Thursday, May 31, 2007

Ragdolls



I finally have a doll in progress! No idea when it will be finished, but it was started in hopes of having "her" ready for the June 1st update of The Humble Arts. We shall see, and I'll post a photo of her when she is up for sale. In the meantime, I made a little animation of another ragdoll that I had saved. I have no idea how old this is or what, but it really catches my eye and there's a slight chance that I may even make a repro of this or at least use it for inspiration on another doll. We finally have a break from the rain and I really have yardwork on my mind, but came home and had a nice surprise that someone had done it for me. I actually enjoy doing it for the exercise and fresh air, but the humidity makes it kinda miserable.
UPDATE:
My doll in progress has a torso, arms and legs, and half of a face. Hopefully she'll be able to see soon and we'll get her dressed as well. Gosh some things just don't go along as you'd hoped do they?

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The carnival came to town





I took my kids to a local parking lot carnival last night. They seemed to be amused. Gosh I remember when I was a kid how exciting these seemed to be. They showed about half as much enthusiasm as I thought they might. Oh well, it was still fun and sort of an end of school treat. Let me say that before I let them do anything I took a walk through the whole area and decided whether or not it even looked safe. I can't help but worry about the "carny" culture. The fun house was the first stop. Then a thing called The Cliff Hanger, not to be confused with the same named ride at Six Flags over Texas. It was like a hang glider ride where you are on your belly and flying around. The next thing was to try and win a stuffed animal. Try is an understatement if ya kow what I mean! I didn't see too many parents walking around with stuffed animals, but plenty shelling out the bucks instead, haha. Cotton candy break was next. Then we spotted friends from school and people watched a bit. For the finale, the ferris wheel and the old fashioned carousel was in order. This didn't do too much for me mind ya, but seeing the smiles on my kids faces did! Here's a few photos, it was starting to get dark, so keep that in mind :)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

100 Year Photo Blog - Must See!


I've discovered the most interesting photo blog ever. It is about what life a hundred years ago was like: How people looked and what they did for a living, back when not having a job usually meant not eating. If you love vintage and old photos of people and how they lived, etc then do check it out here: Shorpy

I hate laundry!


Is there anyone that actually loves to do laundry? I suppose that someone does like doing it, but I've never found any pleasure doing it myself. My dryer died today. This is an emergency for me. This is a large household and if you get behind even the slightest, you'll be doing laundry round the clock for days til you catch up. It could actually become a nightmare, I'm not kidding!!!
So.....in taking advantage of a hot sunny day, I went to the store and bought some old fashioned wooden clothes pins to hang out all of the towels and jeans. The kid's old swing set is also covered with assorted socks and t-shirts too. In fact, the scene is quite humorous except for the fact that I got attacked by swarms of mosquitos while hanging up all of this stuff. We've had torrential rains for so many weeks now that they're gunna be hard to deal with for awhile. Not to mention fleas and ticks. Of course all of this means I'll have to make another trip to the store to get some kind of granules to put in the yard to control them. No biggie, we're used to that this time of year. Wanna read something that I thought was funny? This is what was printed on the package of clothes pins:

there's something rather magical about ironing. you take your rumpled-up life, spritz a little water on it, run an iron over it, and presto. everything's new again. the wrinkles of yesterday have vanished right before your very eyes. and there you are. looking fresh. feeling sharp. ready to take on the world.

Are you kidding me? If this is true, then they are implying that this process in doing laundry is somewhat of a rejuvenating experience or let's say.... something that could even be addictive it seems. Wow, how did I miss this? I guess they'll say anything to sell a product these days, huh?
*snicker*

Monday, May 14, 2007

Palmer Cox and his Brownies!


I've collected about a half of dozen or so of Palmer Cox's books. They have pages that are yellowed and cracked with age. Here is a scan of the back cover of one of my favorites called The Brownies Kind Deed, which was printed in 1903. This particular one does not have any of those "little folks" in it, but it still has a charming appeal to it!


PALMER COX (1840-1924),
CREATOR OF THE BROWNIES

Matthew Farfan

Brownies, like fairies and goblins,
are imaginary little spirits, who are
supposed to delight in harmless
pranks and helpful deeds.
They work and sport while
weary households sleep, and never
allow themselves to be seen by
mortal eyes.


Palmer Cox

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Spring Concert

My son had his Beginning Band Spring Concert tonight. They sounded quite good for only playing some 8 or so months. Music was from Harry Potter selections and a few from Pirates of the Carribean. He plays the trumpet. I've had 3 other sons in Band so far. Only 2 of them stayed all the way through High School graduation. I'm hoping this one will hang in there too. We have an award winning State Champion Marching Band, so that is an incentive for him to keep on trying.
More rain again today and there is rain in the forcast for quite a few days. Guess we're in for a sauna when it does stop :(
Yet another day has gone by and I've had no time to even consider a project. I've pulled out my drawn patterns and some fabric and keep looking at it, but that's as far as it gets. I'm still hopeful!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Bluebonnets in Texas

Middle of the Week Wanderings



This is an actual photo of the iris of my eye up close. If you click on it, you'll see a larger detailed size, but I was bored and wondered how it really looked. Well now I know. This was my accomplishment for Wednesday. Wow, I need to get another project started, I really do! Goodness, it's hard to keep from using "I" so often. "I" just now noticed how often "I" do use it. Wonder how to keep from doing it?




Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Inspiration

I'd like to call myself a dollmaker. Let's just say that I've been known to make a few dolls. Not to mention bears, rabbits and other assorted creatures, but I prefer to call them critters. Lately, I've had very little time for any of these and I feel a sense of loss because of it. Creating these things are an outlet for me. Not everyone understands this and those that do understand are there to talk to, but ones closest to me are not. This can be hard. I'm searching and pouring over inspirational things to get me started back into doing more of what I love. Time is a major factor however and once I see an open window for it, I'll jump through it if I'm quick enough. More on this later I hope...