Smitten

I am absolutely beyond smitten by this song and video. Please watch and listen to it over and over like I have. And then make beautiful art in your studio!

xoxo

More Crafting Goodness

I'm back with a few more images of my crazy crafting weekend.

On one of my walls I had a cluster of art but it was starting to drive me crazy. Frames kept getting bumped into and nothing ever hung straight. I finally took them down in a mad fit and immediately filled these wooded looms with fabric. I've seen this done a lot and thought it was the perfect and cheap way to decorate. And, they are circles, you can't tell if they have been bumped.

This wall is definitely a work-in-progress but this is the start.

I also made a couple of paper flowers. This will go well with the fabric loom wall. It was really easy to make. Click here for a tutorial from A Subtle Revelry. It's crazy how many blogs there are out there surfing around on the web. I could spend full weeks just reading them all.

But instead I'll spend a couple of hours and then get back to crafting.

xoxo

Craft Mania

Over the past few days I've been a little worried that I have been manic. I have been crafting like crazy, doing several projects at once. In the middle of all that I dyed my hair from blond to brown. What?! Don't worry, though. This isn't mania. I'm just finally feeling inspired and putting a lot of restless energy to good use. I had been in such a rut in my studio lately and it seemed like the only alternative was to watch a lot of tv and get really down. Then I came across Craftgawker. If you've never heard of it check it out. It's is an amazing resource of crafts and tutorials collected from many amazing blogs. So, long story short (or maybe short story long?) I have been trying out new things and have been on an absolute roll. And the brown hair? Just thought a physical change would be nice for the "new me."

Here's me:

And here's what I've made.

Found this garland tutorial at prudent baby via bridal musings. I've made two so far. Here's one.

And then I made some tissue paper pom poms. Tutorial found here at the Martha Stewart site.

I have made more things and have more things in the works but I'll save it for a different post. I don't want to overload you like I overloaded myself. Today is still early and there are more crafts to make! Happy Sunday!

What I love!

Okay, recap on the new things I love:

Succulents

Crystals/rocks

Sea Creatures

And now... Jell-O!

Remember forever ago when I talked about this book I had? See it here: Jell-o Post

So obviously jello (is it okay if I don't put the hyphen between jell and O? it just makes typing awkward...) molds are not a new thing I love but I recently renewed my interest in them when I found this book in my studio.

I love their shapes and how clean and sleek they are. They are like art deco. There is something so decadent about them. Once I am done drooling over these images I may look up the history of jello.

I sort of thought it would be interesting to take this book and make every recipe in it, like the Julie/Julia project. Jello is way cooler than french cooking, right? I'll let you know if I start doing this and of course will document everything.

Meanwhile, check out these pretty pictures:

This is part of a competition. See more here.

This mold makes me want to die and come back to life and die again. I love love love it. The next two pics both come from The Joys of Jello blog. The writer may have already beaten me to the punch on the jello making idea.

Me oh my I died again. Get the recipe here.

Actual jello molds are so beautiful, too. I would decorate my house with this. Buy it here.When I last went to Art Chicago I saw the work of an artist who made beautiful jello molds. She/he waited until they actually molded and then took gorgeous photos of them. I did not manage to write down this artist's name. If you have any idea who this artist is please please please let me know. The photos are beautiful!

So long!

Gonna take some time to do the things we never have

Just wanted to pop in and post this quick little video of what's going on in my studio. I felt compelled to make it when Africa by Toto came on my itunes shuffle. I always felt like this song should be in more videos. And that is Starbucks new trenta cup. 30 ounces of iced coffee means more studio productivity. Enjoy!

By the way, my studio is a total wreck!! I cleaned it a bit but ever since that shelf fell off my wall it has been a war zone. Just felt like I needed to defend myself...

Field Museum Field Trip

Last weekend my boyfriend and I decided to go on a last minute trip to Chicago. Our plan was to hit up the Shedd Aquarium since I had never been and had started drawing more sea life in my work. Turns out, people love to go to the aquarium on a Saturday in the summertime as the line was the longest I'd ever seen. Who knew, right? So we went to the Field Museum instead. Sadly, not nearly as many people like going there apparently. I had been to the Field Museum before but I was still excited to see the current Whale show. So, I still got to see sea life, just in a completely different form than what I had expected.

Here are some photos from my visit. Found lots of inspiration for my artwork there and just some very neat things. If you are in the area you should definitely check out this museum.

My favorite stuff was from the Native American Room:

I also loved these guys from the Chinese display:

And the Egyptian room was amazing!

I also saw a few neat taxidermic animals:

On the train there I saw this crushed Silo. It was sort of beautiful.

I can't wait to go to the Shedd Aquarium now. We were going to go today but I opted to spend my day off work in my studio instead. I'm pretty excited about the stuff I'm working on so I felt like the aquarium would have to wait. Have you been to the field museum before? What did you love?