Crochet Butterflies

Are you kidding? These are SO cool. I love them! From oeuf, these are hand crocheted alpaca butterflies you can buy in the display case. First off, I absolutely love old timey butterfly displays. I have a little one myself. These products are made by indigenous women in Bolivia, and the profits help these women give their children an education. I think these butterflies are genious and lovely. I'm going to save up for the big one!

Bruce Campbell Doll

HeyHey! This is a pretty cool Bruce Campbell Doll. Its from the movie My Name is Bruce. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I love BC so I'm sure it will have its merits. I think the doll is super funny with all the accessories. And who doesn't want a Bruce Campbell Doll?

Hearts

I recently made these two plush hearts for play props. The first one I made was a prototype, a little too big, and pink. But the second one was red and turned out really well.

Branson Thrift Finds

Recently, I went to Branson, MO for New Years Eve. Besides having an amazing Karaoke night, we did some thrifting. There's a million thrift stores there full of super awesome finds for REAlly cheap! Here are some cool things:

Beautiful bird paintings

I got this perfect corduroy Jacket for 2$, a JCPenney original. Look at the sweet label and lining.

It fits perfectly, because I'm pretty small, and jacket sizes back then were for a smaller lady.
A bizarre and lovely stringed instrument.
The best puzzle ever known to man!
I bought these fake eyelashes to put on toys. The packaging is amazing.
Here is the back of the packaging.
My friend found so many good western shirts. Plaid!!

Chicago Children's Museum

I just went to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier the other day, and it is truly every child's dream. The exhibits were mostly interactive. It is like they thought of every childhood fantasy and made it a reality. They had a room filled with sheets, pillows and chairs all for fort-making. They had a cave-like room where you could excavate dinasaur bones. A room that had a mini-Chicago. It seemed like every room was connected with play bridges and tunnels. There was a snowman decorating station. A life size chess set. A really neat art studio. One of my favorites was a giant play-boat. I wanted to play around in there. I recommend that anyone go check this museum out.

Trapped Bird

On my trip to Branson, MO for New Years I was eating at an amazing old diner, Clockers Cafe, and a bird got caught in the building. I snapped this amazing shot of the bird perching on a typewriter.

A Town Called Panic

Wow, this movie looks great. A Town Called Panic is a French stop-motion/claymation. The main characters are a horse, a cowboy and an indian. After watching the trailer, I think I already love it.

Islamic Sock

I'm not sure how I got to this on Wikipedia, but I think its pretty darn cool. This sock was probably found in Fustat, Egypt from the 12th century and was knitted in India. Here is info on how it was knitted. Man, those early knitters are talented! This sock sits at the Textile Museum in DC. I really want to check that place out.

Jimmy McBride Quilts

Log Cabin Quilt My Mom is making me found at Quiltology, below

I just came across quilts by Jimmy McBride. These quilts are different from anything I have seen. Jimmy uses elements of Sci Fi and Astronomy among other things and puts together chaotically beautiful pieces. On his blog he points out that he uses thrifted shirts for his fabric. He also includes a picture of the racks of his local thrift store...it looks far beyond any thrift store I have been to!! I'm jealous. I really wish I could get one of these quilts. Luckily, my Mom is making me a wonderful quilt I found the pattern for on Quiltology's wesite, picture included.

Camille Canales

Another amazing artist I discovered this year at Renegade Holiday was Camille Canales. Camille does phenomenal textile art using embroidery, beading screen printing. She also does drawings. Her work is extremely intricate and beautiful. She must be extremely busy because in addition to her textile works, she also sells screen printed curtains, scarves and bags that are also very cute.

Smartfish Shoes

Last month I visited the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair in Chicago. There were definitely a few vendor gems I found that I'm really interested in sharing. Smartfish stood out to me. She makes her own shoes! First off, that is cool in itself. The shoes are extraordinarily eco-friendly. They are very simple ballet flats, which I love. I find it very difficult to find simple flat shoes for women that are comfortable and have a good shape. I am also a huge fan of TOMS! Here are some pictures of her shoes. I really hope her business takes off!

Topography

Hello! Happy New Years! My informal resolutions are to keep this blog updated regularly, and to do more work. Recently, I have been working hard on a topography project using felt. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. The project is a "model" of the topography of Mariana Trench, which is the deepest part of the ocean located in the Pacific near Japan and the Philippines. Although the topography is coming mostly from my imagination, is will be used to represent the Mariana Trench in an upcoming play. I have a lot more work to do on it, but here is what it looks like so far:

New Animation Blast!

In the last decade, I have been supremely disappointed in the quality of animation out there. There has been a lot of success for Pixar, and a lot of companies trying to get a cut of the digital animation market. Basically there has been a major lack of diversity. Recently, I have been so excited because there have been some really cool things out there exploring different mediums. Here are some that I am excited about with commentary!

CoralineWow! Coraline was so amazing! The animation was so interesting and modernized classic stop motion. If you do a little research on how it was made, you'll be amazed. Look at the set below!!! Coraline was adapted from a Neil Gaiman novel, which I didn't know when I saw it. This made up big time for the poor Gaiman adaptation of Mirrormask, which made me sad because it was a Henson company failure. Anyhow, Coraline story was unique and the images were fantastic.

Coraline Set

Fantastic Mr. Fox

This is one movie I have yet to see, but I have pretty high expectations. I don't know whether I will like the actual content of the movie or not, but I am sure I will LOVE the stop motion they used. I am a huge fan of stop motion. It reminds me of my trips to the Field Museum and looking at all the taxidermy animals. They are kind of grotesque but the animals are beautiful. In this movie, they have tiny retro-preppy clothes and pajamas, which I must admit looks pretty neat. I have heard a lot of controversy about how involved Wes Anderson actually was with the stop motion aspect of this film; but overall, the stop motion team alone deserves a huge amount of credit for this.

Mary and Max

This animation style reminds me of the Wallace and Gromit animation, and trust me, its done well! I just saw Max and Mary and it was a beautiful film. I recommend it for everyone. Philip Seymore Hoffman does the voice of Max and he does an outstanding job! A lot of care was put into animating this film and it pays off. The colors and images set the tone for the film. Please see it! I cried.

Ponyo

Yay! Miyazaki makes another beautiful animated film. This tale was simple and delightful. I respect Miyazki so much because he will not budge from doing hand drawn animation. And in the end, it makes for a better story. You can tell he and his team have taken time to craft beautiful pictures which creates a provocative story. His work compares to the old days of Disney for me. He is so bold to keep doing what he is doing...and successful. Ponyo had some crazy characters. Its great!

Yo Gabba Gabba

This is not a movie, but a children's TV show. My obsession with this show runs deep. I think it is the answer to all the worlds problems! Haha! It does not use animation, but well designed costumes, which I think have been greatly missed ever since the hey-day of the Muppets. This show is just plain fun, and wildly creative. Its great for kids and adults. It also uses the great concept where toys turn into characters. The original Winnie the Pooh did wonders with that concept, and so does Yo Gabba Gabba.

Where the Wild Things Are

I put this last for a reason. I thought this movie was pretty bad, BUT I really do give it credit for the costumes they used. I thought most of them were lovely and majestic. Like I just said, I am happy that the use of costumes is coming back. My major problem with the costumes, though, is that the faces were digitally animated. This completely threw me off and angered me. I understand why the choice was made: to make the monsters more expressionistic. But, I thought the choice made the monsters look cheap and tacky. Overall, I commend the style of this movie, but unfortunately, I didn't really like it.

New Little Guy

I just made this little guy...his name is Sticker!

Post-Halloween

On Halloween I ended up being Pippi Longstocking....here's the photo matchup: