Deep South

Hey there!

I am super busy this week between apartment hunting, interviewing for jobs and creating some new goodies for this upcoming show titled Deep South. The show will be held in the Artstream Gallery in Rochester, NH. Opening night is Saturday June 11th, if you happen to be in the area, or if you live close by- please stop in for a taste of Southern hospitality and arts in the North East!! The show is curated by Grace Bonney of D*Sponge. Exhibit is up through the end of August. If you can't make it to the NH gallery, please visit the Artstream online gallery at www.artstream.com.

xo,

Haylie

Lauri Faggioni

This past week I had the honor of being a guest blogger on D*Sponge, and in one of my earlier posts there I wrote about one of my favorite artists, Lauri Faggioni and her amazing work. In my post I linked to her website, but she launched a brand new site just days after my post, that you must see! This site includes Lauri's beautiful choreography, production design & direction work too. Please check out Lauri's latest accomplishments and her remarkable talents right here. Above is a beautiful music video for Iron & Wine's Boy With a Coin, directed by Faggioni.

xo

Over the Moon for Moon Pies

My latest post is up on Once Wed. I loved doing this project, mostly because I got to eat the end results!! 

Small Gifts

 Recently I was commissioned by my dear friend Ginny Branch to make favors for her bridal party. Many years ago I had made these little "statuette" figurines and Ginny loved them, so she asked that I make them again. Here are a few samples of the ones I did,  truly loved making them. I love to work really really small. I'm not sure why, especially for someone with large fumbling fingers. I think it has more to do with imagining and creating a small worlds of wonder. I hope Ginny's bridesmaids and bridesman enjoyed them as much as I did making them.

image 1: pete, equestrian

image 2: momma branch, southern lady

image 3: corrie, new orleans love

Ft. Alafia Antiques and Country Store

 This Saturday, June 20th, my mother is finally opening her dream shop! My brother Blake and my sister-in-law Kjersten have been her biggest support team and will be her business partners. Kjersten will help run the store and keep organized, because she is really really good at that! Mostly they will sell antique furniture and vintage goods, but eventually she will also have a little treat bar with coffee and fresh squeezed o.j. and she'll sell some sundries, like soaps and and linens too.  The shop is called, Ft. Alafia Antiques and Country Store, and the building it is in used to be an old gas station  and general store in the thirties (the original name is Ft. Alafia Country Store) in Plant City, Fl. The station is surrounded by old Florida oak and citrus trees and sits right on an old country highway. It is really very sweet. I have been trying to help my mom and Kjersten get things together long distance, which has involved much picture texting and lots of web chatting! They are almost set, and things are looking beautiful. 

One of the most wonderful thing that's happened for Ft. Alafia so far are these beautiful business cards (above) that my dear friend Meagan Bennett has designed for them. My mom and Meagan met recently at a friends wedding and somehow these cards started to come to life after the two took a liking to each other. Basically we sent Meagan pictures of the shop and some inspirational images, and this is what she came up with! They are perfect. In fact I never could have imagined my mother's aesthetics wrapped up into a business card so well. Meagan is an amazing graphic designer, and a very modest one too! She can also bake a killer cupcake. Check out her new blog, Meggs Benedict, Always Baking Cupcakes here.

xo

p.s. Meagan also designed these fabulous & famous invites for Halli and Adam's wedding!!

Below are a few images of Ft. Alafia that I took while I was home visiting a few weeks ago. The open sign, the orange trees, and the backside of the station.

I Need a Donut Today!!

 With all due respect to my cupcake loving friends and bakers, I have decided that I want doughnuts to be the new cupcake. I had been craving a good old donut for the longest time, and then I discovered that I missed National Doughnut Day (the first Friday of June). So, I had to find a donut shop. My dear friend Emily took me over to the neighborhood doughnut spot, the 7th Avenue Donut in Park Slope, where they are open 24/7 and make deliveries! Amazing. I was so happy to finally eat my doughnut, in fact my chocolate cake doughnut didn't even make it home with the rest because I ate it the minute I walked out the door. I have always love, love, loved doughnuts! I can remember going garage-saling with my aunt Brenda when I was little and the only thing that got me out of bed at 5am on a Saturday (then and now actually), was the thought of donuts for breakfast in the car, while hunting for vintage goodies.

xoxo,

hb

Once Wed

Recently I have been producing DIY craft projects for the wedding blog, Once Wed. The website was created by Emily Newman of Atlanta,Ga. Emily started the site as an online source for selling and buying used wedding dresses and now the site has evolved into much more. Once Wed offers ideas and inspiration to brides that help make a designer wedding possible, even on a small budget. I met Emily in person last month and she was as kind and beautiful as you could imagine. I truly enjoy doing this work, it makes me very happy! Click here for my first project and here for the second. Thanks Emily, for having me!!

P.S. Design Sponge Guest Blog Feature has been moved back to next week, June 22nd, so check back here next Monday through Friday! Also, check here this week, because Neal from one of my favorite online shops, Present & Correct, is sharing and his first post is wonderful!!

Flowers & Friends

 My sweet friend Amy Merrick brought this beautiful bouquet of tree peonies to me this past Tuesday afternoon. These flowers were from a project that Amy assisted floral designer Saipua with for a Martha Stewart Weddings photo shoot. I felt so honored receiving such lemony luscious flowers. Then, Amy and I spent the afternoon in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with dear Chelsea Cook, it was such a lovely outing with these  two. Also, I learned today that Ms. Cook has decided to extend her stay here in the city (previous to this day Chelsea had plans to move west), and this news has girls (like me!) and guys all over the city skipping with glee! 

^Here^ the girls posed for me for my D*Sponge Guest Blogging feature beginning Monday the 15th! Thanks girlies.

xo

Entrepreneurship

I found this inspiring video through my former boss' blog, Vintage General. Liz Demos is the owner of @home, where I worked my first retail job and where I was inspired daily by the beautiful surroundings in her shop. Shopping in @home is one of my first memories in Savannah, Georgia. Nearly three years before I worked and lived there my mom and I had wandered into this magical little shop while visiting our favorite city. I remember thinking then that it was like walking into a dream, and I never wanted to walk out. By the time I started working for Liz, the store had nearly tripled in size and had changed location and by the time I left Savannah we had grown even larger and moved shop again. Liz and her entrepreneurial endeavors will always be an inspiration to me.






beautiful images from apartment therapy d.c.

Office Supplies

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I have this thing for great office supplies. I own entirely too many staplers for one girl and I love a good old fashioned hole punch, one that you can manually adjust to punch at any setting you like. My favorite stapler, the Bates model B or C, uses a spool of brass wire to produce pretty golden fasteners and it staples in two sizes. I also own a fabulous old tape dispenser, but I could use a few more. Of course I like the old stuff when I can find it, but I have come across quite a few goodies that are new too.

Below are my best online sources for great office supplies:
1 Bates Stapler's, models B & C- search ebay!
2 beautiful folders from Present & Correct
3 index roll from LovelyMailorder
4 vintage thumbtacks on etsy
5 vintage desk lamp on etsy
6 vintage in-box & basket on etsy
Also, I am always on the look-out at flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales- the less expensive route!

Fox Trot

Just a few day ago I received the best little package in the mail, delivering familiar foxy faces. Mary Ping of Slow and Steady Wins the Race hired me to draft a pattern for a faux fox stole last year, and here are the final results- one fox in black velvet and the other in muslin, like the original muslin I showed here. Currently the salt and pepper twins are living on a wall in my temporary home, Emily Cox and Paul Isabella's Park Slope apartment.

wovenplay

wovenplay is a magical little company, owned by Katherine Edmonds, completely dedicated to dressing up the play hours of a child's life. She creates real play clothes, that are durable yet fashionable and most importantly they encourage the imaginations of  small children. I discovered wovenplay many months ago through one of my favorite online sources, small magazine, and since then one of my very best friends, Emily Cox, has been working with Katherine in her Manhattan studio and office as an assistant designer. I have had the privilege of meeting Katherine, and as mentioned in this previous post, she is the woman responsible for introducing me to one of the most fascinating artist's collections in NYC, Le Cirque de Alexander Calder. Calder's circus is one of Katherine's personal inspirations for her children's wear. I also love wovenplay because they strive to produce quality garments. Their products are mostly made in the U.S. and with fair trade manufacturers outside of the states. They also use organic materials, and do in house printing, dyeing and hand embellishments. wovenplay is just about perfect, the only thing I can find wrong about the company is that they don't make any of these amazing clothes in my size! I would love to own a green and white striped leotard and a pair of the laced up tights too. I would wear them everyday of my life, I swear. 

Welcome back

 So, I never intended to abandon my blog like this. I just got so wrapped up in my very busy yet very happy life. In the past month or so I was let go from my job (this is a good thing, because the mother i nannied for has decided to stay home with her boys, and I am so happy for her,  though I miss them all so terribly). In early May I lost the most amazing roommate to an amazing man when Halligan and Adam Smith married with a more than fabulous celebration in Savannah, Ga. Then, I spent an amazing and much needed two weeks home in beautiful Florida with my family and helped my mother and sister-in-law set up their magical little country store/ antique shop. When I returned from Florida I moved from Philly to NYC. I am temporarily living out of suitcases and with the best of friends. And just this very morning I returned from another gorgeous wedding weekend, celebrating the union of two beautiful people (inside & out), Ginny and Ed. And, now I am back to blogging about my life again. I can't wait to share with you the details of all the things I have done since I have been gone.

More exciting news, I have a great freelance gig doing project ideas for a fellow blogger that will hopefully be featured sometime later this week. I can tell more later!

xoxo