I love movies. Any kind of movie. Comedy, drama, action, thriller, romantic. I’m a big fan! Of the movies. I could watch movies all day long every day. But there are only a handful of movies that I want to see more than once. You know…those movies that you could take to a desert island and watch only those 10 movies over and over till forever. Well I didn’t mention before that I LOVE MUSICALS! LOVE! THEM! There’s something so magical about a good musical. It takes you to a place that doesn’t exist in real life. In real life people very rarely break out into song and dance in the middle of normal conversation. But in musicals anything goes!

Moulin Rouge is one of my top favorites. I’ve seen that movie more times in the last decade than I care to admit. It transports me to Paris, and a place of truth, beauty, freedom, and above all things, LOVE! Well, if you’ve seen it, you know that it begins with Ewan McGregor’s character typing his story in Paris on an old typewriter. And I’ve been in love with how they incorporated the story telling with the typewriter. It begins and ends with the typewriter and the story in between is the story that his typewriting is telling. So, that’s clearly where the inspiration came for my promo video!

So, I’m totally cool with being in front of a still camera. I think it’s really fun. My girlfriends and I used to pretend we were models growing up, so I just think it’s a blast to still play pretend. But it’s a whole ‘nother story when you talk about the moving picture. Ya know…the talkies. I was TERRIFIED of being in front of the video camera, and even more so, I was afraid of TALKING on the video camera. There was just no way that was going to happen, I hate the sound of my own voice, and I knew I would cringe every time I saw the video. So I had to come up with a solution. And that’s when I decided to have the typewriter keep writing my story along the bottom of the screen. Actually, now that I think about it, Mary Frances said we should have captions and I laughed, but then realized that the typewriter writing would actually work perfectly. So, then it came time for a script. And I knew I wanted it simple. Because I’m simple. I think things clean and simple. So, I thought about the old Dick and Jane books…“Look, Jane. Look, look. See Dick. See, see. Oh, see. See Dick.” And I simplified it even more! And that’s the story of how the Amanda Rae video came to life!

Now, tell me…what inspires you??

PS…there are two quotes from Friends slipped into this post as my subtle way of saying Friends also inspires me.

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I recently just ordered a ton of great prints on Etsy. I’m not going to show you until the studio reveal (coming soon to a blog near you) but there were a few that I LOVED that didn’t make the cut for the project I was working on. I think the monsters that this artist draws are so cute! Especially this little cat monster:

Artist: Benconservato

Cat Monster

I’ve had my eye on Holly Stalder’s incredible work for some time. I’ve also had my eye on her price tags. Eek. But when you look at the craftsmanship, I think you understand that it’s probably worth every penny. If I had this dress I would wear it everyday, like that one woman on Seinfeld that Jerry dated, why mess with a good thing? Seriously, to my bride-lady-friends if any of you wear this to your engagement session I might freak out!

Artist: hollystalder

The Canary Dress

I could probably feature something from Simplesong’s shop every time (tangent: every time I spell out “every time” I write it as one word, I feel like it should be one word) I do one of these Etsy features. She just released this new design and I love it! Pretty much anything done on kraft paper is a win for me!

Artist: simplesongdesigns

Kraft To Do Sheets

This I just found today and I would go so far as to say I’m smitten. This artist has so many different sculptures and I think they are so cute! I want a little deer like this on my desk!

Artist: ArtMind

Oh, Deer

Anything with lace and/or ruffles is good in my book. I’m definitely buying this. It’s ridiculously LARGE which makes it 100 times more amazing.

Artist: aTimeToHeal

Linen and Lace Oversized Clutch

Trying to add to my collection of oversized cocktail rings.

Artist: Downandoutchic

Vintage Pattern Cocktail Ring

And last but not least, one of my new favorite Etsy stores. I particularly love these felt lunch bags. I think its genius to put a new twist on an old idea (kinda like this). Who would have thought to make the typical brown lunch bag out of felt! The possibilities for how to use this are endless, you could use it for your lunch everyday but I think it would make such a cute gift bag!

Artist: Pilosale

Felt Bag

I feel like a good “PS” will fit in right here…PS: Birthday and Christmas are coming, please email me if you find yourself in need of my address!

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