Trunk Show-down!

Today we are honored to have the Daddy-o of cools-ville, Maxwell Truth as our guest blog-star. The Off Beat Cinema host said, "I can dig it!" and graciously took time out of his tremendously busy hipster life to judge a beachy keen competition we here at 1226 Designs put on.

The competition was to pit three iconic male images; Ken, Mjr. Matt Mason and G.I. Joe, against one another in a swimming trunk competition. The trunk show-downs winner was decided upon rather quickly by our beachy keen beatnik bud. The following is the official Maxwell Truth statement sent to 1226 Designs HQ:

"Well first of all Ken was a skinny 'lil dweeb with no genitalia who claimed to dig Barbie, but she had no nips!!! I suspect he was more fond of Todd.

Major Matt Mason was a spaceman for cryin' out loud. Spacemen do not wear swim trunks! They eat freeze dried food, drink Tang, wear cool helmets and pee in their space suits.

I think it goes without ... saying that GI Joe would undoubtedly be the best swimsuit model of the bunch. In fact, maybe that's why Barbie dumped Ken for him. Or was it his kung-fu grip"???

There you have it....this year's BEACHY KEEN SWIMMING TRUNK COMPETITION WINNER, as per Maxwell Truth, is G.I. Joe! Better luck next year Ken (Johnny West says he wants in, in 2011...but let's face it, he'll chaff those gams without his dungarees and chaps)!

For winning the first annual Swimming Trunk Competition, G.I. Joe will receive a handy bottle opener designed by 1226 Designs. It's made with Lake Erie beach glass...it's authentic, hand made and beachy keen!!!!!!!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/47609088/bottle-opener

From Swim Caps To Nite Caps

Okay, fellow bathing beauties...why is it that we are not all donning this apparel? I mean,
the day to night, night to day thing happens so quickly during the dog days of summer. No fuss, no muss, wash 'n wear, dip 'n do do's are essential. Women of yesteryear knew the drill. The photo above is of my Aunt Lil...sporting that swim cap like no one's business (circa mid 40's).They went from swim caps to nite caps, seamlessly! I'm seriously considering the cute cap! I'd rather have a garden of rubber daisies growing on my head than the gray roots that are blooming now....

For more daring swim caps darned with,darling, daises...check out headcover.com
http://www.headcovers.com/swim-caps
This vintage ad was found on the French Factrice a lovely blog I'm sure you'll adore.
http://www.cpaphilblog.com

Beachy Keen Outfits.

My advice to you today, is dig through your old photos. Inspiration awaits.
I had the most enjoyable day yesterday. It was spent with my mother. We blasted the music of Ronan Tynan and Luciano Pavarati throughout the house (and probably the neighborhood) while digging through baskets, bins and albums of old pictures. I came across this little gem. I love it so much! It's my grandmother (my Mom's mom). As sun sensitive as she was she still managed to be super fashionable on the beach! This one piece,breezy ensemble was very popular in the late 30's. They referred to them as beach pajama's!!!! How stinkin' cute is that? I want beach pajama's! I'm bringing them back in vogue!!!

The other thing that just kills me about this pic is the fact that Gram is wearing heels. Check her out! I'm calling them beach slippers....I mean, it's a no brain-er! Perhaps some clever young up and coming designer will come across my blog, see this pic and get inspired. If so, all I ask is for is the first pair. Actually, after I publish this post, I'm going to dig through my closet to find the most darling dressy pj's I own, I'm putting on said re-purpossed sleepwear, and I'm heading down to the beach. Beach glass collecting is calling, and to do it in pj's...? Sweet joy, dreams do come true!

If re-purposed sleepwear isn't your thing, try modcloth.com, they have the cutest retro inspired swim wear, anthropology has some darling poolside numbers too. Either way, it's all beachy keen!

A Lesson in Funky Shards

You have an outdoor bridal shower to attend, a bff's college graduation,and a super hot date with an extra beefy cutie..forget your feet! What in the world are you going to wear on those lobes? Not the usual, puleeeze! For breezy guaze, soft summery denim or a sexy shift, these darling danglers are the perfect accessory! I found a wonderful site, The Shabby Apple,they have swimsuits that would make you look like Grace Kelly in "To Catch A Thief" Beach royalty I say! A retro inspired swimsuit...and a pair of beachy keen earrings? You'll be the queen of the sand castle!!!! http://www.etsy.com/listing/50013263/darling-danglers

Everything looks prettier with a "neck-glass"

OH Joy! Our very first etsy sale! My dear pal Rose snagged a "neck-glass" a few months ago, before our shop was "open"! (We had a lil trunk show & Rosie got first dibs)! This time around another great gal and super hottie took the lead and snagged one of our most fav "neck-glasses". The world will be a prettier place when every women is donning a "neck-glass".

Beachy Keen Chairs

I adore vintage metal beach chairs!Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. I remember years ago the front lawn of our cottage was lined with red ones. They were funky, sturdy and made a certain noise when you sat down. Or maybe that noise was the YELP I made upon sitting! Those dang things got stinkin' hot!! Even though two massive trees created a shaded canopy above, somehow a few threads of the suns rays would make their way through the leaves, resulting in a lasting impression on any unassuming back end when they would plop down! Ummm, metal chairs & the hot sun equals third degree burns for sure. Why do I comb antique stores, garage sales and estate sales for one of these torturous cathedras? Why, beautiful memories of course! Listen, a little scorch isn't going to ruin a person for life! These beauties are icons of my families past, symbols of our beachy homestead present. We love them so much we had to include one on our logo. I am on a mission to have a yard full of them, just like our cottage. Once accomplished, I will courageously sit on scalding hot metal, with cold beverage in hand reliving some of my favorite moments from childhood. (I can picture my Dad, Aunts and Uncles discussing everything casually and wondering what the rest of the world was doing as they sat overlooking paradise). For that, I'd take that risk....actually, I'll probably buy darling little cushions, my pain threshold has reduced drastically since I've gotten a tad older. Cheers to the beachy keen chair!

Shard Cards

So while collecting chunky wonderful shards of beach glass we always come across these teeny tiny little nuggety nuggets that we put aside for future use. We love the little darlings as much as the chunky nuggets used for our super fun, totally stylin’ home accessories, and jewelry. We also love to design hand made, one-of-a-kind all occasion cards. We use high-quality, watercolor paper, deeply saturated colors and simple graphic imagery. They are like little pieces of art. The inside of the note card is really cool. I crumbled, flattened out and scanned an old piece of notebook paper, I love notebook paper. It conjures up memories of those days when you passed notes in school and considered them to be the smartest, funniest, most clever works of literature ever written. The juxtaposition of the sophisticated graphic on the front and the elementary design on the inside signals to the receiver that the giver put tremendous thought into the little token. To make them even more special, one day a teeny shard fell on a darling little card. That's when the idea struck. Tiny shards, darling cards....SHARD CARDS were born. They are perfect for when you want to send a big smile to
your gal-pal, well wishes to your neighbor, or a sweet dreams to your sweetie. We have 5 designs presently. We just completed 18 more, they will be available very soon. Shard Card, you have to admit...that's stinkin' clever!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/48739318/shard-note-card

Come Shard With Us!

We are working on the cutest, most original authentic beach glass accessory....we can't say just yet what what these marvelous examples of fashion meets function are, but let me tell you....they will make any dinner party beachy keen! In the throws of wiring, beading, stringing and designing, my pardner in crime spilled the beach glass beans all over the floor. Giggling ensued. Lots of giggling followed by crawling on the floor and under a table. Finally accepting the fact that one small shard disappeared in that other dimension reserved for missing socks and ex-spouses, we resumed play and poured a sip! Check out our etsy shop to see these chunky pieces of delight, they should be up tomorrow! http://www.etsy.com/listing/49744452/tablecloth-weights

I think I Shard Myself

To blog or not to blog, that is the question? Apparently, we baby blogger's have jumped headfirst into the blogosphere. While sorting through our inventory of fabulous nuggety nuggety shards we've realized we want wineeeeee!!!!! Hellooooo nugget are you a perfect match for that dangly set of earrings, I think YESS. Come visit us at our etsy shop, 1226designs.etsy.com. Give us some feedback, tell us how much you love our items, and how great we are. We want you to shard yourself too.http://www.etsy.com/listing/47258068/earrings