L&G Storytime No.9: Decorating ABC's

Jean and Dylan of L&G have a new storybook to show us at The Handmade Artist today. It's on a book called Interior Decoration A to Z by Betty Pepis. Lots of fun retro stuff to see. Click here to follow.

L&G Storytime No.8: Visual Feast for Two

L&G would like to share another book!! It's Betty Crocker's "Dinner For Two" Cookbook FILLED with amazing illustrations by Charley Harper. This cookbook is a total feast for the eyes especially for all of the Charley Harper fans out there. We like how these illustrations are looser and more playfully sketched than a lot of his other work. Read more here.

Ladies & Gentlemen

Special Guest Post: by Ladies and Gentlemen (Storytime)

Today on L&G's storytime segment, we would like to share with you this wonderful book, "The Camera" one of Time-Life Book series. We found this book and it totally fuels us to get even more excited about cameras and photography!

Read more...

L&G Storytime No.4: Parlez Vous Francais? Oui!

Bonjour à nos amis!

Dylan and Jean here from Ladies and Gentlemen. Today’s Storytime centers around the graphic treasures of the 1960 French language book Parlons Francais.

You don’t want to end up like Brett and Germane, so follow us and Parlons Francais and brush up on your French!

Click here to continue...

L&G Storytime Part III: Decorating Without Impoverishing Yourself?

In these hard financial times it good to know you can turn to L&G Storytime right? We understand your need to live in a fabulous space without spending a bunch of mullah. We have the perfect book for you: “How to Decorate Without Going Broke” by Barty Phillips, 1974. Just look at the cover. We love how ladies can look so good even when applying wallpaper with a brush!

We have been collecting vintage decorating books with a fury after purchasing our first house (it’s actually a duplex, see all of our adventures on our house blog thirty-thirtytwo). The books have definitely provided us with bountiful inspiration. “How to Decorate Without Going Broke” is one of the most inspiring. Here’s why (with examples of our own):


1. Bold colors: Who has the balls to use color like this these days?? Bright oranges, greens, yellows, even pinks. It’s what inspired us to dash our walls with Kelly green and mossy yellow and to highlight our salmon colored couch and counter tops with contrasting shades of grey.



We like to use bold color enamelware to use as accent color and it adds an element of fun while cooking, too!



2. Patterns and texture: Wallpaper was king in 1974 and they used it and other patterns fearlessly. Look at the great textiles used in curtains, pillows, and bedding and the boldly decorated furniture! We haven’t figured out how best to incorporate this into our home, but when we do…look out!



3.Playfulness: Imagine a cocktail party where people are lounging around on sheep, taking a nap in a seagull, or your kids playing in a gigantic stuffed mouth. Seriously though, in these stressful times its important to be able to escape to a place that doesn’t take itself so seriously. We like to surround ourselves with the fun objects, books, and art that we’ve collected over the years. Psst! But we're also working on a life-size dinosaur slide. Woo hoo!

We have a ways to go to achieve the awesomeness that’s contained in the pages of this fabulous book, and we hope you find some inspiration to go wild with decorating like the old days. Enjoy!

Jean&Dylan

Ladies&Gentlemen Blog
Ladies&Gentlemen Shop

Storytime with L&G PART II: For Big-Small, Short-Tall, You-Me & EVERYONE!!

Welcome back to our L&G Part II Storytime segment on Poppytalk.
Today, we like to share a delightful children's book by Tana Hoban. Tana, a talented photographer started publishing children's books in the 70's and has published more than 110 some books in her life. Tana captures the everyday mundane in a striking way that is familiar and nostalgic for adults but still captivating for the kids. The warmth and human quality of Tana's photos is undeniably beautiful.

One of our favorite books is "Push, Pull, Empty, Full- A book of opposites."
Dylan and I love the thoughtful way Tana captures certain objects, actions and living things to successfully convey the idea of opposites.


Not only do the photos teach kids the difference between, push-pull, front-back, together-apart, the book's pages alternatively show motion and still images in a way that is true to the mix that exists in real life and inspire the reader to apply the concepts to their own world. The simplicity of the black and white images and single word helvetica adjectives reduces the ideas to their pure core and lets the readers' imaginations go to work to complete the picture.

The photos do the talking so we'll shut up and let you enjoy the simple, sweet eye candy. :)



I couldn't resist using USNAPS photobooth and the adorable chalkboard wall with alphabet cards at Cafe Weekend to share the book with everyone. Oh! what fun we had last weekend...but mostly I just hogged the photobooth.



Have a great day...and night!

Jean & Dylan
Ladies&Gentlemen Blog
Ladies&Gentlemen Shop

Ladies & Gentlemen + Vintage Books = Story Time

Dylan and I would like to take this opportunity as guest bloggers to bring a few "Storytime" installments to Poppytalk. Along with our obsession of vintage objects, we are also obsessed with vintage books! I mean who isn't, right? The colorful graphics, playful illustrations, clever layout, creative ideas, wholesome lifestyle…oh, the good old days!
Thanks Jan for letting us share!

Storytime PART I: Seattle's all about Monorails and Million Dollar Bills



Monorails, million dollar bills, living in space: that's what Seattleites of the early sixties envisioned for their future. Check out these souvenir book graphics from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair we found recently. What a grand life we're supposedly living here now that we're actually IN the future!



The Fair's theme was to show how we'd live in the 21st Century (coincidentally, Century 21 the real estate company was the sponsor…funny how those things work out…). Seattle dove into the theme head first constructing the iconic Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, and the monorail that is now an obsolete public transportation system.




Turns out we're not all living in the sky and freely spending million dollar bills here in Seattle. To date, the monorail only makes the two stops it made in 1962 with no additions in sight. The Space Needle is now just a place to get an overpriced hamburger. I guess we'll just keep dreaming about our future of flying cars and hover boards, and of course keep on enjoying the incredible graphics of our destiny from long ago.

Thanks for reading! More storytime to come!

Jean and Dylan
Ladies & Gentlemen Blog
Ladies & Gentlemen Shop

Special Guest Post: by Ladies and Gentlemen

Hello!! It's Dylan& Jean from Ladies & Gentlemen, and we're thrilled & honored to be back as a guest blogger again for Poppytalk! Thank you Jan for inviting us!

But what a great way to start the new year....the Lunar New Year that is!! Our first new year post simply wasn't enough!
The first day of the Lunar year (year of the Ox) starts today, the 26th and ends February 13th! But if you're like us and still haven't made that "new years" resolution you've been meaning to make...you know, the list about eating healthy, exercising more, spending less, less procrastinating and all that jazz?....well, now is your second chance! Also take advantage of this Lunar New Year to eat good food, celebrate, buy new clothes, spring clean, and make another attempt to convince your boss to implement a mandatory week vacation so you can celebrate the lunar year like the rest of the Asian countries!



Dylan and I would like to celebrate by sharing a visual journey through Chinatowns! We gathered some photos we've taken from walking around Chinatown in Seattle and San Francisco capturing things that simply inspired us. Things like the Chinese medicine storage display is something that we dream to someday build in our own home!
Every Chinatown has its own character, but most have an endearing, unassuming mixture of the old and new: the vibrant colors, the various textures, and the chaotic atmosphere. There's just something special about the direct and organic ways things come to be!
(Captions read clockwise starting from top left)


1. Charming and colorful mural in Chinatown, Seattle
2. Condiment tray at a tiny wonton restaurant, San Fransisco.
3. Fortune cookie company interior, Seattle: We love the architectural element of the brown office room intersecting the space.


1. Colorful ceramic piggy bank: So round and cute!
2. Chinese restaurant menu, San Fransisco
3. Bright plastic platters to serve auspicious food & fruit to greet the gods & deities.


1. Random reupholstered chair in Chinatown, LA. Photo taken by my friend, Noal: I had to show this fabulous chair since I just love everything about it!


Below are also some small everyday affordable delights we picked up from little shops here and there along with links for recipes, facts, and stories!



1. Chinese New Year rice cake (Nian Gao): My childhood favorite, and still is! It's subtly sweet and mochi-like. It's best when fried with batter. Crunchy outside & chewy inside...yum.
Also my new 2009 gift for myself, Lotta's 2009 tea towel!
2. Calender with Lunar Dates: We love the design, the layout, the fonts and the crisp thin paper! Save the paper so you can have fun with making things, too! Simple things like using it for wrapping, or make origami balls and string them as hanging garlands!
3. Delicious "Unfortunate" Cookies: One of the best cheap treats! They're seconds from a fortune cookie manufacturing company in Seattle, Tsue Chong Co. Although no fun little paper telling you how to live your life, the thin & wavy crunchy vanilla flavored cookies are simply hard to resist.



1. Vietnamese Coffee Maker: For only $3 you can enjoy a simple, dessert-like slow-drip coffee. Wandering Spoon has the whole background story along with cute how-to illustrations.
2. Cafe Du Monde: Coffee & Chicory, the recommended brand to make Vietnamese coffee with.
3. Chinese Sweet Haw Flakes: $2.00 for 10 rolls. Each roll has 20 some thin 1mm slices of candy Haw flakes are a classic delight! Not only do we love the colorful dainty packaging, we also love the taste of the tamarind-like flavor that's both sweet and appetizing.
4. Zebra stainless soup spoons: We got it for $2.50 at a local Asian grocery. Comes with a dozen of sleek and simple spoons that is both refined and practical for everyday use.

Phew! That's all we have for now! There's still plenty more to discover in any Chinatown near you. So get out there and party like it's 2009....again! Happy Ox year and thanks for reading!


Jean&Dylan

Ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com
ladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com

Special Guest Post: by Ladies and Gentlemen

Light bulbs: You light up my life



Dylan and Jean here again from Ladies and Gentlemen…

We know we should be replacing all of our bulbs with compact fluorescents, but we can't help but be enticed by the glorious forms of vintage incandescents…the intricate filaments, the beautifully diverse shapes, the packaging...




Our bulb love began when we came across these unique projector bulbs (complete with original packaging too…). Until we come up with some awesome way to use them (maybe a giant hanging lamp!), they're piled up in our glass bowl for simple display.



We gathered some cute everyday light bulbs with great packaging for our L&G Vintage Shop. Come see!



Also check out these links.

Gaze:
Bulb Collector
Bulb Museum
Illustrated bulb history
Buy (repros):
Tube Depot
House of Antique Hardware
Niche Modern Lighting

Thanks for reading!!

Jean&Dylan
ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com
wwwladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com

Special Guest Post: by Ladies and Gentlemen

Here's to the Sparkling New Year!


This is a public service announcement from Ladies and Gentlemen:

Friends don't let friends succumb to another New Years of guzzling bottles of cheap champagne (we all know how that kind of evening ends…). Take the high road (but affordable) and toast the years past and forward with an artful array of tasty mix-your-own cocktails that are guaranteed to get the next 52 weeks off to a good start.

Here are some ideas to set up the ultimate mix-your-own cocktail bar:



-Set up a bar: Have a designated area. We like to use our vintage ironing board for this purpose. It's portable and stows away, is the perfect height, and has an interesting form.

-Vessels with personality: Pick vessels with various forms and characters to mix things up!


-Typewritten tags: You know that vintage typewriter you bought just because it looks so cool…Now here's a good excuse to USE IT! Get some simple tags and type an individual mixing instruction for each drink. You will be rewarded by the praises from your guests. We guarantee it.



-Personalized cups: Pre-mark or allow guests to mark their glasses by getting rub-on letters (by Letraset or Chartpak). Not only does this assure that no mix up happens, it will also keep your guests entertained for good 10-15 minuets. THEN you can bust out your Wii or your good old karaoke machine for the real fun.
Pssst! The letters also come right off in the wash when you scrub it, so don't worry about your glasses!

-Top it off: Provide various toppings and garnishes for drinks loose and nicely arranged: Pomegranate, mint, lemons, cocoa powder, cinnamon or whatever you feel like! This will allow everyone an opportunity to customize and expereiment making their own drinks.

Here are some drink recipes to jump-start your ultimate New Year celebration party!



Irish Coffee (via Drink Mixer)
15 oz Irish whiskey or Irish Cream
10 tsp brown sugar
60 oz hot coffee
Heavy whipping cream
Cocoa powder

Make the coffee (stronger the coffee the better), add sugar and mix Irish cream or whiskey (or both!). Mix.
Whip the whipping cream. Put whipping cream and cocoa powder in separate bowls on the side.

Click here for our other drink recipes!

If Martha taught us anything, it's that it's all about presentation and involving your guests…this is no time to forget that lesson…bust out…go the extra mile. These mixes don't take long, they can be prepped in advance, and will make your bar look totally stocked and glistening! The best part is that now you don't have to spend the whole evening mixing drinks for everyone else…the guests can mix their own darn drinks!
Enjoy and we hope that this can come in handy for any celebrations! Happy New Year!

Jean&Dylan
ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com
ladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com

Editor's Note: A huge thank you to Jean and Dylan for this amazing idea! We are off to buy some new vessels!

phm studio spaces: ladies and gentlemen

Artist Name: Website/Shop: ladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com
Blog: ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com
City: Seattle, WA

Where in your home/apartment is your studio located?
We currently live in a 1905 apartment located in beautiful Seattle, WA. As far as the L&G studio goes, it's pretty much all over our apartment. I sometime place things on our shelves until the items gets shipped to their new homes. So you can actually see things from the L&G shop pop up in the photos...It's almost like 'Where's Waldo'!....Unfortunately, you won't find Waldo anywhere in our place.



What equipment/tools do you use?
We have our handy dandy Nikon D-40X SLR camera, our laptops....oh yeah, and Dylan's good ol' 80's bio-diesel Mercedes, name Dieter, who takes us to all of our treasure hunts!




Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
Our inspiration board isn't in one particular location...like the L&G stuff, our own stuff is spread out everywhere as well. Wherever there's shelf space, it's filled with something. That was one of the reasons we had to make the grid shelf...more room for treasures. But mainly it works as our inspiration station where we display our findings. Now, we're both inspired by photography, ceramics, cooking, and travel. Currently we're working on some L&G exclusive designs involving ways to re-purpose & re-create found objects....so, stay tuned!

How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?)
We tend to get lots of ideas when we're traveling, especially when we're flying or on the road. Partly because we get inspired by new surroundings, but also there's more downtime to think and talk about new things. But if you're talking about getting stuff for L&G, then it's all about luck.....We usually find the best stuff by taking the time to dig through places people look the least, that's where the goodies are!



List (3) of your favorite artists
Pie Hein Eek: We love this Dutch designer's austere yet playful furniture from reclaimed wood.

Gordon Matta Clark: We're suckers for abandon buildings..he took it to the next level by slicing & dicing condemned buildings into works of art.

Nicholas Nyland: A Northwest artist and good friend whose bold uninhibited use of color and decoration makes a feast for the eyes be it installation, painting, or sculpture.



If yours isn't, what would be your perfect studio?
Our perfect studio would have a super tall ceiling (at least 20 ft) with a loft space, lots of windows and sunlight, and also a whole wall of shelves from floor to ceiling where we can put lots of random collected objects and materials. Oh yeah, we can't forget about the ladder to get to the shelves. Ideally, we would have Euro citizenship so we can have the studio in the Netherlands, too.....next to some farmer's market...with nice well-dressed Dutch neighbors & their cute kids....and it would be close to at least couple of bars and yummy bakeries.....and we'd be buddies with all the cool Dutch artists and designers like Hella Jongerius and Jurgen Bey....AND they have the most amazing flea markets there! OR we wouldn't mind having the same set up in Japan. Okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away....it doesn't hurt to dream big, I suppose.

Thanks again for letting me ramble on like that!!
Thank you Jean and Dylan!

ladiesandgentlemen.etsy.com
ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com

Cooking with Ladies & Gentlemen

Dylan and Jean from the fun vintage shop, Ladies and Gentelmen are offering up a couple recipes today which I was thrilled to see! Visiting their blog this past spring (they are the couple that came up with that cool hanger frame idea before we saw it in Oprah's magazine), I saw their outdoor camping cooking, and was hooked. When they offered something here, I couldn't wait. Look at the color of that tzatziki! Thanks you guys!

Every week, Dylan and I get CSA (community supported agriculture) produce from Oxbow Farm that's outside of Seattle, and it really motivates us to stay home and cook. The fun part is that we get to experiment and try making new dishes using organic ingredients.

This time Dylan & I got inspired by the New York Times Magazine recipe where every week they focus on creating dishes featuring one specific ingredient while providing a little story about it.

We went with the whole Greek-themed meal because we found recipes for beet tzatiziki and roasted feta with honey & thyme. The best part of making this meal was that most of the dishes were just roasted or broiled in the oven with light olive oil and seasoning! pretty much just chop, season it, and put it in the oven! well..there's just one more step to the tzatziki and pesto sauce, but you just blend it for 15-20 seconds or so, super easy.

So here's what's on the menu:

roasted rosemary garlic chicken
roasted carrots brown sugar
honey baked feta with thyme
homemade pesto
beet tzatziki
sauteed beet greens
toasted pita bread



Beet Tzatziki
The NYTimes recipe says to cook the beets as whole for 45min and then peel it after it's out of the oven, but I actually cut down the time to 20min or so by slicing it and just peel the beet before cooking it, so it's less of a hassle.

4 small yellow beets
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ cups Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped dill.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the beets and trim their root ends and peel if skin is think. Slice them about 1/4" think and then lightly coat in oil and set in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add ½ cup water and cover the pan with two layers of foil. Roast in the oven until tender when pierced with a fork, and then take it out to let it cool. This should make about 1 cup.

2. Place the garlic, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Stir in yogurt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Fold in the grated beets and dill and season to taste with salt and pepper. You can use a blender to quickly mix it, leaving pieces of beets adding texture. Puree it if you don't like chunks of beets with it.

Serve with meats or pita. and TA-DA and you get this AMAZING vibrant fuschia-colored tzatziki! and it stays that color, too! This is also a really refreshing salad dressing!



Roasted Feta With Thyme Honey

1 8-ounce slab Greek feta, blotted dry
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Greek thyme honey, or other honey
Freshly ground black pepper
Greek-style pita bread, toasted and cut into wedges
Heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables (optional).

1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Select a small oven-to-table earthenware dish or a small ovenproof sauté pan lined with aluminum foil to help transfer the cheese to a plate after roasting. Bake until the cheese is soft and springy to the touch but not melted, about 8 minutes.

2. Preheat the broiler. Heat the honey in the microwave for 8 seconds or so pour the honey over the feta with it. Broil until the top of the cheese browns and just starts to bubble. Season to taste with black pepper or thyme. Serve immediately with pita wedges and, if desired, sliced heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables. Serves 4 to 6.