French Toast Girl

amigurumi, part two, or, birthday lessons

2009-11-08T15:28:00.005-05:00

Looking back over the summer, it's amazing how little I painted and how much I crocheted! I posted earlier about amigurumi and the bunnies I made for the new babies in our circle of friends. This post is about the second wave - my birthday presents. Not presents I got on my birthday, but the presents I gave to my family, on my birthday.

Let me explain.

One of my favorite illustrators is Tomie dePaola, not only for his gorgeous linework, luminous palette, and sense of humor, but also because of how his life and his art are so intertwined. If you are a fan, you know all about his family and heritage because so much of his work contains bits of his life; from his grandparents in "Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs" (I cry every time I read that book), the 26 Fairmount Avenue books, his own love of art and how it was nurtured as a child in "The Art Lesson", and his love of God in countless books, "The Clown of God" being one of my favorites. (And don't even get me started on Strega Nona. She rocks!)

I've been really enjoying Tomie's website where he shows new work but also reminisces about pretty much anything that strikes his fancy. I was struck by this story in particular, where it's his mother's birthday but she begins the tradition of giving to others to celebrate her special day.

"With that simple but magnificent gesture of giving all of us presents on her birthday, Flossie taught us the depth of the old clich�, "It is more blessed to give, than to receive." As the years went by, the real fun of each of our birthdays was not what we would GET, but what WE would GIVE."

The following are the presents I made for my kids for my birthday this summer:

For Peter, a turtle with a rainbow shell.

For Sophie, a finger puppet mushroom.

For Angela, a family of baby birds in a nest....

who went with this mama bird (already made).

Sophie loved her mushroom, but when she saw those baby birds, she just couldn't keep her hands off the tiniest one, and kept trying to sneak it out of the nest and take off with it! So I had to make her another bird, one she called "the teeniest bird of all." And that's the wee bird next to Angela's foot in the top photo.

Patterns for pretty much everything:
* Tiny Turtle
* Baby Birds in a Nest/Teeniest bird of all
* Mama Bird
* Happy Little Mushroom finger puppet

napkin/art

2009-11-07T20:24:00.004-05:00

Doodled while playing with the kids. Some faces from a "Famous Composers" workbook, because naturally, my kids know their Bach from their Beethoven and their Grieg from their Gershwin. I can't recall exactly, but I am pretty sure that lower right was Beethoven, I think bottom left is Clara Schumann, and big head guy in the middle might be Bach. All those wigs start to look the same after a while.

Artists: check this out!

2009-11-06T15:44:00.003-05:00

I found this through LinkedIn... if this applies to you, go for it! Cards will be featured on Greeting Card Designer blog which has 400-500 visitors daily. Send submissions to: kateharp@aol.com.

The article says...

Christmas cards are the top selling cards of any category, and I'm writing an article on unusual Christmas cards for 2009.

Cards will be featured on this blog whose 400-500 readers a day include agents, editors, stores, and reps.

This is great opportunity & free promotion for you.

If you have a card you'd like to be considered for the article:

-Send jpg image of card to Christmas Card Article
-Send Artist's name (or company name)
-Send Artist Contact Information
-Include direct link to how we can purchase the card.
-Card cannot be a one-of-a-kind craft project. We must be able to purchase multiple copies of the card.

Deadline November 10th.
Article will be published in mid November.

google-y eyes

2009-11-05T08:31:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, the always fantastic Google Doodle celebrated a special event: the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. I was all set to post this morning about how yesterday's logo, featuring Big Bird's legs in place of the L, was lovely....

but should have been this instead (5 minute mockup by me):

But I should have known better! Google didn't let me down. Today's gorgeousness:

Okay, so if I can predict/design any others, I would work in Slimey as the L one day! Who would you want to see on the logo?

MUPPET NEWS FLASH: According to Muppet Central, there will be new logos every day through November 10th, with a "great surprise" at the end! Check out the thread here.

Even more awesomeness: different countries have their own Muppets from their casts of Sesame Street for their Google pages! Loving this! You can see them (so far) here.

prioritizing

2009-11-04T08:29:00.003-05:00

On my calendar for today, courtesy of Angela. I love the motion to it, she's actively handing me a heart. And I'm especially proud of the way all the letters go the right way and none of them are upside down or backwards; something I've been worried about lately with her. Luckily, her teacher is not concerned because they haven't learned to write all the letters in class yet and apparently that's quite common among 5-year-olds. (If she's still making letters backwards at the end of the school year, then we can worry about it.)

Every time I look at my little datebook today I will be reminded of what to do today, first and foremost: spread some love.

the antidote for the overwhelming

2009-11-03T12:46:00.003-05:00

I wrote recently about being overwhelmed, and thank you so much to the other mama/artists who wrote me. I've been considering hiring a (gulp, again, can't believe I'm saying this) Personal Assistant as a helper a few times a month to help me get out prints and do mailings. I am currently weighing the pros and cons of this, and part of it is the whole question of if I am important enough to require that kind of help, and if I am comfortable with asking for help in that way. Laundry help - easy! Filling orders, I'm not certain yet. I need to figure out how to have more time to do what I really love. Are any of you artists out there grappling with the same kind of thing? I would love to have more insight.

p.s. ~ about this time last year I started a Fan page on Facebook, which to me seems to be the height of egotism, but isn't a blog sometimes as well? :) My motivation for doing it was to keep in touch with people I only knew online and focusing on FTG news, rather than on Elena news, even though many times it's much the same... In any case, I've finally posted a "Fan me!" button over there on the right, and feel free to sign up if you'd like.

Illustration Friday: Skinny

2009-11-02T07:04:00.002-05:00

A doodle for i-Fri's theme of the week, "Skinny." It's been a long time since I've had time - no, made time - to participate. It's good to stretch my brain and make something just because.

if the stars were mine

2009-11-01T20:23:00.004-05:00

Today begins what I hope will be a full month of daily posting. Hello, NaBloPoMo'ers!

I was driving with Petey today in the car and was listening to my fave WNYC show when Jonathan Schwartz set up a singer I'd never heard of, Melody Gardot. Her story is so inspiring; at age 19 she was hit by a car and spent almost a year in recovery in the hospital, using music as her therapy. She learned to play guitar and wrote her own songs, and now performs and teaches about the importance of music in healing. And then the song started: "If The Stars Were Mine."

And I was totally smitten.

I loved the song so much that I scrawled her name and the title on the back of a business card at the next red light, sang it the whole time we were shopping for Peter's new sneakers, looked it up as soon as I got home, and started an impromptu dance party in my dining room with the kiddos. I so wanted to call Rich and play it for him because he absolutely would have loved it, and it made me so sad that I couldn't. It's such a great song - deceptively simple, catchy as all get out, singable to your honey or your kids.

What follows below is not the video for the song, but it's the best I could find. I totally want to paint scenes from this song, or make my own video, but for now I've got some stars in a jar for you. Enjoy!

word up!

2009-10-29T12:24:00.003-04:00

The costumes are (mostly) finished, and the kids couldn't wait another moment and begged last night to put them on. So naturally, we had a photo shoot!

Peter, or as we call him, P3T3R, is a robot. He didn't want to put on the gray sweats that go with his costume, so use your imagination there. He chose where the "buttons" go - pretty much everything on his costume is recycled! His helmet is really a shade for lightbulbs, and the buttons are all lids from milk and orange juice containers. The big red one (which Peter says is the STOP! button) is from grated cheese. It was so fun to make and even better, he really participated in its creation.

Angela is WordGirl, which meant I also had to make an entire costume for her monkey sidekick, Captain Huggy Face. it's okay... WordGirl is the best educational show since the Electric Company (the 70's one please, not the new one)! We finally got some good action shots with her and Captain Huggy Face!

Sophia is Judy Moody and her amazing hair transformation is nothing more than me folding her hair in half and clipping the ends in her face so she has Judy's messy bangs. Her hair is normally down to her behind. She looks like a different kid! She was fascinated, posed her pants off, and then begged me to put her hair back to normal again. She's doing the pose from the cover of the first book which she has next to her. "I Ate A Shark" (the "A" wound up under her armpit) is a shirt Judy makes in the book.

P.S. If you are not familiar with WordGirl, check out this clip - the show is just awesome!

And see Captain Huggy Face dance here.

what I need for to do the job

2009-10-26T19:08:00.005-04:00

Hello, peoples. Fall has kicked my behind to the curb and back again.

I have been too busy to sit down, too busy to post, too busy to paint (and that has me actually crying at times), too busy to return calls and emails. This school year has brought about a schedule unlike anything we've ever had before, and the weight of it all now falls on my shoulders because of our schedules. I keep thinking things will taper off, and they don't, so the answer is for me to have more help. I joke all the time about how I need a Temporary Secretary; now we're trying to figure out what I can outsource. (Paul's suggestion: like laundry!) I think to myself, You were able to paint when you had preemies and a one-year-old, you can do this! I just need to figure out how not to do *everything* and save my energies for what's vital.

I'm thinking of doing NaBloPoMo again so that I will write every day in November. It will force me to sit, breathe, have some tea, and visit that creative space for a while. There will be links, there will be answers, there will be art, and there will a showing of my artwork by the end of November I'll be gearing up for as well. So check in and hang in there with me as I figure this stuff out.

Note: the image above is about 15-16 years old. It's an illustration I did for my college's literary magazine, The Lion's Eye. I found it the other day while cleaning out an old portfolio. Scary that I still painted like me, even back then!

5 amigurumi bunnies and a cuppa

2009-10-02T13:29:00.006-04:00

This summer was a great summer for new babies! I spent my spare (!) time whipping up some small friends to go to the newest additions to our circle. I love amigurumi because they're quick to make up, easy to modify/make up your own pattern, and because the kids totally love them. The cuteness factor again is also a big encouragement.

Patterns:

Bunnies: available on Ravelry, free pattern.

Little rabbit: I modified the the pattern by crocheting around in a lace sort of pattern to make a dress. I also made longer legs instead of little balls for feet so she could stand up. This was the companion bunny to go with the yellow one - the baby got the soft yellow bunny, and the big sister got this sweet brown one. According to their mom, she says that it has superpowers. ;)

Coffee cup: Peter is a rather uncomplicated lad. He likes, in no particular order: trucks, art, and food. He plans to be a baker who also drives trucks and paints when he grows up. Sounds good to me, especially if he makes deliveries to my house. This pattern was so darned cute and when I showed it to him, he asked for it right away. He also has an amigurumi donut to go with it, which will be coming in a later post.

Any other great amigurumi links to share?

in which I apparently control music with my behind

2009-09-26T15:16:00.005-04:00

My kids think I can control the music in the car by car dancing. Seriously.

While we listen to lots of Beatles music at my house, it's usually on the radio and so I've been trying to play full albums for the kids. Because I love how on the good ones, the songs just fit together in a way that "shuffle" just doesn't satisfy. Anyway, we've done Sergeant Pepper and so now I've been playing my favorite album for them while we're in the car. As we pulled up in our driveway, the song "Wait" came on. (Totally underrated, I love that song.) So I parked the car and did a little car dancing in the driveway to the percussion.

On each verse, the first line just has a little tambourine, then maracas or some other kind of shakers on the second line, and then all out drumming. The kids weren't as familiar with that song and for some reason honestly thought I made the drumming happen, with my booty. Peter demanded to know how I did it and when I didn't understand what he was asking, he was furious with me for keeping the secret to myself. He got all red in the face and yelled, "I! Asked! You! How! You! Did! That!" And the other two just looked bewildered.

Once I explained it and played the song again while staying still, they cooled off a bit. Now they make me play it and actually say "clap clap" when they get to those parts in the song (while clapping). I don't think Ringo needs to quit his day job just yet, but I am pretty proud of their sense of rhythm. And they are learning to accept that I don't have any magical powers. At least not when it comes to the car radio.

We go bento

2009-09-09T07:26:00.004-04:00

Sophie's very excited about having LUNCH at school now that she's in the first grade. We are going bento to have as little waste as possible. No plastic baggies, no paper, and apart from this special lunch, she'll be eating leftovers from (planned ahead of time) dinner. The cuteness factor is a big plus too, of course.

I'm excited too - it's a chance to get creative in the kitchen and make sure they're eating healthy at school. Besides, it's fun!

Sophie's lunch, clockwise:
Watermelon balls
Purple cabbage salad
Little container of soy sauce
Veggie sushi rolls with carrots, cabbage, cucumber, and avocado
Annie's bunny grahams
Not pictured: Her water bottle and chopsticks (she wants to bring them!)

Angela is bringing her own container of sushi rolls for a snack (again, she wants chopsticks too, but she's actually pretty expert with them)

Peter wants pretzels and goldfish crackers today. Tomorrow they've all requested roasted chickpeas for snacks and Sophie's having an apple and cheese sandwich.

Anyone want to swap recipes? :)

Ultra-inspiring links to get you started:
Vegan Lunchbox: You don't have to be vegan or a have a fancy lunchbox, but this mom shows some excellent twists on old favorites. Sophie's first-day-of-school lunch was inspired from this site.

Lunch In A Box: Great site with lots of recipes and tips for making lunches fun and to get you up and out of the kitchen fast.

Bento accessories and supplies: This link's on Amazon, or go on eBay and drool over all the fun stuff they have. I think we might get a set of teeny sauce containers. You do not need any of these things, by the way. They're just, again, cute.

Cooking with Dog: We love love LOVE Cooking with Dog. It's a Japanese cooking show you can subscribe to on YouTube, that is hosted and narrated by Francis, the poodle. This link is for bento - look, an apple rabbit! Just awesome. We are fascinated by the dishes they make, though I have not attempted any of the recipes... although I did try to make veggie sausages into octopi and they just didn't work (maybe not enough fat?) Anyway, these are just so fun to watch.

Bento Boxes Win Lunch Fans: How timely that this was in the NYT this morning. :)

how to make ice cream cake

2009-08-26T20:08:00.002-04:00

Note: if you want a crumbly base, use just cookies. If you want it to stick together, mix the cookies with some melted butter and then place in the bottom of the pan. Enjoy! And if you make one, let me know!

Yesh!

2009-08-06T16:36:00.004-04:00

Finally, catching up on things... I wanted to spread the news to those who don't already know that I got to design a theme with Patrick McDonnell for iGoogle! It's a MUTTS theme, natch. It's been so very exciting to get to be a part of this, and it's also been so very hard not to spill the beans!

The theme changes several times during the day, and there are even a few Easter eggs... see if you can find them!

Further Sophie update: recovery has been very slow for the Sophster, but today she actually opened her eyes, played with her brother and sister, and drew a picture! Woo!

tomorrow

2009-08-03T20:22:00.006-04:00

Have I said that life is full? It's overflowing.

This past week, for example, has included painting, balancing a sick child with a much-anticipated vacation (verrryyy carefully), much crocheting, a sad goodbye of a friend and a funeral celebration of a life well lived; museums, dinosaurs, stars, coupon-clipping, and repeated playings of "Ode to Joy" on the piano by a 6 year old. Heck, I didn't even have three seconds to post about how I got to do work for Google, for Pete's sake!

And now, here it is, August, and Sophie's surgery is very early tomorrow morning. Many of you will be reading this sipping your coffee while she's coming out of it. I ask all of you, whenever you may happen to read this, to send a kind thought and prayer our way.

My Mom made us a prayer shawl and gave it to us tonight. (Such love! I am in awe of it.) We wrapped Sophie in it and all stood around her, touching her and praying again for her healing. I'll spread it across our laps as Paul and I wait for her to come out of surgery. And I'll wrap it again around Sophie and her beloved Lambie when she wakes up and sees the faces of those who love her best close by her. Wrapped in love, a prayer for our family in every stitch and loop of the thread. Big blessings, indeed.

UPDATE: The Sophster came through with flying colors! We're home and Sophie did very well in surgery according to the doctor. I asked how the eyelid/muscle looked and the doctor said it was even better than last time, and that it should work well for Soph "for years and years and years to come." Last time she thought Sophie would need another operation in 2-3 years, so this is good news indeed.

Anesthesia and pain-wise, Sophie is still very uncomfortable and sensitive and trying to sleep as much as possible while still maintaining a death grip on our hands. Here's hoping tomorrow brings some relief.

Please keep those prayers coming!

Sophie's eyes.

2009-07-15T15:32:00.004-04:00

Dear Sophie fans,

We just found out that Sophie has to have further surgery on her right eyelid - basically doing the same surgery she had when she was 9 months old to correct her ptosis. (More linkage below.) At her recent visit with her pediatric eye doctor, he suggested that her eyesight in that eye was not doing as well, and that her eyelid has been drooping (he measures it at each visit.) We saw the surgeon for a consultation, and she thought we should do it right away. The surgeon is hopeful that this will lift the eyelid and hopefully she won't need to have it again. It is supposed to be relatively pain-free in terms of recovery and she should be able to play normally outside in about a week. The type of surgery is called "levator resection." Our date for the surgery is for the morning of August 4th. We prayed that if this was what was best for Sophie, that we'd find out right away. So... now we know.

Sophie's attitude is just fantastic! When we were going to the doctor's, she wanted to know if her surgery would be in the hospital then or right there in the office. I said, no, we were going to TALK to the doctor today and see if an operation was even necessary. "But MOOOOOOOOM! That's so BORING!" she said. And upon hearing she'd need the surgery, she wanted to go to the library right away so we could get out books about going to the hospital. She says she thinks doctors and hospitals are cool and she's really excited for this! So we're going to try to take our cue from her. As always, your prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated. We'll keep you posted.

Flashbacks from 2003:

In which we find out that Sophie needs surgery and the patches aren't cutting it.

Sophie's operation is over, we're okay.

And yes, that is a new dress in the pic above - will show more later. :)

a house for fairies

2009-06-24T21:20:00.007-04:00

Keeping in line with the creativity running through our summer, we crafted a fairy house in our backyard.

{Meaning I really wanted one there.}

We went along the lines of this school of thought and tried to use things only found in nature, though I couldn't resist recreating this acorn-marble lantern - you all know I would totally have one in our house in a heartbeat.

The fairies haven't had a chance to leave a thank you note yet as it's been sooooo rainy! Maybe a couple of them got to take refuge from the grey and drippy weather and sit out a storm while they wonder if their furnishings would fit inside. It's small, but cozy, with a lovely front lawn:

More resources to build your own fairy dwellings:
* Drool over the amazing furnishings here. I so totally would live in a house that looked like this.
* Make over a dollhouse as a fairy house
* Sweet! I love the bed.
* Or put "fairy house" into Google image search and get some great ideas!

and....
* Bookmark this now: Notes from Halfland. I've been a longtime reader and admirer of Shelley's work as she crafts an entire miniature world for her stop-motion animation film. I am in awe of her creativity and stick-to-it-ness. She is the real deal.

jumping for joy

2009-06-10T21:34:00.004-04:00

I've been in a whirlwind over here at Creativity Central. I've been trying to take photos and I'll be uploading and posting more stories. I swear that every day right now has moments where I stand back and think, wow, this is my life, and it's like a storybook. Every day, I'm constantly growing, creating, doing, making. And every morning I wake up so eager to do more and to see what the day will hold.

Today, I'll show the dresses I've been making for the girls out of tshirts. I am making them up as I go along and it's so fun! Three are done, I have about 5 more to go.

Angela is holding up a picture referencing My Milk Toof, a new family fave. The tooth is saying "I don't wanna."

While I sewed the dresses, I let the kids make their own stuffed animals, whatever they wanted to do. Sophie made - I cannot make this up - a stuffed JOHN DENVER doll. For most of today, Mr. Sunshine on My Shoulders was riding around in that front pocket. God, I love that child.

Life is good, people. Life is good.

every day in may: thirty-one

2009-05-31T21:47:00.001-04:00

What we did this weekend...

every day in may: thirty

2009-05-31T21:45:00.001-04:00

I painted but some over-zealous gardening led to complete exhaustion... so I didn't post this last night.

every day in may: twenty-nine

2009-05-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

Getting closer to the finish line... in many ways! I can't believe there are only a couple of days left in May - how have you all been doing in your Every Day endeavors?

every day in may: twenty-eight

2009-05-28T20:25:00.002-04:00

Again - yesterday's painting progress. You can hardly see the hair, phooey!

Before I paint tonight, I'm going to do a little photoshop work to test things out before I go in and paint. That was the gist of my main computer class in college - not the classes for Quark and Illustrator and all that, but for art on the computer - that the computer was a tool and did not have to be the last word. I like to step back and do just that from time to time, use it as a tool to quickly try out new colors and effects before I do them for real in paint. My final project for the class was a puppet I had made (for my puppetry class) that I had sketched into the computer, photographed and changed colors on the computer before deciding to paint him red, and tried out several different wardrobe changes before committing to the final outfit. So - you who work on computers all day - remember that they are merely tools to bring about your creativity. I promise you'll look at your work a different way.

every day in may: twenty-seven

2009-05-27T18:26:00.003-04:00

Okay, so this is yesterday's bit of painting, as it was wet yesterday when I had time to scan. Some days I can paint in the morning, but lately it's gone back to when-everyone's-in-bed-time. That's fine too.

It's hard to see in this scan, but the new bit is in the upper left quadrant. I think the paint is so much more reflective than watercolour, the scanner just isn't picking it up properly (as watercolor is not shiny). I'm looking at the painting from across the room and there's so much more contrast there. Foo! I'll have to mess with the settings, I guess.

every day in may: twenty-six

2009-05-26T21:45:00.005-04:00

I am retooling an old painting that's never seemed quite finished to me. The only thing is, it's acrylic and it's still wet right now! So for now you get to see the way it looked in 2007, and you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see the rework-in-progress. It's getting outlines and details of dark brown/raw umber. I also want to take a pic of Sophie's face to get it just right (it's not Sophie, but she will have the right face for it.)