finally used painting supplies June 10, 2009

I’ve finally used some of my painting supplies! (Also, I’ve finally posted something new!) Recently I have gotten a piano, and have also been trying to learn how to play the guitar.  So… as can be seen, this focus on music has been translated to canvas.  More specifically, acrylic on canvas.  Eventually, I will list these two paintings, along with other items, on my etsy site that I have done absolutely nothing with so far. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With my next post, I will be asking for suggestions on how to organize my art area, and what to do for a headboard. I refuse to paint directly on the walls.  Sadly, I had to paint a neutral color over the walls of my last apartment.  At least there will always be pictures… 

sweater pillow January 26, 2009

Shrunken, out-of-style, ugly, or worn out sweaters ——> mittens, scarves, ear warmers, blankets, or pillows! 

one of the two sweaters i used. (for some reason, the other picture keeps disappearing!)

putting them together

 

from the end of the sleeve

Now I can keep my favorite blue top with me forever!

Your opinion… January 17, 2009

What do you think I should do with these little felt flowers?  I was thinking maybe making some sort of flower garland, or using them on sweaters, coats, or hats.  If I make more out of the wool felt instead of the regular craft felt, I would use them on some tote or all-day bags.  You tell me.

some of the felt flowers

sam’s sewing/fabric box January 1, 2009

It was super fun putting this present together for my 11 y.o. cousin.  My aunt says that sometimes she will stay in her room for a little bit and then come out with something that she has sewn together. Samantha even made me a little red pouch with a button closure, that is small enough to put my cell phone in.  She made my sister a mini pillow out of her old penguin pajamas because she knows my sis likes penguins.  For her webkinz, Samantha also made clothes!  Up until now, she has been cutting up her old clothes that don’t fit her.  While that’s been working fine, maybe those clothes could go to someone else, so I wanted to put a little kit together for her that includes a bunch of different fabrics for her to play with.

fabric pieces to experiement with

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These were all from the remnant bins from Jo-Anne Fabrics.  All discounted, of course, then I could get more.  When you get them from the bin, they have labels on them.  They are ugly, so I took them all off, and relabeled them.

the kit with everything

Kit contents:  watermelon pin cushion, thread, needles, pins, buttons, snaps, velcro, spools of ribbon

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Samantha was prettty excited about it.  Well, it’s either that or she is a good actress. I know I’d be excited,  but that’s just me.

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Here’s the video of her opening it: 

yes, here!!!

christmastown posters December 27, 2008

Donna’s roommie, Lauren, volunteered me to make posters for her and her co-workers’ cubicles.  Their theme was Christmastown, so they each had to decorate according to what their cube would represent in the town.  Lauren’s was a chocolate shop, and there was also a zoo and Christmas tree farm to decorate for.

Because I can be a tiny bit of a control freak when it comes to these types of projects, I really didn’t mind (actually I wanted to) do most of it myself, and gave the task of cutting out the letters to Donna and Lu. I think Donna only actually cut 3 letters.  =)

Here’s a pict of half the cutting team hard at work:

Lauren cutting out letters.

 

The final products:

All three

 Materials included foam poster boards, colored paper and felt, glitter, regular glue, and a hot glue gun.  Yay for hot glue guns!

 

Closer ups for detail:

Not just cutting paper… December 7, 2008

 

If we would have had more time, maybe we could have added some red! 

I haven’t had a chance to cut someone’s hair since the first and last time, when my sister, Donna wanted me to give her some bangs.  She said I cut them too short, but really they were fine.  She was looking at me cutting with her eyebrows up during the cut, so when I was done and she relaxed her forehead, the bangs ended up looking shorter than how I had cut them.  It was funny.  She was mad.

So besides giving myself bangs, Beth asking me to cut her hair was my next opportunity to play around with cutting hair.  Yay, again!

I knew this spray bottle would come in handy one day!

 

Where did she go?

 

after the cut and style

 

All done!

Help El Guepardo Loco, Kyle November 27, 2008

I’m starting to think that my friend, Kyle, has unlocked some way of slowing down time just for himself.  In addition to just finishing up his PhD, Kyle and his friend are also putting the finishing touches on a sci-fi book about how to defeat your clone.  You’ll see it on the bookstore shelves next year. 

I spoke with Kyle today, but instead of the regular weekly update, he surprised me with yet another opportunity for sprucing up his curriculum vitae.  By the time he has to use one again, they will think that half his claims are really lies. Then they will just google him and find out that indeed, he is a creative, intelligent and all around interesting person.

Although I had never seen one, there are some Dos Equis beer commercials out there. (Links from You Tube are below.)  These commercials feature “the most interesting man in the world,” and are fairly funny, depending on your preferred type of humor.  Well, Dos Equis decided that it would be a nice marketing ploy to take applications for an assistant to the most interesting man in the world, and incorporate him/her in new commercials.  Cool, huh? They got about 10,000 (ten thousand.  TEN THOUSAND!) applicants, and Kyle made it to the top 25!!!   Yes, that is the top quarter of a percent of all those people.  To get to the top ten, the 25 had to submit a video.  Fastforward some time, and yay!  Kyle made the top ten.

This is where you come in. All you need to do, every day until Dec. 7, is get on the Dos Equis website, and vote for Kyle.  They only allow one vote a day, so just do it.  Please. I’m making it as easy as possible for you.  There’s a link to the right.  It will ask you for your birthday to enter, and then take you right to the finalist page.  Click on El Guepardo Loco, and then click on vote! Simple!

 

To the people in California:  Vote for Kyle!!!  He is now a resident of your lovely state, and a UC Berkeley grad.

To the people in Michigan:  Vote for Kyle!!!   Born and raised a Michigan man.

To my family, all ten million cousins especially:  Vote for Kyle!!!  I’m asking nicely!

To any SHS people:  Vote for Kyle!!!  Then when you see him in the commercials, you can say, “I know that guy!”

To every other lovely person:  Vote for Kyle!!!  You obviously took the time to read this, so why not spend a measly 30 seconds every day until Dec. 7th, and see the results of your hard work… on the television!  How cool would that be?

 

 

EXTRA LINKS…

Most interesting man commercial intro

Most interesting man on mixed nuts

Kyle’s Video Testimonial

 

Hopefully you have been sufficiently persuaded to participate in getting El Guepardo Loco a spot on the telly.  So what are you waiting for?  Clink on the link to the right already!

 

Thanks, and have a nice day!

coasters November 16, 2008

The fabric remnant baskets at Jo-Anne’s are super places to find fabric at a cheaper price, especially if you’d like to experiment with some different kinds.  Some of what I’ve found include: pleather, wool felt (kind of expensive to get at full price), and thin clear vinyl (great to turn your parking sticker into a transferable window cling.)

Around third grade, it was the thing to make friendship bracelets from embroidery floss. Do you remember doing anything else with the embroidery floss?  I don’t.  Recently, I wanted to use it to make a design on a pillow I made, which I did, and also to try it out on the pleather and make some simple coasters.

When I make more of these coasters, I will not be sewing the edges at all.  Hopefully I will have some pinking sheers by then, and they will just have zigzag edges.

all different!

with one of my mugs!

Earliest art memories started with dad… November 9, 2008

I remember sitting down with dad in the living room of the apartment on Bembridge. While sitting on the comfy maroon couch, he would take one of the blank pieces of paper and whatever drawing utensil I was using, and become very focused and say, “I am going to draw something, and then you guess what it is.” Like every drawing he did before, he’d slowly sketch out the profile of a person.  With a pointy, slightly upturned nose, you wouldn’t know if it was a girl or boy until he got to drawing the hair. Upon completion, he would smile and say, “Oh, see?  It’s finished,” and declare the sex of the drawing, like he had just delivered a baby.  I remember these drawing sessions vividly, and just last week these memories were revisited when I came home to one of these pictures.  Dad had been showing my little cousins how to draw, and in green marker was one of these profiles.  I think it really had been at least ten years since last seeing one of these, and it made me smile.  I wished I would have been there to see the whole event through different eyes - eyes of an outsider who experienced the same small effort to share such a small joy.

halloween ‘08 November 2, 2008

For the second year, I wore my homemade katamari costume. Yay!  You know what would be awesome?  If Halloween came twice a year, just so I could wear it again soon!  When I had to run over to Trader Joe’s, the guy at the register said that he had to resist the urge to hum the theme song! So then I did it for him.  =)

For those of you unfortunate people who have not had the opportunity to be aquainted (for hours and hours) with any of the katamari video games, check these out:

 

the official katamari site

wikipedia’s description of katamari

japanese katamari commercial

video game clip

 

 

 

The entire exterior of the costume is made of felt.  The body part is jumper style with velcro in the back and a long sleeve shirt underneath.  The head’s shape is kept as a cylinder with the help of two wire hangers, poster board, and poly-fil.

 

Just a few more picts, only people with costumes on!

 

                      

 

 

  

Until next time!