Sunshined

Treasured Type

Hazel — 2010 07 29

I was going to title this post “Favourite Fonts” but it seemed a bit too bourgeois for my taste (I learned that word from Karl :P ). I guess in a way fonts can be compared to precious hidden treasure. You often have to dig through a multitude of crappy dingbats and bad kerning to find the best ones. Not to mention the cost of those high-quality fonts, which can go from around $20 to more than $800. The ones I’ve listed here are either default OS fonts, open-source or paid fonts. I’ll try to add more later when Photoshop stops acting up… Enjoy!

1. Chunk Five 2. Quicksand 3. Caecilia 4. Futura 5. Orator 6. League Gothic 7. Poster Bodoni Italic

Published in: Inspiration,

[#3] Made Me Look

Hazel — 2010 07 26

Photorealism

The first two things that attracted me to these photos were their lovely atmosphere and their great colors. Upon discovering that they were not, in fact, photographs but paintings, I actually had to stare at them unblinkingly for 3 whole minutes to absorb it and then squint because I could not believe it. It's incredible what paint can do...

The two paintings above are by Yigal Ozeri and the one below is by realist painter, Ralph Goings.

Marina Yachting

Take a few attractive models, put them in some stripes/navy/white, let them have a vacation near the water, take photos, then give said photos a vintage overlay and you've got yourself a catalog that Hazel will foam in the mouth for. No really, I am dying over this Marina Yachting collection. All this nautical deliciousness/amazingness/wonderfulness/gah! is killing me. I think my obsession is getting a leeeetle out of hand.

(thanks Luphia)

Everyday Cute

Is it just me or has there been a surge of really awesome comics on the web lately? I'm not talking about manga here. I'm referring to the illustrators who release their own comics for public perusal. My personal favorites as of late are Maré Odomo's pokémon comics and Andy Rementer's weekly Techno Tuesday.

Claire Belton (a.k.a. QueenofDorks) along with her fiancé has a new website called Everyday Cute where they post some adorable comics about their pets, Harry Potter, and this one about Avatar: The Last Airbender:

Aside: for those wondering if I watched the movie: NO I DID NOT. I've heard terrible things about it (it got an 8% rating on RottenTomatoes.com. 8%!!!! How does that...I don't even...nevermind) and I want to save myself from the crushing disappointment. I don't think my fragile heart can take it... Dammit, that cartoon show was so good. F U HOLLYWOOD! YOU ALWAYS RUIN EVERYTHING!

'Procrastination' by Johnny Kelly

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Published in: Made Me Look,

Cut & Paste

Hazel — 2010 07 23

My summer vacay officially started on Monday!! Yeah that’s right—unlike you lucky bastards, I actually had summer school to contend with. Point is, I am now free! Free to rot in bed all day, free stop showering and free to deactivate my brain ‘til September comes ‘round. Yep, life’s goooooood!

Except no. That’s not what I want. This summer will be different [she assured herself]. I will spend it well, doing creative and productive things like learning to paint (I am going to die in my senior art class—my painting ability is…laughable and…nonexistent), biking or jogging everyday, doing more web designing, improving my drawings, catching up on some reading, and hopefully getting a summer job.

I started what I hope will be a creative and productive summer by getting rid of my old magazines! But not before I made themed collages out of them first:

And here’s little Audrey pasted on the back of my sketchbook:

Published in: Art, Inspiration, Photos,

Okay fine, I’ll put it back

Hazel — 2010 07 11

I don’t know why you guys want my comments page so bad (I thought I was doing ya’ll a favor!) but I’ve decided to turn it back on. What convinced me? Becca‘s e-mail from months and months ago:

“Your blog! girl! you need to open up comments. lovely photos ;)”

Published in: Site ,

Nautical nonsense

Hazel — 2010 06 27

I got lucky during my latest trip to the thrift store! My family decided to stop by there on Father's Day because, you know, we're just a family of bargain-loving cheapsters. Also, it was my dad who would drag us around with him, kicking and screaming and whining, into those musty thrift stores back in the day. Ironic how these days, it's us who drag him along to go thrifting.

And now on to my purchases:

From left to right: Brown Leather Handbag (free since this wasn't actually purchased during our trip. It's a hand-me-down from my older sister—what are siblings for?), Navy Blazer ($7.99), Cream-colored Pleated Pants ($7.99)

I think this (ABSOLUTELY GOR-GEE-US) blazer was originally from some posh private school. It's brand-less, made here in Canada, and several of the same blazer was scattered around the store in all different sizes. My favorite part is the buttons!!!
Funny how this blazer—which I got from a thrift store. For $7.99.—is much better sewn, much better constructed, and has an overall better fit than the black boyfriend blazer I got from H&M for $40. Yes, fourty-fricken-dollars. And the buttons on them are already falling apart.
I'm starting to lose hope in you, fast fashion!

Now here I am digressing. Whoops! Sorry guys! This was not the direction I wanted this post to go. What I was going to talk about was my ever-growing obsession for the color NAVY! AND RED! AND STRIPES! AND ANYTHING NAUTICAL! Even an art teacher at my school has noticed my fascination for them. The other day (one of the rare days I did not wear any navy or red or stripes) he asked me: "Not wearing your sailor suit today?"

You can imagine how giddy I got when I spotted all the sailors at the Spring 2011 menswear shows. There were a number of designers who threw in some dashing, seafaring young lads here and there. But to cut this post short, I'll just cover those that stretched this theme throughout their whole collection. Namely, Junya Watanabe and Salvatore Ferragamo.

Junya Watanabe

I haven't seen Mr.Watanabe's past collections, so I can't comment (or complain) on what was lacking in this one. All I know is that I really love this set. It's youthful and fun and preppy (I like preppy, thank you very much). The models wore some cute caps and some even had facial hair Everything in this collection just looks so damn comfortable. If I was a dude, I'd gladly lounge around in these clothes for days on end.
I was hoping to fit all the photos from the whole collection into this one post because I'm not doing it any justice AT ALL. I implore you to go and look for yourself.

Damn, these Japanese are goooodddddd!

Salvatore Ferragamo

To me, this collection seemed to target a more older demographic. More for the rich, aristocratic, i-have-a-yacht types than for the cutie down by the docks. The runway consisted of a variety of billowy silks, double-breasted blazers, netting, long trench coats, sandals, neutrals and let's not forget—murses! I really liked the little pops of yellow and blue thrown in. The whole collection had an overall relaxed, summery feel which I think is part of the reason why I'm so partial to this theme.

Published in: Fashion, Ramblings, Shopping,

Marie Antoinette moments

Hazel — 2010 06 22

I ♥ FRED FLARE

I'm happy to say that my Fred Flare shopping experience was much better this time around! It only took a week for the package to be delivered—a vast improvement from the last time when it took a whole four weeks to arrive. For those wanting the links to the specific items I ordered, check out my older post.

I'll let the photos do the talking:

“Let them eat cake!”

That cute, yellow confection in my hand was my first ever macaron!!! (not to be mistaken by coconut macaroons...) A good friend of mine kindly purchased it for me from this patisserie called La Bamboche. This pasty shop has Japanese influences, which explains why my macaron was yuzu-flavoured—not a typical macaron flavour from what I've heard.

Oh and look, it matches my nails!

I would have never imagined that I'd get my hands on some macarons just a month after my first (it's really difficult to find local pasty shops that sell macarons around here ). This time around, I was prom-shopping with my sister and a friend when we stopped by Nadège for a refresher.
This patisserie looked like it belonged more in New York than here in Toronto! The interior was white-washed and ultra modern and there was a glass partition facing the kitchen which allowed customers to see the chefs working.

Published in: Food, Photos, Shopping,

Whereby I make myself feel better about myself

Hazel — 2010 06 13

My sister and I went to a hair salon yesterday for a much-needed cut. While my sister asked for a ravenskar-style ‘do, I asked for…a pixie cut. This was a purely impulsive decision, I assure you. I never would have guessed that I’d leave that salon looking very much like my older brother. But hey! It was a hot day, there are an endless number of hot days to come, and having one’s hair touching the back of one’s SWEATY NECK is really rather uncomfortable.

Now when I told my sweet Chinese lady hairdresser what I wanted, she didn’t know what I meant by “pixie cut”. This is the part when I FREAKED inside my head: OH SHIT. WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO? THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR GOING TO A CHEAP CHINESE HAIR SALON. SHOULD I ASK FOR MY REGULAR? JUST A TRIM? YADA YADA YADA…

But then! She pulled out a book filled with all kinds of hair styles and I pointed to the one I wanted and all was well again. SHEESH. Now that I look back on it, why didn’t I just ask, “oh nice, sweet lady, would you be so kind as to TRANSFORM ME INTO A MAN?” That would have shortened the process a whole lot, methinks. And it would have shortened this post too. But oh well.

So now: I look like a man. Don’t get me wrong—I really like my new ‘do! (I don’t have to wear those awful hair-ties again! WOOOO!) And my family seems to like it too. Karla mentioned that having a pixie cut made her “feel way more feminine”. It seems counterintuitive, but I couldn’t agree more!

I guess now I’m just feeling anxious/self-conscious about what my friends will think…?

But anyway, below I present to you a collage of pretty ladies with pixie or otherwise boyish cuts. They help reassure me that I can have a short ‘do without looking…erm…butch-y?

Twiggy Lawson, Agyness Deyn, Carey Mulligan, Karla Deras, Martina Sobara, & Natalie Portman.

Published in: Ramblings,

[#2] Made Me Look

Hazel — 2010 05 30

Plato Bicycle

Earlier in the year, Republic Bike released a new Dutch model called Plato and it pretty much embodies my dream bike.

Someone get it for me? I'd like the colors below please:

A Love Letter for You

Steve Power's super cool mural project in collaboration with the city of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program. Yo, city of Toronto, go commission him—NOW!

A Lyric A Day

Knowing how much commitment it takes, I respect anyone who does a project a day. Lukes Beard says, “This is my everyday project for 2010. Taking one lyric from a song every day and creating art or taking a photo inspired from that lyric.”

Little White Lies

Little White Lies is an independent film magazine with unique covers that favor illustration over photography. Hey, I ain't complainin'!

Published in: Made Me Look,

Why you frontin’ like you July, May?

Hazel — 2010 05 27

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“Time for Some Action” - N.E.R.D

“You know when I was a kid growing up, I used to love playing outside, riding bikes. And there was the 80’s; record heat waves. I mean people were like, dying on the side of the road getting heat strokes. Only thing you could do, was go in the house and, you know, take a shower couple times a day.
So…I’ll never forget I was like 7 years old. I closed my eyes and that’s when it started.
I started seeing sounds…”

The opening monologue of this song = my fav part = story of my life atm.
Living in a house with a broken A.C. = living inside an oven.
The title of this song = my new mantra.
The title of this post = borrowed from one of Hazel‘s tweets or tumblr post or blog posts, I can’t recall.

Published in: Music,

I am a lazy ass

Hazel — 2010 05 15

I never left my house to go out and buy clothes in forever (or left my house period) but was lucky enough while browsing Facebook to spot that Dani was selling some of her clothes I’m all for buying second-hand so I hopped on to it and purchased these three:

Left to Right: AA skirt ($22), vintage over-sized denim button-up ($5), navy Forever21 lace dress ($8).
What’s funny is that you can see her wearing the same denim button-up in this LB photo. hahaha!

I’ve never been much of a skirt kind of girl until just recently, and if you take a peek in my closet you’ll find that there are only two in there (pathetic, right?!); one of which is white and the other black. When I noticed this little detail, I was like, “Shit! These colors are too safe! I can’t work with this!” (I like to overreact). So I went and got Dani’s red skirt and now I’m, like, dangerous. Or something. Kind of like a firewoman…

Anyways, this same week, I spent my second Fred Flare $100 gift certificate. Yes, you read that right: I won yet another boombox contest!!! Don’t believe me? Look at their blog post. I guess I’m just really lucky?

Anyways—here’s what I ordered:

Published in: Shopping,