LIFE

Motorcycle Culture & Celebrity Bikers

Motorcycle Culture & Celebrity Bikers

Photographer, Bryan Helm has a particular interests in biker photography. He is amazing at capturing the coolest looking bikers around! Yes.. his work is so great that it will be on exhibition stating today and you are all invited!

Motorcycle Culture & Celebrity Bikers

BY Bryan Helm

- Toronto CONTACT Festival -

From May 19 to May 29 2011
Opening reception is Thursday, May 19Th, 2011 from 6-10 pm

258 Wallace Ave. Ste 109C
Toronto


Here is some of Bryan's biker photography:

I have always wanted a motorcycle.. but went I was younger I wanted a chopper!! I get that passion from my dad. I love that amazing feeling of freedom and "rebelliousness" when you are on a bike!! It's like flying!

Did you know that the word chopper actually come from the post World War 2 era? Yep, In order to make their motorcycle go faster, service mans remove/chop unnecessary parts of their motorcycle. Then they added a longer fork and higher handlebars. Best of all.. custom choppers always have incredible bad ass art work!

When I was 17, I did art work on motorcycle helmets using airbrush and paint. My airbrush pen was a gift from this great tattoo artist from Quebec. He like my paintings and he made me premise that I would never stop doing art. He thought me a lot and he inspired me to always wanna create and to follow my dreams. Few weeks later, I moved from Quebec City to Toronto and I was calling "Jim Davis/Garfield" office asking them if I could work for him! :)

Life is too short for traffic. ~Dan Bellack

There are two types of people in this world, people who ride motorcycles,and people who wish they could ride motorcycles. ~Author Unknown

Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window. ~Author Unknown

For more information on

"Motorcycle Culture & Celebrity Bikers"

go to Bryan's WEBSITE or his BLOG

Wingsuit Base Jumping.. WOW!

Other than the wingsuit.. this video has nothing to do with fashion but it is an amazing video to watch! My favorite part is "Now it's getting boring so we play around" !

Youtube link

I LOVE Pamela LOVE

Talon Cuff $1100

Super edgy New York jewellery designer Pamela Love makes the kind of jewelry that you either LOVE or don't care for it. I LOVE with all my heart!

Her creations are the kind that provokes conversation and could stop traffic! Pamela has an interesting story, she comes from a medical background and prior to becoming a jewellery designer freaking genius, she was a fashion stylist in NYC. Jewellery making was more of a hobby until the day that she had to create some pieces for a photo shoot and the orders started coming and haven't stop ever since!

The inspiration behind her amazing creations come from different details in nature, science, astronomy, mythology, religion, ritual, magic, different culture and her work always have a macabre concepts. All pieces are created and detailed by hand in New York city. Her team uses 14k gold, Sterling silver, bronze, brass incorporating stones from quartz and obsidian to sapphires and champagne diamonds. She has collaborated with many great designers such as Zac Posen and artist like Lady Gaga. Pamela said in an interview that she was planning on creating some pieces at a lower price point. Yay because I WANT IT ALL!

Here is video look book for her latest Spring Summer 2011 collection. Her latest collection focus on traditional pieces worn by women in Africa, India, and South America that symbolize protection. Be careful, you might fall in LOVE! Enjoy!

Pamela Love from The Milk Group on Vimeo.

More LOVE..

The Mammoth Talon Cuff $2950
Claws are carved out of 10-30,000 year old fossilized Siberian woolly mammoth tusk bark.
Hurry since it is limited to 14 pieces!

Moon Cuff $460
Antique Bronze or Silver


Shelley Cuff $600.00.
Bronze Patina, Brushed Silver over Bronze or 14k Gold over Bronze


Two Tone Spike Cuff $700
Sterling Silver & Brass


Five Point Star Bangle $425
Brass or Brass with Circle


Two Tone Stake Cuff $425
Sterling Silver with Bronze Spike or Bronze with Silver Spike


Single Spike Ring $253
Sterling Silver or Sterling Silver with Champagne Diamonds that is $3565 :)


Tree Finger Spike Ring $690
Bronze, Sterling Silver or Sterling Silver with Sapphires


Tribal Spike Necklace $225
Antique Silver, Antique Bronze


Crescent Moon Necklace $675
Antique Bronze or Antique Silver


Medium Tribal Spike Necklace with Quartz Crystals $750.
Antique Bronze or Antique Silver with Quartz Crystals.


She also created this limited edition purses collection for Revolve Clothing. The collection has a rocker chic flapper 1920′s vibe entirely made out of metal and cost $3000.

You can see more of her amazing pieces here or on Pamela Love's website

You can find Pamela Love at:
Jonathan+Olivia
49 Ossington Ave. Toronto, Ontario

** Please note that the prices may vary.. I got them from various different websites and some indicated different numbers.. but at least it will give you an idea of the price point! Her current prices goes from ninety to a couple thousand retail.

http://www.pamelalovenyc.com/

Move over cake boss!! :)

I made this Hot Wheels cake for a special boy's turning 6 years old. He was very happy and his reaction simply made my day! It was a double layer vanilla cake with delicious butter cream icing covered of fondant. All home made. This is my second time experimenting with fondant and I can't wait to start my third one! It's very time consuming but it is sooo much fun!

Here are some pictures of the making of my Hot Wheels cake!

My work table :)

Double Layer Vanilla Cake with Butter cream icing

Cake board covered with fondant

Shaping a car out of a cake

The birthday boy had blue eyes and light blond hair.

Happy Birthday 6th Henry!

Bregenzer Festspiele

The Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Festival) is on my bucket list!


My friend showed me this image last week and I was blown away! The Bregenz Festival is an Annual Summer Festival at Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. The festival have become famous for having the most incredible productions on a giant floating stage.. so far the largest open-air floating stage in the world. The stage is 25 meters away from the shore and have 7,000 seats!

This summer, the Bregenz Opera festival will present the Opera "Andre Chenier" by Italian musician Umberto Giordanorom from July 20 to August 21st 2011. Based on a real story, the Opera is about the French romantic poet Andre Chenier (1762 - 1794) living through the French Revolution. Who’s up for a field trip to Austria?

Check out these images from the festival past production.. Just amazing!!!

In 2009, the opera show was called Aida:

These giant feet are 15-meter high feet and shoe size 2,400!



Here’s the set for Puccini’s opera "Tosca" in 2008. A scene from the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace was filmed here:

In 2005-2006 there was "Il trovatore" by Giuseppe Verdi, he was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century:



West Side Story in 2003:



La bohème by Giacomo Puccini in 2001-2002:



I keep the best for last.. how amazing is this squeletor stage! It was used in 1999-2000 for
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, “A Masked Ball” :


www.bregenzerfestspiele.com

Cashmere/wool + hot + water = Fashion disaster!

Have you ever shrunk your cashmere scarf half the size or.. is your niece wearing your favorite wool sweater? This blog post is for you :)

This following post is dedicate to my good friend, Erica.

Erica had a romantic get away in Calgary/Banff and borrowed my cashmere scarf.. Before giving it back to me, she decided to wash it. Nice right..? The story could of end there with a happy ending but it doesn't. Erica accidentally put my cashmere scarf in the dryer and t's now half the size. Erica learned something that day.. Cashmere/wool + hot + water = Fashion disaster!

But.. did you know that there is hope for your favorite shrunken cashmere scarf or sweater.. Here is what you need:

You will need a few tick towels, hair conditioner or baby shampoo.

1) First you need to relax the fibers enough to allow for reshaping.. For this you need to soak your scarf/sweater in the sink/bathtub with warm water and about 1/3 cup of hair conditioner for at least 30 min. You can add 1/2 tablespoon of salt, this will help the color not to bleed. Then, try to reshape your scarf by pulling very gently while still in the water. Do that for an other 15 minutes. DON'T RINSE. Let the water drain.

2) ** For a sweater.. go to the next step. ** Hang the scarf on a padded hanger over the bathtub, so the water keeps dripping in the bathtub. The weight of the water will also help it stretch.

3) Remove the excess water and lay it flat on towels. You can roll your garment in a towel to get the excess water. Continue to pull on the sweater/scarf until it is almost dry. You can fold the sweater/scarf in half to make sure you are stretching it evenly. When it's almost dry, lightly ironed it, tell me if it worked and DO NOT EVER do that again !

Still a little crooked? Steam and iron your garment while stretch it. I swear it works!

I also know that professional dry-cleaner may be able to do something. They put it on a "blocking tool" and they stretch it for you..

Did you know that if you add 1 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washing, it will remove soap residue and it softens the fabric. Yep!

Use Woolite in the future!

Baby shower cake.. à la mode ♥

This next blog has absolutely nothing to do with fashion.. but it is about my other obsession.. cupcakes & cakes!

When I was younger, I would only finish my meal because I was told I would have dessert. I also have a recording from when I was 3 where my dad is asking me if I was excited to go fishing with him and I responded that yes, because I was going eat cake! My grand-mother said that the sweet tooth runs in the family since my great grand-father use to finish every meal with a teaspoon of sugar! Yes.. in my perfect world, we should start every meal with dessert :)

Because of this unconditional love for sweets, I have always enjoy baking. I have watch Cake Boss many times and I've always been curious about fondant but I never tried it. Because I LOVE what you can make with it.. I thought I would give it a try to create the perfect baby shower cake for my dear friend Joanne! I am now totally hooked on fondant and I can't wait to do more!

My cake got some much attention and I have gotten so many orders that I decided to share my cake with the world!

Here is my first personalized fondant cake.. It was a double chocolate chunk cake with buttercream icing!

Push Joanne, Push!! LOL

You can't really tell from this picture but I even added the highlight she has in her hair!

Joanne is a photographer..

and she wears converse running shoes :)

This is me, my good friend Joanne and her cake. She was very happy with my cake, it made people laugh and I love that! At the baby shower, we had this amazing photobooth service called Snapshot Photobooth and it was so much fun! It's available for rental in Toronto, they set up a backdrop, camera and guests can take pictures all night long! You should check it out http://www.snapshotphotobooth.com/