In Love and In Stitches!

Hello Lovelies!

I've got some good news!

1. Austin TX Finally cooled off. I'm blogging on my porch right now, listening to It's Blitz! sipping coffee in my hoodie & it's a crisp 47°F outside! I know that doesn't sound all that cold, but for Austin TX - that's full on winter! Just sayin.





2. The Sublime Stitching/Model Citizen Ready-To-Stitch Eco Totes are in my shop! AND - they come with floss, an embroidery needle AND How To instructions! This is a limited time offer kiddos. So don't eff around! Oh and BIG THANKS to Amy Bindle of Early Bird Special for stitching the example!




3. Tonight I'll be joining my manpanion, Austin Kalman for dinner @ Uchi in celebration of our 10 year anniversary! In 1999 we both moved to Olympia WA on a whim. We met almost immediately @ Majical Journeys where we both worked as phone psychics. Yes, phone psychics! I fell for him instantly and I'm still falling for him now. It's funny, I can't get away from musicians. On one of our first dates he told me he played guitar and I said "Oh honey - we all do.." Because I'm a jerk, BUT now he's about to embark on his first UK tour with his band and one of his songs actually appeared on Guitar Hero III... So, I was a jerk who is still pulling her foot out of her mouth. I'm so proud of him! Speaking of... I'm going to get off this computer and go give him my full attention. Nothing against y'all* of course.


xo!
Bonnie Rue

p.s. Expect East Austin Studio Tour updates next week!

*yeah, I said y'all. What you gonna do about it?

Sunday, Bloody Fabulous Sunday

*Stretch & Yawn* What a fantastic weekend! It has been so fun and relaxing. Oh yeah & it started on Friday! I decided to play hooky so I could run around town with my dear friend Kym. We sipped Tea Sparklers from Whole Foods while participating in some shop therapy. Like everyone else, I've been super frugal lately. Not spending a dime on things that aren't entirely necessary. For the weekend though - I said "eff this" & picked up a few things that I felt I could no longer live with out. We hit up Parts & Labour* first where I had to say "no" to an adorable dress from House of Dang (out of Dallas). It was something I knew I could wear to death, but was about $50 out of my price range for the moment. Then we slipped into New Bohemia where I couldn't help but pick up this little rock n roll sweater tank that screamed "Debbie Harry" & was under $20! I will 'wear it to shreds' this summer! In fact - it may be unrecognizable in only a matter of months, because it is so comfy & will totally work in the hot hot weather that has already started to come around. Thanks New Bohemia!
Next we were off to Toy Joy (pictured at the very top) where Kym purchased tons of kitschy little Japanese toys. This place is so overwhelming in the most perfect way possible. I love it for it's over the top whimsy & amazing collection of plastic bugs, dinosaurs & deep sea creatures. They have bad ass board games too. I was ten seconds from buying the Dirty Dancing game when I decided on a flock of pink flamingos instead. That sounds logical right? Finally I felt a little too cross eyed & temped from being surrounded by soo many toys so we hopped back in the car & trucked it to BookPeople, the largest book store in Texas. I walked in with a shopping list, that if fulfilled, I would certainly have gone broke. After shuffling around for a while with an arm load of books I reeled it in & checked out with The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry & a copy of Elle. Which of course I am thrilled with both. Feeling a little 'spent' we ended our Friday shopping spree & headed home to play with our goodies. Friday night I stayed in with my manfriend & studied my readable purchases. Best. Evening. Ever. The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry is FANTASTIC! So very creative - it will make you look at literally EVERYTHING as a craft project possibility. I know Jennifer Perkins to be hyper crafty & the book really tips you off to whats going on in her head. She urges you to collect "stuff" & always be on the prowl for things that can be reborn as something wearable & totally unique. Which I appreciate, It helps justify my hording to a degree.

Saturday I stuck around the house to clean & organize things. Geez - I feel like I'm always *trying* to organize things! Anywho, speaking of looking at everything as a craft project possibility... Austin found an old drawer tossed out in someone's yard & brought it home the other day. So - Saturday morning we drank our coffee, spray painted that sucker & screwed it to the kitchen wall, turning it into a most unusual spice rack. Spray paint really is as necessary as duct tape in my world. See our collective crafty work:

It's so perfect! I'm in love with it & I'm so glad that it was Austin's idea. High 5 Austin! Once it was mounted he headed off to work & I continued on the path of cleanliness & order. The pile for Goodwill doubled in size as I went through our clothes.The living room got a mild make over & then I had to stop working on the more "fun" projects & pay attention to the grown up stuff. Doing our taxes this year was a little messy & we made our selves a promise that this will never happen again. Allow me to introduce our new filing system!
Never again will we go hunting for anything. Piles of receipts & accordion file folders that can be moved around - NO MORE! It all has a home now & it's so colorful & organized.
It's hard to believe I did this. But I did! If you too are organizationally disabled I am here to tell you that you can overcome. You can know order! You can know where your keys are or even that receipt from the record store that you can totally write off as "Research". You just have to focus. Use the Force! Don't go to the Dark Side...

Tired of working the left side of my brain I took a trip to Domy Books for some craft fair action & to see Nicole Eriko Smith's Consent to Play opening. It was incredible. I love her work. Mischievous, expressive creatures drawn out with a very light hand & precise detail. If you are in Austin DO NOT miss this show. It will be up until March 14th.

While at Domy I picked up something I've been wanting for quite a while! Hand Job by Michael Perry. I haven't fully absorbed it yet. An inch thick catalog of type - all hand drawn obviously. I think I will leave you now & spend some time in the hammock flipping through this monster!
Hello Inspiration Station!

Have a fantastic Sunday!
xo!
Bonnie Rue

Austin American Statesman Love

So who's excited? It's me! Sorry if the scan is rough, the paper was a tad wrinkly.
But, yes here it is! For the first quarter of 2009 I will be donating 10% of my net profits to help the homeless. If you have read my blog before you know that I volunteer
once a week at my local homeless shelter & I wish it could be more often. Being a busy girl I figured I needed to find more ways to contribute. 10% of every purchased (from the website or any boutique) will go to help someone in need.
Why? Because everyone is down on their luck sometimes.

xo!
Bonnie Rue

It's totally late, but Happy New Year!

Where the hell have I been right? Well, I was taking a TOTAL break over the holidays. No blogging, twittering, photo taking, none of it! I put myself in time out & hung with the fam & old friends who are usually far far away. I am better for it!
It was the exact definition of relaxation.
So, I'm back at home now & the work has really piled up! I've got some orders to ship out, an illustration due for Shebang Magazine, tons of jewelry to restock, then I must finish unpacking, & oh yeah - I gotta do my taxes! Aaah!
No sweat, right?
Like I said though - it was worth it. Austin (my mister not the city) & I spent a lot of time with my folks making dinners, watching movies, & walking the dog. He had to head back to Austin (the city) long before I did to work on the new Lions record & to prepare for some dates with The Toadies. One of which was on New Years Eve @ The Ridglea Theater in Ft. Worth. It was packed! The show was amazing! What a way to ring in 2009! At Midnight I was standing on stage with Austin & all the other members of Lions, The Toadies, & their wives to do the count down for 2,700 people! It was intense. I'm not usually onstage for anything & I'm never in front of that many people. I was a little wobbly in knee's but Austin held my hand & I got over the stage fright real fast (Thanks Austin). If we'd been up there a few more moments someone would have had to get the hook pull me off stage. Funny how I went from stage fright to feeling totally at home...

After I tackle my "To Do" list I will be posting new jewelry, some new dress designs & maybe even a little video of my progress with the ukulele! Only time will tell.

Happy New Year Everyone!
2009 is going to rule the school!


*the photo above was taken by Mischa Chandler for The Dallas Observer