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Patchwork Shows 2012

I just had to sit down and write an update on my very first art show and share some things in store for the next! They are only a week apart, it's like a whirlwind and I've just realized that I'm actually here. The stress and chaos of the weeks leading up, have been so overwhelming that I forgot to be excited that I've made it here. I remember planning a year ago, which art shows I would  apply to, and now I'm in the middle of them all. So much is happening all at once. Not long after I moved to Hollywood, I dreamed of joining the ranks of some of the best comedic actors and following in the footsteps of some of SNL's finest. Recently, I came up with the money, auditioned, and now I'm already halfway through the first level and I just realized that I'm actually doing it. I'm studying with the Groundlings! Something I've only dreamed of for years. How did I miss when that happened? The only thing that exists is what lives in this very moment. How easy it is to overlook life as it happens.

Okay, now for the actually update. Patchwork LB was awesome. My spot was right on the water and the day was sunny and I had my wonderful mate to help me through it. I have learned SO much already from that one show. My booth set up was really fun and because my space was longer than expected, I was able to leak back a bit and make a sort of hallway. Unfortunately, I think this was a little confusing to shoppers and the back section was difficult to get to. For Santa Ana on Sunday my setup will be a bit tighter and more accessible. I also kept loosing things so I'm totally going with my initial instinct to bring drawers to help organize a bit more. I had a minute to peruse other vendors' booths which may have been one of the best things of all. An artist close to my booth hand painted teeny tiny pictures on canvas circles and made them into necklace pendants, and he had a big framed sign right in the middle that explained the process. Totally helpful. I'm not sure that all my shoppers knew that my creatures were all hand sculpted and one of a kind. Even though it's a handmade show, you never know what that means to some people, though I think the Patchwork gals are pretty thorough when jurying vendors. My larger items drew in the crowds like the hot air balloons, but they seemed to want to actually purchase the smaller items. So I've expanded the necklace and ring collections, and I'm working on a few other small pieces. Here's a sneak peak to some completed ones that will be at the Santa Ana show this Sunday!

little caterpillar necklace

golden long neck necklace

fox glass globe ring

little caterpillar moss ring

dinosaur scene glass globe ring

Crafty fox necklace

There is SO much more I'm just getting a little frustrated with this photo uploader but come out if you're in the area, this Sunday, May 27th in downtown Santa Ana at Sycamore and 2nd street! We'll be there from 11-5 and then that's it for me until July when I head to downtown LA for Renegade! So come, enjoy the food trucks and say hello! I've got 20% off coupons for my shop and first dibs on the newest creations! See you there!

-B

I Want Wednesday...Felt

When I was little, my grandparents had a mobile home near my papa's job where they'd spend their weeks and return on the weekends to their home in Heritage Ranch, CA where I grew up. I credit my Gram for a lot of my creative desires and abilities. She had a huge art room in her big house with clay, piles of fabric, at least two sewing machines and a closet full of yarn bigger than I'd ever aspire to own. So not surprisingly, she filled the few square feet of their little trailer home with with a sewing machine, and who knows how many spools of yarn, as she'd spend her days when my papa was at work, creating amazing things and listening to Rush Limbaugh (you must love people as they are...especially your gram.) One summer my cousin and I visited for a week and she took us to what I can only remember to be a Michael's or some equivalent, and had us pick out sheets of felt for a craft project. Probably because it's easy to work with and doesn't fray like other fabrics if you don't hem the edges. For that reason I used it to create the letters of my new craft show banner last night and while I'm quite proud of the result, this is about how far my expertise in felt goes. I don't remember what we created that summer but I'm sure it wasn't nearly to the level of talent needed to create some of these masterpieces! You can find them all on etsy.com and in my favorites! Enjoy:)

Stuffed Alphabet letter magnets by MiChiMaLAND on etsy

Mossy floral Mushrooms Pincushion by FoxtailCreekStudio on etsy

Sunday Breakfast by Milkfly on etsy

Patchwork!

A week away from Los Angeles, performing in the Bay and I've returned to a mess. Don't worry, It's my own, and it's quite lovely. I've got half-made hot air balloons, finger puppets, caterpillar bobby pins (wait till you see them, I've had em on my to-do list since January!) and a whole list of others waiting to be completed or even started before...are you ready for this? DA DA NA NA!!!!!! The Spring Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival! I applied to the Santa Ana and Long Beach shows and was graciously accepted into both, so mark your calendars! Sunday, May 20th and the following Sunday May 27th. 

Isn't the postcard just adorable??? I may have to frame this one because...this is my first big art/craft show all on my own! But my mother has certainly prepared me through the years, following her around her own craft shows, and I've dreamt up some pretty spectacular displays, packaging, etc.! I can't wait to share with all of you and I hope to see you there! This is not your mother's craft show! I'm thinking if you're a fan of the beard/mustache craze, love original screen tees, and animals with pants and glasses, you won't want to miss it! Did I mention food trucks?...

See you there!

B

And he's down for the count. (cleanse update)

I can't blame him really and to tell you the truth I feel a bit relieved. I don't mind making myself suffer through a cleanse but it's too hard watching someone that I love do it.

So as I started my day with another 16oz of green juice, Chase enjoyed one of the gigantic avocados that Keith (our thoughtful neighbor) brought over for my birthday. He did last through the whole day. I'm quite proud. In fact, he was in much better shape at the end of the night than I was. I was feeling nauseous with back aches and a headache that lasted from yesterday afternoon till I finally fell asleep. Today is not so bad,  I'm on my third green juice as I write this and I've been up and cleaning and getting things done! No headaches yet or other awful symptoms. Hopefully I'm all detoxed out from yesterday. So, day two. I'm still craving food, I'm really looking forward to some sesame noodles when I'm all through with this. And hard boiled eggs. Weird I know but the heart wants what it wants.

By the way, gideon just hopped out here, smelled my green juice and turned away. He's a rabbit. He eats hay and parsley and only produce and this isn't appealing to him??! Yeah...it's pretty hard to swallow (did you get that pun?) but it will be worth it in the end! I'm considering going for 3 days now but we'll see. Ahhhh I want food!

Did you watch that documentary from my last post?

-B

I've attained the impossible.

I've convinced chase to do a juice cleanse with me. And here I will share with you for the next couple of days our mood swings, and there will be many... (did I mention I'm starting this when my lady time is due?) and withdrawals from modern processed foods and animal products, as well as triumphs, and clear skin, and insides that feel like marshmallows and all of this will come after about three days of course but suddenly we will be happier people I promise!
I'm documenting this in part for a good laugh yes, especially because I've got Chase on board and we're going to do it together but mostly because i truly believe in it! This is not some radical fad diet or an unhealthy cayanne pepper lemonade cleanse, it's A LOT of vegetables and fruits (about 20 lbs per day in fact) squeezed into liquid to allow our digestive system a break and to cleanse and rebuild the body we have terrorized with horrible meats and cereals and candy...my poor body, I'm surprised I'm not diabetic yet with all the sweets I pack into it. We will loose a bit a weight although this is not what the cleanse is intended for, and hopefully once we've finished, we'll start a healthier way of eating. I'm not saying I'm going to give up anything I normally eat but a more plant based diet is my goal and I want to do a 3 day cleanse once a month after this to give my body the break it needs.
I've done this before once, for about 3 days and it's the best I've ever felt in my whole life. I can't explain it, it's just amazing. this time I'm going to do at the very least 5 days...hopefully more. Chase is trying for three. The program I'm following is similar to the blueprint cleanse which charges $65 per day for their fresh juices. I can do my own with my juicer and mostly organic produce for around $20.
Okay so here it goes. I've been up since 7:45 this morning and already have the first green juice down. There are two more in my day along with a pineapple apple mint one, a spicy lemonade, and the cashew milk reward at the end of the day which I can only describe as a horchata flavored, wonderful thing. You work through the day to get to the cashew milk!
Chase is already avoiding the green juice as he wakes up and insists he must take a shower first...Let the struggle begin!

If you want to inform yourself more on cleansing, google the blueprint cleanse, they have lots of useful information on their website and if I was rich, I'd just buy theirs because let me tell you, it's a lot of work getting all the juice out! AND i just watched the most fantastic documentary on two men who you would LEAST expect to do it and if they can you certainly can too! It's on hulu right now!!!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/289122/fat-sick-and-nearly-dead

I Want Wednesday!

Sometimes I come across items from my fellow creators on etsy and I just squeel in my heart with admiration and inspiration. I have been meaning to devote a blog update once a week to that incredible talents and finds and I drool over for quite some time but I couldn't come up with a decent alliteration. I WANT all of this. So that's what is will be called. I Want Wednesdays. And you can come see what I want! JUST KIDDING! You will most likely adore many of these creations as well, so here I go, digging into my etsy favorites....

Maxi Skirt from Lana Stepul on etsy

Herbal Lip Balms from PhoenixBotanicals on etsy

 I don't think I simply want this skirt, I'm quite positive I need it. It's made from a soft jersey fabric and what's even better is this mother and daughter team will custom-make their pieces to fit you perfectly! A God-send for a 5'9" girl with nothing but legs! Check out their shop there are a lot of staples every closet needs!





I love anything Rose. And the Little Wing flavor sounds divine too! Eco friendly, Organic, Super Natural...This shop is brimming with treats for your body. I want.

                                     


 I have an obsession with Macarons lately. Of course they are like a little drop of happy in your mouth but they are just so pretty! I think all food should be pretty. Miniaturepatisserie is one of the cutest little corners of the internet. I work with clay too and my creatures are small but these are just teeny tiny!

Miniature French Macaron display by miniaturepatisserie on etsy

This is why I never kept a diary...

I'm not good at keeping up with regular updates. But soo many good things, I don't know where I left off. Judging by my photo gallery, let's start around February 6th. 

**OH! hey look at the time! Happy Birthday month to me!!! It's March! I'm the birthday girl! I love to be the birthday girl... -__-**

my cardboard "cash register"!

Okay back to business, I'm busily preparing for a May filled with Art shows! Yay for Craft show season! I've sent in applications to Patchwork festival in Long Beach and Santa Ana and I'm going to send in my UniqueLA app later this month after I update my shop a bit. I've been a little negligent with my etsy shop the past couple of weeks. But so much has been happening! 

I signed with a new agent! and they are fantastic! They contacting me through my casting profile and usually that's a major red flag but I googled them and it turns out, they're a pretty big deal out here so I set up a meeting. I showed up with a pretty arrogant attitude thinking I'd be in and out with a new commercial agent no question. Well I was in for it, Susan was abrupt, no nonsense, and clearly knew what she was doing. Suddenly I was sitting there feeling totally unprepared. AND SHE ASKED FOR A MONOLOGUE. Here in LA, when you go in to meet with a commercial agent, it's very rare that they ask for something prepared, usually they'll hand you some sides and you give them a cold-read. It's been a while since I've worked on a monologue and I had nothing. And much to my horror I found myself sitting there, admitting this to her, mortified and so disappointed. I'm a professionally trained actor. I've been studying and performing and auditioning in LA for almost 5 years now and I didn't have a monologue. When I asked to do a cold read, she sighed, "I'll have to look for something and email you and you'll have to come back another day." Like she would ever call me back in after the amazing impression I had left on her. But suddenly I remembered a scene I had killed in an Allen Hooper workshop several months ago. 10 words in, she was holding back smiles. She loved it! She had me do it for another agent. Same reaction! The meeting did a 180 and the next thing I knew she was asking me to sign and talking about theatrical representation as well! Praise the Lord, if I had not remembered that piece.... And a special thank you to Allan Hooper as well! I went home, and Chase and I celebrated by finding the Shaved Ice Truck! 

 Next comes Valentines day. I'll try to make this short. I made Chase breakfast, we napped the day away, and then he took me to dinner Le Petite Chateau in Toluca Lake. I'd been dying to go since we moved here! It was lovely, and old, and charming, and delicious! We exchanged gifts the night before because of course we couldn't wait. I gave him a membership to the LA Zoo and he presented me with a lovely sapphire ring. We are getting better at this as the years go on. He's my best friend. Aside from you mama ;)

Stay tuned, I'll be sure to post show dates as soon as I'm officially accepted!

-B

Let's just talk about how great yesterday was.

Can we do that? Nothing Super duper magnificent happened, but a bunch of little good things after another.

My show (work) went so well and I received a nice healthy tip...wait a minute, that sound so weird. For those of you who don't know, I'm a Faerie performer and children's birthdays. Okay much better.

After running some errands and a lovely chat with my mama, I came home and made marshmallows. FROM. SCRATCH. I made them! I've been eyeing them from etsy bakers and I thought, I wonder if I could just do it on my own, and I did! It was actually super easy, I found an instructional from joyofbaking.com <<< and if you click that link you can see it too! I like the way the lady talks. Kind of unpolished and frazzled. She's so cute. I made the vanilla ones she shows and then I added rose green tea and freeze dried raspberry crumbs (and perhaps a little pink food coloring...did you know that the color pink added to sweets makes them taste better?? It's some sort of psychological thing. I read that this week. I forget where.) Next I'm going to make some malted marshmallows for Chase...and lavender ones...and...

 They turned out very adorably if I do say so myself. I can't wait till my sweet tooth takes over later today and I can try them with some tea! I finished off the night with a lentil loaf (meatloaf substitute and oh my, it's muuuuch better than it sounds. Even Chase loves it!) And then I got to work on all the orders that came in yesterday! I'm working on a custom Beard Buddy magnet and it's so much fun! I love custom orders, it challenges me in a different way.

Custom Beard Buddy!

 Last exciting this for this week, I have a meeting with a commercial agent on Thursday at 2pm in Beverly Hills so pray for me and think good thoughts for me and hopefully I'll sign with them and book a national and then I can afford to do all the art shows my little heart desires this year!
Okay everyone, have a loverly week! Go make some marshmallows!
-B

Okay I'm gonna get a little personal here.

Is that okay? Of course it's okay cause I run this here blog...seeeee?! This is partly to vent, partly to rejoice, partly to share an important lesson.

The bittersweet reality of childhood friendship, that you can't fathom when you are 12 is that someday, your best friend may be just an acquaintance or maybe you'll loose touch indefinitely. You become different adults and sometimes that innocent bond doesn't carry over. And that's okay. After moving to LA and only checking in with each other quite sporadically I accepted that my best friend and I were very different people and it was time to move on an nurture new relationships. My friend is quite self destructive and lives in the past, blaming other people for her depression. This morning, that hatred surprisingly carried over to me. It ruined my whole day, it made me late for my oil change, gave me an anxiety attack, and caused me to have a margarita with dinner. Or was that all me?

Here's my point. You create your own happiness. Okay so perhaps your parents are partially to blame for your therapy bills- I mean, who's aren't?? and it's okay to be lost and dependent when you are still, as 'the friend of my' life jillian put it, "turning into the person you'll become." But there comes a point in your existence when you take the reigns. You are in charge of your own happiness. Living in the past, trying to find someone to blame for your unhappiness will only waste the present and the future until suddenly you have no more days left. Congratulations. You've got a lifetime of misery to look back on, just want you've always tried to create for yourself! Bravo. I let this one, absolutely absurd comment ruin almost* my entire day, when I control my happiness! I get to be happy because I have a wonderful little apartment in a wonderful place with my prince charming, a craft table and the most adorable bunny rabbit named Gideon. Sometimes you just have to accept you are the only person you can make happy. You are the boss of you but only of you and it's not your responsibility to make your manic depressive friends elated with the same joy you are. My new year has been full of giving and peace and love. I've been so calm this year and I choose to be happy everyday. Today was a little bumpy. I was quite upset through a lot of it , and that's okay too. Cause tomorrow I won't be. Fill your cupboards with people who love you and scrub out the mold and move on. Well don't really put the people you love in cupboards. That wouldn't be very nice. Unless they are really tiny people. Then maybe make them a bed out of cotton balls and put a cookie in there.

Notice I said "ruined almost* my entire day"? I got a hair cut, shipped an order, got an oil change and my love took me out to dinner and to see The Artist. And now I'm going to take this fuzzy little bunny off my chest and go sit down at my art table and paint some new creations tonight. Because I'm alive and I'm blessed and I'm grateful.

Who's the boss of me??? I'M THE BOSS OF ME!

3 parties, 2 rubber stamps, and 1 bunny named Gideon

Le sigh. Oh I am so content and fulfilled and sleepy! Long wonderful week through and through. Let's start with the most important. Gideon! For those who haven't met him yet, may I introduce to you, my new love. He's a tiny little baby bunny and he actually won't get much bigger cause he's a mini! I was so worried because he wouldn't eat much or poop at all for the first two days we got him and now it's poop city! Yay and boo. I'm so happy he's healthy. Praise God. but I wish he'd be more like a normal clean bunny and pick a corner. Anyway, isn't he the cutest thing?! It's so funny to watch him hop around the apt and when he get really cozy, he spreads his little body out becoming a long flat little blob. I love him.

I am thrilled to say that my etsy shop is doing better than ever! I've been so inspired lately and I'm even working on a line of muslin, hand painted totes! I ordered custom stamps from BlossomStamps on etsy  and they came out exactly as I drew them! They're incredible. So so soooo happy. I spent my Friday night   sewing a bajillion little muslin mesh bags, which isn't really that sad for me cause my weekends are my weeks and the other way around and my days sort of run together. Still I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for myself slaving away in front of my sewing machine while Chase was out with the boys for one of his friends' birthdays. It was my choice. I could have gone but I stayed to get things done. The passion people, the passion!! Anyway, they look sooo great with my shop logo, I've been waiting a long time to finally do all that and now I'm just so pleased. I feel like everything is in place for The Naked Bird and it makes me feel very calm. 

The weekend was full of fantastic parties (my "real" job) and today I fulfilled an event I was booked on when I used to do princess stuff at my old job. I bought and styled such a great Ariel wig and it was just such a happy wonderful experience. I made sand dollar hair clips from paper clay and bought pearls and jewels and really tiny baby starfish from SeaShellSupply and they turned out even better than imagined. 

And now it's the week again which means new etsy listings and productivity in my shop! Have an enchanting week everyone!

Valentine's Day Giveaway...yay!

Okay my lovely readers! Valentine's Day is upon us and you know what that means....time for another giveaway! And this is a good one! In keeping with the theme of love, I've decided...to give away a set of Lover Birds! My most popular item thus far, these birdies are all one of a kind, signed and dated and sealed to protect. This is the first time I've used a facebook giveaway but I think you just have to go>>>>>> HERE<<<<<<< and like Thenakedbird fb page and you should be entered. It's all out of my hands now, controlled by a computer but I can tell you that it ends in 2 weeks on February 24th so I have time to pack them up and ship them out before the Holiday. Good luck to all!

I MADE PASTA

I have so many memories as a little girl standing on a backwards chair pushed against the counter, smelling the vanilla and helping my mom bake in front of a giant silver mixer. One of my most cherished gifts came this year when I opened my very own stand mixer from the love of my life. He knows I love to cook and...also, probably, that he would reap the benefits from this gift, but nonetheless I love it. I was sooo overloaded with cookies and fudge after Christmas that I probably won't bake again till Valentine's day, but here is my first venture with the contraption...Raviolis!

Chopped mushrooms, garlic, goat cheese, mozzarella, parmesan filling

Super simple pasta dough from eggs, semolina flour and salt! 

I think these could have been rolled even thinner, they puffed up so much.

Okay...that was more work than I realized. But a beautiful result!

A little vodka sauce, broccoli, a red and Grumpy Old Men. Good choice.

Faerie "work" retreat...or, what I get paid to do.

Leaving on a jet plane!

 Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. What an amazing couple of days. I just got back from my work retreat and what a fantastic experience! For those of you that don't know, I am a professional faerie with one of the most reputable, magical companies in the bay and Los Angeles. My "faerie godmother", or more commonly known in the human world as, my boss, rented a farm near Napa Valley and we (about 30 faeries) traveled up and had such a memorable, sensational time. We filmed a new movie which will be up on the website soon, played secret santa, had a black and white ball and an awards ceremony. I think the photos will speak for themselves. 

Miss Raina Picking LA faeries up from the airport!

We had our dance parties on this patio

The balcony leading to the upstairs bedrooms in the main house

Miss Polly in our sunny incredible room. I didn't want to leave it!

Great new friends!! I love her!

From right outside our bedroom

Teaching Phoenix how to make the parrot balloon

Faerie circle!

Our amazing talented hilarious faeries and the best faerie godmother in the world right in the middle, Miss Fae Diddle Diddle!

I know this all seems so frilly and ridiculous but you get used to it fast. And fall in love with it. And realize that you have one of the best jobs in the entire world. I'm so lucky, I'm so blessed. Thank you Lord.