sparklythings

I have a huge pile of old books in my “crap room” as Jim calls it. Huge pile. It takes up two shelves in a big bookcase, then spills out into the floor. I adore the images that lie within the vintage elementary school textbooks, the cookbooks, the issues of Life and Look magazines.

Naturally, the idea was to use those images in various and sundry craft projects – cardmaking, decoupage, whatever. But a little part of me hoped that maybe if i worked with the images and stared at them long enough, maybe I’d be able to create my own, original artwork in that style.

So here’s three artists that do just that. The first is actually the team of Ryan and Sarah, who are Lab Partners.  They’re out of San Francisco but have had an exhibition of their work going on this month in Australia. It’s so good I actually squealed when I saw these pieces:

Those and several others are all gocco (cry!) and they also have a selection of acrylic works as well:

Acck! I love them all – hey Santa, any one of these pink and gold babies would look stellar on the walls of my “crap room!” There are more prints in their etsy store – that San Francisco letterpress is incredible.

While you’re on etsy, hop on over to Ms. Julie Lewis’s store – stellalola. She’s outside of atlanta, and I had considered some of her acrylics for the kitchen/dining room area – but as usual, I waited too long and they sold. What I adore about her work is the mix of retro style (it’s very “Let’s go out to the lobby and get ourselves a treat!”) and play-on-words humor:

"Lemon Drop"

"Soap Opera"

"Milkshake Mambo"

I think I found Ward Jenkins last year or maybe the year before when I was looking for Christmas card inspiration. Boy, did I find it – this man is incredible.

First of all, it’s good to see somebody with a much bigger ephemera collection than me. It helps me believe i’m not crazy, or if I am then at least I have company. Ward maintains and is active in a number of Flickr groups that I love (and am simultaneously overwhelmed by!) He’s a prolific illustrator and painter, and even has a set of his graffiti work. He’s finally opened an Etsy store, and I think i’ve fallen for this little girl:

How happy is she! As if all this wasn’t enough, Ward’s also got a super-cool wife and beautiful children.

Geez, all this awesomeness in one post…I’m off to play with my old books and work out some low-self esteem issues…

Jim is a contest hound as well as a lucky devil. He won tickets to Universal Studios from the local FOX station when they were promoting the new Simpsons ride. Being native Floridians, we knew way better than to even attempt going down there during the summer; November’s climate and crowds were more suitable for us.

Our plan was to hit the Simpsons ride quickly, then hop on over to Islands of Adventure, which I hadn’t been to yet. We ended up taking a more leisurely pace and just stayed at Universal the whole day, which was fine by me.

The Simpsons ride was delightful. I can’t think of any franchise more suited for a theme park ride. There’s years and years of tv shows to draw on, fully developed characters and themes with a simple and fun visual appeal. The level of detail and humor in the wait area and the ride itself is unmatched. I enjoyed the previous “Back to the Future” ride on mostly a technical level, amazed at how easy it is to get lost in the illusion…but as The Simpsons the ride pleases all around.

We also rode The Mummy three times – including the last run of the night, which we felt made us pretty special. The ride came highly recommend to us and I certainly do continue the recommendation. I think i’d have pooped my pants if I’d ridden that as a kid (Fire! Demons!) but it kicks the butt of all the other rides in the park.

Of course Universal was already decked out in holiday decorations, it not even being Thanksgiving yet. If I had been forward thinking I would have used this opportunity to get pictures for our Christmas cards…perhaps something with the Madagascar penguins…?

As it was, we spent lots of time looking for clear ornaments to take pictures of our reflections.

I have been recently preoccupied with how to decorate the new house for Christmas, and I was struck by how much can be done with simple round ornaments, artfully arranged in different colors, sizes and textures. This arrangement of blues is similar to what I’ve picked out for the living room (minus the snowflake motif, because there’s no snow in Florida!)

This picture really doesn’t do justice to the fun and funky contrast of the lime and purple inside the Men in Black store. I had already planned to add cherry red to the lime in our kitchen, but maybe I’ll throw some purple in as well.

Speaking of MIB, the sixties retro-repro was a bit sterile and cheesy to me now that I spend so much time researching the real deal…but I still had fun there.

You can see the rest of my photos and Jim’s photos as well on Flickr!

I have wanted a gocco for about three years now. I lusted after the gocco prints on etsy and dreamed of mass producing my own wedding invitations. Living in the apartment as we were, without a shred of spare horizontal space, I knew it would be a wasted purchase. “When we get a house,” I reasoned to myself, “then it’ll be time. I’ll get my gocco!”

So I dutifully kept tabs on savegocco.com (now defunct) and cheered when Paper Source began to sell them in the US. I waited, we bought the house, and I waited some more. “Christmas,” I said. “Christmas is when I’ll get my gocco.”

Well here it is Christmas and hey, looks like I waited too long. I discovered last night that Paper Source doesn’t sell them any more. Why? Because they’re not being made. Ever. At all. That’s it. Done. Finished. I’m still trying to figure out the rumor mill in the Flickr groups but it sounds like after next month they’re not making supplies any more, either. It seems that producing the bulbs is the big issue, and maybe there will be an electronic replacement for either the bulb part or possibly the entire machine – but either one would take years (and probably a better global economic climate, i’m sure.)

Depressing as it is, I know if I was completely obsessed then I’d try to pick up a used machine and join the fray of people stockpiling supplies.  It’s still pretty durned expensive for an obsolete technology,though. And if I were double extra serious about getting into the Hallmark biz, I’d consider real screen printing or even letterpress. There’s so many amazing letterpress goodies on etsy – how bad could that setup be?

Even though I’ve learned my lesson about waiting from the gocco, the answer is still “way too much for me right now” – from the homemade press to the incredible artistry of the professional. Letterpress is still amazing to look at, though. What a wonderful change from the desktop world that i’ve fully grown accustomed to. I got a little nutty looking at some of the vintage print supplies on eBay. Seller letterpreservation239 has set after set of type…i’ve always been a copperplate girl, myself:

And some of the old graphics and words are a hoot. I wonder what this could have been used for? (seller brucels2000)

No gocco, no miniature pony…it’s going to be a blue Christmas this year for me…

I’d seen this post on craiglist just the day before:

NICE LITTLE HORSE ABOUT 28 INCHS TALL.JUST HALTER BROKE IN THE PAST FEW DAYS.HEALTHY WITH NO PROBLEMS. I HAVE 2 AND THEY BOTH LOOK ALIKE. 1 FEMALE AND 1 MALES. … $250 EACH

Just $250 each? That seemed like a bargain price for such an adorable animal. They used to keep one inside the independent pet store down the street; it had its own room right at the front. I also saw a service horse in action inside a Wal-Mart once, though with the crowds that it drew it seemed difficult for the horse owner to get any shopping done. But the animals are supposed to be very intelligent, loving, and eager to please.

Yesterday we found ourselves down at the St. John’s County Fair watching the “Horses, Horses, Horses” show. It was not exactly Cirque du Soleil, but they tried their best. Part of the show included a demonstration of six tiny miniature horses mostly running around in circles:

Though some of them had their own special talents:

While I enjoyed watching these little guys running around, I was completely smitten by this tiny horse:

Yes, this one sent me into “awww” overload.

Especially when he bowed to the audience:

Then I began to beg and plead with Jim, telling him about the Craigslist ad. Our backyard is plenty big enough, right? My sister-in-law owns big horses; she’d be able to tell us everything we’d need to know, right?

We’d need a pickup truck to carry the little horse around in, and I’ve been wanting one of those anyway. We’d need a tiny little barn, too. The Guide Horse Foundation has some cute barns on their site:

But in my head, i envisioned something more like a children’s playhouse for my tiny white horse:

or even this awesome, awesome one from the Big Yellow Treehouse Company:

But my playhouse dreams go beyond the scope of this post. Suffice it to say, i saw a cute little barn in our backyard, and inside this little barn was a little closet. Inside the little closet was all kinds of bridles and harnesses, covered with an array of sequins, rhinestones, feathers and glitter. I’d come home and the little tiny horse would be happily running around in the backyard. I’d call him over to his tiny barn and get him dressed in his rhinestones and feathers. Then we’d go for our daily walk around the neighborhood, slowing traffic and charming little kids and doing amazing tricks.

Yes, in my fantasy the only things the horse was missing was a pair of wings and rainbows shooting out of its ass.

Jim was so good, indulging my fantasy even as he realized that a $250 pet would rapidly become a $10,000+ project. I went as far as researching residential zoning requirements to see if this dream could become reality. I mean, people have dogs bigger than some of these horses. What’s the big deal?

Christmas is just about a month away. We’ll see what happens…

we were followed by a ghost this weekend.

We live near a road that runs parallel to train tracks for miles upon miles. You get used to seeing all the automobiles leaving the port, the military equipment on its way overseas, the cars full of coal headed toward the power plant. There’s plenty of graffiti on these trains, and at times the blocky letters and wild colors can be quite brilliant. But I’d never seen anything like the image we saw on the way back from dinner on Saturday night.

I’m not the best at reading this stuff, but I think think the text says “Don’t Cry.” I don’t know if it’s supposed to go together with the image or not. If her angry gaze wasn’t unsettling enough, she was done in this odd mottled white color that made her semi-reflective. She was eerie and creepy and completely enchanting.

Jim seemed surprised when i asked him to turn around; he hadn’t seen her and I couldn’t explain it. Soon we were on the side of the road next to the tracks, both of us snapping terrible cell phone pictures of her in the darkness.

Of course I hit Google straightaway when we got home. I hoped for easy answers and instant gratification. I wanted an artist bio, scholarly examination of the piece and a library of other work…and of course, I found nothing. The obvious reference, if the text indeed goes with the portrait, would be to Evita. There is a bit of similarity to this photo from Juan and Eva Peron’s wedding:

Notably in the hairstyle, the dark lipstick and the frilly collar. But here Eva is a beautiful, charming woman who is happily focused her on her marriage vows. The girl on the train looks completely pissed and as if she’s holding the viewer responsible for the cause. Not very Eva-like.

I spent some more time reading about taggers and the artform and the ahem…legal issues, and it was all very interesting. They’ve had their own community thing going on for years and years and it was cool to take a peek inside for a little bit. I slowly realized that I didn’t have to know every single detail; the mystery behind who the girl was, why she looked like she did and who put her there made the experience even better.

She wasn’t done with us yet, though. After a long and lazy Sunday morning, we headed out for the 4 pm Jaguars game. Right there at the front of our neighborhood sat the girl on the train car. She’d moved a few miles overnight but was again stopped and no less creepy in the daylight. There was no time for more pictures as we had to make a side trip to Walgreen’s before going to the stadium.

After walgreens, we crossed the river into Panama Park and were immediately stopped by a moving train…and there she was again! Given the timing the train must have left our neighborhood right after we did. We certainly felt like we were being followed!

I’ll never be able to shake the artist’s hand, but I wish he could know that I’m in awe of his skill and grateful that somewhere he took the time to conjure up this girl on the side of a train. I wish he could know how his art took some unknown path to a road in Florida and throughly engaged my husband and I on a random Saturday night.

if i had unlimited funds and a size zero body, I would buy all these things right now…

Vintage Beauty Salon chair from 50Rocket88. It’s a perfect shade of green and has a darling pattern on it as well. The cats have destroyed my computer chair so I’m kind of in the market for a new one, and I think i could make this work.

Red Velvet Dress from *calendargirl*. This is the very model of a perfect Christmas party dress. Check out the rest of her shop for more amazing dresses, too.

Teak light fixture from best-deal-shop. I’m still stuck on the dining room light, and think these three-bulb styles are my best solution to the pendant v. chandelier problem I have. The teak ones keep the retro vibe going, especially when they’ve got kind of a rocket shape like this one. These fixtures are proving to be quite popular and all the ones I’ve liked have been bid out of my price range. This one didn’t even start close to it. I’ll keep dreaming, though.

I promised myself this blog would stay politics-free, but here’s two pseudo-political posts back to back. Actually, there’s no discussion of any kind of real issue, just than the blogged-to-death topic of Michelle Obama’s election night dress. A week later it’s still provoking strong reactions around the water coolers and bringing Michelle’s overall fashion style into question.

The rest of her family looked quite sharp, but poor Michelle was just a mismash. I have said repeatedly that her bod is kickin’; she’s got a lot going for her. She just needs to learn how to play up her strong points instead of randomly grabbing clothes off the racks. I felt even more strongly about that point yesterday when I saw the original dress for the first time.

Um, wow. What in the WORLD could make a person look at that and say “YES! My husband is going to be elected the most powerful man on the planet and THIS is the PERFECT dress to wear for the occasion!” The jacket didn’t help. There is no length or neck change that would make this more presidential. Just…no.

Somewhere, Jackie is weeping…

I was posting a lot about politics on my MySpace blog, but then stopped when I developed a life and there was just too much political crap to complain about. I tried to Twitter through the debates, but those really got annoying to watch. I talk a little bit with some like-minded people on Facebook, which is nice since I’m walking a line between “Token Democrat To Pick a Fight With” and “The Girl Nobody Wants to Start A Political Conversation With” at work and with family. So all I have left to say on the internets is that I’m happy with the national result and disappointed with Amendment 2. But more importantly, I HAD to share this, the most adorable thing to come out of the 2008 election:

It makes me smile every single time I see it, probably because it looks just like our Slinky.

getting a haircut is a traumatic experience for me, mostly because i’m lazy and get my hair cut maybe once a year, twice at the very most. I’ll get it cut in a short bob, then deal with it and its various moods on a daily basis until it’s long enough to pin up. Once it gets to pony tail length I’m usually twitching with annoyance, which leads me to proclaim loudly to anybody who will listen, “I NEED TO GET MY HAIR CUT!” Then the cycle starts again.

Because I don’t do regular trims, I don’t have a relationship with a specific stylist. I’ll just visit whatever Hair Cuttery I’m closest to when my hair breakdown starts. I’ve found it helpful to bring in my own photos in instead of relying on those wacky inspiration books they have on hand – there’s some pretty weird stuff in there. Typically my photos are of celebrities, not because I’m expecting the stylist to miraculously change me into Hollywood royalty, but because they’re sort of an international visual language. Everybody knows what celebrities look like; I can just say “Give me Dana Scully from season 4 of the X-Files” instead of trying to explain all the technical details of length and layers of the cut I want.

I actually made this request many, many times in the late 90’s. Smart is sexy, right. I eventually grew tired of the Scully cut, though several years after everybody else did. I then drifted to the “Boys on the Side,” “Flashing David Letterman” era Drew Barrymore cut.

I never did do those curls, though I wanted to very much ‘cuz they’re a-dor-a-ble. On her, anyway. And I haven’t the faintest idea how to use a curling iron.

This worked for a few years until I met my husband, and like every red-blooded American girl I let my hair grow out for our wedding. At three days out I was about to lose my patience and get shorn; however, my mother began sending me death threats at the very idea. I asked myself “What Would Gwen Stefani Do?”

The answer to that is who the hell knows, because these pictures here (my faves) are pretty tame compared to some of the stuff she’s come up with. I just adore her, though. St. Gwen reminded me to think ahead – past the reception, past the honeymoon – to the first post-wedding haircut. It was bliss. (And I got to rock a Gwen Stefani ‘do at Sara’s wedding, which was awesome!)

Now that I was a mature, married woman I looked to those cute little bobs that Meg Ryan made so popular.

Um yeah. Have you seen Meg Ryan lately? I don’t know what happened to the pictures I took into the stylist, but I couldn’t find them now because I couldn’t stand to look at the plastic surgery gone bad. There’s no google filter for that one, man. Wow.

I started getting that irritable hair feeling again this past September, and eventually got my hair cut last month. I toyed around with the idea of some classic styles this time around:

I found much inspiration in Ashley Judd, who I hated for a long time for no good reason. It might have had something to do with her role on Star Trek that one time. But that was long ago, and she’s got the cutest little hair cut right here.

I was really digging the versatility she showed in these pictures, especially that little barrette. Cuters! Then I found this, which is quite possibly the holy grail of hair pictures.

This is from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” which she was doing somewhere, I don’t even know . But she’s beautiful, the style is beautiful, it’s all just beautiful. This actually inspired me to go out and buy some curlers recently, but again I don’t know how to use such things. There are no words to describe the result. no words at all.

After extensive research, I felt the bob haircut really peaked in the late 90’s – specifically in the cinematic masterpiece “Varsity Blues.” I hit the goldmine on Flickr with a bloke named RunningWithScissors. A professional hairstylist, he’s got a treasure trove of those wacky ol’ inspiration books from the 80’s and 90’s. He’s truly providing a public service by making them available to us all. In between the strange and unusual specimens I found a few that I liked and brought them in.

The stylist did okay, not spectacular. I don’t have any pictures but usually shoot for that Ashley Judd barrete look. Oh well, in eight or ten months I can try it again.

A quickie flyer I made for my buddy Angel last month. If you are in need of kitchen utensils, check out her shop. Pampered Chef has some neato mosquito things!