i hope you are all having a lovely day!!!

sending lots of love your way this valentine's day...

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

misha portrait - done!

after a long struggle with materials and more mistakes than you can imagine, i managed to grant my own christmas wish last night when i finally finished misha's pet portrait! 

last week, i posted pics of my other cats' portraits (all commissioned) and wrote about how i was in the process of attempting my own felt portrait for our newest kitty, since the artist is no longer making them. it was a long and difficult process trying to match the other four portraits and although i'm happy with the result, it also seems to stand out next to the others. i figure it probably looks more like slughunter's first portraits - when she was first starting to refine her style. the ones she made for my cats were among the last she ever created so they're really complex and detailed compared to my super stylized attempt. 

in the end, i think it fits it nicely and misha is just thrilled to finally have her very own portrait among the others. take a look at all five portraits together compared to their real life pics:

pictured left to right: osho, tima, sasha, ravi & misha

pretty cute, i've got to say!!

xoxo
☆ c. emilia ☆

happy holidays to all!

have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!  i hope all of your christmas wishes come true...

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

*outfit details - vintage red velvet dress / ASOS white tights w/ hearts / secondhand mary janes / diy pink velvet hair bow

new in the shop -

well, it's better late than never...

i've finally added a few vintage holiday party dresses to the shop just in time for that special new year's eve bash you may be attending. i meant to add a small handful of party dresses last month before the holiday season began but somehow this entire month has gotten away from me with all the preparations for christmas. it's been a cheery, wondrous, glee-filled holiday season so far and i'm excited to gather with friends & family this weekend to celebrate.

the shop will be having a 20% OFF SALE starting christmas day and running through january 5th, 2012 to celebrate the "twelve days of christmas," or christmastide. that means 20% off of everything in the shop - what a great way to say goodbye to 2011 and kick off the new year! 

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆ 

the snowman

i found a pretty good version of the 1982 animation the snowman on youtube last night complete with david bowie intro! i used to love this animation so much when i was a kid - they used to show it to us at school right before the holiday break in anticipation of building snowmen in winter wonderlands during vacation. the story is about a boy who builds a snowman that takes him on a magical adventure one snowy night and the drawings are just gorgeous. it's very beautiful and peaceful and magical - much like the time following a winter storm. 

it's been warmer than usual in ohio for this time of year which is making it seem more like spring than the winter solstice - but watching this wintry tale has gotten me back in the holiday mood and ready for the festivities this weekend!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

pet portraits

a few years ago, i was fortunate enough to have commissioned custom felt portraits for my four cats from artist amelia reyes, a.k.a. slughunter, before she closed up shop to attend graduate school. aren't these portraits absolutely incredible and pretty much the coolest, cutest, most heartwarming things you've ever seen??

i suppose i'm a bit biased since the portraits are of my beloved little beasts. but, really - the care and attention put into each one, including a request for a bio of each cat's specific personality and favorite things, is beyond measure and really brings these portraits to life. the top two are osho and tima followed by sasha and ravi below. since having the portraits made, we heartbreaking-ly lost one member of the family - tima - and, unexpectedly gained a new member - misha, a solid gray girl who looks almost exactly like sasha now that she's growing up.

it's one of my christmas wishes this year to try my hardest to make a felt portrait for misha in the same style as the others (or as close as possible) so we can finally have all our portraits up and every cat represented. it's a daunting task and i feel like i'm in a master copy class - trying my best to recreate the mona lisa or botticelli's birth of venus - when i start to think about how i'm going to match amelia's incredibly unique style enough so the portrait doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. i've got all the colors & fabrics chosen and materials gathered except for the eye buttons and will be taking the next few days to begin sewing and gluing it all together. next week, i'll share the finished product with you. wish me luck!!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

furoshiki gift wrapping

check out this video on the japanese art of wrapping your presents in furoshiki, or cloth. what a fun and interesting alternative for wrapping holiday gifts! unlike wrapping paper - which usually can't be recycled - furokishi can be used again and again for a huge variety of purposes. i love the bag idea at the end of the video - i'm totally going to try that with some extra fabric i've got on hand. i love simple ideas like this which make it easier to help keep our planet greener through recycling.

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆ 

diy snow globe

in case you're looking for a fun & easy diy gift to make this holiday season, i thought i'd share a gif of my christmas snow globe creation -  a scene depicting my misha kitty on her way home through the woods on a snowy winter's day. i used this simple martha stewart tutorial and added two kinds of glitter - pink & gold w/ tiny stars - for maximum snow-y effect. this was a really fun, quick and super cute holiday project you'll love to give to a friend or keep for yourself!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

etsy xmas wishlist

all year long i've been adding items to my etsy "favorites" list in the hopes of someday, somehow, acquiring all of these beautiful things. i hadn't even thought of using it as a christmas wishlist until last week when my family started asking me about my amazon wishlist and whether it was up-to-date. i was shocked to see i had amassed a whopping 29 pages of favorites - almost 700 items - and really can't expect anyone to sift through all that stuff in an effort to find what i'm really hoping to find under the christmas tree this year.

after sorting through all my "must-haves" & weeding out the "sold" items here is what i was left with - my 2011 etsy xmas wishlist (from left to right:)

1 -   handsoap set - creepy & cool - 8 hands of different shapes & colors

2 -   in it together - digital print by ashley g and drew 

3 -   vintage holly hobbie sewing machine - black or baby blue

4 -   cloudy bear leggings by qooqoo fashion

5 -   costume party - 14x11 digital print by the black apple

6 -   the prince and the pauper - teal-green & copper merino wool yarn

7 -   black forest picnic paper doll set by wool and water  * OR *

8 -   little maple friends paper doll set by wool and water

9 -   school of witchcraft and wizardry diary / 2012 weekly planner

10 -  kitty cat rings - black & ivory acrylic rings by iluxo

i hope everyone is busy getting their own christmas lists together & feeling the holiday spirit!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆

america's thanksgiving day parade

for the past few years, our eagerly anticipated holiday tradition around here has been attending america's thanksgiving parade in downtown detroit on thanksgiving morning. what a fabulous way to start off a day of celebration and thanks! i can't think of anything more fun than giant balloons, clowns, horses, unicycles, marching bands, floats w/ skateboard ramps and the big head corps - giant papier-mache head people - all parading down the street in gratitude & anticipation of the holiday season. 

the thanksgiving parade is "a celebration of spirit and storybook wonder" and the parade company's world-renouned papier-mache head collection is pretty much the most amazing thing i've ever seen & why i look forward to going every year. here's a bit of background on the heads from the parade company website: "these colorful artifacts were originally acquired from artists in viareggio, italy with some dating back to the 1940s. the ever expanding collection of nearly 300 heads are restored by the seasoned artists at the parade company that have been trained by the talented artisans from viareggio."

based on the last few parades, we knew where the papier-mache heads are stored afterwards so we strategically waited at the end of the route to take pics. i can't tell you how crazy it feels to see these guys coming around the corner - surreal & trippy doesn't even begin to describe it - and, i couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably as i took the parade pics. the big heads really come to life when worn and it's hilarious to see the interactions between the characters and parade-goers. above, are a few pics from the parade and some close-ups of the papier-mache heads taken after the fact. 

truly amazing, don't you think? i just love them to pieces!!

i hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving holiday!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆