Breaking Habits

Happy Trails until next week.

It's All in the Details

Outfit details:
Navy silk blouse: unknown
Tan sweater: Old Navy
Green slacks: Old Navy
Navy pointed heels (with tread!): Kmart
Necklace: gift, made by parents

Where:
Work, and then more work

It's been pretty chilly in Chicago lately, and I've been mainly trying to keep warm the last couple of days. This is such a cozy warm sweater, but it may have been a little too hot for today.

I'm not super thrilled with my outfit today. I guess it just feels blah overall. I have some major appreciation for the various textures of this outfit, though. The silk of the blouse and the wool (read: itchy) sweater make it interesting, at least. I tried to spice it up a little, so to speak, with various accessories. I adore this necklace, which my parents made for me while in Venice last summer. And March is colorectal cancer awareness month, so I'm sporting my colon cancer star pin too. Finally, I am loving these new shoes, which, miracle of miracles, actually have tread!!

SNOW DAY!!(?)!

Outfit details:
White long-sleeve T: Old Navy
Winter cardigan: Urban Outfitters
Jeans: Target
Shoes: Dansko
Scarf: homemade

Where:
Work, followed by curling up on couch with books, movies and tea

There is snow on the ground in Chicago again. On Sunday, a blizzard decided to roll through town. Now, for most people, a blizzardy day on a Sunday in March would be good reason to sleep in, make pancakes, and cuddle. For me, however, it meant out of the house by 7:30 to go to work, so I took my snowday with me.

I love this sweater to pieces and it honestly makes me wish winter here were longer so I could wear it more (blasphemy, I know). Paired with my comfy Dansko clogs and loose-fitting jeans, I almost felt like I had the day off after all.

As an added bonus to the day, the boyfriend, upon seeing this --> photograph said it should go in a magazine. He is, of course, full of it, but it was nice to hear.

Picnic Table Dress

Outfit details:
Dress: thrifted, Buffalo Exchange
Tan tank: Hand-me-down from college roommate
Grey tights: gift
Black slouch boots: on sale, Bakers Shoes
Coconut wood earrings: unknown
Headband: Walgreens!

Where: work, home

For awhile now I have been looking for what I call a "picnic table dress". Basically a shirt-dress, preferably plaid or gingham, for chhheeeaaaapp. So much do my delight, while thrifting in Wicker Park, I found this little gem! One of the snaps is missing, but luckily I can do without.

I like the door in my office as a backdrop for my photos, but I'm constantly worried that someone will swing it open as I wait for the self-timer to go off. I guess they'll just think I'm weirder than they already do.

Day two in these boots and I'm finding out that leather stretches. Now I need two pairs of socks to make them fit right. I guess they won't fall off, but lesson learned.

I Like To Have Coffee With My Breakfast

They are so very slow at finishing theirs though. It really slows down my meal.

Storque Debut!

www.bonzie.etsy.com

www.meluseena.etsy.com

www.lilycobweb.etsy.com

www.irisdesigns.etsy.com

www.anniedesigns.etsy.com

www.cuada.etsy.com

Gals as previously mentioned........

Etsy approached us a wee while ago to pull together a feature of the Irish variety to coincide with Paddys Day during the month. We jumped at the chance to pull some of our favourite Ireland Based etsy peers together for a Storque article titled "Etsy Local".

These Storque features shine a spotlight on one particular locality and highlight the local talent, while personal photography gives a more intimate look into the folk behind each etsy shop theirin. We had a ball contacting all the Irish Local Participants and everyone got in front of the camera and brought us to their favourite local spots to share the Emerald Isle with the Etsy community. It was a lovely feature to be in and if you fancy a browse through the article take a look here.

Thanks to all the participants too, everyone did a brilliant job on it.

x

bonzie & ger

Our New YouTube Channel!

Gals,
We have just added our very own "Bonzie" YouTube Channel! I hope you enjoy our mini movies bringing you lots of pieces to enjoy, collections,studio tour, road trips and basic random happenings. We have just added our first video detailing a sampling of some of our personal favourites from last years body of work. Im new to movie making so its going to be a learning curve and lots of fun.

Join in the fun at http://www.youtube.com/user/BonzieDesigns

x
bonzie & ger

Client Corner ~ Lindsey

Gals, we were so excited when we received our clients Lindsey's photographs! I just love the rawness, the edgyness of these and had to check out the photographer that Lindsey worked with.

Talented photographer John Yates of http://www.beyondbrokenmedia.com/ is a stunning artist creating very distinctive work with a deconstructed edge, and urban sensibilities!

We had no idea Lindsey was such a great model herself and turns out she also has a rockstar boyfriend and wore our piece to a concert the Saturday she received it. I love to hear the personal stories of the new owners of our work, it really gives us a sense of the global reach of the internet and the journey that our pieces take after they leave the studio!

Thanks to Lindsey Farrar for sharing her stunning modelling pics with us all and to John for taking such cool work!

In Style..............

Bonzie & Ger

Just a super shot!

Gals,

As the last of the St Patricks Day shananigans trickle off, I wanted to share this fabulous picture taken by my Father at the Fireworks at the weekend. Its just a great shot and it really captured the atmosphere on the night!

x

Bonzie & Ger

It's the small ones that he has trouble with.

Scribbles.

How many people show you stuff like this? The roughs, the work that probably won't turn into anything? Not many, I'll say. But in lieu of anything else to post just yet...

This is the kind of chicken scratching that goes on in my many sketchbooks. Mostly they serve as a reminder to me of ideas. This one is kind of an early try at some kind of narrative book, in a way that it has a main story (where my one coming up this fall is a collection of individual scenes).

Dialogue-

Olive- Hey Peanut, want half of my pb&j?
Peanut- I brought one with just jelly. Thanks anyway.

Maybe the peanut should've been eating oliveloaf...




And here's another try (I've since learned that rhyming isn't hip for kids books anymore. Or maybe it's just MY rhyming that's not hip. Heh.)


I'm not sure at all

how Frank Furter gets clean.

He takes all his baths

in bowls full of baked beans.


If you have any ideas on how I can improve my work, please keep them to yourselves. Maybe you could write a book of your own. Unless of course you're a powerful publishing magnate, then please drop me a line. We'll do lunch. There's a Steak 'n Shake just up the road.



Okay, that's it for now. I'll have a real image on here soon. I promise.

Noah Scalin from Another Limited Rebellion and Skull-A-Day gave Bent Objects a mention here. Thanks Noah!

Happy St Patricks Day Everyone!

So in honor of the day that is green we wanted to wish you all a very Happy St Patricks Day . We hope you all enjoyed it yesterday wherever you were and whatever you got up to. We both enjoyed a day off without any sewing which was a much needed break. I know a lot of you were "wetting the shamrock" yesterday so I can assume the collective hangovers today are in full swing!

We awoke to find out that we had been featured on "Brendas Wedding Blog" as part of a collection of green pieces to introduce into your wedding theme. This feature brought us a wonderful new client Allyson who whipped up the green silk wrap that was featured for her own wedding. All round a lovely outcome and hopefully it will bring the luck of the Irish to her special day too given the day it was bought on.

If your a discerning bride you simply must visit Brendas Blog, its an absolutely stunning visual resource of all things bridal not to mention all things stylish. Check it out here.

x

Bonzie & Ger

Client Corner Kim

Gals,

We were so excited to receive our client Kim's pics from her wedding album that we had to feature her on our blog in "Client Corner" . Kim was an absolute darling client who opted for the whole works, a fully embellished bonzie corset with oppulent gold raw silk slinky fishtail and tulle underskirt, a tudor inspired bolero, a veiled headpiece, an adorned victorian inspired bag and a wrap. It was such an enjoyable project watching all the pieces come together to create such an elegant ensemble. Kim married her soul mate Aaron on a cruise with all their family and friends and they make an absolutely delicious couple.

We love the exotic colors of the scenery in these wedding pics and Kim and Aaron have such a glow! We wish them both the very sbest on the adventures ahead, its been such a pleasure to be a part of your special day. :)

xx

bonzie & ger

Playing with matches.

Firebug

Made it while lying in bed last night. I figured that with the right lighting, I could make it look halfway decent.
---------------------------------

And btw, does it seem like life isn't as colorful as it should be? Are your days sometimes drab and missing a certain spark? Well, it's probably because you aren't following me on twitter or facebook ( or here) .

Lately on my twitter, I've been posting almost any stupid thing that comes into my head! (but I guess that's how it is with most tweeters now that I think of it). Come see what kind of twit I really am (probably better than 50% chance that you won't even regret it!). Plus, the more "followers" I have, the more important I get to feel!

CHECK OUT KILA!!!!

Gals, as Paddys Day approachs there is plenty of fun and frollicks on the streets here this weekend. On Saturday night I went to see an amazing firework display on the quay here in Waterford which was absolutely mindblowing. I had seen fireworks before but these were totally chereographed to really great music and 100,000 people lined the streets to join in. During the night an Irish band played live on stage and they absolutely rocked the crowd. Heres a vid of them rockin at another gig, they are an awesome group, I was very proud to be Irish on Saturday night! Check em out, they call themselves Kila!

A Spring in our Step!

Gals,

After a long and rainy winter here in Ireland we have sourced high and low for some bright vivid colors for our raw silk dupioni wraps as Spring approaches! Its a nice sunburst of color in store and hopefully there will be one that catches your eye. ( My favourite is the Apple Green)

In Style............

Bonzie & Ger

The Carina Bolero

As promised ...........

we have begun to work on bridal pieces to add to our inventory available to purchase in our store without going through the custom made process. Its our hope that there will be enough variety and choice that everyone will find something that will suit and not have to worry bout getting something especially made.

One of our previous custom clients "Carina" inspired a really stunning piece which we have decided to develop as part of the new range. We are naming the piece after Carina as she really owned the look on the day of her wedding and each time Ger and I talk about that particular bolero its like..

" you know that Carina bolero" so now its stuck! (Thankfully Carina is a classy name to begin with! )

We also created the short sleeved version of this piece which turned out deliciously romantic with lots of feminine ruffles to boot!

Both Carina Styles will be available very soon to purchase in store in stunning raw silk dupioni.

In Style,

bonzie & ger

Adios Custom Orders!

As you gals may have noticed in our shop announcements we have decided to finally cut the custom orders section in our etsy shop. We were really blown away by the response to this kind of service but it also got really overwhelming and began to take over the original idea of our wee enterprise which is to bring unique and eclectic pieces to our customers and keep the shop fresh and constantly moving. The custom orders took over whilst we created pieces for client specifications all over the world. Its now time to return to our first love which is "designing" and get back to our own collection of work.

With this in mind we had such a long list of custom orders already booked in we will probably take about a month to complete all the orders left before we can fully jump into designing new works and bringing the more popular pieces into stock for shoppers to purchase, should it catch their eye.

Above pictured is one of the most recent custom orders for one of our etsy clients, and underbust corset with a steampunk twist in gorgeous Irish charcoal tweed and lots besides. ;)

Thanks to all our previous custom order clients, it was lovely getting to know you all and I hope you manage to find new pieces to cherish in the new collections coming soon.

In Style

bonzie & ger

But, We're Not Having Fun...

I should say that this is somehow a tribute to Watchmen ...*rimshot.

Viva La Moda

Gals,

Many of you might be familiar with "Gilbea" of etsy finds fame! Well this lady is a one woman editorial machine and recently launched an absolutely stunning online magazine called "Viva La Moda" which features mountains of etsy handmade finds and all presented in a magazine format which makes for great reading over a steaming mug of coffee!

For the second edition Gilbea featured our label in the magazine "Designer Spotlight" section. We were so excited about being a part of such an innovative online publication and totally blown away by the huge collaborative effort in the mag. Viva La Moda is a stunning piece of work by such a talented lady with a passion for bringing great design to readers worldwide!

We especially love the cover of the mag with my sister Shaz freezing her toes off on a local Irish beach in the middle of winter shot by the gifted Irish photographer Shane O' Neill.

Why not grab a cup of something nice and head on over for a read here!

Temporary Reprieve for the Bent Objects Widget Usuers

I will have mercy on the people who have my widget on their pages by posting this old image, so they don't have to stare at my manly chest for several days.

Quick, Draw.........McGraw

Well Gals,

As promised we have been working on some new stock for the shop and back by popular demand are our upcycled one of a kind layered petticoat skirts. We will be bringing lots of new pieces into the shop over the coming weeks and as the title suggests, these items are very unique and one of a kind so if your coveting one, its

"Quick, Draw.......McGraw" to pick them up. :)

These are such a wearable item, teamed with a slim fit top and chunky jewelry and you have a very edgy individual look that will take you everywhere! We wear a lot of these layered skirts and they always get lots of compliments. I hope you find one that suits you perfectly too.

x

bonzie & ger