Autumn - by Vivaldi - resketched by Emma Song Sketch

Image from here

 Vivaldi's Autumn by iamemma 

Wednesday is my Fall-themed podcast (hurrah!) and I thought it'd be fun to have an autumnal song in the lineup.  This is my sketchy take on a classic... 

What do you think?

Under Construction - Week Six Song Sketch

Here's a pic that was taken from a photo shoot during that time!  I miss that necklace...

 Hard To Get - Alternate by iamemma 

I am actually 100% finished with the album!  I'm at the wait and wait point - waiting on the album to finish getting mastered, waiting on the covers to be approved for licensing, waiting on iTunes to accept my album, etc., etc.  But that's all very exciting!  

I want to thank everyone who donated money to my album fund!  I actually overmet my goal of $300!  For those who never specified, please be sure to email me with whether you want a signed print by the cover artist or an exclusive original song!


This is another of the songs I recorded with Dan Garcia (who is doing the mastering on my Love Songs and Lullabies album!); you can hear the difference right off from the one on the album!  


Hope you are all doing wonderfully!  

I Love You So Much, I Can't Conceal It Song Sketches

I Love You So Much by iamemma

Sally recommended this song at the last moment on my post asking for 'love' songs and since I sing this to my son every night as a lullaby, I thought it would be the perfect conclusion to my Song Sketches from the month of love!

It's a pretty obscure standard written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby and I discovered it from an equally obscure film Three Little Words about the two songwriters (starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton). In fact the only version I can find of this song online is the clip from the film on YouTube!

If you would like a copy of this song for you, just let me know in a comment! If it's your first request, please leave your email address as well.

P.S. Feel free to follow me! I promise only ever to lead you to bright, sunny places!

Bollywood and Shakespeare! Guest Post from Nora Manca of Storefront Shakespeare

My name is Nora Manca, I am the Artistic Director of Storefront Shakespeare, a theater company near Chicago, IL. I am a big fan of Emma's and I was thrilled when she asked me to write a guest blog for her while she takes care of her new little one!

I am currently in the planning stages for a production of As You Like It, and we're making it Bollywood style!

I have always liked the Bollywood dance numbers I've seen, so big and elaborate with beautiful, rich colors and elegant dance moves.
This is one of my favorites, it is from the Bollywood film Devdas an amazing, epic, beautiful movie (you really must see it). Here Paro (Aishwarya Rai), sings about how eight years ago she lit a lamp for the boy she was in love with when he went away to school and how it has stayed lit since then, no matter what happened to it.

I am very lucky to be working with the team of Meetal Dave as choreographer and Tony Rifas-Mitchell as song writer, they have the tough job of taking moments from the play and turning them in to big song and dance numbers.

A good example of what they're working on is the film Bride and Prejudice, director Gurinder Chadha along with choreographer Saroj Khan and the music team Anu Malik and Craig Pruess took the classic Jane Austin story Pride and Prejudice and turned it into a Bollywoodesque film by placing it in modern India and adding fun and colorful Bollywood dance numbers. One of my favorites is one of the simplest ones, where it is just Lalita (Elizabeth in the book - played by Aishwarya Rai) and hers sister, who are teasing her because she seems to have won the affections of obnoxious Mr. Kholi (Mr. Collins in the book - played by Nitin Ganatra).

I'm very excited to find out what we will wind up creating. That is one of the great things about being a director, you get to have ideas like "I love Bollywood music videos... wouldn't As You Like It be great Bollywood style?" and then you tell your ideas to people "I want this type of music at this moment in the play to have this kind of feeling..." and then they go and make it happen and you get to see this really cool collaborative creation that came out of your idea.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little slice of Bollywood! Have a beautiful day!
P.S. Congratulations Emma on the birth of Peter Gerard!

Fashion and the Final Scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's Guest Post from Francy of Pixie Drive-In

The ever-fashionable and gorgeous Francy from Pixie Drive-In contributed this blog post. Thank you, Francy!

Every fashion magazine I read these days seems to promote longer, simpler lines, and camel shades. I find myself fascinated by this trend that goes beyond the shorter and/or more outrageous looks of the last few years. In thinking about how I could incorporate it in my own style this fall, I came to one conclusion: go Holly Golightly and wear a trench coat.

Despite the fact that I claim to groan over the ending to Breakfast at Tiffany's, I find Holly Golightly running toward Paul Varjack in the rain magical. Of course, it is romantic, and the happy ending I want for them, but there is also more to it. At this point, I feel Holly lets go of her facade and opens up to the vulnerability she previously resisted. Her choice of wearing a trench coat then seems so appropriate. Classic, yet adventurous, to me the trench coat signifies her embrace of a new outlook. After all, there is a reason why I always marvel at her beauty, despite being soaked, in this scene. For once, she does not hide behind her (still always fabulous) wardrobe. Rather, it’s coat, and bam! Ready for change.

Perhaps this is the purpose of the new trend. To discover a new point-of-view, and embark on new adventures where we stand out not because of what we wear, but because of who we are. If so, I say bring on the minimalism and neutrals! I always believe real personal style reflects the person more than the clothes, and but often, that sneaky “too much” takes over, and, like Holly, the real person becomes hidden.

However, while I will buy into this, I come with one condition. I refuse to give up color pops and quirky heels. After all, moving in another direction entirely makes me prone to the same identity loss as wearing “too much.” With these old essentials, I can happily throw on a trench coat, and hum a little “Moon River” as I initiate my new fashion year.

Bow Your Neck

Hello, this is Manja from Spilled Milk! The lovely and talented Emma gave me the chance to write a guest post for her blog and I was more than willing to do so! Isn't her little Peter the cutest?
After deciding not to continue with my old style blog, I started a new one recently which is mainly about food, photography and I also want to incorporate DIY projects in it. I think DIYs are awesome ways to create your own, individual accessories, decorations and many other things!

About two weeks back, I saw a necklace at H&M that I really loved. It was a huge bow necklace made of shiny black fabric. Since I coincidentally had some black fabric at home, I gave it a try and made my own.

This is what you'll need:
*A piece of fabric of your choice (16" by 9")
*A piece of fabrice of your choice (10" by 2")
*Two jump rings
* Some chain
*A small pair of pliers

This is the fabric I used. But you can use whatever one you like, of course!

First of all, you have to fold the bigger piece of fabric in half, so that the inside is turned out and pin the long side together.

Then, sew along the edge that you just secured with the pins.

Repeat these last steps on one of the short sides of the fabric and sew it together. Then, turn the fabric inside out, so that the shiny part of the fabric is on the outside and only one side is left open.

Fold in both edges of the open side and pin both layers of fabric together, just as in the previous steps. Sew together but try to stay as close to the edge of the fabric as possible .

Now, you will need the smaller piece of fabric.

First of all, you have to hem the seams of the shorter sides of the fabric, so that it will all look neat once you're done.

Once you are finished with that, fold in the lower and also the upper long sides of the fabric. Make sure that the shiny part of the fabric is still on the outside! Then, fold the piece of fabric again in the middle. This step can be a little bit tricky.

This is what it should look like. Now you need to pin the edges of the fabric together and sew them together. Once again, make sure to sew as close to the edge as possible!

This is, what we've got so far.

Gather the fabric of the larger piece in the middle. Then, drape the thin piece of fabric around the middle and secure it by tucking its end underneath the draping. Now you can either secure it by sewing it together by hand or by using glue. I picked the lazy alternative and glued it together.

Yay, the bow is finished!

Now, you need to poke one jump ring through the left peak (would you call it a bow 'peak'? I highly doubt that word exists) and also through the right peak of the bow and attach the chain to them before closing the jump rings using pliers. Before you attach the chain, you should decide how long you want the necklace to be. Just put the chain around your neck beforehand and hold the bow up to the ends to see how long the necklace will be in the end. I also decided not to use a clasp because I can just pull it over my tiny head.

And voilá - the finished product!

It is a really nice and easy DIY and I am contemplating whether I should make more big bow necklaces! Mh...how 'bout a polka dot one?