With the recent addition of a handful of adorable plushes by Steff Bomb, I decided to sit down and have a little chat with the creative force behind this empire of cuteness.

Where does the name “Steff Bomb” come from?
My real name is Stephanie Baum. I know, I know, Steff Bomb, Steph Baum, it sounds like my real name and isn’t very clever. I hated it growing up (“Steff Bomb is gonna blow up!”), but once the phrase “you da bomb” became popular, it wasn’t so bad anymore.

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Halloween! Don’t feign being too cool for ‘ghoul;’ you know this holiday’s great! If Modster Mash’s gleeful guises, and the items monikered after maleficent tales, didn’t slake your thirst for Halloween happenstance, get pumped up (or should it be pump-kined up) for this B-grade zombie film DIY. Don’t worry; this is not as daunting or haunting a task as you may think. We’ve got it all figured out for you. So, lights, camera, bad action film!

The Posh Paw-berry Mittens.

Does identifying one type of knit from another catch you for a loop? Once you’ve distinguished your textile as a knit vs. a woven, identifying an intarsia garment will be no ‘sweat-er’ as long as you remember these key identifying points!

The intarsia knitting technique involves two or more differently colored yarns that create motifs in solid blocks of color. A few examples from our site include the trompe l’oeil-inspired Trick of the Eye Sweater, the vibrant It Was a Dark and Squirrely Night Sweater, and the adorable A Little Bit Bunny Cardigan! Unlike other knitting methods, the motifs on these garments are produced separately before being fitted together to form the final piece. At any given time, there is only one yarn per stitch, meaning other colors that appear on the front do not float across the back of the garment; rather, they are tied off when starting a new color. To seal the deal, simply turn your fabric over and it bears the same image on both sides, then you know it’s an intarsia knit!

So that sweater that you had as a kid with giant crayons splashed across the front? You can now lovingly remember it as one of the best intarsia knit to have graced the garment world! Do you remember or currently have any intarsia knits with notably awesome motifs?

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But that doesn’t concern us right now; we’ve got another question: Can you teach an old (or young) dog to trick-or-treat? Well, dress your pup up in a cute costume, and you’ll be one step closer to answering ‘yes.’ If you need inspiration, or just want to see cute canines in costume, surf on over to Dogs In Duds for so many fun photos of costume-clad dogs, you’ll want to raise the ‘woof!’

The Deep Within the Armoire Dress was featured in the November issue of InStyle.

We recently stumbled upon this eye-opening make-up tutorial from the 1940s! We’re smitten with the instrumental background music, all of the charming face illustrations, and of course, the narrator’s prim and polished elocution. On the other hand, whoever said having a round, a square, or a long face was such a bad thing?! And if you’re inclined to rock straight, blunt bangs with a square face, we say more power to you! In today’s modern world, we’ve (hopefully) come to recognize beauty in all face shapes, skin tones, and sizes, as well as in a variety of make-up applications and hair styles. However, we’re still downright intrigued by this retro tutorial’s take on accentuating the features of individual face shapes.

Do any of these tips or suggestions ring true to you?

For more on beauty, head over to our illustrated hair and make-up guide.

Images via StockholmStreetStyle and Turned Out.

That 70′s style might be the latest trend forecast according the the Spring 2011 runways, but we’ve been noticing this look cropping up on tons of street style blogs already, with plenty of flowing maxi lengths in jewel tones and bell-bottom trousers worn with platform heels.  We love the way these ladies updated the classic look by keeping the patterns to a minimum and focusing on rich colors and interesting proportions.

Read the rest of this entry »

The On a Friendly Shore Top was featured in the November issue of Redbook.

All images via Juri Zaech.

We know. We’re drooling, too. Whether you’re a typography or bike enthusiast (or both), I think we can all agree that Swiss art director Juri Zaech‘s personalized bikes are the stuff design dreams are made of.

Read the rest of this entry »

Image via Breakfast in Berlin

Breakfast in Berlin‘s MySpace page isn’t just for early birds, it can be accessed 24/7 if you’re hungry for their refreshing multilingual indie pop jams. From the Swedish quintet’s catchy “Någonting i allting,” to their cover of Eddie Vedder’s “Long Nights,” their sound is proof that lovely music transcends all boundaries, and in this case — all languages!

Is there a multilingual musician that you’ve taken a fancy to recently?