Library Art - Matt Portraits

Kids are always coming up to me at work and asking me for scrap paper. They take the paper and the little golf pencils and draw all sorts of crazy psychedelic things and recently, to my surprise, me! Here is some of the notable kid rendered portraits:

This little gem was drawn for the "libaby man." I especially enjoy the photo-like details the artist included, such as how the stripes in my tie clash with those on my shirt, my egg shaped head, my "hair flap," and my fingerless hands. Okay, so I might be picking on this picture a little bit, but I love it. And as you're about to see, the pictures only get weirder from here.

I've forgotten the exact conversation that accompanied this, but it went something like this:

Little Kid - I drew this for you, you're a pig!

Me - uh that's nice.

Little Kid - aahh hahahahahaha giggle hahaha

The kid that drew this is an older kick who fascinated by the concept of beards. I've actually had to yell at him for trying to touch it. So he drew this. I don't know what he means by "P.S. Slick/Slave/Shave good," or by "might be Santa or Beep."

These with the purple background were drawn by a brother/sister combo. The sister drew/wrote the bottom one. She also verbally called me a girl. I responded by saying something like "so are you." She totally didn't have a response to that! Assumedly that is me in a dress. Apparently I pull it off.

The inaccuracies in this one disgust me. I am appalled by this misleading portrayal. My laces are never, I repeat, never tied that neatly.

Thrifting Treasures - Author Signed Book

My name is Matt and I have a problem. If you helped me move a couple of weeks ago, you might have notices approximately 6-7 heavy boxes with the word "BOOKS" written on the top. And if you think that is a lot of books, please take into account that before packing I made a point to donated almost half of my collection. Books in my possession fall into three general categories: Books for Reading, Books for Crafting, and Books for Display. The Stolen Spoon Mystery by Irene Bowen, which I found in a local thrift store, falls neatly into the "Display" category.

The characteristic that attracts me to most of my Display/Crafting books is the cover. In this instances, I liked not only the cover, but also the color, and the slightly peculiar title. Upon further inspection of this book, I happened upon an interesting inscription and clip out.

So I looked at the inscription, then at the clipping, and then back to the inscription, then at the clipping, and then back to the inscription, then at the clipping, and then back to the inscription, then at the clipping, and then I realized, this "Irene Bowen" was mentioned in both, and was likely the same person! So I bought the book for $2. Then I wrote a sub par blog about it.

The End.

Library Projects - Tree Fan

Summer vaction - a time of rest and relaxation right? Well, not so much for children's librarians. The kids have gotta go somewhere during Summer Vacay, and from where I'm sitting, they go to the library.

Anyways, in order to handle this influx of children, my coworkers and I divide the kids up by grades, and then plan programs specifically for the different age groups. I got the 2nd and 3rd graders this summer. This is the perfect age group because they find everything that I do funny, which also makes this the most intelligent and tasteful age group.

Our programs basically consist of crafts and games, and the tree fan was the first project I did with them this summer. It all began when I cleaned out a filing cabinet, and found hundreds upon hundreds of unused green folders. These folders had been sitting there since the Reagan era, and I figured that odds were they would not be missed. A bit of cutting with the crinkly sissors (my name for them), and voila, I have my tree tops.

I then though it might be a nice touch if there were little apples and leaves to go onto the tree tops. By "nice touch" I really mean "a time waster" because I was already beginning to fear that the kiddies would finish this project way too fast.

Now I needed the tree trunks/fan handle. Luckily, I've managed to set a standard of doing curious things involving trees while visiting upstate, so my parents hardly batted an eye at me wandering around our yard and woods collecting sticks. I give all of the collected and cut supplies to the kids, throw in some tape and glue sticks, and alakazam, tree fans:

So that was the finished product! I considered this project a success for a couple of reasons:

1. To my knowledge, none of the kids stabbed each other with the sticks.

2. To my knowledge, I was not stabbed with any of the sticks.

3. At one point, I had 10 or so kids fanning me with their completed fans. This gave me the perfect opportunity to use my Maniacal Laugh of Supreme Accomplishment.

That basically was it for the craft part of the first program. The rest of the time was spent with them throwing pool noodles at one another, and then ended with them doing their best impression of an angry mob, chanting "cheater" at me (I showed them a number guess trick and refused to tell them how I did it.) All in all another successful program!

Wedding Recap: Paper or plastic?

Or silk? I'm hardly a world class seamstress, but I thought it would be nice (and do-able) to make my bridesmaids some cute little purses to use at the wedding. After all, there are only two of them, so I hardly had an excuse not to. After some failed attempts at designing the bags myself (they looked like silk potato sacks - real classy), I came across this free pattern!

Isn't it adorable?! And free! The best part is that the pattern only uses a fat quarter, so I had enough fabric left to complete the bags after my "potato sack debacle."

Since these were going to be a little dressier than the pic shown on the pattern, I decided to skip the button detail and used some random scraps and guinea hen feathers (the fun ones with the polka dots!) to make a little flower instead.

Images courtesy Sherry Lynne Photography

I love the way they turned out! And I totally learned my lesson about underestimating the power of a cute pattern. Especially when it's free!

Awww... and packing.

Just when you think you've lived in Brooklyn long enough to hate all of human kind, ya happen upon adorable sh*t like this.

The reason I was googling "patterned tape" in the first place is because Matt and I need a solution for packing that will make it easy for "the movers" (ie. our family and friends) to identify boxes destined for Manhattan versus boxes doomed to a year of storage before we, as Jack Donaghy would say, "flee to the Cleve"

heh.

Anyhoo, look at these fun (and like many fun things, overpriced and impractical) tapes:

(available at TapeSwell.com)

(available at Amazon)

(you had me at "Happy Tape")

... aaaand evidently I was not the first to come up with this idea.

Alas, I think we'll go with something that is available at a local store - like that colored duct tape, perhaps. (Otherwise, we'd probably double the price with shipping costs.) But if anyone has a good idea for this patterned stuff, let me know! It would be a fun way to mail a gift package, right? Or just wrap a present in general. I'm picturing a box wrapped in newspaper or plain craft paper with some of that "happy tape" wrapped around it like ribbon. On the top of the box you could "draw" a bow with pieces of the tape. Notice I am thinking about this as opposed to packing. Have I mentioned my procrastination problem?

...and then the etching cream took off my arm!

For the last couple of months I've been obsessed with glass etching. I decided upon this craft whilst trying to figure what exactly to make for my groomsmen. Although this was an easy craft (I mean, I did it, how hard could it really be,) the numerous steps involved made it very time consuming. The first step was to find an image:
Then, I converted the image to a simple black and white, preserving key aspects intact in order to keep the image recognizable:

Then, I transferred the image to contact paper, put it on the chosen glass surface, cut out the black spots with a box cutter, brushed on the etching cream, waited a couple of minutes, rinsed it off, and viola!:

Working on these glasses required all of my concentration, as well as the use of a head lamp.

In the end, I etched 23 different glasses. Here are some of the others.

Here are some old school Super Mario Brothers power ups.

Go Bills!

Final Fantasy Vii!

Cutting Instruments!

My next etching project has something to do with a previous blog post of ours ...

Not your mama's craft fair

We're going tomorrow. Totally pumped!

Wedding Recap: The Ultimate Party Trick

A few months back, Matt and I decided to cross-off #114 on our list of life-goals and learn the dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller!, a feat made possible by tutorials from thrilltheworld.com. This website was set-up by a Canadian dancer (the best kind of dancer, if you ask me) who aimed to break the world record for largest simultaneous Thriller! dance. She created a series of tutorial videos aimed at people with little to no dance experience. Now you too can be the coolest person at the next party you attend!

Although the tutorials cover the entire 6 minute version of Thriller!, our friends were already being such awesome sports that we really owed it to them to edit the song down to 3 minutes. Anyway, here is a video of the fruits of our labor from the wedding. Enjoy!

Night of the Living Wed from Sarah Stock on Vimeo.

Mwa-hahahahaaaa!

We did it!

We're officially Mr. and Mrs. "Casserole" now!  Here's a recap of our first dance:

Sarah and Matt's First Dance from Sarah Coryea Stock on Vimeo.

Fellow Brooklynites, we can't recommend highly enough taking dance lessons with Renata Shvarts at the Basic Ballroom dance studio.  She is responsible for the choreography, and with 10 lessons, we hope we were able to do it justice.

Special challenges arise when you can't practice in your dress.  I was worried that my bustle would take Matt out at the knees.  Also, the straps made it surprisingly difficult to lift my arms.  I had to really muscle through so as not to elbow Matt in the face in the approach to the lift.  (Although, a bloody nose would have really been a nice touch for the Thriller dance - more on that later.)  My shoulders were actually bruised the next day from pushing against the straps!  All in all, we were so happy with the end result, and I will be forever grateful to Matt for being such a good sport!

In related news, Matt has vowed never to dance again.  I think that is a crime against humanity.  That boy was born to dance!

5 days!

Oh, how I hope this is true ...

2 weeks!

Sorry for our relative absence lately -- we've been preoccupied with our upcoming wedding! Plenty of recaps afterwards, though, we promise!

A little something to hold you over: Matt showed me this video the other day, and it's pretty funny if you stop watching at about 1:03 ...

Uncanny!

I had been in full agreement with Matt that, despite the opinion of one child in the library, he in no way resembles a dolphin ... until now!

{Pink dolphin appears in US lake}

Are you an organ donor?

Me too!  Well, I haven't actually donated anything yet ...  but this morning I took the steps to make sure health care providers will know and honor my wishes when it counts.

In New York State, merely signing the back of your licence is so 3 years ago.  There is now a "Donate Life Registry" with the Department of Health, and it takes 5 minutes, a printer, and a postage stamp to complete.  Why is this important?  Well, prior to 2006, when a person died, even if his or her wishes to be a donor had been expressed to the State, next of kin permission was still required. Now, if you download the consent form online, sign it, and mail it to the Department of Health, you are giving your own permission, and the burden of this decision is lifted from your loved ones; they will be informed of your decision and given information about the donation process, but their consent is not required because you have completed this process yourself.  [FAQ's answered here.]  Laws overseeing organ and tissue donation vary from state to state, so if you're not a New Yorker, here is how to find out about becoming a donor where you live:

http://www.donatelife.net/CommitToDonation/.

Over 100,000 adults and children across the US are currently in need of life-saving organ transplants, and another person is added to the waiting list every 12 minutes.   Yet while waiting lists are growing, donation rates have plateaued over the last few years.  I recently attended a lecture on organ transplantation as a part of our school's "Transition to Residency" curriculum, and it was mentioned that an estimated one-half of eligible, interested donors are missed in the process for a number of reasons - because the deceased person did not make their wishes known; because at the sensitive time of a person's death, clinicians have difficulty discussing donation with the family, and loved ones have difficulty making such a decision.  Many of these barriers to organ donation could be avoided if your consent is given through the State registry.

My own dad has been on the waiting list for a kidney for over a year now.  Statistically, his life expectancy on dialysis is 1/3 of what it would be with a transplant.  While 90% of Americans say they support donation, only about 30% know the necessary steps to ensure they will be a donor.  Having taken those steps this morning, I can promise it's pretty darn easy to do ... just a matter of doing it!   

Happy Easter!

 {Me-likey: Berkley Illustration}

In honor of Easter, I present to you these hilariously sweet animal portraits by Etsy seller Berkley Illustration!.  Check out the whole series - they have formals of everything from a little robin to a T-rex.  How can you not smile at these?

Shower Power

A few weeks ago, my mom and aunts, with the help of my bridesmaids, threw me the loveliest bridal shower EVER featuring springy pastels, sugar flowers, china teacups, and doilies galore.  Sugar and spice and everything nice.   It made me think of when my father used to get dragged to high school cheerleading competitions, after which he described "being smothered by a pink cloud of estrogen."  I think the shower was one of those pink-cloud moments.  Awesome!

The star of the show - not me, shockingly - was the cupcake display!

Mom and Aunt Betty, fairly new to cake decorating, had carefully followed the instructions on how to make these exquisite gumpaste orchids.  After they struggled for a bit, legend has it that Dad then sat down and casually made one with great ease.  There was some rolling of eyes, but they eventually made a whole batch to adorn the cupcakes - FANCY!

Fancy, indeed.

Andria, in her first official duty as Maid of Honor, demonstrates that the gumpaste, while edible, is best left a feast for the eyes. 

A while ago, Mom got the idea to use doilies as a decor theme.  She wanted to use spring colors, but since colored doilies are a rare and expensive thing, she had the great idea to spray paint them!  Look at the pretty pastel bunting and place mats - it really helped brighten up the place since outside it was a gray and rainy spring day. 

Quote of the day by Andria: "I took a picture of the tables before everyone sits down and RUINS them!"  So wrong, yet so true - that is totally how I am going to feel about the table settings our wedding!  

I wish I had a picture, but my mom, in her typical Macgyver-like fashion, placed cardstock behind the doilies while spray painting them, thus creating pretty patterned paper which she used for the invitations.  

Here is part of the brunch spread, complete with the beautiful antique teacup collection that was my grandmother's - graciously lent to the occasion by my mom and aunts:

There were also egg stratas of every known variety and yummy breads made by Mom and bridesmaid Renee.

After brunch, there was opening of gifts ...  

"ooh!", " ahh!", "a mug!",  "a toaster!"

Note Andria's lawyer-ly legal pad to record the gift-givers 

(It's funny because she is a law student)

((You know its funny when it requires an explanation))

And then Mom, a former public speaking champ back in high school, read out loud the cards that each shower guest had filled out with a memory, recipe, or advice.  Some were sweet; some were funny.

My cooking skills, or lack thereof, were of course an easy target, but luckily nothing too scandalous.  Mom is going to put the little cards into a scrapbook for me.

Matt stopped by at the end, took some ribbing, and helped hand out the favors - froofy pink bookmarks that read "Support your local library!"  Haha!  

Oh Matt, even my sweet mother picks on you!

Some parting shots ...

My lovely bridesmaids - BFF Andria and College Roomie Renee

"4gether" high school cheer friends - Amanda*, Jamie*, and Carly

*99% of these photos are stolen from Amanda and Jamie

Wish I had more pics of the families (will post if I find some!) - thanks to everyone for coming and making the day so nice!