So I’m really lucky because I get to work with my best friend and partner on these amazing inflated projects. We’ve recreated Botticelli’s Venus entirely out of balloons,

made some amazing balloon dresses:

and most recently, 10 original fairy tale illustrations:

I love this latest series, and we have had tons of great positive feedback about the imagery- we’ve just got to fully illustrate an entire book! But in order to do that, we also need to eat & pay bills while we create the images etc. To that end, we’re attempting to fund the project through kickstarter. Here’s how it works:

1. Visit the site, and pledge as little as $1 towards our project. (Or pledge way more ;-) we’ve even offered thank-you gifts like prints & copies of the book at higher levels.
2. Share the link with your friends!
3. IF the project is fully funded (meaning enough people have pledged $ towards the project so that it can be fully funded) your pledge will be charged. If we aren’t successful, then you’re off the hook ;-).

I’m pleasantly surprised that only 4 days in we’re already 10% funded- but there’s still another 90% to cover… Can you help? Even if it’s just by sharing the project on Facebook or Twitter- every little tweet/post helps…

Thanks!!

Homage to Jeff Koons

I’m not quite sure when it started, but we make some pretty wild pancakes in this house. If you’re interested in trying it yourself, here are a few tips:

1. Be sure the kids aren’t starving for breakfast. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a masterpiece when they walk in with empty plates in their hands and sad looks on their faces. (I would presume of course…)
2. Food coloring can work to add color to the batter, but the family seems to prefer color & flavor. The best additions we’ve found so far have been cocoa powder and (believe it or not) JELL-O?! Just mix some of the powder in with the batter and you’re good to go. A little goes a long way. We’ve been working on the same packet of Jell-O for a month or two- just be sure to clip the top closed, or you could end up with a multicolored catastrophe in your cabinet.
3. Zip-top baggies work great for controlling the flow of the batter onto the griddle. Just seal the batter in the bag & clip the corner. My mother used to do this for frosting, and it seems to work fairly well as long as the hole in the bag isn’t too large.
4. I’m going to invest in a few ketchup bottles from the dollar store. (Did I actually say I was going to invest in ketchup bottles? Seriously- if making wild pancakes wasn’t proof enough that I need to get out of the house more, I think I just crossed that line.) I’ve seen Jim the pancake god use squeeze bottles to make his amazing 3-d pancakes and I want to be as cool as he is someday.
5. Toss in an M&M or two for accent- they can be shmushed in after their cooked to avoid the candy coating from exploding. Same goes with chocolate chips. Oh- and marshmallows do not work. Trust me.
6. Take requests from the kids. Even when they come out looking goofy, you’ll all get a laugh.
7. Don’t be afraid to mess up. Remember- once you bite into them- they’ll all look the same anyway!

What are you waiting for? Go bust out the griddle already!

I said I was going to get back to blogging about 6 months ago. I think that was a bit premature. I don’t think you can really plan on doing anything big so soon after a move. And being a single mom of 3, it’s hard to get any craft project of substantial size actually finished. So while I’d love to get back into my paper sculptures, that will require that I have dedicated studio space that will be left undisturbed inbetween work sessions. (working on it… stay tuned!) Fortunately I’ve stumbled across a new-to-me crafting technique… MICROCROCHET!!! These teeny tiny little dolls and bears and whatever else I can think to make can be finished in one or two sittings, depending on how intricate I make them. I can even pack a tiny bag of supplies to slip in my purse to drag along to Wyatt’s fencing practice, or waiting rooms & whatnot.

I stumbled across these sweet little miniatures by an Italian artist named Mariella on etsy a few months back-  but it took awhile to find crochet hooks small enough for me to try it out. I’m catching my groove using size 10 and 12 crochet hooks (about .75 mm) from Crafts Bits & Pieces in Fairport, NY. I started off with little bears, and a pug or two. I swear I’ll post a mini album of these mini creations soon- but if you’re a fan of twitter, I post photos of most of the things I make right after I’m done on there. I don’t use any patterns, I just free-form them as I go along.

I’m always looking for new suggestions on what to make, so feel free to leave a comment with an idea for a creature etc.

I’m feeling cranky, I don’t mean to be, but it’s been at least a week since I’ve gotten to sit down and make something… Took the kids to one of those paint-your-own pottery places earlier today. They got the chance to glaze some mugs- but I had to assist so I didn’t get to make anything myself. That normally would be fine- but I’ve spent nearly the whole week in meetings, and hardly any time getting stuff done, so I feel frustrated…

I’m going to stick the kids in bed and then start designing a little bride to cut out on my paper cutter. I want to make some cake toppers for my shop… Tomorrow I’ve got an illustration to work on, based on The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai. I’m vectorizing the original, erasing the boats & Mt. Fuji & modifying the rough of the waves to look like dollar signs. I’m going to try and cut it out with the Silhouette too…

But nothing’s getting done ’til I get some mommy time. Let me get these cuties to bed…