Saturday, December 17, 2011

IFB Project #26: The Best of 2011

Can you believe that it's almost 2012? 
I had a good time scrolling down the archives reliving the past year. I joined IFB in April and fell down the fashion blogger rabbit hole with glee. I do this for the joy of it -- I "should" be concentrating on my art work, but it isn't half as compelling. Who knows? Maybe the fashion blogger portraits (see last link) will become my next art exhibition.
I have enjoyed becoming part of the fashion blogger community and learning the merits of Twitter (@annembray), Tumbler, Instagram (annembray) et al. AND making everyone's acquaintance. You are a great community!

Here are my favorite SpyGirl posts from 2011.

SpyGirl started as a fake journal project in April 2010. I wanted to start sketching my outfits and came upon the SpyGirl template by accident (or fate). This journal spread is my favorite for 2011 because it jogs my memory about a design concept I'd like to put into production and sell.

Favorite SpyGirl Sketch:
4-22 happy Earth Day

My favorite outfit post is about what I wore for a Nada Surf gig I attended with my boyfriend. We had backstage passes  and everything!
Favorite outfit post:
In 10 Minutes: 6-5 

"Style Reports" are my street style photos. This Williamsburg post was the result of planting myself at Pies - n - Thighs for hours, waiting for my boyfriend to arrive from an LAX flight into Newark (flight issues). A fashionable start to a most excellent vacation with him.
Favorite Style Report (street style):
Summer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

I'm calling posts about museum visits and other cultural activities "Style Guides" I was killing time in Portland and stumbled upon this wonderful exhibition. Took copious notes and photos.

Favorite Style Guide:
Portland - Laurie Herrick at the Museum of Contemporary Craft

I'm especially proud of my Hair Care post for the Friend Friday group, hosted by Katy at ModlyChic. If you had told me three years ago that I would have short hair today, I wouldn't have believed you.
Favorite FBFF (friend friday) post:
Hair Care - the long and the short of it

The second IFB Project was to write a haiku. I chose my red coat that I designed in 1987.
Favorite IFB Project:
haiku to my red coat

For one of my day jobs, I teach digital design. I make all my own handouts in lieu of a text book. Thanks to Kimi @ allthefussandmore I learned how to turn off the oh-so-annoying Blogger Captcha. I then made her instructions visual. This is one of my most popular posts.
Best (and only) tech tip:
How to Turn off Captcha in Blogger 

Here is a taste of a series to come in 2012 -- "Fashion Icons"
Post that I'm most excited about:
amb on 7-21

Before this recap project came up, I was already starting to use Chris Guillebeau's (author of The Art of Non-Conformity) process to evaluate my year. I recommend that you check out his Annual Review post here. He gives some great suggestions.

To a better and brighter 2012!