6 years of change!

When I was released from my job in 2010, I felt invisible. Then I sat at my computer for 4 years freelancing, I started taking Photo Booth photos of myself, to remind me ... I was still here. Mom would sit behind me all day long, watching TV and doing her crosswords. I recently took another set of Photo Booth photos with Mason and discovered all of these ridiculous photos of myself. But I love seeing the change, mom behind me, when we brought little Sophie home, when I brought Pebbles home, Matt got in on the Photo Booth with me, Mason came home, my uncle in the background (who passed away a couple of months ago), Bri cut my hair and I documented it, then mom was gone, Mason is growing up and I am definitely looking older. Time rolls by, we change, get older, wiser? I want to remember to still take photos of myself and my life occasionally as a snapshot of the moment. To remind me ... I am still here.

Seeing red

You know you have friends that you don't have to talk to for a long time, to be able to feel very close to all the time. I am very lucky to have many of those ;) 

Today, I was having a lovely, long conversation with my friend Lovely Lotus Spirit Artist. I am fortunate to have met many, many years ago at Fort Warden during Artfest. We shared sleeping quarters and became fast friends. She has an angelic aura surrounding her, and everyone who met her, felt it! We went to many more Artfest together and remained close. She stayed at my house when she visited, and got to know and love mom too. 

She has a wonderful ability to connect to the spiritual part of the world and I was telling her that Bri had felt mom in the kitchen with her while she was cooking. Bri heard her bracelets clanging behind her and just felt the warmth. I was telling Christina that was jealous that I had not had one of the encounters ... although I feel mom in the house all the time AND I talk to the chair where she sat. 

And after about 30 more minutes of talking, Christina said, I am seeing a red top or shirt that your mom had ... did she have something red? I thought and I said, I can think of a turquoise and red necklace, but no, nothing right off. So we kept talking about art and life and said our goodbyes.

When I hung up, I looked down and realized I had on a red nightshirt. And texted Christina that fact! THEN, David said, it is even better, because that is your mom's nightshirt ... and I had forgotten that it WAS! GOOSEBUMPS. 

Then mom's favorite movie came on right after that - "Hello Dolly" ... so I guess she is closer than I could wish for! Love you mom! Thank you, Lovely Lotus xoxoxo 

Art that "bugs" me

Kate Kato is an artist, designer, crafter and a collector of unwanted things: "I live in the Welsh boarders where I create sculpture inspired by the nature that surrounds me. My sculptures are predominantly of plants and insects and are made from recycled materials. I love to work mostly with paper and textile, using stitching and embroidery to bring the various parts of my sculpture together." Her incredible work on instagram.

  
Series of insects we made for IGEPA Benelux, we made these insects out of used and recycled paper by coming soon 

 

 

Julie Alice Chappell conjures up these delightful creatures from circuit boards. Find her work on Etsy.

Beautiful textile sculptures of months, butterflies, and other insects with various textiles and embroidery techniques by Yumi Okita, also found on Pinterest.

Helen Ahpornsiri’s delicate creations crafted from tiny dried and pressed ferns. Also find more of her art on instagram.

 

Funny Farm

Isidro Ferrer creates Funny Farm, a group of nineteen wooden animals that are a bit quirky. 

The art of wood

Yen Jui-Lin, an independent wood-making artist from Taiwan. Amazing work. 

Rose of Sharon

I want to buy a new camera but I need to find out if my photographing-flower-passion is still in there some place. I have not felt up to it much in the last year. I saw this Rose on Sharon on my walk today. So playful with all of that springing from the the middle.

Cactus

Nobel Truong's cactus made out of fluorescent acrylic. 

 

Veronika Richterová's Collection of Cactuses made from PET bottles, photo Michal Cihlář 

Mariscal designed a sculpture that looks like a six-meter tall prickly pear, made of stainless steel with a polished mirror finish, from which living cacti sprout.

Cactus sculpture, center piece of Perth city.

Clematis

It is funny how you long to see flowers, then all of a sudden, they are everywhere, so many you can not take them all in at once.

Grape Hyacinth

I waited a little too long to capture these little guys.

English Daisies

I grabbed my camera and captured this perfect little flower at dusk.

Easter bunnies and other madness

It has been awhile, but I am trying to sew the sleeping yeast illustration idea up as a softie ;) 

I dusted off my camera and realized how much I miss taking photographs of my favorite subject.

I finally made the corn beef I bought for St. Patrick's Day. With David's help, I think mom would be proud. I reminisce a lot about how mom spoiled us: We laugh that Matt never made a bed or did laundry. I never really learned how to cook, it is hard for us to grocery shop. We miss her.

We had a fun day with Mason, chasing Easter eggs in the house since we had lots of rain last night. Mostly high on Chocolate.

Beautiful backgrounds

I loved Samurai Jack, animation backgrounds painted by Scott Wills are so stunning. Makes me want to warp myself and live inside the cartoon! A couple of painting demonstrations here.

These backgrounds by Iryna Korshak are really lovely. Serene.

 

Joey Chou.

Okuda San Miguel

Street artist Okuda San Miguel visualized a concept for the space that included painting the walls and ceilings, which displays a recurring figure, his iconic Kaos Star. The star is a colorful and asymmetric compass that’s meant to say it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, just to follow your own direction to reach your goals. That led to the project being called, Kaos Temple. An old church became a colorful skatepark, known as the Church Brigade. 

 instagram | Ink And Movement (iam Gallery)

Losing my way on Google maps

Yesterday, I was reading about the volcanic activity in Japan, then for hours, I was scanning North Africa continent ... how did I get there? I discovered this cool site about volcanos, Volcano Adventures, where I saw these weird and wonderful photos of salt flats in Dallol, Ethiopia ... Hottest Inhabited Place on Earth: Dallol, Ethiopia. Looks like the most inhospitable place on earth. I would love to visit there for a couple of hours. Just a skip and I was pouring over deserts in Egypt, imagining what how magical that would be. I love Google Maps!

Voewood revisited

I got a little present in my email this morning. Remember that incredible house in the U.K. I blogged about called Voewood? Amanda visited Voewood in person! and sent me detailed photos the butterfly curtains that had caught my eye. I have chills. I had some tears too. I want to run to the sewing room and try, just try to piece together something that would make me feel so giddy, glad, delighted. Oh, Thank YOU! Amanda for making me so happy this morning!

Click on image to get larger view!

The detail of the butterflies and moths looks incredible. Hand-stitched veins, looks like little fur is used. I really love the white ones with the little gray detail.

From Amanda Lewis

Biomimetic Butterflies

Worth blogging again, The Barbarian Group's Biomimetic Butterflies. Watching them move makes me want to cry every time!

"The Butterfly wings are made of laser cut, heavyweight drawing paper. After laser cutting, and some clean-up with an X-Acto knife, the wings are glued to a small piece of cotton to form a simple and delicate hinge. Using lightweight fabric keeps the overall look clean and creates a hinge with much less resistance than a more standard mechanical hinge. Each wing is fitted with two pairs of neodymium magnets by sandwiching the wing paper between each pair, making sure that the polarity on all magnets is consistent. To keep the Butterfly in place, we pin it to the mounting board with black insect mounting pins.

The wings are articulated by moving a large neodymium magnet oriented so that it has the opposite polarity of the magnets on the wings. For example if the magnets on the wings all have the south pole facing down, the large magnet will have south facing up. So when the large magnet is moved close to the wings, the magnets on the wings are repelled causing them to close. To move the magnet, it is mounted to a servo motor using a 2" plastic drum. The servo faces perpendicular to the central vertical axis of the Butterfly’s body. The magnet is mounted on the edge of the drum so rotating the servo causes the magnet to move away from the Butterfly, which in turn lessens its effect on the wing."

More Biomimetic Butterflies from Chandler McWilliams on Vimeo.

Air Bonsai

Owners are affectionate about the upkeep of their bonsai plants. After all, they require a continual source of maintenance in order for them to look their best. However, Hoshinchu has taken their hobby for indoor gardening to the next level by introducing the Air Bonsai project on Kickstarter. This labor of love, which adds another dimension to plant care, has been met with a wealth of support already.

Each Air Bonsai is made up of two separate pieces: a levitating piece called the “little star “and an “energy base.” Both are equipped with like-charged magnets, allowing the plant container to repel upward from the base.

Visit the Air Bonsai’s Kickstarter page for more info and to pledge a donation. (Via Highsnobiety)

Rockin' the wreaths, all year 'round

I love wreaths and flowers! All of my familys' birthdays come in February, flowers are such a good idea for those of us who don't need anything except to feel the love. Flower delivery by BloomNation inspired me to share my ideas on rockin' wreaths, all the year. And in our constant rain, I am searching for inspired ideas to bring a little nature indoors. Do you have a favorite Valentine wreath? I would love to hear about it.

MY WISH LIST

My husband wants three of these feather wreaths by FEATHERFABULOUS4U on Etsy for our kitchen cabinet doors, where I hang three wreaths all year. 

This year I found some rustic twig wreaths on sale at JoAnn Fabrics for this holiday season.

I have many sets of wreaths for this cabinet for all seasons.

 

hoppsydaisy on Etsy has the best wreaths, a little expensive but well worth all the effort that goes into felting those cute little balls with the best color combination.

DyJoDesigns on Etsy dreams of sugar plum fairies when they create these sweet (but pricey) fruit wreaths. They are created from artificial fruit ... I did look into how much it would cost to purchase all of the fruit to whip up one of these for myself. Not sure I would come out ahead.

DYI - FABRIC

I found this on on Issuu - 2010-2011 Lion Brand Catalog. The pattern is free here, you must join to get it. 

I love this Christmas wreath made from fabric leaves and felted pompoms found on Mandy Lynn. I can see three small ones of these. 

Ring of Roses with felt.

LIVING WREATHS

Living wreaths by Robin Charlotte.

 Succulent wreath from Floral Grubb

ARTIFICIAL BLISS

Realistic artificial Boxwood wreath by Elegant Wreath on Etsy, they also do a wonderful artificial Tulip, Berry and Red Pepper.

RUSTIC AND NATURAL

I tend to love the rustic, rough wreaths from natural branches or leaves.

PAPER

Obviously Sweet has made a beautiful wreath with textured patterned paper.

Paper Leaves Wreath from DesignSponge, with big luxurious leaves.

A Faux Fall Leaf wreath from Please Note. With instructions. 

How to make a coffee filter wreath

I really want to make this - Inkling: brown bag wreath {faux bay leaves} from homework. I want to make three small ones for my kitchen. She uses recycled paper bags. Love!

WILD AND WHACKY

 Maybe even edible?

 

FOR THE BIRDS

In this cold weather, it is important to remember our feathered friends in need of food and water. I  buy suet by the case and make sure they are stocked up out in the backyard. I also love the decorate my backyard with a DIY Birdseed Wreath - birds have good taste too, you know! No time to make your own, you can purchase one from Duncraft.

I have over 500 lovely wreaths on my Pinterest Wreath board, go have a look.