Deep Dreamin'

Sorry that I sometimes just post a photo or a link without much info. I just get excited to share!
;p
Here is more info:
This is a cool, weird, artsy website that my fella found online and turned me on to. You upload your own photo (and it doesn't have to be a good one!), click a few buttons to make it into a piece of surreal art, which you can download,* publicly or privately.*
There is also a Mac program that does a bunch more stuff (he purchased his in a bundle so we don't know the exact price). I've had fun playing with the free online part!
*You do need to make a profile and log in to be able to do some things, I didn't play with it without a profile.

Here's the link: Deep Dream Generator
Here's my gallery: seeshellsdreams
Go have fun!

Deep Dream'ed Photo

Original Photo (for comparison, it's a crappy photo)

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.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Even when I'm not actively creating (or feeling that way), I'm still gathering ideas, reading blogs, watching flickr streams, being inspired. I have 113 Blogs linked in Bloglines, with over 22,000 posts still to read in the Creative/Artsy blogs alone! (I think, unfortunately, that I need to pare down that list a bit)
One of my favorite creatively inspirational blogs to read, or rather look at, because it is the magnificent pictures that draws me, is Animation Backgrounds. Animation is a wonderful art form, and Rob collects and posts some of the absolute most beautiful. Check out a couple recent posts that floored me: Hyde and Hare, one of my favorite cartoons I remember from my childhood, and The Lion King, a family favorite from my children's childhood.
I'm happy to see my felting hero's blog Bugs and Fishes is up posting again after an internet issue. She makes the coolest pins and things from felt, and inspires me on many levels. Check out her Etsy shop too. Her felt mustache disguises were featured in a Craft magazine! The photo of the blond mustache is one of the best photos of a craft that I have ever seen!
And I have to admit, I have a new infatuation! I am completely in LOVE with the kitchy dollhouse Dizzy Heights made by Rainbow Mermaid. I have collected miniature things at different times in my life, mostly in combination with specific dolls, but she combines so many different things together, it is sooo cool. I have acquired a taste for Re-Ment mini things, and I may have to start collecting them, or watching for them on eBay. She has a wonderful Etsy shop, too.

And Some Hooker Links

Probably mostly for my own reference, to clear out some of the dozen tabs I have open right now, but maybe they'll be helpful to others. and feel free to point me to any that I missed!

Get a Grip! How to Hold a Crochet Hook and Yarn the site I found when I was trying to remember exactly how to wrap the yarn around your fingers, I know it's up to each individual, but I wanted to see some recommendations
Learn to Crochet a GeoCities page full of lists of links, I haven't checked it out much yet.
Learn to Crochet Lion Brand site, has a few patters also
Basic Crochet Instructions from the Learn to Knit and Crochet website
Thread Heads Quickie-How to Crochet a You Tube video that I will watch as soon as I finish this post
Purl Bee Crochet Basics Awesome photos of the exact close ups I need

Links

Here are the two newest crafty blogs to be added to my list of Must Reads:
MelleBug and Me and For The Love of Crafts. Go check them out.
By the way, do you use Bloglines? One of the things that I really love about Bloglines as an RSS reader, is that you can bookmark specific posts, which I do so much with my list of artsy/craftsy blogs. Right now, I have almost 200 individual posts bookmarked!