Another sneak peek at the new Besotted Brand offerings, these are our Archive labels.  The labels–oh the labels.  Yes, this little label project has been both one of my greatest joys and the bane of my paper obsessed existence.  After many calculations I figured I would be making negative $5 on every order,  of the labels but you know what?  I don’t care!  Let’s put me in the hole, these are too amazing not to share with the world, am I right?  I have always had the ability to do these as sheets and even created templates in both Illustrator and Word but I never wanted to sell sheets, because I didn’t want frustrated emails of faulty home printer jobs (I’m a professional and I still have problems with printing), but I just may do it anyway with a disclaimer, buy sheets AT OWN RISK printing at home has been known to drive one to drink.  It’s okay, for those that don’t have a desire to turn to booze there will be  labels to be had that you can stamp, write on, do transfers on what have you.

The first batches will be in Jet, a beautiful deep black on the Besotted Brand signature stock in creme. It’s a really nice soft white colour, not too yellow, not too white with a light texture.  They feel rich.  You will be labeling everything you can think of.  I used one of our fine crimson stamps in the photo above (I need to make myself look larger, you know it’s just me and my dogs now, right?) that reads ‘cheers’.  I love a good ‘cheers’ feels so very English and since I am obviously besotted with the English (AND the French, Italians, Spanish Scandinavians et al…) you shall see their influences throughout my designs. If you aren’t signed up for the launch you won’t be privy to any of the specials and yes, there will be specials coming.  I have a number in my head that when we reach that on the list I will open shop and I will start doling out specialness, so tell a friend or two or three…

I have been obsessed with this photograph in Lulu de Kwiatkowski’s home ever since I first spied it in a former issue of Lonny Magazine.  It could have easily been a photograph by a famed artist but the back story behind it is so much better.  Miss Lulu gave this beautiful piece to her husband for his birthday.  It was a photograph taken with an inexpensive underwater disposable camera and then mounted behind acrylic. Will the creativity of some people never seem to cease?  I did some research and most acrylic photo mounting is cost prohibitive or has unsightly knobs in each corner, both things I found rather unappealing.  This company does the mounting for less than highway robbery and they have some other creative mounting ideas if your not one for the look of acrylic.  I have seen this same technique used with a print of an abstract acrylic painting resulting in a gorgeous contemporary art piece. I have a couple photographs in mind that I think would be fabulous behind acrylic (that sounded a little pompous, no?) Maybe your searches have been more fruitful than my own, I would love to know if you have tried this or found a resource to add to this post.

My baby girl is by far the naughtiest Frenchie on earth.  Miss Bella knows that she is not allowed on the bed without her blankie or vigorously cleaning her paws prior to entry.  I have an all white bed after all, one set of high thread count sheets (working up to multiple sets) and there are rules gosh darn it!  These rules went out the window when I caught her in bed in the late afternoon, Bella loves any excuse to jump in bed, the best excuse being that I left the bedroom door slightly ajar. When I walked into the bedroom to put something away I found her in the exhibit ‘a’ photo above (see photo no. 01) trying to look as nonchalant as possible, “Oh, hello Mum, uhm, you look real pretty in that dress…”. When she realized I wasn’t going for her puppy dog eyes she acted as if she was getting up to leave.  I am impervious to a few things–Bella’s big brown, marble eyes, the light in my bedroom in the late afternoon and the impulse to document both.  I know I shouldn’t reward her bad behavior but she is so cute and the light, oh the light…After she realized she wasn’t going to be flogged (as if), she rolled over on her back and enjoyed the shoot as only my naughty Frenchie could.

One of my fears with opening the Besotted Brand shop is that I have taken so long to open (the BB LLC was created three plus years ago), that what I offer will not seem original. I started my Etsy shop in 2006 and couldn’t get a trademark on my then name (named after my naughty Frenchie-Bella), so I had to switch branding and name. What seems like a decade later, I will  finally be opening the long awaited Besotted Brand.  Time truly does fly.  In the interim I was sidetracked by a fabulous internet opportunity that took all my free time (and all my not so free time).  I got hired in-house as a Brand Director for one of the most prestigious design company’s in the interior design industry (I so wanted to try my hand in the interior design world, I still love interior design but not as a career). I hosted multiple free on-line photo classes, all of which took time away from the impending launch of my beloved Besotted Brand (none of these things I have regretted mind you). I guess I just want everyone to know that these offerings are original. I was one of the first shops on Etsy to offer custom wood handled rubber stamps (if not the first one). I created gig inspired and typographical posters + custom stationery flats all with vintage inspired designs and the now very popular wrap label. You will get all that and more in the Besotted Brand emporium.  My aesthetic has not changed as much as it has become more refined and more true to myself, wherein with my former shop I tried to please the masses and had more color than I felt comfortable with, I will reign that in and keep to a palette that I find pleasing (and hope my clients do too). It has been a learning curve this re-brand and re-launch and I am actually rather pleased that I waited, because if I did it sooner I would not be able to give the shop the time + attention it would need to flourish. Things have changed and so have I. When I launched my Etsy shop I couldn’t take one decent photograph, I would beg my Fancy to shoot my products for me. So, yes that has really been worth the wait for me to learn how to take my own product shots and feel comfortable enough to actually showcase them. You know what?  Having written this open letter to you, I feel so much less stressed, go figure?  Sometimes it just takes getting out of ones own head (and way) to feel much better about taking the next step. Thank you.

P.S. This is a gel manicure, it lasts 2 weeks and dries immediately so I never smear scarlet polish over my snow white three pound dog G.G. (as I mentioned prior I take her with me everywhere).  I love it to pieces (the gel manicure that is and of course my little dog, but she’s my baby and not an it).

 

I almost fell out of my desk chair when I was emailed a link and there appeared Buster the baby English bulldog in a kiddie swing.  This fabulous photo is by the extraordinarily talented photographer Ron Schmidt, who’s fine art portraits of dogs are in a league of their own.  I am an expert on cute and this image has ranked in my top ten, it could hold its own along side any of Elliot Erwitt’s pup shots.  I am so happy to have been introduced to both Buster and Mr. Schmidt because I absolutely need yet another excuse to procrastinate. Happy Monday!