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A falling star last night sparked this piece. I look to nature many times when trying to find inspiration.

Micron Pigma Brush pen black
Graphite pencil Papermate Sharpwriter #2
Micron 05 pen black

Kirkus gave Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? a star, and called my watercolors "broad"! I'm Sirius!

The cover

The star

Last year I picked up a couple of vintage dresses that needed some serious altering before I could wear them.  Recently I decided to take a break from fall sewing to make the necessary changes; I don’t buy vintage to simply admire or learn from them but to actually use them and these were hanging in the to-do section of my closet for too long!   They are somewhat delicate but I don’t mind, I’ll wear clothes until they fall apart (much to my mom’s chagrin).

One of the frocks mentioned I’ll share with you here.  Post-alterations it’s now my favorite vintage dress!  Once a 1930s floor-length gown it’s now a saucy, ethereal thing.   It has its original hem; I just moved the whole skirt up to preserve the ruffle whilst moving up the waistline too.  The waist before was more fitted (with a side snap closure) but now I can just slip it over my head. (Yay.)  Lately I’ve been making or altering dresses/skirts to make them hit above my knees–a more flattering length for me–but I didn’t want this to be too short.   Since the dress is sheer, my solution was to wear a slip underneath that was quite a bit shorter.  And don’t you love the capelet?  That tie!

Oh, yes, I added some thread belt loops so I can wear a ribbon when it suits my fancy.  (I just read on Coletterie a great post about how to make such belt loops by machine although I make mine by hand.)

I love the look of winter white or cream during the cooler months.  There is almost celebratory about it, especially when contrasted with dark or jewel tones.  (The starry stockings, by the way, are J.Crew tights from the girls’ section that I refashioned.  I no longer have a garter belt and for now they are staying up by sheer willpower.)

It’s billed as “The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told…The Prequel!” and it shows that when you have access to ALL the Lego sets, you can make a pretty bitchin’ Lego toon .

May 4th is celebrated around the galaxy as Star Wars Day not because it’s when the original STAR WARS opened (that would be May 25, 1977) but because it’s a pun on “May the Fourth Be With You.” It is celebrated by gradually replacing humans with droids and disappointing expectations.

Lucasfilms got in on the celebration by revealing details of the STAR WARS 9-disc Blu-ray release, which was announced today on starwars.com (Site is loading slowly.) According to Rob Bricken, this massive set STILL won’t include the ORIGINAL trilogies — you know the badass ’70s one where Han shot first and all? We can’t believe we passed up buying the original video tapes thinking “Those will never go away!”

A note on the above Lego film: notice how fast AOTC gets recapped? That’s because there was no story!

We are remiss in not mentioning that Irvin Kershner, (above left) director of The Empire Strikes Back, died over the weekend. Kersh, as he was known, was the last person ever known to argue with George Lucas, as when the director decreed that Harrison Ford’s ad libbed “I know,” was a better line than “I love you, too.” Although Kershner was hailed for years as the man who made Star Wars the epic legend it was to become, he only only directed a bare handful of films afterwards–the Frank Miller-penned RoboCop 2, and Never Say Never Again. 57 when he made Empire, he settled into a long, comfortable old age after directing the movie that helped make nerd-dom the force it was to become.

While perusing obits, we came across this quote:

“When I finally accepted the assignment, I knew that it was going to be a dark film, with more depth to the characters than in the first film,” he said. “It took a few years for the critics to catch up with the film and to see it as a fairy tale rather than a comic book.”

which shows a bit how times have changed. Would any director now dare use the “comic book” term as one of castigation? If anything, “fairy tale” would be more negative.

Bonus interview link — it’s nice that Kershner lived to enjoy the 30th anniversary celebrations for his masterwork.

To offer you a quick look at the greeting card designs that were delivered just yesterday (woohoo!), I’m posting a few pages from my catalog, so you can see the kind of stuff I’ve been up to! I’m currently working on a new design for this site, complete with an online store, so soon you will be able to see all the designs in living color! Click the images below to see them larger. Note: the colors won’t be quite as neon in print. Enjoy!

Color visuals line - 1

Cartoons - 1

Sprout line - 1

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1. Do you know what is the most beautiful thing in my eyes… the reflection of yours.
2. NEVER say NEVER, but say that you love me FOREVER and EVER.
3. I hope you think of me each night before you fall asleep.
4. My heart beats to the rhythm of our love.
5. Love is what I feel when I see you beside me.
6. If you were ice cream, I would melt you with the heat of my love.
7. When you gaze at the stars remember me, for in each one is a kiss for thee.
8. I would ride a rocket to the stars, to be with you when you are far.
9. I was looking for an angel, but I suddenly stopped when you flew into my life.
10. If heaven is full of angels like you, I would ride an air balloon to meet you.

1. Do you know what is the most beautiful thing in my eyes… the reflection of yours.
2. NEVER say NEVER, but say that you love me FOREVER and EVER.
3. I hope you think of me each night before you fall asleep.
4. My heart beats to the rhythm of our love.
5. Love is what I feel when I see you beside me.
6. If you were ice cream, I would melt you with the heat of my love.
7. When you gaze at the stars remember me, for in each one is a kiss for thee.
8. I would ride a rocket to the stars, to be with you when you are far.
9. I was looking for an angel, but I suddenly stopped when you flew into my life.
10. If heaven is full of angels like you, I would ride an air balloon to meet you.

Here's the finished painting. The words were added in Photoshop. I'll let this one sit for a bit and decide if it is truly finished. Maybe I'll be bold and add the type to the actual painting.

It's been a while since I put together a new zombie shirt (because I've been so busy) so I started on another design last night. I haven't even finished drawing it yet, but if you can guess what it is, I'll give you a gold star. (Which will actually just be me typing the words "GOLD STAR" in the comments...I know that's a bit of a let down).

Here's a hint: B.A.

Oh, and I've also (very slowly) been moving some of my designs over to zazzle as well, but that's taking a long time (you know, because of the whole "busy" thing again) I've included a link to the zazzle stuff in the sidebar.


make custom gifts at Zazzle

Steve!

In outer space, no one can hear the corn scream!... Or for that matter, grow really big. I did this for the Department of Agriculture in DC some years ago. And I always thought they were stiff and very dry. They seemed to really like the humor.

From about 10 years ago. THese were for several magazines. Too far back to remember which ones... Read the rest of this post

Emotion: The Science of Sentiment by Dylan Evans is an exploration of the questions that surround the most basic of human instincts, emotion. In the excerpt below we are introduced to the idea that emotion (yes even that time you cried at the Hallmark commercial) is essential to human survival.

If you ever watched Star Trek, you’ll remember Spock, the pointy-eared alien. Spock was half human and half Vulcan - a species of alien that, by some quirk of fate, happened to look remarkably human in all respects other than those tell-tale ears. (more…)

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