Lace Jelly Fish ...Would you like a tutorial?

I made these litte snippets for a really lovely project that is being made by a very creative person that I discovered because she left me a comment. I think I failed to reach out to her earlier, but from the moment i followed her profile to her beautiful blog...I not only was fascinated by her project, I actually wanted to be her.

Shelley Noble is making a movie. A beautiful looking, intensely rich picture poem and it is going to move. Like it is alive. It's called Halfland and and it has captured my imagination entirely.

Happily, Shelley was looking for contributors for her underwater scene.. So in a very small way I did get to play at being her. The detailed puppeteer without strings.

I'll be mailing these to her as soon as I get back from careening across states with my wild teenage artist. We will be leaving guerrilla art souvenirs and sampling as many kinds of pies as we can find. Documenting our progress in polaroid and fisheye lomo along the way.


But should these be a tutorial? Does everyone need some fancy tiny jelly fish and a few less doilies?

Made It Myself Monday: An Actual Actor

What can I say?
He worked hard. He paced it well, stayed in character, hit his marks. Perfectly.

And he can sing.
(Who knew?)


Two thumbs way up for my kid as Rolf in the Sound of Music.

And a huge recommendation to anyone who wonders if they should push their kid out of their comfort zone and into theater.
Do it and sit back and let them amaze you.

Fashion Friday: The Western Mermaid Shirt Goes To San Francisco!

Hi Gang..
Well, the crafty Mojo kicked in to high gear pretty much as soon as I posted (eek...) 2 weeks ago! and I have a lot of stuff to share... Must have been all those nice comments!
I appreciate you all so much.

Today, I start with Aquarium pictures and the second shirt of the Western Shirt Series:

The Mermaid shirt.

( click on photo to enlarge for detail)

Arty anemone photo for fun...

This is the same pattern as before but I used Heather Ross's Mendocino collection for the main panels. I don't remember the other fabrics name, but I like how the dark fabric framed the Underwater Sisters pattern.

that is a lot of water!

the strangely cute spiny lumpfish

We took the pictures on a family field trip to the New Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park.
I had been there on a field trip I had just taken with Sonya and her lovely youngster (Want to see pics?) , and was excited to go back with my big kid. He really enjoyed it.

The building is wonderful and organic, with a living roof.

We are also working on a fun Photo Scavenger Hunt for Great Buildings in San Francisco.
We got a deck of cards and we are trying to get a photo of Jacob with each building.

This is the Phelps House.
This is going to be a really fun project.

Handmade Holidays: The DUDE CRAFT edition.

Hey, Hey, Ho Ho...

If you are related to me: please read no further, as this post contains

Holiday Gift Spoilers of an epic variety!

Please come back at a later date and enjoy the post... But for today: avert your eyes!

I have always encouraged Jacob to make his own gifts.In the past we have made tons of really delicious fudge and cute sock dogs and other fine items... But this year I think we are really on to something cool.

Last year Jacob came up with a fun slogan, and using some clip art and computer technology he put together his first T-shirt design.

I taught him to silk screen and voila...

A Handmade Holiday gift perfect for all his

Art School alumni, sci-fi nerdy, aunts uncles and grandpas.

The Soylent Green Ad T-shirt.

It was great watching him debate placement, color combos and the way the positive or negative on the colors changed the design. In his design process he was very clear and specific, combining two graphics and selecting his fonts.

I guess you can tell I am proud.

Now, I just need to get him his own Etsy Shop!

Next Dude Craft: Felt bead necklaces for 3 very feminine preschool cousins, and then something for the grandma's...