A dance floor tiger lady pumpin everything she has

This weekend I was schooled. Turns out that from the east to the west - the girls in the middle really do rock the best. Okay, I don't want to say that your weekend plans were lame, but I'm willing to bet my entire wardrobe that I had a more entertaining weekend than you. The city of Austin was blessed with a visit from the worlds greatest Cewebrity - The Midwest Diva herself - Miss Leslie Hall & her incredible Ly's! I was there front & center! Nani Nani Boo Boo! The show was packed & the crowd really brought the bling! A sea of gem sweaters shining brighter than all the stars in the nights sky my friends. No, I don't have any photos. All the pictures I took didn't really turn out or do the event any justice.. but hey, I never claimed to be a photographer! So - I drew this for you instead:
I first came across Leslie Hall a few years back while poking around on the internet looking at billions of beautiful bedazzled garments & accessories. Then *Shazaam* I found www.gemsweater.com & my life was changed forever by a chubby girl wearing gold spandex. My heart began to melt when I laid eyes on her larger than life hair do (remember kids I'm from Dallas, where there's only one rule with hair, the bigger the better) & by the time she started rapping I became completely infatuated with her & her talented back up singers The Ly's. I've laughed til I cried while she raps about the movie Willow. Leslie's Zombie Killer 7" is one of the dearest discs in my collection. Her smash hit Craft Talk plays on repeat in my mind while I'm stocking up at Hobby Lobby... And when the Ly's became flesh & blood Tiger Ladies I went from razzled & dazzled to head over heels faster than you can say Gold Pants! On that note kittens lets all gather around the youtube so Leslie's gemz & jamz can glimmer in our eyes as they well up with tears of joy caused by her seriously hilarious genius.



Aaahhh... That really hit the spot! Am I right ladies? Kitties? She's just the greatest. Also in running for the greatest is Christopher The Conquered who is out on tour w/ Leslie right now! No, there are no tiger ladies in his band, but there is a really awesome horn section & Christopher himself (Crush Alert) will win you over & have you dancing before he's even 3 songs deep into his set.

It was a great night filled with dancing, drinks, ski ball, gemz, jamz, gifting (I dropped off one of my pink Hell Yes brooches at the merch booth for Leslie), best fwends AND I finally got to shake hands with the lovely & talented Rachel Hobson of Average Jane Crafter & Craftzine fame. See - all the cool cats came out to this show! Which means you MUST go! The tour is headed West next - so all my readers in big CA - mark your calendars, don thine gems & let it all hang out! Visit www.leslieandthelys.com for tour dates <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/3007166100_2edd47b406.jpg">

Anyhow - If Leslie isn't coming to your town anytime soon you can pick up her records or a pair of spandex pants at the Hefty Hideaway .

So? What do ya think? How did my weekend stack up to yours?

xo!
Bonnie Rue

Creatures of Delight

I was checking out some of my blog posts from last year when I came across Making Old Art New Again & realized it was high time I do some creative recycling again. Over the past few days I've been working on these Creatures of Delight Earrings (seen above). If one of these ladies looks familiar it's because she lives on the cover of a Tinymeat wallet!
Perhaps you are familiar with my scribblings & know that I rarely draw pictures of actual people. When I have in the past it's always been practice for the autobio"graphic"al novel I plan to put together one day. For the most part though I draw imaginary girls. Girls who are missing limbs, faceless bitches & anthropomorphic ladies are my favorite things to draw. Oh & hairdo's - always hairdo's! That's where this Creatures of Delight series started, with big colorful hairdo's. I'm from Dallas, big hair is in my blood. The bigger the better! *that's what she said*

When sporting a massive do you need BIG earrings and thus - Creatures of Delight Earrings were born! They are still in production & are not in the shop just yet, but they will be very soon!

I decided to photograph the jewelry before I put the hooks on because geometrically they look soo good together. They wanted to have their picture taken right away & I never say no to a pretty lady who wants to be in pictures. The first batch of these new gems are going directly to Sparrow Collective in Milwaukee, WI (previously called Fasten Collective) which is having it's grand opening on May 16th, 2009. I've been hearing amazing things about this shop, so if you are in the area you should definitely swing by & help Sparrow Collective become what really made Milwaukee famous.

Other drawings are being turned into wearable pieces of art as we speak (er, type)! I'll photograph and post as soon as they are ready to hit the stage.

I've got a lot of dancing in my future

Is it just me or has this been an incredible social holiday season? Every morning I say to myself "self, we are going to stay home tonight & we're going to hunker down in our creative bunker!" but this is a promise I seem incapable of keeping. There is simply too much going on! Too many great invitations to turn down. This past weekend went by in a flash. My friend AD and I went to see the Sound & Style show at La Zona Rosa on Friday, which was unexpected and a lot of fun. The Sounds from Sweden (love them!) played & then they wrapped up the night with a fashion show. Team Fabrication, Goodie Two Shoes, & Boudoir Queen all had new pieces to romp around. I kinda dragged my feet about going, but in the end I was glad I didn't turn down a free night of dancing and inspiration. Then Saturday was pretty full. Awake @ 8am to package up holiday orders and hit the post office line. Then I was off to help out with the Lions photo shoot before their show. Spending my afternoon crawling around Trophy's roof w/ Danielle Thomas, Cory Ryan & 4 half naked boys. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the shots that Cory got! She is one of my favorite Austin photographers. A few hours after cleaning up from the shoot I was back at Trophy's for the Lions & Local H show. Those boys are loud, proud, and ready to party! I think I crawled back to the house around 4 am. I know what you are thinking 'fashion shows and rock n roll, where's the pictures?' I'm very unhappy to say that my camera is currently out of commission. Sad but true. Getting it fixed is at the TOP of my to do list. Cross my heart.
Sunday I did manage to hibernate. I worked on some new designs for spring. They will be printed up next month when my social butterfly stops flapping her tired wings. I also worked on an illustration assignment for a story about Portland OR that will appear in Shebang, a music based fanzine out of the UK. It's no where near finished but I did finish some other drawings featuring knit and crocheted hair.
Once upon a time I was obsessed with knitting. I'd spend hours cruising around Hill Country weavers fawning over their impressive Japanese yarn collection, then my evenings purling my brains out... until one day I realized that I just wasn't very good at it. It was a hard thing to come to terms with, but hey - can't be good at everything, right? So I gave away all my yarn, my needles, my pattern books and now I think I'll just draw the things that I couldn't knit into reality. It all works out, my taste in yarn is a little pricey.
Anywho, while my list of things to do takes on monster proportions so does the list of things I want to do. Paleo, one of my favorite singer songwriters is playing on my birthday (Dec. 18th) @ the Parish) while The Dedringers & The Jungle Rockers are playing the Continental Club. That should be a late night. Then Friday Rio Rita is have a xmas dance party with all the Sock Hop Dj's. AND then there is the matter of the Trophy's annual x-mas party. It's a formal affair that I can't say no to.
My feet and liver are already tired. Maybe I'd just be happier if I stayed home...
or not.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of my holiday escapades. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Everything hits at once!

September is slipping out the door and now it is crunch time for Bazaar Bizarre!
Luckily for me Austin has returned from his tour (!!!) and now I have some helping hands, which are much needed!
He got into town @ midnight on Sunday, so last night was our real first night together. Austin made vegan tortilla soup*, we watched Heros, & I showed him how to make some jewelry. It was very relaxing. We both needed a night of puttering around. He's been living in a van on tour with the Toadies for a full month & I spent the weekend roaming around ACL, drinking vodka & vitamin water. More on this later...

Pretty exciting news!
Just as Austin & I finished dinner last night I got word that Tinymeat has finished one of the wallets I designed for them! It's now available in their shop - check it!


Also, remember the coloring book I told you about a while back? Well it's done!
It's called Peer: 25 Artists 25 Self Portraits
Who else participated? Here is a sneak preview of the each artists page along with their names & a link to their personal websites. Pre-order for the book begins now & shipping will start on October 1st.
When you get your copy & color it there is a Peer flickr group for you to post your fun to. There is a Peer 25 Vol. 2 in the works, so if you are thinking to yourself "I would love to be a part of a project like this!" all you have to do to throw your hat in the ring is email Rene of Wolfie & the Sneak with 3 images of your work.
nobiting [at] gmail.com



*if you would like our Vegan Tortilla Soup recipe I am happy to share - it is TASTY!