halloween :: costume picks

In the spirit of Halloween, I think i'll sprinkle my blog with some cute, fun, weird and interesting costume choices. Like this one....

What a cutey!

Wish I could dress Poppy Petunia up, but she'll have nothing to do with clothes - she freezes like a statue when I put her in clothes :( . Good for calming her down though - kind of like a straight jacket , hehe.

regretsy :: crafts gone wrong

No doubt you've heard of Etsy.com, that long-haired, Birkenstocked love child craft website of Amazon and eBay. It's a crafts-only marketplace (and now vintage too!) oozing with personality. Picture Martha Stewart reincarnated as Ani DiFranco and you get the gist. It's the go-to site for handmade fashion, furniture, toys and housewares. I sell both my art prints and my vintage collectibles on Etsy and swear by it.

But have you heard of Regretsy.com? I hadn't, until my super web savvy DIL Sasha sent me a link to this hilarious website that delivers some of the funniest most outlandish crazy items that some people get away with selling on Etsy.com. Take a look at some of these and have a laugh!

PINK LEOPARD GOAT COAT

Description

This is clowee, my pygmy goat. Isnt she adorable?? She is an indoor goat and acts like a dog. She is my model for all my goat clothes.

On Sale Pop Tab and Safty Pin Get Out Of Jail Free White Crochet Choker

Description

This choker is 15" long and 1" wide. The band is all hand crochet in white size 1o crochet thread. It features pop tabs held together with copper safty pins. At it's center is a chance car "Get Out Of Jail Free" from a monopoly game. The card is covered in plastic.

Now on sale! Was 20 dollars and now only 15!

Frida Kahlo Uterus Plushie

Description

Complete with uni-brow and an unyielding creative presence. Modeled after the feminist icon and artist Frida Kahlo: this plush features a braided floral hair-do, full and serious lips, her signature uni brow, large colorful earrings with floral inlay, two golden necklaces and a Spanish style skirt. This plush is made of soft flannel and animal friendly fiberfill. She measures about 11 1/2" from fallopian tube to fallopian tube

Christmas Nativity Meerkats

Description

Christmas meerkats in the spirit of an infant school Nativity play!

Joseph Meerkat is wearing a loosely belted tunic and is gazing protectively at Mary Meerkat who wears a traditional blue gown. Her shawl drapes modestly over her head and has convenient openings for her ears to pop through.

Rag Rug Necklace

Description

Handmade from post manufactured silk cut-offs and inspired by the traditional textile craft technique of rag rugging.

This Unique range of jewellery is created by looping the silk pieces into a shaped bed of hessian.

Merkin Hairy Panties Size Large

Description

Working the Merkin! Fluff the Muff!

These hair panties have brown faux fur that will not shed.

Who knew there were these "unusual finds" lurking amidst your average ordinary crafts / stuff on etsy. Not I ! Check out Regretsy.com - it's a riot AND JUST COOL!

travel :: southwest makes it fun

It's fun flying Southwest. Even when they do pack us in like sardines... And here's why...

Southwest just makes things more interesting ...and JUST COOL!

art :: google eyed grafitti

Artist Kevin Ledo puts a smile on our faces (and those of these humble urbanly decayed otherwise ugly utilitarian objects) with his unique graffiti art project titled "I'm So Vandal". This "happy" grafitti project is JUST COOL too because no walls, fire hydrants or pipes were harmed in the making of these photos.

Funny what a handful of plastic googly eyes can do to brighten our day :)
 Check out more of Kevin Ledo's googly eyed graffiti on behance.net

photography :: squirrelize your photos

Need to add a squirrel to one of your photos but can't find a willing subject in your backyard? There's a quick way to embed the cute little varmint into your photographs and it doesn't involve acorn bribery or nasty rodent bites either. It's called "squirrelizing".

This was a photo from an earlier post of mine that I magically squirrelized. Wanta try it yourself? Check out the squirrelizer application here .

Squirrelizing - It is definitely JUST COOL!

kids :: make & color!

 

I as "Mimi" am always looking for ideas to keep the grand kids busy! Over at Chez Beeper Bebe, Holly has an easy tutorial on making these sweet little coloring books for the kiddies. Or have them make them for each other. That'll keep 'em busy! LOVE THESE!

Cuz they're JUST COOL of course!

fun :: it's a puzzle!

When I was a child we always had a puzzle in the works out on the little card table by the fireplace. There were two comfy chairs that were often occupied by kids and adults alike, trying to fanagle the little jigsaw pieces into place to complete the picture, usually one of some famous landmark, a basket of cute kittens or a covered Vermont bridge. Times and puzzles have changed since then. If you haven't checked out the offering of puzzles today you're in for a welcome surprise because they are more intricate, more detailed and more clever than ever. My friend Andrea Farnham who owns Thingamajigsaw Puzzles (she even carries a few with my artwork on them) has some very neat puzzles. Like that  cool  Noah's Ark puzzle  called "Two by Two", up there at the top of this post, one that I am sure would keep you and the kids busy for awhile. No, it isn't a trick puzzle but a challenge nonetheless due to it's  many "dropout" spaces. 

The ark is provisioned and ready to load and the animals are waiting patiently. They interlock with each other and with the ark to nest securely inside. Your mission, should you decide to take it, is to get all ten pairs of animals to fit inside.Do you think you can get them safely inside before the flood? It's a fun puzzle and well worth the challenge!

Two by Two is just one of many puzzles that Thingamajigsaw Puzzles crafts and cuts by hand in a highly detailed process. Their  wonderful puzzle selection ranges from the truly traditional to the treacherously tricky and you can even custom order a puzzle. I love puzzles. They're a great old fashioned past time that  always brings the family together.And Andrea's puzzles are  JUST COOL!

Travel :: Kissimmee for fun in the sun

I think this has been the longest Winter yet up here in the Northeast. It's time to get away for a relaxing vacation in the warm Florida sunshine! And what better place to relax then in Kissimmee Florida. In fact there's no other vacation destination quite like it with all the wonderful things it has to offer. From flying through the air at 60 miles an hour on a roller coaster and watching the smiles on the kids faces when they meet up with their favorite Disney characters to a myriad of water sports like zooming across Lake Toho on an airboat, or taking advantage of all of the great fishing spots it has to offer.Not only is there golfing at Florida’s most celebrated golf courses and dining in world class restaurants in Kissimmee, but there are lots of things to do for free too. In fact some of Kissimmee’s best-kept secrets are free! Hike nature trails, and get acquainted with Old Florida. You can dance the night away, or cruise the classic cars at Old Town. If you like art like I do, then meander through the downtown area to see the Kissimmee Sculpture Experience. Each year artists submit their work and a dozen works are selected for exhibition along the tree-lined streets.

So has all this vacation talk peeked your interest yet? Well I haven't finished because here is the best part. Right now Kissimmee is giving away three weekend getaways of 3 days/2 nights for two; and two 2 week long vacations for four .Drawings will be held on or around 4/15/09 and 5/21/09. So don't miss your chance for this one and enter the sweepstakes now. Who knows, maybe you'll win your vacation of a lifetime!

design :: flickr abc's

Spelling with pictures is fun. And JUST COOL if you use this fun flickr application I found over at metaatem.

Hmmm..... I wonder what other cool apps that smarty pants, Eric Kastner has up his sleeve...

kids :: a house of their own

What a delight! Nestled among the daisies is this irresistable little playhouse any child would love.  Sooooo cute, it makes me want to go back to my own childhood (or buy one of these little dwellings for Aven and Calla!). The qb is the first children’s play house which isn’t only unique in it's qua shape, but it is special  because you can completely customize it according to your own specifications. Choose from a fun array of colors and prints or upload your own patterns and build your own personal design!

Netherlands based company QUUBI builds each of these tiny fairytale houses to order. Each is made of durable, high-quality materials, is  environment-friendly and a portion of all sales goes to “Right to play”, because QB feels that all children have the right to play.

 

food :: play with it!

When I was a wee child we learned table manners. Lots of them. No elbows on the table, napkin in your lap, always say please and thank you when passing the peas, eat everything on your plate because children were starving in China. Always ask permission to be excused. And if we had to use the bathroom during the meal (don't all little ones have to?) we had to refer to it as "the facilities"- e.g.,"may I please be excused to use the facilities". But the grande dame of all table manners / rules was :"NEVER PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!"

Well Boys and Girls, times have changed. Nowadays kids eat when, where and WHAT they want, with no pleases, no thank you's and who cares if people are starving in China. Down the disposal goes the less than half eaten plate of food. Even the NEVER PLAY with your food rule has gone down the drain because of FRED's nifty plate called Food Face. Call me rebellious from a childhood of strict upbringing, but I whole heartedly approve of this one! 

Bring on the peas, the mashed potatoes and all the other culinary goodies because Fred's Food Face turns dinner into art. These neat plates would be great fun for my grandkids ( you may even catch me playing with my food too ;)). And hey - they may even get Aven to eat his dinner for once! The plates are mid-size and crafted from hotel-quality, food-safe, high-fire ceramics and each is individually gift boxed with lots of inspirational (not to mention wacky) food art. Wouldn’t YOU have loved this when you were a kid? Me too! 

Come on now - playing with food is fun and JUST COOL! ;)

art :: Obamacon yourself

Now you can Posterize yourself, just like Shepard Fairey did with Obama in his campaign posters  "Hope" and "Rock the Vote" which have become so popular.

These red, white and blue political posters are spreading like wildfire on the internet in all sorts of copycat versions. Check out  Obamicon.me and make one of yourself, like I did.

 Love these interactive art sites!  They're JUST COOL!

via bloomacious

art :: fanciful and fun Christmas cards

For 22 years Aspen Boutique has been mailing ornate and fanciful die cut 3D holiday cards to their customers. These exquisite cards are designed by Gardner Design of Wichita Kansas, run by Bill Gardner .

1998

2004


2006


2008

Aren't they stunning! And JUST COOL.

see more at reubenmiller

fun :: the muppet maker

My grandkids absolutely love the muppets, so when I saw FAO Schwartz offering their build your own muppet in their Muppet Whatnot Workshop, I had to take a peek and see what it was all about. You know me, I love these interactive sites for fun and creativity.

So... I started by designing my own muppette - they have lots of different options from color, shape, nose, even some cool clothing styles - of course I chose the mod 60's flower power outfit for my muppette. Then I submitted my choices and here is what I got.

After you build your muppet, you can put it in your shopping cart and they actually make it for you. It costs $90, and the estimated delivery time is 3-4 weeks.

I'll have Aven and Calla design their own when the come for Sunday dinner this weekend. Who knows, they may get a surprise at Christmas from Mimi this year! The muppet maker - It's JUST COOL!

candy :: Halloween haul

To pillowcase or not to pillowcase. Thats the big question on every serious trick-or-treaters mind this spooky halloween night. When I was a kid, we always found the biggest pillowcase in the house to collect all our sugary loot in. Unfortunately back then (I know I'm dating myself on this one) king pillowcases hadn't been invented so we could only use the standard size. Now imagine all the candy you could haul away with those california kings?

Over at My Science Project they made a serious but humorous study of how much Halloween candy can fit in a pillowcase. Pillowcase or pumpkin pail, which is your (or your kids, grandkids) favorite Halloween Bag?