Srooms

Since I cannot show you new work I will show you some older work. Once the mushroom craze hit I knew I wanted to do mushroom plushes. One of the first projects I give my students in my licensed image class is do develop and design a character line. When you design a character line you have to remember to do two things. First all of the characters need to look as if they work as a set with colors and characteristics in common....same type of eyes and noses, similar ways of styling the bodies and outfits. Second all of the characters need something that makes that character different from others in the set....a silly hat, an emotion or expression, tall, chubby, wild hairdo. Take a look at the Ugly Dolls and you will see what I mean. www.uglydolls.com. So I decided I would make my mushroom plushes into a character line as an example to show my students.
First I sketched a bunch of images...was not sure whether I wanted the face on the mushroom or on the mushroom stem (on the mushroom) how to make each one distinct (tall, chubby), which characters to keep, what material to make them out of, (wool felt) how big should I make them (small). Once I made the decisions I started sewing. Sheila has never been able to get much interest in them from manufacturers....a little too odd...but my students love them. My photographer Curt Dennison curtdennisonphotography.com helped me name them and came up with the character group name. He admitted he was a bit of a stoner in college.

Dood, Seymour, Alfalfa, Mickey, Sparkey

Zena, LindyLou, Twinkle, Bebe, Tulip

Polka and Dot, Flora, Fauna and DripDrop

Back from Spring Break

The good thing about teaching at a university is you get to have a Spring Break. It is so nice to have a week off from teaching. Since Annie is at college, this is the first year Gary and I took some time off on my Spring Break. We just went to my mom’s condo in the Ozarks but it was very nice to just get away.

Of course no trip to the Ozarks is complete unless I do a little junking. Since we are not far from Columbia MO, we always go up to Artichoke Annie’s,,,my favorite antique mall. Did not buy too much...even the cashiers I know there were amazed....and of course Gary was thrilled.

I did take some pictures of fun things I saw at the mall.

A charming purse made from a coconut

 

Who would not want to drink lemonade out of these mugs....the perfect set of dinnerware for Easter.

Isn’t this a great mid century modern clock? I am sure it was designed by George Nelson.

Who would not want this manly looking bob cat looking down at you in your man cave?

Now that I am older it is time for me to start wearing some age appropriate clothing.

Take me out to the ball game!

If only there were proms at college...Annie could so wear this.

The new green tea

Gary would not let me get this for our garden...bet you are surprised about that.

Maybe I should do some sand wall art ....bet it would license well.

Woof woof...want a dog cookie?

Woof woof.....I need to be in your house.

The perfect lamp for a bedroom shared with a man.

This is the one thing I really wanted. It is a rarish Holt Howard pitcher from the 60s....the only thing that kept me from buying it was the price $125.00. 

I have an odd sense of humor

One of my favorite booths at Renegade Craft is the Mincing Mockingbird. www.etsy.com/shop/mincingmockingbird Joyce loves their booth also and we usually spend time laughing it up at their magnets, cards and products. I am not sure why I think their work is so funny but I do. I never fit into my family with my humor....all of them loved Jay Leno....I loved David Letterman. Things I thought were funny they would look at me like I was nuts. Luckily I found Gary... he laughed at the same things I did...oddities in life, weird signs. It is important in my book to marry a man who has the same sense of humor. When Anna was younger she got mad at Gary and me and told us we had ruined her sense of humor. She grew up watching indie movies. So she thought Napolean Dynamite was funny but Good Burger, which all her classmates thought was hilarious, did not provoke a laugh from her. Her boyfriend likes Will Ferrell movies...she told him if she had to see a Will Ferell movie it would make her eyes bleed.
So I hope you have a laugh at these. And if you do not please do not give up on my blog.

I found my fabric!

Sorry no blogs last week...sick with a cold. I am back in my studio this week working on collections for the New York Stationary and Gift show in May.
Gary and I went to Minneapolis the weekend of the 18th to visit Annie. We had a fabulous trip and we loved spoiling Annie for the weekend, buying things for her room and taking her out to dinner and ice cream. The weather in Minneapolis is as screwy as it is everywhere this year...it is warmer there than normal with little or no snow. 
While in Minneapolis I went online to check out the fabric stores in the city. There was one store Crafty Planet that sold all of the cute, modern fun fabric I always see online but are not stocked in any St. Louis fabric stores. I talked Gary into taking me there under the guise of research....he was reluctant because he knew I would not just look at the fabric....I would have to buy some fabric. Imagine my surprise when there on the shelf amongst all of this cool fabric was my How Tweet It Is bird fabric. I was jumping for joy because I have never seen my fabric in a store. 

If you go to Minneapolis you must go to Crafty Planet.www.craftyplanet.com. Besides, fabric they stock yarn, embroidery supplies, books, cool colored trim. It is a fabulous store and the shop owners are delightful and oh so helpful. How I wish we had a shop like this in St. Louis. Of course, that meant I would be there all the time and my wallet would be so much emptier. You can buy fabric from them online.