I miss you LA and I love my new MACs

Last week the little Miss and I were back home in LA for the week. While we were there we had to take a few pics and of course I had to tweak them with my new MAC. I love how you can go to the I-photo and instantly change the pics to look more retro. Here's a couple of my faves from the LA -our latest discovery is the Monster Park in San Gabriel. Funny thing is that I discovered this park while watching Yo Gabba Gabba with Ainslie and I thought.. WOW, that place has PHOTO SHOOT written all over it! So I promised that when we got back to LA, we'd get the time to go over there with her very best pal, Dylan and his Mommy and Daddy. The Monster park was built in 1964 and is so awesome... I will most def be coming back with her when she's in a better mood!


Ainslie with the red Dolphin

Me and my girl...

The Little Miss in all her glory

OMG Shoes!

Well hello Gorgeous!
It's been a long while since I've posted anything. Life has been BANANAS since my daughter discovered that she can walk and now she can RUN! So you can imagine I have my hands full with taking care of the little Miss. I haven't been able to tackle a whole lot of BIG projects lately. As much as I'd like to paint this and that... My toddler has other plans for her Mommy.
Well, my latest obsession is my DIY shoes. The first pair I made was inspired by The Jeffrey Campbell Tick that I was desperately looking for since October but were sold out everywhere( trust, I looked and called EVERYWHERE). My obsession got so deep that I went and stalked their representative when he brought out the newest styles to the San Francisco Nordstrom. I even got Ty's # so I could keep tabs on when the shoe would come out . Well, I couldn't wait any longer for the shoe and I decided to make my own. It took me about 3 weeks to finishn( I would have been done earlier but you know.. I have a toddler now), about 400 upholstery tacks and a couple of hours of frustration but the end result was so worth it. The Jeffrey Campbell Tick retails for $170. I made mine for a fraction of the cost. Checkity Check it out..
Here's the real deal. My inspiration, the Jeffrey Campbell Tick


Here's my version... Very Rocker Chic, Very KISS! Gene Simmons would think you raided his closet!

Breakdowns:
The Tick Boot I made:
Boot was $38.00 from Amiclubwear.com
I painted the wedge black with acrylic paint since it was natural rubber color when I got it
I bought about $20 worth of upholstery nails from Lowes
You need a long nose pliers to cut some of the tacks to make them fit unto the wedge heel
Most of the tacks needed some Gorilla Glue or Hot glue to keep them onto the wedge. Most of them just get pushed into the rubber of the wedge.
I believe I spent about $60 total for this project. You might want to keep some of the extra tacks just in case you have some "casualties" Then you just rock'em out! Trust you'll get a LOT of looks with these boots!


I also was stalking a pair of kicks on Ebay for my husband but they were made in Korea and they didn't have his size. I loved the design. I ended up NOT getting him the shoes but I was still obsessed on the design and I decided to make a pair for myself. This one was pretty easy and it only took me a day to finish.
Here's the inspiration:HOMME New Mens Stud High Top retails for $115.00 from Korea

Here's my version :

Breakdown of the rocker kick:
The Hi-top was from Forever21 $21.00
You'll need 2 yards of belting from Jo-Annes
Some studs from studsandspikes.com
I got a a snap kit and a grommet kit from Jo-annes
The hardest part of the project was adding the heavy duty snaps but lucky for me I have my Husband to help me.
Make sure you singe the ends of the belting so the ends don't frey.
See those square studs.. they are actually mini binder clips i got in the scrap booking section.
Now these are some MAJOR kicks! Trust, if you rock these out.. You'll get some major attention and best of all you can say, " Yeah, I made these myself!" Jammmmmmmmm!!
Happy New Year Lovelies!
Mod Diva

I HEART Phillip Spaeth!

I'm a sucker for great photos. I love the works of David La Chapelle and Pierre et Gilles. I'm always up for a photo shoot- Especially if it's retro and themed and I get to play dress-up. Our go to man is our friend Phillip. He's been taking our family photos now since I was 8 weeks pregnant and we've done a total of 4 different shoots with him. We plan our shoots like this: I play the part of the art director/ makeup artist- I tell him the location, I plan the outfits The Hubby thinks up the poses we all share our vision and we have at it. Phillip is going back to NYC so this was our last photo shoot with him until he comes back for some one's vacation or until I'm pregnant again ( he promised that he'd be back to take our photos again when that happens)I will miss him terribly especially when inspiration comes to me in an outfit or perfect location. Here's some of his best stuff with my family.

This picture was the announcement that we were expecting our baby. We added a little surprise in the blank part of the sign that read, "Baby in JUNE".
In the same shoot he added this photoshop effect that makes the picture look totally vintage. I loved it so much that I had this blown up poster size and it hangs in my living room.

Two weeks before I gave birth I wanted to take some baby body pics but of course they couldn't be just the normal black and white look at my belly pics- We did these and I love that I finally could wear this particular outfit. ( I won it on Ebay and had it in my closet in hopes to get my six pack back-) I think this turned out way better.
. I'm so glad we took these pictures when we did because we were pushing the time to do it further and further. She arrived at 38 weeks!

We can't forget the pictures to remind us when the girls were our only babies and when they were still allowed on the bed :(


I think my only regret was not taking any photos of Ainslie when she was a newborn. I mean, how retro looking could I make a newborn?
When we moved to San Francisco I wanted to do a photo shoot that was not so typical (like standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge) so we went to see the famous Painted Ladies. Can you hear the beginning of the "Full House" theme starting?


We didn't go totally retro but I did manage to keep my Mod Diva-ness to it by sporting the retro earrings and my Mod shades. Ainslie pays tribute to Mary Quant.


On Thursday we took our last shoot with Uncle Philly. I think it catches the essence of our family. Fun, a little funky and most definitely, one of a kind. I fell in love with the location months before we did the shoot.The place is an old record store. The outfit was another score from Ebay. A vintage Velvet Illusion of London dress I won for 29 bucks. Daddy is sporting a vintage Mod/ Ska look and Ainslie- well, she's rocking out to what she thinks is "retro"- an 80's throw back to Cyndi Lauper.

This was such a fun shoot. Too bad Ainslie was not in the mood for any of it. I wish we had all the girls in the family pic too but a baby and 4 pugs would be a little much- doncha think?


We had so much fun with Phillip and were so happy that he was there to capture some of the best moments of our lives as a new family. We wish him nothing but the best in his move back to NYC. If you're out in NYC and need someone FABU to take your shots. Give this boy a holla because he's the pooh- Oh did I mention... quite the HOTTIE as well!

We will miss you so very much Phillip. I'm sure you'll be working it out on the Great White Way as soon as you land there! Come back soon! We love you!

Black and White inspiration

Lately I've really been into black and white. There's just something so simple and striking about a black pattern on a stark white canvas. The other day I found this picture in my folder of "inspiration" on my computer. I didn't know who the artist was but I felt that the work was so striking behind that red wall I just had to take a crack at it and make one myself.


I mean, how hard could it be?? Um, it was REALLY hard- Not the actual making of the painting part but having to chase a 15 month old toddler around the house while painting... Yeah, it took me longer than I expected.

I made this for the blank wall space in the kitchen. Looks pretty awesome in there too I might say :)

Funny, the other day I was watching " House Husbands of Hollywood" and I noticed that this couple had a similar triptych in their living room I totally dig it too. I swear, black on white. BIG impact. Bonus was I got the canvas for 9 bucks and it's pretty huge. Can't beat that and Bye, bye bare wall!
Cheers!

It's all about the numbers

It's been awhile and I am so due for an update. The renovation of the SF PAP house is going slow but steady. We managed to clear out the garage of my hoarder uncle's junk so we can finally park in there and not have to search for parking 2 blocks away from our house, the kitchen is in working condition and the outside... well, lets just say that it's the little things that make a big difference. A couple of weeks ago I decided to paint the garage door in Disney by Behr paint in Alien Green. I guess since this house had looked like no one had given it any kind of love in YEARS, I got a lot of stares from the neighbors when I went out one Saturday morning and decided to paint. One neighbor asked my husband.. " Why LIME green?' His reply- " Why NOT?" I think it makes a HUGE difference.


I also went ahead and bought some new house numbers for the place. I know house numbers are just a little thing but I like to compare them to "earrings" on a house. I got these at OSH for $7.00 a number. You can change the entire look of the front with a good looking house number. We used a piece of peg board and painted that for the background. I think it turned out super dope.



The front gate used to be silver and I spray painted that white to make the design pop out more. I think you can see the 60's influence with the gate and the bright green front door in the background. I totally dig the pattern of the gate.

I have a light fixture for the front as well but I think there's something wrong with the wiring of the front entrance so we're gonna have to fix that first before we put the new fixture in.

Like I said, even after being in San Francisco for a whole 7 months, getting things done is a whole other ball game with a toddler running around and calling for YOU and only YOU. If I didn't have a baby... this place would already be to Mod Diva standards and you'd see what the rest of the house looked like( but I wouldn't have it any other way)- Oh well, I guess for now I'll be happy with getting at least one project down-

Cheers,
Mod Diva

The Mod baby turns ONE!

This week our daughter, Ainslie Turned ONE.. the time went by so fast. In celebration we wanted to have her birthday themed after her favorite cartoon character, Ni Hao Kai Lan. For those of you without kids, Kai Lan is a cartoon on Noggin based on a Chinese little girl. ( Added bonus because she's basically the Chinese version of Dora the Explorer- and since we're Asian, she's finally got a cartoon to identify with.) For some reason here in SF, there was a shortage of party supplies with the Kai Lan theme. So when push came to shove, we had to make our own. The Hubby and I hooked Ainslie's Birthday cake up with these handmade cake toppers made of FIMO. My only complaint was I HATED the writing.. I mean HELLO, if you work at a bakery, aren't you supposed to have better penmanship? I could have done a better job!

And for another Kai Lan decoration, we also made this for her party table.

Sadly, as she was celebrating her First year of life- 2 iconic people from my childhood passed. Farrah Fawcett and the legendary, Michael Jackson. Kind of a bummer after such a great day at Pixieland with all of our friends. I guess that just cements that fact.. that we are all getting old :(
Our girl had a great time with all of her friends- the first Birthday was a success!
Here's a pic of the punk rock birthday girl in all her glory!

It's DONE! The SF kitchen reveal...

It's been a long time coming but it's finally done! The SF kitchen is ready for it's reveal!

Despite the set backs... ( taking a longer time to put the floor, the back splash and the a snafu with the electrics) It finally was ready to use! I had to make a special order for some white penny tile for the top of the range hood from modwalls.com and they arrived on Wednesday. We loved the result

It's just a little detail but every little detail counts! Here's a closer look at the top of the range hood. We had to add this piece of backer board and tile because the cabinets were a little short. It seemed to work out just fine!

Here's more of the kitchen:

Like I said, It's the little details that count- You may recognize this little detail from my house in LA. It's Skylar's food container- It's made a little home now here in our SF pad now too.


The red microwave and orange coffee maker- by Cooks from JC Penney catalogue!

Ainslie is ready now for Mommy's cooking in the new kitchen- It's been a long 5 months without a usable kitchen but now I'm finally ready to put it to use and get cooking!

As you can see, there's no table in the kitchen anymore- we made it a galley kitchen but behind the door is the entrance to the dining/living room where we have a dining room table!

It's a shame that this kitchen is not in my house in LA but the Hubby said it's a nice rough draft of what our kitchen in LA could look like. I think the only thing I'd change is that I would love to have terrazzo flooring instead of vinyl and I'd love to have those high gloss white cabinets from IKEA. Other than that.. we're pretty happy with the results.

I mean seriously, compared to what the before was... this was a pretty ah-mazing transformation!
Cheers!