I was having a cranky day—more emails than time to get through them, everything taking longer than planned, and general stress-inducing activities (like paying bills).  And then our newest order of Laura George arrived…

…and all was right with the world.

These amazing cards and prints make me cry and laugh all at once.  That is my favorite.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to get a nipple card??  amazing!

xo~betsy

(come to the shop to get a live look at Laura’s sweet work!)

p.s. don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY, you have until Monday…get IN on it!

***Song of the Moment: It’s All in your Mind, by Beck***

…I been here for years.  Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear.  Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon.
Listen to the bass go BOOM.  Explosion.

Anybody else listen to LL COOL J back in the day?  I sure did.  And I’m pretty certain my rap sounded nothing like the lyrics above.  And I’m also pretty sure my eleven year old self felt FIERCE rapping along.

It’s time to revamp this here blog…explode with the things, anecdotes, designs, shop before/afters, new products we’ve been hoarding. It’s time to purge!  I can’t wait to purge on you!

Here is just a taste of what our 6 am wake ups and all-nighters have looked like over the past two months:

We’ve missed you guys.  Can’t WAIT to jump back in here with you.

As my good friend Gina always says:

lovies,

-b

***Song of the Moment (derrrr…): Mama Said Knock You Out, by LL Cool J***

]]> http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/dont-call-it-a-comeback/feed/ 1 http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/design-love/ http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/design-love/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:17:15 +0000 betsy http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/?p=2712 (and a mini OOTD for you.  I’ve got lots of new outfit combos stored up for this year; I can’t wait to share them all with you.)

OSBORN.

I love these shoes.

I can’t remember what blog I first saw these on, maybe one of my faves, Modish or Creature Comforts, but I feel like I’ve seen them on lots of great blogs that I read.  Anyways, they would pop up here and there—teasing me.   In this whole saving money phase of my life, I wasn’t sure when or if I would ever be able to obtain a pair for my very own.

Needless to say, I was astonished when I opened a present from my parents-in-law, with this pair inside:

They weren’t sure which pair I wanted, W had just send a link to the whole site, saying that I was obsessed.  When I opened them, I wanted to do back flips.  Weird, I know—for shoes. I couldn’t believe how well made they were.  I thought they looked great in the pictures, but in person, in person…they blew me away. There was a return slip inside so I could pick the pair I really wanted.  When I went on their site again, though, I was reminded that I pretty much want every pair.  I chose to keep this one—aaaaand start a new collection.  I hope to own a bootie type pair by 2012.  Ah, goals…they’re GREAT!

I can’t say enough good about this independent company from Brooklyn.  Their handmade shoes are so divine.

***Song of the Moment:  Deep Blue, by Arcade Fire***

There is a feeling of love that comes over me when I learn that someone wants to wear my designs.  It’s more than satisfaction.  I still have thoughts like: really, you want to wear this thing that I dreamed up?? really? You’re soooo great!!

It makes those breaks feel so much more special.  We worked hard, really hard, and it was worth it.

And then…

I have a moment, finally (usually on the plane or in the car), to remember why I do it all in the first place.  A moment to sit down and realize how important it is that we make time for space.  Because that’s where the magic happens.

Magic =

1) Gingham meets her auntie and uncle dogs.  And plays a LOT.

2) We see some of the most important people in our lives:  family.

3) We see each other.

4) We play.

5) We eat Christmas cookies.

6) We experience the real kind of love.

7) We hear new music.

8) We tell stories.

9) We have amazing conversations.

10) We enjoy the silence.

Now we’re back.  Now I know why we’re really here.

I hope you all had the most wonderful breaks and saw what you really needed to see.

Hope to see you in the New Year!!

xo~betsy

Song of the Moment: All You’ve Got to Do is Fall in Love, by Benji Hughes***

We’d been needing to amplify our “hey, we’re really a shop; come in!” vibe for a bit.  I, for one, was a huge proponent of hiring a fleet of sign spinners.

“I mean, we have TALENTED friends,” I told Betsy.  ”Just think how well they could spin those signs!”  But try as I may, I could not convince Betsy that it was a good idea.  For the sake of the marriage, I let her win that one.  Back to the drawing board.

How could we use our talented friends?  I mean REALLY use them.  Pyramid scheme?  Again, Betsy was obdurate.  (yes, I just used the thesaurus, but it’s a good one, no?)  Door-to-door operation incentivized by prizes for top sales?  More intransigence.  (see what I did there?)  Force them to take leave a catalog in the break rooms of their offices and tell their co-workers it’s for their kids’ schools?  ”Will, our friends don’t work in offices,” Betsy instubjunated.  (not really a word).

Then it hit us: signs.  Our friend Louise (www.louwatson.net) is an art student at PNCA and Brian has a sweet carpentry company (www.vontundra.com).  Here’s what they came up with:

betsy & iya sign by von tundra

betsy & iya sign by Lou Watson

betsy & iya sign by von tundra

betsy & iya sign by Lou Watson

Pretty sweet, huh?  Yeah, our friends rock.

***Song of the Moment: Got to Get You Into My Life, by The Beatles***

For Thanksgiving, my sister drove up from her job in California as a harvest intern at Donelan Winery.  And she brought with her a case of some very fancy wine.  Betsy and I like the fine things in life just as much as the next guy, but perhaps not quite as much as the guy who spends $240+ on a bottle of wine.  Suffice it to say, A’s wine laden visit was a delightful taste of how the other .9% live and what the .00000001% (I’m sure this is close to the approximate number wine makers expressed as a percentage of total world population) think and do as they create their work: perfectly balanced wine.

I couldn’t begin to recall specifics, but it was eye opening to hear about grape selection, microbe identification, single origins, fermentations, cork testing, blending trials, and more.  To understand that beautiful things which appear on our tables don’t just happen because someone wished they would, but because a lot of skill, hard work, and time were spent increases the value of these beautiful things.

And I think this is one reason that this whole handmade revolution has taken root so fervently.  There are notes of fair trade, rarity, and shop local sentiments that power it, too, but I think people like knowing that something which started as a field of dirt and buried seeds goes through a process to become something in their glass.  Or, for instance, that something which began as a coil of wire, a strand of heishe beads, and part of an old drawer could be imagined and worked into something wearable.

Here’s to handmade this Holiday season.  Here’s to enjoying the beauty as much as the process it took to make it.

***Song of the Moment: Impossible Soul, by Sufjan Stevens***

For awhile now, I’ve felt satisfied with the space I’ve been in.  I was happy in the smaller space, excited by how quickly my world was moving forward.  I felt the wind at my back and I just started rolling with it.  Though all of this was beautiful and inspiring for me, I never quite felt like the workspace was completely in its notch.  The puzzle pieces were next to each other.  You could see that the outer edges suggested a match, a perfect match, but they weren’t hugging each other yet.

those hands

I feel like that day has come.  The clicker is working, the bell is about to ring, the birds are chirping, and the puzzle is about to be solved.  The current space and the way it’s coming together is —blowing. me. away.  I am walking into this space in the mornings thinking—wow, I am exactly where I want to be.  The hands that have made this what it is becoming are all hands I know, all hands I’ve touched.  …and my own.

where will these be?? come find out tomorrow!

eeeeahhheeehahhaaahhh!!!

I LOVE my saw, says W.

I think we can make it!!

Now we’re down to the final hours.  It reminds me of all my time in theatre.  Those last few days before the show goes up, one is often left thinking–how in the name of all that is good will we EVER be able to get THERE. And then after the curtain comes up, you make eyes with one of your partners and only you know where you’ve been to get …there.

transformation time.

Only you know that just last night, you were re-hanging the lights with bits of who-knows-what ALL over the floor, your biggest dreams and visions only moments away from being squashed, paint splatters where they shouldn’t be, things falling off the walls, trips and near misses, tired eyes and hands, probably tears…disaster, really—-lots of voices in your head saying–there is no way you’re going to make it.   but you know what????  screw those voices.  because ————– You do make it.

That’s just it:  you made it.

I can’t wait for that moment when we all look at each other…only us knowing how far we’ve come.

If you’re around between 3 and 9 pm tomorrow, please come by and see how far we’ve come.  Click the link for details: http://tinyurl.com/285lvj7

LOVE to you all.

b

***Song of the Moment: Vesuvius, by Sufjan Stevens***

Before we set off, Betsy got some advice from a friend who’d done the show before.  ”Bring all that you think you could possibly sell and then more.”  Betsy made jewelry for 2 weeks straight prior to our departure.  She hammered and twisted, strung and starched, epoxied and polished for hours and hours.  And we left Portland with something like 17 pounds of jewelry.

We drove to the show as the sun was rising over Washington.  There may be no more beautiful a metropolitan visage than the Washington monument backlit by Saturday morning sun after weeks of rain.  I love driving a big city while her residents are still rubbing their eyes and slapping the snooze button.  Shop keepers sweeping the sidewalk, no horns, no anxiety about making it across three lanes of traffic to that surprise left exit, U-turn in the middle of Adams Morgan?  Right this way, sir.

It’s 7:20am and hundreds of crafters from all over the country are already perspiring as cars and station wagons are emptied.  Cardboard Dunkin’ Donuts coffee jugs are drained by the dozen.  Tents pop, dollies dole, and a small city erects itself.

There’s something so perfect about craft events.  You’re a temporary resident of an ephemeral city where everyone makes their small corner immaculate.  It emerges in a handful of hours, lives and thrives for several more and then vanishes.

And live and thrive this show did.  For 8 hours, our booth was filled with people.  I don’t think there was ever a time during the show that we had fewer than 3 people shopping.  There were times that the booth was completely filled with people, like a clown car of jewelry.  We talked with so many people and had so much fun.  And then, it was vanishing time.  Rewind it all.  Watch the dollies roll backwards and the cars double park.  Watch the vendor mingle this time.  Watch the smiles and the hugs.

We navigated through the crazy DC traffic to a dinner spot with an entourage of friends and family.  We ate and drank and felt really really right.  Just right.  The sentence of our journey had finally earned its period.  Nay… its exclamation point.

***Song of the Moment: Give a Little Love, by Noah and the Whale***

Daphne

Holler!!!  Also, you might be thinking, wait wait wait…I know Betsy makes jewelry, but I also see a dress and a sweet hat on darling Daphne. Weeelll…We have started carrying a handful of other local designers’ wares, including Seasons K Designs (the sweet sweet owner of one of the best stores in Portland) and Kori’s rad Flipside Hats.

On top of all the wildly awesome jewelry we’re making and selling, you can now pick up some of these things to go with your favorite new earrings:

(owner/designer, Kori, of Flipside Hats.  YES, they’re reversible.)

Come by the shop and see all the new goodies!!

***Song of the Moment: Tight Tee Shirt, by Benji Hughes***

lots of love.

***Song of the Moment: undertaker, by M. Ward***