Pongo est Magnifique!

Oui!  

Came across TaruDesign's little wooden toys/sculptures on Etsy this evening.  Looks like the shop is pretty new. . . just joined Etsy this month.  And the little guys there are so cute I nearly chewed my own arm off the second I saw them. . . the bar by which I judge all cuteness.

Take a gander at Pongo

Now go check out the other little buddies on Taru.  Redonkulous.

Studio

The salon-style hanging of artwork in my studio is coming along.  I want to fill my studio walls entirely with work I love. . . the more stuff, the more inspiration.  A lot of the work is from artists I found on Etsy.  Also some of my buddy, Casey Riordan Millard's old work.  She's amazing and has kept me on my toes for decades.  A homemade tack board, Edward Hopper, and so on.

All hung on granny smith apple green walls that my sweetie painted for me going on three years ago.  Such a happy place.

As it shapes up further, more pictures to come. . .

What a productive weekend. . . it helped that I took Friday off.  But I made loads of things, cleaned my office, tidied the house and generally cleaned, and even had a little time to make a helpful thing for myself (and to beat the gentleman in my life at Scrabble. . . plus lots of snoggling with the wee dog).  I know!  None of this sounds terribly exciting, but it is.  The new tidiness of the house will relax me for the rest of the week and I reclaimed much needed open space on my desk for work once again!

Here's the little thing I made for myself.  

My headphones are constantly getting knotted  and attached to pens or wrapped around things in my bag.  

Well, no more!  This little stuff sack is going to help keep my bag organized.

E is for Elephant

This is the first time I've made a big elephant.  I've made fingerpuppet elephants before, but never doll sized.  I love him and he was fun to work on. . . as he became more and more elephanty.

B is for Bunny

naked bunny

Come On!

This is ridiculous.  This is what the man and I woke up to this morning:

It's Spring, but Chicago clearly hasn't gotten the message.

Ringcatchers

I have made a few new ringcatchers. . . inspired by some new wool and what I hope is the impending Spring (though, a high of 30 today and threats of snow.  blurg.).  I plan to make a few more this weekend and then to slowly get them posted up on Etsy and Poppytalk.  

My favorite view of these fluffy wonders is always the bottom side and while they can hold things, I'm wondering if they might not also be lovely wall hangings?

I'm also cranking out buddies, too--a new little bunny and a very new project I've never done before.  Soon as he's done, I will post a new picture.  In the meantime, here's the new bunny:

"Hey Mr. Woodlander"

Another fabulous grouping of multiples on Etsy in astulabee's shop. . . but this one doesn't help with office inspiration.  It's all about cute and lovely and proof that if one of a thing is cute, many of those things together are unbearably cute.  Meet the Woodlanders:

Cat and Mouse

Check these little guys out.  I found them a few days ago on Etsy and had to post them.  Cat and Mouse buddies from Felicitate88.  They're so cute and illustrate-y (even in 3-D) that they make me want to write children's books about them. . . meh, the cuteness. . . is. . . hard. . . to. . . resist.

Another Ringcatcher Day

The ringcatchers I make are certainly useful--at holding things and keeping things tidy (wish I could design one that would keep my big desk neat!)--but for me they're just a chance to play with color.  Sometimes I think I'm a colorist. . . that's where my real interest lies.

Come on, Spring!

Windy and blustery today in Chicago.  Enough already!  I am ready to ditch my coats.  I want to eat dinner outside and have a 3/4 sleeve cardigan be enough of a layer to be comfortable.  I want to stop having to wear socks and closed toe shoes. (As I write this, I'm realizing much of my anxiousness for Spring is attire-related.  How weird.)

So, for the meantime, I'm relying heavily on the Internet for Spring excitement.  Finding cute spring-inspired things, browsing online seed catalogs (the best!) and checking out other towns' weather--Savannah, Raleigh, Tempe, or any old place that has better, warmer news than Chicago does currently.

Tonight, I found these little guys.  Even all of this cold weather can't impeach the unbearadorableness of these boys from missyandme's etsy shop.  Harry and Phillip.  Named for the princes perhaps?  There story doesn't bear that out, but I'm imagining their cheepings with a British lilt anyway.

The real kicker?  Look at their adorable back parts!

La Pasa

Oh boy. How I love luchadores.

In honor of that love, meet La Pasa (The Raisin):


And how.

Tara Donovan

While in Cincy, I also got to see an amazing show at the CAC with my auntie Marcia and my buddy Jeff--Tara Donovan. And the perfect person for me to see right now while I'm entirely caught up in studying and being inspired by multiples. There's no way to do any justice to Ms. Donovan's work without seeing it in person--but she uses lots of very simple household items to create huge organic forms that play and change with light. It's amazing, but you can't get pictures of it or postcards. . . I mean, you can, but the show is so ethereal, so changeable depending on what light and what angle you're seeing it from. Much of her work seems to glow within and it just looks static and flat in photographs.

Here's my attempt to take a photo--this one is made of layered plastic cups joined together and suspended from the ceiling in the foyer of the CAC. But everyone should try to see her work in person!

Cincinnati

Went home to Cincinnati this weekend on a business trip.  Got to see the family and got to be jealous (per usual this time of year) that they are already getting Spring--magnolias and daffodils in bloom, green green grass everywhere, tiny green leaves on everything.  grrrr.  All I can claim so far is tiny chives starting to pop up.

More Multiples

Salon style hangings delight me and I'm trying that out in my studio at home. . . Looking for inspiration everywhere and love this other example I found on Etsy from ashleyg.

Plus pieces like this are a big help in developing an eclectic presentation.  The husband and I frame almost all of our art in black wooden frames.  But a whole wall of nothing but black rectangles surrounding art?  blurg.  boring.  So, It's important to break things up with other shapes and other framing devices. . . 

New Critter

Bernardo!

I can't stop making these striped cuties. . . so I'm forcing myself to concentrate on a few luchadores next.

The undeniable draw of sets and multiples

I have been trying hard to tidy my office and keep it that way.  So far, it's not going well.  It seems counter to my nature.  I love the broad expanse of open clean desk, but usually fill it within days with loads of yarn and fabric and piles of schtuff.

But I want my office to be cooler, too.  I want it to cross the line between office and studio.  I want people to walk into it and say, "oh gosh, you're studio is cool."  Sure, I want the compliment, but I want the most important word in that sentence is "studio."  Why should it even matter?  What people think?  When it gets done-er, I will share pictures here.

In the meantime, I'm dressing my walls salon style.  Loads of art all smooshed together.  And there are a few folks on Etsy who have been inspiring me in that endeavor.  Mummysam (who I am sharing Poppytalk Handmade with right now. . . so flattering to be in such great company!) :

and Neawear's amazing wall wear:

I love pretty/quirky sets of things for walls right now. . . especially if everything is a different size and shape.  Urging towards eclectic these days. . . 

Creepy Cute

I should have posted about foliage's etsy shop a few weeks ago. I threw a baby shower and ordered a whole big batch of these for the food table centerpiece. . . and then as a takeaway at the end of the party.

They are the perfect mix of cute creepy and they were a big hit. Thanks, foliage!

Willis Tower

So, the Sears Tower is going to be renamed "Willis Tower." No one in Chicago is taking that very seriously (except maybe Sears and Willis). And a few generations of people are probably going to have die out before anyone starts calling it that. . . though, terrible news for the souvenir vendors on Michigan who are going to have replace all of their stock.

The name change is prompting a bunch of jokes in the city, though, which is fun. A number of the hipster set are hoping that the name change is in honor of deceased Chicago musician/personality Wesley Willis--A mainstay of Chicago who used to like greet people with a headbutt.

But mostly, it's prompted "Different Strokes" jokes. . . like in this great wheat paste graffiti. Willis may be rethinking this change? Certainly, most everyone I know is still referring to the new Macy's on State Street as "Marshall Fields."  So, the switch to Willis Tower will undoubtedly take a while.


Names and history are important to us here. . .

Spring is coming

Magnolia bud and apple tree bud (the apple is one of the "five trees")--starting to fatten up for the coming spring. I'm wearing a turtleneck wool sweater today. . . but the trees in the backyard are helping to keep hope alive. Magic.

Handmade Market

I'm showing in the Poppytalk Handmade Market--the Green Pop! market--eco/Easter/Spring/Green inspired.  Pretty great!

Check out the other great people in the market.  Really great stuff and flattering to be in their company!

Bunny!

Here's the newest, rocking a poncho and neckerchief. More to come, undoubtedly.

and I love this profile shot. It's so serious and portrait-y.

Day Light Savings Time

I know that DLST has been (and still is, in some parts) embroiled in contentious arguments since its many inceptions (and abolishments and re-inceptions), but I love it. Every year, just as the cabin fever is about to pounce, Day Light Saving Time hits and everything starts looking up. It's not dark when I leave work. It means spring is right around the corner.

And it's inspiring me to make happy, bright colored friends. (Plus we're closing in on easter and bunnies are starting to roll off the crochet hook).

Karen's Shower

Threw a baby shower today for my buddy Karen.  Her mother was here--and she is incredibly nice, but mothers in the room always make me feel pressured.  Everything has to be perfect if a mother is in the room . . . and turned out pretty well!

 

Someone being funny with the cookies and the baby hand soaps.

The spread at the party. Yummy.

The little dress and bloomers I made for the impending bebe.

Kingston

Fresh off the crochet hook and named by my buddy, Tim.

Tidying

This is my favorite word of late, in all of its variations except for "tidiness" which for some reason feels less like something to aspire to and more like an imposition by someone else. Why? But I want to be a tidier person. I want to throw things away and square things up and I want to look into my office at home and say to it, "oh, how tidy you are, little office."

P.L.P.

Tidying up my computer's innards today and came across this picture of our boy LP when husband and I first lived on the second floor of a three flat in Lincoln Square. So much salt on the sidewalks that the wee LP couldn't hack walks without booties. But caught him with a flash and he turned into an alien pup. . . a pup with magic powers.

Another Etsy Find

This is so cute, I don't even know what do with this. A wee chick with tiny headkerchief in an angry Homer-esque sea? I don't know whether I want to save her or just jump in the boat and snoggle her. Ridiculous. Check her out and take a gander at all of the other redokulously cute paintings in amberalexander's shop.

Tabula Rasa Dolls

This new plan is shaping up. The idea is to make pretty plain dolls that are human-ish in form, that can then be dressed up to be anything a person might like. I plan to offer two possibilities with each doll-- a sedate and traditional day-job choice (like fisherman, secretary, systems analyst, farmer, construction worker, middle manager) and an exciting "by night" choice (like performer in Carnivale, pirate, ninja, luchador).

My first T.R. doll is going to be a fisherman (I think) and a Luchador ( I know). . . going by the name of La Leche! because nothing could be cuter or more benign than being called "The Milk!" But he will still, of course, be muy macho!

Here he is in luchador mask. Cape and possible sequins, plus alternate outfit coming soon!

ringcatcher sunday

New Tack

So, I'm thinking about trying something newish. For my last 'pillar/rider combo, the rider made me very very happy. I liked his simplicity and the ability to dress him. And I'm thinking about making a "tabula rasa" set of people-ish dolls that I can gussy up in fun ways.

Here's my first t.r. What will he become?

Politics and ringcatchers

Every Sunday morning, I spend the whole morning making things and listening to all of the political shows--Meet the Press (blurg/Gregory. . . I miss Russert!!!!), This Week, Face the Nation (though we can't get CBS's digital signal, so not for much longer), and sometimes just to hear a whole heap of crazy, I will listen to the wingnut panel on Fox's morning show.

This is like my version of church (though few church goers probably talk back to their reverends the way I snipe at the TV). I hate missing it. And the husband is very generous in his understanding of this. Sometimes he joins me and works on computery-things while watching/listening. Sometimes he close the door between the two halves of the house and wants nothing to do with it. I respect both approaches and am eternally grateful that he doesn't try to talk me into brunch or something during the shows.

This morning I am going to make ringcatchers with Rahm Emmanuel.

Rachal Duggan Tribute

So, clearly I am a big fan of the illustration for Columbia's Manifest print piece. I've also seen the designs for the t-shirts. . . I think the senior T-shirt has one of the strange Duggan ladies, covered in a leaf pattern carrying a log. It's incredibly weird and incredibly beautiful and somehow I will find a way to get one, despite not being a graduating senior.

But one of the things I also love about Rachal Duggan's Manifest work is the simplicity of the design. Really easy shapes to make into three dimensional objects and if Rachal agrees, i think we need to make these little critters into a 3-dimensional presence, all over campus, on the actual day. To prove my point, I have made a 3-D version of one of the little guys from the postcard as a gift for Rachal.

Butternut Squash Soup

Last night, I

decided not to fight against the cold weather anymore. We're still in the thick of winter and there's nothing I can do about it.

And I have had a Butternut squash in the pantry since the last farmer's market in late September of last year. Ah, the wonder of root vegetables and gourds.

So, I cut that bad boy up and then made a pretty fabulous creamy squash soup without using a recipe. Lots of ginger and paprika. . . some bacon (because seriously? if you start with bacon, you can't go wrong after that). And partnered with a yummy mixed greens, blue cheese, vinagrettey salad. . . that just might have included candied walnuts.

It tasted like winter food and it was yummy and waking to snow this morning was a little less sad.