Denise Grünstein

I have to say, I'm quite smitten with Swedish photographer Denise Grünstein's editorials. I wish I could live in these magical scenes that exist in the pages of magazines.

Picture Books

Are still my favorite section at the library. I love taking Mia and picking out books with lovely illustrations of unicorns and princesses and a bunny or two. And vintage children's books are my favorite. I love the whimsy incorporated into every nonsense scene.

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A few favorites that I remember from my childhood: Curious George, Rainbow Fish, Arthur (Marc Brown graduated from my school!), anything by Graeme Base, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Where the Wild Things Are, Love You Forever, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and all of the I Spy books. What were your favorites?

I Sing I Swim

I quite like this charming little music video. I've often thought about getting into doing music videos as far as my commercial work goes, since I have a background in music. And animated music videos are my favorite. But I still have a little while before I graduate to figure that one out.

Garage Sale Day!

Yesterday was Garage Sale Day-one of my favorite holidays! Ha! The neighborhood across the street from mine has a garage sale day, the first Saturday of every June, and I look forward to it every year! It's so convenient when you just walk up and down streets for 3 blocks and see garage sale after garage sale. And there was a really good turn out this year. I have to say, I was very successful. I went with Mia, whose 4th birthday was also yesterday, and my friend Alyssa, who helps convince me that vintage is always an investment. So here's what I came back with!

Mia with our wagon...we definitely needed it!

Mia got a free bunny from a lady when she told her it was her birthday. (Although I really don't like buying used stuffed animals.)

Mia holding one of the Littlest Pet Shop animals I bought her. We picked out a whole bunch, including an adorable sea horse!

Some videos! Because we still have a VCR in my house! And I don't have those Disney flicks on DVD yet. Oh, and the Barbie Workout video? Funny story. The only fight my sister Ciara & Alyssa ever got in was over the video. Alyssa wanted to do what Barbie said, but Ciara wanted to do jumping jacks. It didn't end too well, but we got a good laugh when we found the vhs again!

$2 box of old (1960s-1970s) encyclopedias on nature & history. They've already been used for collages in my sketchbook. The pictures are quite wonderful.

Really vintage books! For a nickel a piece! More collage supplies for me!

And a few National Geographics from the 60s. For $0.50 a piece. I was tempted to get more, and after some collages I made today, I really wish I had.

Records, of course! Another version of Mary Poppins (because it had a great cover), 2 Simon & Garfunkel, and some others.

Really old gumball machine (for an animation idea I've had!) and a vintage label maker (the color was too great to pass up!).

My pride and joy: a paint-by-number painting of the Last Supper! I love the look of a lot of old paint-by-numbers, and I love Jesus. So obviously, for $3, I needed this. Haha! I think it might look alright in my new dining room...we'll see what my roommates think. It's this fantastic?

I've been entirely exhausted today. Still. From moving on Wednesday & Thursday. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Wednesday, my dear old dad and I drove down to Cleveland, moved all my stuff from apartment A on the second floor to apartment B on the fourth floor. Down 19 steps. Up 2 steps. Into the van. Drive a mile. Out of the van. Up 42 steps. We're a little tired. The good news: my dad's a little closer to quitting smoking after "climbing Mt. Everest" as he's been calling this moving adventure. And, of course, I love my new apartment! I'm back in Detroit now until August, but I'm kind of itching to go back. I guess it's a good thing that I love my school that much.

Paint by Number Jesus!

I have to get ready for work now, but tonight, I love a lot of exciting things to share... Like moving into my new apartment, my treasures from Garage Sale Day, and stories about a very special birthday princess. For now, here's a sneak peak at one of my favorite finds of the day: