Dottie Angel Book Review

I'm not sure if I've mentioned I'm a great admirer of the delightful blog dottie angel. The authoress of said blog is a delightfully crafty, artistic, and insightful lady. I am such a fangirl.

Let me explain this awesomeness, if you are new to the whole dottie angel thing. Here's a description from her blog:

"dottie angel lives in a run down cottage over looking the sea. she has two airstream trailers in the yard, one is her studio and the other stores her vast collection of vintage notions... her eight children are home schooled and spend the day outside running barefoot and their evenings sitting by the fireplace, learning ancient crafting techniques. they never talk back to their mother and always smile... she has several chickens, seven rescued greyhounds and a bearded dragon named STIG... dottie spends most days dressed in an old vintage slip that belonged to her grandmother, that she customized. she thinks to herself, surely everyone dreams of living this life, or at least dressing like they do...
Tif is a Brit misplaced abroad in suburbia, she is a mother of four kids who talk back and a wife. she wears a customized slip and dreams of living dottie angel's life...
Tif is happiest spending quality time with Miss Ethel, her trusty sewing machine, surrounded by 'used' dog, little olive and various other creatures: some furry, a few with wings, and one with a shell. she likes to spend her days wisely treading the righteous and goodly path of handcrafted and secondhand"

And this part is my favorite...

dottie angel do's
1. do have high hopes
2. do follow the righteous and goodly path of thriftiness
3. do think you are most peachy perfect
4. do feel a little crafty as least twice a day
5. do wear your slip peeking out from below your skirt
6. do embrace all that is granny chic and give it a forever home

check.

I just received my pre-ordered copy of the suitcase series artist book about her. And it's uh-mazing. Go buy it. Also, if you are in Seattle on September 30th, she's doing a book signing.

I really just can't put it down. Everytime I open it I keep seeing new snippets of extremely inspiring cozy things.

And look how thick it is? All those glossy pages. And the fabric label on the back, and the hand sewn photo on the cover... so divine.

Seriously. Look at how great this is; it's like fabric and design and paper all got together and had pretty pretty babies.

Also, today happen's to be Tif's birthday. Hooray and congratulations!

Thank you for sharing your lovely world with all of us. :)

Washi Tape Idea book

If you are ever in Seattle and you are a stationary, copic marker or gel pen nerd and/or like cute Japanese things, you must visit Kinokuniya book store (next to Uwajimaya) in the International District.

Two words: washi tape.

I have previously sung the praises of this fabulously cute patterned masking tape, but in case you were unaware, prepare to be enabled.

Unsurprisingly, Kinokuniya bookstore sells books (in addition to all kinds of Asian magazines, books, manga, stationary, music, etc). Some of the books are in English, but the majority are not. But let's face it. When it comes to art/inspiration books, mostly, we just care about the pictures.

So I happily snagged this cute little washi tape inspiration book because of the number of color and project ideas that lay within. (If you google washi tape inspiration book, you can see that there are all kinds of options. If you are interested in this one, I think you can call Kinokunya and order it shipped anywhere. ISBN978-4-05-404387-9)

Check it:

I really liked the variety of projects and examples of different patterns of tape used. I am so totally inspired by this book right now. Even if I can't read the instructions. ;)

What's inspiring you today?