Sweet Dreams

October 14th, 2009

Hello everyone!! While researching the awesome art of stop motion, Beverly (Libby Story’s creative director) came across this amazing video on youtube by Kirsten Lepore. The video’s called “Sweet Dreams” and features the misadventures of a delicious little cupcake. Here they are:

kirsten lepore

Photo via Kirsten

After spotting the video, Beverly sent it immediately to me and told me this is what our next post is about. (Turns out, she wasn’t lying!) I had a chance to email the creator, Kirsten, and ask her some questions about Sweet Dreams and herself.

According to Kirsten, the making of Sweet Dreams took about 9 months. “The first 4.5 months was spent coming up with the concept and storyboarding, and the rest of the time was actually building sets, characters, shooting, editing, and doing sound design.”

I also asked Kirsten about stop motion itself, because I know not everyone is entirely familiar with the art. “Stop-motion animation works by taking a series of photographs of something moving incrementally. For example if I had a character, I’d move his body a fraction of an inch, then take a shot… then move him another fraction of an inch and take another shot. Generally speaking, I’d have to take 24 of those shots to make up one second of animation.”

The Sweet Dreams short was comprised almost entirely of edible objects, especially the main characters of the story and also the sets were made of fruits, vegetables and sweets. Knowing what we know now about stop motion (Thank you Kirsten) we can only imagine the effort that went into this production! No wonder it won a special jury award at SXSW film festival!

I also got a chance to ask Kirsten what she likes to do for fun in her down time: “Cook, eat, and go food shopping! I’m a big foodie :) ”

I honestly can’t say I’m shocked by that response.

Please check out Kirsten’s website as well as her blog. And watch Sweet Dreams, I promise you that you’re going to love it as much as we do!

Inside Libby Story’s Walls

October 7th, 2009

Hey guys! I know it’s been a long time since our last post. I know you missed us, we missed you too!

I wanted to tell y’all about this awesome event we had in our store a little while ago.  Rob Blackledge, in support of Toms Shoes, played a short live set in this very store. It was amazing! Here’s Rob:

Rob

Photo via Rob’s site

A little bit about Rob….he was born outside of Jackson, though currently resides in Nashville. He’s been playing music since he was little and recently has gotten signed to One Revolution Entertainment. You may have heard one of his songs featured on the season finale of Ruby, on the Style Network.

The great thing about Rob is as much as he’s talented, he’s concerned with making our world a better place. He recently worked with Compassion International, which is a non-profit humanitarian aid organization that focuses their efforts on improving the lives of young children in developing countries. By making a trip down to Guatemala, he brought back awareness about how easy it is to help others in need.

Which brings us back to Rob’s performance at Libby Story. One song on his recently released album, “Inside These Walls” is about bettering our world. (Appropriately titled “Our World”) Here’s a sample of the lyrics:

And lift up each other
Sisters and Brothers
Open our doors to all those who need rest
Love on the burdened
The lost and deserted
Reach out a hand to the man in distress
This is our world
And it needs to be blessed

He decided to play at our store because of Toms Shoes. In case you’re not familiar with the brand, Toms is a philanthropic company that utilizes the one for one philosophy. For every pair of shoes you buy, they send a pair to a child in need. Knowing “Our World” would be a perfect fit with Toms, he did an acoustic set at our store in support of this company.

ROB

Photo via Sara, Assistant Manager

Check out Rob’s website at and learn more about Toms click here

MollyGee Designs

August 20th, 2009

Hey guys! Long time no post, right? So I was getting ready for work this morning and as I put in my favorite feathered clip, I thought, “You know what? I should blog about MollyGee! More people should know about this designer/artist!”

This is Miss MollyGee

I first heard of her when Libby Story started carrying her unique hair accessories. A Mississippi native, MollyGee now lives in New York where she’s able to work full time on her amazing designs. She moved there upon graduating Mississippi State in 2008 and has been spending her days collecting inspirations and designing. On the weekends she sells her one-of-a-kind pieces at Artists and Fleas, an indoor Artist and Designer Market. Here are a few of her recent designs:

MG_designs

Photos taken by: Josh Hailey

Molly Gee states, “There is a rewarding feeling about making something new and beautiful using found materials and recycled fabrics from other projects as i do for my hair accessories. It can actually be difficult to make the same hair accessory twice. I have also begun making Bridal accessories such as wedding veils. I have enjoyed talking with the bride throughout her planning process and designing a veil to match her personal style and wedding idea.” Check out MollyGee’s Bridal pieces:

Bridal

Photo by: Bob Miller

Bridal

Photo by: Kristi Schiffman

As most people wonder, we asked MollyGee what she finds inspiring, and she answered with this: “…Peter Pan and childlike wonder, thimbles instead of kisses, spools of thread, cupcakes, vintage anything-particularly the 1800’s and 1920’s, nature, budding trees (especially all the pretty lavender trees in the spring before they turn green), romance!, delicate gestures, poise and grace, flower names (a fondness passed down from my mom). Being a native to MS, I try to fuse Southern charm into city-appropriate
fashion.”

You can find MollyGee’s designs here at Libby Story or on Etsy.

World, meet Ellie.

August 10th, 2009

I just wanted to introduce all of you to this amazing graphic designer I just heard of from North Carolina. Her name’s Ellie, and she’s been said to be an obsessive blogger (a.k.a. my new idol). I was introduced (via the internet) to Ellie by Libby Story’s very own graphic designer, Beverly, and I have been stalking her many blogs and websites ever since.

I was given the opportunity the other day to ask her some questions about her recent nuptials, her blogging, and her brand new shop:

First of all, how was your wedding? How’s married life treating you?
“It was perfect! Honestly, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it… which is a great feeling. Married life is wonderful. My husband is my best friend of course, so having him around all the time is a blast.” Read more about Ellie’s wedding here.

ellie_wedding

Photo via Mint Design Blog

How are you liking owning your own Etsy shop?
“I love it! It’s been a goal of mine for a long time, so I feel proud to have it up. I work for a graphic design agency, and lately I haven’t had much free time to create new designs for Hello Tenfold, which is pretty disappointing. But, I hope that will change once summer is over. I have so many ideas rolling around in my head all the time and I can’t wait to get them on paper.” Shop Hello Tenfold here.

tenfold

Photo via Hello Tenfold

Your blog is great, where do you find all your inspirations?
“Thanks! It’s a combination of things… sometimes I think “hey, I wish I had more scarves!” And maybe I’ll do a round-up of accessories. It starts with what I’m in the mood for (art, weddings, clothing, design, etc.) and I go from there. It’s so much fun and all the research I do for it keeps me inspired in my own work.” Browse Ellie’s blog, Mint, here.

mint

Photo via Mint Design Blog

What else do you do besides etsy and blogging to pass your days?
“I always have a house-related project to do (this week it was framing some wedding photos). I’ve been catching up on a couple seasons of the TV show This American Life, even though I rarely watch television! My husband and I love seeing movies and going out with friends whenever we get a chance. We saw Away We Go and Harry Potter recently. SO GOOD.”

Whenever you all get a chance, you should check out her amazing work! It’s really inspiring to go out and do anything that’s even the least bit creative!

Thank you Ellie!

The Jesse Morrow

July 29th, 2009

Attention Jackson area and beyond! I have news from a fellow Northwood University alum. Aaand here’s some things I think you should know about this guy, Jesse.

This is Jesse

I first met Jesse Morrow in college when we worked on Northwood’s annual style show together. We were both in the Fashion program yet he already had his own tee-shirt line called Erised, so naturally, he was way cooler than me. Turns out, as time went on, he’s still way cooler than me, but I digress.

Designer, artist, and talented musician are all words that can be used to describe Jesse. Although his own clothing line is currently on hiatus, it’s just because he’s got so much else to do right now. He’s done design work for Bob Dylan’s merchandise company MGR Entertainment, and currently he’s designing for the fall line of Live to Love apparal.

T-Shirt Designs

So now that Jesse’s done with school, he’s mostly doing freelance graphic design work. Most of his freelance work is for a church in Washington called Cornwall Church. He also freelance for a few Nashville Non-profits: the Oasis Center and the Nashville Prevention Partnership.

In addition to all of his graphic artistry, he’s also an accomplished musician. A talented solo artist (he just finished recording some tracks in Nashville!) Here’s a taste of his musical awesomeness:

Jesse Sings from Rhett Blankenship on Vimeo.

Check out his new album here! http://www.jessemorrow.bigcartel.com/

Paper Dolls…for Grown Ups?

July 13th, 2009

Hey guys! So I spend an infinite amount of time procrastinating on the internet, and in my quest to find cool things to pass my day, I stumbled across this fashion website called Looklet.com. Basically, it’s like playing paper dolls, only I’m not 5…I’m 24. 

They give you a choice of models and a choice of backgrounds to start with. Then, and this is the best part, a insanely huge list of tops, bottoms, accessories (anything you could ever want, it is on this website) and you can dress up the model. They even have vintage items to choose from. If you love fashion, and you have spare time, check out this website. I promise you that you won’t even know where the time went.

LOOKLET

My model, you can find her on Looklet

Art Show Tonight in FONDREN!

July 9th, 2009

Hiya! Just letting you know about the Art Show at One Blue Wall Gallery in the Fondren Corner Building TONIGHT at 5pm. The show will consist of functional art–Furniture! One of the featured artists is my very good friend, Critz Campbell. He will be showing his infamous “Eudora” chair! Here she is:

Eudora

Via Critz Campbell

Also! There will be Kick @$$ Karaoke Dance Party on the front porch of Sneaky Beans and Live Music on the Rooftop immediately following the reception. If I were you…I’d stop by Libby Story and get a snazzy little dress like this:

Dresses

…and make your way over to Fondren to have a good time! I’ll see you there for sure!

Hello world–This is our first post!

June 19th, 2009

Just ran across this startling, but amazing music video. I WILL be researching The Ropes from now on, maybe even start playing them in the store. The darling singer, Sharon Shy, is not only super talented, but fashionably inspiring…I’ll just say, they had me at “Clubs in Europe Forever” or “hello,” whichever.

ENJOY!

Here’s a Rockin’ image of Sharon.

Sharon is Fly

Via The Ropes