Museum Pieces

Mother & Child

Family vacation in the summer of 2012 took us to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was awesome!
Too much to see, pennies to smash, cousins to keep up with, I only had time for a few photos. Most were of this wonderful artwork.

The sign says:

Junk Art Figure of Mother & Child

Created by renowned "junk" artist Leo Sewell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Believe It or Not!, these people are made from common kitchen utensils, plumbing supplies, auto parts, toys and rubbish.

Spoiler: I believe it.

  

"Child" has a Fisher Price mom in his face

Pinterest

Also, follow my mom's awesome board of cool ideas she finds for me:

HERE

The Tulle Tool

Tulle Tool Designed and Made by my Dad

New Old Craft

When we were going through my maternal grandmother's house a couple years ago, getting it ready to sell, one thing we found were these long dowels with a kind of crochet hook on one end and a flattened part at the other end with a hole in it.
We all wished we would have asked Grandma what the heck those were.
Last week, I got two separate craft catalogs in the mail (Mary Maxim, and Annie's Attic), and to my surprise, they both featured this "NEW" craft that clearly uses the same hook thingy.
"now you can knit with a crochet hook!"
Very intriguing.
Not wanting to wait for a package in the mail, I tried locally, I stopped at Michael's and called JoAnn's, no and no. So Monday, I stopped at Hobby Lobby, and I almost missed it, because they are tiny!
I was expecting this kit to be regular book/magazine sized, because the knooks that we found at Grandma's were more the length of a regular knitting needle, these little babies are barely five inches. So the book is actually just a pamphlet.
The instructions seem pretty good, and they have some great videos on their website to help you get going. I've only had a chance to practice a little bit this week, but it's my new obsession to learn!

Hey! I just remembered Project Runway All Stars starts tonight! I can practice knooking while I'm watching. Yay.

Crafty Family: Sudoku Quilt

Here is the quilt wall hanging that my Rubber Stampin' Auntie made for my mom and dad to hang in their camper.
My parents really like sudoku puzzles, and other number and word fill-in kind of games, and they've tried to introduce sudoku to this Auntie a couple times, but she's just no that into it.
But she did figure it out enough to make a perfect sudoku grid for this cute little quilt.
She made it out of several old ties that my Grandma had taken apart.
I love the connections, the patterns are cool, and the orange makes it pop!
And yes, I knew about it before it was done, but not knowing if this would end up being a "Muffin", I didn't mention it. ;p

Dreaming Of Crocheting

1964
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Since I'm still not able to get new photos uploaded, and the blog is getting awful word heavy, I dug through a bunch of old photos already on flickr to find a good one to share.
Here is adorable Baby Shelly, brand spankin' new to the world. I labeled this as being 1964, but since I was born only 11 days before the end of the year, and a full seven of those I was still unwrapped in the hospital, this is probably actually 1965.
I remember this quilt, no not from this time of my life, from later! It was multicolored, maybe even a using up leftovers kind of project. I'm sure it is crocheted just by looking at it, but I don't remember who made it, this photo wasn't taken at our house, it was at Grandma's. I wonder where this awesome quilt is now? And I wonder if I can figure out the pattern just from the photos?

Mom's Pin

Mom's Pin
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Feel free to skip this post if you are not from Nebraska and/or don't give two hoots about Nebraska football*


So back in the beginning part of December a new coach was announced for the Nebraska football team. And some very enterprising t-shirt company created a bunch of shirts with 'Bo' slogans (would that be Bo-gans?) on them 'Bo Fence', 'It's Bo Time', 'Just Say Bo', and of course, 'Bo Big Red'.

Mom's Pin
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

In all the excitement, my Mom mentioned that she might add a 'Bo big Red' t-shirt to her gift wish list, being the 'good' Nebraskan that she is. But it was way too late for me to change my list of things to do, so I came up with a new plan.
Since I've been making all sorts of felt pins lately, I decided I would make her a special one. This is one of those times where I was making something that I would normally not ever consider making, I wouldn't make these to sell. I knew it wouldn't be ready in time for the gift exchange, but I got it done not too long after, and mailed it to her. It's always fun to get mail!


*And in the spirit of full disclosure, this would include me as well. I was born here, and have spent most of my life here, but as I say, I'm not a good Nebraskan, I don't like beef and I don't like the 'huskers.

One Boy's Christmas Present

Three sets of earrings
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Several days ago, my cousin who lives the next block over called to see if I could help him make a pair of earrings for his mom for Christmas. Of course! That would be fun. He is my first cousin, but a little younger than myself, just 12 (but all-of-a-sudden sounds like a grown up man), and I was pleased he thought of me, and thought of giving handmade!
We got together on the 23rd, conveniently after my immediate family had finished our gift day, and before his did. He brought over some pretty specific ideas of what he wanted, all based on birthstone colors, he being Sapphire, both his sisters being Emerald. Unfortunately, my current bead stash does not include any Sworoftsky crystals (his first choice) in those exact colors, and even more unfortunately, neither did the craft store we went to. For some reason, dark Emerald is hard to find in any kind of bead in a local store. Is it that unpopular, or just more expensive?
We found some crystals that would work, and some 'cat eye' or 'shadow' kind of beads, and a package of random Czech glass beads in our colors, but when the hard decision came of which one, or even two we liked best, then came the sweet question of 'couldn't we make all three, please?" So of course, we did.
He was a very good designer, and an excellent critic of color choices, and helped with some of the production as well. I hope his mom was happy with her gift, I know he and I had a great afternoon together making them (and playing a little Smash Brothers when we were done).

For photos of the individual pairs, click the photo and go over to flickr.

Happy Holidays!

I hope you had, or are having, or will have a wonderful holiday time!
And I hope it was/is/will be crafty, too!
I didn't do the 'handmade challenge' this year, but I was definately thinking handmade or creative for gifts. And so were others!
I gave a couple flickr pro accounts, a Make magazine subscription, and a couple kits, (one artsy, one craftsy). Promoting Creativity At Every Turn! I didn't actually give anything handmade by me, but it's easier for me to give handmade whenever, not pressuring myself for a specific holiday or birthday. My mom gave some knifty knitted hats, and my DAD(!) gave a scarf he 'real' knitted. I'm so impressed, my dad can really knit better than I can (and see, Honey, guys really can knit)!
Rawk Star got guitar strings and drumsticks for his creative outlet, and the Extreeme Artist got some paper and canvasses for his (note in the photo, a couple packages with cartoon character Ziggy painting--my mom's cool wrapping job).
I got a f'awesome set of knives that I both wanted and needed, to bolster the creative cook inside, and from Johan (My Guy's son) I got some great painting supplies; small brushes (that would be great for painting miniatures or small paintings), palettes, acrylic paints.

An Idea To Share & An Inside Joke

We had our gift exchange yesterday, and like every year for as long as I can remember, my Mom wrote down what everyone got and who it was from. I don't know where the idea first came from (maybe from my Dad's Mom, who kept meticulous scrapbook archives of every year, including all the news clippings from their small town paper that listed it as 'news' every time we came to visit). But every year when I was little, Mom would write everything down as we opened. When my own kids started opening also, Mom offered to continue the tradition. I like the idea that we will have these lists in her own handwriting, something so old fashioned in this modern age of computing.
A few years ago, after each year finding some paper, and trying to keep all the yearly lists together, I had one of those why-didn't-I-think-of-that-sooner ideas, I had her write the lists in a journal. It's just a composition book, not decorated (yet) but it now has several years in the same book, and it's much easier to keep track of that way. I'm sure other creative folks would have a wonderful time decorating the book before starting, I may still decorate it at some point. But a good idea to keep track of the celebrations and memories.
After all gifts had been opened, in that lazy afternoon time when everyone tries out their own and other peoples' gifts, I was showing my dad how I could see the flower photo he uploaded to flickr on my PSP, and from the other side of the couch, on their laptop, checking out this very site, my mom chuckled. She had gotten to the part in my post about my first art journal, where I had joked about the first pages being to wipe your hands on. This is a running joke in my family (one of many!).
When I was about first grade or so (and a very good and attentive student, who mostly only got in trouble for a messy desk), in a class about how to use the library, the teacher or librarian told us that the first couple pages of a book are left blank in case your hands were dirty, so you could wipe your hands on those pages. I SWEAR THAT IS WHAT SHE SAID! She added that we wouldn't ever actually want to do that, but if there was no restroom around, and you couldn't wait to get to reading, in a desperate situation, it would be all right. Now, I took those words to heart, mostly the part about not wanting to do it, I always made sure my hands were clean before picking up a book.
Fast forward a bit, and this subject came up somehow with my parents. And I proudly showed off my knowledge of what those pages were for. And it was very kindly explained to me that I must be mistaken. Of course, I must have misunderstood, but I'm sure my little toe-headed, freckle-faced self was indignant about being right, I'm sure it was adorable. And she laughed. And every time it has come up since then, she laughs. And I still swear that is what the librarian said.
But it was a nice bonus present yesterday, to be able to hear her laugh reading my little inside joke to her.

Art-O-Mat

So I'm picking up the ArtistExtreeme later after school today, and as he's getting in the car, he asks me if I've ever heard of the Art-O-Mat. Well, of course I have. That's the awesome project where they've taken old cigarette machines and revamped them to dispence art. One of those kind of things that is way too cool to ever come to our town, but maybe someday on a vacation we might get to see one and buy some awesome art.
"Well," he says, "I met the guy that makes them today."
What???
Let me back up a tiny bit. I haven't talked too much about my kids on this blog. That's partly because they are teenagers, telling their own stories on their own pieces of web space, and I'm reminded of how Garp felt when he realized his mother's book had stories about him in it. If I had a blog back when they were little tykes, I probably would have been more of a mommy blogger, but this blog's focus is my creative endevor. But considering that they are both so creative, I'm sure some of their creativity will spill over onto me and my blog.
The ArtistExtreeme is 14, and in his first year of high school. We are lucky enough to have four focus high schools in our school district, including the Arts and Humanities high school, where the ArtistExtreeme attends. He goes to his regular high school for two periods first thing in the morning, then walks a couple blocks to the A&H high school. (We're also very lucky that the one A&H high school is right across the way from our regular high school)
So it turns out that the University of Nebraska (which is located in our fair city) arranged to have an Art-O-Mat installed in the theatre close to campus. Clark Whittington, the Art-O-Mat creator was in town for a week, mostly at the University, but today, he was as the Arts & Humanities high school.
How freeking cool is that!!??
I wish I could have gone to school with him today!

Crafty Family

In my family, hand made things have always been treasured. There have been times, when it's felt embarassing to have not planned ahead enough, and to have to actually have to buy something for a gift.
Since my folks have been going through some of their old slides and making the photos digital, I've been noticing the cool crafty things in some of the pictures. And I have things in my home that were crafty gifts. So I had the idea to kinda collect the crafty goodness in a photo group, and also to write my history with crafting. I'll write bits of my history as I go along.
Lots of my family on my mom's side was in town this week, and we were congregating at my Grandma's, and I looked around, and saw sooo many cool crafty things. Things that Grandma has received as gifts over the years, things Grandma made herself, and some that Grandpa had made, too. He was quite the woodworker.
I intend to add many more photos, and stories to go with, but this new flickr set is a good start.

Check it out here.

Matching Dresses

Matching Dresses
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

I've mentioned before that I really like to make matching things. From purse/bag/wallet combos, to dolly and me matching, to jewelry or hair accessories matching the outfit, I just really get a kick out of it. I think that is one of the reasons I love being crafty.
I call it being a crafty geek, to make things all match. But I'm glad to embrace my inner geek!
This set of outfits, made by my mom is just one of a few that we had that matched. I don't think my doll had a dress like this, but other sets, my doll matched us, too.
I don't really remember watching my mom sew. I just remember it being part of everyday life. And by this age, I think I had already begun sewing myself.