I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I have a thing for dolls. And I’ve definitely featured the amazing work of Christine Alvarado from Du Buh Du Designs before.
One of the things that makes her site so spellbinding is that she features her handmade dolls in the most beautiful images.
I never really gave much thought to who was taking these gorgeous pictures, but apparently it was HER. Though I should have guessed this since the personal pictures she has on her blog are quite lovely too.
The last blog post I read on Du Buh Du announced that the always empty Etsy shop (her dolls disappear seconds after she lists them) will now include prints of several of her doll photographs. Here are a couple:
You can see the rest HERE. Which one is your favorite?
I had to move this over from my other blog, The Big Piece of Cake. I’m not always the best at reading the fine print, and apparently giveaways above a certain price point are a no no for my BlogHer ads contract.
So until I can figure out some kind solution for this (another site for giveaways maybe?), Wishing True will be hosting this one. Have you entered yet? You can do so on the original post or here in comments.
From The Big Piece of Cake, Tuesday, August 18:
Polarn O. Pyret: A Giveaway and Some Boring Home Movies of My Kids
Well – I don’t think they’re boring. But I didn’t want to build them up too much. Professional filmmaker, I’m not.
The reason that I’m even including the footage is that it displays examples of the product that I’m giving away this month.
A while ago, my friend Linda (of Baby Bunching fame), agreed to let me do a giveaway for one of her P.R. clients, Polarn O. Pyret.
Polarn O. Pyret is a children’s wear brand from Sweden. The clothes are very simple and stylish and have a retro look to them. They’re also often unisex, which is great for hand me downs to siblings and family friends.
While I initially asked about a giveaway, Linda suggested that I do a product review as well.
Long product reviews are boring – so I’ll be brief. The shirts that she sent me were super cute and comfortable (as far as I could tell I mean…I assume they were since the kids weren’t screaming and trying to rip them off – don’t laugh, it’s happened).
They were also roomy, which was nice since European clothes in ladies’ sizes tend to lean in the opposite direction. There’s nothing more annoying than ordering clothes for your kids and then finding that they may last a month before landing in the donate pile.
Finally, they wear really well, even after multiple washings. I can attest to this since I had George and Eleanor in those shirts every other day in hopes of getting just ONE good picture for my review. Unfortunately – this proved to be impossible, but I did find that you can wash them 10 times in one week and they’ll still look brand new!
You can visit the website to see the full style catalog, but here is what I’ll be giving away: an outfit to include a shirt, pants and socks in one of three styles, rabbit, sheep or duck (for sizes 2 through 6)
Here are pictures of the rabbit style:
In lieu of photo shoot I had planned, in which my children would model the clothing, here are some impromptu home movies featuring poor lighting, sea sickness-inducing angles and lame voice overs (Eleanor is modeling the rabbit and George is modeling the sheep):
I know…Eleanor’s hair… I’m lucky if she lets me brush it, let alone use a barrette. And while it wasn’t clear in what I said (what am I drunk?), Oliver is NOT wearing a Polarn O. Pyret shirt. The one that was sent for him didn’t fit. He’s rather…husky. So he’s wearing one of his own Target t-shirts.
Here’s my second try:
Go ahead – play in the street. Just let me get a good shot of that damn shirt!
Our next stop was Best Buy and I HAD to include these clips since they are so indicative of what it’s like to take all three of my kids anywhere. Eleanor is not in the frame because she’s behind me screaming about how the music is too loud. I guess she’ll never be a groupie. I’m devastated.
Once the gymnastics start – it’s time to leave.
Finally, I felt I really must include something on Oliver in his shirt. Not only was it a tad…snug, it featured horizontal stripes! He looks like a candy mated with a sausage:
But he sure is cute.
And now that you’ve suffered through all of that (or scrolled down to the bottom – whatever), here are details on how to win!
Leave me a comment telling me which style you would choose. For an additional entry, go to the Polarn O. Pyret site and tell me what you like (other than the styles I’ve featured please).
And of course you get an extra entries for anything you do to promote the giveaway. E-mail friends, tweet, share in your reader…just let me know.
As usual, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a separate comment for each entry. So much easier to tally.
I’m going to be away next week, so I’ll keep this open through Labor Day. Good luck!
I can’t remember where I found this… Feel free to let me know if it was you and I’ll give you credit.
ArtQuiver is an online gallery featuring (in their words) “original, one-of-a-kind paintings from a hand-selected group of US based artists. Individually chosen for their unique combination of skill, style, and value, we represent a wide range of artists, from the emerging to the established.”
They also have a super cool search feature that quizzes you on your preferences and then makes recommendations for what you would like.
I find some of the most beautiful images on Wedding Cabaret. No idea where I found this site, but Mara really does discover some lovely weddings to feature.
I’m particularly taken with this bride. I think she looks like a Vanderbilt.
From the diamond pin accents on her stunning dress to that to die for headpiece, I can’t tear my eyes off of her. I think I want to marry her myself.
I also think she looks like a cross between Angelica Houston and Kristin Davis (à la S&TC days).
This bouquet is one of the most beautiful arrangements I’ve ever seen.
And the details are impeccable. I’d also kill for a a black and white cookie right now…
I find the best stuff on Creature Comforts. It’s a must read in my out of control Google Reader which is so often subject to “mark all as read” cleansing.
As a lover of “things,” I’m charmed by the idea of taking a picture of a favorite objet or painting and generating a color palette to use for decorating a room. This is exactly what the Color Palette Generator does, and Ez provides a little tutorial:
I immediately tried to do this with a couple of images that I’ve featured here.
Unfortunately, neither worked for me. So I think I need a tutorial for the tutorial… In the meantime, I’ll just have to look through existing palettes. Let me know if you can figure out why I’m getting errors. Or…maybe not. This could be a major time suck…
