Jane Austen Obsession

Lately I just cannot get enough of everything Jane Austen and the whole Regency period.  Everything seems so romantic and whimsical.  I want to step back into time and experience the lifestyle myself.  I was hooked after watching the PBS Masterpiece Emma.  The movie was so well done, including the acting and the cinematography, which was truly stunning!  The movie aired over three nights and after the first and second parts I was dying to catch the next installment.  I had never read Emma before so the storyline was new and exciting for me.  Although modern life has its perks, I would not mind stepping back in time for just awhile.  The fashion is truly spectacular.  Unlike other eras, women's fashion in the Regency period is very beautiful, with its floral patterns, and yet simple and not too gaudy.  Each item has a romantic and feminine touch.  I particularly enjoy seeing how the men dressed.  Why can't this be the style today?  Everyone was so formal then and today, especially in California, we are just too casual.  

All photos courtesy of Jane Austen's World, a truly spectacular and informative site if you're at all interested in Austen-esque things.

The whole movie I was just dying to have Emma and Mr. Knightley end up together.  The two characters had such great chemistry and I loved how they had been friends for so long before realizing their true love.  Sweet!  I am now reading the book and I am enjoying it so much.  I really appreciate Austen's writing and I think I'll reread Pride & Prejudice once I'm finished.  The romance is just to die for.  Like where can I get some of these Austen men to tell me that they've always ardently loved and admired me?  Where are they hiding?  I think Mr. Darcy says it best:

"In vain I have struggled.  It will not do!  My feelings will not be repressed.  You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you...Almost from the earliest moments of your acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which despite my struggles, has overcome every rational objection.  And I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife."

And then there is the movie version of course...which is just as AMAZING!!

"You must know...surely, you must know it was all for you.  You are too generous to trifle with me.  I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I'd scarcely allowed myself before.  If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once.  My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever.  If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.  I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."

Sigh!  Where is my Mr. Darcy? 

Image courtesy of allmoviephoto.com.

I particularly enjoyed watching all of the letter-giving in these movies.  Mail was such an important part of people's lives then and with email today, it's just hard to imagine.  The letters themselves are works of art.  They were folded pristinely and written with such a careful hand.  The handwriting is just unbelievable.  I consider myself to have nice handwriting but Regency era writing puts mine to shame.  And having to write in cursive all the time, especially exquisite cursive, is definitely something I avoid.  I got some inspiration from these letters and decided to write a few myself to some friends and family.  I Googled how to fold Regency letters (I used this tutorial which was great), wrote my messages, and then even sealed them with a wax stamp.  I felt very Jane for a minute!  Hopefully my friends appreciated the effort.

I must work on perfecting my craft of wax sealing.  The wax didn't drip perfectly for me.

I worked on this Jane Austen collage this morning which includes another great romantic quote.  This quote if from Persuasion, said by Captain Wentworth to his love Anne Elliot.  The quote in full is this:

"I can listen no longer in silence.  I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach.  You pierce my soul.  I am half agony, half hope.  Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.  I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago.  Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death.  I have loved none but you.  Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.  You alone have brought me to Bath.  For you alone, I think and plan.  Have you not seen this?  Can you fail to have understood my wishes?  I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine.  I can hardly write.  I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me.  You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others.  Too good, too excellent creature!  You do us justice, indeed.  You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men.  Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating."

Yes, another too-good-to-be-true man.  Well, I can't produce these romantic men but I can produce this romantic Austen picture collage!  Better than nothing.

Images used to creat the collage were found on Flickr: here, here, here, here, and here.  

Disgraceful Blue Cutting Mat

I just wanted to write really quickly and post a few pictures of my craft space.  I was busy working away on a project today when suddenly, amidst all the chaos, I saw beauty in my environment.  I don't believe in serene, perfect spaces.  I know they exist in Martha Stewart World but in reality, mere mortals cannot achieve such cleanliness and orderliness...100% of the time.  When I get into a project, all hell breaks loose.  Over the years, I've come to terms with the fact that whatever space I have taken over and claimed will not look normal again until I am finished.  I work messy.  It's only going to get worse before it gets better (my favorite cleaning motto).  Although many would see the obvious flaws in my work space, I kind of love it.  Today I saw why and that is because sometimes in all that disorder, there is beauty.  Everything doesn't always have to make sense and be perfect...sometimes they are just better being messy.  And my work space was one of them.

I can agree on one ugly aspect of my work space though and that is my blue cutting mat that serves as a backdrop in these pictures.  As the title of this post suggests, this cutting mat is the most disgraceful one on the planet.  It is scuffed up and has a million cut marks.  It has cracked and been cut through.  It has tape, paint, and other unidentifiable substances clinging onto it from who knows when.  It is warped from being placed in the back of my car and staying there for weeks on end in the summer heat.  It basically looks like it has been through a war.  Despite all of its "issues" I love this cutting mat and I don't plan on parting with it anytime soon.  Yes it is trash but as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.  Actually this cutting mat has been through a war, the war of architecture school.  I've had it since freshman year, five and a half years ago and it has been through each and every project with me (except when I went to Italy for a semester...there definitely wasn't enough room in my suitcases for that).  Each blemish on that mat represents a perfect model I made or a beautiful presentation I put together or even a cut finger.  There are still pieces of this double stick tape stuff we used freshman year for this group model we made of the Exeter Library designed by Louis Kahn.  It was a beautiful model, one of my favorites, and that tape will always bring me back to those weeks we had to build it.  Memories like this are what force me to keep this disgraceful mat.  Maybe I can add some new scuff marks too it during my future projects.  Maybe I should get a new mat...as a backup...just so that I look partially presentable.

Here's to you disgraceful blue cutting mat and the many more years and projects and cut fingers to come!!

               

Pink Inspiration

I have been working on a few crafty projects to submit to the Ruffled DIY Contest.  Ruffled is a favorite of mine because to me weddings and all-things-vintage are the best combination.  And I fell more in love with the blog after they made this contest available to their readers.  I am so excited about the things I am working on and I cannot wait to style and photograph them and see my ideas become a reality. 

As a new and young designer, I have millions of ideas swirling around in my head and I am waiting patiently for the opportunity to bring them all to life.  I start brainstorming, fall in love with all of my ideas, and then want to start working on 50 projects at once.  And then I just get overwhelmed.  I need to remember to deal with just one (or two!) projects at a time and really work on crafting them beautifully.  In the meantime, I need to jot down my thoughts in my sketchbook, keep them close to my heart, and resurrect them in the near future.  Because of Ruffled a few of my ideas will become a reality very soon and I am so excited to see the results.  Thank you Ruffled for allowing this young designer to create!

Below is a photo collage with recent inspirations.  I am working with these images and ideas to put together one of the DIY projects.  The flowers are all growing in my backyard and I can see them through my window now.  Beautiful things really can be found all around us!

Images used to help create the collage can be found on Flickr: here, here, here, and here.      

Crafted DIY: Vintage Postcard Letters

When the holidays end, thank you card writing begins.  This last holiday season was no exception and I was blessed with all that I received.  In order to properly thank all of my friends and family, I vowed to create thank you cards that were unique and creative (sorry Hallmark).  I have been crafting gifts and cards for the people in my life since middle school and I get so much joy and satisfaction out of it.  The kid in me will always get excited when I receive a gift; gifts just make you feel special.  But as I've gotten older, I realize more and more that the true gift is giving to others.  I put a lot of time and effort into what I give my friends and family, whether it is a book, a card, or a t-shirt, and seeing them open that gift is a feeling that can't be beat. 

One of the best gifts I ever gave was actually not something I made.  It was something I gave my best friend's parents, who are like my second family.  I have spent so much time with these people over the years and I love them dearly.  Clearly for such important people in my life, the greatest of gifts is deserved.  I ended up giving them a VHS copy of a 1971 British movie called The Statue.  This movie wasn't easy to find either; I couldn't just run down to Target.  But I searched the internet and found it somehow.  Now why is this random movie such a great gift?  Well, these friends have mentioned this movie numerous times to me over the years.  They originally saw it in Germany, in the '70s, when they lived there as newlyweds.  They loved it and always described it as being "the funniest movie ever."  As kids, my best friend and I would nod our heads in agreement and probably role our eyes.  "Sure it was the funniest movie ever.  How great could it be, it was done in the '70s?"  Their praise for The Statue apparently stuck and I was able to remember in time to purchase the movie for the holidays.  Lucky me!  They were so surprised by it.  The reason why I loved giving that gift is not because it was a quirky, funny movie (and it is by the way - they were right, it is hilarious!), but because giving that gift meant that our conversations throughout the years meant something to me and that I listened to them.  I think parents are always pleasantly surprised when they discover that their words have resonated with their children.  Seeing how excited they were and how this simple gift brought back all of these great memories for them was the greatest feeling for me.

I decided to incorporate vintage postcards into my thank you cards this year.  I had also started doing embroidery so I wanted to include that as well.  The mixture of vintage and handmade elements always makes me super happy so I was pleased with the results.  The cards were easy and a big hit with everyone.  Below is how I achieved the look:

Materials needed:

1. vintage postcards (I got mine at Precious Times), 2. thicker card stock (mine had a great texture to it), 3. your favorite pen, 4. a ruler, 5. embroidery thread (any color), 6. fabric to embroider onto (I used M.C.G. Textiles Evenweave fabric from Michaels), 7. scissors, 8. date stamp & word stamp, 9. metallic brads, and 10. bakers twine

First, stamp a message and the date onto the back of the postcard.  

Attach the postcard to the card stock (cut to the same size as the postcard) with a scrapbook brad.  

Write your personal message on the card stock.  You could type the message but handwriting is a more personal touch.  

Cut a 1.5" strip of Evenweave fabric that will fit around the postcard.

Spell out "thank you" onto the fabric.  I just did it by hand using pencil.  You could use a fabric pen that washes off but once you embroider, you can't see the pencil anyway.  

Embroider the "thank you."  I just used a simple backstitch but you could use a fancier stitch if you wanted to be, you know, fancier!  

After embroidering the letters, sew the edges of the fabric together so that it creates a loop and will fit around the postcard.  

Slip the fabric onto the finished card and adorn with some bakers twine.  

And you're done!  This is an easy, unique card alternative.  

I hope you enjoyed the first Crafted DIY!  There will be many more to come.   

Blog World: I have arrived!

I am excited to start this blog.  It is something I have been meaning to do for sometime now.  I don't know what has been holding me back these last few months.  I have been in desparate need of an online venue for my work and now I finally have one! 

I capture my ideas and inspirations in various ways.  If I see something beautiful in my surroundings, I reach for a camera.  If a lightbulb goes on in my head, I reach for my Moleskine notebook and quickly sketch out my ideas.  If I'm captivated by an image online, I save it to my computer's "inspiration" folder (which is HUGE by the way).  The problem with these methods is that they are very personal, making it hard for me to share my creativity with friends and family.  And that is why I am in desparate need for this blog.  I need a way to capture my ideas, inspirations, and completed projects and present them to the world in one, easy location.  This is why Lauren Elise Crafted was created.

Now how is my blog different from the millions of others?  How can it stand out amidst the design blogs, the wedding blogs, the crafts blogs, the photography blogs?  All I can say is, my blog is about my work.  Although I will not be able to claim ownership of everything, I want to focus my postings on my own projects and images.  My goal is to hold myself responsible, document my work thoroughly and creatively, and push the boundaries to what I can create.  Here I go!