Want To Purchase Some Crafty Things?
Mr. Blankenship and I are proud to announce the official launch of Kingdom Boutique, our very own collection of modern American craft.
Toys Should Grow One’s Imagination
I have a theory that is supported by many parents I know, and it is this: Children would rather play with cardboard boxes and pots and pans than with the latest highly-marketed, batteries-not-included, Toys-R-Us contraption. My husband reminisces about the time he made an army rifle out of a broom, duct-tape, and a flashlight whilst trudging back and forth in a trench he dug in his parents’ back yard. And the new GI Joe heroes he created by taking apart old GI Joe figurines and reassembling their body parts. Children like and NEED to use their imaginations. So why not cultivate your child’s budding creativity with something like this felt book? You could purchase it, or even better, make your own.
Couples Aprons
Some of my latest crafty creations. You and your man/woman can be domestically matchy!
Craft In the Bible
I love this passage in Exodus. God singles out the skilled craftsmen to build the Tabernacle. He fills them with knowledge and expertise to make a dwelling place for Himself. And he inspires them to teach others their crafts.
“Then Moses said to the people of Israel, See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver–by any sort of workman or skilled designer” (Exodus 35:30-35 ESV).
Whenever I get discouraged that being an artist is unimportant in the grand scheme of life, I remember Bezalel and Oholiab. God put artistic skill inside them to bring him glory. That’s so great.
Unfulfilled Goals, Boo
New Year’s resolutions are usually total bummers because our human nature (often) disallows the following through on commitments we make. Thus Mr. Blankenship doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions, only aspirations. I quit making them some time ago as well. However, I do like to set small attainable goals. And I get really mad when I cannot attain them.
All this to say, the aprons I promised at the beginning of the week have not prevailed. I was SO on track by Tuesday. One apron down, four to go! But then life happened. And now I’m on my way to Texas to be with my dying Grandfather.
How do you deal with failed commitments and unfulfilled goals? How do you pick yourself up again and start over? Is late really better than never? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Five Aprons in Five Days
Etsy is a wonderful website where a person can find all manner of delightfully handmade items. Technically, I have a store on Etsy. But technically, it is sort of defunct. That is to say, I have nothing for sale there. Today. So in the spirit of being EXTREMELY productive and reviving our beloved store, Kingdom Boutique, Joshua and I have decided upon a goal for this week. I’m going to make five aprons in exactly five days. Then the aprons will be for sale. I’ll be blogging about my progress, hopefully with a few pictures. I say “hopefully” because my current technological situation (computer, phone, hard drives, you name it) makes posting images of anything I do very cumbersome, even impossible. But the aprons themselves will prevail.
Homemade Chemical Free Fabric & Paper Dye
This recipe for cranberry dye from ReadyMade Magazine looks scrumptiously easy and fun. The idea of creating my own papers and textiles is always enticing.
On Fashion Magazines & the Over-Mystification of Style
I like fashion. Actually I love fashion. I see it as a medium by which to express myself as an artist. But I am merely a novice, slowly learning the language of style and putting together visual sentences with care and apprehension.
In my quest to learn the language of style, I turn to what most would consider to be the dictionary, the Fashion Magazine. There I hope to learn the definitions of words, the visual signifiers that describe what clothes and accessories are and do. For instance: What is a bias cut dress, and why does it look good on some women and not others? Why does bright green look good on me and beige make me look sick? What is matte jersey, and why do I hate it? Why do most models have the bodies of 12-year-old boys? Why are tiny purses with long straps suddenly back in fashion? Who is Vivienne Westwood?
But instead of finding the answers to these questions, I encounter more words and images of which I don’t know the definitions, and other words to describe them that make no sense. My least favorite and the most overly-used word in fashion magazines: effortless. This is apparently the holy grail of what all women want in clothes. That “throw it on and leave without looking in the mirror” mystique that only Audrey Hepburn and Kate Moss seem able to achieve. Fashion virtuosos aside, I doubt even the most stylish of celebrities achieves their look without some good, hard work at some point. Discovering one’s body type, color palette, and taste takes work. I don’t care who you are.
All this to say, the very place I turn to discover what fashion means to me only serves to over-mystify the entire concept. I want to know how a one-shouldered dress is made or why a designer was inspired by Greco-Roman themes, not how Pantene Pro-V is going to help me wear a one-shouldered ensemble with confidence. That’s ridiculous. That kind of propaganda makes me think I can only be fashionable if I look like a five-foot-ten-inch model with long black or gold tresses, or if I had enough money to get liposuction, or if I had more money period. The writers of fashion magazines and the advertising that supports them want me to be in a state of constant dissatisfaction with who I am so that they can make money. And who can blame them? It’s a clever strategy. But it is dishonest and ultimately makes me mistrust everything they say.
I think fashion magazines would do better (as some have begun, but only meagerly) to teach their readers about the fashion industry and give them the tools to achieve their own personal style. Just because the archetype of the beautiful figure has changed over the past 100 years from plump and womanly to anorexic and emaciated doesn’t mean you can’t look good in what designers are putting in stores these days. It just means you need to arm yourself with the right information and devices to make them work for you–e.g. your body type, your color palette, your most flattering fabrics & fits, and your most important weapon, a tailor.
Armed with these tools, I know that bias cut dresses don’t usually look good on me because my Latina pear-shaped-ness makes the fabric fall weird; matte jersey seems like it’s always cut on the bias, and I don’t like its gritty feel; my winter complexion means I look best in jewel tones; tiny purses are back because the powers-that-be said they were; Vivienne Westwood made punk a style; and I look awesome in high-waisted, tailored jeans.
Who Does She Think She Is?
It’s a film about women struggling to live as wives/mothers AND artists. It is exactly what I am trying to figure out, and I don’t even have kids yet.
FFFFOUND! for the Lost
For those of us who remain uninvited to the exclusive FFFFOUND! image bookmarking community, there is now Image Spark. And hallelujah, because I was getting desperate.
