This Week...

Ninja Girls got new hairdos

Sheep Went to the Prom

Here they are dancing to All the Single Ladies

Horse-head and Fish-head walked their terriers.

This kid continued being awesome.

What's On My Desk

A gal in a horse head, and her fishy-fan hubs.

Green Thumb, Cheerios and Adorable Babies

Every once in awhile my thumb turns green.  It then proceeds to fade to less greeny green, until it's back to regular flesh color and most of my plants are dry and brown.  Usually my thumb greens up when my eyes see something lush and beautiful.  This time it greened when I eyed some adorable succulents and cacti.  They are so tiny and darling, I just want to pinch them.  I have to smile at them when I make my coffee in the morning.  They are humble little succulents.  I am going to do my best to help those little guys thrive.

 

Walter and I made a "turd feeder" (he can't say B's).  This is a dynamite activity to do with children.  It's low key and relaxing and you can do it out doors and then quietly wait for birds to come.  When they do you can squeal in delight that you fed the turds!

 

Making custom mobiles for family's expecting little ones is my new most favorite thing to do on this planet.  It forces me to try new things and stretch my brain in ways that I never would have.  I feel so excited by them.  It reminds me of how I used to feel in art school when we would get a challenging assignment.  Left to my own devices, I don't challenge myself as much.  With this new direction of customs I am forced to, and when things don't work out (like with the umbrella, initially) there is no time to mope because there is a definite deadline that needs to be met.  This is just an ideal recipe for me, creatively, and I am super happy about it.

Pigs!  Oink!  It's funny how one pig in a skirt makes the others look naked, when really it's perfectly acceptable for pigs to not where skirts.

 

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetness from Switzerland.

Hurricane Isaac

Last week, Louisiana decided to initiate us into the state.  Or, I suppose, the gulf of Mexico decided to initiate us and throw us hurricane Isaac.  

We don't have a TV, and I stay at home with Walter and my Pink Cheeks biz.  I get most of my news from the Daily Show and Colbert Report, and they were on vacation, plus they don't have a weather person.  So, basically I had no idea a hurricane was heading our way until the Sunday evening before.  Really though, that is still plenty of notice for a former tornado country girl. 

We got a hurricane survival kit going.  We bought batteries and ice and lots of fig newtons.  For some reason, we also were told to get lots of water.  I didn't understand it at the time, but hurricanes make your water taste awful, and smell like rotting fish.  Could it actually be rotting fish?  I don't know.  

It was definitely windy.  The trees were swaying back and forth like they were at a music festival.  Most people had their windows boarded up with plywood.  We didn't.  I said a silent prayer for the neighborhood bunny rabbits (two domesticated bunnies roam our block, Walter likes to feed them bread).   I have experienced very bad storms before, and this was similar to those with the exception of it carrying on and on and on like the energizer bunny.  Our power went out the night of the storm. 

 It stayed off for 5 more days.  It was hot and sweaty.  Even our furniture seemed to sweat.  Everything was slippery.  Luckily we have a gas powered stove and water heater, so we could cook and boil water for coffee in our french press.  We have a tiny portable dvd player, and we would sit around by candlelight watching Wallace and Gromit on a teeny, tiny screen.  Walter did a lot of shirt-less play in the kitchen sink.  He really liked the french press plunger.  He also liked drinking melted fudgcicle out of his sippy cups.

Our 96 year old neighbor's power was turned on the day after the hurricane.  That sounds fair to me, though it was hard to watch him come out of his house with his jacket on (the ac gets a little cold for him).  A few days into the power outage, we realized Mr. Bonvelaine had a very convenient outdoor outlet facing our window.  He kindly agreed to letting us run an extension cord to it and then we had a couple of slightly less miserable nights with a breeze of a fan.  Thank you kind neighbor!

Now that our power is restored, I find myself missing the power outage ever so slightly.  It was nice to be forced not to work and to have non-stop creative play time with the whole family together.  It wasn't all Leave it to Beaver, because irritability levels were stretched with the heat, for sure, but  a lot of the time it was quiet, peaceful and calm. 

Snuggies, Embroideries and Doggies

I have several new Snuggy Baby Swaddle Bears in the shop now.  They mark the end of my order from the Norman and Jules Toy Shop opening this fall in Brooklyn. Now I just need to make little tags for everything and send them off to play with all the other toys in the toy shop.  I am pretty proud that I finished everything in time while also packing up an entire house and moving all its contents to a new house on the very bottom of the USA.  If I were to receive some type of trophy for this I think I would first like to thank Bob the Builder, for entertaining my son so that I could sew.  Also, highlighters, because he really likes drawing and coloring with those and they keep his mind engaged for hours.  Now that the order is complete, I look forward to having a more fluid schedule and taking Walter out to explore our new town more.  Joseph starts teaching this week, so it will be just me and the little bean most of the day, and in the manner of Tim Gunn, we have to make it work.  Speaking of Tim Gunn, hubs and I are getting ready to watch the 4th episode as soon as I am done typing this!  I am enjoying it so far, but I was sad to see Afro go home (I can't ever remember anyone's name until 3/4s of the way through the season.  But, by "Afro", I am referring to the crazy designer who has an afro).  I like that I can't tell who will obviously make it to fashion week.  Each designer seems talented in a specific and unique way. 

I wanted to share a few finds from the Internet with you.  First, look at these beautiful images!  Embroidery on old photographs.  I think they are so provocative and stunning.  They look like they are partaking in some bizarre afterlife full of secret ritual.  I keep re-looking them up just so that I can stare at them.  They are done by Stacey Page.  I discovered them through the Jealous Curator's blog, who makes me feel more in touch with the art world, plus her blog title is great.

And then, these! Soft sculptures of different dog breeds using innovative fibers.  Your face will hurt from smiling after you look at these.  They are by kusjkjkjk and you can find her on Etsy.

I'll have a few custom things to share with you next week.  I am very excited about everything I am working on.

B. A. N. A. N. A. S.

Packaging.

Mod Girl-ing.

I am still sewing my tiny fingers off over here.  It has been a busy time with orders, which I need to remind myself---is a beautiful thing.  When I do remind myself of that, my heart fills to the brim with gratitude.  Working on things in multiples is always exciting in the beginning, especially when working on big chunks, like bright and beautiful bee-hives.  But, then the inevitable appendage stage comes and I want to pull my hair out one by one with a pair of tweezers.  Sewing 24 tiny arms.  Oy vay!   I wish I could have an appendage assistant.  If anything, it would make for a very comical help-wanted ad, and I would love to meet anyone who calls about it.  The interviews would make for a great movie montage! 

My son, Walter, has been bananas lately.  B. A. N. A. N. A. S (like the song).  He might be going stir crazy in this house, but we aren't native Louisianans, so this humidity can be a bit much for outdoor play.  When I mow the lawn, he likes to come out with me and push his car around, like a lawnmower (and also like a steam roller, for rolling over his dog, whom he adores but also tortures).  By the time the lawn is mowed, we are both hot messes with pink cheeks.  I need to think of some amazing ideas for him.  Something to engage his growing and curious brain and keep him from opening the fridge and squeezing mustard and throwing eggs on the floor (true story).

I also have been longingly staring at these 2 fabrics from Marimekko.  They are so beautiful and fresh and fancy and fun.  They make me very happy.  I am too frugal to purchase them, but someday, maybe after a couple glasses of wine, when my frugal side has less of a say I will bring them into my home.  

Sewing Up Mod Girls and Eating Beignets

I wish the photograph above could be a new Olympic event.  It could be called, the "Wearing neon while lifting weights and balancing on colorful striped hoops" event.  These guys would win.

I have been busy sewing.  A lot of what I have been doing has been finishing my toy shop order and doing custom mobiles.  This one above is a nice break.  Someone wanted a blonde girl in a print.  I love vague requests because I can fill in the blanks.  She's going to be rollerskating and maybe delivering hot dogs.

 We went to New Orleans.  I love it.  Love.  It.  It's vibrant and colorful and gritty and strange.  We went to the French District to see the street performers.  This guy is sitting still and painted solid gold with feathery wings in 1,000,000,000 degree heat.  He is amazing.  

All of Jackson Square smelled like these beignets.  I finally was able to eat one.  I didn't get to do it at the romantically historic Cafe DuMonde because the line was too much for a toddler to bare.  We ate them in a mall outside of New Orleans and it still felt romantic.  The dough has this delicate texture and it vanishes in your mouth like a sweet dream.  The powdered sugar gets all over your clothes and makes you want to lick them when you get home, just to re-live the experience!