Archive for September, 2009

I made prints. As Dr. Cox from Scrubs would say, fah-HINEally.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

The title pretty much covers it right there. I finally made nice clean prints of my sloth and giraffe. They totally lent themselves to 11 x 17″ paper, so I found a good printer and I printed them and now they’re printed. And I will be selling them. Take a looky-look.

both giraffe1 giraffe2 sloth1 sloth2

The internet has neato things. I feel the need to share them with you.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

1. I visit CuteOverload every day for my daily dose of cuddly happiness, and it appears to have spawned a similar site, totally devoted to cute food. How marvelous. It’s called EpiCute, and I have posted some of my favorites.

2877461620_d7e970e749 cute-food-bird-house cute-food-coffee-1 cute-food-cupcake-with-toppers cute-food-happy-new-year cute-food-japanese-bean-paste cute-food-latte-bear cute-food-marzipan-figure-2

Did you see that gingerbread house with the red birds? OMG, that is so very awesome.

2. There’s an artist/graphic designer who goes by the name Lunchbreath. He designs some really stellar infographics and charts. Some of them have rough language, but they are very clever and very funny and you need to see them. Right now, in fact. He also has terrific handwriting, very distinctive and charming. Here’s his flickr stream where you can peruse his entire graphic collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchbreath/

3788123322_537d8e1007 3738355360_302a42292b 3722558761_48a15c804e 3242226073_cd05efde00 3313734804_00d71a3b69 3340028215_0370283ff5

Pits n’ Beices.

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

1. I have been getting a great deal of positive feedback on my new purse with the bird and the branches on it, so I think I’m going to make a few to sell. Look for them in the coming weeks. Reminder: it looks like this:

turtledove-purse bird-purse-small

2. You know you’re a word nerd when you see this poster, and not only do you not gloss over it, but you want to print it out and hang it on the wall for reference.

tumblr_kpyttiNcn11qzrip0o1_500

3. More infographics! Hooray! I love a good infographic.

st_infoporn1_w 4 1285147549_c673964229 info421

Linky-links.

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been working on exciting SUPER SECRET work stuff, but I didn’t want to leave you without any posts, so here are some links that bring me joy. Perhaps they shall bring some to you too.

http://lovelylisting.com/
The listings aren’t anything so very special, but the woman who writes for the site has maybe the best comments ever. And you get to meet her mascot, Chair. Because of this website, now when I see those plastic white patio chairs, I say hello. This website is to blame for me greeting non-alive lawn furniture.

http://peopleofwalmart.com/
It’s the people that procure their goods at Walmart. But not the regular shoppers, no, no. These are the special shoppers.

http://probablybadnews.com/
News FAIL. Truly glorious.

All you need to know about me you can learn from my “flair” wall on Facebook.

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Y’all familiar with T.G.I. Friday’s and the wearing of the flair on the suspenders? If not, go rent the movie Office Space right now. Are you back? Good. Okay, Facebook has an app with a gazillion and one little flair pins you can put on your page and I am addicted right now. Here’s mine:

flair

I recommend everyone go out and make one right now, because they are a hoot.

flair-chart

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I like them very much. However, my mother, who was brought up on fine Belgian chocolates, was horrified the time I made her eat one. “The chocolate is SALTY!” she said, appalled.

2. A cutie-patootie wild bunny shaking his little paws off before he goes through his little bunny face-washing routine. It looks like he’s clapping. Yay bunny!

3. “Step aside and let the man go through.” Soul Coughing lyrics. The band has dissolved, much to my dismay, but I listened to them a ton in college. Aside from being great, they made me feel edgy and kind of hip. Which anyone who knows me knows I am NOT.

4. Patton Oswalt’s cover to his album Werewolves and Lollipops. He’s my most favorite comedian in the whole wide world. I darest not quote my most favoritest bits for you because they are filthy, but trust me, he’s terrif.

5. Best Week Ever. A show on VH1. I think it might be cancelled (more dismay), but maybe not. The website is still alive and kickin’. http://www.bestweekever.tv/

6. Scrubs. 1/2 hour sitcom. Eight seasons. Now over. I still watch the reruns religiously.

7. A hamster attempting to shove an entire baby carrot in his mouth. And failing. But not at being cute!

8. Sweeney Todd. I freakin’ love this musical. It’s not really a musical, since they sing almost the whole time, making it more of an opera. See the Broadway taping for the real Broadway version, or see the Johnny Depp version for an excellent movie interpretation.

9. Epic Fail. A website of FAIL. Experience the FAIL: http://failblog.org/

10. A disgruntled cat wearing a wig made from a grapefruit or a pomelo. I don’t really feel I have to explain this one.

11. I seem to have decided 11 is not a number I feel like using. Instead of rebuilding this whole chart again, we’re going to pretend that this never happened.

12. House. My favorite primetime show right now. It’s the only show I actively look forward to. Yes, yes, I know the medical stuff is a big load of malarky, but the dialogue is so clever, how can I resist?

13. I Can Haz Cheezburger? A website I have mentioned on many an occasion. Cats. With misspelled anthropomorphic quotes under them. http://icanhascheezburger.com/

14. Wicked. Another great Broadway show. I got teary-eyed and goosebumps during that show, and I am cold and dead inside, so that takes work. The sets were good, the songs were good, the acting was good, the costumes were good, everything kicked butt.

15. Pepe the King Prawn. He’s my favorite Muppet, which is unusual, since he was created long after the glory days of Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and I tend to be an old-school Muppet fan. But when I saw Muppets from Space, I was sold. He makes that movie.

16. An amigurumi dinosaur. I heart crocheted little figures.

17. Manhattan at night with a view of the Empire State Building. I love New York and I work right next to the Empire State Building, so it seemed like a great choice.

18. Firefly. Oh, I’m still bitter about this. A REALLY FREAKIN’ EXCELLENT TV SHOW that was CANCELLED AFTER ONE SEASON because PEOPLE SUCK. Bitter bitter bitter.

19. “I speak whale!” A quote from Finding Nemo. This is my favorite Pixar film, and when Dori (this character, voiced by Ellen Degeneres) says this, the part where I laughed so hard I started wheezing came shortly after (it’s when she attempts to speak whale).

20. Ugly Dolls. The first real indie softie/plushies to hit the market recently and take off like wildfire. You can find them at the Ricky’s makeup store, as well as a ton of other places. My favorite is Icebat.

21. “Just bead it.” I like beads. I like the Cooper font. I like Michael Jackson’s music. It all came together.

22. Anthropomorphized onigiri. Onigiri are Japanese rice balls, covered with seaweed and often containing delightful treats, like spicy cod roe or pickled plums. They are deee-licious.

23. Dirty Jobs. I love this show. I love Mike Rowe. I especially love that Smell-O-Vision has never been installed on my television, because New York streets covered with garbage in the summer are bad enough, I don’t think I could handle the funky stankiness Mike Rowe brings to us. And sometimes Mike Rowe takes off his shirt, and then we all win!

24. The cover of The Darkness album. I… really don’t know how to describe this band, or how much I adore their music, so I’ll just link to their mildly famous video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU

25. Delicatessen. My favorite foreign film. It’s by the same guys who did Amelie. It’s weird and dark, but exquisitely executed. A great many people like their second film The City of Lost Children better, but I like this one bestest.

26. Avenue Q. I think this is a super-swell musical. The puppeteering is excellent, and the tender moments are actually tender. And all the songs are phenomenal.

27. A neat-o pattern with lots of color and owls. Very 1960s. If I could find it in a fabric pattern, I would totally cover my computer chair with it.

28. “I’d verb her noun.” Oh dear. I say this kind of thing all the time. I was once in the office and the accountant came up to me and said, “We need to overlay these purchase orders,” and I said, “I’d like to overlay your purchase orders! Whoo hoo baby!” It was an awkward moment.

29. Best Week Ever. I think they have a great logo, so I put on my board twice in two iterations.

30. Oooh, a bunny stealing a cookie. Naughty bunny! But very cute.

31. The famous “I heart NY” logo, but with pigeons pooping on it. I love the logo and I love pigeons. It’s like two great tastes that taste great together! But with bird poop.

32. THE SCARIEST CAPPUCCINO ART EVER. I still get chills when I look at that foam demon.

33. Opus the Penguin from Bloom County. He has captured the essence of pathos for me. Also, I share all his physical attributes, so I feel a tenderness towards him.

34. Awww, cute little bebbeh ducky. It’s fuzzy and it quacks!

35. Stains the Dog from The Soup. The Soup is a show in the E! network which recaps the best in crappy TV for the week so you don’t have to watch it yourself (thank you, The Soup). I will link to the video of Stains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TyJ6tSPBck

36. House again. I love that show. Can’t get enough. Clearly, since I have two buttons.

37. HypnoToad. This a character from Futurama. He’s a toad that has the powers of mind control, and for some reason every time he’s on screen I crack up. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVYjRbZMe0

38. “Praise Jebus!” The fact that Homer Simpson can’t or won’t say Jesus amuses me no end.

39. Mika’s album cover. Mika is a really swell singer, a combination of Freddy Mercury, Prince, Michael Jackson and a few others. He’s worth checking out.

40. Chocolate chip cookie. Enough said.

41. Assassins. Maybe my favorite Broadway show. It came out originally during the reign of Bush the Elder and since it’s about people who tried (and the four who succeeded) in assassinating American presidents, Bush, Sr. had it shut down after only 12 performances. If he had seen it, he would have realized that the show’s message is, “If you kill a president, nothing really changes. You don’t become a hero. The country goes on as it was.” Luckily, the show was brought back recently and I got to see it three times. So worth it.

42. Another Soul Coughing pin. Great logo.

43. XKCD. It’s a web comic. Very clever, very science-oriented. This particular comic referenced in this pin is a chart explaining that the closer you get to a cat, the dumber the stuff that comes out of your mouth. Ergo, standing in front of a cat saying, “You’re a kitty!”

44. “Peanut Butter Jelly Time!” Internet meme. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ZAGBL6UBA Family Guy did a thing on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1rSm2MDM4

45. “I can’t hear you over the sound of my awesomeness.” I think that’s fairly self-explanatory as well.

46. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. If you haven’t seen it, go see it now. NOW. http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

47. Dave Matthews Band. Oh, I love that stupid band. I know they’re a college band for stoners or whatever, but they’re great, and their new album is great.

48. Photobombing Squirrel. http://cuteoverload.com/2009/08/10/this-is-photobomb/

49. Little Miyazaki figures. I know I said I’m not talking to Miyazaki anymore, ever since the Ponyo incident, but the man does cute little Asian characters like nobody else, so I have included him. But I’m still not talking to him.

It’s new purse time!

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Ah, the time has come, as it does every eight months or so, when my purse gives up the battle to keep all my pointy possessions in check and it starts to look a little worse for wear. I spent a small portion of this long weekend painting a new purse for myself. I liked the turtledoves that I put on my mom’s protea purse (quick review):

So I decided to make a purse for myself with that on it, along with a swirly happy abstract branch. And some leaves. And also some blue sparkles. I’m very happy with the final product.

turtledove-purse

And I finished photographing all my recent bracelets. Much was accomplished this last weekend of summer. Hurrah for productivity!

bracelet-montage

My camera is emo.

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Okay, I have a new camera, since the old camera decided to commit seppuku and stop taking pictures. Today I took pictures of my latest bracelets to put in my store (it’s a-comin’!), so I set up my little studio in my bedroom with my nice sheet of silvery paper and my bright color-corrected lamp, and… most of the pictures sucked. Either it was too dark (for no discernible reason, look at the silvery paper and note the light is directly in the middle of the bracelet):

toodark

Or it was blurry (also no discernible reason), or sometimes it felt like CHRISTMAS and it was both blurry and dark:

tooblurryanddark

Can I just point out that the bracelet above is covered with light grey swarovski crystals? It should be light and happy and sparkly. It looks like something Robert Smith would wear on one of his gloomier days. So I decided the only solution would be to go outside and take pictures in the bright sunlight. Take that, camera! Try to make my pictures look dim when they are bathed in the light coming from a giant flaming planet in the sky! Ha ha ha!

Long story short, the pictures looked much better.

toonothing

Polymer clay.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I haven’t written anything in the last week because nothing particularly interesting has happened, but I am friends with the International Polymer Clay Association on Teh FaceBukk. They just announced their big conference (Synergy 2010), and it reminded me how amazing polymer clay is. When most people think of polymer clay, they think of childlike sculptures and millefiore beads on hemp bracelets. Which is fine, but polymer clay is much more than just that. It is so versatile and so under-appreciated as a medium. You can shape it by hand or use tools. Then you can bake it and sand it and carve it like a carving block, then add more clay and bake it again. It comes in a gazillion colors and there is a clear version. You can make a piece and then make a mold of that shape and then make all kinds of mass-produced pieces. It can resemble a myriad of other materials: semi-precious stones and dichroic glass, bone, stained glass, enamel, wood, raku, metals – almost anything you could imagine. However, it is a perfect mirror of the artist’s level of skill: if you are a poor artist, you will make poor pieces; if you are a phenomenal artist, you will make truly amazing pieces. Here are a few of the more stunning examples I found on the internet and in a book I have called 400 Polymer Clay Designs.

cocoon dichroic-bracelet drippy-pendant dustin_hibiscus-375x251 fish-pin lascaux-horses main maple-leaf-bead

And if anyone wants to join me, I’m going to go to this polymer convention. Gonna learn new stuff, meet nice people.