of this going on....

a new to me drink called tick tack, which actually tastes like a melted down orange tick tack. it is a shot of mandarin vodka washed down with a red bull. never. again......

lots & lots of eating...i ate an entire wedge of cheese...yes sir i did and my tummy did pay for it later :( sad times......a triple decker burger, it actually fell apart before my friend bit into it....soooo obscene but very necessary.

oh and dinner one night was at a yummy sushi joint. my go to is always sashimi but this was totally something else. look at how HUGE those pieces are!! i got the 16 piece but it was more like 30 piece and just in case you are wondering, i ate all but 2 pieces, pretty pretty proud of myself :O

played a round of blowing but was too excited about the temporary tattoo machine to really concentrate...look at my collection! i got a few more but was nice and shared them.

typically this time of year it is like a winter wonderland but for some reason the north has seen little to no snow, it was pretty sad but it is still really pretty. although at 3AM MONDAY morning we did get a glorious 2 minutes of flurries..i wish i had my camera at that moment, it was pretty sweet.

girl weekends are very necessary to keeping me a sane and a happy lady :D have a great weekend everyone!

xo,
cb

what i wore: tribal school girl ?

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

well, heelllooollo peaches and happy wednesday :) this week is a short week, YAY but it also means i only get one day off but tom and i are gonna make it count! if it rains we have one set of plans and if it doesn't then we have another set of plans...either way it will be good times.

i wore this outfit the other day to work. i got this dress at a thirft store a while back and just love the pattern so much. it feels like a nice basic without really being a basic, catch my drift. since it has been so nice and sunny i thought short sleeves would be great. and you know what...it wasn't that cold either. when i got out of the subway it was actually warm.

i have a hard time layering sometimes, i often feel bulky but this felt really right. it was actually perfect. gloves and a scarf to keep me warm and i was set.

i have been meaning to make myself a black bow and last week i finally did. i am making a custom hat for a buddy close to work and one of the panels is black so i finally made one. i think it adds to the whole school girl feeling i got when i put this outfit together. rarely do i wear bows but a black one just seems like a basic hair accessory i should have and you know what....since making it i have worn is a ton!

what have you made that you are wearing a lot?

oh and don't forget my 20% coupon at my shop for january, use ROCK2012 at check out!
xo,

happy little things #6

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

hello and happy monday! i am on my way back from a girl's weekend up in lake tahoe. will share a bit of our weekend later this week.

it was brought to my attention (thanks emily!) that this month is national tea month! who would have thought. i am a HUGE tea drinker. i drink about 3 or 4 cups of it a day. growing up i had a friend who's mom was really big into tea and that is when my love of tea began. i love all sorts of tea and especially love a good glass of iced tea with lemon on a super hot day!

i switch up the brands every so often and have just recently gotten really into herbal tea. right now i am currently loving these. add a bit of honey and your golden. i also love green tea which is always a classic go to.

for christmas my cousin's gave me a little mix that smells heavenly and once i fix my tea diffuser, the chain broke :(, i can finally try it! i can't wait.

what is your favorite tea?
xo,
cb

revisiting an old friend

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

as i mentioned on monday i had already knocked off two things of my list, one being my new blog design and the other being..........a SURF BOARD!!!!!!

yup, people i got a surfboard...well sort of...this board was actually toms and when we moved to sf back in 2003 he left it with a friend. moving to a small place and having no car made it a bit hard to continue to surf. last weekend we picked it up and since tom just got a new board it is mine, ALL MINE!

it has a few dings that need to get repaired but other then that it is perfect. it is from the 60's and tom bought it while in new zealand which was right before we met :) i can't wait to try it out...now for a wetsuit!!!

if you have ever gone surfing before you know the thrill of it, how exciting it is to catch a wave and speed through the water. how exhilarating it is. i told tom riding a bike and being able to go long distances is really awesome, how amazing that someone's body can move a machine that can propel over hills and mountains but riding a wave is like connecting with mother nature and letting it take you for a magical ride.

i can't wait to get into the cold salty water and feel at peace with nature. don't get me wrong the first day out will be ROUGH. my arms will feel like noodles, i will get totally rocked by the waves, swallow some salt water and probably cry from shear exhaustion but in the end there is nothing else like the feeling of having conquered a wave.

we have an underwater camera and we are both totally so stoked on using it. we think next weekend we will head down to santa cruz and revisit the place we spent most of our weekends long long ago.

oh and a big thanks to kelly-anne for telling me that our friend still had the board!

xo,
cb

what i wore: penny farthing

2012-01-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

hi peaches! hope everyone's week is grand! i can't complain it has been a good week.

this last weekend tom and i went up to see my best friend who was in town and then stopped by kelly anne's house on friday. when i go there i was greeted with gifts!!! i mean who doesn't love that!! we had a really great night which you can see here.

above the gifts that i was given. a penny farthing red pleated skirt, WITH pockets and an owl purse! i feel so so loved! so cute right? both are from target. the shirt i bought a while back from h&m and then hand stamped it which you can see here. i am not crazy about the black cardigan i decided to throw on the last minute but this weather is really throwing me off, i mean it is BANANAS! no rain or snow where there is usually snow. mother nature what is up? don't get me wrong totally loving it but the times are a changin' and not sure if for the better....

anywho, when i was up with kelly-anne, we started dip dying my hair which you can see in the first picture. it was in for an hour and barely got it to where i wanted it and bleaching scares me so we took it out. eventually, i would like to have lavender tips but i am totally digging the bronzy color. it is fun and different and every body needs a little change once in a while.

xo,
cb

a start of a beautiful dream

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

before the year ended i looked back on my year of 2011 and my list of 28 things to do. we had a lot of fun, did new things and basically had a really really great year. for this year i want to make mine and tom's dream start. this is the start of a beautiful dream.

for my new *list* i wanted to make it more goal orientated and do things that make me happy. tom and i someday would like a little family of our own but right now we are just not in the right place. we have dreams of chickens, bees and gardens, a HUGE room for tom to tinker with bikes and a great place for us to have a studio to be creative and happy, not that we aren't already, but to continue on that path of happiness. this is what we want and i am so so happy that we both are on the same wave length.

i have had to work hard for what i have, i am thankful to have had a mother who started me off in the creative world but i have had to work hard on what i do with my creativity, thus my new list for 2012. i wanted to be able to see my goals and fun things to keep us active so i cut out each of them and hung them over my desk so i can be reminded of them each day.

tom and i are adventurous people and we always know how to fun so i have sprinkled the list with a few things i want to do in 2012 but mainly it is a list of goals i want to start and hopefully accomplish in the near future not necessarily within a year. i by no means hold myself to any list. to me a list is like a journal entry, a way to get out all the things in my head. it is also nice to have a reminder of certain things.

my main goal for my future is narrowing down my crafts. i feel like a jack of all trades and not sure yet what i want to focus on. it is kinda daunting, how to begin on that journey?? i am not sure. do i try all types of things and see what works, what gives me the most joy and happiness? often times i get really excited about an idea try it and then move onto the next thing. i think my next step is to write out all the things i enjoy doing and take it from there....i am excited for this journey and i know i can do it, i just have to be patient with myself and take things slowly. like they say, rome wasn't built in a day, if it was well then shit people, i'm screwed. hehe

i can say that i have already checked of two things off my list i made, my new blog design, yay! and another i will post about on thursday!

ALSO, since i am narrowing down my crafts and tattoo design is a HUGE part of what makes me happy, i am now offering tattoo design. check out the link at the top of the page!

don't forget that you can take 20% off my shop the entire month of January!

xo,
cb

its in the details

2012-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

happy friday everyone! please excuse the blog. i am redesigning and there are a couple of things i still need to tweek so please bare with me. just wanted to pop in and let you know that i have kiley from let it be raw photography to tell her a little about herself. she has a great blog full of beautiful pictures she takes with film and a really awesome etsy shop. check it out and say hi!

There are many details in my life that make up who I am today. A lot of these details didn't even seem to be very important or influential at the time, but I know better now. I had a very silly band 7 years ago called Pastel Pasta which I started with 5 of my closest friends. The band was never 5 people, sometimes there would be 2 of us, and one time there was 10 of us. We started the band to make fun of high school by making fun of ourselves.

I apologize for the picture quality, but we never thought to take a picture of all of us in the same room together (FYI I'm the one in the corner playing saxophone at the tender age of 16).

It attracted a lot of people who didn't really know who they were yet as young adults, which was pretty much how the band felt too. Somehow making fun of ourselves and stereotypes in a creative way made growing up easier. It was a detail of my life that opened me to a world of trying new things to figure out who I am, which is why I am in love with photography, play accordion, and am a generally weird but open-minded individual. Here is a sample of the clever silliness of Pastel Pasta on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfANaipJpEU). We don't make new music anymore, but you can here old songs on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/pastelpasta). We use a few bad words on the first song, so be warned XD.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this detail from my life. And thanks to the wonderful Cristie of CB for coming up with such a neat thing to share.

thanks kiley for sharing this really awesome detail about you. we all have gone through finding ourselves at one point in our lives.

xo,
cb

little gardens

2012-01-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

drawing my tattoo designs are one of my favorite things to draw. they make me so happy. a few weeks ago i started doodling some violets and i am pretty set on getting them as my next tattoo, my birthday perhaps? tom has expressed how much he loves my designs and that he would like to see more of them actually drawn out rather then just doodled.

i take his advise very seriously. as an artist i look up to him and respect his opinion. one of the things i love about our relationship is the ability to be able to bounce ideas off each other so while tom was at work i got inspired and got to drawing........ now, i am very unsure about it as i love everything i make, they are all pieces of me so i am attached to them all in a sentimental way so sometimes it is hard for me to step back and critique my own work. does that make sense?

shy violet anyone?

when tom got home that night and looked at what i was making he was amazed and this really touched my heart. for someone whom i look up to artistically to admire my work is truly amazing and damn it, it FELT GOOD.

california poppies

one of my goals (more of that on monday) for this year is to narrow down my crafts to things that make me happy and this is one of them. i want to be able to make things that make me happy as well as support my small little family. i still feel like i am trying to find what that is but i think the first step is making things that make me happy and that are truly me and this feels right! later that weekend i started another design of california poppies. i am using the same frame as my animal portraits and the frame will be a faux wood grain.

don't forget, you can take 20% off my shop the entire month of january :D

xo,
cb

nothing like the smell of ocean air

2012-01-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

welllllll, helllooooo beautifuls!

meet my new little friend, phineus the fish

last weekend tom and i took a little biking date to alameda and explored a bit more of this super cute little city. it is a few towns from where we live and it is an island which used to be a navy base for many years. it is so cute. we are actually looking to either rent or buy a home there.

our trip started off with super yummy burgers at a bar called lucky 13. we were really excited that we found it because we used to go to the lucky 13 in sf all the time. the bar had a photo booth which really put the icing the cake. i think they turned out really cute. tom is SO cute in the first picture, i just can't get over it.

the weather was a bit overcast and it had rained in the early morning so i came prepared. i got a bike rain cape!!!!! isn't she so pretty! it was lightly raining so i put her on. it is really awesome, the hood is perfect and the weight of the material is light and moves really well. it was on sale so i had to have it. i don't own a rain coat so i needed one.

after lunch we headed towards the coast. it was so foggy you couldn't see sf from the beach. it was actually really pretty, so white and eerie. it smelt so good too. we rode along the coast for a bit and then we happened to come across a bowling alley so tom and i decided to play a game.

after a round we got back on the road. the paved bike path ended so we did a little "mountain biking", not really but at times it felt like it. one thing about dirt/sand paths is when there is loose dirty you have to pick a path and ride right through it otherwise you can lose your handling and take a spill. i almost lost it but worked it out.

xo,

all that glitters

2012-01-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

<<<---------happy 2012!!-------->>>

i hope everyone had an excellent time ringing in the new year. nye was a blast, we danced, drank champagne and ate yummy finger food. today was a rough day at work but i pulled through. due to popular demand here are a couple of pictures of my dress that i wore on nye.

tom and i like to call this dress my magican's assistant's dress. it is such a super rad dress. this is the 2nd time i have worn it. i wore it for my bachelorette party two years ago. i wish i had more excuses to wear it. it was the perfect dress to wear on nye. i am finishing up my list/goals for the new year and i am really excited about it. one of them is that tom and i are finally going to start surfing again!!!!!!!!! tom bought the board and this weekend he bought a wetsuit and went surfing on saturday while i was at work. i am really really really really really can not wait! soon i will be getting a wet suit and board, just like old times! hooray!!! 2012 is already looking amazing!

oh and to start the year off right i am offering 20% off in the ol' shop...just use coupon code, ROCK2012.

xo,
cb

cheers to a new year!

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Untitled from cristie burghardt on Vimeo.
i hope everyone rings in the new year with the ones they love. cheers, to a wonderful new year filled with the unknown. this year new years will be celebrated with champagne, dance offs and of course the most fantastic gold lace dress EVER. i am ready for you 2012!
xo,
cb

what i wore: duck duck

2011-12-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

haha, this sweater just makes me smile so much! while late night trolling etsy in bed with tom we happened to come across this sweater and the instant tom saw it he said "you have to have that" so a few clicks later, it was MINE! i love when tom tells me to buy things.

i wore this to the sf renegade craft fair. i raced on over after work on sunday and got there with plenty of time. it was my first time ever going to renegade craft and with al the hype i was a little disappointed. there was some amazing stuff there but after a while some things started to look alike. i did a round to see what there was and when i was done i couldn't remember who was who and what i liked. maybe it was just overload.

i picked up a couple of earrings for myself and a present for a gift exchange i was going to the following day. i would love to go to the spring one next year and really take my time. either way it felt good supporting local indie businesses. i did a good job of not buying anything from large department stores this christmas season.

----> help!! the sweater is a bit big and the knit is chunky and i would like to take it in a bit but i don't want to ruin it, any advice you guys have would be AWESOME, thanks peaches!! <-----

xo,
cb

snippets

2011-12-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

let me first say that it should be made mandatory to have the week off after christmas. one day to spend with family just isn't enough sometimes. christmas eve and christmas day were awesome! i had such a great time at both family celebrations. both different and both excellent in their own ways :)

the night before the festivities, i decided to do some festive nails, this is my rendition.

my brother makes the yummiest appetizers: trix, tuna, chedder cheese topped with a jalapeno. pop those bad boys in the oven and way-la! they literally do not last long when put out.

we played a couple of rounds of scattergories and can you believe this was our first holiday picture as a family? after desert tom and i headed up north to his parents house and called it a night.

we woke up super early on sunday and got down to it! we were all still pretty much asleep, clemie-buns face is priceless and bowie-man's just cracks me up.

kelly-anne made me this deer hat that i had been drooling over for a while and it is so awesome! she loved it so much she made one for herself too! aren't we so cute, hehe. she makes other really awesome hats and when her shop opens up again, you should check em out! what you also can't see is she made me a lace collar and i love it!

we hand make most of our presents and almost every year tom does a drawing for everyone. i showed you what he made us and this is the rest of the family. they turned out so perfect, he is just so amazing!

we got clemie a bamboo log cabin and the men trying to built it. it came with no instructions but they finally got it :) i think they liked it more then she did. hehe

we sat around watching movies in our pj's for the rest of the day and then it was dinner time, dave's famous tacos! tom made him a sign for christmas so we could keep track of how many taco's we eat. the rest of the night was filled with champagne drinking and the boys playing a couple rounds of trivial pursuit and then it was nightie night for us.

i had to work early today so tom's dad made us breakfast and coffee and then were on our way. tom has been saving money for a surfboard and he came back to the shop to surprise me with our newest addition :) now for a wetsuit and we can catch those winter swells! here we come santa cruz!!!!!!!

hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!!

xo,
cb

happy holidays

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

just wanted to pop in and say happy holidays everyone! this is a paper cut out that tom did of us and little crazy rosie. i just LOVE it and think it is sooooo perfect!!

xo,
cb

use what you've got

2011-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

i am very excited that there are only 3 more days till christmas and only 2 days till christmas eve. my family has always celebrated christmas eve which works perfectly with toms family because they celebrate on christmas. two days of family togetherness makes me so happy. really, it is the best present...

speaking of presents i am never one to go get christmas wrapping paper. last year i hand stamped brown paper and this year i am keeping it classy and simple.

i didn't have any string or yarn and the lace i thrifted a while back looks great with the brown paper. also i have a HUGE rosemary bush outside and i cut few a sprigs off to finish off the look and presto, so cute, free & easy!

i also saw this cool idea in sunset magazine and thought it was perfect! i love vintage scarfs and they are always so plentiful at the thrift store so i snagged a few and am using them as wrapping plus they also serve as part of the gift, nifty, no?
---> to wrap, just treat the scarf like wrapping paper, minus the tape. tie both ends in a knot, i doubled mine as the ends were longer then i wanted and you are all set.

this year my family is doing stocking stuffers and since my marmalade didn't make as much as i thought, i used the left over mason jars and cut succulents from my over flowing pot. i am very excited to hand these out.

xo,
cb

what i wore: pea green

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

happy hump day everyone :) just one more day till i am a free little bird and can enjoy 3 days off :)

today is another work outfit and yes people i am totally and utterly obsessed with knee high socks and tights, feel free to judge me but you know when something ain't broke don't fit it, right?

this is an older modcloth dress. i really love it however it is woven and has a few pulls which i can't really do much about, just hope that i don't get anymore :)

the cardigan is a recent purchase from target and i love the color. one of my favorite things about colder weather is busting out my cardigans, i love me a good cardigan, i rarely get rid of them because they are so versatile unless the fit just doesn't suit my body type.

well, christmas presents are almost wrapped up and ready to go, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. tom and i exchanged our stockings last night. it was new for us and i think we are gonna keep doing it and make it a tradition. any traditions that you love to do during the holidays?

xo,
cb

bits & pieces

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

merry monday everyone!well, our weekend was pretty much consumed with christmas, here are bits and peices of our weekend.

---> went to the hardware store to pick up charcoal, soil & mason jars. i wanted to share my outfit for trees, who does a great wardrobe challenge every wednesday and last week her challenge was shorts and i wanted to show her my favorite weekend outfit, shorts with tights!

---> went to a cute local store to pick up some cards and fell in love with some of the decorations and new that brumhilda needed a few things :)

---> had a late breakfast date with tom. scones and cappuccinos are my favorite simple breakfast to devour :)

---> tom is a sign painter at trader joes and often does the holiday windows. he always gets offers for side jobs and a sweet older lady asked tom to do a simple design for her front windows, so i played assistant for a few hours. it turned out really great and later the lady called to tell him how fantastic it was. that warmed my heart <3

---> this was the house across the street from where tom was painting. me want this house

---> rosie being a heater whore and looking so precious in front of our christmas tree made from baby food jars.

---> made some clementine marmalade only to find out i don't like marmalade. it is good but next time i am gonna make a recipe that i like, maybe strawberries and blackberry jam! that's the ticket!

---> made our black bear succulent terrarium. we made another one but it is a present and i don't want to spoil it :)

---> thrifted these amazing 70's ceramic owls, they had just been put on the shelf. pretty much meant for me.

man an i wiped out. i really need to start christmas present earlier! how was your weekend?
xo,
cb

its in the details #4

2011-12-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

happy friday everyone! today is another "its in the details" and today i have the wonderful shawna from poppies and sunshine. she has become a dear blog friend and i am very happy to have her hear and get to know her a bit more, enjoy!

"Here is the view of my drive home. It really is a beautiful drive. In the spring, there are wildflowers everywhere. In the winter you can see the majestic snow capped mountains. In the fall, there is that wonderful golden haze everywhere. And at the moment this picture was taken, there was this cool classic car, which I would love to have!

When I was ten, my family moved, which meant farther away from all my friends and closer to this rustic mountainous area that was completely opposite from the “city girl” I liked to think I was. It took growing up, moving away, then moving back closer to family again to realize that I had the privilege of growing up near an area that people actually took time off from their jobs to vacation to! It just goes to show that change is hard sometimes, but sometimes if we don’t take that first courageous step, we may miss out on a lot of good things. And even though I really didn’t have a choice in the matter of moving at the time, I would have never known of this great area and would have missed out on some really great memories and opportunities that have shaped me into the person I am today."

xo Shawna

2011 is ending, yo

2011-12-15T02:00:00.000-08:00

we only have a handful of days before 2012 is upon. word to the wise, as you get older the years really fly by....i don't like, no sir, i don't. this year has been pretty good to me, i got a lot accomplished, had a lot of fun, became a stronger person, got a new job and have made some really fantastic friends (you know who you are, ladies)

i wanted to take a look at my year and check off my 28 things to do before 2012 list.

now i said i didn't want to hold myself to this list and i didn't but here are the things i got to check off my list!

**created new crafts: my gold rush collection & my illustrations!

**made a bike jersey for tom

**made a bike hat...actually several of them!

**citybirds is now in 2 more shops! yippppeeeeeeeeeee!

**went roller skating and also bought a pair of matching skates!

**planted some poppies but won't know till spring if they survived the cold winter! sorry no picture and really no proof but i swear i did, i really did!

**went on 2 camping trips to the redwoods, oh how i miss you!!! you can read about them here & here

bought a new digital camera, we love you!

i think i did pretty well, there are a couple more i am still going to check off, like go to the renegade craft fair & make a bike tool kit, which hopefully i can show you next week.

i am making a new list for 2012 is here but i want to make it a bit more project orientated and throw in a few more fun adventures for me and tom to go on.

if you made a list how did you do?

xo,
cb

what i wore: back to black

2011-12-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

speaking of back to black, did you guys hear that amy winehouse recored an album before she died and they are gonna release it? could be good, could be bad....really could go either way. aaaaanywho....black is one of the easiest things for me to throw on especially when i am feeling tired and don't want to try, this was one of those days. i am one of those people who also loves mixing black and brown.

once the cold set in, i have become obsessed with over the knee & knee high socks. it brings me back to the 90's & clueless days, my first day of school outfit that was perfectly cher, white knee high socks, a white skirt and some kind of top....my memory is getting fuzzy.

i thought i would include this one because it looks like i am singing you all a little song while i put my jacket on..thanks tom!

my olive colored tights are also quickly becoming another favorite, i feel a bit like the wicked witch of the west but i can totally dig that. i now can not leave the house without one of my huge circle scarfs and gloves. the one i am wearing is a recent purchase from that girl crochet. it is the perfect length and so so soft. me loves it :) oh and by the way my boots are from target :)

xo,
cb

oh christmas...

2011-12-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

CACTUS, oh christmas CACTUS....

so this was the year, the year we finally got our christmas cactus!! i was so excited all week to go to my favorite cactus store, cactus jungle. it is the same place we have gotten most of our succulents and cactus for the house and for our wedding and everything we have gotten from there is so happy. i am always excited about supporting a great local company with great product.

this place is just so truly magical. tom and i could have walked out of the nursery with a crap load of plants if we wanted to but the ol' wallet just isn't big enough.

we walked around and looked at all our options...this guy was so awesome, he looks so much like audrey II from little shop of horrors, FEED ME SEYMOUR!

we snagged one of these cool wall mounted succulents. they give you a blank pot with moss and supply you with all the cuttings. when i got home i placed them in their new home and now we have to wait 2 months till they take root so we can hang it up on the wall, can't wait :)

they had the cutest little terrariums. the hippo was so cute, we bought one for a special father-in-law (yea, thats right dave, its you!) and we bought ourselves a little black bear and we are gonna make little homes for these guys very soon.

we made our purchase and took little brumhilda home with us :) it was a little scary driving home, she was so wobbly, we were worried she was gonna snap but she made it home safely.

her new little home is on top our new awesome dresser, where rosie can not get to her! we made a pit stop at walgreens and picked up some lights to adorn her with. not sure if ornaments will work on her but for now we like her the way she is, all light up and looking sexy. she really is the perfect christmas cactus tree shape, i don't think we could have made a better choice!

xo,
cb

shopping green & local

2011-12-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

hi everyone!

i love etsy. i love shopping it and supporting all the small businesses. when i had seen elsie sport her star wars dress, i knew i had to own a dress from rustycuts. i am a proud owner of the zigzag dress which you can view here and just love it.

the owner of this shop, judith, is really awesome! i know she uses old sheets for most of her dresses and while thrifting one day i found this really awesome mountain range pillow set....it got me thinking...it would look so cute as a dress! i emailed judith and she was totally happy to make a dress for me.

i sent her a package with my pillowcase and she made me this amazing dress! what is more awesome then a custom dress and having a bit of a hand in designing it! i am a HUGE sucker for scoop backs, i love showing off my back and peeks of my tattoos. to add to this awesome mix she is a local sf designer <3 we tried to meet up so we could both save on postage but our schedules never worked so i never got to meet her :( i always keep an out for sheets when thrifting so i can send her more orders in the future. i love upcycling just as much as i love supporting small business :)

remember when shopping etsy you can always search for local designers in your home town! by shopping local you are supporting your community and if they upcycle, even better! a great way to stay green and fashionable!

xo,
cb

what i wore: spearmint

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

hello!

wow, i can't believe that it is december already! so little time and so many gifts to make! hope you are all ahead of the game and not like me waiting for the last minute!

this outfit i wore this last sunday to work. one of the great things about blogging is being inspired by others. katie from katie's pencil box did just that. my outfit was inspired by this amazing yet simple ensemble. i knew i had the right things in my closet to make it work. with such a small closet i can't go super crazy in the clothes department so one of my favorite things is to read blogs and get inspired by all the amazing creative people out there in hopes to rejuvenate my closet and get inspired without having to spend a bunch of cash.

plus since i ride my bike i want to feel cute and show others that spandex isn't what everyone should wear while on two wheels. i am also sporting my favorite papersparrow necklace that my sister-in-law bought me and as some of you might know i also have the narwhal pouch where i keep all my lipstick goodies :D

the day started off great but the moment i got off the train my back tire got a flat. i had no flat repair kit with me and the bike store on the way to work was closed on sunday, whats a girl to do!!! well i walked my ass to the closest bike shop after work and got everything fixed and now kiki is riding perfectly!

now to make a bike kit for myself!

xo,
cb

and then there were none

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

its already monday? what in the what?!?! well my weekend flew by! i want to say hi to all my new followers, HI! thanks so much for joining me and i can't wait to get to know you all!

well, i didn't get much of a weekend, but i did really enjoy my time. friday i worked instead of having the day off because friday night my work was having a holiday party and they wanted me to sell my creations so i totally jumped at the chance. here is a little peak into where i work. i really love the shop so much!

the discs are my co-workers art. these little guys are so cute and i just love seeing them on the wall every day. kelly dreyfuss is her name and she does some really great work! once the party stated it got really crazy at the shop, drinks were flowing and everyone was having a great time :D

saturday tom and i woke up bright and early to go to my last craft show. it was soooo windy which made it really hard to ride our bikes but it was so nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

the wind died down and all went really well at the craft fair! since i had left my suitcase display at kelly-anne's house and we weren't able to go up and pick it up, my co-worker gave me her wood displays she had made a few years back and they worked out perfectly! they were really really great and i am so thankful to have such a great friend and co-worker.

after the show tom and i had a beer to celebrate and i popped into my favorite shop, pretty penny and picked up this sweet new cape! tom had spied it for me, he knows me so well! later that night i met up with my cousin and sister -in-law for sushi and breaking dawn, such a horrible guilty pleasure and if anyone cares, the books are waaaaaaay better then the movies!

my new cape!!!!

well, a nice weight is off my shoulder now. i am meeting with two other shops who are gonna carry my jewelry so i need to finish up a couple things for my meetings with them this week :D

hope you all had a great weekend. did you go to any craft fairs this weekend?

happy little things #5

2011-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

happy friday everyone! hope you all have some fun things planned for this weekend!

when tom and i came back from our thanksbacon weekend, our angel trumpet free had gone crazy! it had so many blossoms which always makes me so happy. i fell in love with this tree the day we went to see the house for the first time. it was so amazing.

when we went on our honeymoon and came back our neighbors had totally trimmed the crap out of it and it looked so so sad, they were trying to kill it but i have expressed my love for it over the months so they haven't tried to kill it since.

it is the first thing i see coming out of the house and at night it is when it smells it's best! it is a really soft sweet smell and i wish i could some how bottle it up and send to each of you.

i have a very busy next two days. tonight i have a show at my shop that i work at and then saturday is my big craft show at my old college, cca. if your a local i would love for you to come visit!
xo,
cb

one down two more to go!

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

hey everybody! hope everyone's week is going well! here is another bit of my weekend. sunday i had a craft fair in berkley at a punk rock venue put on by rock paper scissor collective. i have been to this venue before to see some punk bands. tom was in a punk band for a few years so naturally i kinda got into the music too.

we drove down from kelly-anne's house early on sunday morning and tom dropped my off and he went off to work. i was super super sad because i had left my suitcase display that i had made at her house...i may or may not have cried.....

i was sharing a table with a really awesome lady, marian whom i met through this here blog! she is a graphic designer and fellow biker and she had told me about this craft show. it was our first time meeting so of course i was nervous about meeting on top of being nervous about the show. check out marian's shop! we did a trade and i scored one of her really really cute calendars! her friend phoebe also sold some of her work too. she does great letter press work and also does custom work on her etsy shop!

it actually worked out that i didn't need the suitcase display as we were sharing a table and it wouldn't have fit. i made do with what i had and i think my table looked really cute. both marian & my table really stuck out, since it was a punk rock venue it wasn't really our target audience but we both did really really well and i was really happy with result and would totally do the show again next year!

i actually met with rock paper scissor collective and i am selling my things there! i am busting out a bunch of items and sending them a little package as you read this. i love this time of year as stressful as it might be i like being busy and feeling that my work is making other people happy.

if you missed it, my animal portaits are now for sale as prints in my shop!! i am super pumped about it! :D
xo,
cb

so proud

2011-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

happy wednesday everyone! here is another part of our weekend. tom was in a cyclocross race which is basically dirt bike racing but on a road bike! it was super awesome and i am so so so proud of him for stepping outside his comfort zone and participating in this race and not to mention coming in 20th out of 35! he did so awesome and it was fun to be actually able to cheer him on. usually the other rides he has been a part of are not very spectator friendly so this was a real treat.

it was a super foggy and a cold day but his parents went with me to support him. tom got right up to the front of the start line and then they were off. it was so much fun also seeing him pass people on the course.

after the race his bike was caked in mud and we took it to a self serve car wash so that he could power wash all the dirt off.

uh, just do darn proud of him. he has totally inspired me to go outside my comfort zone. but would i do this type of racing?? hmmm maaaybe, it is totally brutal but looks fun...maybe some day.

i made a little video of him riding. sorry for my shrill voice and yes the last clip is of me yelling :D

what have you done before that got you out of your comfort zone?

xo,
cb

a little mini shop shout out!

2011-11-28T20:51:00.001-08:00

hey guys! i wanted to pop in and let you know that i updated the little ol' shop! i have made professional digital prints of my animal portraits!

they are printed on acid free heavy cardstock on 8.5"x11 paper. the printed image is approx 5 3/4" x 8" and i have tons in stock ready to ship! get your favorite character today and once i have a bit more time i will get to more of my illustrations and get prints of those too!

oh and they make super cute gifts! check out the rest here.

xo,
cb

a little peek in to our thanksgiving weekend!

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

hi peaches! how was everyone's weekend? for those of you in america i hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving and at LEAST gained 10lbs! hehe, i know i did! it was glorious and so so worth it!

tom is the one on the left and i'm on the right.

tom and i left wednesday night the moment i got off work and headed straight to kelly-anne's house and clementine is always soo happy to see us. she made us block portraits...i think they look pretty accurate, no? hehe

and then uncle tom gave her a ride around the living room. it makes my heart melt when i see them play together. tom is gonna make one fantastic dad!

the next day we all got fancied up and headed over to tom's side of the family where we hung out for a bit and caught up with family. we then headed back to kelly's so we could eat what we like to call "thanksbacon". we made it up last year, it came from a conversation kelly & i were having and every dish had to have bacon in it and we had so much fun last year with it that we did pretty much the same thing this year! the turkey wore a nice warm woven sweater of bacon which kept it super juicy.

kelly-anne makes the BEST water chestnut wrapped bacon appetizers....they didn't last long...

i was in charge of the veggies this year and the pumpkin pie :D i was so excited when tom came home with a stalk of brussel sprouts!

with thanksbacons comes champagne...those two pretty much go hand in hand.... if they ever make bacon flavored champagne my life may be complete.

i really out did myself this year...literally, moments after stuffing myself, i feel asleep on toms shoulder for a good 10 minutes...that tryptophan really did a number on me!

we were all pretty much slugs for the rest of the night but we all managed to eat pie somehow...i am not sure were it went but i put it in my mouth and it was good.

the rest of the weekend was spent eating, being awesomely lazy and hanging out with the little nuggets.bowie loved helping me scroll on the ipad. i couldn't complain because he is so darn cute and just really the happiest little man.

we had a really great weekend and still more to come!
xo,
cb

its in the details #3

2011-11-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

happy friday and post thanksgiving everyone! i hope you all stuffed yourself silly. today i am permanently sitting on the couch for the next 24 hours and rubbing my food baby belly. here today is jordan from trailer gypsy to share with you a little detail!

I saw this painting in a piazza in Rome on the second day of a trip to Europe to celebrate my mom and Aunt's 50th birthdays and I knew I just had to have it. I haggled with the street vendor/artist for a little while and then he rolled the painting up and off I went. Little did I realize at the time that it was too long to fit in my luggage and I'd end up carrying that thing all over Italy and then in France as well. It was the only thing I felt really connected to on that trip and is pretty much the only souvenir I returned with. My brother had it wet mounted for me for Christmas one year and that painting has gone with me to every crappy little apartment I've lived in the last 5 years. The reason the painting means so much to me is that it reminds me of my family and the nice things we do for each other. Right now I have it propped up against the wall, atop a little red table that we use as a catch-all. Everyday as I head out the door I pass my painting and am so thankful to have such an amazing family.

thanks jordan for sharing with us!
xo,
cb

and a happy thanksgiving to you!

2011-11-24T03:00:00.000-08:00

happy thanksgiving everyone!! i hope you all enjoy what this wonderful holiday has to offer. we are up north hanging with kelly-anne and the nuggets and enjoying thanksbacon!

we have a great weekend planned. tom is going to be in a bike race and i have my first of three craft shows on sunday. please send some good luck vibes for tom and i won't turn down any if you throw some of that luck my way! can't wait to tell you all how it goes!

now off to go get stuffed! hehe
xo,
cb

nothings better then a bit o' film

2011-11-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

hi! just one more day till turkey day, the greatest bestest holiday EVER! really what could be better then celebrating with family and eating tons of food? none then i can see but......film does come pretty close to this.

we finally got the roll of film developed that we took with us on our little getaway. here are some that i thought turned out really nice

seeing these makes me want to take more film pictures. we used to take only film but now with our digital camera it has been so much easier to just download pictures and not to mention it is free but there is nothing like a beautiful surprise when you get film back.

xo,
cb

getting out and getting wet

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

hey lovelies! happy monday to you all. hope everyone had a great weekend. we had another quiet weekend but it was so so nice and we both have been getting a lot done. what with christmas coming and my craft fairs, i am totally content with the quiet weekends at home but we needed to get out. we both were wanting to get some excerise so tom and i pulled out gilbert and went on a country ride.

the leaves are finally changing and falling like snow. it was so incredibly cold and the sky was threatening to rain so we brought rain gear just in case.

there were so many beautiful trees on the ride bursting with color. some of the maples looked like they were going to catch fire they were so red!

i have mentioned before that whenever tom and i ride gilbert we see turkeys, well on this ride we saw four different groups of about 10 or more turkeys! it was pretty awesome oh and to top it off someone had a llama in their front yard! you can see his little llama butt through the fence, hehe

on the way back we did get caught in the rain but thankfully it didn't last very long and when we got home we both took the hottest bath to warm our numb toes and fingers....oh by the way all you tom wearing ladies, toms are NOT great for stormy weather...they get wet........ O_O

in other news we celebrated toms birthday on saturday, he met me at work and we went to one of our favorite bars/resturants and enjoyed yummy pizza and beers then headed over to a show to see the infamous string dusters. they are incredible and that may not even be the right word to describe these guys. they ooze amazinginess and really to see them live is such a treat! their music just makes you want to grab your partner and do-se-do and you really can't help but bob up and down to the music...so without further ado...for your picking pleasure...

xo,
cb

happy little things #4

2011-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

well happy friday to you all, a perfect day to do a little happy little things!
i have been on the search for a very very long time to find the perfect orange lipstick. lipstick is a favorite thing of mine. when your having a bad day and feeling blue, put a little lipstick on and instantly you feel so much better! it makes me feel sassy, and let me tell you, i like sass... a lot!

left: orange flip, right: siren

my papersparrow lipstick bag! isnt it so cute!

the other day i was at walgreens doing a little shopping and i stumbled across these beauties! i may have fallen in love. both are perfect shades of orange and both are from revelon.

revelon, thank you for your genius minds and producing two very very awesome orange lipsticks for me covet. my lips and me, thank you.

xo,
cb

a green post: upcycled legwarmers with ashley!

2011-11-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! My name is Ashley and I share little tidbits of my life, crafts, photography and my story of navigating the inevitable Quarter Life Crisis over at A Bird Out of Water. I love Cristie's blog and was so excited when she asked me if I would be interested in sharing a 'green' diy! Today I am going to show you how to upcycle an old, well-loved sweater into a cute pair of leg warmers!

Perfect for Fall, these look super cute on their own, but my favorite look is peeking out from your favorite pair of boots. The best part is, in addition to using items we all probably have on hand, this project seriously will take you under an hour and maybe even less if you are using a sewing machine!

Supplies:

Old Sweater
Trim
Scissors
Pins
Thread
Sewing Machine (or needle if sewing by hand)

Above are a few examples of some cute trim I considered. I opted for the lace for a girly and slightly folksy feel, but the possibilities are endless!

1. Start by cutting off the sleeves of your sweater. I would recommend giving yourself as much fabric as possible to work with. Once I cut both my sleeves off I layered one on top of the other and cut across the top making sure they were even.

2. Once you have your sleeves cut to your desired length, turn them inside out and fold over about a half inch seam. Pin your trim to the outside along this folded edge (which will be inside the leg warmer once finished, giving you a nice clean look). You should wind up with two pieces that look like this below...

3. Now you are ready to sew! I chose to use my sewing machine which really sped things up but you could totally sew these by hand. Sew along the edge of the lace, staying fairly close to the outer edge. You'll also want to start and finish with several back stitches to secure your seam if you are using a machine.

4. The last step is to simply turn right side out, slide 'em on and look super cute!

Don't mind my funny looking toes! ;)

This fun and super easy diy is a great green craft to add a little pizazz to your Fall wardrobe or even as a homemade Christmas gift! Plus you are saving a piece of clothing from winding up in the landfill which is always a great thing. Hope you guys have fun, and please stop over to say hi and share your leg warmers over at A Bird Out of Water! Thanks again Cristie!

thanks soooo much ashley for sharing this really awesome and super cute green diy! these are gonna be so much fun to make!
xo,
cb

a trip to the hardware store

2011-11-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

happy frinesday!

well our weekend was very crafty and we both got a lot done. since we had rearranged things we needed a couple of things at the hardware store and i needed to pick up some things for my new suitcase! which by the way the orange one i found was horribly moldy inside and it didn't want to zip or up stand up straight so i would have been a sad display. but i wasn't discouraged because at one of the thrift stores i found this perfectly wonderful beaut!

it rained pretty much all friday but once it stopped we rode over to the hardware store. we were there for waaay too long! i have never been at a hardware store for so long but it ended up being such a fruitful trip, they even have laundry detergent and sponges, who would have thought! oh and much needed lobster mitts!

the top i am wearing is one i got from the thrift store the previous day, i love it and any excuse to wear my favorite pants is okay with me!

once we unpacked we got to cutting. tom helped a lot with the cutting, thanks baby! he did a great job and it is always fun working with him. he cut out the contact paper in the same shape as the inside of the suitcase and then we mounted it on foamcore to avoid wrinkles, plus it made it easier to screw the hooks in.

we hot glued the foamcore onto the suitcase. the fabric divider i kept because as things sell i can re-arrange my things and close off one portion of the display. i added lace to secure the divider in place when it isn't needed. snaps hold it in place so the lace can be easily taken off and put on. then i laid out my pieces and played with merchandising it. when i was satisfied i popped the hooks in.

it was hard to take a good picture of it but you get the point. i am really stoked on it and think it will be really great once in action. i am actually really looking forward to my craft fairs!

OH and for those of you who wanted to know more about my pumpkin pancakes, head on over to amy's blog!

xo,
cb

just can't stop

2011-11-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

well hello everyone and happy monday! how was everyone's weekend?

tom and did some more thrifting. i found a bunch of tops which always makes me happy and a pumpkin pie dish! i can't wait to use it this thanksgiving :D

we have the nesting bug or something because this weekend we re-rearranged the front room, literally flipped the couch to sit in front of our salon art wall and WHAM!, it became a whole different room! whilst listening to some vinyl and enjoying our *new* room we just couldn't get over why it took us 2 years to move the couch over a couple inches...it really makes life so much more wonderful and enjoyable! it really is the little things in life that make it that much sweeter <3

while gazing upon the kitchen from my new favorite spot i realized how ugly our little kitchen window was and it needed to get fixed...so i dug around in my fabric basket and dug out some fabric we both agreed would look perfect....

and the next day i got down to business on making some curtains. these were the first pair i have ever made and didn't look up how to make them; it seemed simple enough and you know it really was! i can't tell you how much fun it was to make them and how satisfying it was. a while back i picked up a grab bag of lace from the thrift store and used a bit as tie backs for our new tiny curtains. now from my new favorite spot i can gaze upon my own crafting genius and feel a sense of accomplishment, yay me :D

xo,
cb

its in the details #2

2011-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

happy friday peaches! today is another in the details and i am very happy to have ruth from lavendar biscuit to share with us a little part of her everyday. ruth is such an awesome lady, a sweet blog friend and a wonderful support to citybirds, i am very happy to call her friend :) take it away!

This little frog sits on the chest of drawers in my bedroom, where I can see him

everyday.

When he was new, back in the 1950’s I believe, he was full of a solid perfume. You

can still smell it slightly all these years later. He belonged to my Grandma, and I was

fascinated by him. Whenever I visited her house as a very small girl, I was allowed to

hold him & smell the last little bits of perfume within.

Seeing him everyday brings a smile to my face as I remember my beloved Grandma,

and smelling that perfume just takes me right back to being a little girl again …

Grandma taking the time to whisk me some chocolate milk (I’ve never been able to

recreate it), spending hours playing make-believe with me, walking my brother & me

to the local newsagents for treats & realising she still had her slippers on J, singing

me to sleep with “On Richmond Hill” (her favourite old-english song), and when I

stayed overnight & woke up scared, she would wake to my touch saying “I thought

there was an angel touching my face”.

She was the sweetest and kindest lady to everyone and I’ve been missing her every

day for the last 24 years. Seeing her beautiful little frog every day reminds me that

she’s still with me, here in my heart. x

thank you so much ruth for sharing such a wonderful and sweet memory of someone you love. i am sure we all have something in our lives that reminds us of someone we have loved and lost. a reminder to us all that we never fully lose the ones that have touched our hearts.

xo,

gearing up

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

well it is that time of year when i am gearing up for the christmas craft fairs. this year i am gonna shoot for 3!! i am feeling really good about it. the only thing is that i have to put aside personal projects in order to get things finished up on time but once everything is done i will start up on the things i have put on hold like, my cape, bike bags and who can forget christmas presents too! eep!

i have drawings sketched out and have a bunch of new gold rush items almost complete too just need to finish up final drawings and put the finishing touches on some more things. i thought i would show you the first drawing i finished....he is a hedgehog requested by the cute and wonderful, kelly kronic!

his name is mr. humprey. i am still working out his back story but i think he most likely went to boarding school where he learned how to fence but was never any good at it. he mostly liked to cuddle up with a good book and be sucked into the wonderful adventures to faraway lands where he could pretend to be brave....something like that :)

in other amazing news i found a suitcase!! i am super stoked. my landlord, who has the most amazing vintage taste, was throwing away a bunch of things and wednesday morning i found it in front of the garbage just waiting for me! it needs some love but i think it will work for my display. if all goes well i will be showing you next week! wish me luck!

xo,
cb

a cold autumn day

2011-11-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

hi everyone!

well fall is finally here on the west coast. the cold came out to play after a longer then expected indian summer, how i miss it already. after our running around on friday, we needed to eat so tom and i road our bikes to a cafe in down town hayward and enjoyed the sun, a couple of beers and sandwiches. it was really nice.

i found this shirt the other day and really love the little pattern on it. i have a soft spot for button up shirts and with the combination of the 70's pattern it really fits in my style. since it was so cold i had to through on my favorite velvet jacket and fingerless gloves.

our little city has some charm, you just need to go out and find it and as we passed by lucky's tom thought this wall was pretty so we stopped. i really love the color, it really sums up the day, a cold perfect autumn day.

also check out a guest i did over at with a chance of!

xo,
cb

improving the nest

2011-11-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

hi all you cuties out there! thank you for all your kind words about my little doodle i did for so paurve! i wish i could all be your pen pals :)

isnt our heater so pretty! hehe

we had a really great weekend, nice and quiet and did a bit of thrifting. we started our day off together with homemade pumpkin pancakes!!!! they were delicious and i pretty much want to eat them every morning!! like thin bits of pumpkin pie for breakfast...nothing can be better right?

of course whenever i go thrifting with a plan, i never end up finding what i actually need, it just doesn't work that way. i am currently on the hunt for a suitcase for my up coming craft fair and of course came up empty this time around but for the longest time i have been looking out for a dresser and friday was the day my world was completed. ikea is great for some things but really when it comes to quality ikea just really isnt what you think of first. we had a tall skinny dresser that was falling apart, literally and each time we put laundry away one of the shelves would fall off and the towels and clothes would end up in a pile on the floor. as if folding and putting laundry away isn't enough. we cursed that dresser every day, plus it was butt ass ugly but it served a purpose so of course we kept it...until NOW!

well as we entered the thrift store and turned the corner, out popped the cutest painted turquoise dresser. it was the perfect size and color and made out of WOOD, not ply wood or particle board but REAL honest to goodness wood, with dovetail joints and a scalloped carved bottom. it needs a little love but we just love it in the space. plus it opened up space on the wall for more decoration. i am really really happy with it and it really adds to the room making it more cheery and bright. we are both so in love with it!

thank you thrifing gods for shining your thrifting grace on us, we thank you and good bye ugly ikea dresser!
xo,
cb

its in the details #1

2011-11-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

hi ya'll! today i am bringing you a brand new series i am starting called "its in the details". this new little series is basically a little post on the small details that make up our lives but are a huge part of our everyday lives they may not seem very important at moments but make up a huge part of who you are. its a great way to get to know each other on a bit more personal level.
i am super excited to start off this series with one of my favorite bloggers, amy morby from a is for ampersand. check out her... in the details!

This is a small part of my record player. My husband surprised me last Christmas with an amazing vinyl setup--a turntable, vintage receiver, and beautiful vintage speakers. As someone that requires music to function, it was the best present I ever could have asked for. I use this record player daily--I turn it on while i get ready for the day, and it's usually playing vinyl tunes all night while I blog, work on freelance designs, or sew.

Music is my life and has always played a monumental role no matter what stage of life I'm in. I As cheesy as it sounds, I wouldn't be the person I am today without my music--in a way, music taught me how to design, made me a better designer, and continues to inspire me daily to design and live a creative life. I firmly believe a life without music just isn't worth living. :)

thanks amy! as crafters we all know how important music can be while we busy away with our hands! if you want to be a part of this fun new series email me at ccpb83(at)gmail(dot)com

have a great weekend everyone!

xo,

a different kind of snail mail....

2011-11-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

hi! a bit ago my buddy, future band mate & roller rink/ bar co-owner, alicia from so paurve asked if anyone wanted to be her pen pal and i of course signed up! i told her i wasn't super great at being a pen pal, i actually really hate writing because as i write my handwriting gets less and less legible so i told her to make up for it i would send her special hand made drawings in the form of a post card....this was the first one!

i have a couple more roughly sketched out and will show you once they are complete and sent out! sending mail out has never been so fun!

xo,
cb

a little lace and a pop of color

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

well hello and happy frisnesday AND dia de los muertos day!!

i fell like i haven't done a bike chic outfit in some time. the weather here has been really awesome. our indian summer is really giving the fall season a run for its money. cold mornings but by 11 it is nice and warm out. since my tattoo is still healing and tights clothes around my arms isn't an option, tank tops and shirts have been working out really nicely.

the top i am wearing is one of the tops i was telling you about. here is its original state:

i am not a fan of puffy shoulders, i just don't feel me in them so i seam ripped the sleeves off and hemmed up the sides and i am very very happy with my new shirt! the lace collar is just way too cute that i couldn't pass it up and i am glad i didn't.

this skirt is one of my favorites. it may not be the best skirt to ride in but i figured it out. good thing it is long cause hiking it up was very necessary but with tights on underneath it didn't really matter. great thing about fall is tight season and getting away with wearing shorting dresses and skirts while biking!

**check out the giveaway i am hosting on the near sighted owl, it's rachele's birthday today and she is having a birthday bash blog party!! go and wish her the best birthday ever! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET PEA!!

hope you all have a fantastic day!!
xo,
cb

a happy halloween to you!

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

man did this holiday creep up on us! i am a little sad that we didn't dress up or carve any pumpkins this year, we just kept putting it off until it literally hit us in the face and we were so tired from the weekend and had to work on sunday that an all night party was not in the cards for us

BUT we did have a BLAST this weekend with kelly-anne. the weekend was filled with SOOOO many white russians, an unnecessary run to 7 eleven for champagne which was regretted the next day, watched a bunch of scary movies, including, ugly americans, the new show, grimm and ate a crap load of tacos to soak up the hungover blues away. it was an awesome weekend and i miss kelly-anne and the nuggets so much!

xo,
cb

happy little things #3

2011-10-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

in the spirit of halloween and all things scary as hell... i just needed to share this with you all...........

largest human centipede...EVER! the head of the centipede though is the winner of this gem....

this is totally messed up and tom and i have been crying over these pictures for days, we can't get enough. these are just a few of them....you can see the rest and be obsessed as we are here. if you live in the niagara falls area, please pretty please go for me?

have a great weekend! we are headed up too see our little nuggets and get some much needed family lovin'
xo,
cb

too big, no sweat! a green diy!

2011-10-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

well, hello everybody! and welcome to a fun little green diy today. i have been waiting to post this guy for a while now because i am super EXCITED about it. it was a big hooray moment for me when i finished and i felt super duper proud of myself too! i love those little moments in life :)

well a while back tom and i cleaned out our dinky little closet and we were getting rid of unwanted clothes and he was going to get rid of this really cute buffalo shirt that i adored! sadly it was waaay too big for me, way too long, the sleeves were saggy and i always like a good tee to be a bit snug around my torso....so it got me thinking....i can totally fix this!

first i measured myself and with chalk started putting my cut lines on the shirt keeping in mind the seams. then i got to cutting and sewing. as you all know i am a HUGE fan of collars aaaand peter pan collars are my favorite so i had to add one to this guy to make it that extra bit of girlie cuteness.

i found a tutorial on line (this one was great and i LOVE the shape of the collar too), used some old black fabric i had laying around and got to cutting and sewing and my too big buffalo shirt became.....

i am totally in love with it!! it is the perfect mix of funky and trendy, which is what i really like about my own personal style. i have two other items that i am fixing at the moment and will share those as soon as they are ready. i feel like i haven't made so much stuff for myself in a long time and i really LOVE it! any reason why i love being a crazy craft lady :)

also check out this lovely on shannon's blog! so cute!!

craft on...

xo,
cb

mini shop shout out!

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

well it is about that time, dia de los muertos time that is and perfecting timing too! i just updated the shop with a couple of dia de los muertos hand painted hair clips, pins and a pair of earrings. they were really fun to paint and of course kept a hair clip to sport for myself too! one of the perks of being a shop owner and creative mad women, no?

check out the rest here!

don't forget 15% off in the shop till oct. 31st and use code SOINLOVE. enjoy!!

xo,
cb

a true california day

2011-10-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

hi peaches! hope everyone had a great weekend <3 as always ours went by way to fast but what can you do. i got a lot of things done on thursday and was very happy with myself too :) i will be updating my shop with a small hand full of cute day of the dead pins & hair clips that i made a while back with kelly-anne, i'm really happy with them.

in other news friday was an awesome day! the weather here has been SUPER nice and the indian summer has been lingering longer then expected to my happiness. my tattoo appointment was later in the day so we look our time and got to the appointment early to enjoy a nice cup of joe. sam, my tattoo artist wasn't ready so we walked around our old stomping grounds.

the most AWESOME surf shop EVER!!!

days like this in the city make tom and i want to move back. the sunset district is one of my favorite areas in sf, it feels distant from the city, a bit more quiet but still has the city vibe. you forget that days like this in the sunset though are far and few. 99% of the time the sunset is foggy but that has its advantages too...

succulents grow like weeds here! they LOVE the sunset and rightfully so. we headed out to the beach to watch the waves, it was beautiful! we headed back and got down to inking. sam is really the best tattooist EVER. something about her makes getting inked so painless, really. they have never really hurt and i have know a few people who have been tattooed by her and say the same thing. it isn't extremely fun to be poked by a needle but somehow she makes it feel like a walk in the park. i think she is a wizard or something...

so i didn't get the poppies, just the quail and i couldn't be more in love with him!!! i absolutley just LOVE LOVE him! he is perfectly plump!!! i just need to figure out a proper name for him. i am trying to think of a "california name" if that is a such thing but i also want it to go with harvey, my jay.

oh and he got touched up too! since my little fatty quail was so heavy textured i wanted to balance both my arms out so we added a bit of black to his head. i think i might add a bit more to even him out but i like the result so far!

since the poppies were too big and i didn't want to reduce the size, i need to design a smaller flower to fill in the blank spots. i also want to add a mushroom some where. i have a native california flower in mind and will for sure be calling sam to get another tattoo in about 6 months...so far that has been the trend, every six months... and i like it that way :) well, time to start planning for the next bit!!

xo,
cb

happy little things #2

2011-10-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

oh man i had a hard time sleeping last night because today is my TATTOO appointment, yay!! today at 3pm pacific standard time i will be getting inked and i couldn't be more happy.

well what could also make my heart swell is tom and his amazing thoughtfulness. for our 10 year anniversary he got me a ring i had been lusting over for sooooo long. he got it from here, colby june, a wonderful little etsy shop and her jewelry is AMAZING! when we were getting married i was looking for something different and wasn't sure what i wanted, until i found this 1940's aquamarine ring from a vintage stall at the vintage expo, i died when i tried it and i think my new little addition works really really well with it.

he has my hand and my heart.

enjoy your weekend everyone! can't wait to share my newest addition!
xo,
cb

a green post: canning with jordan!

2011-10-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! i am more then thrilled to have jordan here from trailer gypsy here to talk about canning! i have had first hand experience in tasting her yummy canned goodies and i really really want to try my hand at it too! so many wonderful advantages come with making your own canned food, not to mention it saves you money and it is always always nice to have a cupboard filled of yummy treats. well before i take up too much of your time....here is jordan!

Hi guys, I'm Jordan from Trailer Gypsy and cb invited me here today to talk about home canning or "putting up". I had canned in the past, as a child, and then once in college I made raspberry jam as gifts for my family but I had never canned with the intention to use what I put up to eat throughout the entire year. In March my boyfriend and I moved from the SLC area to a small farming community in Idaho. This town has been a breath of fresh air for us. One of the first things I noticed about the area was all of the vacant produce stands and snow covered orchards that would be brimming over with fresh produce come Spring and Summer. A little plan hatched in my head to can as much fresh local produce as I possibly could. I also planted my own garden to pull from.

Raspberry Jam, Sour Cherry Jam

I got to work digging out old canning books my Auntie had given me and thrifting for jars. I signed up for the local orchard's newsletter, watched craigslist for people selling produce, and tended my own garden. The season started off slowly with pickled asparagus but then as berries began to ripen and cherries were everywhere, my canning got into full swing and it hasn't let up. In fact, I think this is the busiest I've been with tomatoes being ready right now. I've learned so much this year and found something I'm passionate about in the process.

Pickled Asparagus

Not only is canning a great way to preserve the season, but it's also really green as you're procuring produce locally. Nothing is being shipped across the country, or from out of the country for that matter, and usually when you're buying from local family farms, you have a much higher chance of finding organic produce. I like to use heirloom seeds in my garden and I never use any chemicals on my plants. I know what I'm feeding to friends and family is healthy and natural. I love the fact that it isn't full of weird ingredients I can't pronounce and high fructose corn syrup.

Slow Burn Relish, Tomato Sauce, Plum Jam, Plum Butter, Pear Ketchup

Canning is growing in popularity and yet there is still a misconception that it is difficult and unsafe. If you know the general rules for canning, it's very safe. It's one of those things though where you can't bend the rules, if you abide by them, you won't have a problem. There are great websites and guides out there to get you started. If you're interested, here is a post on how to begin canning, it covers where to get your supplies, how to find out about the process and safe recipes, and where to locate produce in your area.

I feel a sense of accomplishment when I hear the little clicking sound that indicates a jar has sealed. Not only do I use this food for my own little family but I gift it to friends and loved ones too. Even if canning isn't something you are interested in, I urge you to try some other food preservation methods like freezing or dehydrating because there is nothing better than a little taste of summer when you're surrounded by snow and shivering your butt off.

My work in progress canning cellar.

Water bath canning is what I do the most of, and it's great for jams, pickles, and low acid foods. Last month I was able to purchase a pressure canner and I can't wait to can all kinds of low acid veggies next summer, in addition to fish! I know that when a lot of people think of canning they think of jam, but there is a whole world of canning out there, with lots of interesting recipes including things like kimchi, pear ketchup, pickled watermelon rinds, and salmon.I hope I've made canning sound awesome, because it is and you should definitely try it! Oh, and you can even make booze.

thanks so much jordan for sharing and inspiring all of us to want to try out canning! such an awesome traditional way to be green!

oh and don't forget to check out these other ladies green posts!!

***AWESOME terrarium diy over at a lost feather

***really really cute simple wardrobe update from lo at little something from little lo hood

xo,
cb

the sun must set

2011-10-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

*sigh* the sun is setting earlier, having to use my lights now on my way home and getting ready for the rainy season to set in. i am a california girl born and raised and already i am missing the sun kissed rides in nothing but a sun dress. days that take forever to end and that humbling feeling that tomorrow the sun will be right back where i like it to be, warm and bright and on my skin.

don't get me wrong, i love fall, the smell of the wet earth, the warm orange lighting, pumpkin pie and not to mention my all time favorite holiday, thanksgiving, but i often dream of a land where summer is eternal and rain is far and few.

where dreams come true, everything is possible and fantasy is my reality. what i have always loved about myself is my imagination. it takes me to some incredible places. i grew up a book worm, falling asleep while reading about far away lands and always wanting to be older so that i could explore those fantasies.

now that i am older i have realized that adventuring has taken on a different form not the fantasy i dreamed of and exploring has become internal. realizing that i can make my fantasies come true if i let them but in different ways then what i thought when i was little. i feel as adults we are told to live in the reality, what is real and true but i never want to grow out of this imagination that was given to me at such a young age. we live only once and i want to live it like a child with eyes wide open.

xo,
cb

our little getaway

2011-10-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

happy monday! hope you all had a lovely weekend! tom and i had the best little getaway, really just what we needed. we are waiting for another roll of film and will share that when it is ready but for now here are some snippets of our weekend.

of course we rode gilbert out to point reyes but had to go through sf to get there...on the way to the golden gate bridge we spotted the banana guy from jamba juice, poor guy...i hope he gets paid more then minimum wage to strut around in that get up and i am sure he was less then please to have me take a picture of him while we flew by on gilbert.

we stopped in the redwoods to catch a break and drink some water, man the weather was AMAZING and it was hot as hell too! could not resist taking a picture of the moss, soo cool!!!!!!

this was a our case for the next two days, isnt it adorable?!?!? we had a hard time leaving, the little back yard was awesome! we hung out there alot, drank wine while listening to npr and tried not to get poked in the face from the hummingbirds that were chasing each other in the yard.

we spotted so much wild life, this little guy being one of them. i am so curious as to what he is gonna look like when he comes out of his cocoon! we also ran into 4 snakes, one being dead, thank goodness, sorry not a huge snake fan, 1 sad little bat that was dead on the side of the road and 1 hawk, a swarm of quials and countless deer. this time of year is deer mating season so there were tons of them everywhere! oh and don't forget the cute little hummingbirds!

we went on a "hike" which ended up being the worst idea possible. it was HOT, no shade and tom was inappropriately dressed for hiking, long pants, thermal AND flannel, in the hot weather. he ended having to buy a t-shirt at the store. we sat, drank a shit ton of water and stuffed ourselves, well actually speak tom did, hehe.

found some awesome wood teepee's and then headed right to the local saloon to grab some much needed cold beers to wipe away the "hike" from hell. hehe

we ate out both nights, heaven, drank local beers and downed some local oysters, my favorite! the first night we had brick oven pizza while enjoying the awesome backyard of the restaurant. the view from our table was amazing, i actually took several of these shots because i was obsessed with the little vignette.

point reyes station is tiny but lucky enough to have the yummiest CUTEST dinner EVER! we ate there twice. it was a yummy farewell. we headed out early friday morning and enjoyed awesome weather on the ride back home.

we are planning our next trip back. it was just a great place to really get away from everything and spend quality time with each other but sometimes i wish that we could just escape from everything and live out in the hills in a tiny little town with the hills and ocean as our backyard...***sigh***

oh and don't forget 15% off in my little store, sale ends november 1st, use SOINLOVE code at check out!

xo,
cb

a green diy: stamping

2011-10-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! today is my first post for the green series that a few ladies are adventuring in. i am super excited to show you this diy because it is soooo simple! i was inspired by the OH SO AMAZING andrea from papersparrow!

she has re-introduced stamping to me as a fast, fun & green way to update your wardrobe with trendy styles! if you are not aware of papersparrow then i suggest you head on over there asap! one thing i will point out is that the fabric paint isn't "green" but neither is dumping your unwanted shirts in the trash, sometimes it is hard to be 100% but it is in the right direction that is important.

source

okay now to the fun! i am a HUGE fan of collars, i think it was my many years wearing a uniform that has prompted this but i can't get enough of them. plus around this time i want to wear them all the time because it reminds of wednesday from the addams family.

first off i drew out a pattern. i wanted to create something that resembled lace and my idea went through many phases before i finally picked this design:

look their dentures! oh wait no thats my rubber stamp, hehe

(from left to right) fabric paint, rubber stamp, carving tools.

then i drew my design on my rubber stamp and cut it out using block cutting tools. all of these tools and supplies you can get at any craft store. once you are done cutting out your design test it out to be sure it works. i did it a couple of times and even practiced on a black piece of fabric.

i put a piece of heavy paper in between my shirt so that the paint didn't seep through to the other side. since i was using white on black it needed two coats. let dry for about 4 hours and then you are totally ready to sport your new lacy faux collar shirt! and hey no sewing involved for all you non sewers out there!

i am totally in love with the look and wont be throwing this sucker away EVER!

also check out shannon's cute green diy: welcome sign

have a great weekend everyone! can't wait to be back on a normal schedule!

xo,
cb

tour de fat

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

finally!!! on our way to point reyes for the next three days. tom and i are riding there and will be enjoying the nice warm sun, oysters and just a romantic time with no distraction except each other. i have a fun green diy post lined up for you all while we are away.

we went a couple of weekends ago. we try and go every year but have missed the last two due to the wedding and then our honeymoon. next year if you can go you all should, it is so much fun! lots of bike related things and yummy beer of course!

this year it was a foggy day in golden gate but that didn't stop the crowd from coming out. if you live in sf and have lived here a majority of your life you get used to it. i always love that there is free valet bike parking...yea, we are so fancy over here in the west coast :D the theme of the festival is always the same, indie circus which is really cute! they always have great bands, a marching band and other types of entertainment.

we had to stop at the custom button booth and we got ourselves a winner, i am really in love with our choice....you can just sense the evil in her eyes! hehe

we picked a nice spot on the little hill and enjoyed beers and watched some bands and ran into some friends which was really awesome. we even saw a girl propose to her boyfriend, it was so sweet...oh and he said yes of course!

we left to go eat some grub and our friend wanted to test out gilbert, it was actually the first time tom had ridden with someone else on the back. this picture is so cute, i thought for sure they were gonna fall, it was a rough start! we had a great time and if the tour de fat ever comes your way, be sure to check it out!

hope you all have a great weekend. be sure to stop by tomorrow for a fun green diy!
xo,
cb

happy little things #1

2011-10-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! hope you all had a great weekend, can't wait to read all about them so i can live vicariously through you all. i have to say that work hasn't been too bad and i just have two more days and then i am FREEEEEEEEEEE for 3 days! hehe

a new little feature that i want to throw in the mix when the mood strikes. a reminder to me really about the little things that make me happy, make me smile or giggle. plus it is a way for you all to get to know me a little better :)

a while back tom and i went on a walk after dinner. it was sooo nice and a great break from the regularly work night routine. he wanted to show me a front yard that had a crazy cactus yard and i LOVE a good cactus jungle, i mean who doesn't! little maintenance, barely need to water, a win win really. needless to say we never found that yard and we walked around for a good hour and a half. the journey was much more fun then finding the actual house and more proof to me that tom has absolutely NO sense of direction, poor guy.

a little reminder to all to literally stop and smell the roses. they smell damn good!

xo,
cb

oh you hippie strap

2011-10-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

i think i love you...... made my hippie strap for our new camera and i LOVE it! it turned out pretty awesome i have to say. it was so easy i want to make more of them, maybe for christmas, people will be getting some!

the hardware we bought from the fabric store and i used some black fabric i had laying around and all i needed to do was just iron the folds for the back, pin it and then sew and that was pretty much it! i love easy sewing projects. plus knowing that i saved about $30 feels really good, hippie camera straps run around $40 or more!

if you make a hippie strap i would love to see it!

yesterday started my 7 day work week :( so i will be a busy little beaver while my lovely co-worker has some much needed family time off. after my 7 day work week tom and i are taking our 3 day anniversary escape, i can't wait!!!

have a great weekend everyone, mourn for me while i slave away :( hehehe

xo,
cb

gilbert our two wheeled bullet

2011-10-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

happy wednesday! thank you all so much for the wonderful comments on our anniversary post. tom and i had a really really great evening together not even the rain could damper our spirits. so far october has been a great month and it started off great albeit we both didn't think things would turn out so great the first day of october.

saturday started off rough. we had gone out with friends the night before and stayed out a bit too late and we both got NO sleep! it was horrible. while getting ready we both were a little unsure how it was gonna pan out but got dressed and headed out. it was crazy to see the city so silent at 5:30 in the morning. it was really nice to ride through the city without all the crazy cars, wish it could be like that all the time.

we had to stop and get coffee, thank goodness peets coffee is open so early otherwise it would have been painful.

the ride started off at 7 and went all the way to point reyes station and then back to sf. this type of ride is called a brevet which is a timed recreational ride, with no support. if our tire went flat it would have been our responsibility to get back on the road and finish the ride. we had check points we needed to get to, the first was at bovine bakery at point reyes where i ate a huge chocolate croissant, it was the best thing i had ever eaten! we both felt really good at that point and took our time resting and stretching. we had done this leg of the ride before so it wasn't bad.

please excuse how terribly horrible i look in this picture but it is so rare to get a picture of us on the bike together!

the second leg was tough and really hilly. i had never gone this route so i had no idea what to expect. there was a point when we got to the top of a very steep hill that i thought i wasn't gonna make it, i actually wanted to cry i was soooo exhausted. but being a tough little lady i pushed pass it and i munched on a snack, drank a bit of water and i was totally fine and the rest of the ride was great. although both of our knees felt like at any moment they would shatter, is that possible?

the ride was so beautiful. we saw two bucks, a fox and a gaggle of turkeys! it was hard to take pictures as i just wanted to concentrate on pedaling but i will always remember seeing them, the fox was a high point and pretty much every time tom and i ride we see turkey's which i take as a good omen.

we finished the 80 mile ride in time, 7,5 hours and at the end they had a little feast for us. gilbert was such a champ and people loved seeing him. people took pictures of us on him, it felt like we were famous, it was kinda weird. tom & i stuck around a bit and then headed home and passed out. our knees & butts were totally spent but it was worth it. we had a great time together and we make a pretty awesome team! we went, we rode, we conquered; ***high five us***

xo,
cb

10 loving years, our anniversary!

2011-10-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

this was my senior prom, the oldest picture i had, we are both 18 in this picture!

yup, today is tom and my 10 year anniversary and also our wedding anniversary! i can't believe it has been 10 years, feels like yesterday we met <3 we are celebrating with a nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then later in the month we are going to escape to point reyes and stay in this super cute little cottage for a few days, i can't wait!

it is amazing to me how much i love him and how much he loves him. the best part of our relationship and he may say otherwise, is the way he loves me and how it just exudes from him. i have never had something like this and feel so lucky that i do.

i am very blessed to have him in my life. to be able to walk this life hand in hand with the person i hold so dear to my heart. to have someone who truly knows who i am, who sees the worst of me but still loves me ever bit as much and more. to be able to see the way he loves me just by looking in his eyes or being in his arms, i think is a rare thing and i am one lucky lady.

thanks tom for the most amazing 10 years of my life. my life couldn't be any more perfect and i have you to thank for it. you have opened my eyes to so many things, helped me see the beauty when i am blind and encourage me to be the person that i am. i can't wait for more adventures together and many many many more loving years with you.

cheers baby!

i also wanted to extend the love to you guys too! for the entire month of october get 15% off anything in the shop using the code, SOINLOVE. enjoy everyone!

xo,

citybirds chirp: a world of clutter

2011-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

happy friday! i am very excited to have lynn here today from world of clutter! she is a super awesome lady who LOVES music, yummy food and bowling and i have had so much fun getting to know her over the year. her love of music is so contagious and i just wish i could go to as many concerts as she does. rock on lady!

Hi everyone! I'm excited to do a chirp for cb about me and my blog World of Clutter. My name is Lynn and I'm a 23 year old girl living ina suburb south of Boston in Massachusetts. My favorite things and mymain blogging topics are music, tshirts, pigs, candlepin bowling,food, and whatever adventures I get into. I work in an office Monday-Friday doing the normal working for the weekend type thing. My friendsand I usually spend the weekends going to see bands play, eating, orbowling (usually all three!).

My top five albums of the moment are:
1) The Cure- Boys Don't Cry
2) Pink Floyd- Meddle
3) Cock Sparrer- Shock Troops
4) AC/DC- High Voltage
5) Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath

I think I would honestly die if the day came where Pink Floyd wasdoing an actual reunion/final show type thing. I was lucky enough tocatch Roger Waters doing The Wall and it was the most crazy concertexperience I've ever had. When I was little my parents would alwayslisten to classic rock and I think I might have known every lyric toall of The Doors songs by the time I was 7. I was lucky to grow uparound good music and lived in a pretty cool area for seeing bands.Massachusetts is an awesome state and I've been able to be aroundgreat music AND be around the coolest form of bowlingever....CANDLEPIN.Candlepin bowling is in Massachusetts(where it was formed), NewHampshire, Maine and some parts of Canada. Its completely differentfrom regular ten pin bowling.A) The balls are smaller and usually weigh 2-2.7 lbs. I use 2 lb ballsand they are the lightest ones you can get. I'm pretty small so ittakes a lot of pressure off of my wrists and hands. Regular bowlingballs are usually 5-10 lbs.

B)You bowl the ball three times instead of two. In candlepin you getthree tries to get the 10 pins down, because the game takes more skillso its harder to get all ten down.

C)No one in candlepin has ever gotten a perfect score! The highestscore I've ever gotten was 115.D)The pins are actually like candlesticks, which is where the name came from.Hopefully if you ever visit the area you can check out candlepinbowling and support all of the mom & pop alleys in the area.http://www.bowlcandlepin.com/index.htmAnother big part of my blog are tshirt features. I love tshirts andcollecting them and hunting for vintage ones. I feature anyone thatwants to take part and they post their favorite shirt and just answera few questions about it. My blog originally started out being atshirt blog and I would post shirts and just talk about them a bit. Itslowly turned into outfit posts, then I just started to post about mylife in general! I'm really happy with what I chat about and I hopethat you check it out and maybe take part in a future tshirt feature:D
thanks lynn!!!
xo,
cb

sew september update 4!

2011-09-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

howdy everyone!
i am super stoked to show you my handle bar bag. i think it turned out even better then my first one and is the right size. the lining i bought was PERFECT and it holds it shape wonderfully, yay!

instead of buttons i added strips of the floral fabric and used snaps for the closure. i need to figure out a better way to attach the bag to the handle bars. the snaps i think may not be as durable and i fear that they might unsnap going over bumps but i will have to test this bad boy out before i make any assumptions.

i am just super proud of myself for taking a pattern and changing it to fit my needs. i am gonna make a few more, for family and friends so that i can get better at making them, then i will be confident in having them in my shop! i have so much fabric that i am just DYING to use for these bags. fun pattern and color combinations. i think if i would allow myself i would sew 24/7 with no sleep just so i could get out all my creativity out. sometimes i feel like it is bursting from the seams or it comes RIGHT before i need to sleep... what is up with that?!?!

today tom and i are gonna go to the thrift store to scout out some fabric for my cape, we shall see what i find! the rest of today is going to be a work filled day; making owl earrings to ship out to one of my stores and trying to squeeze in some sewing.

**this weekend is our big bike ride, i am really excited and nervous but i know it will be fine. i would still love some good luck vibes sent our way for good measure, thanks in advance :D**

have a great weekend everyone!

xo,
cb

getting out

2011-09-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

hi lovelies
last friday i needed to get out of the house as cabin fever was setting in and i feared it would permanently damage some of my brain cells so tom and i headed out to berkley to my favorite fabric store to pick up some much needed supplies. i picked up some really awesome stiff lining which is just what i needed for my bike bag! will show you the finished piece tomorrow :D

i also picked up a hooded poncho pattern which i am SUPER excited to make!! i have been DYING to have a hooded cape, they are sooo much fun to ride in! my plan is to find a old XL pendleton and cut it up to use for the cape outside and use an old sweater for the inside, gonna be AWESOME!

also found some really awesome 70's looking trim which i will be making a camera strap with for our new little camera. i am definitely going to extend sew september as i have so many projects i didn't get to do!

we grabbed some sandwiches and road around a bit admiring the really awesome houses. we found this little park and sat for a while and soaked up some vitamin d. it felt really good to be in the sun, my soul needed it <3

xo,
cb

sunday wear

2011-09-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

hi!
thank you all for the wonderful comments on my handle bar bag, i am super stoked about it and should be done with the 2nd round this week! if all goes well, i will be making a bunch to share with the world :D

we had a great weekend and we decided to mix it up and use our film camera, we both missed it so much, but we are waiting on the film to be processed; not sure why they call it one hour when it really isn't. oh well! one day we will have a little space so that we can develop it ourselves, how awesome would that be!?!

we took these pictures the morning i got sick. it was the start of some really awesome weather so i was super bummed to get sick. funny how quickly it can happen, i felt fine all day up until after i ate lunch. oh well, i am feeling better just fighting the sniffles i have now....aaahh when will it stop!

i bought this top a few weeks ago at the thrift store not really searching for anything in particular. the pattern caught my eye so it went into my pile of things to try on and i really liked the way it fit. plus i really love the color too. it matched perfectly with a pair of earrings i bought a long time ago that are repurposed shoe clips. sorry the picture isn't that great. they are one of my favorite earrings and i adore wearing them.

i hope everyone had a great weekend. looks like we are getting a nice set of warmer weather this week, eek! the sun out always makes me happy!

i'll be back tomorrow <3
xo,
cb

sew sempteber update 3

2011-09-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

happy friday everyone!
thanks everyone for the get well wishes, i hope i can kick this before next saturday's big ride! i haven't had much engery to sew this week although the past two days i have been feeling better. i did however sew up two other hats and finished up my bike bag.

i don't know why i didn't measure the length first but it ended up too long which is totally fine because it is just a prototype. there are a few changes i want to make, add more support so that it doesn't slouch so much when on my handle bars and i wasn't to crazy about the batting i used so we are gonna stop by the fabric store and find something a bit more stiff. i really like that i used a leather strap instead of making one. breaks up the color.

i am really happy with the end result and learned a lot from making this bag. i have already cut out all the pieces for the next one, added a little detail to the front flap instead of using buttons and sewed a contrasting yellow pocket instead of the same floral fabric for the inside. i can't wait to finish it! it will be perfect and just what i need!

here are some other ladies who have completed some sew september projects!
chandelier jenny
lion heart