Rock n Roll Crafts

We ARE the 99%

2011-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been watching, cheering and supporting all of the Occupy movements..so happy to see so much participation, awareness and need for change. It's inspired me beyond words and into pictures..I've drawn these so far..with a few more in the works. Power is the People.

"Another World Is Possible. On a Quiet Morning, I Can Hear Her Breathing"

Snow Angels Go North

2011-11-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

I recently went on tour with Snow Angel, as their Tour Manager, to the great northwest! We rocked into Portland, hit up Eugene and ended with a fabulous Halloween party in Healdsburg, ca. What a trip!! Here's a video of our first day...

and a few pictures! {not in any order}

Oliver's Jacket

2011-10-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

I love Project Runway. It's a great combination of competition, creativity and tv.

This year seems to be a little bit yawn worthy..

Most of the designers seem to be a lot better at talking about how great they are, without really showing it. My early on favorite was Oliver, just because he seemed kind of weird. I loved his fauxopean accent and asymetric haircut. Then came all the fat bashing. Maybe it was just because he's so young and inexperienced, but he seemed to go into panic anytime he had to design for something other than the mannequin.

So, one night the hubs and I came up with this little ditty..just for Oliver.

It's called Oliver's Jacket.

"There are other people in Designer Clothes

Like Oliver's Jacket

I don't know what is a double d

Won't somebody explain to me

I cannot make you designer clothes

Like Oliver's Jacket

You hurt my eyes

With your plus size

and your thunder thighs

oh I so despise

Oh why must I design

with my desperate cries

a double wide

Oliver's Jacket?"

Occupy

2011-10-06T08:17:00.001-07:00

A letter from OCCUPY Wall Streeet

"As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned asubstantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.* To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutionsaccessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard!"

Organize

2011-09-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

and it hasn't worked for most of us for a long time. Change has to come.

END THE DEATH PENALTY NOW

2011-09-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

RIP Troy Anthony Davis. May your next experience bring you the justice you couldn't have here.

The System is Broken. It's been broken for a long, long time and it has to end.

Super Daves

2011-09-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

My brother Dave surprised me with one of the Best Belated Birthday presents I've ever laid my eyes on. I should have known something was up when he asked me a couple of weeks ago who my favorite Muppet is. Hands down, no hesitation, it's always been Gonzo. I still have a papier mache version of him that I made in first grade. So imagine my surprise when my brother Dave hands me this autographed photo of Gonzo by his maker himself, Dave Goelz. I hate to admit that I hadn't ever really delved into 'behind the scenes' for Gonzo, let's just say I stopped at the feet. Anyhow, okay..this man is amazing. He's not only behind, or under Gonzo, but also Boober from Fraggle Rock! All my favs..Thanks Dave and Dave!!!

Buy Me

2011-09-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's no Missoni from Target..but I make some pretty fun stuff and sell it on Etsy..Check 'em out!!

10 Years Later

2011-09-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

I was recently email interviewed by our local newspaper about where I was on 9-11-01. For probably the first time, I wrote almost everything I can remember down. The newspaper came out and my story had been reduced to a paragraph, space issues, of course. But I thought I would share the whole story with you.

1. First tell me something about yourself. You mentioned you were on a business trip with your boss and that you drove home – was that NY? Where exactly? What kind of business were you in, how old were you and did you know anyone at Ground Zero? Hopefully, they were safe.

In 2001, I was working for a Santa Rosa based Rubber Stamp manufacturer. I was 26 at the time and travelled extensively, teaching rubber stamping classes and demonstrating at trade shows. At this time, I was on the road nearly every other weekend. This particaular trip started on September 4, when I flew United out to upstate New York. I had a really, really bad feeling on that flight, like I really didn't want to go. I had all sorts of thoughts of how to get out of it, but I was scheduled for 4 classes, three stores and a trade show. There was no avoiding it. The flight itself had some horrible turbulence, but it was mostly ok, except for the horrible foreboding feeling that I couldn't shake. The first day I got to my hotel late, got stuck in a third floor smoking room..these details aren't as important, except to say this trip was marked from the beginning. I taught a class in Albany and then another in Sleepy Hollow. From Sleepy Hollow I went to Connecticut and taught another class in the Turkey Hill area. Everything went ok, until the first day of the trade show. I was helping a colleague of mine with her class and in one trip of walking from the back of the class to the front, I felt this wave wash over me and I was ill. I had a fever and just all over apathy. I had to beg out of the one last class I was to teach. I felt physically horrible and doubly so for not being able to fulfill my obligations. But, the silver lining was I had agreed to a one day vacation on Martha's Vineyard. We had been travelling so much, my boss and company owner and a coworker of ours, that we treated ourselves to one day on a beautiful island. We were in Malboro county in Massachussets, drove a rental van (that belonged to my coworkers friend who had met up with us in Mass) to the coast and ferried over to the island. That was on September 10th.

2. Where and how did you find out about the events unfolding in NYC? You “flew” – what was the trip like, traffic, etc.? What were you thinking?

September 11th we woke up at a small bed and breakfast on the island. It was a cool, foggy morning as I sat in an adirondack chair, playing with the resident golden retriever. The night before had been so full of laughs and beautiful scenery, I for a moment forgot how homesick I was. All the travelling had really caught up with me and I just wanted to be home with my boyfriend (now husband). I was a little remiss that I had let them talk me into a later flight, as our original booking had been for 8am out of Logan Airport, United. But to enjoy our 'vacation' I had agreed to fly out at noon. So, we checked out of the hotel and headed into town for some last minute souvenir shopping, we still had an hour before the ferry left. My boss and I headed into a cute little gift shop and looked around. We laughed when we saw a set of coasters for sale using imagery from our stamp catalog..a copyright violation, but we thought..we're in the middle of the Atlantic..what are the odds? We left the shop and heard a very loud shreik. Our coworker was running up the street towards us, screaming..we've been attacked! We calmed her down and found out the first tower had been struck. She heard it on the radio in the shop she had been in. I can't really explain what happened next, except that I called home and told my husband that I wasn't going to be coming home that day. He as asleep at home in Santa Rosa and like a lot of people, I woke him up to watch the horror live on tv. We happened to be in a "dry" town, which meant we couldn't find a tv to watch what was happening. It was just a weird realization I had..where do you go for a tv fix when there are no bars? So, we headed to the ferry station, where everybody visiting the island were being evacuated. I watched from the counter, through a narrow doorway, on a tv in the manager's office, as the second tower fell. It's all a blur and clear as day, so many tears and worries. Where was that other plane headed? Was it going to crash in San Francisco? If we had kept that original flight, I would have been sitting in the airport, watching as some of the people who died that day board their destiny. I still have my plane ticket for my United flight on 9/11/01 out of Logan Airport. It's overwhelming and frightening.

So, we were ferried back to our rental van and drove back to Malboro county, where my coworker had relatives and her boyfriend lived. I remember on the ferry, meeting two men who were on the island fishing. They were both emergency rescue workers, who specialized in Urban rescues. I think of them often. Standing in the ocean, laughing and enjoying the sunshine..one phone call and they were headed to Ground Zero.

We made it to the cousins house, where we were glued to the tv. I cried and cried and cried. I was homesick, sick, sad and shocked. I can still feel it to this day. There was a lot of worry for the neighbors, who's husband worked in the towers.

3. What were the next few days like for you as we were piecing together our lives and who did this to us?

The next day I wanted to go home. The airports were all closed, there were no available rental cars..it was a truly trapped feeling. Luckily, our coworkers friend had that rental van already and I devised a plan where we would take over the van for her. All we had to do was drive to Rhode Island, to the office, sign some papers and then hit the road. Driving to Rhode Island was weird, everyone else was leaving. We drove along side military trucks headed to the coast..and I think at that time there were reports of terrorists being on a train headed to RI..so it was with great trepidation that we headed east. I just wanted to go west. So, we got the van, bought a whole bunch of groceries and supplies (my boss was out of all of her medications, so we had a nice struggle to get her more of those). We got back to the house in Massachussets and everybody was trying to convince us to stay. "The airports will be open soon" they would say..me, I didn't really want to get on a plane. At all. I told them it was easy for them to stay, they had family there..they were with their loved ones already. I HAD to get home. My boss agreed. She wanted to get back to her husband and her dogs..and her company. So we decided we were going to do it. We were going to drive almost 3000 miles to get home. and we did. We left at 3 in the afternoon on September 12th and headed west. We got lost almost immediately, nice detour up around Niagra..but after that it was smooth sailing. Odd sailing. The freeways and highways were almost abandoned..except around Chicago..always traffic there. The most odd were all of the highway signs for the airports..each one with a big CLOSED sign wrapped around it. That was spooky. We took turns driving, one would drive while the other tried to sleep. We tried to time our drive change with gas refill, so we had driving stints around 3-4 hours each. After driving for 24 hours, we had reached Indianopolis and stopped there for a night in a hotel. I had the best dinner that night, I'll never forget. Ultimate comfort food, mashed potatoes with fried chicken pieces with gravy. It fed me and my soul. We left the next morning and drove straight through. We made it back to Santa Rosa at 3 in the morning on September 15th. When we got to my apartment and unloaded all of my stuff, I looked down at the licence plate; RUN 333.

4. When did you move to California? Any family still back east? What were the last 10 years like for you? What do you think you’ll do on the 11^th for the 10^th anniversary?

I was born in San Francisco and moved to Petaluma when I was 5. In 2001 I was living and working in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County will always be my home. I currently live in Petaluma with my husband and our three cats. I make crafts for a 'living'.

After that trip, I cut way back on my travelling and only did a few more trips. I transitioned into a more product development/marketing type position, so that I wouldn't have to travel. Afterwards, we moved in with my grandparents in law, who both passed away shortly thereafter. I was then laid off, when the company closed, unable to recoup all the losses from the years before. But all that happening landed me back in my beloved Petaluma.

For the anniverasary, I would like to go out the beach. Breathe in some beautiful ocean air and be thankful for my life. My husband is glued to the screen for the unveiling of the new buildings..so I'm sure I'll be watching for that as well.

5. Finally, how did the killing of Osama bin Laden affect you?

No affect really. It really doesn't make me feel better when somebody dies. I would prefer to end the war, all the wars..We teach children that fighting doesn't solve anything, maybe we can teach adults that too!

Ira Glass On Storytelling

2011-09-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Ira Glass on Storytelling. On being Creative. On not feeling pressured. I had this thought the other day, Why haven't I figured this out yet? So many people around me seem, key word, seem to have it together. They know what they want and they go full steam ahead. and then I thought..well who am I to think that I would have it figured out? and why? I have an aunt who is an oil painter, among other things, and she does the most beautiful work. What I love to look at most of all, though, are her half dones. Her never finishes. Her final product is always so beautiful and for me, intimidating, but when I see she has struggle, it calms me. I realized not too long ago that nearly the first of everything that I make is crap. But if I can make it thorugh the crap, I eventually get to the heart of the work and it becomes beautiful. I've been wanting for the past few years to start writing skits and little video bits for fun. I haven't put any time into this because, I think, I'm scared. What if this thing I've been wanting to do for so long, I totally suck at? Well, guess what..I am going to suck at it..to begin with. Thank you Ira for reminding me of that.

Props

2011-08-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

I was recently tasked to make a set of props for an engagement photo shoot by the Incredible Jeremy Lawson. He just blogged some of the pictures..how beautiful are these!?! They make me want to fall in love all over again!!

No props in this one..I just LOve this wall!!

okie..check out Jeremy's blog for more Great pictures!!

Coming up

2011-08-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

More Gabby Shows! More Gabby fun!

Four the Leos

2011-08-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

I got a CD for my birthday one year that was all songs for Leos. I don't know if 'they' picked this song because it's Leo Sayer or just because it's totally AWEsome!! This is for my fellow Leos!! Happy Days!

Gabby La La La

2011-07-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Gabby's started a KickStarter campaign to create a new video!! It's going to be super kawaii super cool!! You can donate any amount from $5 to $5000!! and the prizes..or should I say rewards!! For example; with a PLEDGE of $55 OR MORE; entrance for you an a friend to the EXCLUSIVE SUPER DUPER GABBY LA LA THANK YOU VERY MUCH I LOVE YOU NAP TIME VIDEO DEBUT PARTY AND CONCERT! (plus the prize for $35 pledge).

Wowsers!! and if you're in the neighborhoood..there is a concert this saturday..come say hi!!

Stencil King

2011-07-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Lookie!! A great profile on the prolific Mr. Ed Roth of Stencil 1!! Mover, groover and stencil guru...click Here for the article.

oh Dear

2011-07-11T10:36:00.001-07:00

This is what my job search has come to. I got this email today;

Dear Elaine,

Based on the search criteria you provided in your Personal Profile, CalOpps has matched you with the following job opportunity.

School Crossing Guard with City of Chico.

Empty Vee

2011-06-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

http://emptyvee.tumblr.com/

I'm starting another blog. I was reminiscing about the days when MTV showed music videos and how exciting it was. So, I'm starting a blog that is all music videos all day all the time. Today is the first day of posting and the theme is favorite female videos!! Hope you enjoy!!

Zig Zag Woman

2011-06-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am just as obsessed with the chevron, or zig zag pattern, as the rest of the internet world! It's everywhere!!

So...rather than do the work I should be doing, or making my husband happy and looking for a real job..I made myself a chair mat!

Chevron Happiness attained.

{blank chairmat, acrylic paints, a quick cut stencil, to the size of the mat and some time...}

Kitten Time Children

2011-06-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently looking through old posts and realized it's been quite a while since I released any of my kitty pictures. Luckily I have a whole new, current round of "i don't have kids, i have cats" pictures.

Gabby La La Handmade on Etsy!

2011-06-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's official!! You can now find all of the meeptastical merchandise that I have been making for the one and only Gabby La La!! I've been having an out of body experience, selling merchandise for Gabby at her local shows. It's so much fun!! and I just love her and her music, so it's just a big old love fest all around! and it inspires all sorts of little trinkets and treasures, handcrafted just for her.

Gabby La La Handmade

well..I don't make everything..Gabby made these Amazing Magic Pencils!

and while I'm here and talking La La, if you haven't watched her video..give it a try! :)..because,

La La = Happy.

Loving E Posters

2011-05-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

I've been finding a lot of inspiration in these fun online, quote posters..so I thought I'd try my hand at one..

and some favorites from online land;

yes, yes it is.

Pom Pom Nom Nom

2011-04-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

This weeks obsession is all about pom poms. My camera is broken, so I can't share with you the little creatures that I've been working on. Let's just say I'm absolutely smitten. Here are some of my favorites from the wide world web...

In 5 Words

2011-04-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

This says it all.

Past Inspiration

2011-04-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

While it's no secret that I've been quiet, contemplative, a little down and searching. I've shied away from sources of inspiration, not wanting to be distracted or overwhelmed. It hasn't really helped. The picture above reminds me of my youth, in our house on the eastside of town, how the sun would glow through my window at dusk. It came to me when this song played on pandora;

and the childhood memories came flooding back and it felt good. I began to look for more things that would bring me back to that place. That place where I was so ready to take on the world, leave my mark and enjoy life. I have a lot of time to spend on my computer, while job hunting and resume perfecting..and so the search has begun for all these little tidbits that are helping me feel like me again. This one almost knocked me out of my chair;

This one I found while trolling for Pinterest.

A website that lets you 'pin' things to it's virtual boards..I'm loving ALL THE COOL STUFF!

and of course, if I'm talking about inspiration..I have to give shouts out to my friends and family. The ones who have put up with my wierdness, my me-ness. and a Special shout out and a huge Huzzah to Melissa Abercrombie! She was recently interviewed and featured on the Craft blog;

I have had the great honor of getting to know Melissa, having done a few dozen shows with her over the past few years. This right here is a genuine person. She is awesome and so is her work!!

Thank you for the inspiration Mel!!

{If you would create something, you must be something. }

Bought, Borrowed and Thank You

2011-04-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Christina at Bought, Borrowed and Stolen for featuring my conundrum;

you rock!! :)