42nd and Orange

studio visits

sorry for lagging on the blog posts. my brain is a bit fried as multiple projects are nearing their end at the same time, so we are crazy multi-multi taskers right now... what day is it? do i have to be somewhere? what are we working on today? mom and i ask these questions and more, a million times each day.

this anika, a recent studio visitor. she was sooooo nice and friendly. anika is from germany and is taking 3 months to travel. so far she's hit new york, san francisco, los angeles, and encinitas (kinda crazy that encinitas/san diego is part of her "places to go"). then she heads to australia, and i think she said she was going somewhere in indonesia. how fun! oh and she's traveling by herself - total girl power!

here is shaylin, my cousin leela's middle daughter. we had a fun day a few weeks ago when my aunt kathe, shaylin, and little genevieve stopped by for a visit. here shaylin is showing off a prototype bag we made out of nu-nu doll t-shirts. shaylin is one of the original m•o•m models as was her older sister haley who you may remember spent a long weekend with us this summer as our first intern.

as little sisters do, genevieve wanted to be just like her big sister. so we shot a picture of her with a bag too. and as little people do, she proceeded to put it in her mouth.

thanks for stopping by. i'd like to say that i will be better at posting, but these next few weeks are really full and i just don't know how much time i can give to the blog right now. we're not going away, quite the contrary, things are pretty exciting and we really want to share everything with you. i just need to get a few things finished and off our plate. i will try to post small views of the studio as we work and get ready for the holidays.  have a great weekend!

m•o•m wouldn't exist without mom.

i call this image: mom is cool. (1997)

and this one: mom is rad! (2002-2004?)

i will call this one: mom is too cute. (taken a few weeks ago)

we're busy making new things for the shop. lot's of crocheted pieces, more beanbag, placemats, and cool ties of course, plus a few new surprises. people have started Christmas shopping already, so we really have to stay on top of everything. we also have new jessica(fied) jewelry, plus two other jewelry designers, powder and starkRAVINGmad.

take time to smell the roses

Hi everyone, sorry there hasn't been a new post in a while. I became sick last week from a flair up of Crohn's disease, got an intestinal infection and landed in the hospital for 3 days. So to say the least, things came to a screeching halt around here. I'm home now, gaining my strength back, looking forward to work and giving my mom some deserved time off. Although now that I think about it, she has been extremely creative and productive during this time and has had great success down at the shop...hmm, maybe she should run the shop all the time?

Here's the last thing I was working on before I got sick....aren't they pretty?

our crocheted rosette pin.

 

we've been making the pins for a while, but i hadn't decided on how to present them. we decided to call them rosette's and that helped me a great deal in designing the card. the graphic rendering of the flower printed on the card is one of the templates in lena corwin's book, printing by hand.

so hip it hurts

my sister bought the wooden mustache from something's hiding in here.

rock on nanny!

bethany-stache

my sister jessica; she designs jewelry under the name jessica(fied) -now to be known at jessica(stache).

mom-stache

and last but certainly not least...

stella-stache...hot-cha-cha-cha!

now all we need are fixed gear bicycles.

intern #2

a few weeks ago eden (13), my cousin tracy's second daughter, stayed with us for a long weekend. she interned down at the studio making first place blue ribbons, jewelry bags, and covering hangers.

our evenings were filled with jane austen movies and mexican food - an odd mix for sure and yet perfectly describes us.

cutting a good freehand circle isn't easy.

mastering the sewing machine was a tough task for a perfectionist like eden; she wanted to give up, but instead hung in and finished the job. yay for perseverance!

 eden's finished product, the first place blue ribbons.

 concentrating..."don't cut a finger off; your mother will never let you return!"

have you seen the head shots i took of eden last year?

lucky 13

miss stella is 13 today.
she became a part of my life when i saw her down south at a bonita animal shelter. she was 8 weeks old and had already been at the shelter for 2 weeks; someone found her alone in an alley.
she was tiny (fit in my two hands) and covered with fleas, however she was healthy and full of energy.
we've lived in encinitas, moved to oakland, and have come back to encinitas. now stella is a most happy shop dog. her days are spent lounging in the sun, sleeping, eating and greeting visitors.
it's a good life. i'm glad she's here.
happy birthday stella!

a young lass, ready to cruise in the '58 ford.

this picture was taken when we lived in oakland.

a recent photo taken mother's day weekend. love it.

stella's flickr set

a super fun weekend

what a great weekend. we had company and our first ever intern at the studio. my cousin leela's eldest daughter haley (who is 12) stayed with us thursday - sunday.
haley used the sewing machine, gocco printer, did a little embroidery, and mom started teaching her how to crochet.
each morning we sat around enjoying our tea and coffee along with good conversation. down at the studio haley took to the sewing machine quickly, as well as greeting customers and getting around the neighborhood. 

haley's first project was making pouches for jessica(fied) jewlery. when jewelry is purchased we package it in a cute bag made from scraps of fabric. haley went to town sewing 18 bags over the weekend.

cute bags

we got out the gocco maching and haley got to printing.

haley's handiwork

nothing like a burrito and an ocean breeze.

haley's biggest project was appliquing a t-shirt. she rummaged through the fabric scraps and created her own design.

the finishing touches

ta-da!

lunch at the studio on her last day with us

haley was so easy-going and fun to be with; she fit in really well and we can't wait to have her back.

thank you haley for an awesome weekend! xoxo

ps: next up is eden (13); the middle daughter of my cousin tracy. yay for family and cool kids!

goofy

stella has had three visits to the vet in the last week. two for a limp on her back left leg -everything is fine, no tears or arthritis, just a sprain; and the third visit for an ear infection.
so yesterday while at the studio we decided to have some fun and play dress-up.

what do you think...did stella have fun or was she just humoring me?

have a great weekend!

happy mother's day mom!

i love you this (----------------------------------------------------------------------------) much

from last weekends pre-mother's day shoot. me and stella showing mom some love.

i'm a bit biased but, i have a rad mom.
xxoo -bethany

i am so pleased with these polaroid pictures. the film was 12 years old and i absolutely love all of it's imperfections. the only bummer about last weekend's shoot was that my sister jessica was out of state for a wedding -we'll get her next time.

two birthdays, one night

this lovely evening happened in february.

my sister and mother's birthday's are exactly one week apart. this year we celebrated their special days together at a new favorite restaurant called alexander's. and on this visit, alexander himself served us. it was a lovely evening filled with champagne, laughter and gorgeous food.

the jensen gals.

                                      a dessert surprise given to us by alexander.

we crack ourselves up.

we had a great time and look forward to going back. alexander's is at 3391 30th st, san diego 92104 (in north park)