Favorite Photo of the week.

Pretty & Lovely Miss Britt from The Early Strike wearing pinup girl dress and custom headband my myself.I love this band the are the nicest kids around. So sweet.

The Early Strike

And then there is my new favorite creature of the week. The Fennec Fox.

Hi Im the most adorable fox that ever was.

Buff Monster this Saturday

This Saturday from 7-10pm @ Corey Helford! I love him & them.

Appreciating life and all the little things..

I know i take allot of things for granted at times. I think probably everybody does at one point or another. But i have been making a true effort to really look around  and be grateful for all the small things in life that make each new day a gift.

For me lately just having all my senses and being a healthy person is all i really need.

The past month i have been going to the beautiful and wondrous central public library downtown Los Angeles. If ever feeling uninspired take a trip to your library and quite possibly it will erase your rut within 20 minutes.

I started painting again which means im working on new collections and will have surprises for you guys in the near future.

Next month starts my halloween contests look out for rules starting the 20th of September. Youll have a chance to win something from the Halloween collection every week until Halloween!!!!

Be prepared to actually send me real mail

OK Guys just a quick update. Ive been all consumed in work. I have lots to update so see you soon.

Inspired by my artwork and favorite movies.

Wendy how flattering she got a tattoo based on one of my designs

Wendy in Leopard zip up & her tattoo

I watch netflix or rather listen to it while im working. Today its My Bodyguard & Breaking away two of my old favorites. How cute and young Joan Cusack is in My body Guard.

Live your life by your own standards.

One of my friends from Northern California asked me today how i can stand living in Los Angeles, “because people are crazy here”.

And my response to her was Ive created my own bubble. My life and how i live it is dictated by me. I live and work with in a two block radius. I have a wonderful amazing loving fiance who i have just celebrated our fourth year together. I have two of the sweetest dogs and one aloof cat.

I have creative and wonderful friends and am respectful to others and constantly keep busy and work 90% of my weeks.

For these reasons i live a calm and even existence. If someone is negative towards me i tend to not take it to personal. Negativity in most cases comes from self loathing and unhappiness.

Im not a supporter of the whole “Secret thing” but i do believe in positive thinking and moving forward. Those are the things that get you into the next day.

I hope all of you create your own happiness for yourselves everyday.

Pretty earthly i know, but hey im from Santa Cruz.

Lots of Love.

Me

JL

Hairhats and many more delightful visuals.

Nagi Noda an inspirational pop artist who lived a short life . Im obsessed with her hair hats and well pretty much everything she did.

She was genius.

Check out the first video to see this fantastic collection.

http://www.naginoda.com/

Little Behind the scenes at a shoot.

This is a shoot with one of my favorites models Mosh, who you can always guarantee you will have beautiful poses with. And of Course Michelle Star who always takes a perfect picture.

Die Antwoord in Hollywood

Die Antwoord!

Last night was Die Antwoord at the El Rey theater in Hollywood. Actually on of my favorite venues it is beautiful and you really get to enjoy whatever artist is playing because of the way the space is laid out. Plus its not a huge club which is ideal, for me anyway.
I heard about this band a while ago and pretty much ever since just loved them.
There whole concept and artistry. I love all of Ninja’s illustrations and the fact that they incorporate other artists ei: Friends with you into their backround imagery during their set.
Lucky for me my pal Gary Baseman happens to have been befriended by them after meeting at Coachella (which for anyone who doesnt know is a music festival here in Southern California that happens every year and brings diverse music from around the world, they have amazing line ups every year). So i got to go to their sold out show and have to say it was one of the most entertained i have been in quite a while. ( THANKS GARY!!)
If you even remotely like this band go see them live and you will love them.
Highlights of the night Gary Introduced me to Ninja who was very gracious and when we left Andy Samberg was standing outside with these guys.

I love him
oh also there was a Dj before them that people were doing very interesting dance moves to. I love watching people do weird trance dancing it beats TV.
So basically My Saturday night was fantastic.

myself, Gary Baseman aka Kenny Rogers,Ninja, beautiful Lola Gil

I vote these guys the biggest Die Antwoord fans since they flew from South Africa for the show.

I shot a video w/ my camera, the quality isnt amazing but whatever.

Week of Production

This week i have been working on several projects. One of which was a print job on six colors of leopard and then dropping the fabric off at my cutter.

I am doing production on three shapes. (When its over 50pc i send it out since hand cutting garments is not my favorite task.)

I do love the process of producing garments.

When i stopped by to pick up one of my cuts they were getting the others ready.

Also theres so many cute photos from Natalias show on:
LATIMES

ITALIAN VOGUE

Amber Foster you are inspirational.

A few months ago i received an order off my website. In the Comments section it said” Last time i ordered from you was in 2007 and i was nearly 300 lbs. Recently Ive lost over 200lbs.” And asked me about sizing.

I thought that was extraordinary and even though i do not know her personally felt really proud of Amber.

Going from 300lbs to 135lbs is incredible and allot of hard work.

I asked Amber if she could send me some photos and answer a few questions so i could share her story with you guys.

Here were my questions & her Answers

I am 26 years old. Since my surgery on March 6, 2009 I have pretty much done a 360 on my eating/health habits. I had a duodenal switch done, and here’s a site that I found very helpful to explain it compared to the regular gastric bypass surgery. ( One I had done is the second one in http://www.lapsf.com/weight-loss-surgeries.html ) The changes I mentioned above include doing 80 grams minimum of protein a day, vitamins A,D,E,K , B12, calcium with D, Iron, Hair/Skin/nail, and Multi Vitamin in double dosage all daily.

My stomach can now only hold about 10 oz of food, so I get full allot quicker and no longer ear super sized value meals or all the other over processed crap I used to. Mostly I stick to lean protein, fruits, and lots of veggies cause they make me feel good. I do allot of organics, and like allot of vegan dishes, just have to watch for protein content. So basically cut out all the soda, sugary high carb, and anything without any nutritional value. I also am a recovered bulimic, which I dealt with since the 8th grade, and have not had any binge episodes since the surgery since it taught me how to eat and treat my body

I love going to the gym now, it’s so much easier now that I’m not carrying two hundred pounds or so around. I’m 5’3, so it saved my life to say the least. I was going 3-4 times a week doing an hour of cardio either on the elliptical ( love the machine) or the treadmill, some times both in half sessions. During those times I would also add 45 min of strength training in twice a week.

I get to start back this Monday, Dr just released me after a 3 month break from recovering from my tummy tuck.  I also love the fact that I can keep up with my two doggies Roo Roo and Bullseye now, so when I do not go to the gym they are my walking/jogging buddies. The gym is also a great stress reliever too. The feeling great and the confidence I have now make up for any discomfort or fear of the surgery. I have so much more energy and I’m constantly smiling now.

To maintain my weight I do the gym, watch what I eat and find something else to do if I’m bored rather than eat like I used to. I don’t wanna hide in the house now, so that’s a big improvement. Another key thing to keep the weight off Ive found is to occasionally treat yourself to old favorites like mac and cheese (( I eat Annie’s now, no Kraft)) or pizza, just don’t eat the entire box or pizza.

My best advice is this; If you’re unhappy with your size or weight, don’t put it off or keep telling yourself you’re going to make changes tomorrow. I did it for a long time, and I wish I would have been brave enough to do it sooner.  Try exercising 1-3 days a week to start, like 30 min, don’t push yourself. Walking is a great way to begin and then work from there.

Also I use SparkPeople.com, it’s a free food journal that helps you keep track of what you’re eating. Plus it counts calories, carbs, and protein which HELPED me TONS the first year. If you don’t get any results in 6 months or so, then see your Dr and talk about the surgery options.  The surgery was very scary, I debated back and forth about a year before doing it, and I had some very negative friends that I cut off after I got it done. Keep people around you who support you and the changes you want to make for yourself.

Don’t do it for anyone but you, because whether some one else is happy or not with how you look doesn’t matter at the end of the day. Only what you think. There are some risks associated with it, but long term the health risks I was facing at 340lbs outweigh the risk of getting the surgery done.

I no longer have a sleeping apnea which was causing me to fall asleep while driving, cholesterol is down drastically, and all my vitamin levels have stayed high. Another tip I can give is take the surgery seriously. It’s not a diet or a fad, it’s for the rest of your life. So do whatever your doctor instructs, the first 3 months after the surgery were VERY hard, but after it only gets better and it’s so worth it. The tummy was also a cake walk after the initial due to being so much lighter.

And lastly after loosing all the weight and you heal from any cosmetic surgeries to get rid of the loose skin, you get to buy all new clothes once the swelling is down. That’s been my favorite part of this, and I loved the pink dress. Can’t wait to see new lines and order more, ty for taking an interest and helping me get the right size dress. I got to wear it for a 4th of July party and I would have never worn something like that before

Amber Foster

In 2009

Amber Now

Thank you so much Amber. You saved your own life. You look beautiful and Healthy.

I appreciate so much you sharing your story with me and letting me share it with other people too.

Next Page »