Love and Perseverance

1947

2007

July 3rd always means one thing to me: Happy 62nd Anniversary to my mom and pop who have succeeded in their plan to grow old together. Today...we celebrate!

It's interesting how similar these two photos are; I guess once a cool cucumber and a pretty girl, always a cool cucumber and a pretty girl.

(bottom photo by alexa vachon)

facts unfurling

what it's like to be here in ny but not as pretty. (fffound)

our bonbon banner by marichelle only to be witnessed
at a brooklyn flea near you

only the biggest and best lobster for my parent's 62nd anniversary

swarthy at the woody creek tavern in CO minutes before i passed out.

maroon bells in aspen

maroon-y beans growing frantically. i remember planting them so now what?

what i have hankering to do this weekend. just add h2o. (fffound)

my figless fig tree. que es?

oh gleena..how you slay me with your prettiness.

1. tomorrow is my parent's 62nd wedding anniversary. we're taking them to the north fork of long island for lobster rolls.
2. you won't find us at the flea this weekend. we have a plan that will hopefully involve meat and charcoal and pyrotechnics. maybe i'll even paint.
3. next friday, i'm leaving for Aspen, Colorado for 5 days to be with my brother and the girls. my brother is a physicist. we're going to ride our bikes to the woody creek tavern, hunter thompson's old haunt, where one of us always passes out. it's anyone's guess who it will be this time. jim isn't coming because he has to work. sadness but
4. we are planning on going someplace together in august and we are thinking big: the atlas mountains in morocco, the southern tip of india, an island in greece, maybe glacier national park. aiming for exotic because...(see # 5)
5. this week vanessa and i starting to design for the spring/summer 2010 collection. the pieces feel exotic and rich, inspired by the last trip to morocco in march. the more is more philosophy is working...sneak peeks next week you lovely things.
6. in the garden, my heirloom beans whose name i've both lost (oops) and forgotten are coming in like crazy. i have no idea what to do next.
7. my fig tree is not giving figs. it's like it needs sun or something but i am loving this monsoon anyway (see first pic).
8. bonbon oiseau and gleena ceramics (aka deb and asya) are collaborating on a special necklace that will debut at the brooklyn flea the weekend of the 18th and 19th. We'll share a stand then so that is a great weekend to come to NY and see us (hint hint)...(she's having a giveaway this week-run don't walk to her blog)
9. and finally, there is half and half in my refrigerator from a panna cotta i tried to make last week (thanks to aran as an EEMR (early emergency dessert responder) who told me to use heavy cream--i have failed you aran with my "low-calorie version". Jim is freaking out over the deliciousness of his coffee these days and all i want to do is drink white russians-(damn those kahlua commercials!) i can hear myself getting fatter (and drunker) but maybe tomorrow i won't start so early.

Red Sky at Night

Sailor's Delight.
I think some lovely chickadees have already posted what they've captured of the sky last Friday night here in good old nyc: rachel, marie, elizabeth...here are the bonbon additions, fashionably late to the red sky party.
I think someone even knows what those clouds are called... grapey clusteroos (that's the scientific name)...a very inspiring sky for shnizzle.

waltz me like a cupcake at a tea party

photo by P., cupcakes by her (wow) mom

by studio violet

by ever-lasting sprout

from hello sandwich

thank you pippi. thank you ffffound.

The sun shone down for two consecutive days until, right around 6 o'clock, the skies opened up and it rained straight down. When it stopped and the steel sky mixed with the light of the end of the day and lit up all the flowers and the grass and all the green, it was like a measured decision to push the envelope of the gorgeousness of the day with just a little more gilt, a little more decoration, a little more sugar on top.

And suddenly all of the images I am drawn to, and the sunshine and the rain and the pressure of designing a new collection are tweaking my maximilist tendencies, whispering, "don't worry... just add a little more...push everything as far as you want to go and don't hold back...the rest will follow"...

Bad with Names, Great with Faces

not the actor that stopped by my stand at the Brooklyn Flea

At the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday, an incredibly handsome British actor stopped at my stand and, even though I had no idea what his name was and could not remember what I had seen him in, I pretended not to be starstruck. I think it was Sex and the City. Or some incredibly innocuous romantic comedy that I watch as a reward for my brain. He was blonde and chiseled and had a gajillion dollar smile:

Handsome British Actor: "Wow, these are just lovely..what are these little pieces?"
Me: "Oh those stuff is, I mean those pieces are...umm...glass pendants of antique glass inlaid-foil milk, I mean it's milk-GLASS and they're pendants probably from around the turn-of-the-country's, umm, I mean century."
HBA: (He examines my idiocy from under his sunglasses)"...oh wow....very nice! Do you just find them in thrift shops and such?"
Me: (trying to be charming, luckily coming off pretentious) Well, I have a few sources for antique bits in Paris and a few for bobs here in the states and well, I find them that way. doy douuuhhhhhdoyuuuuh...."

A few more quips and witicisms and he was gone, disappearing into the abyss, Bonbon postcard folded up in his back pocket, off to be handsome and quasi-famous somewhere else in the world.

When I get home, I google british actors, new british actors, australian actors, british australian actors nyc, sex in the city bit roles, australian british sex in the city chiseled features, dimpled chin... to no avail. But I did find the above, an insanely handsome picture of this fellow, Hugh Dancy, to which I thought, come on people. How can you be THAT farking good looking? I mean really....

(Here's to the real star of Saturday...)

Monday's Dose of Inspiration

When vegetables are this sexy, they must be exposed for what they really are: glorious. But it turns out that when you buy this many vegetables, you have to cook them, even if you don't feel like cooking. There came that moment when we realized this and needed to act.

Out of sheer laziness we popped strawberries straight from the bowl into our gullets, grilled the asparagus, boiled up the little potatoes and the eggs and tossed them with a lemony vinaigrette* (and a butter lettuce and snap pea salad), and roasted everything else: beets, carrots, onions, even the rainbow chard, with a little salt and olive oil. We thought we were getting fancy when we took out the food processor and make a little garlic scape/olive oil puree which we've been using for everything...omelettes, mixed with fresh ricotta and eaten by the spoonful (sinful), this lemony vinaigrette:

* 1/4 tsp. sea salt, 1 tsp dijon mustard,
juice of 1 lemon,
finely chopped shallot (or a tsp. of the garlic scape puree),
1/4-1/2 cup good olive oil...
Whisk together first four ingredients and then slowly add olive oil until emulsified and the taste is just right...

If we are what we eat then I am a giant glass of fast acting fiber...

weird week of loss and growth

by Richard E. Aaron (this was my favorite michael)

by the etchasketchist

It's the week America lost some strange yet powerful icons as well as other friends, while it rained and rained. Read this very touching post about things left behind by P, written earlier this week.

Have a good, very much in the moment weekend.

The Cat's in The Bag

bag by mi purocorazon
(Hey Carolina, I think I've found you next season's model.)

Icky's really been getting into things lately.

Last Night's Class

Last night was the second of our studio workshops: Fabric Flower Corsage. I taught a very talented buncha ladies how to make three different kinds of fabric flowers and they rocked the house. Even Icky got drunk and adorned by evening's end and it was such a good time, I am going to have to hold a second one: Tuesday evening July 21st with all new materials and some new twists.
I am also adding some serious new flowers to the Bonbon store so stay tuned. I am addicted.

Flower Corsage Workshop #2:
Tuesday, July 21st
7pm-9pm
$65 plus $25 for materials
Class size limited to 8!
To register or for more details, write to me at deb@bonbonoiseau dot com

Oh Linden

This blog has made me rethink the idea of time passing--I commemorate things now that previously existed only in my mind prior to keeping logs like this: the first rose blooms, the window of opportunity for zucchini blossoms at the farmers market for once-a-summer blossom fritters, or the smell of the Linden trees as they open on my street getting stronger and sweeter this one week only in June, just as they did last year and the year before. It's one of the best smelling weeks of the year in these here parts.

This blog is my own personal farmer's almanac. It's helped me to learn my rituals.

Monday's Inspiration: Thinking Fellers

by Raul Guttierez

* Heading East by the photographer Raul Guttierez (his photographs above). I love where he's been and where he goes.

images, some from here, found by GS

* Projections by Giovanni Sidari. He is my neighbor. He is an architect. I just found out he has this blog and it's filled with big beautiful questions about what gets built, our relation to what gets built, and the spaces in between. It has compelled me for the last 3 rainy days since I found it. (found via welcome to the living lab-my other neighbor)

photos by Aun Koh

* Chubby Hubby by Aun Koh. Because I love reading about food by a man who loves food. And who loves his wife. The fact that he lives in Singapore and is a mean photographer is the perfect flavor enhancer.

For the new week, in honor of Father's Day, and an inspiring start of summer, blogs by a few good men. The images to words ratio slash inspiration factor is huge in these. Be impressed in infinite ways.
Happy (almost dry) Monday...

And More Fleurs Grow in Brooklyn

Not much has gone according to plan today. Visited the market early, I hovered over the flowers like a bee, the rain is coming in waves, we are glued to the news.

Brooklyn Fleurs

In between the raindrops.

The Mermaid Parade Cometh

rogue shirts I made in 2004

shrimpy accordianists

mama's boys

aaron always goes for the gold

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade. This will cheer us all up. Our old friends from Mama Digdown's Brass Band are marching, there will be accordianists dressed like shrimp, people looking like clams and sushi and all kinds of sea creatures and even if it rains it's a pretty good tradition for us. And did I mention Harvey Keitel is King Neptune? Harvey Keitel!

Stop at the Ft. Greene Brooklyn Flea early tomorrow to see Vanessa* with the bonbons. Stop in Coney Island to see us dressed like sea anemones cutting loose to brass band music ...click for pictures past...

*I'll be at the Dumbo Brooklyn Flea on Sunday working it all out, repenting for my Saturday sins hopefully with a fistful of Father's Day prezzies if you've forgotten...

Gobi and the Birds of the Arts Club

There is an incredible collection of birds at The National Arts Club where my friend Jen works: The African Raven, who'll go for your necklace every time, some birds whose names I can't remember who fly back and forth all day, and below, Gobi, the Green Quaker Parrot, the chubby ornery little greeny, who got dropped off at the club one day, nervously picked his neck feathers until he decided Jen was his "girlfriend", clucked and jibbered and learned to say "thank you" and "I love you", who wove elaborate nests between the wires of his cage with twine, loved plums and grapes and macaroni and cheese, and who got jealous anytime Jim would come in, and was carried up to Jen's office for the last 5 years. He kept her company while she worked and she kept him company while he worked. Jen is on her way today to adopt a new office-mate. I think the silence is too much.

we love you Gobi,
?-2009

Gobi photos by Jim

Packages coming and going

what was in my package by marichelle

what I sent out, sleeping cat in background not included

I received a really special package the other day on the same day I tried to send a special one out. I'd call that the kind of reciprocity that only happens in dreams. I took part in the wonderful Nadia's (from La Porte Rouge) summertime swap and sent mine out on the same day I received this beautiful little banner from Marichelle from Heart Handmade. Marichelle and I had our own little swap going and all I did was fix a little necklace for her and she sent this. She even embroidered "bonbon oiseau" along the little flags. A spectacular handmade object, I haven't loved a thing so much in a long time. Thank you M.
My package pales in comparison but it was inspired by the recipient and a little package of pink Papabubble candies I found in Soho and some Moroccan dried roses I brought home with me in March. Oh and there's some music in there too, (Nadia requested we send music and I did...I made some stuff to get sentimental to.) Even more exciting? I'm still expecting another little fantastic package from whoever got me in the swap! Come on...who got me?!

Tonight is the Fall Preview--it's been raining, Pacific Northwest style, for the past 5 hours. I still hope you can come!

What the Rain Does

I snapped these a few weeks ago in the back when the big hot pink peonies and roses were out and my tomato plants were still small, when it was only raining every other day and my computer worked. The backyard roses and peonies belong to my landlady but I walk around in it sometimes. I garden in pots on our little patio and in a small 3 x 3 plot which she lent me. That's where I "farm". I think I am more a farmer than a gardener.

This week, there are no more peonies or roses, the tomato and basil plants are getting bigger and there is a beautiful silvery damp coolness in the air. It reminds me of the hills where we spent the monsoons in India. I am good in this weather.

Gobi is a Very Bon Oiseau

This is Gobi saying "thank you". My friend Jen taught Gobi that. Gobi is the Quaker Parrot who lives at the National Arts Club where Jen works and she takes care of him all week long. He comes up to her office, where she is art director and he kind of thinks he's her boyfriend. She taught him how to say thank you and all kinds of other things and he taught her all about himself and other birds.
Poor Gobi flew into a window on Sunday and he's not doing too well. He won't eat the macaroni and cheese she's bringing him. Big fat green collective prayers for Gobi today please. Will keep you updated.

(update: sorry to say that Gobi had to be put down on Wednesday...so sad...)

Huzzah for Gumtree

We are so happy to have met Lori at the DUMBO Brooklyn Flea last Sunday, the owner of Gumtree in Hermosa Beach. She took a look at some bonbons at our stand and asked if she could pack them up and take them right back to her shop. Vanessa immediately said yes and now we are suuupah proud to welcome her to our list of California stockists!

The pictures of her shop look so...ethereal..it's a true bonbon dream to be chosen for a shop like this--a little universe to fall into...what an incredible eye and what gorgeous stories she tells...and the good news is when we all meet up in sunny LA, (aren't we all going to meet up?) we can eat Australian food (her husband owned Eight Mile Creek in Manhattan) in the cafe.

Wow. Double whammy...another Brooklyn Flea star who we are always so happy to see, just gave our vintage bonbon key fobs a sweet little write-up on her blog, Candy Cranks, a blog dedicated to awesome biking chicks with reports from all over the world...thanks Marie!

Letter to Failure and Monday's Inspiration: The Rain Museum

monsoon in delhi

monsoon in calcutta
by bikas das from the new york times

monsoon in mumbai

monsoon time in india by "the painted stork"

both images above from the rain museum

Part One: Dear Hard-Drive Failure
I had written an elaborate "letter to my hard drive failure" last week when nothing went my way, erased it by accident on the old "kiss of slow death" OLD OTHER computer and then gave up and went analog after my last post here. If I had had a rotary phone it would have been a perfect week.
Then, in addition to all the things I needed a computer for including three events, a Father's Day Sale and numerous inquiries and obligations, I comforted myself by creating an old fashioned blog: I searched books and magazines for topics and inspiration and wrote you all letters on paper. I thought about linking to those so you could find them by tying strings to things and taking pictures of it with my old Canon A1 (the one with film that needs to be developed) or just by giving you the card catalog number (according to the dewey decimal system) so you could find them at the library, and finally putting each one in an envelope and sending them off to you in envelopes with actual stamps via the US Mail.

Nah. I didn't do all that. I waited two days for an appointment, took said hard drive failure to a "genius" and they fixed him all up. He seems to be whirring less and has called off his rainbow wheel of doom in favor of an easy morning at home, taking it easy after his big "vacation". I'm feeding him butter-less toast and weak tea and we're both looking outside at the sun trying to come out.

Which leads us to Part Two: The Rain Museum
The Rain Museum, found while looking at monsoon pictures, a bit of a readjustment of our thoughts and complaints about rain I'd say. Readjusting our ideas and complaints is always inspiring, I think. Happy Monday lovies...glad to be back.

And Now a Word from our Sponsor

Some things you should know about
and then I'll get back to some serious blogging:

Father's Day Sale

(because bonbon loves dads)
From now until 12 noon, June 18th
Take 20% off all Keyfobs and Money Clips and get free engraving (up to three initials)
Order asap for delivery by June 21st!
Just write FathersDay20% in your subject line
(hey blogger-pals: for being so kind as to posting this on your blog,
you yourself can take an extra 5% off all for you (that's 255 off-woowoo!)
(and a little gifty from yours truly mixed in there...don't forget to send me your link!)

Bonbon Fleaing it all Weekend Long:
Saturday the 13th, 10am-5pm:

The Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea
Sunday the 14th, 11am-6pm:
The Inauguration of the Dumbo Brooklyn Flea
Please visit the Brooklyn Flea Website for more directions and info!

Next Thursday June 18th, 6:30-9:00pm,
Bonbon Fall Preview Trunk Show and Sample Sale
Please join us in the studio,
come and sip a cocktail and see our newest Collection for Fall 2009.
Pre-order pieces (and receive within two weeks) or shop from our myriad of samples.
We'll have free on-site engraving on all of our money clips and key fobs,
perfect Father's Day goodies!
The event will happen here in our Bonbon Oiseau Studio in Greenpoint Brooklyn.
(with some surprise guests as usual...)
For directions and more information please email me at deb at bonbonoiseau dot com.
We sincerely hope you can join us!

Wednesday June 24th 7pm-9pm
Bonbon's Studio Workshop Series: Vintage Flower Corsages
The second of our workshops will focus on how we create our
fabulous flower corsages and hairpieces.
We'll make our own flowers from vintage ribbon
and pair them with some of our very own vintage flower stock.
You'll go home with the accessory of the summer that you made...yourself!
$65 plus $25 materials fee.
Enrollment limited to 8!
Please email deb at bonbonoiseau dot com for more info!

Monday Dose of Inspiration on a Tuesday: Post Number 666: Perversity on the Adriatic

setting up the picnic. photo by the fabulous Elizabeth

Oh happy new week friends. I am behind in just about everything, emails, phone call answering even finding the week's inspiration of which I have many. I'm too damn relaxed this week. Sunday some of the New York chapter of "Blogging Crew for Boondoggling on the High Seas" met up and we had a little picnic which was great! fun! incredible! I am so happy to know such great women! My cheeks hurt from laughing and I am still feeling good today, two days later.

So today, in honor of my 666th post and life's incredibly cool chicks, today's installment pays tribute to the incredibly cool chick artist Swoon who sailed into Venice today on boats made of what might otherwise be known as trash. She and a crew of some of my favorite New Yorkers built the boats in Slovenia where they set sail, uninvited, for the (otherwise pretty dull if you ask me) Venice Biennial, docking and doing performances along the way. I am inspired by anyone unafraid to be perverse and leading an absolutely DIY life...aka balls of steel. Respect.

Check out Swoon's "Swimming Cities" projects here and meet the crew here...

Swimming Cities of Serinissima
from the Swimming Cities Flickr Set

We're Getting the Band Back Together

old photoboothies

the land of happy buddhas

skeet master

our most romantic photo to date

maxine

icky

(possible band names)

Jim comes home late tonight. I know three frapping cats who are going to be very happy about this.
I'll be at the Brooklyn Flea tomorrow and will be back to the land of blog on Monday with lots of good news. (I'm not sure what that is just yet, but I will make something up)...bon weekend mes amies!

I miss

my camera. I am about to go to city hall and witness my friends get married. Maybe I will draw some pictures with crayon? Maybe find a cave wall and carve a pictogram?
When did my need to document become so strong?

Some random pics from the deb archives:

getting my fortune told in mysore in india

(a lot of it came true...for real)

a friend's design

my flowers at the last show in Paris

one of the walls

Jim and the camera come back tomorrow night. I have missed them both very much, my best friend and my security blanket.

Drawings of the wedding tomorrow.

Nesting

look how beautifully Nadia has made her home...
above photos by nadia

I have suddenly become very obsessed with nesting.

Maybe because I am alone this week, I am suddenly very aware of how in control I am of my own comfort. I'm not sure whether to embrace this feeling (Oh I am totally embracing...I even noticed how enjoyable the mere act of slipping on my slippers was this morning and how incredible it was to sink into my pillows last night) or to get lost and do some serious backpacking...I love how, even in a tent, Nadia from La Porte Rouge made such a beautiful nest for herself...she shows throughout her weeks living simply in her tent you don't really need a house to make a home. Home can be anywhere you are.

Maybe it's from years of moving around or my addiction to travel and living out of a suitcase but why do I feel so uncomfortable about getting too comfortable?

Tonight I am teaching the very first of my Bonbon in the Studio Workshops. I'm getting ready for the ladies to roll in and make some STUFF. (Next one is on June 24th--details Friday-hope you can come!)

All photos above by Nadia from La Porte Rouge!

a poem by a friend

three persimmons in a bowl by traci french

I am sharing how proud I am of my friend Ada. She is a poet and The New Yorker just published her poem, "Crush" in this week's issue. I think this is just a terribly beautiful poem, like many of her poems, and they made a really good choice. And I had a perfect moment when I finished reading the published copy and the world collided a little when I thought of one of my favorite photos by Traci, Three Persimmons In a Bowl. Here, I am presenting both.

Crush
by Ada Limón

Maybe my limbs are made
mostly for decoration,
like the way I feel about
persimmons. You can’t
really eat them. Or you
wouldn’t want to. If you grab
the soft skin with your fist
it somehow feels funny,
like you’ve been here
before and uncomfortable,
too, like you’d rather
squish it between your teeth
impatiently, before spitting
the soft parts back up
to linger on the tongue like
burnt sugar or guilt.
For starters, it was all
an accident, you cut
the right branch
and a sort of light
woke up underneath,
and the inedible fruit
grew dark and needy.
Think crucial hanging.
Think crayon orange.
There is one low, leaning
heart-shaped globe left
and dearest, can you
tell, I am trying
to love you less.

(originally published by the New Yorker Magazine)

Monday Dose: The Icelandic Poppy and Disorder

A close-up view of the "Icelandic (Arctic) Poppy"

I'm not sure whether I am more inspired by microscopic looks at things, the magnification of that thing, where you can see beyond the outside of what you think you see and get to the heart of what makes a thing a thing, deep below the surface...or this excited description of the "Icelandic (Arctic) Poppy" from UK site, "A Flower Garden of Macroscopic Delights" by Brian Johnston (Canada) (deb's new favorite site). Please read:

"Many plants have buds in which the enclosed petals are neatly packed. This is most definitely not the case with the arctic poppy! The extremely crinkled appearance of the fully open blooms (below) is due to the fact that the petals have been packed in a totally disorganized fashion within the bud, an example of which can be seen above. This crinkled appearance is however, not a detriment, but an attractive and interesting trait."
-Brian Johnson

I hereby declare this week "Disorganized and Crinkly Appearance Week" where-to-fore a disorganized and crinkly appearance for humans is no longer a detriment, but an attractive and interesting trait.
Wishing you many more inspirations for the week...

today is the first day of the rest of my weekend

where I imagine my husband to be

I took today off. I know most people take Saturdays off but I'm really taking it off. My loved one has gone fishin'. He left yesterday in the wee hours of the morning for a lake somewhere in the middle of Canada to spend a week with his father and uncles and cousins and assorted other manly men. They are off for über man-week. Also, he took the camera. I miss them both terribly already.

So I took today off and went with my friends on their weekly ritual early a.m. Saturday shopping trip to the Farmer's Market in Union Square. Thanks to the links below, I can illustrate my trip even without a camera. (I am crying a little)...

poetically blue chicken eggs , too pretty to pass up:image (and a good explanation for why they're blue) from dalesford organic

lovage, red dandelion greens and bumpy blue fingerlings, maybe I'll make a lovage spiked potato salad with a little dijon vinaigrette?

lovage facts

red dandelion greens, an oxymoron

photo from Cook, A Oui Chef Journal ,
a new find for me and new favorite as well
with a good looking potato recipe too

Fancy French Radishes (that I am eating with butter right now...it's MY day off)

you guessed it..from you grow girl

For the table, some wild looking spindly purple pincushion flowers, a nice name for scabiosa (such a mean name)...I planted some of these, come to think of it, in my seeding frenzy, but will they look like this?

image from Knoll Gardens

fluffy sunflower from Chrisser's flickr stream,
mine are like this, but small. How does nature do that?

I also picked up some snarly looking miniature sunflowers, some gargantuan stalks of green garlic (they're snaking around the milk and orange juice section of the fridge right now), some spicy mustard greens, and some crunchy little pea sprouts, and, while swiping some photos to use for this post, some great new blogs, Crooked Row for one and Two Small Farms for ummm, two. So far, good day off. Hope yours is too!

Spring Out and Then Home

an al fresco french lunch graduation party with the family

The activities of last weekend: Friday: Emily's high school graduation (she dyed her hair again..I love that kid), Saturday at the Brooklyn Flea, Saturday night: train to my parents for a BBQ (I ate the leftovers), Sunday: a look at some houses in an idyllic little seaside town with idyllic little houses with not such idyllic little price tags and finally Monday: coming home...to a big red strawberry, peas from the market, our first dinner on the patio with my best friend and Icky wearing my slippers.

Shopping Live with Heart Handmade

Tonight I'll be setting my alarm for 7pm. That's when the lovely and talented Marichelle from Heart Handmade will be hosting her Etsy Shop Live again (via webcam!) I think it's going to be a half hour of total fun and goodness... Oh modern life...how wonderful you can be...
Read more about how it works here!

First Class

Next Wednesday I'll be hosting and teaching the first of my classes right here in Bonbon-land, Bonbon's Summer Jewelry Workshop Series. I've really loved my classes at Make Workshops and have met so many wonderful and charming people...It will be a full week... I have three classes to teach there as well! (click here to see what's cookin' at Make!)

But I wanted to do a few right here in the studio to be close to my goods so I can spring out some little surprises and share my surroundings a bit and next Wednesday will be the first one...drumroll please...Bonbon's Jewelry Assemblage Basics...

Here is the class description:
{Bonbon's Jewelry Assemblage Basics Class}
Wednesday Evening, June 3rd 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m
*Join Bonbon for an evening in the studio!
*You'll learn the basics of playing around (with jewelry assemblage) with yours truly
in our very own studio using some of our fantastic vintage baubles.
*You'll go home with a jangly vintage brass charm bracelet for summer and/or a pair of sterling earrings and a whole lotta jewelry making know-how.
*Plus we'll have some wine and snacks and how can that be bad?
But hurry... Space limited to 8
$65 plus $20 for materials fee
To register or for more information, email me at deb at bonbonoiseau dot com

All of these pictures were taken at the Make Studio from
the Make Memento Assemblage Class
(new one starts this Friday!)

The next class here in our studio will be Wednesday evening June 24th, A Bonbon Corsage Workshop, where we'll make our infamous Antique Flower Corsage Assemblages for hair or lapel. Please join or spread the word!

Any ideas for a workshop you'd like to take or maybe you'd like to host a little girls night out in our studio? Diga me...

Go Justice Go!

Doug Mills/The New York Times

I am really excited about Barack's pick for Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayer. It's not only because hers is an historical nomination, she'll be the first Hispanic woman to sit on the Supreme Court, or because she's a true New Yorker, completely self-made or because she seems like an incredibly good and down-to-earth person, a judge with compassion and empathy and smarts...no...it's also because she owns two pairs of Bonbon earrings...it's true!

(I know...I know...)

Monday's Inspiration: Karnataka

photos from fredcan's flickr stream of Karnataka

Big family weekend starting Thursday...I'm just about to go home...Why is it on this very American holiday I can't stop thinking about taking a voyage to South India, particularly here to the state of Karnataka, where I once slept on the roof of someone's house and took a 3 hour busride to the wrong town and ended up fantastically in the middle of nowhere?

See more of fredcan's india pictures here. You won't be sorry.

Melissa (Hopefully) Loves...Her New Nest by Bonbon

I really haven't flown the coop...but please come visit me here today...

little bits of out there and in here

street studies in pink

The morning after the night before. Walking home from breakfast the other morning, we also saw a very very small bottle of Jaegermeister near a very large mossy tree trunk. Gnomes clearly, but a few steps later, a very LARGE playing card--a three of spades, lying near a black iron fence. Giants? There's a happening when no one's looking.

the way the garden grows

Such as, suddenly overnight, there's a garden blooming, with so much to tell you. Thank you for turning pink new strawberry. I know you could do it! You are on your way to red...you can do it!

A Cabin in the Woods

cabin in oregon

cabin in massachusettes, Photos: Lori Duff for The New York Times

These look juuuust right...I have been looking at cabins all morning and forgot I need to actually, uh, work.

True Inspiration for a Monday: The Projects of Pippa Small

Dhongria of Orissa India
images from Survival International by Jason Taylor

To say Pippa Small's projects inspire me is an understatement...She makes me feel that anything is possible with an open-heart and commitment to the belief that what you create and design can go beyond a simple transaction. She's taken big dreams and followed her heart to make them a reality, using her talent to inspire, contribute, give back...she is a role model in the finest sense.

Take a few minutes or promise me you will when you get the time...watch the short film about her project in Kabul, Afghanistan, and her projects working with Survival International to help the threatened Dhongria tribe of Orissa, India, read an article about her in the Telegraph, more videos about her work with tribes in Botswana and in Panama.

I've always had larger plans for Bonbon, and reading about what Pippa Small has done has only cemented my belief that I can do anything I put my mind to. Wow. How's that for a Monday Dose of Inspiration? For now, I am starting small, where I can...here... and here.