"My style may be described as a kind of loving criticism" - René Bouché

René Bouché was an Austro-Hungarian born artist who is best known for the work he did as an illustrator for Vogue magazine beginning in 1938, but he also produced portraits, works for the theatre, and abstract paintings. In general, his pieces are fun, sophisticated and have this great sketch-like quality to them - even the richly painted pieces that became Vogue covers.

Work like this is just gorgeous and I just do not get why it went out of style. Seriously, if art like this appeared on the covers of magazines now (rather than the art of air-brushing) - I know I'd buy more copies than I do now. Anyone with me?

(To see more images of Bouché's work, go to: http://www.renebouche.com/artist/)








last image via: giam.typepad.com
rest of images, info and quote via: renebouche.com

Thursday, a button lover, and Etsy

I have a thing for buttons. As a little girl, it delighted me to run my fingers through my mom's button box, letting them slide through my fingers, cold and slippery.

As a crafty sort of adult, I have my own collection of buttons, made up of hand-me-downs from my mother, huge lots of buttons from estate sales, and a treasured few paid-too-much for vintage buttons of particular beauty. If I make something for you, and I use one of these particularly beautiful buttons to emblish it, you can be sure I love you very much.

Of course Etsy is a treasure trove of buttons, one I love to run my virtual fingers through.

Like this simple collection of pretty vintage buttons from LillianOlive:


Vintage button as necklace by WhimsyHouse:


"Violet Hoopla," a button, felted cashmere, and embroidery collage by bomchelle:


Antique crochet and vintage buttons on a mustard linen pillow by vintagedesignstudio:


Hip and lovely vintage button brooches by runamok:


Sweet needlecase with vintage buttons by JennMaruskaDesign (dear family, bookmark this for mother's day, please):
Gorgeous wintery mini-wreath embellished with buttons, by ravennagirls:


Vintage button bobbypins (that I wish my daughter would allow in her hair) from annatillettdesigns:


Button and paper embellishments by chocolatecupcake:


My personal favorite in this grouping, "Buttons," a 5x5 print from LolasRoom:

And a necklace celebrating the button (which I got for Christmas, but in silver, and which I very much treasure) from luxedeluxe:


Enjoy cultivating your own button love!

Love is not all

image courtesy of .bobby on Flickr

A student once asked my why so many famous American writers have three names: Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman ... and so on. Because I'm rich with knowledge of all things literary, I answered, "I don't know."

But I do know that the best and most romantic three-name name in American literature is Edna St. Vincent Millay. So regal and romantic. So dreamy and literary. A name made for a writer.

As February approaches and my children struggle to decide which cartoon character will deliver their messages of love and friendship, I've been thinking about more earnest ways to express devotion. And I remembered this Edna St. Vincent Millay sonnet, one of my favorite poems ever, which seemed to fit just right with a striking image (posted above) that I recently came across on Flickr.

And Millay was born in February, so here's homage to the first American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and some inspiration for Valentine's Day.

Love is Not All
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

Happy for the Happy 101 Blog Award!

We are so flattered to have been tagged by Valerie of the lovely cabin + cub for a Happy 101 Blog Award! That makes us very happy. It also encourages us to dig deep into our rain-soaked souls and come up with our own list of things that make us smile (though coming up with 10 blogs that make us happy was a breeze - there are so many great ones!)

So here are the official rules:
"List 10 things that make up happy, tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to our blog and create your list of things that make you happy."

And because we refused to be penned in by anyone's "rules" (or simply because there are 3 of us at Hiving Out), we'll be modifying the rules slightly for ourselves so each of us can share 5 bits of personal happiness and 5 inspiring blogs. Hope that's okay. :)

5 things that make Mae happy:

1. Being lunch mom for 22 earnest kindergarteners twice a month (any more frequently and this might not make my list)
2. Neko Case's song "This Tornado Loves You"
3. Buttons
4. Handmade valentines
5. Decidedly non-literary audiobooks

5 things that make Vivi happy:

1. The smell of my cat's stinky post nap breath when she yawns in my face
2. cowl necks
3. The fact that my bf knows how to make my tea exactly how I like it and knows when to make it exactly when I need it
4. a big fat crackling fire in the fireplace
5. my 4 year old nephew's fondness (and persistent demand) for family hugs

5 Things that make Lorelei happy:

1. Drizzle
2. When my kids get lost in play with each other (and there is no bickering and/or tattling)
3. Getting to the point in a drawing where it really starts to look as I intended/imagined
4. Funyuns
5. Reruns of "Remington Steele"

And now for the blogs:
(All of these blogs are amazing must reads, but here are the 5 each of us has selected as sources of happy reading.)

For Mae:
1. Junior Society
2. sugar city journal
3. katie did journal
4. How About Orange
5. In My Shoes

For Vivi:
1. life according to celia
2. Smile and Wave
3. The City Sage
4. Her Name Was Lola
5. alice b. gardens

For Lorelei:
1. elephantine
2. Little Green Notebook
3. Theodesign blog
4. oh, hello friend
5. Stickers and Stuff

Reason to love rain (#5)

Because even when it looks like this...


Rain is still so romantic (especially as a metaphor for teen love):
photo by recurrent dream (via here)

passage from the young adult novel via ffffound
(By the way, the Alaska of the title? A girl, of course.)

Thursday, my funny valentine, and Etsy

Photograph courtesy of capow

There is still plenty of time before Valentine's Day and yet I could not help but poke around on Etsy to see what tokens of love are out there. As expected, there are so many fantastic choices it was hard to narrow down my list. I decided to show off some of my findings for those of you looking for that perfect something for the perfect someone. Before you reach for the tried and true Whitman's Sampler this February, maybe you could consider going homemade?


For the babies in your life- something small and adorable.

Bundle Baby Janie and Bundle Baby Henry courtesy of littleAshop

Pink Polka Dot Heart Hair Clippie Set courtesy of Lilibug Boutique

Valentine Pirate Ship onesie set courtesy of Tadpolesandtutus

For the girls and boys usually crazy for candy hearts (and probably in addition to those coveted sweet treats)

Red Patchwork Valentine Fingerless Mittens courtesy of NineTenTextiles

Posy Girl Handpainted Wooden Doll Playset courtesy of littlepinkposies

Valentine's Day Necktie Shirt courtesy of abigailshopedesigns

Love Robots Button Set courtesy of scientificculture

For the fellas-

A Love Story Original Fine Art Photography courtesy of ReCreateIt

secret message (cuff links) dark brushed finish courtesy of smashing

Tough Love Olive Oil and Organic Shea Butter Soap with pumice courtesy of urbaneden

For the gals-

You Are All I Need Mini Poster in Watermelon courtesy of rollandtumblepress

Valentine bracelet, sterling silver courtesy of galit

Tall Lovebirds Vase courtesy of redhotpottery

And cards for everyone-

"Robots and Rockets" and "Lil Monster" School Valentine sets courtesy of StephanieFizer

This Much card courtesy of clementinepress

letterpress library card valentine courtesy of simplesongdesigns

TANDEM BIKE valentine card courtesy of rachelink

So many ways to say I love you.....

Are you WHO you read?

photo via Books Rule

On the blog "Let Us Read and Let us Dance," I discovered this hilarious list by Lauren Leto called "Readers by Authors: Stereotyping People by Their Favorite Author" in which she does just that. Below are some of the ones I thought were the funniest and most on target (even if this reader felt herself called out once or twice...).

J.D. Salinger
Kids who don’t fit in (duh).

Stephenie Meyer
People who type like this: OMG. Mah fAvvv <3>

Jeffrey Eugenides
Girls who didn’t get enough drama when they were younger.

Lauren Weisberger
Girls who can’t read. Or think.

Jonathan Safran Foer
30somethings who were cool when they were 20something.

Ayn Rand
Workaholics seeking validation.

David Foster Wallace
Confirmed 90’s literati.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
People who can start a fire.

Charles Dickens
Ninth graders who think they’re going to be authors someday but end up in marketing.

Mark Twain
Liars.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
People who drink scotch.

Joseph Conrad
People who drink old fashioneds.

Dominick Dunne
People who get their class from Vanity Fair.

Anne Rice
People who don’t use conditioner in their hair.

Edgar Allan Poe
Men who live in their mother’s basements. Or goth seventh graders.

Michael Crichton
Doctors who went to third-tier medical schools.

Dan Brown
People who used to get lost in supermarkets when they were kids.

Dave Eggers
Guys who are in the third coolest frat of a private college.

Emily Giffin
Women who give their boyfriend marriage ultimatums.

Anais Nin
Librarians.

William Faulkner
People who are good at crosswords.

Jackie Collins
Your drunk stepmother.

Nicholas Sparks
Women who are usually constipated.

James Patterson
Men who score a 153 on their LSAT exam.

Sylvia Plath
Girls who keep journals (too easy).

George Orwell
Conspiracy theorists (too easy).

Aldous Huxley
People who are bigger conspiracy theorists than Orwell fans.

Nick Hornby
Guys who wear skinny jeans and the girls that love them.

Hunter S Thompson
That kid in your philosophy class with the stupid tattoo.

Toni Morrison
Female high-school English professors who only have an undergraduate degree.

Thomas Pynchon
People who used to be fans of J.D. Salinger.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Women who liked the movie “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” but didn’t read the book.

Rebecca Wells
Women on the East coast who wish they were from the South.

Alice Sebold
People who liked Gilmore Girls – even in the first season.

Brothers Grimm
Only children with Oedipal complexes.

Nicole Krauss

Girls who intern at Nylon but end up moving back to the Midwest for their real job.

Virginia Woolf
Female high-school French teachers who have their master’s degree.

John Irving

People whose parents are divorced.

James Joyce
People who do not like John Cusack movies.

Truman Capote
People who would never dream of owning anything that could be classified as a “knick-knack”.

For the full list go: here.

Collections

Ceramics artist Claire Prenton is one of those incredibly talented creators who encourages you to peek at her inspiration and process. I love the fact that alongside the amazing gallery and background information on her website she actually includes a link titled "Inspiration".

After clicking on this, I was even more impressed with her work. She shares the collections that inform and motivate her, the sketchbook where she works through her ideas and designs, and even a flickr photo stream of what speaks to her. I think these design sheets and photographed collections are already pieces of art, but just think..... it is simply the beginning.

All images courtesy of claireprenton.com