Hey! People of my blog! Tomorrow, December 18th, is the last day to order from my Etsy shop for guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve (U.S. only). 

All orders to the U.S. ship for FREE!

Thank you so much for scooping up all my dream catchers! I plan to make a few more after the holidays.  xoxo

Here we are, the eve of Thanksgiving already. I’ve got a busy weekend planned and can’t wait to kick off my holiday shopping at some local shops for Small Business Saturday (and then of course Cyber Monday, because who are we kidding?).

Here’s a peak at some new prints in my Shop. Perhaps you’ll find the perfect gift for a friend or family member or a little something for yourself.  Oh go ahead, you deserve it. To kick off the holiday shopping weekend, I’m offering blog readers 15% off their entire purchase through Saturday November 30th, 2013! Just use coupon code Thanks2014 at checkout.

If you have an online shop of your own, or a favorite handmade shop, feel free to leave a link in the comments. I love hearing about new handmade Detroit area shops too! Let me know your favorites!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and stuff your faces to the max! I’ll be back next week to share my latest vintage finds.  I nabbed some gooooood stuff, dudes.

The above photographs were taken with my 50 year old Polaroid Land Camera and the incomparable Fuji 3000B instant pack film. I’ve worked with more breeds of instant film than you can shake a stick at – color, black & white, sepia, high speed, low speed, Polaroid, Impossible Project, but the Fuji 3000B film is by far my favorite. The contrast and grain is absolutely lovely, and the images always turn out the perfect amount of dreamy. The high speed of the film lends itself well to a multitude of lighting conditions and the 15 second development time is particularly handy when shooting on the move, as I most often am.

On 11/14/13, Fujifilm announced the following via email from a USA rep:

“Please be advised that FP-3000B is being discontinued, as a result of decreases in world-wide global demand. We know that the discontinuation of a well-loved and long established product can be difficult to adjust to. We appreciate your interest in this product, and will be reporting your comments.”

I’m devastated. This film is the meat and potatoes to the instant photography world. It’s the Adobe Suite to graphic designers. It’s the cast iron skillet to chefs. It’s the Zildjian china trash to drummers (thanks Mike D!).  I won’t let it go without a fight. So please, if you have a moment,  sign this petition to save this instant film and spread the word. Will it do anything? I don’t know, but it certainly can’t hurt.

xoxo

It was a cool, drizzly Tuesday afternoon and we were strolling through Central London in search of a suitable pub to have a pint and rest our aching feet. We made our way down a terrifically London alleyway when suddenly the bells tolled, stopping me in my tracks.  They weren’t just any bells, they were THE BELLS. The bells that distinctly belong to a particular band, a band that belongs to me. Pink Floyd is mine, you see, and I’m willing to fight you for it. The bells tolled, thunderous and imposing, then the big clock chimed in, “DINNNNNG”, “DONNNNNG”, and the lyrics “Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day” danced through my head like lightning bugs, electric with color.

Later that evening as we arrived home to our apartment in Covent Garden, tired & worn after a day of wandering, I dropped my bags on the table, my camera making a loud thunk.

I realized in that moment I hadn’t taken a single photograph that day.

When I took my first trip out of the country just after graduating high school, I began a travel journal. I jotted it all down furiously, the play by play of each day, the way each bite of food tasted, how the ocean smelled at precisely 3am. I photographed just as furiously, attempting to freeze every fleeting moment, for fear I would lose them. Those little moments all seemed so important, yet so fragile, and I had to protect them, collect them, to provide proof that they happened. Proof of the beauty.

There was something about London though, that inspired a freedom to just wander and wander with no other reason than to SEE. As the bells chimed and crashed over my head that afternoon, my senses opened up. The damp air smelled vaguely of exhaust, cut grass, and greasy pub food. The cold cobblestones pressed into the soles of my boots as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. My eyes glazed over and I reminisced about that concert, nearly 20 years ago, the t-shirt I bought three sizes too big, and the wristband I wouldn’t take off for a week. I hummed along in my head, and hummed along to my band, while my camera lay abandoned at my side.

Perhaps all moments are not meant to be retold through photographs. Maybe this moment was just for me.

Psst!  I also wrote about my time in Paris, here.

I caught the sick over the holidays. Bronchitis, to be exact. The sore throat, no voice, coughing every 5 seconds, laid up on the sofa, too tired to even walk over to my computer, kind of sick.

For days.

Luckily, I had myself a Mike D who responded to my dramatic text messages by keeping me supplied with a steady stream of food, meds, and fresh brewed tea. And a little fur-beast by the name of Celia who never tires of cuddling. Cuddling helps the healing, I swear.

Over the last week or so, while languishing in my unhealth, I found my thoughts turning sappy. Maybe it was the fever induced delirium, or the fact that I watched Home Alone, A Christmas Carol, A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Edward Scissorhands, ALL ON CHRISTMAS DAY.  Or maybe the holidays just do that to you, I don’t know.

I thought back to the years when my Grandma Jean was still around and how much I miss her during the holidays. She was an incredibly kind and loving grandmother, but also funny, artistic, and quite the spitfire. Some of my fondest memories are of her narrating stories made up off the top of her head and sketching out illustrations before me as the stories unfolded. She was hilarious, and we laughed a ton.

Feeling nostalgic, I began pouring over old photographs that once belonged to my grandmother. I thought I’d share these charming old photographs my grandmother Jean sent to my grandfather Fred while he was away in the Korean war. He left for war only a few months after they were married. They’re quite flirty. She was known for captioning the back of her photographs, so I’ve included those after each photograph as well.

Prepare yourself for straight up adorableness.

Seriously, wasn’t she the cutest?

Shorty before she passed away, she handed down these photographs to me. I have a ton of other old photos from her as well, dating all the way back to when my great grandmother was a baby in the early 1900’s. They are AMAZING and I’ll always treasure them.

Thanks for looking and (putting up with my mush-fest).

Excuse me now, while I go lay down.  *cough, cough*