Love Songs

February 12, 2013 by mymateriallife

I recently ran across this print that I forgot I had.  I purchased it for a couple of dollars at BookBuyers in Mountain View a few years ago.  I’m very attracted to this image.  For one thing, I find the king quite handsome.  He strikes me as a rather romantic figure (notice flowers, contemplation, melancholy).  This is the reason he is accompanying this list of love songs that I just put on a cd for one of my favorite people […]

Categories: Other Holidays • Tags: love songs, music, playlists, valentine's day, valentine's music

Fashion Illustration Class

February 10, 2013 by mymateriallife

I’m so excited to finally be learning about fashion illustration at Camp Fashionista in San Jose.  I completed this drawing during my very first session on Friday afternoon.  I couldn’t wait to race home and show it to everyone, including my sister and brother-in-law, Kathie and Doug, who were spending the night with us.  Kathie used to love drawing things like this when she was young.  Let me tell you, Dori Duncan, who is teaching the class and owns and […]

Categories: Clothing & Accessories, Paper, Sewing • Tags: camp fashionista, clothing, fashion, fashion design, fashion illustration, illustration, sewing, style

Bread, Butter, Sprinkles

February 6, 2013 by mymateriallife

Have you heard of fairy bread?  It’s something they serve children in Australia and New Zealand.  It’s basically buttered bread with sprinkles.  I read about it years ago in Saveur magazine; I thought it sounded enchanting.  It reminded me of the white buttered bread (not toasted) with cinnamon sugar my mom gave me when I was very young.  I loved that treat. I recently discovered the Dutch De Ruijter brand of chocolate sprinkles at Cost Plus World Market.  These are […]

Categories: Kid Stuff, Sweets • Tags: breakfast, breakfast in holland, chocolate sprinkles, cost plus world market, de ruijter, fairy bread, food, india tree, kid food

Beaded Champagne Chair

January 30, 2013 by mymateriallife

Are you familiar with the champagne chair?  I learned about champagne chairs in the Design Within Reach catalog in the early 2000′s.  I even entered one of their champagne chair design competitions one year.  I hadn’t thought about them in years until I saw the magazine below.  It’s from the U.K.; I found it at Whole Foods before the holidays Finding that magazine was one thing that inspired the chair above.  The other was the book you see next to […]

Categories: Architecture, Finery, Miniatures • Tags: beaded champagne chair, chicago, colleen moore's fairy castle, doll house furniture, miniatures, museum of science and industry

Adventures In Vegan Baking

January 26, 2013 by mymateriallife

Just because you’re not a vegan doesn’t mean you won’t want to bake like one now and again.  When I’m in a coffee shop or market that offers both traditional and vegan cookies, I find that I usually prefer the vegan versions, so there is that.  But you may also find yourself wanting to bake something for a vegan friend or loved one.  What resource can the novice turn to?  Well the other day I was in the library with […]

Categories: Sweets • Tags: doron petersan, food, sticky fingers' sweets, vegan baking, vegan cake, vegan recipes

At Land’s End

January 22, 2013 by mymateriallife

San Francisco • January 21 • 2013 For delicious ocean-front dining on a budget, try the Chicken Taco Supreme . . . Taco Bell, 5200 Coast Highway, Pacifica, CA 94044

Categories: Architecture, Places • Tags: camera obscura, cliff house, land's end, ocean beach, pacifica taco bell, san francisco, sutro baths ruins

Midwinter Mobile

January 20, 2013 by mymateriallife

It’s warmed up in the San Francisco Bay area this weekend, but we just came through an unusual cold spell.  You know it’s cold when you see people in coats in the middle of a sunny day in this part of the world.  Anyway, I have a few good things to share with you in this post.  I made the mobile you see above using a wonderful product by Kikkerland Design, their hanging photoclip mobile.  So simple, so elegant, such […]

Categories: Furnishings, Kid Stuff, Paper, Reading Material • Tags: crystal snowflakes, diy mobiles, flensted mobiles, harbin ice and snow festival, kikkerland hanging photoclip mobile

Rachel Khoo’s Little Paris Kitchen

January 13, 2013 by mymateriallife

Isn’t it funny that with so many television options these days, there is so little that is new and hopeful and refreshing to watch?  (And it’s not that I’m a TV snob; I’m certainly not above a little Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – not proud of it either – or better yet, Million Dollar Decorators.)  So I was looking for some House Hunters Internationals to record when a title on the Cooking Channel, Little Paris Kitchen, caught my eye.  […]

Categories: Savories, TV & Movies • Tags: crème fraîche, french toast, little paris kitchen, rachel khoo

Dreams, Schemes, Plans

January 7, 2013 by mymateriallife

I used to feel compelled to write down the things I did, people I saw, etc., in a calendar.  I think I started this because I was going through a particularly good time and I didn’t want to forget any of it.  I’d jot down the kind of things you see in the photo above minus the sketches.  This eventually became a burden, something I perpetually needed to “get caught up on”.  I recently decided I could let go of […]

Categories: Paper • Tags: cachet earthbound sketchbook, diy lettering, illustration, midori, moleskine, one sketch a day, planners, shopping, staedtler