Weekender

Well.. first I went and bought some cool and silly stuff from a thrift store (or two) and a yardsale.
Got scotty dog and "Great Wall" handkerchiefs, a cool Brownie camera in damaged original box, some yarn, and...
I got a few aprons... Never can have too many of these. I am thinking of wearing one out soon.. Not just for collecting but a radical fashion trend on the upswing.. Two of these pups are actually sheer. Tell me what purpose could they possibly serve other than underscoring the wearers domestic and servile status? Oh, and that they would possibly look fetching with 3.5 inch pumps and nothing else but lipstick.

On to a much tamer subject...
Kool Kid's BooKs with a Kapital K!!.....
I won't be cutting up the 1907 Illustrated Shakespeare Stories, with the crazy color illustration of a mustachioed Romeo, who looks a bit closer to 30 than 16..
But the Chinese language textbook? and the super duper "Science for Here and Now"?
Even a "First Book Of Swimming"?
(Little Jimmy read it, jumped in the deep end and just started doing laps like a gold medalist!)
These are destined for all kinds of collage-y goodness.

I had to get going with a robot decoupaged box. Little bit of Renaissance mechanical drawing, tin toy robot photo,and kid illustration. The hardware is, well, hardware. A refreshing blast of the fast craft.
I am working on a Amy Butler Messenger bag, so it was nice to do a weekend "start to finish" project to tide me over..
Especially since I am trying not to live in piles of craft mess anymore.

3 days until my Soldered Jewery Class at Castles in the Air with Ulla. 13 days until my Fairy Tale ATC swap needs to be done..
Craft deadlines.. Gotta love em.

Paper Love

Here is the package I put together for the Bird Swap I just did. All these little goodies went to a very nice person in Savannah.
I have decouged a few wooden boxes lately and am having fun with it. I started thrifting old books a couple of months ago and one of them was an old Audonbon reference book for kids .. which was great for this project. It also gave me a chance to make another pom pom bird from some baby blue mohair, which I also thrifted.
This is what I got in the mail when I ordered from Hope at Paper Relics. Check her link on yesterdays post if you feel the need to get some for yourself. So many great bits and then that collage print.."Oh Dear."
These beauties are all from Amy Lowery at Posy Press..(link on yesterday's post as well).. she totally spoiled me. These goldfish are too beautiful and the accordion book is sewn, and covered in argyle print paper. Now I just have to find an idea that is good enough to go inside.

Lately I even dream paper dreams.

Glorious!

Wow.. Today has been so great.

I went to San Francisco and saw the fall fashion designer preview for my day job.
It is a cool little perk. All the runways at my fingertips. While "Fashion" astounds me in many ways.. I do find myself getting goose bumps and sketching madly for days after I see all those fashion show videos.

Next I went to the Surrealist Photo Exhibit at the SFMOMA . It was sublime. So inspirational. There were these boxes with images and minatures and.. and all these gorgeous silver gelatin prints. Words, even a thousand per picture, could never do justice to the exhibit. If you live nearby, hurry and see it. It is only up for one more week.

Plus there was a little room filled with tiny ink drawings by Paul Klee. He really makes me laugh. And he makes me want to draw!

Then I came home and my order came in from Hope, who has this lovely site:
Paper Relics. I found her on Flickr, fell madly in love with her witty art and
I bought "Oh Dear" and an Ephemera pack for myself for mother's day.
I will post pictures of it and the glorious items I got from Amy who does
Posy Press tomorrow..
But check her lovely blog and Etsy shop. Really nice woman who does fantastic stuff!

Then,as if that wasn't enough, on the machine was a message and I get to take a soldered jewelry class with
Ulla at Castles in the Air
.
I was on the waiting list and I got in.. ( happy dance inserted here.)

Oh yes, I am creativity heaven..

A yarn about sheep

Once in the land of pompoms ( tiddly pom),
A crafty Betty made a pink sheep. ( tiddly pom) Or three ( tiddly pom).
Why pink sheep? because the yarn was perfect for pom sheep.. (tiddly pom)
The sheep were a bit afraid, as pink is not one of your more sought after camoflauge colors.. and they appeared quite pudgy and delicious (although they were stringy through and through.) ( tiddly pom)

Luckily the English daisies were blooming.( tiddly pom)

They carefully made their way to the biggest patch, where they safely frolicked and romped to celebrate the warm spring weather.

(Tiddly pom)
(.. whith many apologies to a.a. milne and anyone who has written a halfway decent story.)

the greatest thing I ever made

This is my son Jacob.
He is 10 years old. He is funny, creative, smart and he takes his own path regardless of the consequenses.
He has style. Being his mom is a new adventure every day.

This is a vase he made in a ceramics class he took. I asked him what the assignment was.. He said.. "make a vase".

This is a project he put together out in the driveway using only his toys, a magnifying glass and the sun.
He called it, "Soldiers putting their heads together."

Same day... and this one is called, "Soldiers with something on their minds."
Last year, they illustrated idioms as a class project. I guess he is just expanding on that idea.
The ways he finds to express himself amaze and amuse me.
I love being his Mom.

Frankly Mr. Shankly..

Well, am I ever pooped.
I have this cool job. I am a visual merchandising manager for a big upscale department store. (I must not name names.)
That means on any given day, I can be using power tools, rewiring lighting at 16 feet in the air and deftly pinning garments that cost thousands of dollars so that they fit a manniquin like they were made only for that form.
There are quite a few elements of my job that are ( in their own way) glamorous. Often, however, it is like having the worlds largest laundry pile. And there is a certain "corporate element" to much of what I do.
I also drive an hour or more each way to do this occasionally glamorous job..
Often I am listening to NPR..
Often they are talking about global warming..
Often I am feeling guilty.

This week was very hard. Physically and mentally, pretty grueling. And tonight I am very tired. I wanted to open up an Etsy shop but I just can't. Maybe I can do it tomorrow, but not tonight.

I believe in craftivism. Remaking. Buying and selling locally. Independent designers/ crafters/ artists. Thrift stores. Sharing ideas. People who do and make and grow their own stuff.

I spent the driving time this week imagining making things for a living..
from my own house.
Living up to my own lofty ideals of what it might take to make the world a better place..

I wonder how big of a leap of faith that might take.

pin cushion or fashion accessory?

It is always so hard to find a wrist pincushion that is nice enough to go out to a five star restaurant or a fancy dress party.
I find that in my busy craft-a-day life style I need sewing accessories to match my many fashion moods and whims.
These pretty little charms will do the trick. Instead of nasty old elastic they are outfitted with the wrist bands from vintage watches. For sparkle and interest vintage buttons and felt botanical motifs have been applied. A few beaded pins and "Voila"
.. A sewing basket "classic" becomes a unique and "chic" fashion accessory.

Thanks for the Whiplash win..
Everyone who entered is so talented.. I am feeling very lucky to have been chosen!

Let's go Robo.

My saucy young nephew Emmett turned a major 5 years old. I decided, that if I made a doll for his sister, I should do something similar but more stereotypically "boy" for him. I was inspired by the stuffed robots I has seen here and there out in the craft blogs.. so I tried my hand at it. His birthday party was a space theme..so I felt it was delightfully appropo.
My robot ( dubbed Zip Uno Uno in his native language of Binary) is constructed of wool felt with cotton arms and legs.He was finished with random findings, stuffed up and now resides in the capable hands of his new robo master. Thanks to Jess Hutch and Hillary Lang for their inspiring work. My attempt is not as beautiful, but he sure was fun to make.

and with cheesy vibrato, please sing along with me now...
"Domo Arrigato Mr. Roboto."

uuuummm.. Cheesy.

Joan Of Arc Was Not Afraid

My Favorite Joan of Arc quote ( an some time personal mantra) is:
"I am not Afraid. I was born to do this."
Of course she probably said it in French and it likely sounds even cooler that way.
It is a killer quote. At the Bazaar Bizarre I sold a belt that had the words stamped onto it. I brought tears to the eyes of the woman who bought it. It sounded like she was mounting a battle all her own.
I bought a fantastic set of old children's reference books at the thrift store and was excited tosee there was a short section on my latest obsession..as I read, I experienced a bit of a time warp cultureshock.

This paragraph in particular was astounding to me:



I found it so surprising, I decided to make the T-shirt above.
I call the shirt "Joan Of Arc was So Hot."
The small blue patch is the paragraph from the book.
The purple is a portrait of Joan. The sleeves were recycled.
The flames at the bottom are lino block print and the yellow print says" Joan of Arc is so Hot."

And so she was.