plumb

Come See Our New Website!

2010-02-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

My wonderful friend Jae (go see this post and you'll remember who I'm referring to) and I have decided that we are going to apply to grad schools next year as a collaborative pair. We've made a lot of plans for the next year - possible shows, and a lot of sketches for pieces - in preparation for our portfolio reviews. Our website is one of our starting points and hopefully it will expand as we create new stuff. I'll keep you updated because I'm so excited about it! In the meantime, go check out our site.

jaeandmeredith.com

A bit of Summer during the Winter

2010-02-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

I found these pictures on my computer and realized that I forgot to post them during the end of summer. It's good timing too because we've been having a lot of wet weather - don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for it - and I've missed those warm summer days a bit.

These were taken months back when we went to Farm Trails here in Sonoma County. Most of these were taken at Green String Farm and a few at Canvas Ranch. If you're in the area next summer you should definitely check 'em out. Yummy produce and adorable animals are but of few of the wonderful reasons to go!

Vintage Life Magazine Polaroids

2010-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays we were visiting Michael's family and I stumbled upon some very old Life Magazines from the 1940's and 50's. I probably spent over an hour looking at these and I was cracking up over the advertisements (especially the one directly below this text). I also found some great fonts and a lot of incredibly colorful food - a little too colorful for my liking! I didn't have my camera with me but I did have my iPhone and the ever-so-wonderful Shake It Photo app with which I took these photos.

Anyway, I just found them on my phone and thought I'd share 'em with you all. Hopefully you'll get a little laugh out of them like I did.

Custom Gifts for Krista

2010-01-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend I made some custom baby things for my friend Krista. She's giving them to her friends for their baby showers that are coming up soon.

So excited I had the opportunity to make some baby things. The little toy is a soft ladybug toy that jingles!

If you want to order any custom items just send me a little message or comment!

Adventures with Miriam

2010-01-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite times comes but once every other year, and yes, that time came this year...

Miriam (of the lovely Mimsicle), and her wonderful husband Chris come to town for Christmas!

For those who don't know, Miriam and I went to highschool together, became beloved friends, and continue to be so today! Sadly, we live a continent apart now but hopefully someday that will change.

We did many many fun things but a few highlights were:

Spending a little while in San Francisco at Britex

where we found amazing ribbons and fabric from which to make headbands

we exchanged Christmas gifts

(pictured on the left and below is my new beautiful hanging rack, which Miriam made herself, and an adorable book of labels created by the fantastic Lotta Jansdotter ).

Last but not least, we ate at a great Thai place where we were able to take off our shoes and eat while sitting on cushions on the floor (so fun!)

We haven't quite finished making our headbands but as soon as we do, I will be sure to post them here!

Animal Silhouette Onesies Galore!

2010-01-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

New lovelies on my etsy site!

Go check 'em out and keep your eyes peeled for more fun stuff to come.

This year's Christmas cards

2010-01-01T13:51:00.001-08:00

Yes, Christmas is over and now, New Year's too. BUT I couldn't move on from this past holiday season without blogging about a few Holiday-ish moments.

First, this year's Christmas cards! A few of you might know (if you've seen some of my previous posts) that I jump at the opportunity to send a handcrafted card, letter, announcement, invitation, etc. in the mail. Well, this year I didn't think I'd have enough time to make 'em (working wretched hours at a coffee shop has really thrown off my ability to make things, let alone post about them! Sorry!) but I was able to get them finished and sent at the very last minute.

A few vintage buttons, baker's twine, stamps, and some Costco wallet size pictures and Voila! Christmas goodness in a card.

A bit of a side note: I ran out of materials before I reached the end of the address book (oops!) So if you are a good friend who didn't receive one, my deepest apologies! You weren't forgotten, we're just a bit poor right now!

A very Merry Christmas to...me!

2010-01-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

And second, a gift that I received from my darling husband (which I may have purchased prior to Christmas so he could give it to me but I just couldn't resist!) A bag of vintage fabric scraps! Look at them, aren't they so cute and perfect? They were all cut by someone to someday be made into a quilt, but alas, it never came to be. It was meant to be found by me in a corner of my favorite antique shop I do believe! I have so many ideas of what to do with these yummy little pieces of fabric that I almost don't know where to start. I figured I'd just a take few pictures first, blog about it, and then get started. Hairpins maybe? Headbands with flowers? The sky's the limit I do believe!

Polaroid Kittens!

2009-11-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

When polaroids meet kittens, magic happens. We spent last weekend with some of my dearest friends, Jae and Ryane, in our old neighborhood in the East Bay. We celebrated a birthday, made amazing glitter art, dreamed about owning our own gallery, and most of all, played with kittens! I don't think there are many things I'd rather do than than the above mentioned meanderings.

Elli and Lola are the muse - two sister kittens lovingly adopted and completely adored by my amazing friends. Shake It Photo is the iPhone application I used to get these faux polaroids. Apparently I'm completely out of the loop on the application because Jae just informed me of its greatness while we were there. I obviously couldn't stop using it.

Oh, and sorry about the blogging hiatus, I've been making a lot of new stuff and it has taken up a lot of computer time. Hopefully I'll have it up in my shop soon!

New Onesie Extravaganza

2009-09-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you remember when I was making these onesie's. I haven't made them in a while, but I was inspired to start up again when I saw this made by one of my friends, Alisa. She makes adorable things so check out her etsy site and read her blog here.

Here's the onesie's I made and sold a while ago

And here's the one's I am working on now!

They're not up yet, but they will be soon. I plan on making a few more letters before I post 'em.

And here's the contents of a little custom piece I'm making for a lovely lady named Chelsea, who saw the hat I made for Miriam.

If you didn't see the hat for Miriam, here's a glimpse

If you are interested in any of the pieces I've made above, feel free to contact me here on the blog or on my etsy site. I love making custom pieces.

Santa Cruz in the Summer

2009-09-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

I realize that it is basically the end of summer, but I just wanted to post these last few pictures of one of my favorite summer things. Santa Cruz farmer's market. This market is probably the best one I've ever been to. It's huge, filled with yummy things, and really friendly people. Here's a little taste of the experience.

We Heart Lauren

2009-08-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Because there was such a huge response on this blog to my posts about Lauren, a couple of us from Berkeley have started a new blog just for Lauren. It's still under construction, and there aren't any posts yet, but I figured I'd let you all know so that you can go on over and post things yourselves. The only thing is that you need to e-mail me your e-mail address so I can add you as an author. Send it to folaurenkrikorian@gmail.com. And here's the site.

We will be using this site as a tribute site for her as well as a place for updates on her memorial service here in the Bay Area so please keep checking back!

Thank you all again for sharing your wonderful words about Lauren, it has been a great encouragement to me as well as many others.

Lauren's Art

2009-08-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

I found some of these images from a website that Lauren had to create for a class. As you will see, she was incredibly talented and made the most beautiful things. You can go to her site if you'd like.

And keep in mind that some of these sculptures were just the beginning of pieces that were in gallery shows. Sorry I don't have any of those images yet! If you have them, you can e-mail them to me and I will post them here.

mduvardo@berkeley.edu

She also loved cupcakes. On her site this image is listed as "other creations."

Beautiful Lauren.

2009-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

I know most of you had never met this person, but I need to write about her because whether you knew her or not, the world needs to know when someone amazing has left it.

We lost one of the most beautiful people I have ever met. Lauren Krikorian was in Honor's studio with me at Berkeley and she was tragically killed in a car accident this past weekend. The shock and tragedy is overwhelming. In the words of one of our fellow professor's, "At the center of her soul was a great human spirit, only just emerging."

She had an immense impact on everyone she came in contact with and her laughter consistently filled our hearts. Lauren, your spirit will continue to shine on this earth even though your body is gone.

Goodbye dear friend. We miss you.

Stripe.

2009-08-22T16:50:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Michael and I took a little trip down to Santa Cruz - where we first met and where we've continually spent many-a-summer - to visit some friends and to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. While we were there, a couple of my dearest friends, Annie and Venessa (from hopevenessa) insisted that we stop at a new little shop called Stripe. They relayed to me that they had really cute things - some old, some new, some modern, and some vintage. As soon as I walked in, I was so so happy that I had remembered my camera because I just knew I had to blog about it. It is one of those shops where I had to go really slow, looking at every little item and making sure I took in every aspect of it's display and design. I loved it, and I'm sure you will to! Here's some pictures, and if you're ever in the area you should definitely stop in!

They also have an etsy site!

Found it!

2009-08-21T17:51:00.001-07:00

Of course it was at Style Me Pretty. Click on the link for the full post and more images of this adorable wedding.

Here's a closer image.

2009-08-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

I have an excess of mica flake from the sculpture I made a month ago (about 100 pounds of it!) and I've been trying to figure out what to do with all of it. I figured I'd try and sell some of it on etsy as supplies for craft projects and whatnot. So here's what I did to make it more attractive...a little bit of baker's twine and some fabric go a long way folks!

I was inspired by this picture I saw on one of my favorite blogs but I can't seem to find it anywhere! I swear I bookmarked it or put it somewhere and I've just spent a while ravaging my computer and my favorite blogs but to no avail! It was of an adorable wedding and the flower girls were holding mason jars filled with bubble solution. For the wedding, they had wound baker's twine around the lips of the mason jars and made little pom-pom-like flowers to dangle off of them. They were adorable and I thought I'd put my own spin on it. If anyone finds that picture, I would really like to give credit where credit is due and post it up here!

Also, wouldn't these jars of mica be so cute to give to guests to throw (not the jars but the mica inside)† as the bride and groom leave for the honeymoon? Mica is totally natural and easy to clean up and it's just so so pretty in the sun or under lights! I thought so.

Makin' Jam!

2009-08-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we made a couple kinds of jam. Michael had tried it once before and made a strawberry vanilla jam and it turned out so good. We went to our farmer's market and bought plums and nectarines to try out two different jam recipes - honey brandied nectarine and classic plum. Here's a bit of the process and final product.

I made labels and tide a bow around three of them to give as a wedding present to my dear friend Krista. We'll be at the wedding this coming Sunday. I'll have pictures soon after because it's going to be an adorable wedding with lots of hand-made details.

A Nook and A Good Book, Please.

2009-07-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

lately, I've realized how much I've been able to read now that I'm out of school - read books other than textbooks and required reading, that is. In our old apartment in Berkeley we had a little reading nook that quickly became the cats domain - a.k.a. hair central - and no matter how much I vaccummed and shooed them away, they always returned, leaving my cozy reading nook not so desirable. Now that we're in Petaluma, I have yet to find a nook I like better than my bed. It's so very warm and cozy reading in our bed but I constantly find myself falling asleep halfway through a sentence. Alas, I went on an inspiring search on flickr to find the perfect reading nook that I can one day recreate. Here are a few lovely ones that I wouldn't mind cozying up to.

decorology & lgaribaldi

the shopping sherpa & sarahleeab

koepp2000 & decorology

phototypical & erinalberty

teabear! & theholidaygirl928

decorology & kelleycan

pgmaxtwo & teevio

pop elegantiarum & sarahleeab

And speaking of reading, I thought I'd share a list of books I've recently read and definitely recommend.

Three Cups of Tea

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

The People of Paper

House

Travels with Charley: In Search of America

East of Eden

Jayber Crow

The links I gave for the books are from amazon.com and Logos, my favorite bookshop in Santa Cruz. If you're in the Santa Cruz area, you should stop in at Bookshop Santa Cruz as well. Charming little place indeed. And if you're in Petaluma, you should go to Copperfield's - best local bookstore in town.

Last but not least, what are you reading and what do you recommend?

Something Sweet

2009-07-26T17:32:00.001-07:00

These are just a few pictures we took on our three year anniversary a couple weeks ago. I wanted to capture more pictures of the places we went to and write all about them on here but well, it was our anniversary and I ended up not photographing as much as I wanted to - we were having such a good time! Anyway, I'll just give you a few links and then if you're ever in Petaluma you can swing by 'em.

The first place we went to was the Petaluma Farmer's Market. They have a Wednesday evening market here in the new theater district of downtown Petaluma. This area is adorable and an upcoming part of Petaluma that I can't wait to watch develop. I definitely regret not taking pictures because it's truly one of the best farmer's markets I've ever been to. It's not very big at all, in fact, it has a very small town feel with every vendor selling a few quality things. Everyone is so nice and they all invite us to help with their harvests when Michael starts sharing our aspirations in vegetable farming. It's cute. I will definitely make a post all on its own of this market as soon as I get there again.

Then we stopped at one of our favorite new places in Petaluma, La Dolce Vita Wine Lounge. The place is very European feeling (though maybe I shouldn't say that as if I know what European feels like - I've never been!) with an array of modern and classical tables and chairs as wells as sofas and love seats. The wine list is amazing. All the wines are hand picked by the owner, Sahar Gharai, and the list is constantly revolving. One of my favorite features is the fact that all the food is chosen to emphasize the wine instead of the wine emphasizing the food. Oh, and I almost forgot one of my other favorite things is that they project old movies onto the wall above the bar. So fun!

After we had a glass of wine (and complimentary champagne!) at the wine lounge, we headed next door to Powell's Sweet Shoppe. It's the sweetest (ha! no pun intended) little candy store. It's kind of an old fashioned candy store theme and they carry every candy you can imagine and especially those brands from when my parents were kids. We got our favorite - chocolate covered gummy bears.

And finally, for dinner we went to Dempsey's. This restaurant has been here as long as I can remember and it has been a staple family restaurant all my life. It features locally grown and organic foods (they grow their food on their own farm!) as well as their own brewed beer. The atmosphere is so great - not pretentious like most locally grown and sustainable food restaurants but hospitable and down-to-earth. It really is a must if you are looking to eat lunch or dinner in Petaluma.

Phew, that was a bit of info, yeah? Hope you find it enjoyable and I promise to have more pictures and posts of these places because, really, those are the best part!

A Walk Through

2009-07-24T19:43:00.001-07:00

I'm so sorry I've been missing in action for so long. I've been a bit busy setting up, gallery sitting, and opening the show. Here's a few pictures of the gallery and opening.

My friend Jae and I in front of our Micaweed piece and the reception right as we opened

The title walls and information stand

The gallery from the door

Micaweed

The Ponderous Quality of Weight

The bunch of us (note Dominic's face - he looks like a Francis Bacon painting!)

Oh, and a few details of my piece

An Art Show

2009-07-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in an art show featuring mainly sculpture and site-specific installation. If you're in the bay area you should stop by! The show is at the Worth Ryder Gallery on the UC Berkeley campus. 116 Kroeber Hall on the corner of Bancroft and College. The gallery hours our Monday through Sunday 1pm to 4pm and the show will be up until July 27th. The opening reception is this Friday, the 17th from 7pm-10pm.

Yay art!

Three...Whole...Years...!

2009-07-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's a few hours too early but I won't have enough time to post tomorrow and I wanted to make sure this was up. It's gonna be a little sappy but it's entirely appropriate. It has been three whole years that I have been married to the man who makes me the happiest woman in the world. It's cheesy, I know but so so true. I love you Michael, happy three years together! I love you more than you will ever know.

Here are some pictures of that beautiful day.

Our photographer was Anna Kuperberg. She is an amazing photographer and a awesome person. Go check out her website and stop by at her dog photography website as well (it's my favorite place to go when I need a good laugh).

Etsy, Here I Come!

2009-07-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here is is! Go check her out and spread the word...if you'd be so kind, that is.

A Foggy 4th

2009-07-05T14:42:00.001-07:00

So, as you can see, it was pretty foggy here in Petaluma on yesterday's 4th of July. I actually took this picture thinking it would turn out a blurry mess because we were walking but it was one of the best of the night! As my Dad would say, the best pictures are the ones taken by accident. I would have to agree with him. The rest of the pictures are my attempt at capturing the fireworks show. I never realized how difficult it was to take a picture of a live firework and thus ended up with a lot of abstract light flairs and whatnot - definitely not what I expected but fun nonetheless. Oh, and there are a few of the family fireworks in front of the house. All in all, despite the fog, it was a very fun 4th.

Pincushions & Plumb Labels

2009-07-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy now that I'm out of school because I'm able to get back to my sewing machine. My table is no longer filled with books and homework, it's filled with fabric and other crafty sewing supplies. I would say the latter is a much better mess to make! Anyway, I decided to make some pincushions because I had some small scraps that I wanted to use. Then I realized I needed to make labels to go on the pincushions seeing as I plan on selling them. So, voila! I'm going to be posting these and some other things I'm in the middle of making on a new etsy site - I'll let you now when that's up.

Nighttime Light at the County Fair

2009-06-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was talking with one of my best friends, Ali (of Penelopea and 5one9) on the phone yesterday and she mentioned how she had gone to her county fair and taken fun pictures in pretty dresses. She has yet to post them, but I'm sure they are beautiful. As it so happens, our county fair's last day was yesterday and I thought I'd go snap a few pictures for myself. Michael, my brother-in-law Matthew, my Mom and I all went and had some fun. I was so happy with all the beautiful lights and even more happy to see how well they turned out in pictures. They totally capture the feeling of the fair at night, don't you think? And check out those funnelcakes - that's the real reason I wanted to go to the fair. These are in no way as glamorous as Ali's are going to be - I'm almost positive, but nonetheless, here they are.

Moving Announcements

2009-06-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is what the table looked like after Miriam (of the lovely ...Mimsicle...) and I had a night crazy crafting. I had bought a few things to make moving announcements and as soon as I showed Miriam what I wanted to do, she thought it would be a great idea to make them right then and there. It was 10:30pm. Obviously I couldn't resist. Here are the announcements in full detail.

New Shoes...and Then Some

2009-06-26T21:58:00.001-07:00

Hello world, meet my new shoes. I just got these the other day and I love them. They're really summery and comfy. You can get them here.

Now, I definitely don't need any of these things, but I couldn't help but find some cute things at Anthropologie that might look adorable with my new shoes. I'm such a sucker.

Nature Anyone?

2009-06-25T18:31:00.001-07:00

Sorry, but I'm gonna get a little naturey on you. A couple of weeks ago Michael and I, along with my brother-in-law Matthew, and our friend Daniel drove down Highway 1 to Big Sur. We had never been there, and I don't think I was prepared enough to see all the beautiful wilderness that we saw! I was absolutely blown away. We stopped off the highway and walked down to a trail that led straight to the ocean. There were tide pools, caves, and even a river that led down straight into the ocean. These pictures don't really do the place justice but nonetheless, here they are.

Have a good weekend, and go enjoy some nature!

Our Little Garden

2009-06-24T21:34:00.001-07:00

After living in Berkeley - the urban part - Michael and I have been craving to get our hands into the dirt and grow our own food. We lived in a tiny apartment where we weren't allowed atop the roof, thus leaving us nowhere to put planter boxes (not even the ones that hang out the window). Michael and I dream of having our own winery and farm yet we have not had the opportunity to really try our hand at it (except for the tiny gardens that we helped our mother's tend as kiddo's). Anyway, since we are hangin' out here at my parents house while we are transitioning into new jobs and a new place to live, we figured it would be a great place to experiment with gardening. My parents were kind enough to let us use one of the large planter beds in their backyard for our very own little veggie patch. Here's a few pictures of the garden and the better looking plants in it.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs today and I saw this adorable porcelain garden stake set from Pigeon Toe Ceramics. I couldn't help but wish I had these for my garden. The set only includes lavender, cilantro, parsley, catnip, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and basil - all things that I'm basically not growing but I want them anyways.

Here's a few pictures from the Pigeon Toe Ceramics website.

Finally Graduated...Finally Posting on Plumb!

2009-06-22T20:57:00.001-07:00

I felt that this post was an appropriate one to start off this blog in that it kind of captures exactly where I'm at in my life right now. I've finally graduated college, and I am still thrilled when I get to make crafty things and send them to all of kingdom come. Here are the graduation announcements that I made and sent last month. I bought the card stock at PaperSource, and I got the cute little cotton bags here.

Something that I love to do to make an interesting invitation, announcement, card, etc., is to add multiple textural and visual elements. In the case of these announcements, I incorporated two different shaped cards, a photograph, a soft cotton bag with cotton thread, shimmery ribbon, and a safety pin. I also included printed text and hand written text as well as a couple different fonts.