Family Map
When we were visiting family during my husband’s deployment, my sister suggested showing our 3-year old daughter a map to better give her an idea of where everyone was. I found a cool, simple, graphic US map on Etsy from thepixelprince and mounted it on foam core in a little frame. Most office supplies stores have these cute little pushpins that make it look a lot more interesting. Then I typed in a teensy weensy font the names of who was where, a tiny round picture of each little family, and the years we were at a place (for the places we’d already lived), and printed them on sticker printer paper (so they could be easily changed out, since we’re an often-moving military family). A little embroidery floss wrapped around the pins marks the spot and the little stickers hold them down.
Now, if it could automatically update itself like the Weasly family clock, that would be perfect….
Marble Game Boards
My family plays marbles. Not the “sit around a circle flicking marbles at eachother” 1950s marbles. This game is more like the game “Sorry,” and my family has played it for as long as I can remember. It originated from my dad’s side, with my Grandma Betty. Every visit would always involve a slew of marble games that would feature a variety of things: My grandma punching whoever was closest to her for knocking her marble off, holding a lighter under her die to put it in the “hot seat” if it didn’t roll a 1 or a 6, someone getting pinch bruises, and my grandma yelling, “You’re getting my Irish up!!!” My best memories of my grandma are always somehow tied to marbles.
The game involves each of 4 players having 4 marbles. You team up with the person opposite the board from you. You must roll a 1 or a 6 to get a marble out of your start point, and keep rolling. You must get all of your marbles around the board and into your home row, and then you can roll and play for your partner. First team with each player’s 4 marbles home wins. If you land on another marble, you can send them home. Marbles has fierce suspicions…some people have “lucky” dice, and will only play with them. If your die start “listening” to another player’s chants, it’s time to get new dice. For that matter, if you “chant” numbers at another person’s dice (to avoid them getting the number you want), sometimes it works. No one else should touch your dice, or they’ll start “listening” to them. Unspoken rule: “First one out, last one home.” The fun part: your win is NEVER guaranteed. Just because you think you’re winning, the game could change it all and give the other team the advantage. Our family gets LOUD with it. We play wild, we yell, we laugh, we get aggressive. It’s fun.
The first marble board I remember at my Grandma Betty’s house was very plain. Apparently my grandpa had made it, and they’d had it forever. It had years worth of marble playing on it, and it was awesome. Several years ago, my father made a few plain ones to keep back home. I don’t remember if he asked me, or if I sort of took over, but I painted some as gifts–an ornate garden one for my mother, a maze with trompe l’oeil butterflies for me, a lizard one for my sister, and an Egyptian one for my dad. The idea was to make each corner (for each player) be a strong, cool character that each person would want to play.
Since then, not only have we spread marbles around to friends we’ve known (who always fall in love with the game), but I’ve made several as gifts over the years. I have a Harry Potter one for my husband, and a Monty Python one for myself. The one at the beginning of this post was for a friend as a reminder of our time in Alaska.
The great thing is, when we’re not using them, we hang them in L-brackets on the wall, and they make cool and interesting pieces. I don’t remember ever getting to make a personalized one for my Grandma Betty, but somehow I think she enjoyed the plain, well-worn family board more than any I could have made her…
It’s Munny Time!
And here we have the Munny, from Kid Robot. This plain plastic toy begs to be doodled on. Just try googling “customized Munny,” and you’ll see how much fun people have with these. You can paint them, glue things to them, draw on them with markers, and even sculpt things and add them to change their appearance.
I love a blank “canvas,” especially a canvas that is functional in some way, that isn’t just pretty to look at. The fact that this is kind of a toy and can be whatever you want it to is appealing to me. So I saw a few at our local bookstore, and decided to do one of our daughter.
Our daughter at the time was little and still in cloth diapers, and she still loves a great mess, loves robots and loves her rollerskates. So I gave her a metal robot suit with rainbow leggings (because Babylegs are awesome). Little mini pink wheels. I had planned on maybe gluing buttons on for the wheels, but they wouldn’t stay, and I gave up & just painted them. Munnys come with plastic accessories, and you never know what you’re going to get. This one had a cape. Her name begins with “M” and since I’m a big fan of the ol’ Wonder Woman, I flipped it & made that her cape logo. Coated in a few coats of gloss varnish, and good to go.
I had so much fun with that one, I did one for my husband. He chose Boba Fett, and I screwed in a little L-hook into the top of his head to match Boba’s helmet. It’s way easier to paint a cute little round kid’s face on a rounded head than it is to make it look normal on a full-grown dude.
Next up, I had to do one for myself. I’m not a big fan of doing self-portraits, but I was really having fun with these! C-3PO was always my favorite Star Wars droid (I know, I know, he’s the nerdy one…but he was FUNNY!)–and on a side note, C3PO is now my daughter’s favorite (with no coaxing of my own–she was enthralled by him from the moment she saw him). I had some spraypaint that was sort of a rough textured gold, which gave it a cool, beat-up metal look (and it didn’t hurt that the spray can sort of sputtered on me). Since Munnys have stumpy legs, I didn’t give myself a silver leg, so don’t give me a hard time about that. Again, the grown-up face on a rounded Munny is a little rough to work with.
If you’re not that into painting, maybe try what a friend did, and cover a Munny in quotes from one of her favorite books. Might I suggest a Sharpie? And also, try Sculpey clay out if you want to really get into customizing (I didn’t). So I still have one left….what should I do? There are only three of us, and now that I’m done with us, the options are endless….
Derby Snuggles
Facebook family already knows this, but I love roller derby. My good friend Sunny introduced me to it a few years back, and after getting the hang of being on skates for the first time since I was a little bugger, and slowly working my way to an awesome pair of new super awesome (albeit expensive) skates thanks to my Alaskan friend Shocker’s shop 2n1, I got pretty comfy on quad skates. Not enough to skate circles around anyone by any means, but I loved playing blocker. Shoulder hits. Plow stops. Smacking into a jammer on the run, sitting on a pack to slow them down. I love the aggression, I love the action. I love skating.
I started derby in Alaska, on a very small team called the North Pole Babes in Toyland (from North Pole, Alaska. No, really–it’s a real place. Santa lives there.). I’ll spare anyone the team’s history, as I’m sure every team has their high points and low, but one of the most wonderful and at the same time CHALLENGING things about derby is that it’s all self-run. The skaters run the team. That means logos, merch, websites, fundraising, sponsorship, you name it. They do it all. Since I got in at ground level, I was lucky enough to have been given full reins with graphics and web design. I designed NPBT’s logo (the Christmas girl in skates shown a few times in the quilt above), along with an alternate logo (the skullflake in the lower portion). I designed t-shirts and merch (along with other derby designs) for the team (which are still available here). Although drama surrounds any good group, I enjoyed myself, and I loved what we had created.
When we moved from Alaska, I had to leave the team. I had survived a bruised & torn collarbone, a badly sprained ankle, bruised jawbone, and tore some ligaments in my knee thanks to derby, and enjoyed nearly every minute of it. Now my ol’ bones are creaking, and whether I find another team and play again, or go zebra (referee), or forgo it altogether, I will never forget how awesome derby was for me. I loved it. I breathed it. I snuggled up in it.
–Wait, what?
Well, I wanted a way to commemorate my derby time in the frozen north, and you amass a HUGE amount of t-shirts in derby. So I decided to make a t-shirt quilt. I wasn’t crazy about the square, sterile blocky versions I’ve seen around. That’s just not derby. Derby is crazy and mixed-up and all over the place. So I gathered some of my favorite NPBT shirts (plus a Juneau shirt from my first away bout) that I was willing to transform, and cut out the best parts of them. I began by cutting the shirts to a roughly similar size, then I started piecing them together in random strips of regular fabric. Since our colors were mainly red & white and our theme was somewhat year-round Christmasy, I was a little worried about it looking like an ugly Christmas sweater, so I added other fabrics I thought were awesome.
And there you have it! A little wonky, a little crooked, and a whole lotta cool and snuggly. …And believe me, I still have TONS of derby shirts left over…. Not to mention a ton of patches on my skate bag and stickers on my helmet.
Doodle Chimes
Our kid likes to draw a lot. I mean a LOT.
I take photos of all of them, because I’m so fascinated by them. I love watching her skills develop, and love seeing how her mind thinks, how she can see something and observe how it’s done, and sort of meld that with her own work.
Through all my scouring the internet, I’ve seen lots and lots of ideas of what to DO with all these doodles, and I’ve done quite a few of them. We have bulletin boards where we’ve pinned some of our favorites. We have some in changeable frames. I’ve had strings with doodles clipped to them with clothespins. My mother uses the photos of doodles in the backgrounds when she makes a digital photo album. I’ve heard of people making books full of kid doodles.
I wanted a way to show them as a decorative piece in the house; a way we could enjoy them in an awesome way while putting all those doodles to good use.
So I got some laminate paper, stuck them on there to keep ’em safe, punched some holes in them, and strung them from eachother. We hung them in her bedroom window, and I think they turned out lovely!
Our daughter went through a Shrinky-Dink period for a few weeks, where she created TONS of Shrinky Dink doodles. What to do? Why, same thing, of course! Strung up little doodles look like lovely little wind chimes hanging in our kitchen windows! With Shrinkies, you have to either punch the holes before you shrink them in the oven, or spend some quality time with your Dremel and a tiny drill bit….
So what do you do with all your kid doodles?
One Giant Step for…Me.
Ouch. This one hurts. I’m still a little bitter about this one, and I’ll tell you why.
In early 2011, Etsy teamed up with NASA for a space craft contest. The winners received not only a gift card for Etsy and a trip to NASA, but their craft (or a picture of it) was to be flown aboard space in a SPACE SHUTTLE!!! How cool is that??? The only requirement was that it reflect the shuttle program as a celebration of NASA’s accomplishments. The rules stated that if you had an Etsy shop, you submit your work in your shop with certain tags. If you didn’t have a shop (which I didn’t), NEVER FEAR! You could submit photos of your work to a certain address, with detailed information in it.
I was excited. If there was ever a contest to enter, this one was for me! Remember my jingle dolls? What a perfect opportunity to use these unique crafts in a fun way! So I carefully painted with loving detail two portraits: one of Alan Shepard (who piloted the Freedom 7 shuttle, and was the first American in space) and Neil Armstrong (commander of the Apollo 11, and first person on the moon). A great choice, I thought! Both illustrate the wonder and amazement folks like me (with a space-loving dad) have for the space shuttle program, and our accomplishments. I don’t rarely get cocky about a piece at ALL. Normally, I’m filled with self-doubt and uncertainty, but I felt GOOD about this one. I thought for SURE I had a winner. I followed the instructions to the T (because I’m geeky like that), and submitted a packet with my work. I waited anxiously for the news of the first cut.
Guess who didn’t make it? Me. And you know, I really would’ve been okay with that if the first cut was amazing. I would’ve been blown away and inspired. I would have been awestruck. But you know what I saw? Some people just took things that were vaguely space-related and ALREADY in their store, and put a “Space” tag on it. I mean, you can’t tell me that a purple scarf represents the shuttle program. I saw hacky sacks with Michael Jackson’s face on them (I guess because of the moonwalk?), dolls that had nothing to do with space, and things that didn’t seem to take much effort. I saw a plain-colored BALSA WOOD spaceship that looked like it was hacked out with a steakknife and the tips roughly painted black with a sharpie marker. And they MADE THE CUT.
I was confused.
I’m not one at all to disparage other forms of artwork. I’m not a metalsmith, and I don’t understand jewelry but I can appreciate the amount of work that goes into something like that. But what annoyed me is the seeming lack of care that went into so many of the entries and who MADE THE FIRST CUT!!! I don’t think I’m very egotistical in my work, but there are times when I’m really proud of something and want to share it with the world. I was a little disappointed.
Okay, I was a little hurt and heartbroken. And this is unusual for me, because I usually trust the judges in a contest, and therefore don’t take it personally when I don’t win. I’ve entered contest after contest after contest and I almost consistently NEVER win. But some of the things that got into this one just made me sad.
So I gave the jingle dolls to my dad for Christmas. He works with a lot of gub’ment folks, who get a kick out of them. He proudly displays them at this office, which makes me happy, and people ask him about them all the time. I’ve still got a sore spot about them, but at least they’ve got a good home. Who needs the space program, when you’ve got you’re dad’s work desk? 🙂
Have you ever had a really big disappointment? Something you just KNEW you were a shoe-in for? Something that still stings a little to this day? I want to hear about it!
Duty Station Lovin’
I’m an army brat. I grew up around the army. Later, I did about 4 years in the army, where I met my husband. I am army wife. Now I’m an army mom. I’ve been all over the place with my family, and wanted a way to show all the places we’ve been. For years, I’ve seen the plaques with pendant boards hanging down, listing each duty station (like this), but I wanted to see if I could do something a little different.
My husband & I met when we were both stationed in Hawaii. We got married there, and when I got out, I worked as a photo editor/graphic artist for King Digital in Honolulu. The photo paper they used came on these large thick cardboard “toilet paper roll” tubes, which they sent out for recycling. Before we PCSd, I was able to get a few of them to take with me. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them at the time, but they were calling my name. They looked REALLY fun to paint on.
I decided to make each tube a sort of painted collage of the things we had done at each duty station, the things we remembered most about it. My husband and I have fun trying to choose what will go on each tube. I started with one for Oklahoma (where I was born) and one for Ohio (where he’s from).
We’ve got a good collection going! Only now….I can’t seem to find the “toilet paper roll” tubes anymore! I’ve run out! I have a couple of smaller ones, but none like these. I was even the crazy lady, asking for them at Wal-Mart’s photo lab. I can’t seem to find any anywhere!
So I’m going to keep looking. I’m running behind, though, since I try to do one after we leave each duty station. We left Alaska several months ago…so we’re due for a new tube! In the meantime, share your stories! If you’re a family that moves around a lot, is there a special way you commemorate your duty stations, or the places you’ve lived? Do you frame a photo? Make a list of license plates? I’d love to hear your ideas!
I am Arthur!
My mother once found hand painted wooden jingle figures in the Czech Republic that were absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Years later, when I tried to find my own blank ones, all I could find were blanks of the Russian stacking dolls (which are also fun to paint, by the way). But these don’t open, and when you shake them, they JINGLE!!
After days of calling several Russian art dealers (never mind the difficulty of explaining what they WERE), I finally found someone I could buy a few from. I thought they’d be fun to do portrait orders on at local craft shows. Well, the time put into them was more than a craft show crowd was willing to pay, and the idea just fizzled.
So now I do my own things with them! This is King Arthur, King of all Britons, and his faithful sidekick, Patsy.
I’ve done Santas, animals, wookies and celebrities, but these guys are my favorite. If you’re not up to the task of going through the trouble of calling all over the world to find jingle dolls, there are nice alternatives at your local craft store–little paper mâché eggs, pressed cardboard shapes and wooden boxes. You could draw on them, paint, even mod podge little printed photos of family and paint on top if you’re feeling crafty. They make great gifts!
hello and welcome!
Hello and welcome! Welcome and hello! I am trying out this whole blog thing, and linking it to facebook updates. This is a collection of a variety of interests. I like lots of things. I enjoy making and doing things with and for my 4-year old daughter. And I wanted to share ideas and to inspire creativity. And, as my daughter once said, “I like to make to make things I think is beautiful.”
i dreamed a dream
Who doesn’t want to cry all through a movie while people sing beautiful songs? I’ve loved Les Mis since I saw a community theater (and I’m sure tamed-down) version as a kid. I love drawing faces. I like stretching them and playing with them–not to the point of ridicule, but just to slightly alter what’s there, and have fun with the shapes. I love the style of Eric White, and when I first saw his work, I thought, “Well, dang–that’s exactly the direction I was going in!” He has such EXTREME detail in his work (“hyperrealistic,” they call it), that I can’t even come close. Still, I love a good face, especially in movie stills.
My agent once asked for a few caricature samples, and since I hadn’t drawn a famous WOMAN in a while, I thought I’d give Anne Hathaway a whirl. It takes several reference shots sometimes to get the right feel for a face, and it’s helpful to combine things from different photos to make up the look you’re going for. In the end, I thought that a pic of Fontaine at her deepest, darkest moment was maybe not such an “upper” for a promo piece.
Perhaps with all the “Hatha-hatred,” I should’ve had a newspaper tabloid in her hand…
busy mockingbird 