My Silly Artlife

First Blog Post In Over 10 Years!!

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 21:34:00 +0000

So it has been over 10 years since my last blog post! I'm having a little trouble getting prepared to start blogging again, but the time is right. I've opened a new POD (Print on Demand) shop on Redbubble called Yumyumbuttons, and I need to start to market my products somewhere -- what better place than the blog I started years ago to talk about my artlife (mysillyartlife)!

After years of having my Artlife shop on Etsy, it became too much to make my pin-back buttons: design them, ship them, produce them, keep up with the customer service etc etc. Pin-back buttons don't sell for a huge profit, so it was just A LOT of work for a very small payoff. Finally I just shuttered the Etsy shop.

BUT, in the back of my head for years I've thought "wouldn't it be great to find a company that would do all of that behind the scenes work and I could just do the designing?" (which was the funnest part to begin with!)

Enter Redbubble! Here is one of my newest favorite designs:

The COOLEST thing is, this design is available on all sorts of things! Like aprons, greeting cards, postcards, t-shirts, notebooks, pouches, masks, stickers, magnets and probably some that I'm forgetting.

So, finally my wish has come to be: I can design and Redbubble can print on demand and ship those things out to customers! So help me out and click through to see what my shop is about and what you can get my designs printed on. It is going to be a huge push to get this thing going, but I'm very excited and busy designing new images every day!

Keep checking back with mysillyartlife to see what my progress on Redbubble looks like. I'm making a commitment to blog at least once a week again like I use to!

Occupy Wall Street Pinback Button Set of 4 . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:44:00 +0000

I've been so inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park in New York City and around the world. History is happening RIGHT NOW!! These four buttons are inspired by pictures of protesters signs during various marches in NYC and around the world.

UPDATE: These were previously available at my Etsy Shop Artlife which has now been closed for years. The good news is, I've got a new site on Redbutton and all of the designs I post there can be bought as pin-back buttons (called simply "pins" on Redbutton)! I'll be reworking some of these old favorite designs too!Link to my new Redbubble site: YumYumButtons

Tom Waits . . . Rain Dogs Video. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 20:47:00 +0000

To continue the Tom Waits theme, here is he who is so cool doing a lively (live) version of RAIN DOGS. I loved this album when it came out so many years ago.

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:59:00 +0000

Charles Bukowski's great poem The Laughing Heart:

your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is a light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch. the gods will offer you chances. know them. take them. you can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. and the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. your life is your life. know it while you have it. you are marvelous the gods wait to delight in you. - Charles Bukowski

Tibetan Medical Paintings . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:57:00 +0000

A friend visited New York City last week and was able to catch a show of Tibetan Medical Paintings (also known as tangkas) at the American Museum of Natural History. She told me about it and of course I had to google for images! Here are a couple of the odd and beautiful images I found:

Machine that destroys everything video . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:51:00 +0000

Are you bored at work? . . . This video of a kick-ass machine that crushes, crunches and practically destroys anything you put into it will take you away from the mundane for a few minutes! What fun to watch!!: (Thanks kottke.org)

“Haboob” (dust storm) video . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:11:00 +0000

Eerie video of the first “haboob” (dust storm) of the monsoon season from the Phoenix area:

Bike cog love pin-back design used as tattoo design . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:58:00 +0000

A wonderful gentleman contacted me today on Etsy to let me know he got my Bike Cog Love design tattooed on his arm!: Here is the pin-back design: UPDATE: These were previously available at my Etsy Shop Artlife which has now been closed for years. The good news is, I've got a new site on Redbutton and all of the designs I post there can be bought as pin-back buttons (called simply "pins" on Redbutton)! I'll be reworking some of these old favorite designs too! Link to my new Redbubble site: YumYumButtons

I think his tattoo came out GREAT!! I will try to get a bike love design up soon on Redbubble!!!

Marcel Duchamp quote about the word art . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Arnold Newman, Marcel Duchamp, 1942. Philadelphia Museum of Art

The word 'art' interests me very much. If it comes from Sanskrit, as I've heard, it signifies 'making'.

- Marcel Duchamp

James Franco Interviews Artist Marina Abramovic . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:51:00 +0000

General Hospital Quote . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:51:00 +0000

“Believe what you want. But here’s a clue. The secret to life: Anyone can die at any time.”
“So what do we do about it?”
“Amuse ourselves. Don’t live by rules or boundaries. And take what you want, when you want.”

—Franco and Maxie, General Hospital, November 24, 2009

Sexting Pinback Button is here! . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:31:00 +0000

UPDATE: These were previously available at my Etsy Shop "Artlife" which has now been closed for years. The good news is, I've got a new site on Redbubble and all of the designs I post there can be bought as pin-back buttons (called simply "pins" on Redbubble)! I'll be re-working some of these old favorite designs too! Link to my new Redbubble site: YumYumButtons

This was a really great button!! I will try to get some similar design up soon on Redbubble!!!

Yeah, well, That's just how I roll . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 02:21:00 +0000

I've been wanting to design a pinback button with a rolling pin and this saying on it for awhile. I finally got around to it (hey, that's just how I roll!) and am really pleased with how it turned out. It is available packaged or unpackaged, and of course you can also get it made into a fridge magnet.

Crazy Coupon Lady and I'm a Garden Ho . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:04:00 +0000

Fun new pin-back button designs at my Etsy shop Artlife.

my night job is NINJA . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:57:00 +0000

My boyfriend says every time he looks over at me at night I'm awake and my eyes are open (not true). And sometimes I wear black to bed so he calls me a Ninja. This was the inspiration for my new favorite pin-back button at my etsy shop artlife!

Mad Men Barbie Dolls! . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:44:00 +0000

Left to right: Joan Holloway, Roger Sterling, Don Draper, and Betty Draper

Letters from the future . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:11:00 +0000

It's January 1, 2010 and my Mom and I are sitting at the kitchen table. There's a large lit candle in the middle of the table. We each have mugs of hot tea as we write our letters from the future...

Here's how it works:

- Date the letter a year from today
- Write your letter as if 2010 has already happened
- Chronicle the accomplishments and successes of the year
- Be as specific or as general as you wish (there really aren't any rules!)
- Let your imagination and dreams become real in the words you write
- When you have finished writing the letter, read it aloud
- At some point in the future (3 months, 6 months or whenever you'd like) re-read your letter and evaluate your projections compared to what has taken place
- If you aren't satisfied, make adjustments in how you are working toward your goals
- A year from now, re-read your letter again and write another letter from 2012

Whether or not your goals and dreams for the year will materialize remains to be seen. My Mom and I both felt like the act of writing these letters and then reading them aloud brought us energy, motivation and new ideas for the year to come. We were both surprised by some of the things we came up with and interestingly, the word "magic" came up early on in significant ways in both of our letters. Give this a try and see what comes up for you.

May your New Year be filled with abundance and joy!

A Beautiful Video about a man and a dog . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:02:00 +0000

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

300,000 birds . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:42:00 +0000

I was thinking the other day how humans can work together to make beautiful things much like the birds in this video do, but we haven't (all) figured out how to yet.

Douglas Coupland quote . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:37:00 +0000

“We are confronted with a bombardment of information and the only tactic for survival is pattern recognition, connecting the dots or whatever – but refusing to be overwhelmed by it.”

— Douglas Coupland

Geek Glasses : Pin-Back Buttons & Fridge Magnets . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Geek Glasses Fridge MagnetsGeek Glasses Pin-Back ButtonsGuess it's enough of a reason as any to show a picture of Ryan Adams:

Fingerprint notebook and Hemingway kicking a can . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Click here to buy this notebook at Etsy.

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:45:00 +0000

The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race” — the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing. ~ David Foster Wallace

Doctor is walking from Chicago to DC for Health Care . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Dr. Ogan Gurel is walking 700 miles from Chicago to DC aiming to draw attention to the very real stories of hardship and inequity that persist in our health care system. He arrives in DC on 7/26/09. Please show your support in any way you can; spread the word on twitter, facebook, write a letter to the editor of your local paper, call your Representative or Senator and ask them to meet with Ogan when he reaches DC, help with donations or a place to sleep along his route or anything else you can think of to help spread the word about what Ogan is doing!

Here is a good story and video about Dr. Ogan Gurel's walk.

Thai Coconut Milk with Chickpea Soup - Easy Recipe . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Yum Yum Buttons) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:54:00 +0000

Here is another delicious and pretty easy recipe:

~ 2 1/2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil (you can also use Canola or Olive Oil)
~ 1 Med/Large Onion - chopped
~ 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
~ 4-5 large Cloves Garlic - finely chopped
~ 2 cups Chicken Broth
~ 1 (14 oz.) can Chickpeas - rinsed and drained
~ 1 (8 oz.) can Diced Tomatoes - drained (add liquid to the soup at the end)
~ 1 tsp. Curry Powder
~ 1/2 tsp. Salt
~ Freshly Ground Black Pepper - to your liking, or 4-5 grinds
~ 1 (14 oz.) can Light Coconut Milk
~ 1 cup Cooked Brown Rice
~ 2 Tbsp. Parsley - chopped

Preparation

Begin by preparing your rice which you will add in at the end. In a good sturdy Soup Pot, heat the Coconut Oil over medium heat. Add the Onion, Garlic and Cayenne Pepper - cook, stirring about 6 minutes. Add the Chicken Broth, Chickpeas, Tomatoes, Curry Powder, Salt and Pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated thoroughly, about 5 minutes. Serve warm. Yummy. Enjoy!