orange you glad

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vintage teacup from little eye on etsy

It’s February, which means the only thing sustaining any of us until the first 50 degree evening brings us a downpour to wash all the road salt away is pretty much junk food, our favorite tv shows streaming, and bright pops of color almost constantly.

Even though the fresh, white snow is beautiful (and will continue to get taller and taller and still beautiful after the coming three-day Nor’Easter we’re supposed to get, it’s still white.  So white.  So endlessly white.

I’ve been knitting with bright colors on my needles (most recently:  turquoise and orange) and listing brightly colored objects in the Etsy shop to keep my eyes open.  They’ve put me in charge of revamping the kitchen at work at possibly the most daring time of year for me, colorwise.  I think I’m using Stefanie Hiebert’s retro living room as my color inspiration.  Lunch break won’t know what hit it!

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ladies size 7.5 tan/navy gumshoe from little eye on etsy

snowy day, bright prints

IMG_1482Good lord, it’s happening again:  6-10 inches of the white stuff started falling this morning just before I left for work.  It’s an excuse to break out the bison boots again, and actually nice to cover up the muddy patches since there’s two more months, minimum, of winter in the north east.  Better to look at a soft blanket of snow than the alternative.  The picture above is from this afternoon’s sweep-off of the car after leaving work a wee bit early to beat the rest of the storm.  Oh yeah!  If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, my name is littleeyedesigns.

Guess what, I couldn’t help myself when I drove by the deserted parking lot at the thrift store.  I found some gauzy, cotton dresses in pretty prints that are just begging for an early Spring.  Me too, pretty dresses, me too!  These will end up in the shop or on Ebay sometime in the next week, so definitely check back!

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duck, duck, goose

beanboot03There is nothing I love finding more on our thrifting outings than Bean boots.  Growing up in Maine, a pair of weathered duck boots (that is, the rubber moc, the low style) is a badge of honor.

Of course most of the time I don’t find them in my oh-so-ubiquitous size (7.5, message me if you find some!) so they get photographed and put in the shop.  The great thing about them is that they get better with age.  Leather with a patina, rubber soles with character and a color that can’t quite be matched by any factory.

These never stay long in the shop, but do check back frequently as I seem to have quite some luck finding pretty much any size (other than 7.5!) in my travels.

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shake shake shake

anthropomorphic oranges, what else?

anthropomorphic oranges, what else?

New energy in the shop!  We rifled through the collection to find some bright sunshine for these dull, gray days.  Found a theme just waiting in the stacks of items waiting (patiently, ahem) of salt + pepper shakers, and we’ve listed three in the Little Eye Etsy shop!  Click on the images to take yourself whizzing across the internet to the listings.

love bugs by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel

love bugs by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think these little love bugs are mine.  They were designed by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel in the 1950s for the Regal China Company out of Illinois.  Ruth cut her teeth as a children’s book writer, but her visual language translated very nicely to seasoning delivery vessels.  Aww, here’s their cute little behinds:

lovebugs03.2You can see the little holes in their head for salt and pepper to come out of!

picnic in style

picnic in style

These are also from the 1950s, hand painted strawberry blossom shakers, oversized, excellent for a retro picnic or camping excursion.  The paint is in awesome condition, but there is just a little wear on the very tops of the plastic lids, presumably because this is the only part you should wash (or wash insides of globes very careful not to get the outside wet).

Just a little snippet!  We spent some more time in the studio snapping pictures of goodies that will be in the shop soon.

fall is here, plus big chill applications

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Fall’s here, which means excellent things for all of us who live in the north eastern United States.  Namely, pumpkin, apple and cinnamon everything plus an unnaturally high enthusiasm for hurling one’s self at the front lawn at even the smallest of leaf piles.  We’ll need to wait a few weeks before there’s no risk of sciatic damage, but once there’s a big enough leaf pillow in the yard it is party time.

IMG_0673Plus, there I am sitting in an apple tree.  Never too big for that.

In other news, applications have been posted for the 2013 Big Chill craft fair.  My baby!  This is the 5th event I’ve organized at Mayo Street Arts and we’ve got big, big plans for this one.  DIY crafts for young and young at heart, a whole floor of local vendors and, of course, beer + wine available for shoppers.  Yes, being an adult is awesome.

 

rock + cold

today was nice – the rattlesnakes and great western plain are putting out a split together and needed some photos.  i just happen to have a camera:

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and they just happened to make nachos and pizza when we got back from the grocery store:

smallIMG_9952-2BWand a couple more:

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smallIMG_9889if you’re thinking to yourself ‘ohmygosh, how can i hear these bands?!’ you should probably click here (rsnakes) and here (gplain)

jack + deb

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jack + deb special delivery cd envelope

Dropped off a little package of goodness to some friends who were hitched in October ’12.  Jack + Deb play in a local band, alex keaton, and they are wonderful.  So it was really nice to be there for their casual, food-and-fun-filled evening.  Let me just say, the potato leek soup at RiRa was delicious and I still talk about it, even though I ate it three months ago.  Here are some other fantastic and visually delicious moments:

ceremony

ceremony

The ceremony was held on the second floor at RiRa, in Portland, Maine’s Old Port right on the water.  You can just make out the parking lot for the Casco Bay Terminal through the windows!  What you are seeing there is some mid-October dusk action here in Maine.

guests

guests

I was particularly happy with the way this shot turned out, pictures of guests can be hard to capture if you’re looking for natural poses and full faces but efforts were rewarded.

bride + baby

bride + baby

Any opportunity to photograph a bride and the youngest infant at the party should be taken – not sure why but it always looks fantastic.  Beautiful baby borrow!

jack + deb

jack + deb

love to love you

Audrey.  Where have you been!

The truth is pretty sweet, actually, I’ve been off in the land of being-a-wedding-photographer for the last two weeks.  It would not be so bad at all to do this for a living!  I’d sit around in my underwear all week editing photos and then put pants on on the weekend to go share one of those big life events with the most amazing people.

Most recently, Deb and Jack:

And the week before them, Rocco and Megan:

I would sure be a lucky lady if I could spent every weekend (or ALMOST every weekend) doing this for a living!

xo,

aud