virgin (tattoo) diaries pt. 2

One month! One month!

If you haven't read Part 1, you can do so here. Lazy? Here's the gist: wanted a tattoo forever, finally committed, booked a super in-demand artist, had to wait 6 months for my appointment. Well, 6 months is now 1. 40 days, to be exact. I'm not quite sure how I haven't been bursting with impatience. Well, I have. But what can I do? I haven't even seen the final drawing yet. Really, I'm not even sure he's started it yet, but I'm trying not to be THAT girl. I'll bug him in a couple of weeks, yeah?

All of this waiting has not allowed doubt to creep in, like you might expect.

Nope. In fact, quite the opposite. I've already decided on my next THREE tattoos. Oh boy. Here's the thing: if, in an interview, say, you asked me to name my greatest weakness, I'd probably not say "getting caught up in things" but that would be the truth. I'd likely choose a strength disguised as a weakness ("I'm such a perfectionist."), something that didn't paint me as a flake prone to too-romantic whims. But I am that. And well, I'm "caught up" in this thing. 

I suppose I should wait for my 1st before being so rash. Extreeeemes!

But if I love it as much as I think I'm going to, here's the (body) map of my tattoo-plan:

Lower left arm: birds & flowers
Upper right arm: bees!
Right wrist: my sis and I are getting matching word tattoos, something from our secret sister-language, natch
Leg TBD: bike (avec doggie riding in basket!)

I'm a ridiculous human.

I also just bought tickets to see Rich Aucoin (my latest music-crush) at Lee's Palace on the very same day as my tattoo appointment. Bloody gauze and front-row dancing. Yeah!

Stay tuned, my pets!
 
Until I can share images of the actual thing, enjoy some inspiration I found in my travels:

p.s. The images on the left side of each panel above are the work of tattoo artist Peter Aurisch. One day I will travel to Berlin and make him draw pretty things on me.

(Other photo sources here)

virgin (tattoo) diaries, pt. 1

This. Is. Really. Happening.

I've talked about this thing for, oh, 7 years. In that time, my mother managed to think about a tattoo, decide to get one, then actually do it. My mother! Egads! OK, if you know her: not surprising. She's impulsive and weird (weird-good). So maybe I come by it honestly. But I'm also my father's daughter. My measure-twice-cut-once dad. He's responsible for my lists, my logic, my over-planning. Because I'm a product of these two sides (oil and frickin' WATER, I tell ya!), I want my first tattoo to be huge and right out there on my forearm, but I'm also gonna take 7 years to make it happen.

Cathie, my most refreshingly honest friend, has essentially forbade me to discuss it any longer. Until I actually did something about it. She's right. I don't want to be one of those all-talk people. I'm doing it, Cathie, I'm doing it!

Remember when, way back, I wrote this? So yeah, I'm still thinking flora/fauna and though I love-love-love bees, that's going to have to be tattoo #2. Speaking of #2, my mother is already talking about hers. I'd die if she beats me to it. Twice. (Not really, though. Mostly, I'm just pretty proud of her awesomeness.)

I found this artist, via my desk-neighbour, and he does some pretty lovely stuff. Even bees! But his birds and flowers are just so dreamy. I'm thinking a combo between these two pieces (less skull, more whimsy):

 Frank Gonzales

I have my consultation in LESS THAN 2 WEEKS! It's with this dude and he's awesome. 

David Glantz, Archive Tattoo

Plus he comes highly recommended by my bonkers-lovely friend Dawn. I yoinked this from her Instagram - it's her latest session:

And as usual, I won't do anything these days without creating a thematic Pinterest board first. Check it!

(And please tell me it won't hurt. It won't, right? 'Cause otherwise I'm getting one of these rad temporary tattoos by Tattly. Whatever, I'm totally tough.)

Spring-y

I've decided it's Spring. I decided it the day before we got that huge (now gone) dump of snow. And before it started snowing again today. So, you can thank me for that. I didn't knock on wood because I'm a daredevil.

Our yard looks spring-y again. Not good-spring. Bad-spring. Like this: mud and evidence of dogs and brown, brown, brown. But I'm longing for bare legs and wellies and jewel-toned trenches. I don't want to buy anything unless it's mint or citron or cantaloupe in colour. I want to drink mojitos and white sangria.

I almost bought a bright purple silk maxi skirt last week because it would look so fetch with my Zara sandals from last summer. It kind of inspired a new wardrobe direction for me: Zoltar meets Pirate-babe meets Across the Universe. Kind of a less-blingy, more floral fortune teller. Put more simply: Stevie Nicks circa... always. You like? I should buy the skirt, yeah?

 across the universe // stevie nicks

Despite the tricky weather, though, I have to remember that it's February. We're not safe from snow squalls and ice-rain and deep freeze. Yet.

A girl can dream.

I'm heading into the woods in 3 weeks for a craft weekend and I'm definitely whipping up something fantastic in preparation for puddle-jumping.

Of course I needed to be inspired...

Here are my latest Etsy picks, lovingly handmade (or gleaned) by folks after my own summer-lovin'-heart:

Let's picnic, y'all! Aedriel Originals - chevron salad plates (2) $36

 Norwegian Wood - faux thigh-high leggings $70

 my kids will live in neverland. and i will live vicariously. The Butter Flying - rain mobile $50

 ISWASANDWILLBE - enamoured necklace $40

confetti rain! Aeropagita Prints - 'The Rain' print $20

i would live in this. over and under EVERYTHING. Norwegian Wood - sheer lace maxi $120

 let's just lie around all day and read and watch the rain, kay? Big Birds Boutique - large floor cushion $250

 oooh, surprises! Handsome and Lace - silk necktie $70 (LOCAL!)

 spring's just right for falling in love, yeah? Dariami - Mint heart studs $18

 let's get hitched. Sweet and Savvy Designs - tissue pom poms $30

like pyjamas, but hot. Leilanni - jersey maxi skirt $70 (LOCAL!)

step into my office, baby. Hopper and Space - vintage wingback sofa $1800

*prices are converted to CAD and are approximate

Staycation (Craft Week!)

 

(from The Repurposed Library)

I booked the week off. For no reason whatsoever.

It's great. It's really just the greatest.

Except that I'm sick. I spent Day #1 pouting and eating soup and watching back-to-back episodes of so-bad-it's-good TV (err, Drop Dead Diva. Any fans?). But yesterday, Day #2, I said eff you bubonic-devil-cold, eff you. I DID sleep in a little, but was far more productive.

The purpose of this week was inteneded to be productivity + relaxation. I can't quite manage the latter. Unless it's forced upon me by, say, being sick. Well, there you have it. Success?

Anyway, I'm trying to prep for the holidays, Etsy-wise and just maybe get my Dudley & Bea goods into at least one retail shop before Christimas. It's not that the interest isn't there. Really, I've has wholesale requests from shops in Toronto, Florida, Austin, and even Australia. It's my readiness. I'm not ready. During my previous crafty venture, I rushed things. I didn't nail down my methods or patterns or even a cohesive style. This time, I'm doing it right, dammit! So that's what this week is about: getting closer to "right".

Also, this week is about: hot yoga, brunches with mat-leave moms & night-shift friends, finally getting my passport updated, blogging like crazy, cleaning out the basement, painting the washroom, painting (as in canvases! as in art! as in omigosh I'm using my big expensive art school education for once!), finishing the art wall in our bedroom, and crafting while devouring season 3 of The United States of Tara. All while Alex is at work. I might also book a facial or a massage or a pedi. There should be something a little lavish in this mix, yeah?

Since much of my Staycay (or as I've been calling it: Craft Week) will be spent DIY-ing, here are some images that have inspired me:

So we bought some old maps at a flea market in Kingston this summer (that's Alex thumbing through the box)...

I've framed a vintage Pacific Ocean Floor map and I'm contemplating these for the rest:

On the same antique adventure, we snagged some burlap coffee bags and they'd be pretty awesome as a makeshift bulletin board:

All of this is part of one big masterpiece: the yet-untouched accent wall in our bedroom. It's been sadly empty for so long, but I've been working on Alex to recreate something like the below. He's in.

I'm also painting. "Starving Artist" is one of my many alter-egos. I put enough money and time and blood and sleep loss into becoming the illustrator that I never actually became. It's nice to get a little pay-off occasionally. Even though I was never really cut out for starvation. 

I'm painting jellyfish. Too much Blue Planet, I guess. Or Saturday-morning Spongebob. Too much TV.

I'm still fussing with the water. I'm no longer fully confident wielding a brush.

This inspired me:

My equally craft-loving friend Cathie bought me this book (The Repurposed Library)  for my birthday. A book-cum-lampshade project is calling my name. If painting in the living room has taught me one thing, it's this: the place is a bloody cave. DIY lamp to the rescue! How does once craft project always spawn six more!?

I'd like to say that's it, but I've managed to fill my to-do list with an impossible number of projects for just one short week. During half of which I've been sick. 

Stay tuned for the craftermath....

Ink.

 [ via Flickr ]

Alex and I are contemplating tandem tattoos to mark our one-year anniversary as a married couple (holy. crap. i'm. a. married. person.). I'm flip-flopping between a red-winged blackbird (and other birds), a bee or a whale. Not because they have any sort of significance really, but because I am in awe of things that live in the sea and the air (I am constantly and positively BLOWN AWAY by Blue Planet). Hm, I also like bicycle imagery... ooh, decisions!

Alex is still on the fence too (hurry!) and unlike me, is NOT an oversharer and does not want to discuss on the WWW what he has in mind. Boo.

We are both loving The Websters Pictoral Dictonary as reference.

Some inspiration:

[ from http://weheartit.com ]

[ from http://thedaintysquid.tumblr.com/ ]