Lauren's Projects and Musings

little pieces of paris

2009-09-18T14:27:00.005-05:00

i was looking up pin-up girls for the altered pin-up girls swap on AM. i came across this picture of betty page and i think it's hysterical!

these are for an inchie swap with theme of Paris. i made the houses/buildings out of paper from a french textbook. the background are from some paper i got that looks like wallpaper. then i added layers of pastels and watercolors for the buildings and edges. then i painted on the Eiffel towers with acrylic paints. i wanted them to look like film slides from some dreamy movie about Paris.

on AFA, were doing a pick-a-theme postcard swap and one of my swap buddies chose "monochromatic nudes" i came up with this skewed-boob chick based on a painting by Michael Parkes. the nude portion is done in all aquas and lime pastels and some acrylic.

charms, skulls, and windmills

2009-09-16T12:39:00.005-05:00

my friend amy on AM and AFA is hosting a "found poetry" swap. the idea is to pick out words from something written and transform them into poetry. about 4 months ago i came across a rural yearbook at the thrift store from 1979. i have cut most of the pictures out of it and was excited to actually use the words. so the "poems" i wrote still sort of have that western, rural feel to them.

this is my promised second set of Day of the Dead cards. these are all down in pastels and acrylics on bright blue and orange card stock. they're a little muted in this scan, but oh well.

i woke up on saturday and wanted to work on something. as i was perusing the AFA threads in search of things i needed to work on or would want to, i came across a charm swap. i've got a box of beads and bangles that i need to go through, so i figured "what the hell?". i made these charms by layering large sequins on a jump ring and then adding a bead and charm that said "inspire" on another. i really liked how they turned out and i'm looking forward to making more in future swaps!

yaaaaawwwwnnn

2009-09-08T13:08:00.007-05:00

on AM, my friend Wanda is heading up a new monthly challenge series where we have to either copy, imitate, or tweak a master artist's work. this month is Andy Warhol and i decided to do one of his famous people prints. i was going to copy is "john wayne" but instead i ended up tweaking it because it looks nothing like john wayne.

mine:

warhol's:

uncanny, right?

also, i finally finished my page for the Steampunk Round Robin journal swap i'm in! nick and i were in new orleans on friday for a friend's birthday and needed to kill some time. we went into their barnes and noble and found lots of old books on sale. it seems like a lot of their libraries donate books to them, but whatever happens i was able to score a wonderful book about the 1910s and 1920s and it had loads of photos. i love cheap books with lots of black and whites! so this page is for LandOfNOd's journal:

another monthly challenge on AM is the birds challenge. this month it's an ATC sized piece featuring a peacock. i did a watercolor background and drew the peacock and tree in pencil and pen. it's pretty simple, but i might add some more oompf to it when i get home today.

stuff i've been working on

2009-09-04T10:08:00.008-05:00

this is basically going to be a post for me to place pictures of everything i've been working on.

3 zentangles made for the August challenge. i'm not really sure if i follow the rules to zentangles because i make a design/pattern instead of just doodling. oh well!

on AFA, we're working on making an inspirational tag book - basically, everyone submits 13 tags and the hostess is going to make a flag book from them. this is the process she's following i do not envy her having to make so many books! bellow is part of my sets of flags. i'll post pictures of my book when it comes in!

on AM i'm a part of circle journal with a nature theme. this is my first journal swap ever and i'm really excited. this is the first page i've made for it and it's going to my friend Corrie. she requested her pages be 4" x 4" with some chunky things on the right side. i used a couple of things i received in the prize package i received for winning the july art contest. on the back side, i drew some stylized waves and added a hint of color to them.

my friend kati on AFA is doing a part II chunky bird swap, the original swap was held over on AM. i think i made 4 or 5 birds for that swap and i've made 8 for this swap. i can't wait to see the returns i get and then turn my entire set into a garland or a mobile.

Bird Set 2

Day of the Dead ATCs for A.M. - be on the look out for another set for AFA. i can't resist a Day of the Dead swap!

Butterfly Inchies for A.M.

it's an alien! it's a slug! it's my niece/nephew!

2009-08-12T11:50:00.002-05:00

my brother and his wife are expecting a baby. he sent me the first sonogram yesterday!!! nick's sister had her second girl last wednesday, making him an uncle twice over. nick is hoping to have a nephew at some point in time. my brother wants boys for now. so here's hoping this little one comes with the right set of parts. :)

postcards postcards postcards

2009-08-12T11:38:00.007-05:00

over on amusing muses we had a postcard-a-thon. so from July 31st to Aug 2 we had to make as many postcards as we could with the theme of wings. i made 3 total:

lately, i've been creating basis for my work. normally, i'll draw what i want to do and then paint from there. but i've been experimenting with just drop dots of paint on the paper and smearing it with a piece of cardstock. then i base my image around this. it's a little more organic and adds some depth.

here's some more postcards i made over this past weekend:

k is for koala.

august challenge using the word "map".

thursday trade off using the word "snail"

Matroyshka Doll

2009-07-30T09:01:00.002-05:00

so over on amusing muses, i'm hosting my very first swap. i really like the swaps with shapes so i've been racking my brain trying to think of one. then i thought of russian nesting dolls, Matroyshka Dolls. so i decided to do a chunky book with this idea. each artist will make five dolls in different sizes. then when i receive them, i'll swap them back out and everyone will receive a different doll for the 5 different sizes. in order to get people that were on the fence to come on over, i made the largest of my 5. she's made with 140lb water color paper, banana tissue paper, text from a floral book, prisma colors, chalk, pastels, ink, and some brass metallic paint. i'm thrilled with how she turned out!

and some other stuff

2009-07-28T13:19:00.003-05:00

some random bits for challenges:

a ring leader for the July ATC hand drawn challenge:
prismacolors and sumi ink

a postcard for the Edgar and Nevermore swap:
acrylics, pastels, and a salvaged Poe stamp from this year

1" x 1" pieces

2009-07-28T13:09:00.006-05:00

so i've signed on for numerous inchies lately. why? i have no idea. i like making as much detail in as small of a space as a possible (did that sentence make sense?). i'm trying to get a large enough collection together that i can frame them. here's the ones i've been working on:

Day of the Dead:
made from gold paint, ink, and lots of glitter

Monochromatic Reds:
paints, inks, prismacolors, pink staples, and red light gels

Swamp Houses for the House Swap:
acrylics, silver paint, scrap paper

Monochromatic Greens:
vintage european stamps, acrylics, and glitter

July contest

2009-07-24T14:30:00.005-05:00

for the amusing muses July contest, i felt like doing a little space-themed doll. the purple bead attached on the bottom represents the planet/not a planet Pluto. :) every month they put out a new challenge (see my cyclops bunny from May). for this challenge we were given a template with the goddess body shape, a pair of wings, and a mermaid tail. we could use any of the shapes however we felt. i cut out the main body and debated what to do. then i thought: blue. so i painted her as the star field and then cut out and painted all the planets. there's a small bit of craft foamy stuff in between the body and the planets, this way they stand out some. i went over everything and painted gold paint along the body and some detail on the planets. i hate that using a higher resolution on the scanner causes my computer to shut down. 300 just doesn't do it any justice. :(

Doll Babies

2009-07-08T14:35:00.005-05:00

last night i finally got pictures of my art dolls. they are all crafted from random bits found around my house and work table. here we go:

Pill Baby

Swatch Baby

RAM Dancer

Stillwell Baby

and for good measure, a random Frida postcard i made today using pencil, ink, and crayons.

mmm... beef

2009-07-07T14:49:00.002-05:00

last night, nick and i came up with our weekly menu. what we pretty much do is go online and research recipes on food network based on our favorites: ina garten, paula dean, and bobby flay. then we figure out what we have at the house and build a grocery list around what we don't have. pretty simple. it saves us money and we both really enjoy cooking.

lately, i've been making things that haven't been so great. nick's liked them, but not me. so last night i decided i wasn't going to make something crappy and i pulled out paula dean's beef stroganoff recipe. damn. it was really really good.

here it is:

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 pounds cubed round steak, cut into thin strips
* House Seasoning, recipe follows
* All-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can beef broth
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
* Salt and black pepper
* 1 cup sour cream
* Cooked egg noodles

Directions

Season the steak strips with House Seasoning, then dust with flour. In a large skillet, quickly brown them on both sides in the olive oil and butter. Remove the steak from the pan. Add the onion slices and mushrooms to the pan drippings. Saute for a few minutes, until the onion is tender. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour. Put the steak back into the pan with the onion and mushrooms. Add the mushroom soup and beef broth. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, covered. Adjust seasoning to taste, adding salt and pepper, as needed. Stir in the sour cream the last few minutes, right before you serve. Serve over cooked noodles.
House Seasoning:

* 1 cup salt
* 1/4 cup black pepper
* 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix the ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Yields: 1 1/2 cups

blah monday

2009-07-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

i spent my monday at work making this. now my hand hurts.

brain yoga

2009-07-02T12:19:00.003-05:00

so today has become the unofficial Doodle Day! in celebration i drew up some Zentangles. now i think it's a bit taboo to refer to them as doodles, but i'm not sure. supposedly they're just supposed to help relax and refocus the brain (aka brain yoga). so here's what i made up today:

i am bit bummed about my scanner. the backgrounds are actually colored in with yellow highlighter - so in real life, these things are super bright and there's a lot of contrast. the bulb card actually looks like some sort of mod fabric. i wish it was because i'd make a skirt out of it.

orange!

2009-07-01T13:29:00.002-05:00

today i felt like making 1" x 1" orange flowers. why? who knows these things.

busy busy busy

2009-06-26T08:17:00.006-05:00

last night, we were supposed to watch Gran Torino because we rented it a week ago. but, in our own defense, the college world series did take up monday, tuesday, and wednesday nights. plus, the kickball all-star game thrown in for good measure. yesterday afternoon, i started working on my cards for the What's My Style challenge on AFA. this challenge consisted of being put in a group and then you have to duplicate them. it's really hard, like going shopping for a gift only to realize you've started shopping for what you'd like. so here's my group's cards:

from top left to bottom right, AFA users - Camcas, Katilady, Original Youth, and Amyfaerie.

also, last night i finished my Frankenstein card that i promised to AFA user: Coop. he's creating a giant collection of atcs featuring the classic monster. his gallery is here: http://apatchworkofflesh.blogspot.com/ . in return, i am getting a super awesome jimi hendrix ala day of the dead card!!!! here's frank:

he's made from acrylics, image transfer, and embroidery thread.

last night, i also worked on a PIF skeleton chunkie page that i was supposed to send out ages ago. it got lost in the shuffle of packing and moving, but it's all sealed in an envelope and i forgot to scan it. :( oh well.

tonight i am finishing the rest of my What's My Style? cards for the hand drawn/hand painted group. i've got one down and three to do.

the rest of the weekend includes softball practice, a birthday party, and a softball triple header. it's going to be a hot one!

some stuff

2009-06-25T11:24:00.005-05:00

i finally figured out what to do with my magician from an earlier post. i'll make him my letter G postcard!!! taahah!

also, this morning i worked on my green, black, and white inchies. naturally, my scanner has dulled them, but really they've got a lot of lime green going on because they were colored with a blue and yellow highlighter. i went in with a green crayon to shade and dull them a bit.

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i've always wanted a succulent garden or at least just a center piece. i'm thinking that saturday morning might be a good time to go to the nursery and pick up some plants. i'd also like to plant an herb garden, as well. one of the big "must haves" for me and a house is a place for me to garden. which if nick and i buy my aunt and uncle's house - that would be taken care of. she has a wonderful and perfect sized greenhouse. right now the only plant i have is the orchid that nick got me for our anniversary. it's doing well and i've managed to keep it alive for almost a month now! only there are no more buds and i don't think it's going to produce anymore. but there are five beautiful flowers on it now. i'd love a greenhouse full of them!

this is what i want:

is it too much to ask for?

Weekend Work

2009-06-15T11:18:00.004-05:00

besides the ARC skills day, a softball game, and nick's basketball game our weekend was really relaxed and slow. we had a date night on friday and went to dinner and saw UP in 3D. that movie actually made me cry. TWICE! shheesh pixar. but we napped a lot and slept in. he watched football and i made art for some swaps. the first one is for a hats/crowns inchie swap over on amusing muses. i found this book at the thrift store that's from '79 and it's got oodles of pictures of farm life and whatnot. so i made a series where i don't draw my own people, just alter what i have. and here they are:

i think they turned out fine. well, with the exception of my wonderful ability to layout things on the scanner.

next, i worked on cards for an AFA swap that i could hardly resist. hooray for loteria cards! these are more on my style compared to the inchies above.

i made a set of loteria cards about a year ago on AFA for an edward gorey swap. i took his style and his cats and turned them into loteria cards. it's actually one of my all time favorite sets that i've made. this one was my favorite out of the four:

i also got a jump on my mini atcs so expect those to be posted in the next couple of days.

it's a Frida Friday!!!

2009-06-12T09:25:00.004-05:00

over at atcsforall, i'm a part of a frida swap and it must be hand drawn/hand painted. the cards were due in her hands today. ooooooooppps!!!! so after i finished moving in all of my stuff to the boys' house, watched the last half of Big Fish, and ate dinner: i sat down in my new studio space in our bedroom. i decided to go with watercolors because i haven't used mine in ages. ages, i say. so i put on some jams and came up with this set:

also, on amusingmuses, this week just so happened to be F postcard and frida does start with an F so i kept the ball rolling and made this:

she is more detailed because the card size is bigger. i used some of my new sumi ink or her, as well. all of the fridas i made last night start off with watercolor and then i inked the details. i highlighted and low lighted using pastels and crayons. yes, i use lots of crayons. then i went in and added some gold touches to all of them to give it sort of a latino, religious guild feeling.

i know that i'm happy with pieces when i realize that i don't want to let them go. that i feel i want to make more because i'd like to keep some of these for myself. oh well.

oh! and almost right after posting my fridas on AFA, i was asked if one of them could be used in the July ArtTrader magazine! what!? how sweet is that?

ooooooooooooo

2009-06-09T13:31:00.002-05:00

so, one time in a pinch i screened a shirt for the Red Stick Roller Derby and it was brass knuckles. they were knuckles with RSRD written in Old English in the finger holes. ever since then, i've had an affinity for brass knuckles - i have no idea why. so what did i see today? this:

i think this soap is the shit. of course, it makes no sense because after a couple of uses all the thin sections will just fall apart, but i love it regardless. buuuut! you could plop these into a regular rectangular soap mold and pour new soap around it in a contrasting color. then it would be sturdy and set in to something.

Mailed Out

2009-05-29T14:04:00.004-05:00

i mailed out these items this past week along with some heart inchies and my art banner. the birds are for a chunky bird swap. turns out i didn't resize my birds well and they came out about 1/2" short from top to bottom and side to side. jeebus. so mine will just have to be the runts in the flocks people receive. i forgot to scan them or photograph them before mailing. fortunately for me, roc, the hostess, scanned them. i love it when people help other people! i also worked on my monochromatic blue inchies last night. i'm a fan of my bunny. :) i think i might have also gotten the settings right on the scanner so it picks the colors up well and doesn't fade them.

tonight is critical mass! although, one of it's main ringleaders, travis, won't be there because his roller derby girlfriend went into labor today.

tomorrow is nick and i's one year anniversary. he's making plans for it. the only plans i've made is i need to pack up my house in preparation for the move to zachary. ugh. but softball on sunday, soccer on sunday, and kickball on sunday. work and then play.

love and boxing

2009-05-28T13:24:00.002-05:00

so nick and i's one year anniversary is on saturday. we've been going over gift ideas for each other. nick asked me if i'd like a new boxing stand for my heavy bag. i know: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww!!! i've got one now under my house that is just too big and tall to put anywhere. so it's been sitting under my house unused and unloved since i moved in last september. nick knows that i miss boxing and i miss having it around. plus,i've got a horrible pavlov's dog reaction to hearing anything by rage against the machine and not having something near me that is punchable. so his gift idea was getting me something more compact that i can leave on his back porch. so today we started looking at options and whatnot. i found the dreamiest boxing set up ever! of course it was $1000. he said that that would just have to be my engagement ring. all i could think of was trying to explain to my girlfriends that my engagement ring is actually the tools i need to get back into the ring.

all of the research got me back into the boxing world of sweat enhancers, jump ropes, bloody noses, and exhaustion. but it's not just these things that i think of, but also the smells of the gym and the bags. the sense of pride and confidence, sizing up other people that are checking you out always wondering "what if ___ were to fight ___?" i miss the stupid signs about the size of the fight in the dog and "more sweat means less blood". to think i left that behind in a chapter of my life long since closed and stored away. playing roller derby had it's similarities to boxing: the smells, the egos, the physical pain. but, it was a team support and you learn to rely on the strengths of not only yourself but the other people on your team. in boxing, it's just you versus them. if you don't win, it's because you didn't win not because your jammer was having a bad night. if you won, then it's because you were the better person in the fight. period.

soooooooooo... hopefully, this weekend i'll get my bag back up!!! i'll play some rage ("with the sure shot, sure to make the body drop")!!! and get me a nice work out/tension evaporator!!!

Marvels

2009-05-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

some people are well aware of my love for the circus. not really the circus today, but the vintage circus life. the idea of traveling around in a caravan from town to town, working along side of amazing acrobats, dancers, and wonders just makes me want to create a time machine so i can do this for myself. i love the artwork and the posters that were used as advertisements to lure the everyday farming family into a dark tent to see something that they would tell people about ages to come. sometimes these things were illusions or hoaxes, playing on the unknown and the strong imagination mixed with the suspension of disbelief. today i stumbled on a website that pays homage to these wonders of nature, these "freaks" and "oddities". the author, J. Tithonus Pednaud, writes mini documentaries on the lives of the people. how the marvels they've received are strange genetic mutations and what led them to displaying themselves for profit. it's really quite fascinating. www.thehumanmarvels.com

check it out!

2009-05-19T12:03:00.000-05:00

http://justanotherhangup.blogspot.com/2009/05/may-tote-give-away-treasure-island.html

she is giving away and adorable purse made in amy butler fabrics! the window to win this purse closes tonight at midnight!

:)

2009-05-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

who doesn't want one of these?

2009-05-18T08:17:00.000-05:00

this is for a monthly challenge over at AmusingMuses. for may, we're supposed to alter a given pattern and turn it into something special. this month's challenge is a cyclops bunny. why? it just is. so i started working on him yesterday and i couldn't think of what i wanted to do. then i found a leftover mustache from the packages of them that i bought for my team on cinco de mayo. there was only one left and i saw it as an omen to create this:

he is my charming and fetching Mariachi Cyclops Bunny! who could resist a one-eyed mariachi? i know i couldn't. especially if he was singing to me while i enjoyed a fresh basket of tortilla chips. i'm somewhat tempted to make an entire band. originally he was going to have a trumpet, but nick and i decided on a guitar. and nick decided it should be left-handed. i feel that he could use a little something up near his ears, but i don't want to make him a sombrero. it might overcrowd the simplicity i'm trying to achieve. we'll see.

my magician

2009-05-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

so i drew this up earlier because i felt like drawing for the sake of drawing. i love vintage circus and vaudeville posters, mostly the men's hair from that time period. so i drew up this guy and i liked him. then i felt like he needed to be somewhere, so i gave him a rabbit, a stool, and a stage. he's pen and inked and shaded with pencil. but now i just don't know what to do with him. should i leave him just gray and off-white or give him a color or a bunch of colors? hmmmmmmmmmm.....

Fonzi

2009-05-14T09:31:00.001-05:00

every night, i try to feed the dogs before 7pm, that way before we go to sleep we can let them out so they'll sleep through the night. fonzi doesn't care for this at all. he crawls out from under the bed and jumps down on to the wood floors. then, he paces. he does this until one of us gets up and lets him out to pee around 3am. when he's done, he returns under the blankets and passes out for the rest of the night. unfortunately for me, i have a hard time falling asleep so i lay there wide-awake sending evil vibes to him under the covers. i'd ignore him if i could, but this is what he sounds like:

2009-05-11T12:03:00.000-05:00

i might hate mondays, but i love monday nights. nick and i don't have activities planned for monday nights and we generally use it to cook and hang out. so tonight i'm going to make rice pilaf and he's going to grill some seafood. i'm hoping for shrimp, but we're going to see what's good at whole foods today. so, since i've never made a rice pilaf, i did some internetting and found one that fits nick and i's taste buds. basically, anything with cumin and garlic will keep us happy.

Almond Rice Pilaf, Nick and Lauren style

2/3 c. Blue Diamond sliced almonds
3 tbsp. butter, divided
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 sm. green bell pepper, diced
1 c. long grain rice
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. chicken broth

Saute almonds in 1 tablespoon butter until golden; reserve. Saute onion and garlic in remaining 2 tablespoons butter until translucent. Add green pepper, rice, raisins, cumin and salt; saute 2 minutes. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, cook 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand covered, 5 minutes. Stir in almonds. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

weekend recap:

friday night - the baton rouge alley cat bricklayer race went off without a hitch. dennis and i hung out at north gate because that was our post. when the racers showed up, i made them come up with a haiku before giving them their brick and telling them the next spot. nick won dead fucking last and got the placecard which he was happy about because it was our most favorite out of all the ones i made. we went to chelsea's for some food and beers.

saturday - went canoeing with the third row tailgaters, angie, scott, and bobbi. angie and i were fortunate enough to ride with scott and bobbi because they were sober at 9am. we drove out past franklinton, la and just inside mississippi to canoe along the tangipahoa river, i think. angie and i paired up and it was pretty rocky from the start, but we got the hang of it my the time the 6hour journey was over. we capsized twice on our own and once when travis jumped into our boat and flipped us over. the first time was bad because we hit a tree sideways and it threw us out and i went under the boat. i was under for what felt like a lifetime, but i kept telling myself to remain calm and that i'd find the surface. scott and boo saw us flip and paddled then swam to our aid. we lost some stuff, but my rugby shirt was found and angie's vikings coozie were saved. we got home around 9 and i was pooped out.

sunday - we got to sleep in before heading to nick's parent's house for a mother's day crawfish boil and swim. we finally got molly to jump in the pool and swim, she seemed to really enjoy herself. i think a few more tries and she'll figure out she can jump from the side of the pool and not from the steps. we had coffee and lemon raspberry cheesecake and then headed home. we went out to kickball pick-up/practice and ended up playing an hour of 4on4 soccer for an hour. then we played 4on4 kickball for another hour before heading to sammy's for "family dinner".

it was a nice, fun-filled weekend that has left me sore and sunburnt. i didn't get to work on any art projects though. :(

oh, other stuff

2009-05-08T13:32:00.001-05:00

on wednesday i received my acceptance letter into the Transition to Teaching program offered by Advance Baton Rouge. i am currently accepted, but everything is still riding on the results of my PII test scores. i still have another 2 weeks before those come in. grrrrrrrrrr.... in the meantime, i have school orientation next tuesday. which means i have to miss our game against the Sloppy Joses and let emily take my place as captain. we've lost three games so far and i really hope we can win this one.

tonight, is the BR Alley Cat Bricklayer race! i'm manning the checkpoint at North Gate Tavern. i figure i'll just hide out inside the bar and wait for the little bikers to show. i've got to give them some sort of challenge before just handing them over a brick or two. i made the spoke cards last night for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Dead Fucking Last. angie took them to have copies made and get them laminated. i really hope that the copy turned out well because i wanted to scan them and save them. i hate that she took 'em while i was in the shower because i didn't get to sign them earlier because they were still wet. oh well. she didn't know any better.

this weekend holds the bike race, canoeing tomorrow, swimming/crawfish boil with nick's family for mother's day, and some kickball practice for the upcoming little rock tourney. after work today i'm going to find me a new swimsuit because mine are boring and only for lap swimming. so whooohoooo!!!

yay friday! let's get historical!

2009-05-08T13:06:00.000-05:00

musings

earlier today i was looking up pictures of dirigibles for my D postcard. i came across this website that has a wonderful collection of russian propaganda posters. i really love the colors that they used and they're all so bold. i've no clue what they say, but i'm sure it has a lot to do with socialism and communism. i'm not sure what the owner of the sites ideas or politics are because it's written in french. so i merely just copied some of my favorite posters.

the earlier ones (on the left) from around the 1918s still have that art noveau feel to them. the colors and the bold the black lines that outline the main focus of the piece. also, the thick black borders around it that also sort of melt into the picture. the font itself is straight out of an art noveau book.

then as we start getting into the cubist periods, the work gets bolder and begins to square off. the colors become more complimentary and less true-to-life. also, the artists being playing around with perspective lines and they become more exaggerated like in the one with CCCP written in the bottom right corner.

i really like the color choices going on. obviously, there's a strong use of the red, but i like a lot of the white. the images are all bold and they portray strong people which falls into their socialist view of life.

the letter C ah ah ah

2009-05-07T09:50:00.000-05:00

this is my C postcard for the swap over on amusingmuses. i hate that my scanner
just doesn't do it any color justice. it's really blue and vibrant and there's glitter on the stars
and around the border. if i change the settings on the scanner to get a higher resolution it takes
all f-in' day and then it takes even longer to try and resize it. oh well.

i know it's summer, but i'm thinking of knitting for some reason.

2009-05-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

i have actually started working on something like this, but i'm using a lion brand peacock blue yarn. this shibori felted scarf is stolen from the craftypeople blog. it's kind of sea-like, kind of polka-dotted, kind of blobby. i dig it and will someday finish the one i started.

this adorable bunny scarf was made by craftster member blackoctopi. i love the color!!!
i want to wear it and pet it.

okay. this one that i actually have made. i made this for my cousin paul for christmas this year. it's made out of two types of japanese noro wool. i absolutely loved making it! i looked online for the yarn, but it was all about $15/skein. i looked up to see if i could find it somewhere local. turns out that 1) baton rouge has a yarn shop 2) i found it there for $9/skein 3) there are way more colors and lots than i originally thought. woot. i started making me one, then stopped, and now it's 80 outside and will be until november. so i'm tooooo pressed for time to make it happen.

okay. these fish hats would take me a bajillion years to complete, buuuuuuuut i want one so bad! this is from thelma egberts over at knitty.com. AND the pattern is free! i'm just not one to work with double pointed needles, not to mention making something other than a scarf. the pattern actually calls for COUNTING! ugh. thelma has picture with her kids (?) wearing this wonderful hats. it's like mr. limpet is trying to eat their heads. here's the link for my future reference:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATTfishy.php

this is from kayte terry at craftstylish. it's just bits of ticker tape yarn and some water-soluble stabilizer. all that and a whole bunch of patience to sew a grid. i could do that. i think. the patience part, not the sewing. :)

churros

2009-05-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

i made a trial batch of churros last night and they didn't turn out all to wonderful.
i mean, nick and mike at them all, but i thought that they were heavy. i'm thinking
that this is a result of using too much butter, so i'm updating the recipe and will
try again this afternoon after work. here it is:

1 cup water
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup white flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, depending on taste

preheat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of vegetable oil in a 10 to 12 inch frying pan to 375 degrees F. in a separate dish mix the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

in a 3 qt. sauce pan add the water, brown sugar, salt, and butter and heat to a good boil. remove from the heat and add the flour. stirring in the flour will take some muscle. mix it in until well blended.

in a separate bowl, mix the eggs and vanilla together and then add this mixture to the flour mixture. stir until well blended and all the egg is completely mixed in.

fill your decorating tool (piping bag with large star tip) with the dough.

test your oil by placing a small amount of dough in it. the dough should bubble up right away or that means the oil is not hot enough and a soggy churro is on the way.

once the oil is hot enough, squeeze some dough (with decorator) into the oil about 4 inches long.

you should be able to cook 4 or 5 churros at a time. cook them about 1 minute and turn them over with a slotted spoon. cook an additional minute or two.

emove the churros with the slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel-covered plate to absorb excess grease.

while still warm, roll each churro into the dish with the sugar and cinnamon until coated.

note: i made a chocolate sauce to go with mine. i took a 4oz bar of chocolate and melted it down with 2 cups of milk and a tablespoon of cornstarch to help thicken it up. i also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

ideas for this one

2009-05-05T12:01:00.001-05:00

Over at ornamentea.com they have this TV set bezel and i keep going
back to it wanting to buy a bunch and make something
but i keep chickening out. ugh!!!! i hate it when something unique comes along and i turn
into a crafting wallflower.

ooooooooo

2009-05-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

I really really really want to make this necklace!!!
it seems like i could craft it out of black shrinky dinks and then
attach with a total of 4 jump rings.

today is cinco de mayo

2009-05-05T09:40:00.000-05:00

Projects:
i have recently joined the site amusingmuses. i was invited by a member of the AFA website and i'm so excited! the new forum is full of really talented people and new and exciting projects. they do a lot of postcards (4x6) and shapes (birds, mermaids, bunnies). my latest project is the May Contest for creating a cyclops bunny rabbit. i just got the template today and can't wait to start on it! i've also been working on an alphabet postcard series. i'll attach my A and B cards. what happens is we create one every week and are assigned someone at random to send it to like you would a postcard. so my goal is to get one of each letter and create a book at the end. i think it'll be awesome!

Musings:
today is cinco de mayo and we've got a lot of plans for tonight's kickball games. the drunk skunks will be playing against the drunk drunks! it will be me versus my boyfriend. my sister versus her boyfriend. two equally matched teams! i'm so excited! but, since it's a mexican holiday and all, emily is extremely excited about tonight's festivities and not so much the game. we're thinking of bringing out her hot dog cooker thingy (this is close to it: http://www.ginnys.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=33908&referrer=XJ1997&code=XJ1997&source=k200165&link=j27608492&sid=gc_58259585) and seeing if we can't use it for tamales. why not? i also made a trial batch of churros last night. they were pretty good. i follwed the recipe on foodnetwork's website. i'll probably try something different for tonight's game.

this passed weekend was Michael's wedding. it was really nice and i think good times were had by all. the church was beautiful! it was in the Irish Channel of New Orleans. it's actually on a street corner with two other Catholic churches: one was French, one German, and one Irish. their wedding was in the German church, St. Mary's Assumption. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60196620@N00/2451767946/ i couldn't have found a church more suited for them and their love of the Catholic faith. everything was well done and ran smoothly. i was nervous with my mom being there and all the other families, but everything seemed to move along with little turbulence.

on sunday, nick and i headed home and spent the day being lazy. i was really tired and felt sick all day, so i tried to nap here and there. then i couldn't sleep at night. oh well. we were supposed to go to the zoo, but i suggested just going home instead.

i sent out an email yesterday wondering what the status was on me and the LRCE's alternative certification program. i was told that letters were being sent out yesterday, so hopefully i'll get the letter in today. i'm nervous because i feel that i will be accepted, but it all comes down to how well i did on the praxis 2. i feel deep down that i failed it. but i've still got another 3 weeks or so until i get my results back.