Duck Hunt

So a couple of months ago, while at a thrift store, I found this huge painting. I didn't love it, but its always cool to find a really big painting. So I asked Sar, what could I do with it? She replied that I should do my 8-bit thing to it. That wouldnt really work out with the framed art in question, but she got me thinking. So I spent the next couple of weeks looking for a painting or print that might lend itself to what I had in mind. Then I saw this:



Ducks? Well they dont really have anything to do with video games ... but ... wait a minute!



Obviously! I started work. And about 500 quarter inch bits later....



And the duck, closer:



So Now I am on the look out for framed art that can be made more awesome!

Also, enjoy this:



Thanks for reading!

Library Project - Dolphin Vs. Shark Trophy

So during Summer Reading, we children's librarians come up with various activities to keep the kids busy. One of said activities this summer was an on going trivia contest called

Dolphin VS. Shark - Who Will Win?

This was a fun activity, and I had a pretty good time coming up with all of the Shark questions. At the end of the summer, the plan was to give the kid who had the most correct answers a bag of prizes. Pretty cool. But, lucky for this winner-to-be, I happened to at that time be obsessed with old trophies. For example:

I got this awesome vintage trophy at the local Unique Thrift. I think it cost me 1.99. I had this on our built-ins for a while, but then my significant other noticed it and was like "Heeeeell No." Then it ended up in my workshop, where I decided to take it apart. It stayed like that, because, well, its a workshop.

So anyways, when we were talking about the prize for the trivia winner, I said offhandedly that I would make them a trophy. I don't think I was taken seriously at first, but I said it enough in the coming weeks that by the end of the summer, I was in a position which required me to produce a trophy. This is what I ended up making:

Basically, I collect a couple more old trophies, and disassembled them. Then, I bought two plastic figurines - one shark and one dolphin - and spray painted them gold. I screwed the two maritime invertebrates to the trophy apparatus, and viola, the coolest sea life related trophy this kid will ever win. Well, unless he ends up being a trainer at Sea World.

Wedding Recap: Library Nods

A funny thing happens when you're trying to save money on a wedding. It forces you to think outside the box, get creative, and you find that opportunities arise to make things more personal. That's what happened when we looked for alternatives to floral arrangements for our ceremony decor.

As you may know, Mr. Casserole, my beloved guybrarian, has a longstanding ironic habit of destroying books for the sake of art. We have loads of dismembered old book parts lying around, so when I saw this as inspiration, I thought: "Dang, I can do that." I got some foam wreath forms from the craft store, my trusty glue gun, some scalloping shears, convinced Matt to part with some book pages . . . and made a pair of these for either side of the aisle.

I made a third wreath to hang on our old iron gate as the ceremony backdrop, this time using a pizza box cut into a wreath shape, and forming the paper into roses. (I actually used the rose technique used in cake decorating, but there are also many cool paper flower techniques, including origami, floating around the internets.) Brooklyn pizza saves the day once again! Check it:

Way cheaper than flowers, and you can hang the wreath in your house when you're done.

If you were there and looking closely, you also noticed that the old book pages made it into the boutonnieres (note the feathers, too - our bird theme):

And of course the once we had a library thing going, we couldn't resist using this old card catalog my dad found years ago as a guest book:

Nerdiness abounds, just like our love!

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!

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!

Chalk boards and you

Set aside those sore memories of the classroom and embrace the fabulousness that I will call, for the sake of being annoying, "chalkboard chic"!

Here are some neato chalkboard-finished items available on the market:

(via uma)

(via uma)

"But wait," you say, "I can't find knick knack X in a chalkboard finish!"  Never fear, dear reader.  As many of you know there are chalkboard paints available (in both traditional paint out o' the can and spray paint forms), so the possibilities are endless!  These products are available in black and green, but other colors are rare, so if you want to change up the colors, or you just want to be thrifty with some paint you already own, use a DIY recipe like this one.  I am told by a 17-year-old "expert" working in the paint department at Lowes that any flat darkly- colored paint will do the trick as well, but I'm skeptical that it would stand up to repeated uses. 

On with the projects ... 

(Via Fancy Schmancy)

(via design is mine)

(via make)

(via Martha)

(via Viva Full House)  It uses magnetic paint too!  Mind.  Blown.

 

Ooh!  And lookey here at this product - chalkboard oilcloth!  Imagine a kitchen tablecloth or placemat made out of this stuff?

(via Bell'occhio)

I have got some chalkboard details planned for our wedding decor.  More on that in our wedding debriefing series ... coming in late May.