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Is it the elegant, long necks? The spots? Those funny knobby stalks on the tops of their heads? I don't know exactly what it is that makes me love them so, but Joyce Hesselberth has captured it perfectly in this lovely print available from Spur. Thanks Bloesem Kids for the link.
I'm feeling pretty darn grumpy right now. I've been sitting at my desk since 6 am with just a couple of quick breaks for meals and reading a chapter with Jo - and I've only finished half of my to-do list for the day. It snowed all day long (again) and now the wnd is howling around the house (again). We had above-freezing temperatures and sunny skies over the weekend and it was soooo nice - now we're right back in the thick of winter again. Sigh.
I decided to give myself a bunch of virtual balloons - and share them with anyone else out there who needs a lift. That one up there? It's one of my favorite new prints from Helen Dardik. I've had this in my Etsy Favorites since she released it and I'll be buying it for Jo for her birthday later this year. Isn't it great?
I just finished the last of the amazingly good sea salt caramels my sister gave me for Christmas. So, so good! I don't really like chocolate - but I feel about caramel the way most people feel about chocolate - there's no such thing as enough. I wasn't much of a snob about it - until I tried these. Now there's no going back to those hard little squares. These are chewy - but softly chewy. The flavor is amazing - and perfectly accented with little crystalline bursts of salt. I'm drooling on the keyboard right now. *taking a deep breath to collect myself*
But now they're gone - all gone. I've been working on losing weight so I limited myself to just one a day - and that only on days when I didn't eat any other dessert. It turns out that was the best way to savor them. Each caramel was three delicious bites - not to be eaten while watching TV or reading a book. Oh no - I ate these when I could devote 100% of my attention to the deliciousness. Sigh. So good. . .
Hollywood Greg Bunch sends us this fantastic link to Picture Book Report, wherein fifteen illustrators take their favorite books and "create wonderful pieces of art in response to the text that has moved them, shaped them, or excited them." Not all of the books are children's books, but many of them are. Among my favorite interpretations:
A Wrinkle in Time
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hobbit
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Fantastic stuff! Where can we buy prints, ladies and gentlemen?
Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and too many other great things to list here, coyly let slip that he had penned a Doctor Who episode, which will air not this season, but next season, sometime in early 2011. Said @neilhimself:
"As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that I started watching -- from behind the sofa -- when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called 'The House of Nothing.' But it definitely isn’t called that any more.
Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months."
As we're fond of saying around here lately, "Oh, my giddy aunt!" We can't wait!
And has anyone else wondered if the bow tie Matt Smith is wearing as the new Doctor is more than just an homage to the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton? Personally, I'd love to see a fair bit of the Second Doctor channeled into this new incarnation...
From my own shop I'm nominating my Blockheads pattern. I just love the Blockheads - they're beanbags, handwarmers, dolls, sachets. They're awesome - if I do say so myself. Jo has had hers for years and she still plays with them often.
I added some broken-up cinnamon stick to the rice in the red guy, and a few drops of orange essential oil to the yellow guy. Yum!
This guy is one of my favorites. I added some peppercorns to the rice filler so he smells angry. :-)
From another maker I'm nominating all the rubber stamp sets made by Chupchik. They are simply wonderful. Like the Little Girl set. . .
These are all kinds of awesome: Barbie has a Bond Girl line, under their "Black Label" brand. Now that's some fan service! I'm not sure they made Jinx (Halle Berry from Die Another Day, right) quite as...ample...as she is in a couple of places, but the Honey Rider (Ursula Andress from Dr. No, middle) is pretty great. The best of the bunch though is Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman from Goldfinger, left), which really captures her attitude and flair.
Plus, honestly: a Barbie named Pussy Galore? I don't have the words.
From my own shop I'm nominating my Enough is as Good as a Feast print. This was such a joy to stitch and the original hands in my workroom as a daily reminder.
From another shop I'm nominating this Barefoot in the Sunshine print from Freya Art. I already talked about it here and it really has been a sort of mantra for me so far this year. It makes me smile every time I see it.
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From my own shop - Shiny Happy Bunnies - made entirely from repurposed fabrics. I've been working on a whole stack of these guys to stock my shop up for Easter and embroidering all those smiling faces has been FUN!
From another artist - I nominated the cupcake pincushions from Betz White. They're not new - she's been making them for a while now - but they are dang cute and I love them.
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I think event #2 of the Handmade Olympics will be my favorite - Favorite Handmade Goodie for Kids. From my own work I'm nominating my dolls - but I'm not sure if I nominate just one or the whole category. If it's just one I've got it narrowed down to Abigail Darcy. . .
I love Abigail Darcy's generally sunny look. I love her eyes and her smile and her pigtails. I love the vintage trim on her skirt (it came from Alan's Granny) and I love the bright orange ribbed fabric I used for her boots - an old set of curtains I found at Goodwill.
But I love Lucy Emma too - especially her green hair and the fact that I accidentally placed those buns a little higher on her head than I usually do - and love the way it turned out.
Decisions, decisions. The decision on what to nominate from another designer was super-easy. Herzensart Vikings! Every single one of them is amazing.
I love the foked beard on this guy. And that battleaxe? It's a RATTLE!
And how about the flask hanging from this guy's belt?
Have you heard about the Handmade Olympics yet? It's a fun and fabulous idea from The Rikrak Studio. There are competitions in 8 categories. In each category readers can nominate one thing made by themselves and one thing made by someone else. Judges narrow the nominees down to ten and then readers vote on the winners. Fun, no? So, after careful consideration, I made my nominations for the first category - Our Favorite Handmade Goodie with an Innovative Design.
From my own work I nominated my Triangle Toys. I made the first of these ages ago and I'm still really proud of the design. I wanted to make a baby toy that was really simple - with a super-clean design. In this case, all the animals are the same triangle-based pyramid shape - you can tell what kind of animal it is by the color and by a couple of very simple details.
My favorite is this dinosaur. Jo immediately saw it as a dragon, so I made one for her in magenta velvet with back ridges in raspberry tissue lame. Ooh la la! These are pretty time-consuming so I don't make them often, but I have one set in my shop right now. I also sell a pattern for DIY folks who want to make their own.
From one of my favorite Etsy shops (KraKra) I nominated Miss Gertie Porket - this absolutely adorable little pig. I love that she is made to play with. And the design is so clever - just the kind of thing kids love. See that cute coat with the handmade (!) buttons?
Turn it around and it's a pretty flowered dress! And she doesn't skimp on the details. Even without her clothes, little Gertie is pretty fancy.
Have you all heard about Craft Hope for Haiti? It's an Etsy shop. Crafters donate handmade items, folks buy the items, and every penny goes to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. In their first two days online they raised over $7000. $7000!!!!! That's a lot of dollars! I donated this Shiny Happy Bunny and he sold before I even realized he was listed.
But there are still lots of fabulous things available over there. Like this Man Cowl
Surfing around looking for information about Japanese ghosts and monsters, I stumbled onto a fantastic site called The Obakemono Project, an ambitious attempt at cataloging all the macabre and fascinating yokai (monsters, ghosts, and demons).
Along with the descriptions of many of the creatures are some fantastic illustrations by artist Susan H. Morgan. Above, the Yuki-onna, "the spirit of the snow itself."
The Hari-Onago, or "Hook Hair Woman"
The Ippon-datara, or "One-legged Blacksmith"
There are even more goodies at her portfolio web site, Drunken Tengu, though not always cataloged yokai (and not always Japanese):
The Shaggy Tyrant
Sun Wukong
Give both sites a look! They're well worth your time, particularly the Obakemono Project if you've never had a glimpse into Japan's rich--an
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Many thanks to the always fabulous Bookshelves of Doom for pointing me toward Curious Pages - a wonderful blog full of highly inappropriate - but highly recommended - books for kids. Kudos for using art from Der Struwwelpeter in the header. I first encountered Der Struwwelpeter when I lived in Germany for a year studying children's literature. It's a truly horrifying book that teaches valuable lessons to children. Lessons like - don't play with matches or you'll catch on fire, run screaming (and engulfed in flames) from the house, and die. Or don't suck your thumb or a creepy long-legged man with a giant pair of scissors will come into your house and cut them both off and you'll be left crying with bleeding stumps. Good stuff. But this blog doesn't just stick to old books with outdated ideas of how - and what - to teach kids. There are lots of modern titles in there too, including some of my all-time favorites. Give it a look! And prepare to stay a while. . .
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Well - we spent most of our break (it felt like) battling Mother Nature. We spent seven hours sitting at a dead stop on the interstate in an icy snow storm, lost our power twice, ran out of propane once, and had our pipes freeze once. And you know what? It was a lovely break. We had friends visit so even when the house was cold, it was clean (sadly, a rare treat for us), and we spent many happy hours together cooking, gaming, reading, Lego-building, watching new DVDs, and getting ready to hit the ground running in the new year. I have new year's resolutions, but I'm not going to list them all here. I don't need to, because the important ones are already summed up in this lovely image from Freya Art. Words to live by. Happy 2010 everyone!
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Mimi Kirchner is one of my favorite dollmakers - and she also makes the most fabulous pincushions I've ever seen. Like this Fantasy Island Pincushion. She calls them Tiny World Pincushions. Isn't that perfect?
And look! She sells a pattern too! Just added to my wish list. Now I need to find the perfect tea cup. . .
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She designed these super-cute holiday gift labels and she's giving away the download! Zip on over to her blog, download the labels, then print as many as you need. Nice, no?
While you're enjoying her terrific work, take a peek in her shop. She's got some fabulous prints in there. Mary Had a Little Unicorn is my favorite.
I don't usually go for unicorns, but this one covered with apples makes me smile every time I see it.
Via friend and fellow Nemo fan Greg Bunch comes this link to a terrific gallery of Life Magazine images from the underwater set of Disney's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, shot on location in the Bahamas in 1954. The captions are great too: this one explains the challenges the Disney prop crew had in creating scuba suits that looked Victorian but actually worked. And check out the pictures of the prop guys releasing exotic fish bought from local fish markets, just so they would swim by on camera!
I just discovered this swell art from "Slinkachu." He sets up little installations (and I mean tiny!) of hand-painted people, photographs them, and then leaves them there to fend for themselves. Wouldn't it be awesome to stumble upon something like that? You'd really have to keep your eyes peeled, though. Here's one called High Life.
By: Alan Gratz,
on 3/23/2010
