Garden stake still life with spray paint, bird and Posca pen
“Will you go get me some Bokchoy out of the garden?” Seemed simple enough but left most of my people frozen in the tracks of that request too many times. Even my friends that cook would just stand there looking at all those plants and go blank. Instead of making my loved ones out to be veggie idiots , I made garden stakes so they could painlessly go pick what I need in record time! Isn’t that how most great ideas are born?? Out of sheer necessity?? (Haa…speaking of idiot…I just spelled necessity so bad 3 times in a row, even the auto correct couldn’t read it!)
The garden stakes were an easy afternoon project. I scored some wood scraps leftover from a neighbors new fence. Glued and nailed them in a T shape. Hit em each with a coat of spray paint and did the labeling with one of those awesome Japanese Posca paint pens. These were outside in the garden for 2 years and they’ve held up great! I planted a couple new varieties this year so I just sprayed over the old stakes and wrote in the new plant name. Done!
Posca pens come in a rainbow of great colors and sizes. We use them mainly to paint designs on surfboards. They are super permanent. They’re also great to paint shoes and hats and whatever.
Read more Pixie!
Be the change
Some of you know I was in a band called Moonpools and Caterpillars somewhere in the 90s. The guys are still my closest friends, actually I’m married to one. My friend T is married to the drummer and has heard us talk about possibly playing another show over and over and over til finally, after 15 years, she decided to put a stop to it and make it happen. It’s not just any old show, though. She tricked us into it by attaching one of her favorite mantras, ”Be the change that you wish to see in the world” by Ghandi. All proceeds from the event go to Ethiopia Health Aid. They are volunteers doing some great things in the villages of Ethiopia. (read about them HERE) . Some of us are going to Africa with the group this fall. I didn’t want you to miss out on seeing the video trailer created just for the event. It gives me chills and a big smile every time I see it. There are so many kind people in the world doing things you don’t even know exist. Hope this inspires you to go BE THE CHANGE in your own way!
Sundays written and performed by Moonpools and Caterpillars.
Just for fun, here’s our 8×10 glossy promo picture from the glory days.
To make donations or get more info about Ethiopia Health Aid click HERE.
More California Pixie:
Old School
I dreamed there was a room in my house with all my old toys in it. I actually woke up thinking there was a room in this house I hadn’t noticed yet. It was so real! I logged hours galore with this Fisher Price schoolhouse as a kid. It definitely helped raise me! I was ever fascinated by how curvy the school teacher is. Trim yet voluptuous, beautiful, bright and completely in charge without ever saying a word! TOTAL woman!
Anyone remember the Fisher Price barn? I always wanted the airport…LOVE the little round suitcases. :)
Red fever
Huge sucker for reds! I guess this is a grouping of favorites. Favorites don’t have to have a reason. Like is good enough, don’t ya think?
Evidently there’s this thing called festival fashion – Coachella 2013
I spent the first hour in amazement at what people were and weren’t wearing. Like they took the 2 ugliest things they own and put them together to make one stunning festival fashion statement. I guess I’m content in my little vintage wear beach bubble cuz I’d never seen anything like it! I’ve since learned festival fashion clothing tips are in all the mags and online. I could have walked in looking just like the other 50,ooo girls there. DUH…sometimes I am so dumb!!!!!!
Hearing Johnny Marr perform How Soon is Now by the Smiths was a Coachella highlight! I’ve seen Morrissey do it but to hear Johnny work those strings took my breath away! Total serious!! I’d waited 2 years to see Phoenix. We managed to easily work our way to the very front!!! It was AWESOME!!!! There were so many bands I wanted to see that some played at the same time. Like Hot Chip and Grizzly Bear, LaRue and Vampire Weekend, Postal Service and Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix and New Order and Sigur Ros. A triple tempter! See what I’m sayin?? I had to do some serious thinking and make a few tough life choices. Still coming to terms with some of them! Coachella is crazy!! 90,000 people there each weekend but the place doesn’t feel like it. Garlic crab fries, rasta veggie steak wraps,falafel, mocha chip icecream, Taiwanese Bao and gallons of water!
It did leave me with a serious bug to make music again. I watched that guy from Stone Roses exert the lowest amount of energy possible and still rock it so hard. Sometimes I think it’s too late for me but after seeing bands both older and brand new play for thousands this weekend…I am inspired!!! The food was fab and my crew was tops, I can’t wait for next year!! I already have my outfit ready…Fanny pack and all!!!
Here’s a little phone cam sample.
Our excuse to go to Coachella this year was my kids 16th birthday! He is happy, look at the face on that boy! Me, Gugut and Jay have done the music thing for years! Logged loads of concerts and toured the US with our band. That’s what makes music such a treasure, it bonds like no other!
The X X. WOW!!! They are sooo good!
Some of that festival fashion I was talking about. There were so many cool things I wish I had pix of. My fave was a man with the most beautiful darkest brown skin wearing a huge Indian head dress and I think only a fanny pack. Now you’re wishin I took more photos, huh?? It was fun!!!
This giant snailed roamed the grounds and left a bubbly snail trail. It’s always on the move so as we tried to get our pic we ran into this babe posing for her glamour shot.
Here it is at Of Monsters and Men, who , by the way, got me totally excited for the Bjork show in a couple months with their Icelandic-ness!!
I have to show off my Coachella crew cuz they were perfect! Laughs galore!!
After LaRue I ran over to get one last dance out of Vampire Weekend. Feeling nostalgic.
Bright ideas for organizing sewing and craft
I have this thing about stuff. It has to be organized and it has to look great! I strongly believe once you’ve figured out what you like you should stick with it in all things! A theme for life! Or for the time being, anyway! No plastic bins and boxes here. Most people love em cuz you can see in and they stack so neatly. I love the thought but I just can’t do it. I tried. I really did but I’ve reverted back to old ways. Well…organized old ways. So, check out my bright ideas for organizing sewing and craft. You might see something you like!
These vintage jelly jars have been with me for years. They were a dollar each at the YWCA thrift shop in Glendale California. Perfect for buttons sorted in rainbow order.
Behind closed doors organization works best for me. Open shelves are often too cluttery the way I pile stuff in. So mostly craft items and anything else that’s not eye candy gets shut in.
I love my chotchky. Try to keep it to a minimum and have dedicated nick nack areas only. This pink shelf is one such area!
Love vintage fabric. Even better if it’s out where you can enjoy the craziness of all the patterns. This cabinet with glass doors is perfect. Keeps beauty in and dust out!
Crazy for vintage tins. Perfect for sewing notions. Ok, I know they aren’t see through and totally stackable and stuff but you’ll get through it….promise!
There it is! My tiny little workroom in technicolor! Have at it!
Help wanted
Help wanted!!
I’m doing some rearranging on the Pixie. I want to make it easier to find things you wanna see. When I started this blog last April 2012, I had no idea what I would post. By now and 60,000 visitors later, I’m thinking a theme of some sort has emerged, only I’m not totally sure what it is. Will you help?? I’d love it if you would go with the first things that pop into your head. Don’t over think it. I’m so curious to see what you say!
- If you had to sort all the pixie content into a handful of categories, what would they be? (I want to replace Go, Make, Eat with more specifics. Examples: food, decor, clothing remakes, large buildings, wacky glasses, etc.)
AND
- How would you describe California Pixie in a sentence or 2?
Can’t wait to hear from you all!! THANKS!! OK, off to Coachella!! Hoping to come back to find all your responses flooding the comment section! ;) kimi.
Bodacious succulent gardens in vintage planters
It’s a pretty little perk up around here. Time to give the mini succulent gardens some spring lovin! It’s more of an excuse to bring vintage ceramic planters into their full mid century glory! Hope they give you loads of inspiration to make a dirty creation of your own! Have fun!
That there is the look of pure adoration. Simple pleasures!!
I learned a few things since my last go round with these little guys:
- First, fill those suckers to the rim with soil. Give them the look of sheer bodaciousness!
- Next, I’m using bonsai soil mix this time instead of cactus soil. It has a lot of peat. I’m thinking it might stay more moist between sprayings.
- Remember to put a small layer of charcoal in the bottom. It’s supposed to soak up any odor from over watering. Then add a layer of pea gravel to keep the roots from hanging out in soggy soil.
- On watering day, just place the whole planter in the sink or outside, grab a spray bottle of water and spray the heck out of it. Don’t pour water in, that’s too much, it will gather in the bottom and get all yucky.
- Let’s see, what else? Oh ya, succulents usually love lots of light so don’t forget to give em that! You’ll know if they are lacking sunshine, they’ll turn a beautiful light green and start growing more leggy. They still look cool, they just don’t stay compact and true to themselves.
If you aren’t sold yet, here’s the huge plus for creating indoor succulent gardens…You won’t kill em off like you do traditional houseplants!! Just when I think I can grow anything I buy another houseplant….humble pie everytime!
click on these pix for more mini gardening madness from California Pixie :
Waking up vintage decor
Ever wake up with your best idea of the day? Friday morning I rose from slumber envisioning the very key that could unlock the chains that keep me from finishing this room. It’s the TV room that leads to the backyard and it’s been in a mini state of limbo for a few years now. I consider vintage decor to be my favorite art media. It’s a hobby/habit that brings a happiness few other things can challenge. Ill follow up with the room in all it’s completeness soon. Until then, all you vintage junkies will enjoy these other little bits of whatnot that already call this place home. They’re serving as inspiration for this final piece. It’s all painted, now I just have all the sewing to do.
(I threw in a couple sneak peeks of the project!)
Shake it!
The living room looks best when it’s filled with people playing all this stuff and singing out the wrong words like they just don’t care! Hip hip for cool neighbors!
Kimi style Free People patchwork jeans
Of course I have my favorite kind of jeans! I’m Picky McPickster when it comes to what I wear. I live in jeans, it’s a love affair, really. The older and more worn in the better. I flipflop between vintage Levi bells and these fancy pants Sevens I find used on Ebay already broken in and super cheap. When this latest pair came in the mail, I didn’t really like the denim finish (ha, picky?) so I’m sticking with the patch theme. Free People make a fab pair of bellbottoms called ‘Super Flare’. This is my version of those. I LOVE how they turned out!!
Here’s the before and after! Use an old pair of jeans for the ‘super flare’ on the side seam. By using oldies for cutters, you take advantage of all the cool hige and that worn out beauty of a hem. I’m pretty sure these will be a work in progress. I’m totally OK if these never stop!
First thing you do is open up the side seam. That way you can really get in there to sew the patches on and stuff.
This pic is a gem!! Man, hippie style was so cool, everything had so much soul! Take a good look at these jeans. Love and patches galore! If you do it, make sure you send me a pic or at least tell me all about it! Have fun! kimi.
Here’s the Free People version. Awesome, huh?
Kiss my patch
A girl that stuck around to meet me after a Moonpools show somewhere in the Midwest had patches all over her jeans. Having never seen anything quite like it, I asked her about each one as if they were tattoos. She had the biggest smile and pointed to one right on the seat of her pants and said, “Look! KISS MY PATCH!!!” That’s what it said! “Kiss my patch!” I’ve collected patches ever since! Some of the best ones I pulled from an old girl scout vest I found at the thrift shop. I have bags of these butterflies I found in a box mistaken for trash at an old job. They show up on all kinds of things around here. Today they’ll patch up a moth hole in the most comfy cashmere robe on earth! It’s also gray….my most least favorite color. I could have just done this fancy needle darning trick I found online but it needed some flavor anyway. I hold nothing against that moth!
Happy time and matchbook girls
Why do we like what we like? Keep what we keep? We just do! It just is! A theme for life. This collection of treasures comes from grandparents. This little coloring book was hiding in a stack of vintage patterns from my grandma. The matchbooks were found in a basement drawer of my great grandpa’s house. I love those and that nudie! I think the junk drawer is the space that tells the best story about a person. It’s truly them, without pretense or preparation. It’s not like, “Quick, someones coming over, fluff the pillows and clean the junk drawer!!” You get what you get, thumbtacks, stamps, nudies and all!
“Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence
Ode to the corsage
I only got asked to 2 dances in my prom season. Once by a boyfriend I had for a few minutes as a junior and the other was by a Navajo exchange student from an Indian reservation who lived with some church friends. He wore a white tux and slicked back hair. I was living in the thick of New Wave and he was just happy to have someone who could keep up with his dancing. We had a blast! His cousin told me he’s now openly gay and that our 8 x 10 prom picture hangs on his grandmothers living room wall to this day. I guess that’s how she likes him best, dressed like John Travolta with a girl on his arm.
In 1985, we didn’t meet before the big event for pictures like they do now. We didn’t have parents and family members on both sides snapping pictures like paparazzi and cheering us into enjoying ourselves. I guess maybe presenting that corsage is more of an ice breaker than a gesture reinforced at cotillion. I mean really. A corsage? I hadn’t thought about that part in years. My grandma wears em. My grandpa made sure she had one for every holiday. It’s something I will always remember about her. When he died, I made sure one was delivered to her the day of the funeral. For them, it was a gesture beyond manners. A symbol of the good ol’ days when it was common to decorate your special girl with floral delights. I like it.
We picked origami roses, of course! It was either that or baby carrots! This was our first go round with the formal dance business and I think we did pretty good! One of my kids is an origami nut. He knocked these paper flowers out fast and I can twist anything into shape with wire. Some gumballs and a roll of ribbon later, we headed off to the photo frenzy to cheer our guy on, awkwardness and all!
Make your own origami wrist corsage. You can find tutorials galore online for creating all kinds of cool floral arrangements. Paper or not, it’s all the same technique.
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” –Albert Einstein
Thyme heals all
You know the feeling! Tired eyes and a slight chill. ”Noooooo!!! I can’t get sick!!” Hit it hard at the first sign of the tireds. Don’t wait til you’re already sick. Here’s a little something I’ve added to my Wellness Immune Support drops and EmergenC packets, Thyme lemon honey tea. It’s a little miracle worker! Try it!
Spoonful of honey
1 drop Red Thyme essential oil
4 drops Lemon essential oil
Stir it all up with some hot water. Thyme and lemon in a hot bath works wonders, too.
Read up on essential oils…they’re great to have around. You’ll use em everyday!
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