The Happiest of Happy New Years to All!

Wishing you a happy New Year!

xoxo
Amarina

Owl Lovers Unite!

 It's no secret that I love owls, they are my power animals.  And if the rumours that they are disgusting eaters and nearly impossible to keep as a pet in an urban apartment weren't true, I would have one on my shoulder all day long.

Naturally I was thrilled to come across this DIY printable 2011 Owl Calendar when I was browsing around for last minute gift ideas this weekend.  You select which pictures you would like to coincide with each month (that have been submitted by some great artists) and then print that shit out.  Lovely!

xoxo
Amarina

Let me share a little secret....

I've got this dirty little secret that I'm dying to share with you: I've been hoarding loads of vintage leather bags and clutches for far too long!  Ron of Cyclops and Owl and I just had a little race against sunset to take pictures of all the new bags and I'll be getting them ready tonight to go up in the shop tomorrow for Cyber Monday. Plus, free shipping is on right now until the end of November, get 'em while they're hot!

Hibou Accessories is expanding!

xoxo,
Amarina

I Feel Better

Oh how I love Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame (featured here), especially when he is just beebopping around in a puppy tee and jammy bottoms like it was Christmas morning.  They just never disappoint! 

Enjoy,

xoxo Amarina

A Fog

A fog rolled into town the other day and Ron & I seized the opportunity to fuck around with our new love - the Hipstamatic App for the iPhone. 

It felt like we were in The Exorcist!

Evergreen Brick Works

This past Sunday, my cohort and I visited the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.  Evergreen, a national charity, has changed the old Don Valley Brick Works from a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings into a gorgeous area of urban sustainability and eco-conscious design that is open all year long. 

As we walked around this amazing building a rather attractive and charming wood worker was working some wood.  Should have taken a picture of that.

All of the foliage was screaming with personality as we walked through the trails that circled some small but duck-filled ponds.

Having no idea what to expect when we walked into The Kilns building, we were greeted with an onslaught of art installations and graffiti.  A far more impressive collection than what we saw during the entire evening at Nuit Blanche this year.  At the end of this corridor was a screen showing a Werner Herzog short.  There were three more of these featuring various films that I believe were created for this project.

I felt like this place crept up on me out of nowhere and now I can't wait until our next visit!  Highly recommended.

xoxo
Amarina

Tuesday Tunes - Best Coast (on Thursday, natch)

My ears have been lusting after Best Coast all summer and I finally got to see them when they rolled through Toronto last weekend.  The sold out show at Lee's Palace turned out to be really! fucking! amazing! despite singer Bethany suffering from what appeared to be the flu.

Already a road veteran at the tender age of 23, she powered through almost puking several times on stage stopping only to sip water and smoke a joint that a bold (and clearly awesome) audience member passed to her in between songs.  Bethany even announced that it was the first time she's ever smoked on stage much to our surprise, since 90% of their songs talk about being in love and being high.

This is their new video for "When I'm With You", which I can't watch due to my coulrophobia and added hatred of Ronald McDonald.  But I imagine it's good anyway, plus the song is amazing.

Dance, dance, dance!

xoxo Amarina

Retro Hibou

So here I am:

It's 1997, I was obsessed with Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness and The Cure, wearing electric blue eyeshadow around my entire eyeball, and buying conversational clothing from the now gone strips of vintage stores on Queen St West. I had just talked my brother (pre-his growth spurt to 6'4") into wearing this amazing white men's jacket to his grade 8 graduation instead of the obvious black. It was a good day.

Having eccentric taste in polyester button down shirts and neon makeup, my look at the time was very much "I care so much about my look that it's gone past caring and is now a total shitshow".  And as you can see by the cornucopia of self-made necklaces that look like White Rose threw up all over my chest, I was already paving the road to my future jewellery-infused lifestyle.  I am proud of this.

My brother and I were obsessed with By Divine Right and this video in particular. You know what? It still fucking rocks. Also check out Feist pre-superstardom!

Tuesday Tunes (But on Wed) - The Chemical Brothers + Wayne Coyne

One of my favourite songs of the last decade, three weirdos get together and make weirdo music and a perfect song comes out of that weirdness. The video is pretty sweet too.

LOVE.

xoxo
Amarina

Tuesday Tunes - Chromeo

I have a strong memory of the first time I heard Chromeo. There is a possibility that I had been smoking a bit of grass when I came across their music video for Needy Girl, and I realized what love at first sight could truly be. Now, they are on the verge of having the recognition they deserve with their forthcoming album Business Casual and they release this totally mental and completely terrifying yet somehow sexy but nightmare inducing music video. It makes me feel weird and I love it.

Dance dance dance!

xoxo Amarina

Guns and Poses

I was fully submerged in a creative rut flavoured milkshake when I couldn't take it anymore, so I jumped up and decided that I needed to:

1. Stop drinking creative rut flavoured milkshakes
2. Sit down and focus
3. Find some new shit to light a fire under my ass

And this, my friends is what I pulled out...and I'm so damn proud of my new jams!

Preview:


There is a good chance that when I came across these babies, I gasped and perhaps cursed out loud, alone, in my apartment. How could this be possible? An over-sized series of gun charms that lock and click and look awesome and they're screaming my name? I opened my arms and gave these guys a warm welcome.


I recently sat down and had a little chat with my new friends and they whispered that they didn't need much flash, just a long chain and someone to love them.


The revolver is my personal favourite, the barrel opens fully and each gun locks and fires. Every time I wear this out I get comments, smiles and sneers. It's a conversation starter!


These babies are going up in my Etsy shop this week! And as always, more to come.

xoxo
Amarina

Hibou - The Sequel

I'm ALIVE!

So I've been gone far too long. There are many reasons for my absence but all that really matters is that I'm back and I've been a craftornado like never before. There's so much to say but I'll say it with Jazzercize Vampires, yum!

xoxo
Amarina