alicia policia

Attack of the '90s X-Men Nostalgia

2012-01-24T11:55:00.010-06:00

This past weekend, I found myself catching a few minutes of the 1990s X-Men cartoon, which totally sent me into a 90s X-nostalgia spiral, and I wound up doodling some X-peeps I had not drawn in a long while.

And I loved it.

It started with Gambit, and moved on to Rogue, and then Jubilee, and finally Psylocke before I stopped.

And the memories! Oh, they came rushing back!

It feels like forever since I've drawn any super heroes, but back in the early 90s, that's practically all I drew. Well, actually I drew four things: girls with weird hair, girls in vintage fashions, Disney girls, and super heroes (mostly just the girl ones).

I didn't really have an artistic grasp on the male facial characteristics or masculine physique until mid 90s or later -- my guy drawings always ended up looking like girls, which would spark the kind of snorty, teasing comments from my peers that I liked to avoid.

Hey, look! It's a perfect opportunity to share with the world my own vintage, dorky, middle-school nerd girl drawings! Yay, embarrassment! Yay, progress!

The above Gambits were both way macho for the likes of most of my guy drawings at that time. That's how poorly I drew men.

I guess I thought that the cigarette with the endless cloud of smoke made him seem tougher...

Did you know they don't draw Gambit smoking anymore?

So then I turned to drawing just the girls, which, given super hero ladies' busty builds and skimpy costumes, just sparked a whole new mess of snorty, teasing comments from my peers.

This mess of Rogues look like they date from 1993 and/or 1994 -- right in the thick of my life's teasing territory. Perfect.

As you can see from what may very well be the first drawing of Rogue I ever did (this looks like 1991 or 1992, judging from my handwriting and the hair drawing technique applied), I still had a lot to learn about anatomy.

Heeello, thighs! Perhaps some of the snorty teasing was merited.

Also of note, the very 90s artist signature 'tag.'

And the Jim Lee inspired boob hatch marks, straight off the cover of X-Men #1.

And check out this very early Jubilee, again likely 1991 or 1992. Nice shorts!

Also, just what was up with all the jackets? I reckon it was the early 90s. Jackets were in, right?

So were shiny surfaces, apparently. Oh, teen Alicia! So much shiny!

Obviously, the comics reading and the hero(ine) drawing trumped the teasing.

I loved comics. Not only did it make for great drawing practice (not to mention it was something to do whilst being a bored-to-death-teen-nerd), but it was just a crazy and quirky and dark and funny and just plain old entertaining, entirely engrossing world they inhabited.

Yup. Even with all the jackets...

And the pockets...

And the belts that didn't hold anything up...

And the shiny.

Jessica & John's Jamaican Wedding Custom Coloring Book

2012-01-20T15:15:00.004-06:00

Another missed post from 2011 (the last one...at least until I unearth some more forgotten photos), and it's one of my favorites!

You may remember my posting a few custom coloring books before (I know I at least blogged the one from my own wedding and one for Cari and Lawrence), but this time the couple, Jessica and John, contacted me about doing a custom wedding coloring book for their Jamaican destination wedding last October. I love how it turned out, too. Super cute!

They wanted the coloring books to be surprise goodies in their guests' welcome baskets in Jamaica, so I had to nix my usual "bride and groom wedding portrait" that has typically graced the cover so that Jessica's dress could remain a secret until the ceremony.

Inside, the couple and I came up with plenty of Jamaica themed activities, trivia tidbits and fun ways to include their families, bridal party, and loved ones.

I think the DIY wedding vows are one of my favorite new activities that I came up with for them. My husband and I tested them out, and it was pretty danged hilarious.

I never got a chance to post anything on this book though, because it so happens that the lovely couple and I, well, we have some particular people in common within our circles of friends, blog readers, and wedding guests, and I was terrified to post anything lest the surprise keepsake be ruined by blog-reading.

Once the wedding had passed and there was no danger or ruining surprises, I was elbow deep in other things, and well, here you are, reading about it a bit after the fact.

I definitely would like to start making my custom coloring books more widely available, but the last couple of years (what with the moving, and the moving, and the MOVING) have been terrible for me to set up such an endeavor.

I am reworking the pricing and purchasing breakdown though. It's just tricky -- there's almost too much customizability available! Hrmmm. A puzzle, indeed. Perhaps I can finagle a way for it to work when I finally revamp the etsy shop.

Rest assured, I will keep the world updated when Alicia Policia custom coloring books do go public. They're just too cool of a memento to keep on the down low for much longer, right?!?

Royal Hairs Grow From Your Brain

2012-01-19T13:12:00.005-06:00

I had the pleasure of working with the musician Sam Arnold (of Opposite Day, who you may remember from this post and this one), last year on the artwork for his solo album, "Royal Hairs Grow From Your Brain".

Again, running with the theme of posts this week, I did the worky-work, I photographed it, but I never got around to writing a post and sharing it, so here it is now -- late but still great, right?

Sam is one of the best people to work with, because he gives you a lot of creative freedom, and a lot of cool resource material to inspire you. In all, I was very, very pleased with the final artwork. Hooray! Goodness all around!

Hmmm, methinks we shall have to work together some more...

Drawing with Pancake Batter -- Brain Slug Edition

2012-01-18T07:13:00.000-06:00

I don't remember for what occasion it was that I made this brain slug pancake for my husband for breakfast last year, but whenever it was, I just never got around to sharing it.

When pancakes were served in our house growing up, each child got to name whatever it was that they wanted to eat in pancake form, and my mom would draw it up for them in pancake batter.

I normally asked for cats and squirrels, or maybe the occasional Princess Leia. I was pretty uncomplicated like that.

I distinctly remember that one day my little brother asked for a Boba Fett pancake, and my mom even hunted down his action figure for reference. FOR A PANCAKE. And she drew him. In pancake batter. Using only a spoon. Freehand.

I know! I have the most awesome mom in the world!

Anyway, this brain slug was done Mama-style, meaning I drew it freehand with batter and a spoon, and you plop down whatever part of the pancake drawing you want to be darkest first, and work your way to the lightest areas after that (for this pancake I dropped down the pupil, then the body, and then the eye).

This bitty brain slug breakfast pales in comparison to my mom's pancake masterpieces, of course. It's such a pity that growing up we never, ever thought of photographing our pancakes before eating them. It was just part of a regular weekend breakfast for us, but now I wish we had some sort of record of all her cool creations.

Some day perhaps I can work out a tutorial on drawing pancakes the Mama way.

But you know, it's REALLY hard to cook, draw, and photograph oneself doing it all at the same time. Just sayin'.

I Was A PBS Kid.

2012-01-17T13:04:00.004-06:00

I made these li'l homages to some of my favorite PBS personae last year. I was a thoroughly nerdy child, and absolutely LOVED educational children's programing.

Sesame Street is a given, of course. And it was a given that I should give this Bert and Ernie to my kindred muppet-loving friend, Paul Adam, as he is the only soul I know who appreciates and loves the Muppets in quite the same manner I do (dead honest -- we're both extremely discerning when it comes to our Muppets).

And what child of the 80's didn't absolutely adore Reading Rainbow? I certainly did.

Hence this li'l Levar Burton. Also (of course) from last year.

Actually, I think that Reading Rainbow was an boon to my childhood interest in art. I loved any segment they did on artists, illustrators and craftspeople and how they made their work. Also, it had possibly the best theme song ever.

You know, some day I really ought to make an homage to Mister Rogers. I just have to. He totally deserves one, too. I love Mister Rogers.

And I need to at least figure out where to get ahold of some of my totally obscure favorites, like these shows by John Robbins.

Books! Drawing! Totally one of this nerdy little art girl's favorite childhood shows, but doubtful one of which many folks would catch a drawn homage should I make one...

Before We Go Out With The Old...

2012-01-16T12:31:00.004-06:00

...Let's at least share it with you first.

Following up my last post of some of 2011's unfinished business, how about I finally post some unfinished posts from throughout the last year?

Monday through Friday this week, I will share with you a project, piece, or picture that I purported to post up on the blog at some point last year, but never ever got around to actually doing so.

It'll be a sampling of 2011's unseen projects! And then, THEN, it can be in with the new.

Let's kick things off with some baked-goods-blasts-from-the-past, like these pretzels, here.

I made these goodies from scratch back in September or October for Octoberfest using this recipe, and they happened to be what inspired the unfinished little pretzel girl art from last Friday's post.

I am a sucker for soft pretzels, really I am. And these were pretty good (they disappeared very quickly), although they seemed a bit skimpier than the Bavarian-dream-pretzel-experience I had back in Munich in '01.

And then there was fruitcake!

I actually never have had fruitcake, I guess because years of hearing jokes about how horrible it was kept me at bay. However, this Christmas I was very eager to see what the fuss was about and to try a recipe of my grandmother's from the family cookbook that I had yet to try.

Guess what? It was pretty damned delicious!

I reckon the key is that it is a lighter recipe that has plenty of fruit, but it isn't so chock full that it's glued together with them.

I also was sure to leave out the citron (yuck!) and opted for candied pineapple, orange peel, and cherries along with some golden raisins and walnuts, all soaked in plenty of rum -- yum!

It was yummy, and it will be back for the holidays next year, for sure. Fruitcake -- whodathunkit?

What other unseen goodies from 2011 will next be revealed, hmmmm?

Unluckily Unfinished

2012-01-13T12:53:00.003-06:00

What do Friday the 13th and unfinished artwork have to do with each other?

Absolutely nothing!

Except for maybe this is a blog post where I'm showing off some unluckily unfinished artwork on a Friday that happens to be the 13th. Unfinished pretzel girl, unfinished skull girl twins, unfinished They Might Be Giants, unfinished bean cat plush, and palettes, palettes, palettes, just sitting around waiting to help finish stuff.... *tsk* poor things never saw completion.

Seeing as it is a Friday in January, and seeing as I haven't made the requisite blog post list of resolutions just like everyone else already did two weeks ago, perhaps I should do just that today, and be sure to make "Finish what I start" a big ole resolution on that list.

Will a #3 qualify that as being "big ole?"

To Do in 2012

1. Say "no" more often. I have a habit of overextending myself because I can't turn people down, and I enjoy doing many things at once anyway (until I find myself running around like a loon).

2. Write! Whether it be blog posts or books or comics or tutorials -- I would like to use free time from saying "no" more often and put it toward writing.

3. Finish what I start. Or at least try to.

4. Garden stuff! (fingers crossed this summer isn't a repeat of last years horrific drought, but I have my doubts about that).

5. Revamp time for the etsy shop. For reals. It's time. Total re-do time.

6. French! Learn to speak it, or just explore and appreciate its cuisine. Or both.

7. Do not buy any more fabric "just because."

8. Crochet! Learn to do something other than just a straight row of single crochet in a single color.

9. Take a vacation. A real one.

10. Uhhh, I can't think of a tenth. Put things back in their place after I'm done using them?

11. ... I was going to try to get to thirteen, but I think nine (ten?) is good n' plenty.

Yep! Sounds good to me. Now, where to start... Wouldn't it be nice to start with #9 ? spends all day looking up vacations when she should be writing

Haaa - Happy, Happy, Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:35:00.006-06:00

Happy 2012, one and all!

I am really looking forward to this year. It's not that I have anything spectacular planned for it (at least not yet), but I'm just relieved to have a fresh new beginning.

And I'm super psyched to start settling into a normal schedule (I hope). I love the holidays, but October through December is always one big, huge, frenzied blur to me.

I actually sat down and counted it all out for the record when flipping through the calender to start anew this morning and *drumroll* -- My husband and I didn't have a single free weekend between the second week of August and the second week of December. Say what?!?

Yep. For four months, otherwise known as a third of the entire year, we did not have a single commitment-free weekend where there was nothing to do, or nowhere to go. Sure, it was a string of mostly lovely people, great new work endeavors, joyous celebrations, wonderful opportunities, etc., etc. But I digress... Not a single weekend of pure relaxation for four months! Gah!

Perhaps that works for many folks, but I've discovered that doesn't work for me. We need some time to unwind and do nothing at all sometimes. I want to just lounge around with the cats and draw up non-job related stuff sometimes without worrying about being late for something or letting someone down, you know?

And with that, I took some time today to paint up my quasi-traditional new year doodle. It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

So far, so good, 2012!

The Last Post of the Year

2011-12-31T19:20:00.001-06:00

Well, 2011 will be long gone in only a few short hours. And personally speaking, hooray! I can't wait for the new year to begin.

It's been a mixed year of great things and not-so-great things, so I'm eager for a fresh start come midnight.

I've got my twelve grapes, and we have our bubbly, and I churned out this appropriate painty-doodle whilst waiting for what may be the yummiest fruitcake ever to bake in time to kiss 2011 goodbye.

Cheers, everyone! Happy New Year!

And hooray, we're gonna be back on an even number (my favorite)!

December First, 2011

2011-12-01T16:29:00.004-06:00

It's the first day of the last month of the year, and boy -- did it get here fast! The last thing I remember we were just moving into the new place in the record Texas heat of the summer. And now, it's December. And Christmas is around the corner. And I actually need to wear a sweater and turn on the heat.

And now I'm hanging up an advent calendar. What happened to August, September, October, and November? I haven't a clue.

The last three months of the year are notoriously busy, busy, busy for me. It really has been a struggle some years to balance my intensified work load with trying to fit in some holiday cheer.

In fact, I remember some years not too long ago where I just nixed the whole Christmas decor thing all together, for lack of energy. Yeaaah...

That was quite a bummer. So, I try to make sure that doesn't ever happen again.

Now you can imagine how happy and pleased with myself I am that I had the advent calendar up and ready to go this morning, December the First! We won't have to retroactively open the little advent doors! And I have something Christmasy up! Hooray!

As for my advent calendar of choice: I love the old fashioned German paper advent calendars with a different picture each day. That's the kind I remember us having when I was little, and I find them very sweet and charming, albeit difficult to find sometimes.

Isn't it adorable? I hope I get a picture of a squirrel on a day that it's my turn. Ooh! Or a kitten! Or better yet, a basket of kittens!

So cheers to being able to do something Christmasy in time this year, despite the flying by of time, the mega-work load, and the lack of energy. Next up, everything else!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

2011-11-24T20:19:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone is well and stuffed and has celebrated a great Day o' Thanks.

I, for one, am thankful for my family & friends (of course,)kitties, our home, creative self-employment and pecan pie.

Let's not ever forget about that pecan pie! We musn't take it for granted.

Succulent Wedding Cake

2011-11-23T11:44:00.004-06:00

So, I made my first " wedding cake."

It actually was a first anniversary cake, if you want to be technical about it.

Some absolutely lovely friends of mine eloped last year Hawaii, all in what is possibly one of the most romantic wedding stories I've ever heard. It's the kind of story that you think only happens in movies, but no. It's real. They're that ridiculously cute together.

The only down side to a super romantic elopement is that you miss out on having your loved ones there with you, and so they planned on having a shindig on their first anniversary to be able to share in the celebration with their loved ones.

Enter the wedding cake! A simple cake design topped with some sort of sugar art arrangement of succulents was requested (in red velvet and cream cheese icing, by the way), and so I said yes.

I opted to do my faux succulents in gum paste. It was surprisingly easy, too. I just used some of my gum paste flower cut-out shapes, but with a thicker amount of gum paste itself, and sculpted away. I just sort of made up my own succulents, not adhering to any botanical accuracy, but I think they still came out pretty darn believable, if I don't say so myself!

I reckon that's the part where the natural inclination to artsy stuff and sculpting comes in handy.

The part that was hardest for me in all this wedding cake business: stacking the tiers and trying to get that danged icing to be smooth enough for my liking. GaAAAaaaHHH! Craziness!

That's what makes me say, to anyone who wants to compliment my cake-work, you really need to compliment my husband.

Because he's the one who has to talk me off the ledge when I get frustrated. And he's the one who lives with my explosion of powdered sugar in the kitchen. The man is a saint. He deserves mad props.

And I also totally didn't mind doing this favor, both the fun and frustrating parts, for such a deserving friend. She has been such an inspiration to me this year, that a little wedding cake was the least I could do in thanks.

Besides, without her, I don't know if we'd have our newest fuzzball family member, Trixie.

Yep, that's right. Another kitten has landed, we are totally smitten with her. And lawd, is she ever true to her name!

TooOOOooombstones!

2011-10-28T11:02:00.003-05:00

Whipping up some tombstones and skulls for some last minute decorations for All Hallow's Eve! And really getting into it, too!

Saint Dorothy

2011-10-17T11:57:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I attended a baptism for a beautiful baby girl named Dorothy, so I took that opportunity to paint up a little painting of her namesake saint, Saint Dorothy (who happens to be the patron saint of gardeners, florists, and brides) as a baptism gift.

She was a fun little painting project, with her pretty basket of roses and apples and her crown of flowers, but then I also guess I'm a sucker for any chance to get to research the symbology of saints and religious figures (a penchant I've had in particular since my days studying art history and living in Florence).

I had some folks suggest I turn this into a series of saints, but I also like the idea of it being a personally specific-gifty-for-a-specific-person kinda thing.

BUT, if you do happen to have an interest in purchasing your own little saint, check out what I found during my Saint Dorothy web researching -- these super cute saint softies by Saintly Silver over on Etsy!

(I think Saint Lucy might be my favorite -- love the little seed bead eyes!)

Mini-Muppet Finger-Puppet Favor Bags

2011-09-15T12:30:00.005-05:00

If you decide to throw your own Muppet shindig, you may find, as my co-hostesses and I did, that Muppet wares are super scarce these days.

Sesame Street, yes. They have that. They have PLENTY of that. Especially if you're hankering for some Elmo or Abby Cadabby (I think I'll pass on those two, myself).

Muppets? Like, as in The Muppet Show? Nothing, nada, no where to be found.

If you want Muppet gifties, you're going to have to do it yourself, or shell out the dough for the vintage goods.

So we rolled up our sleeves and went the do-it yourself route.

My wonderful co-hostess Wendy volunteered her button making machine, time, and button pressing talents to make up a whole batch of these completely awesome Muppet buttons!

Muppet + button .... does that make them Muttons?

We had a great variety of characters, too! Not just your standard Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo and Animal, but Rowlf, Bunsen, Beaker, The Electric Mayhem...just about everyone. Though I think Lew Zealand was missing...

Also, I now know what I'm asking for from Santa this year (*cough*a-button-machine*cough*).

And as I previewed a while back, I put my skills toward the making of Muppet finger puppets. Cute!

Each bag either contained a Rowlf the Dog, or a Kermit the Frog, accompanied by a multi-colored assortment of jelly beans, topped with a rainbow ribbon and a Muppet pin.

I chose Kermit and Rowlf mainly because their graphically-easy-to-reproduce-faces most lent themselves to cutting, sewing, and gluing tiny pieces of felt.

Well, that, and I do have a soft spot for Rowlf. He always struck me as the Muppet whom I'd most like to befriend.

I'd be lying if I said that watching the above clip of Rowlf singing Cottleston Pie doesn't make me miss Jim Henson something awful.

In my classic Alicia fashion, I just eyeballed the pieces of felt and slapped them together, and they looked right, so that was it.

I know, I know. Not very helpful to the rest of the world. At. All.

Honest to goodness, I DID cut all the pieces for an extra Kermit and an extra Rowlf, with the intention of writing up a step by step tutorial for each one -- complete with templates and all.

However, I unwittingly sewed them up and gave them all away before I realized it, so there are no longer any pattern pieces from which to build a tutorial... unless I start all over again.

Which I might have done, had I not run out of brown and green felt. And time. And energy...

By the way, I rediscovered this super cute n' fluffy Rowlf finger puppet that I had favorited over on Flickr a few years ago whilst looking for some Rowlf face references.

I reckon the idea of a Rowlf finger puppet was buried in my subconscious from way back then, and I totally did not realize it until this came up during my search!

Perhaps I will write up a finger puppet tutorial for some other occasion.

As for now, I have another Muppet entry to make for tomorrow! I better get to it!

Caribbean Amphibian - How to Make a Kermit the Frog Piñata, Cuban Style (a pull-string piñata, that is...)

2011-09-14T14:10:00.038-05:00

Do you like Kermit the Frog? Do you like piñatas? Both? Wonderful!

This post's for you! I will show you how to make a pull-string piñata of Kermit the Frog.

Wait, did she say pull-strings!?!? What?

Yes, a pull-string piñata. That's what I grew up with, cuz that's how the Cubans typically do it. Pull-string piñatas are totally little kid friendly (no three year-olds wielding a stick), great for parties and big groups of people (everyone gets to play a part), and perhaps best of all, they are REUSABLE.

So that intricate piñata you spent so much time building? You don't have to destroy it! You could use it again, lend it to a friend, store it for annual holidays, etc. etc.

You could use this Santa piñata again - we did! Yeah, I know. That sounds great!

My mom made this Santa piñata for the kids at the company Christmas party.

This is where I step in to say, though the Luke Skywalker piñata tutorial was a hit (pun intended), I think there may have been some confusion when it was getting passed around... Some folks were re-blogging it calling it a Cuban style piñata tutorial...

It wasn't, and it's not. It was a standard "beat it with a stick" piñata like those you would most often find in Mexico, albeit made in a different method compared to most piñata tutorials. The misunderstanding may be my fault, which is why I'm trying to clear this up before we start.

The paper mache-free method by which I build piñatas is not what makes a piñata Cuban style...the pull-strings are what do that.

The method, well, it's just my mom's method! And she's not Cuban.

My mom made this Winnie the Pooh piñata for my brother's second birthday.

But my mom did marry a Cuban, and totally embraced the culture, cuisine, and traditions. And thus she combined her own crafty ways with her new family culture and was cranking out piñatas for her kids, their cousins, and just about every kiddo in the neighborhood.

This swinging Barbie piñata was made for my cousin by my mama.

And that is how I learned to make piñatas. As for the her technique of making that actual piñata, let's just call it the "The Other Way to Make Piñatas! Without Paper Mache!"

Or we can simply call it "The Mama Method." And so with that, let's begin!

Maestro, how about a little music for inspiration?

Making a Pull-string Piñata using The Mama Method

Have I ever told you that I am a very thorough lady?

Here's what you'll need:

• a pencil or a Sharpie, or both

• character reference material and/or a sketch

• crepe paper in your desired colors. I used light green, light yellow, white, black, pink, and red for Kermie.

• good old-fashioned Elmer's Glue or similar all purpose glue.

• a paper plate

• masking tape

• craft scissors (you know, ones that you don't care about if they get dull and crappy)

• a good heavy twine or thin rope

• curling ribbon or similar (I wanted to make a rainbow of ribbon for the pull-strings, but one color is fine) BUT make sure you have enough to make the piece long enough to grab, and for enough people to each get a string!

• wrapping paper for papering the bottom -- whatever you use, make sure it's sturdy enough to support the candy load inside, but fragile enough to ripe through! You can use whatever paper you like, but we've found wrapping paper is a perfect solution.

• A big cardboard box or large pieces of scrap cardboard. Hey! I found a use for one of the many moving boxes we have!

First thing's first, design your piñata, sketch it out. I chose to make Kermit. Kermie has filled out a bit in these modern times, so I drew up a more classically pointy Kermit.

I always loved the Kermit piñata my brother made for his own party back in the day, so I stole his design to make the piñata for the Muppet Baby Shower Extraordinaire. Thanks, brother of mine back in '79! Or was it '80?

By the way, you can use this tutorial to make any character, really. If you want to make a standing figure piñata, please be advised to design it so that the strings do NOT emanate from the character's....um...how should I put this nicely?

Don't make the strings come from its crotch. There. I said it.

My mom made this clown piñata for my brother's third birthday.

Take a cue from the photo above, and instead of "crotch strings", place your standing figure on a platform or box. Otherwise, it just looks...weird.

And if you are making a piñata of just a head, or of a figure and you do happen to have the strings emanating from the, uh, crotch, please avoid using all red ribbons (or all yellow if it's a crotch string piñata) for pull-strings. Unless you're making a gory or explicitly gross piñata on purpose, in which case, go for it.

So when you have your design good and ready, next up is sketch it out on the cardboard.

There! Here's my Kermit sketched out on a big ol' flattened box.

I went over my sketch with a Sharpie just to clarify my own drawing a bit. It makes it easier to follow the lines when gluing on paper later.

Use your "crafting scissors" to cut out your sketch. Sometimes this is more manageable if you cut off chunks of cardboard surrounding your drawing rather than trying to just cut right on the line all the way around.

There he is, one side of the piñata all cut out. You only need to sketch and cut out one side of your piñata (preferably the front) at this time because...

...You will use the one side you have cut out to trace the exact same shape onto another piece of cardboard to create the back side.

Cut out the back, and sketch out whatever needs to be sketched on their accordingly. You could make a two-faced Kermit, so that there is no "back", but I prefer him to have a back of his head. It makes it easier for identifying where to put your candy loading trap door anyway.

The size and placement out your candy door on a pull-string piñata is very important. It needs to be as large as you can make it, while still keeping within a good 1 and 1/2" to 2" away from the borders or edges of your piñata contour. You will have to paper the bottom of your piñata from the inside, so make the door big enough to fit your hand(s) inside to tape in the bottom.

Poke a hole in the door (and brace it with another piece of cardboard on the inside), and slip some twine through to make a loop you can use to open it with from the outside. Remember to make the twine loop long enough so that you'll be able to find it once everything is all papered up!

If you get tired, let your cat do the work. Who said cats aren't helpful?

Anyway... Next up, you brace any folds or creases that were in your boxes. This is very important on a pull-string piñata, as the piñata has to be sturdy enough to be pulled and tugged on without breaking.

I do this by bracing the horizontally running corrugated cardboard with taped bits of cardboard cut with the corrugations running the other way -- vertically. The perpendicular running corrugations will strengthen any weaknesses you may encounter with folds or creases. And tape. Tape is your friend.

Choose a nice depth to make your piñata, and start cutting scrap of cardboard with a horizontal corrugation grain all at your chosen width along the contour of the back piece of the piñata. I believe mine was about 4-5 inches wide BUT!!!!!...

...I recommend you make your side pieces at least 6 inches wide to allow the candy to drop out smoothly. I forgot about this when I made Kermit, and wish I hadn't made him so narrow in retrospect... Boo!

Continue to tape side pieces all along the contour of the back side of your piñata.

To follow curves, bend a piece of your side cardboard along the corrugations before you tape it along the contour. If you bend it at every corrugation groove, it'll be very forgiving and a lot easier to line it up with whatever shape you need to.

Poke a couple of holes in the the top of your piñata from which to hang it. I used a couple of scraps of cardboard to brace it not only for the poking, but for stringing up the hanging loop, too.

You want to knot your hanging loop in a manner that puts less stress on the holes of the piñata, and therefore make it less likely to rip through.

And I also went crazy knotting, taping, and tying to divide the stress from the hanger on the inside as well. Keeping the ends of your hanging loop long and taping or bracing them to each side of the interior of the piñata is a decent way to go.

For the bottom of the piñata, cut a one big piece, the same width as the rest of your side pieces, and cut a hole in it. Your hole needs to be big enough for goodies to drop through easily, but make sure to keep at least a 1 inch boarder of cardboard all the way around so you can tape your paper in!

If you can make the candy hole large enough while keeping an even bigger border around it (more like 2"), that's great! You have likely made your papering the bottom an easier job to do.

After taping the bottom to the back and sides, align the front of your piñata with the piñata box you just built, and tape it!

This is a shot looking in the candy door to the inside bottom of the piñata box (you can see the tile floor through the yet-to-be hole in the bottom of the piñata). Make sure you super securely tape that bottom piece in! It's going to be taking the brunt of the force when folks pull the strings.

And here he is, all super secure and taped together. I am truly my grandmother's granddaughter in that I am a firm believer in the philosophy of "You can never have too much tape."

Now it's time to paper the sucker! Squeeze a bunch of glue out onto your paper plate (I suitably chose the piggy plate for the Kermie piñata). Glurg*glurg*glurg!

Now here's the big improvement over the Luke piñata tutorial. Don't squeeze glue onto each cute little square of crepe paper. Simply rip it and dip it!

The plate full of glue tip comes straight from my mama, after she read my tutorial on the Skywalker piñata. This gluing method is far faster! No cutting little square, as ripping them off does just fine, and no stopping to squeeze the glue. And it's super fast if you have a friend handy to help!

And after ripping and dipping, then stick it! Just poke your pieces of paper down where you want them. I like to start at the edges, and work my way in. Rip, dip, stick, rip, dip, stick...

And so it goes...color by color...

...Until you've finished the front! Now it's time for the sides.

I like to fold the pieces I glue to the side a little flat before dipping and sticking, so that the shape of the piñata from the front doesn't appear too puffy and fluffy.

And when you finish the sides, it's on to the back! Follow your outlines as color guides as you fill in the surface with bits of paper. If you need to, you can mark different color areas with words, letters, or symbols to remind you what color goes where.

Almost there! Time to do the candy door soon...

Just be careful to not get your bunches of paper stuck in the seam of the candy door while you're decorating the back. I like to paper the door while it's open and let it dry open as well, to assure that nothing gets stuck in the closed position.

When the candy door is closed, you should barely be able to see where the seam of the door opening is, but you should be able to locate the twine loop easily enough for candy deposits.

And here he is!, All sides done, except the bottom!

Here's the view of the bottom of the piñata. And you cover it in crepe paper just as the other sides -- rip it, dip it, and stick it!

And this is what the bottom looks like afterward.

Cut a piece of wrapping paper the size of the bottom of your piñata to paper it. You can also configure how many strings you need depending on your number of guests, and mark their pattern on your paper.

You can have ribbon of all one color (that's the easiest way), but if you did want a rainbow spectrum of ribbon pull-string, I found it helpful to write out a little pattern key for myself, to remember what to thread through what.

Using the tip of your scissors, gently poke little slits through your piece of paper where you have made marks for the pull-strings.

Cut a length of ribbon to feed through the paper -- cut a single piece of ribbon that is at minimum 2 yards long (creating individual ribbons each approximately one yard long once threaded through). Somewhere between 3-4 yards for a single piece of ribbon to feed through should be enough. I just measured them out in arm spans, myself.

Remember, when doing the ribbon threading, it's always better to err on the side of too much rather than too little. You want to make sure you have long enough ribbons for folks to be able to reach them, and that depends on where you're hanging the piñata, and the height of your guests.

And then you just feed it through one of the slits you made...

And do so again with the next piece of ribbon ( each piece will yield 2 pull-strings). Be sure to make as many criss-crosses and such as you can, because the more criss-crossing that goes on, the more likely your bottom will fall out nicely when pulled.

It's best when you're working with just one ribbon color or without a pattern, as in that case you can make LOOOONG criss-crosses, all the way across the paper.

...And so on and so forth for each color, if you're doing it rainbow style. I have left one slit in the middle empty though, because...

I will cut one super long piece (here it is yellow) and feed it through the middle hole, twisting in and out and over and under and knotting it through the other strings down one side and over to the other side, all the way to the middle again, where it will exit the same hole from whence it began.

All this twisting and tying assures that as long as those center strings are pulled, that everything else should be pulled down on as well.

And then you will have a whole bunch of string woven through a little piece of paper. Gently untangle any strings that need untangling, and tie up your pull-strings every so many inches to make it easier to handle, not only to tape them in, but for traveling and hanging the piñata as well. Here I tied them with some pink ribbon, if that helps to spot the spots where they are tied.

Carefully feed the ribbon attached to your paper covering inside your piñata through your appropriately sized candy door. I found it's easier to do this ribbon first down and out of the piñata versus paper first up and into the piñata.

Once you paper is slipped it, check it for positioning along the bottom. You want to make sure that none of the ribbons are caught in the hole on the bottom, and the your paper overlaps the bottom edge on the inside by a decent margin all the way around. If you have cut you paper the same size as the bottom piece, it should be snug as a bug.

Looking good!

Now it's in place, secure your paper bottom with some masking tape. I know it's hard to tell what with all the tape from my taping the box together in the photo as well, but you only need a single width of tape, roughly all along the perimeter of the paper.

Basically you want the paper to be secured to the piñata, but remember you want it to tear out too, not rip your piñata apart.

And once your pull-string paper is in place and secured, you're done! Ta-daa! Keep your piñata pull-string neatly tied up until after it is hanging. That way it's easier to handle in transit, and you won't accidentally get all caught up in the strings.

Fill the piñata while it's resting on a flat surface just before you hang it. Toys! Candy! Yay!

Here he is, all stuffed and ready to go. Hang it from a sturdy tree, trim any excess ribbon, maybe spread a blanket down to catch the sweet, sweet falderal, and then -- piñata time!

Distribute strings to your guests, careful to hold onto them all up toward the top before giving the signal to pull. Then, on the count of three, or whatever you like, PULL! YaaAAAaaaY!

And so there is the very detailed and thorough story of how to make a pull-string piñata.

And since nothing is destroyed except for the paper bottom, you can totally reuse your piñata!

Simply remove whatever is left of your old paper liner (it should look something like the photo above afterward), repaper the bottom with a new piece of paper threaded with pull-strings just like before, and there you go!

Just be sure to store it in a cool, dry place between uses. Slipping a trash bag over it and hanging it up from the ceiling of the garage works perfectly, especially for your seasonal and holiday piñatas. Just remember that too much heat or light can dry out and discolor your crepe paper!

Or, share the love and bounce the piñata around your friends, family, and neighbors, let the kids hang them up for room decor...whatever!

And that's it!

Thanks for reading my novel of a tutorial. I know I've said this before, but I can't really stand it when a tutorial is not very thorough, so I make it a point to cover as much as I can, even though all it does is end up looking daunting. Trust me -- this is not daunting! It's fun and fairly simplistic. I'm just chatty.

Besides, if you have any questions, you know where to find me! Good luck, have fun, and I hope you enjoyed it!

And yes, there's still more Muppets to come. Wowie!

The Most Sensational, Inspirational, Celebrational, Muppetational Baby Shower Ever

2011-09-12T15:48:00.019-05:00

Yaaaaaay! It's here, as promised. My Muppets week!

I had some posts of my semi-secret Muppet projects a while back, but now that nothing is a semi-secret (or a full blown secret) anymore, I can share everything on the blog!

Some dear friends of mine recently adopted an absolutely beautiful baby girl, and to celebrate the occasion, I and my two co-hostesses, Wendy and Lahari, threw the three of them a family-friendly, feastly, and festive Muppet Show-themed Welcome Home Extravaganza.

Needless to say, this is not your typical baby shower. We nixed the diaper games, the pastel decor, and the standard "ladies only" policy and decided to go for something that was more family celebratory, yet entertaining and kooky with something for everyone: the ladies, the gents, the kiddos, the singletons, the marrieds, the DINKs, the moms, the dads, the babies, and the rest.

Plus, there were Muppets.

I learned many things working whilst working on this project:

1) Baby showers are so much more fun when the baby is present for it! I vote that welcoming parties or showers should become a new baby standard.

2) Although the Muppet Show crew are scarce when it comes to pre-fab party ideas (though I predict that might, and I stress might, change with the upcoming new Muppet movie), there is a treasure trove of inspirational source material. I wish we had 3 times as much time to pull this together, because I easily had 3 times as many ideas, plans, and sketches! And they would've all been AWESOME! Which leads me to number 3...

3) I will always suffer from the affliction that makes me come up with far too many intricate, involved, and cool ideas to possibly accomplish for one event. Sigh! *tear*

And so today's post predominantly features pictures of our various Muppet munchies (and signage). We split party responsibilities amongst the three hostesses, so I cannot take credit for everything you see here. Lahari and Wendy were totally co-hostesses with the mostesses and just as responsible as I for pulling this all off.

The three of us quickly learned that the most fun thing about hosting a Muppet party was thinking up the menu items and names. Our spread included:

• Rainbow Connection Fruit Skewers - This idea came from my childhood recollection of Rainbow Fruit Sticks from The Care Bears' Party Cookbook (my first cookbook!), and I paired an arch of rainbowed fruits with a Kermit portrait in apple I found here.

• Scooter's Savory Stagehand Snacks - A cheddar based cheese ball was a perfect material for sculpting Scooter's head, with cracker ears, baby carrot hair, mozzarella eyes, eggplant glasses, and a red pepper mouth.

We had to use chopped black olives for Scooter's and Kermit's pupils, as I forgot all my alternatives at home (halved black olives, or raisins, or black beans...I was prepared, until I forgot about them all!).

• Statler & Waldorf's Curmedgeon Crudités with Quip Dip - your standard veggie tray, but with a name that's a bit more befitting of their reputation.

• Pigs (In Space) In A Blanket - Pigs in a Blanket are a no brainer when it comes to Muppet foods, but we opted for a tribute to one of our favorite Muppet Show sketches with"Pigs (In Space) In A Blanket" over the tad bit more morbid "Miss Piggy in a Blanket."

• The Swedish Chef's Meatballs - A Muppet meal must have. Bork, bork, bork! Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a picture.

• Beaker's Breakfast Tacos - - I had plans for this one that did not meet fruition, but that didn't stop everyone from scarfing down breakfast tacos! I reckon we are in Texas, after all. You can never go wrong with breakfast tacos. Although the photo did not turn out, they were available with "Meep, Meep, Meat" and "No Meep, Meep, Meat" for the veggie eaters.

• Gar-Gonzo Bean Salad - I've always pictured Gonzo when I heard the word "garbanzo"anyway, so I figured why not? Garbanzo beans are just as weird as Gonzo, but I'm guessing they taste better.

• Miss Piggy's White Gloved Finger Sandwiches - These delicate finger sandwiches were settled amongst some cool toy rings that sparkled in Miss Piggy pink and purple. Unfortunately, the picture was far too blurry for posting (why didn't I get my new birthday camera just a little bit early!?! GAH!).

• Rowlf's Rockin' Pops - My friend and co-hostess, Wendy (who, by the by, also made all the signage), is the master of these Muppety cake pops, which were delicious chocolate cake dipped in a chocolate coating with Tootsie Roll ears, a crumb coating, and white chocolate eyes.

She even made a cool tiered custom display for them (which, unfortunately, my camera decided to take crud pictures of)!

• Dr. Teeth's Secret Stash - Of course Dr. Teeth has a secret stash. Of candy.

• Fozzie's Bear-y Peanut Butter Cookies - This tweak of a Joy of Cooking peanut butter cookie recipe that I found on EvilShenanigans.com was just perfect for Fozzie cookies!

Though I admit, I made a couple of tweaks myself. I used dark brown sugar for the cookies to get the coloring more bear-ish, and added some pink jelly beans, white candy shelled chocolate bits (with help from a food coloring marker), Tootsie rolls, and strawberry fruit leather to complete the look of the Fozzie-fied cookies.

• Animals' Hairballs - More macaroons! Last year they were Tauntaun Bonbons, this year with the help of a little pink food coloring, they are Animal's Hairballs. And they make the perfect Animal fur with their orange-tinged-pink effect when you get them golden around the edges! Taking a cue from this Animal pasta dish, I used black licorice, a Twizzler, gum drops, black jelly beans, a red lollipop and halved Chiclet-esque gum to round out this sweet portrait.

• Sam the Eagle's All American Patriot Beer (And Some Other Beer From Some Not-So-Great Countries) - The beer took no special preparation other than a offering a cooler full of various domestic and foreign beers, but I do love the very Sam Eagle-y title to it all.

• Electric Mayhemosas - Mimosas are a must amongst my circle of friends, and they're even more of a must if the Electric Mayhem is involved.

• Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's Punch Potion, or if you have some dry ice handy, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's Exploding Punch - Our initial plans involved getting some dry ice, but, yeah...that ended up not happening.

But it didn't stop the punch from disappearing!

All that AND a homemade sour cream pound cake rainbow cake with buttercream icing?!?! YaaaAAAaaay!

Whew! What a post. And yes, there's even more Muppets to come (with tutorials), so be sure to check back tomorrow!

Hooray, a peek at what's to come!

Birthday!

2011-09-09T11:42:00.006-05:00

Today is my birthday! And although I have no work of my own to show for it (thank you, my husband, and your delicious bakery cake), I do believe a birthday merits a quick post.

We did the whole cake bit in the morning for once, so that we aren't rushing back home at night to blow out the candles before midnight (post-midnight means it's not on my birthday, now is it?).

Plus, cake with a hot cup of coffee and a nice big glass of milk is probably one of my favorite breakfasts in the world!

And so far I have gotten a super cute pie plate, some lovely vintage Pyrex, and a much needed new camera! Yay! I love them all, and can't wait to really get a chance to play with the camera. Where did I stash my tripod in the move, anyway?

And yes, Muppets and tutorials coming for real, real soon.

This week...it was a weird week. Many things did not go as planned. But next week, my friends! Let's hope that next week isn't such a wild ride.

Petite Puppet Peek

2011-09-01T11:23:00.005-05:00

Just wanted to post another sneak peek at yet another part of the big Muppet project. There's even more Muppety goodness to come, too!

But as for now, I really need to get back to work. It's been a very, very busy week. So much to do! And it's Thursday! Gah!

Jeepers Peepers

2011-08-26T14:11:00.005-05:00

Here's a sneak peek at the semi-secret project on which I'm currently working.

Expect to see a few more entries along these lines theme-wise in the next couple of weeks! And the forecast says there may be some tutorial time involved, too. Yay!

Just excuse the cruddy display this time around... I was at a loss on how to show them off and photograph them, so, upturned vase it was.

The upturned vase is also waaay easier to photograph than my dang face. Ugh.

And with that, I leave you with this, which is apparently forever on loop in my brain now because it's been playing and replaying there since I started this project.

Paint-A-Doodle-Doo

2011-08-16T12:08:00.002-05:00

I took my own advice for once. Yay!

After yesterday's post about my first little sewing project (and its reminder to me that I just need to just let go and make stuff for the sake of making stuff INSTEAD of over planning to the point of NOT making stuff), I felt the urge to just plop down and make something for the sake of making it last night.

No sketches. No plan. No point or purpose to it. Not for a show. Not for a store. Not for some other big project. Not for a client. Just doodling. And out came this little girl and boy-o.

It felt good! I miss it! I've realized that my sketchbooks are just packed with drawings and plans for work these days. Which isn't a bad problem, per se, but I do miss doodling. I want to do it more (you know, other than just when I'm talking to folks on the phone).

Amazing what an inspiring space can do for ya (have I mentioned I love having my own real studio space yet?).

My First Sewing Project

2011-08-15T12:01:00.006-05:00

Lookie what I found in the midst of all my moving, unpacking, sorting, and organizing madness -- my very first sewing project!

I know, I know, it looks... odd. And though I say it was my first sewing 'project' it is most definitely an anti-project. Here is an object with no purpose beyond practice, no meaning, no specifications, and no finished look. And I love that! I should do that more often...

I was somewhere around 4 or 5 years old when my grandmother, (whom I called Gammon -- which rhymes with "c'mon") taught me to sew on buttons.

And with that she handed me a scrap of pink knit fabric, a needle, some thread, and open access to her vast button collection. I always loved picking my favorite pretties out of the sea of buttons in her sewing drawer.

I still relish combing through them for my favorites. Gammon unloaded her button collection on me when I was in college, although I admit, I used to use them with more abandon, and now I 'save them' for special projects that never happen.

I now consider this pink be-buttoned scrap to be a valuable reminder to just go for it, and to not overplan my work so much. Do it for the sake of doing it, for the sake of learning and doing something new!

With the move and a real studio of my own now, I've upgraded the buttons' home from my grandfather's old cigar boxes (cute and chic, but not very button-visible) to some pretty jars that allow me to spy my favorites without having to crack open a box. Hooray!

Here's hoping that this increased visibility also means increased accessibility, creativity, and productivity due to increased inspiration.

Ooooh, I love me buttons!!!

Cupcakes for Supper

2011-07-27T10:28:00.007-05:00

I miss making cupcakes. It's been a loooooong while since I've baked any type of cake, and a looooong while since I've eaten any as well. Was it Christmas? Halloween? Ah, I think it was the unblogged-cream-cheese-and-nutella-chocolate-iced-banana-nut-Easter-cake...

...There! Now it's been blogged. I was a very busy lady in April. Sorry! Anyway, back to the now...

Thankfully, I was able to cull my sugar cravings last night at the Sugar Mama's (of Austin - my preferred local cupcakery) & Sugadeaux (of Melbourne, Australia) cupcake tasting at Volstead Lounge (much thanks to my incredibly awesome friend, Wendy, for snagging the tickets).

It was decadently delicious! Eight mini cupcakes (4 from each baker), a signature cocktail and some prosecco PLUS two tasty take home cookies. A dream event!

Jess of Sugadeaux presented Texas Pink Grapefruit, Sweet Tea, Lamington, and Strawberry Chcolate Balsamic cupcakes while Olivia of Sugar Mama's presented Pomegranate Martini, Peanut Butter Honey, Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow, and her classic James Brown cupcakes. And yes, our table ate them all.

And I tried to take photos of each pretty little pastry to post and share, although I will say that chocolate on chocolate thing doesn't photograph well in a dark restaurant, so I only have six pics. Sorry James Brown and Choco-Marshmallow cupcakes! Sad, I know. You were both cute.

Well, it was kinda dark and it was incredibly hard to remember to take a picture before taking a bite...

My favorite of the night? I think it goes to the Texas Pink Grapefruit cupcake by Sugadeaux. So light and crisp and fresh and tart. Loved it! And I do believe there will be more of that particular flavor available at the Sugadeaux/Sugar Mama's event this Sunday if you happen to be in Austin.

I mean, come on! Look how cute li'l miss Grapefruit is! Pink with little white sprinkles! It doesn't get much cuter. Plus, I reckon since I'm a Florida gal at heart, I have a natural predisposition to citrus.

And now though I may have culled that sugar craving, I have a new yearning to MAKE cupcakes. I miss baking so much. Plus I get to bake in an all new kitchen now! I just need to make sure folks other than myself will eat them...

Maybe in a couple more days, after the old place is all cleaned and done. *sad trombone*

The treats in the order they appear in this post: take home sugar and wattleseed cookies, Pomegranate Martini cupcake, take home cookies and signature pink berry martini, the Lamington cupcake, Strawberry Chocolate Balsamic cupcake, Peanut Butter Honey cupcake, Texas Pink Grapefruit cupcake, and Sweet Tea cupcake.

Slowly but Surely

2011-07-26T13:41:00.006-05:00

That's how the moving process goes. Yes, goes, because it's still not done just yet. Still! Can you believe it? I can... and I can't.

I know everyone thinks I'm crazy. Who on earth can't manage to move across town in two months? Two months!?!

But this is how it goes with moving and me - we are bitter enemies and it's a long, drawn-out fight...

...Plus I highly recommend NOT going on a week and a half long vacation in the middle of the moving process. That just kinda mucks everything up time and motivation wise, you know?

It was a very nice vacation, but boy-oh-boy! Coming back to a partially moved household was such a bummer.

But at least I have the things I love about the new house to brighten up each snail's pace of a moving day now.

The striped panel kitchen wall. The gingerbread cabinet trim (which I would love even more if it had one of these pretty shades in its midst). The passion flowers and their throngs of butterflies. The super cute stepped trim around every door and window.

And of course, nothing is quite as cute and cheery as a cat watching birds against the backdrop of what I think might be my favorite room color ever (and although this photo does NOT do it justice, that would be Pittsburgh Paints' Everglade Mist -- and it happens to be in the studio and HOT DOG, I cannot wait to be finished with moving so I can make stuff again - total studio inspiration going on here! Oh yeah, and blog about it too.).

So it might not be all done just yet. But I do love the new place. And although it's not completely 100% Aliciafied, unpacked, and moved into, I can relax knowing I have a lifetime left to do so (after this weekend, that is). Aaaaahhh!

Please excuse Alicia for being absent...

2011-05-31T15:21:00.004-05:00

This is my excuse note for being gone for over a month now. I hope it passes muster and I can get back to business soon. Pretty please?

It's not that I didn't want to blog, it's just, well, I'm in the midst of moving mania. AGAIN.

Excitement! Stress! Who will win!?!? What?!?! I didn't hear you over the excitement over my new place!!!

Yes, I am moving for the third time in less than two years. And, as my great-aunt, Billie, would say, "Mercy goodness!" How did I amass so much stuff? How did I ever move the first two times without imploding? And, how did it ever fit into those teeny tiny spaces with all this crap?

At least this time I'll be moving into a house that is mine (one where I can finally paint the walls a color!), and I hope it is one of the last moves I will ever make in my life (fingers crossed)! Or at least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

So yes, moving, house stuff, time slipping by... the process has been a bit super-fast and hectic, and painfully slow, and incredibly exciting all at the same time, somehow.

Sprinkle in some some other ongoings...Oh, I don't know, stuff like my computer, my 'smart' phone, and my camera all puttering out on their last legs and deciding not to work at the same time and it's like, you know, "Blogs? What is that?"

Out of sight (or would that be site?), out of mind.

Meanwhile, the paint swatches and boxes and boxes upon boxes of things to donate or sell (Oh, thank you, episodes of Hoarders and Clean House on Netflix, for giving me a glimpse of my pack-ratty future and scaring me straight!), and a never ending to-do list paired with a soon-ending deadline just don't stop.

And those don't make for very enthralling blog posts.

I had intended to make so many good and nifty posts, too. I planned stuff for Easter...Mother's Day...They Might Be Giants Appreciation Day... but yeah, I didn't do it.

So I finally made myself squeeze in some time to paint up this super cute house turtle. Appropriate, but also SO CUTE! And then most likely it'll be back to a world of paint chips and plumbers, measuring tapes and moving boxes for a bit.

But I promise if I come across anything the slightest bit interesting in the process I'll try my best to share it this time. Over a month is too long to be gone -- gotta catch up!

I Have the Best Mom Ever (Or 'What My Mom Sent Me for Easter')

2011-04-23T13:58:00.008-05:00

I love my mom. She does things like this.

She sends me surprises like this mysterious apparently blank construction paper card we received in the mail yesterday...

...and then I open it to find this! A completely homemade pop-up Easter diorama card!!! Love!!! How cute and awesome is that? Very!

I mean, she designed, drew, cut, and assembled the whole thing herself, which has me, Miss Arts-N-Crafts Lady, totally in awe of how she did it.

Looks like that although I managed to inherit her artistic ability, the patience and geometry/math genes passed me by. Ahhhh, fickle genetics!

But hey, at least I got the arty part. That's what's important, right?

And although you all may not be familiar with my mom's handy work, I can say that this card is quintessentially Mama in its style. I love it! Just look at that adorable chick!

When my husband saw it he thought it was pretty cool, too. Then he paused, looked at it, turned to me and said, "You are so your mother's daughter." Apparently in content and in style (hmmm, perhaps artistic style is an inheritable trait...).

Apparently the other long distance sibling got a homemade pop-up Easter card too, and he declared it the best card he has ever received. I heartily concur.

I'm so glad I opened it before Easter -- now I get to enjoy it a bit longer.

Now I just need a few more, so that I can have my little collection to put out for decoration every year (hint *wink*hint*nudge, Mama).

I smell a new tradition!

Fun with Flocking

2011-04-15T16:46:00.005-05:00

I know I haven't been a busy little blogging bee of late (and I hope to write a post about the partial why of that soon), but I did manage to get in a bit of time the other day for some first-time flocking fun!

And the results were cute and Eastery. Why not find some time to squeeze in quick photos and a mini-post too? Hurray!

I bought some tiny little canisters of flocking powder from the dollar bin at the craft store a couple of years ago, and never ever did anything with them (and in case you're not familiar with the term, flocking powder is little, teeny-tiny, shavey, velveteeny fuzz that can make your artwork look and feel like a fuzzy toy pony straight from the 1980s...at least that's how I can best find to describe it).

Then whilst cleaning up my studio the other day, I found my handy-dandy Martha Stewart glue pens (she happens to have her own line of flocking powders as well, though dollar-bin-priced they are not) and inspiration struck to finally do some flock art!

And a sweet, bitty-bunny sprung forth.

I don't know if I'm patient enough to do this flocking powder business regularly, though. I have to admit, I LOVE the fuzzy-wuzzy results, but my 'I-can't-wait-for-the-glue-to-dry' attitude led to some less than desirable flocking attempts before this one.

However, I am dying to use this to enhance some artwork with li'l bits o' fuzziness though. Just think of all the cute and creepy possibilities!

Bluebonnet Baby

2011-03-31T16:13:00.006-05:00

I know my friends in other parts of the country are still dealing with the remnants of winter, and not to make them jealous or anything, but it full-on gorgeous spring down here in Austin!

Seriously, the weather has been stunning, with bluebonnets and wildflowers to boot. How I do love springtime in Austin!

This year's bluebonnet (and other wild beauties) bounty pales in comparison to last year's, but it's still a might pretty sight to see fields of green grass dotted with bonnie bright buds, even if it's not in record numbers.

Spring, bluebonnets, pretty things... this is how I got inspired to paint up this gouache bluebonnet lady. And I like her!

I didn't realize it until I was in the midst of writing this post, but I reckon the big blue sky background choice was my mind subconsciously drawing from this picture of bluebonnets growing wild in the desert of Big Bend that I took...uhhhh...what was it? Six years ago?

But it was such a pretty sight at the time, there I was, on my first camping trip EVER (and I loved it!), and we were basically in the middle of the desert, just hiking along and lo, a patch of bluebonnets and a big ol' blue-as-can-be Texas sky. Soooo pretty!

I've lived through Florida, New York, and Tuscany spring times, and hands down it's Texas' spring that wins me over each year.

And I admit, it has a lot to do with the pretty little blue flowers. And the big blue sky...

...And maybe a smidge to do with the fact that my favorite color is blue.

The Touch O'Green Meringue Experiment

2011-03-16T13:37:00.007-05:00

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!

Interestingly enough, I am more excited about this year than previous years, having just recently confirmed my distant Irishness while working on our family tree with my mama. I guess now that I know that it's there for sure that it's more fun to celebrate.

So when I saw these super cute flower shaped lemon meringues in the back the latest Martha Stewart Living, a light bulb went off, and I was determined to make my own greened up version for St. Patrick's Day -- it's definitely a minimally Irish dessert, but then I'm minimally Irish myself, so there you go.

And so I whipped up some meringues using freshly chopped mint (I wanted to use peppermint extract after seeing the posts about peppermint milkshakes and whatnot lately, but not having any on hand, I opted for fresh mint), piped them out in the shape of shamrocks, and baked them up.

They turned out being only ever the slightest bit green (and yes, on the flat side), but that's all right because they were still super cute!

And absolutely fragile! Boo, breakage!

So yeah, the smaller the shamrock, the less likely it'll break. I learned that. That, and don't pick favorites before you've removed everything from the parchment paper.

I also learned that I am not so into fresh mint in anything other than say, a mojito (and that's a cultural beverage from the OTHER side of my family tree -- not an Irish branch, fer shure). I think I would've definitely preferred using that peppermint extract and a smidge of green food coloring were I to do it again. They just weren't what I wanted (though that didn't stop me from still eating some). Sigh!

However, my husband scarfed them down.

What can I say? He has fancier tastes than I (what with my food coloring and whatnot). That, and perhaps his propensity for shamrock-shaped things denotes a higher percentage Irishness than my own... Or maybe he just like food.

Japan

2011-03-15T15:15:00.008-05:00

I've been left speechless by the ongoing disaster in Japan. I honestly find myself at a loss for words, which doesn't happen to me very often at all.

So even though information available all over the internet and news about how everyone can help, I figured that in addition to helping through my own charity donations, I could at least help spread the word, encourage others to continue to give and spread the word, and give my own public yet personal word of support and sympathy to the people of Japan.

And so, here I am.

And as for the cranes, I know it's not 1,000 of them. Not yet, at least.

If you haven't done so already, please consider giving to the following organizations to help disaster relief efforts in Japan:

Direct Relief International - continually ranked one of the most efficient disaster relief charities around by the likes of Forbes and the Better Business Bureau.

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)

And a round-up of craft auctions and charity proceeds to aid in relief efforts for Japan via the Red Cross and various other relief charities is available here (via Craftzine).

Peace and thank you.

King Cake! (and a happy Mardi Gras to you)

2011-03-08T09:20:00.010-06:00

I usually don't ever do much for Mardi Gras. Actually, I don't think I've ever done ANYTHING for Mardi Gras. It's just not a holiday we've ever really observed with much to-do or fanfare.

Perhaps that's why I got this mega hankering to make a king cake yesterday afternoon. I had to do SOMETHING for once! Plus, it's been a while since I've baked anything. I missed much of the holiday fun of Valentine's Day. And making a king cake from scratch sounded like a pretty perfect solution.

Yup! I had to do it.

Baby!

If you're not familiar with King Cake, here in the States, it's a Louisiana tradition for Mardi Gras, hence the trademark yellow, purple, and green colored sprinkles.

You often find king cakes for sale here in the Southern half of the U.S. before Mardi Gras -- allbeit these cakes in the grocery stores, I have never found them appealing or tasty. They usually look (and taste) a hot mess.

The cake itself is basically a yeasty, bread like dough (kind of like a cinnamon bun dough, actually) filled with either cream cheese or something else sweet, sugary, or savory -- like a cinnamon or praline filling.

And most importantly, a little baby figurine gets baked into the cake! Whoever gets the slice with the baby in it buys next years cake. Unless they're friends with me, in which case, I'll probably bake one every year anyway...

Upon the advice of my circle of friends' resident Acadian and Louisiana native, Kristin, I made my cake with cream cheese filling and the large sugar crystals on top. Yum! And it was good. Very good. Thanks, Kristin!

There is a baby baked into my cake somewhere, but the size and shape of the center of the ring just screamed out for a second, superfluous, decorative baby to nestle in it.

There he is, in a mountanous bed of ooey-gooey, bready king cake!

I used a combination of sorts of this recipe (credited to Emeril Lagasse, but oddly different from other king cake recipes credited to him elsewhere), and this one, which was the most glowingest reviewed one I found in my super quick recipe search.

I don't think it was too terribly involved. It just takes some time. But you could probably make your own far less involved King Cake with pre-packaged dough and cream cheese icing for filling.

I just happen to really enjoy the long and sometimes frustrating process of baking from scratch. Because I'm a glutton for punishment.

And just a plain old glutton, too. But I reckon that's what Mardi Gras is all about, Charlie Brown!

Mmmm...indulgence.

Little Pieces of Paper

2011-03-07T09:38:00.006-06:00

Well, little pieces of cardstock or bristol board, rather. But I couldn't turn down a chance for alliteration in the phrase 'pieces of paper' so I went with that.

I was recently turned on to the idea of Artist Trading cards by a friend*, and seeing that this past weekend was the first time for a two day long Staple! Independent Media Expo, it seemed the perfect excuse to bring along some pint sized portable paintings, so I decided to try my hand at them.

I admit, it is tremendously fun and freeing for me to doodle up little characters über quickly without fussing too much over the details. It's like a sketchbook, but a sketchbook I can easily share with people without ripping it all apart in the process.

And so, here is a smattering of drawings hued with pinks and blues from this weekend's array of pieces. Super cute, yes! Elephant Strawberry Cupcake Girl! Happy Yeti Guy and Birdie!

And Farting Victorian Lady! Cute perhaps, but not very classy I admit.

Such is the gamble you take when you allow me to put a pen to paper -- you get to place bets on whether it'll be cute, creepy, crass, or a combo of all three. Poot!

* a friend who, by the way, if you, ever need to read up on your Americans with Disabilities Act code and architecture, happens to write a blog about it over here that sometimes involves Godzilla.

Unfinished Business

2011-02-28T14:58:00.005-06:00

I was going through the art files left over from the Big Hard Drive Crash of Summer '10, and it seems that time and time again I come up with unfinished, random illustrations of which I have no recollection. How does this happen?

Like this poor, bored little girl and her crazy cat. When did I make this, why did I make this, and why isn't it finished?

I like it though, so it is kind of a nice treat to find these things. Perhaps I should finish it for reals now that I have rediscovered its existence.

Now, if I could only find all those files of finished art that I DO remember making and why I made them, and most importantly that I desperately need right now. And that I have a growing sinking feeling are lost forever... UGH!

One Tom Selleck Dream Fulfilled...

2011-02-18T16:41:00.005-06:00

Every time someone I meet finds out that I made the original infamous Tom Selleck Cake, I always get asked the same question, "Do you know if Tom Selleck has seen it?!? Does HE know about it?!?"

And of course, I never know the answer to that. "Maaaybe?"or, "Sure, I guess?"

Well, I can now die knowing, for sure and without a doubt, that my Tom Selleck cake made it all the way to Tom Selleck himself - hooray!!!

Tom was a guest on The View yesterday, and they didn't let him leave before letting him feast his baby blues on my very own pastel pastry portrait of him. Greatness! It even garnered a dimpled chuckle - even better!

You can watch it for yourself here -- just skip ahead to 29:29. Still no word from the View ladies on when they'd like me to swing by the show and create cake caricatures of all of them just yet...you know, I'm just sayin', is all...

So, that's one more meta dream fulfilled (of course, it was another meta and fabulous dream to learn that the cast of Futurama ate their own cupcakes inspired by MY brain slug cupcakes).

What's next? Maybe Mark Hamill slicing into his own Alicia-inspired Wampa cake arm? I have to admit, that would be pretty sweet!

It's Never Too Late For Love...

2011-02-17T14:14:00.004-06:00

On Valentine's Day morning, I woke up really early,quietly crept around the house (so as to not disturb my sweetie with my kitchen noises), and softly called to him from the kitchen to wake up... not to surprise him with any sort of romantic gesture, however.

You thought that's where this was going, Didn't you? You're wrong.

Quite the contrary, in fact.

I called him to the kitchen because I was feeling faint and queasy (hence why I woke up so early), and it was while I was attempting to make myself a little snack to maybe feel a bit better that I realized I would not be able to keep anything down, and proceeded to be very sick for the entire day with what we can only assume was food poisoning.

Happy Valentine's Day, darling! You get to take care of me and make sure I don't die! *kissy*kissy*retch*!

So what's all this have to do with extravagantly coiffed ladies?

Well, it's why I never got to post this little gouache and watercolor hair-tastic hearts piece that I was planning to post on Monday to wish all of you a happy Valentine's Day.

Because instead of eating chocolate and smelling flowers I was trying to shake off the chills and keep at least a few sips of Gatorade down. Booo!

But I figured I might as well go ahead and post it now, becasue, hey! It's never too late for some love stuff.

So I hope you enjoy her now just as much as you would've 4 days ago. I like her all right, but I'm pretty 'sneh' on her coloring -- It's no where near what I had envisioned when I put the brush to paper. But maybe that's because I painted her at night. With terrible lighting. D'oh!

I learned my lesson.

Kids, don't paint in the dark.

Also, don't eat any salad that might not have been thoroughly washed before your eating it.

But most importantly, remember that Valentine's Day is fun and all, but it's not the end of the world if you don't do a thing for it, or if you happen to get violently ill on it. Any day is a good day to share some love, and that's what matters...

Awwwww! That's sweet, isn't it? Wait a sec, I think I may be sick again...

Snow Day!

2011-02-04T12:07:00.006-06:00

Hooray! We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning here in Austin, Texas (of all places).

This usually means two things: 1) Do not attempt to go anywhere because, oh, the roads! They are bad (we lack proper snow equipment)! And 2) Hurry up and enjoy the snow, because chances are, it will be gone by lunch time.

So it was decided that we should stay put, and build a snowman taller than 6" for once, and posthaste, too, before all the snow is gone. So this morning we did just that.

And here he is. And I love him! I happen to think he's incredibly cute. Adorable, really. He even made it up to about 2 feet tall, which is pretty ginormous in these parts.

I think it's the literal corn cob pipe (why, thanks, hillbilly zombie Halloween costume props just sitting around!), button nose, and two eyes made out of coal that make him so irresistible.

Now we just need a magical old silk hat for him, and maybe he could spring to life and spend the day with us before melting away...which I am sad to say, is likely to happen very soon.

The melting part, not the springing to life part, that is.

Tweet-Heart Valentine's Day Cards How-To!

2011-02-02T10:08:00.000-06:00

Ahh, hello and welcome, February! And good riddance and no thanks, January! You brought me flu, oral surgery, and lots and lots of cruel allergies. February, in you I see the promise of cuteness and colorfulness and fun and lots o' new projects. Wheee!

So how's about celebrating with a little super cuteness-inspired Valentine's Day card How-To?

I drew up and made this cute little birdie cards. I call them Tweet-Heart cards. Because they're birds, and Tweet-Heart sounds like 'sweetheart,' and it is something which one could give to one's sweetheart or Valentine. Get it?*

So let's see what it'll take for you to make your own tweetie for your sweetie.

Here's what you'll need (almost everything is pictured):
- cardstock (for the template and cards)
- scissors or an x-acto (I mostly used the standard scissors, using the small one for details and tighter cuts)
- a bone folder and straight edge (you can use the blunt end of a sewing needle or blunt side of a butter knife or scissors blade to score it should you not have a bone folder -- but if you do, be very careful of the pointed and sharp ends!)
- some sort of non-wrinkling adhesive suitable for cardstock (I used what was sitting around - rubber cement)
- a pencil (an eraser is also handy for stray marks)
- a paper doily
- a colorful drawing utensil (I used craft paint and a tiny brush, but you could use crayons, markers, pens, etc.)

And most importantly, you'll need to download, print, and cut out the template pieces before you start, which you can find right here.

Having printed and cut out your template pattern pieces for the card, trace the shape of the bird body onto the cardstock of your choice. I do this in pencil, which means that I can erase away any stray marks or hints of tracing after I cut it out.

Using a scissors or x-acto knife, carefully cut out the birdie body along the traced line. I find I work better with scissors myself, especially on a piece like this that has so many straight snips. I have no control over my curves when using craft knives!

Using a bone folder, score a straight line between each wing and the body, and fold each wing inward.

If you don't have a bone folder, there are other ways to go about this, or you can fold it without scoring at all, but I highly recommend this incredibly useful and durable tool. I use it all the time!

So once you've scored and folded both sides, it should look like this. Now we're ready to make its sweetie-tweetie, widdle-biddy birdie heart.

Using the cut heart shape pattern piece from the template, trace the outline of the heart onto your cardstock of choice, and cut it out.

If you're a nervous Nelly type, or just smarter than I am about the sequence of things when it comes to spacing and lettering, it's best to go ahead and write your message on the heart now before everything is all glued together.

I waited to do this at the end, because I'm weird like that. But I imagine most folks would feel more at ease to make sure the lettering looks all right and is free of spelling errors BEFORE they permanently glue it to something they've traced, cut, folded, and whatevered.

So go ahead and write your message now, before this next part!

Next comes the doily bit, which is completely optional. I like it because it adds a smidge of pattern and texture to things.

Place the heart along a bit of doily lace that you like. I liked to center mine under a symmetrical spot in the doily pattern. Hold it in place, and cut about 1/8 in. all the way around the heart to create a lacy edge. You don't want too thick of a lacy edge, or it will get crushed in the folds of the wings.

I just eyeball this myself, but if you're a stickler for measurements and whatnot, you could use the template heart piece to create a second, slightly larger doily pattern piece to use.

Now, because my doily is small and round, I couldn't get an all-lacy doily border from it. So, to get an all lacy doily border to surround my message heart, I cut two doily hearts, one with lacy doily all up top, and one with lacy all down below...

...and then I trimmed them like so, and pieced them together with adhesive. Then I centered and glued my cardstock heart on top of my new conjoined lacy doily pieces heart...

... and it looks like this! Now it's time to glue the heart onto the birdie.

I like to place it on there and test out its positioning before gluing it down, as I like to make sure that I can't see the heart poking out from the wings when they're folded shut.

When I have it where I want it, I make four little pencil dashes along the perimeter of the heart to give me a guide as to where I want it when I'm ready to glue. I can easily (but gingerly) erase them if they show too much afterward.

Then I do any extra trimming of the lacy border (I had to shave off a smidge to keep it out of the wing creases), spread some glue on the back, and use my little pencil hatch marks to guide it to the perfect spot.

Ta-daa! Now this little bird needs a face. Let's make a face!

I cut two little, tiny triangles from the cardstock of my choice. Personally, I just eyeball them, snipping little bits off the sheet, with one being bigger and longer than the other. There's an approximation of them on the template though, if you're not into eyeballing.

Then I glue them onto the bird, one on top of the other just above the center of the heart.

And to make the face and legs? Just draw on whatever eyes and legs you like using whatever drawing utensil you like. I used a tiny paint brush and some craft paint, and opted for traditional Alician 'U' shaped eyes, rosy cheeks, and, yes, a widdle, biddy bird bum.

If you're me, this is when you would last of all, paint or write your little message on the heart.

But you're smarter than I, right? So you already did that loooong ago before gluing all those heart and bird pieces together, right? Yes! Of course you did.

And here's our little finished birdie before he spreads his wings of love!

You can use a tiny dot of double sided tape or something similar to help keep his little heart shaped wings closed should you like.

And then he spreads his wings to give you a hug and some words of love - how sickeningly sweet!

And if you feel like mailing these cuties out to your Valentines, you can vamp up their envelopes by folding and creasing a whole doily in half, then nest it along the inner envelope crease, and secure the top half of the doily to the envelope flap. Securing just the top is just easier to do, plus it allows the doily lining to move and flex with the envelope.

It adds an extra bit of Valentine-iness to it, dontcha think?

Oh, and as for these envelopes, I actually re-made them in a smaller size from a stack of larger, too-big old Christmas card envelopes that I had.

If you want to know how to make your own envelope, there's a tutorial on it over here.

And, well, that's pretty much it! Hope you liked the how-to, and that it was clear and thorough enough. I always get so aggravated when I come across a cool tutorial, and get halfway through to find it breezed over something crucial that needs more clarification... so, I hope that's not the case here. Suuuurrre it is...

Anyway, I'd like to write up more of this type of thing, so I'm eager to see what other folks make of it! Hopefully they make good, cute things.

In the mean time, you can take a gander at the other various little birds I made, like Mr. Orangey bird, above.

Or my favorite of the bunch, Ms. La-La-Lemon bird. There's something about yellow and red on Valentine's Day that I just love. It's so cheerful!

And of course, there has to be a Miss traditional Red-n-Pink Robin. She's pretty cute, too.

And while I prefer the blushing birds with their closed, U-shaped eyes, I rather like this Miss Perky Purple Martin.

And lastly, here's Pinkney, all snug as a bug and ready to bare his heart to his sweet tweet.

Awww! So. Adorable!

Ok, I must stop looking at these pictures now. They're giving me a toothache, which is a very mean January kind of thing for them to do anyway, and this is February. I'll have none of that, you hear!

* Speaking of bad puns, you have no idea how bummed I am that I didn't get around to posting this yesterday just so I could call it a "How-To's-Day" post. Because it was a Tuesday. And I love horrible puns.

Ho-hum. Maybe some other Tuesday, then.

Florence Flashback

2011-01-21T12:13:00.012-06:00

Well, I'm feeling better now, so it's back in the blogging saddle...

Ten years ago today, I sat in L'Accademia in Florence, Italy, and drew this.

It's still kind of hard to believe that I lived and studied in Florence and did things on your average, everyday afternoon like like doodle masterpieces made hundreds of years ago by the giants of Western art in my own el cheapo sketchbook.

Florence was a wonderful, horrible, and strange time.

I had a view of the Duomo from my bedroom. My good friend and talented classmate tragically died there. Actor Peter Weller was in my High Renaissance and Mannerism class.

Wonderful. Horrible. Strange.

And it is harder to believe it was ten years ago. It makes me feel that I am so old, and makes me realize that I was so young.

Flipping through my old sketchbooks just last week and seeing this drawing dated ten years ago ( I hardly ever date anything I draw)... well, it just struck me how much Italy changed me, artistically and personally, and how much I've changed since then of my own accord.

From the David sketch to this watercolor of the Boboli Gardens, I don't know if I could show either of these pieces to anyone who knows me (or reads my blog) now and have them ever think that I did them. They are not cute, cartoons, cakes, or cats.

I have to admit, I love how it's this little gem of green in the far more familiar sea of drawings full of animals, saints, animal saints, girls and character sketches from whatever books I was reading at the time that make up my Italy-era sketchbooks.

Speaking of animal saints, they even crept to my metalsmithing work there, too.

I don't even do metalsmithing anymore. And animals saints? I abandoned drawing those circa 2002. Using this letter opener that I made with my own hands ten years ago feels more like using something that an ancestral relative of mine made long ago. It feels like someone else, it was that long ago and things are so different for me now.

But then, I guess some things do stay the same after all. I mean, it's a cat. I made a cat letter opener. That IS very like me!

How is it that ten years can feel like a nap and an eon all at once? Blast you, time!

When I returned from Florence, I found these old, old souvenir mini-photos at the flea market in Syracuse. They're of Piazzale Michelango, San Marco, the Bargello (my favorite museum! Other than the oddity that is La Specola, at least), and of course, the famous skyline of Florence itself.

They're even older than my personal Florentine artifacts, but it's very interesting to me to see how much Florence changed and yet stayed the same herself, from the time these photos were taken to when I was there many decades later.

Yup, ten years. I think it would be nice to go back, to give Florence another shot seen with the same eyes but through a different life.

Sigh! I'm going to have to start saving up that sofa change then, I reckon.

Yuckiness.

2011-01-15T16:08:00.000-06:00

It's raining. It's cold (by Austin standards). I have the flu.

Yup. That's yuckiness, folks. Yuckiness all around.

Instead of starting 2011 with a bang and a parade of works of artsy crafty awesomeness that I had planned, I've started it with a cough and a wheeze and a ticker-tape parade of wadded-up kleenex,*

Perhaps worst of all, instead of baking up my husband a new internet famous birthday (cup)cake(s) (previous years include Frank Zappa and Brain Slug cupcakes), this year, I gave him the flu. Happy birthday, darling!

So, no cake for now. Cake and flu just shouldn't go together. Ever.

Please forgive me for neglecting the blog this week. It's been a downer of a cherry on top of a downer of a week, believe me.

The cat, however, is very happy. There's rain to watch, two unmoving people upon which to sit, and plenty of warm and toasty hiding spaces from the cold.

I reckon if at least one of us is happy, that's something, right?

*Why, yes! I am one of those people who use brand names as everyday words regardless of the actual brand of that particular object. May I offer you a coke? How 'bout a band-aid or a q-tip?

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

2011-01-08T11:57:00.000-06:00

Today is Elvis' birthday, so be sure to celebrate in a manner fit for The King. Eat some peanut butter and banana sandwiches, put on your blue suede shoes, and maybe karate chop open a birthday piñata in his honor.

I made this Elvis birthday art a few years ago for a client, but I never did share in on the bloggy blog. So, here it is.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Alicia, you did not draw this because: 1) this is not a drawing of a cat, 2) this is not a drawing of a girl, 3) this is not in gouache, and 4) this is not your 'style.'"

What can I say? I am multi-faceted, as are my illustration stylezzzz.

Anyway... I like to think that busting up a piñata would be something Elvis would've enjoyed doing. I mean, he seemed to enjoy a lot of other cool things like slot car racing, crazy custom trikes, and some of the awesomest clothes ever, why not piñatas? Everyone loves piñatas!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some un-piñata related Elvis.

¡Viva Elvis!

Welcome, 2011!

2011-01-07T17:36:00.004-06:00

Yippee! It's 2011, y'all!

We're a week into the New Year and I've slide in just in the nick of time to wish everyone a happy and healthy shiny new year before everyone gets used to dating their checks with an eleven instead of a ten.

That is if anyone wrote checks anymore. Zing!

I was in a non-bloggable world on New Year's Day itself this year, so this girl who is ~~standing next to a big number 20~~ helping to compose the year 2011 with the help of her handy dandy party knee socks is a smidge tardy.

Please consider this blog post as the note her handwritten excuse note from her mother. She's here now, and so the the year long party that is 2011 can get started already.

And it's gonna be aaaaawe-sooooome!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T22:00:00.000-06:00

Just a cruddy li'l iPhone photo of a quickie li'l doodle to say goodbye to 2010, wish you a Happy New Year, and most importantly, to remind you to eat your grapes!

All twelve of them, at midnight. No skimping!

Tiny Texas - A 2011 Shop Preview

2010-12-31T12:07:00.008-06:00

Tomorrow begins a new year, which for me also means a new start for projects (yay!), and I also hope new goods and art for my etsy shop.

Thus, I thought it might be a nice little New Year's Eve treat to share a sneak peek of an item that'll be coming soon to The Small Cat Club shop -- Tiny Texases!

Or is it Texas'? What's the plural of Texas, anyway? Texai?

These cuties made their debut in the middle of Blue Genie Art Bazaar and have already garnered quite a few fans in that short time! How can anyone resist a Texas... especially when it has a cute smiling face?

And while they prove that not everything in bigger in Texas, everything IS better with faces!

Another Year's (and Blue Genie Art Bazaar's) End

2010-12-28T16:17:00.003-06:00

Well, the year is drawing up to a quick and tidy end. Christmas is over, and I hope everyone had as swell a season as I!

I just wanted to give a quick thanks and shout out to everyone who stopped by, worked at, and helped organize and run the Blue Genie Art Bazaar 2010. It really was a phenomenal show this year!

I don't do much in the craft show circuit anymore these days, but I'm tickled to be a part of this continually awesome show because it includes, is run by, and attended by such truly incredible people!

Above is a shot of my magnet board from the show (I forgot to take any real pictures because of how quickly it all passed by!), but I'm happy to say that by the time I went to clear everything out yesterday, that magnet board was empty! Popular things, they were!

For those of you who are not in Austin or who missed the bazaar, fear not -- I hope to revamp and update my etsy store for the new year, so be sure to check back in 2011!

And I don't know if you know, but that's just around the corner!

Let's Go, Caga Tió!

2010-12-24T13:29:00.006-06:00

Tonight is Christmas Eve, which means in my family, it's Noche Buena!

We Traverias do the whole Cuban and Spanish dinner celebration thing, which means we stuff ourselves with roast pork, black beans and rice, platanos maduros (ripe sweet plantains), yuca with mojo (a starchy root with a tangy lemon garlic sauce), Cuban bread, natilla (a pudding-y custardish dessert), Spanish sidra (sparkling hard cider from the north of Spain), and turrones (Spanish almond candies).

It is an unbelievably delicious night!

What with all these Spanish traditions and customs having survived the transition from Spain to the new world (I reckon it wasn't too terribly long of a jog, at least one of my great-grandfathers was Spanish...), I was a bit sad that one Catalonian Christmas tradition didn't make its way over with the turrones.

I'm talking about Caga Tió (or the Tió de Nadal) of course! Everyone's favorite sweets-pooping log!

I know, I know, it's like Mister Hankey from South Park and Log from Ren & Stimpy had a baby in Barcelona...

In Catalunya, children get to beat this cute log man with a stick and demand that he poop candies. His blanket helps keep him warm and is removed, when he is finished being beaten and sung to, to 'magically' reveal his somewhat disgusting but absolutely hilarious (in my opinion) treats and gifties!

I am of the opinion that it sounds far more disgusting than it is. Looks pretty fun and benign to me!

So, once I discovered that Caga Tió existed, I was eager to reclaim my Catalonian roots (the Traverias being from Catalunya originally) and make him a part of my Christmas tradition.

Although, let me tell you, when I told my mother about him, she was mortified. Mortified! She wants no part of Caga Tió. At. All.

But then, she's the non-Latin one in the family, so perhaps the rest of us think it's hilarious because the toilet humor is in our blood. Or maybe it's just me who has the disgusting sense of humor... I mean, we already eat turrones, right? Why not pretend that a cute little log pooped them out for us when we beat him with a stick?

Cute + Christmas + candy + caca jokes + mild violence = right up my alley!

Yeah, I know, I know. I DO have a sick little sense of humor. I'm sorry!

How can you not love that face?!?!

And even if we don't beat him with a stick to get at his sweets, he makes a right cute Christmas decor addition with his cozy little blanket, snuggled up to the hearth. No candy caca necessary.

And so, I went about making my own Caga Tió (Tió here being Catalan for 'log,' and NOT the Spanish word 'tío' meaning 'uncle') with a piece of firewood, some craft paint, and some fleece.

I chose a log that was just right in size and shape, painted on his super cute smiling face, and stitched up his barretina hat and a cozy little traditional blanket (a patchwork first for me!). It really took a lot less time than I thought it would.

I have to say, I am ecstatic with the results! Who'd ever think a log could be cute? I reckon a face and a little quilt can cute-up just about anything!

So tonight, after much stuffing ourselves with pork and many traditional Cuban starches, maybe we'll sidle up to Caga Tió and see what he's left us. Or if that turns too many stomachs, we'll just have a cute little log man by the fire.

And if my mom doesn't like it, well, I'll just forget about telling her about the Caganer...

Merry Christmas Eve and Noche Buena, everyone!

Quickie Christmas Cupcakes

2010-12-22T12:56:00.005-06:00

If there is one thing a busy artsy craftsy perfectionist person such as myself has to learn, it's to let go a bit, learn some shortcuts, and make sure you enjoy the little things.

For example, in a busy holiday season such as this one, I find myself embracing the idea of cake mix and pre-made cake decorations, though I admit a little bit of me is sad that I didn't make everything from scratch... and sculpt miniature gum paste toadstools... and crack the secret to a dye free red velvet cake.

But the satisfaction of seeing cheery and cute Christmas cupcakes in my kitchen in no time (compared to the usual Alicia method of 'let's make this as complicated and meticulous as possible') was absolutely worth it!

I've actually never used cupcake picks I didn't make before, and certainly not the cool, kitschy plastic ones that I remember my mom always bemoaned when I was a child (she was not into the whole 'stick some plastic on a cake' thing). But when I saw these, I had to have them!

I just love these plastic button mushrooms and holly decorations I got from Bake It Pretty. There's just something about that retro, plastic greenery I find so very cheery and happy! I just look at it, and it makes me smile.

And I start humming Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.

I can't resist it!

This time the cupcakes were made from a red velvet cake box mix that was on sale, so on a whim, I bought it. I admit, it was the idea of how Christmasy red cupcakes could be that won me over.

Those who know me know about how I am utterly puzzled by the popularity of red velvet cake -- it tastes like nothing to me but vague chocolate and red food coloring. And then there's my unending quest to the mythical recipe for red velvet cake that I'll save for another blog post and another day... but the red cake part is darned cute!

Despite the absolute mess of dealing with a bright red batter (it looked like I had skinned something in my sink), it was pretty painless and the payoff was very holly-jolly, indeed.

But somehow, I did manage to make the cream cheese icing from scratch. As they say (though not in this context) 'the girl can't help it.'

It's a very good thing these didn't take long though, because I'll need my energy tomorrow to prepare for Noche Buena. I've got to get my stirring hand ready for that natilla!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2010-12-15T13:11:00.010-06:00

I think what I like most about decorating for Christmas and is looking around and taking stock of all the little things I enjoy. I do love how it's a real treat to only get to see everything only once a year, and bringing back old memories of Christmases and loved ones past makes it even better.

Like the Dream Pet mouse ornament reminds me of my grandparents' and parents' trees, and while I'm not an angel or star tree topper gal, I LOVE finial tree toppers (that's what we had when I was a girl).

And that little paper mache angel was on our tree when I was growing up, too. reminds me of the cherub, Tillie, in Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey (I love Nestor!).

So, I thought I'd share with you a few of my own favorite Christmas things -- some home made, so traditional, and some are new finds, but I love them all and they make me just a smidge merrier.

These little igloo dwellers were a thrifting steal, and I'm so fond of them, they've become a Christmas staple! So! Adorable!

And I know that everyone loves knee hugging elves (you must check out Heidi Kenney's, by the way), but this is one particularly special to me, being the only ornament I have that was once my grandparents.

It gets a special spot at the front of the tree. I might also add, it's not a Christmas tree round here without some beaded pipe cleaner candy canes!

Growing up we had a fabric wreath, similar to this one, that I loved (probably from Vogue pattern 1312). Being displeased with my other wreath attempts that just weren't 'me,' I made this one up out of Christmas fabric, ribbon and felt to capture the feeling of the one we had long ago. It's totally one of my favorite Christmas things now -- so cozy and festive!

Speaking of Heidi Kenney, there's one of her plush cuckoo clocks! It's hanging out with some of my favorite childhood ornaments, namely 'the pretty reindeer' who is flocked white plastic (she's sooo pretty! At least I always thought so!) and a counted cross stitch li'l Alicia portrait my mom's friend made me when I was a wee thing (I love li'l Alicia's pink footie pajamas).

And straight from the same Vogue 1312 patterns as the stockings, is the Christmas tree skirt! It's the same pattern we had for our tree skirt growing up, which makes me very happy (much gracias to my aunt for sending me the pattern!). This is only a portion of it, but it's one of my favorite sections of just the cutest Japanese fabric.

And you can't beat some Elmo-free* Sesame Street wrapping paper enveloped presents (Bert & Enrie only! Wow, it's like it's the 80's again!) and red tree garland (swoon).

This doll ornament is a favorite of mine -- I remember my mom let me pick it out as my own ornament. I was so doll obsessed as a little girl, so it only makes sense that of all the ornaments I could pick, I'd pick a doll. But she is sweet, isn't she?

And I've never been one for stocking hangers, but I am verboten from hammering holes into the mantel. I found the heaviest cast iron stocking hangers I could find, but had to repaint them to be more festive and Alicia-esque -- now they remind me of vintage cast iron toys, and I love that!

They might just have to become Christmas tradition, mantel holes or not.

So that's a small sampling, if you can believe it, of a few of my favorite Christmas things. here's hoping your favorite Christmas things cheer you up as much as mine do me!

* not that I don't like Elmo, I do like earlier Elmo... I just am not so fond of how Sesame Street has basically become the Elmo show. Yawn!

Skywalker Family Portrait

2010-12-10T15:09:00.005-06:00

Did you know that today is Share Star Wars Day? And just my luck! I have something Star Wars-y to share!

I did this gouache on panel painting a while back, having been inspired by working on my Monster family portrait to paint fictional character family portraits (oh, I loved working on it so much!). I admit, I LOVE this piece. it makes me so giddy and happy!

I've been waiting for a good excuse to post it here, amongst all the Christmas time related posts, but then Share Star Wars Day comes along, and well, it's a perfect match!

I reckon it's unlikely that most readers of this blog have not heard about the social struggles of internet sensation, Katie, the Star Wars girl, but just in case -- Katie was upset because the boys in school were mocking her for having a Star Wars water bottle, because apparently they believe that Star Wars is for boys only (so wrong, fellas!).

And then in a blog post heard round the geek world, proud nerds and geeks rallied round Katie's cause to proudly and publicly like what she likes without being picked on about it.

Thus fittingly, Epbot.com, the site for 'geekiness, girliness, and goofing off' declared today, December 10th, Share Star Wars Day -- a day to share your love for Star Wars with folks and to not shy away from embracing your inner geek.

I absolutely identify with Katie's situation myself, but in my case it was being teased for liking comics. Specifically, superhero comics. So I felt that I must make some sort of contribution to Share Star Wars Day -- for Katie.

After all, it's because of my childhood love of Star Wars, He-Man, superheroes, and other interests typically reserved for boys, that I became the artist I am today!

Stitching Stockings

2010-12-08T14:19:00.008-06:00

The tree is up, the wine has been mulled and sipped, and the new niece's stocking is fresh of the machine (or hands if you count the hand finishing), and in the mail for decking the halls.

That's her new stocking on the bottom of the stocking stack. She's accompanied by the stocking I made for my husband last year, and all is topped off with my own almost thirty year old stocking!

Oh, how I love my stocking! It's one of my favorite homey Christmas things.

My aunt made the stocking itself, derived from Vogue pattern 1312 (also home to our family's Christmas tree skirt), and it is this stocking pattern that has become the standard Christmas stocking in our household - kids, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles -- everyone has it!

Now, I carry on the tradition and I'm the aunt making the same stockings for my own new nieces, and maybe some day for my own kids, too. But I have to admit, sewing from a pattern is tough work, at least for someone so used to winging it on my own like I do!

Anyway, it is pretty much the perfect stocking. It's sturdy, durable, big enough for toys and candy or books, cds, and gizmos without being obscenely big, you can make it from whatever fabric you like, and there's plenty of room to add whatever decoration you can dream up.

In our case, my mom gave my brothers and me our own felt applique designs that she drew, design, cut, and sewed all herself.

I have always loved my Santa stocking, but my mom has always told me she felt sorry for me that it was so simplistic in design compared to all my brothers' stockings (theirs were, indeed, far more intricate and detailed).

The story goes that my family had just moved before Christmas, and the only craft supplies my mom could find in the house for my stocking was red, green, and white felt and brown, blue, and white embroidery floss. And thus was born my Santa.

But I have always told her, I like him how he is! He's simple, happy, not too fussy or contrived, and he's so well coordinated with his stocking fabric.

Now the problem is, what on earth could I add for decoration to all the other future (and currently blank) stockings that I would love nearly as much as my simplistic Santa?

Angel-Bells

2010-12-04T15:29:00.005-06:00

Every year I get so wrapped up in preparations for various shows and ongoings, that it seems like I never, ever have a chance to do some Christmas crafting just for the fun of it, for my own home, for me.

Or I do make something for myself, and then this is what happens:

Husband: I'm going on a bike ride.
Me (snapping pictures): Ok. I'm going to put some pictures of these angel bell thingies on the blog.
Husband: Those are cute. Where did you get them?
Me: I made them!
Husband: Really? When?
Me: Uhhhh....Two years ago. You've just never seen them because I never put them out.
Husband: *eyeroll/raised eyebrow thing he does*

It's true.

These are two years old, and no one has even seen them other than myself. They're cute, they're Christmas-y, but each year the holidays pass by and they remain unmoved and forgotten in their little box.

That's the story of just about every thing I ever make for Christmas, if it even gets made in the first place.

But it's going to change, I tell ya! This year, I'm decoratin', doggonit!

So tomorrow, these sweet babies will finally get to hang out on a tree and ting-a-ling-a-ling for the first time ever, despite being over 2 years old.

And we will sit and I will sew stockings for my nieces, sip mulled wine, play I Spy (the Christmas Tree version as is our family tradition) and relax and enjoy the holiday season before Christmas Eve arrives for once in my adult life. Hurray!

And I cannot tell you how very much I am looking forward to it all. After so many years of rushed Christmases, it's going to be reeeeeaaaally nice.

It's finally here -- Blue Genie Art Bazaar!

2010-12-01T11:00:00.008-06:00

It's officially open! And it is filled to the brim with awesome handmade and local goodies, so do it to it, Austin! I know I'll be getting lots of Christmas shopping done there myself with all the awesome artist's goodies I spied during set up.

Here's the schedule of events if you so wanted to stop by for one. I may just see ya there:

Dec. 1, 10 am - 10 pm -- Opening Day It's your first chance to grab up some goodies!

Dec. 2, 6 pm - 12 am -- Opening Party Complete with a DJ, snacks drink specials, and of course, awesome art and goods.

Dec. 4, 10 am - 12 pm -- Santa Claus Santa is stopping by for picture taking and Holiday merriment and some great fun for the kiddos. There may or may not be a giant jackalope involved, too.

Dec. 8, 7 pm - 10 pm -- Trivia Night Calling all smarty-pantsers! Come gather round the digital fire place and match wits with friends and nemeses at this all holiday themed trivia night at the bar. Prizes will be given and drinks will be had!

Dec. 16, 6 pm - 12am -- Holiday Gala The big holiday blow out! With a band and drink specials surrounded by fantabulous art, it's sure to be a blast.

And don't forget that the show is open every day, Sunday - Thursday 10 am - 10 pm and Friday and Saturday 10 am - Midnight from now until the 24th (though the hours might be different on Christmas Eve, I'm not sure...).

Wowie, it's going to be a fun packed December!

And now that it's oficially December, I don't feel so strange about sharing some Christmas-y holiday related posts. See you soon, blog peeps, with some Christmas cuteness!

Pictures of Moustache Men

2010-11-30T19:31:00.006-06:00

We are literally just hours away from the end of November, or rather Movember, the term given to the month of the year where folks grow the most attractive of facial hair forms (usually, or at least in my opinion it is) in an effort to raise awareness for prostate cancer and other men's health issues.

So a few weeks ago, I thought of combining some of my favorite famous moustaches together in one moustache-marvelous illustration. I will never turn down an opportunity to research and draw Clark Gable, after all.

And now, so much quickly flown by tiume later, as a true believer of better late than never, here's my Movember inspired moustachioed piece.

It was the working on Alicia-fying so many famous folks's faces that kept me from finishing it in a more timely fashion. I was determined to finish and post it tonight though, as opposed to let it sit unfinished until next November or to post it in December or such. So there you have it.

Besides, having had many loved ones in my own life affected by issues such as prostate cancer, I believe every and any month of the year is a good month to donate and support charities such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Livestrong, and the American Cancer Society, moustache or not. Right?

Right!

Pups in Cups Overfloweth

2010-11-27T09:39:00.006-06:00

The bigger and better than ever (really - they have expanded and added tons of awesome new artists this year to celebrate their 10th anniversary this year!) Blue Genie Art Bazaar is just around the corner for reals now, and I'm getting all my goods and gear ready to premiere on opening day this Wednesday (that's December 1st, by the way).

That means I've been finishing up some more Pups in Cups, and figured I'd post a few of the new ones up here for all to see. Then it's time to matte and frame them and put them up for sale, and it's bye-bye, my pups!

If you're in Austin, you can check out all the show info and events here. And if you're not in Austin, you can peruse the websites and stores of the participating artists for something spectacular.

And maybe you'll run into a super cute pup in a cup along the way. If they haven't all been adopted yet, that is...

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T12:07:00.006-06:00

Here's wishing everyone a warm and happy Thanksgiving with family, friends and loved ones filled with good times, togetherness, and of course, thanks for all of the above.

And pie. Don't forget the pie!

Pups in Cups

2010-11-19T12:30:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again!

Meaning, it's time for the wild and wonderful Blue Genie Art Bazaar. Meaning, it's time that I make a whole new batch of art and gift goodies to peddle throughout the month of December.

New this year is my series of Pups in Cups -- super cute original gouache paintings of your preferred pooches perched in petite porcelain cups.

I realize I tend to lean towards cat heavy art (What? ME?!? A cat lover? Ppffshhh! ), which isn't very fair to all the dog lovers out there (myself included), so I'm bringing out the doggies. Here's a sneak preview of some of them.

I personally love the howling beagle (but then I have a soft spot for beagles and beagle mixes having had one as a child, and having an aunt who is a beagle rescue and foster mama).

But I think this precious pit is my favorite. Again, I have a soft spot for them, what with having so many pit rescuers and adorable pits and pit mixes in my life (special shout out to Piglet!).

So! Cute! Mug O' Pup! Gahhh!!! Working on these have made me want to get a dog more and more. Sigh!

Speaking of foster and rescue pups, I don't do this often, but since this is an organization that means a lot to me...I'd like to take some time to encourage folks to donate to Emancipet -- an organization here in Austin that provides free and low cost spaying, neutering, and pet care.

They are in the midst of their Power of 10 donation drive (donation page here), where sponsors are there to match every dollar donated. They do really great work and help a lot of great animals, so know that every donation does a world of good.

Oh, puppies and kittens, I'm totally smitten! Thus I pledge to help, That they will not yelp, And pray they find homes, So they no longer roam. *

* You like that? I made it up. Just now! Fancy that. Good thing I don't try to sell poetry for a living, eh?

Pretty Purple Posies

2010-11-18T10:20:00.006-06:00

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting these pretty purple gum paste posies to a very special lady on her 70th birthday. Soooo pretty!

And while I've worked with gum paste before, (on the brain slug cupcakes, and again with the figures for my sister-in-law's baby shower cake), I've never really made gum paste flowers before.

My mother has made plenty of them, especially back in her cake and catering days (and most recently, as seen on my wedding cake), but I have been a bit scared off by them myself.

But this cake was an opportunity t do something more traditional, which I admit was refreshing, what with all the Wampas and cakefaces and Hank Williamses on my cakes.

So I found myself sitting down with the Wilton Gum Paste Flower kit (a birthday present gets used, yay!!!), making up whichever flowers I figured I could make without having to use wires and stamens (because that would require a trip to the store), in shades of purple and pink -- the birthday girl's fave colors, of course!

It really is pretty easy, just follow the instruction and make sure you have some vegetable oil or veggie shortening around to tame the sticky gum paste...

...And have some time on your hands. It's not too difficult (although I admit the carnations are infuriating! Die, carnations, die!) but it is time consuming!

And there you go!

Oh, and at some point in the process, a fingerprint unknowingly got on the camera lens and gave everything an appropriately fuzzy filter in one corner of all the photos.

The cake got lots of compliments (it was brown sugar nut cake with cream cheese icing), on not only the flowers, but the taste, and of course the flowers. I also preached my 'Buttercream And Gumpaste Trimuph Over Fondant Forever For the Win' spiel (yes, I'm one of those people who is sick to death of fondant)...

..and despite what I see as a hopelessly sloppy and horrificly not-entirely-centered-birthday-message (lemme tell you, I know why there are so many inscription based cake wrecks -- soooo not an easy thing to do!).

I reckon beauty is in the eye of the cake eater then. Or is it in the mouth..?

I admit, I'm coming off this most recent cake success feeling a bit encouraged to go ahead and enter this year's That Takes the Cake competition -- I mean, cakes with a comic book theme?!?! That's Alicia heaven!!!

But then again, I don't know...competitions have a way of taking the fun out of things, don't they?

Gah! Curse my competitive spirit!

Hooray, Space! (Happy Carl Sagan Day)

2010-11-06T14:39:00.010-05:00

Today is Carl Sagan Day! It's a day to celebrate the life and work of beloved astronomer Carl Sagan, as well as a day to celebrate astronomy, space exploration, science, and reason (and I like to think creative thinking as well).

So what's with the Vulcan-American federation lady and a pledge to reason and logic?

Ok. I admit, it's not meant to be a piece for Carl Sagan Day (my Carl Sagan inspired piece remains unfinished as yet, but that's what happens when one is a perfectionist working on a very personally inspiring piece).

This Vulcan lady here came out of nowhere one day, into my brain, and out my fingertips, into my brush and onto the wood a few weeks back (or soemthing along those lines). And it's been sitting around unshared and unphotographed (and awaiting display in this year's Blue Genie Art Bazaar) ever since.

However, I figured it would be a nice addition to the space decor for today anyway - logic, reason, space, exploration, and yes, a dash of America (or NASA, if you will). A pledge to logic and reason, and a desire to explore the final frontier. Sounds somewhat Sagan-esque to me...

I will be celebrating space by catching the Hubble 3D Imax film. If you can't make it out to a screening yourself, snuggle up at home and watch yourself some Cosmos (available right here on Hulu). It's brilliant! I distinctly remember watching the 4th dimension bit in my 8th grade science class (thanks, Mr. Donley!).

Or you can listen to some Carl Sagan auto-tuning, with more from the Symphony of Science over here.

Or at the very least, you should listen to Carl reading 'The Pale Blue Dot.' Right now. I'm of the opinion that it should be required listening... And make sure your tissues are at hand.

Thank you, Carl.

Máscaras del Día de los Muertos

2010-11-01T14:35:00.003-05:00

Today, of course, is el Día de los Muertos, and to celebrate the occasion, I painted up these papier maché masks.

I purchased them blank and pre-formed from the craft store in the midst of all their Halloween to-do. I had designs on them becoming bright and floral ofrenda decor from the moment I laid eyes on them. A little craft paint and some time later, and there they were. I think of the orange one as being male, and the pink one as female, and I especially likes that somehow, the same papier maché mold warped into two completely different skull types.

Hope you like them as much as I do.

I guess Halloween and Day of the Dead make for a two post kinda day, huh?

Halloween and Skull Cupcakes

2010-11-01T13:06:00.008-05:00

Last night was my first Halloween where I got to treat the trick-or-treaters! Hooray! And they were sooooo cute. And very polite, too.

I was so psyched to get to hand out candy, I got caught up in a last minute tizzy of Halloween spirit that's never struck me before. Decorations, snacks, baking, multiple jack-o-lanterns, and zombie costumes, all done within 48 hours. Whew!

I really should do a better job of adopting the craft blogger M.O. of working on any given holiday's decor and related projects a month or so ahead of time. It's better for blogging and tutorials, yes, but it also might leave me with a little more time to enjoy it all.

But for now, I'm one of those 'I do my best work at the very last minute' frenzied types....and not to mention a 'Holiday Purest' (if you think you're gonna open that Christmas present before Christmas morning, you better think again! And no DECorations until it's DECember, either...)

These cupcakes were a literal last minute addition, having finished them up just before our treats-giving guests arrived. Close call! I know it's frowned upon to hand out home baked goods to little kiddies, (I don't want to end up like poor Mrs. Weir and her ant covered cookies in the Freaks and Geeks Halloween episode) so these were grown-ups only creepy cupcakes to snack on between trick-or-treat visits.

They're devil's food cake and cream cheese icing -- I just drew skulls on the cupcakes with a simple medium circle tip in the bag, and tried to layer the eye sockets and teeth to give them a little bit of dimension. I think they turned out pretty cute, myself, and like how they look with the various sprinkled cupcakes as well.

I even carved a skull pumpkin to match.

Well, that's it for my Halloweeny post. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Between my last minute creepy creations, the Monster Show, attending the coolest Halloween party ever (my friends are the masters of the macabre -- their place was decorated with genius and I just wish my photos had been good enough to share!), and my first trick-or-treaters ever, I know my Halloween weekend was certainly a treat.

Unlike A Virgin

2010-10-28T16:26:00.006-05:00

Here's some more devilishly delightful artwork for you just in time for Halloween.

I had the pleasure of creating the artwork for Opposite Day's 'Unlike A Virgin' show, in which they cover the Immaculate Collection of the one, the only, Madonna (!!!!!).

So naturally, I think the opposite (no band name pun intended) of Virgin of Guadalupe and go with snakes and demons. And cone bras! Researching the Madonna fashion references for this one was a lot of fun. I could draw conical bustiers all the live long day -- they're so funny lookin'.

And my favorite part? The Madonna snakes, of course! I'm tempted to do some artwork featuring just a bunch of Madonna snakes, I love them so much.

Make sure you mark your calendars for Nov. 20 at Jovita's so's you can catch the show. I'll be there with bells and conical bustiers on (err, probably not that second part...sorry, I lied) .

Monster in the Family

2010-10-26T12:35:00.010-05:00

There's one in every family, right?

The annual Domy Books Monster Show is opening on Saturday, and I'm pleased as punch to be a part of it again (I skipped out on it last year because of wedding and honeymoon induced lack-of-time, but I'm back, baby!) . This is my piece this time around, and it's gouache on Rives BFK and titled 'One in Five'. And I love it! It was a lot of fun.

You can go check it out in the flesh at the big ol' opening this Saturday evening. I took a peek at the artwork submitted for the show this year when I was dropping off my piece, and man-oh-man! There is some GOOD stuff there. Incredible work!

So if you're in Austin, make sure to monster-up this weekend. That's Saturday at Domy Books, 7-9pm! Be there or be scared (see what I did there?). And if you can't make it, be sure to check out the show (and the awesomeness of Domy in general) at some point during the next month while its up!

I don't know what it is, but all while working on it, I'd look at the two older girls and think to myself how they totally capture the epitome of the whole 'sister' thing to me.

Perhaps being an 'all brothers' gal or being the only daughter of an only daughter that has given me a skewed view of the sister-sister relationship. Maybe I've watched a little bit too much Brady Bunch.

But I just look at these girls and I think to myself. "Yep! That's totally 'sisters!'"

And speaking of the Brady Bunch -- the color palette on this one? Yes, it was absolutely inspired by the Brady's kitchen and all of its orange and brown glory.

Aaaah, orange formica, monstrous and styling at once -- perfection!

The Gram Parsons Project

2010-10-14T11:05:00.007-05:00

Back when I painted my Michael Jackson portrait, I had such a nice time painting whilst listening to my subject's music that I thought it might be nice to have a little dead-musicians-of-whom-I'm-very-fond-and-who-I-would-like-to-paint series of portraits.

And so, I made up a list (a very loooong one -- we'll see if I can make it through them all), and decided that my next one should be of Gram Parsons. The finished portrait is acrylic gouache on wood, and if you're curious about some of the imagery surrounding him, take a look at his wonderfully famous Nudie suit. It's pretty crazy, awesome (aren't ALL Nudie suits?), and eerie.

Not only was I eager to paint his pretty poppy covered jacket, but Gram and I have a connection of sorts. Or at least I have interesting story as to how I discovered his music....

You see, once upon a time, I went to the same school Gram Parsons went to, albeit at a different time (poor Gram was long dead before I was born). At the time I heard the rumor that he had attended the school but was "not very proudly claimed as a famous alumnus because of the whole 'died of a drug overdose in the desert' bit'", I had no idea who Gram Parsons was.

And so, for a while, I thought they meant that the dude who started up the Alan Parsons Project (you know, Alan Parsons...) once went to my school. Yeah...

Boy, was I off! Like, not-even-the-same-country OFF. What can I say? I was young, and I did still have my music blinders on at the time.

Of course, I would embarrassingly spout off this erroneous rumor that Alan Parsons went to this school to everyone, until I told a friend who knew better, and who introduced me to Gram's music.

I'm so very glad I was schooled on Gram Parsons v. Alan Parsons, because despite Gram's life story being incredibly tragic, his music is simply beautiful perfection. Gorgeous!

I like it far, far better than the Alan Parsons Project (sorry, Alan).

Bats for Babies

2010-10-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

In the past year, October has become the official month of nieces! With one celebrating her first birthday, and one due for arrival any time now, I decided bats were particularly good birthday and birth-date presents for them both.

After all, it is the month of all things spooky, creepy, and crawly, and bats are definitely a symbol of the spooky. Nieces, not so much spooky or creepy, but in the case of the one year old, definitely crawly (and walky)!

Besides, I had made a more baby-friendly bat for my oldest niece on the occasion of her first birthday, and a tradition was established.

But I wanted to make the bats more all-over cute and less seasonal, so I nixed any Halloween aspirations and went with some cute Alexander Henry 2D Zoo fabric for each one instead.

The pink one is for the littlest niece (please excuse the wrinkled and non-pressed ears and wings!), and is meant to compliment the soft colors of her nursery. The yellow one's cheerful coloration is a bit bolder and brighter and is an exact match for her sister's bat (although hers has a different body color).

I made them a bit friendlier to little ones (although they still may have to bide some time on the shelf for the littlest niece) by giving them felt eyes and velcro tabbed wings as opposed to the traditional safety eyes and metal snaps on my standard bats.

They are a smidge chubbier, and have bigger ears as well -- perfect for playing bat peek-a-boo!

And so there they are, two October bats for two October babies...unless the one decides to take her sweet time and arrive in November. In which case, hooray for bats for all seasons!

Piñata Tutorial Offspring the First: Catbus Piñata

2010-10-07T15:17:00.005-05:00

I was absolutely tickled to see the words 'Catbus Piñata' appear on my blog roll yesterday, but even more excited when I checked out Heidi Kenney's post about it over on My Paper Crane.

It turns out Heidi used my handy dandy paper-maché-free piñata making tutorial to help get this Catbus made for her son's birthday party! See?

" Here is the Catbus piñata that the kids and I made last night. We used techniques we found on Alicia Policia's blog entry about making a Luke Skywalker Piñata. I had never thought about using cardboard rather then paper mache. It was much faster, and way less messy."

Coolness! Go check out her whole post to see more pics... now!

And remember, I'm always super stoked to see other folks' piñatas -- if you used the tutorial, make sure to send some pics my way!

I Can't Help Falling In Love...With Cross Stitching

2010-09-30T12:29:00.010-05:00

Waaaaay back in August, I added a new state to my list (which is sadly smaller than I would like it), and visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. Now it's almost two months later, and I just finished up my souvenir!

While I've always dug his music, I've never been an Elvis FAN -- the all caps kind -- but since Memphis was en route to our final destination, I felt it was my duty as an American, an artist, and an appreciator of kitschy things, vintage things, tacky things, and of Elvis and his music in general that I should pay my respects with a visit to Graceland.

And I loved it!

Sure, I accidentally ended up there at the beginning of Elvis week (tad crowded, but fun for Elvis impersonator spotting), and my native Floridian blood has a natural reaction to dislike tourist spots, so I did have my moments of cognitive dissonance.

But overall, I really enjoyed it. A lot! Especially touring the actual house -- it was a time warp treat for this lover of things vintage.

Gah! Check out this case filled with cute vintage things! Slathered with Elvis' (in my humble opinion) dreamy face, to boot!

And check out this vintage Rob Schneider doll! Hmm, it kinda looks a bit like a young George Jones, too...

I ended up choosing this small and simple cross stitch kit by The Posy Collection as my Graceland visit keepsake (although this kit is not on their site). I figured that it'd be more fun to make something myself -- there ought to be more crafty souvenirs in the world. I finally got around to stitching it up lately, so I thought I'd share and here we are!

A little extra thread, some Elvis movies via Netflix instant watch, and bam! I rediscovered the joy of cross stitch. I haven't done counted cross stitch since I was...what....9, or 10? I last cross stitched some howling coyotes onto some hand towels in 1990. Yeeeaaaah.

So compared with that, this is much cuter! And much more me.

I did change it up a bit with some different colors -- I added the flowering bushes and 'lions' out front (see the white blocks in front? That's lion statuary, in cross stitch form) for some added color and interest, and the original pattern was framed in a black stitch with black text, so I changed it to a more colorful and homey light aqua-ish blue (it looks far more turquoise in the photo above than it really is).

Plus, blue is just much more Graceland-y, don't ya think? And also, apparently, Elvis' favorite color. Just so happens, it's mine too.

And so, I've come to the conclusion that cross stitching is totally fun and relaxing. I'm so glad to have rediscovered it. I even picked up some of that pretty brown linen I see everyone using for super cute cross stitching the other day. I sense a new craft a brewin'!

Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to display this one, and then kick back with my peanut butter and banana sandwich, close my eyes and dream of the lush peacock blue drapes and gleaming white furniture of Graceland.

Paper Anniversary

2010-09-29T11:42:00.009-05:00

This past Sunday, my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Hooray!

The first anniversary is traditionally celebrated with gifts of paper, and we decided that we're going to try to stick to the traditional gift theme thing.

I received a lovely piece of artwork involving teeth by Kate Pugsley that I had swooned over on Etsy a few months ago (have I ever written about my thing with teeth on here? I love teeth!), and I gave him a nice first edition copy of one of his favorite books. Yay, paper!

It was while I was thinking about wedding anniversaries and paper (what do most people give for the paper anniversary anyway?) that I realized I never shared many of my paper projects from the actual wedding that didn't make it to the big fat DIY wedding post -- Save the Dates, invitations, menus, seat cards, etc. etc....

So maybe now would be a good time to share some of that, what with the anniversary and all, hmmm? With that I give your our Save the Dates. Taa daa!

This is the front of our Save the Date cards. It's the precursor to the wedding coloring book version of ourselves, and various wedding related flotsam and jetsam. And cats. You gotta have cats.

I used my Gocco for the first time ever to print them up, and I think they turned out super cute. I went back in and painted some areas green that were too difficult to deal with registration-wise on the Gocco itself. At least too difficult for a first timer with a deadline, that is.

I was very pleased with the result, and got a lot of compliments on it from our friends and family. And it makes for a nice little family portrait, too. Kitties!

So there you have it. One year of happy marriage, and one super cute paper wedding memory for the occasion!

Next year is cotton. Methinks that might prove a bit trickier gift and anniversary blog post...we'll have to wait and see what I can think up.

This Monkey's Gone to Heaven

2010-09-21T12:43:00.004-05:00

To me, the Pixies are the music of fall.

See, every year when fall is on the doorstep (and the door officially opens tomorrow) and the air begins to get cooler, the nights begin to get longer, and awesomely fresh and delicious apples begin to flood the market, my mind transports to my college days and I envelop myself in a college music time warp and relish the nostalgia.

Pixies, Radiohead, Pavement, They Might Be Giants, Guided By Voices, XTC, Blur, Beck, Bjork....bork, bork, bork!

This was the soundtrack to my freshman (and some of sophomore) year (well, a fraction of the soundtrack, but the ones that really transport me anyway), and just hearing it makes me feel the fall wind on my face as I walk downtown to The Sound Garden to pick up whatever two dollar used CDs I could find. And then I would listen to the new albums as I worked on art into the wee hours of the morning, stopping only for a weekend break at an apple festival, or some crazy art people party with strange and surreal costumes involved.

To sooth my longing for a crisp, cool fall full of lovely leaf colors, apple festivals, and strange parties (not getting much of any those here soon), I've at least been good on reliving the listening-to-some-Alician-college-music and working-on-art-into-the-wee-hours part of things.

Although this time around the art is doodling around with gouache and illustrating lyrics to songs with inappropriately and exceedingly cute characters.

Like the inappropriately cute 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' by the Pixies artwork in this post! Who would think a dead monkey could be so cute!

Which reminds me, the Pixies are stopping in Austin tonight on their Doolittle tour. I hear tell that Pavement and Guided By Voices are stopping by next week, too. Hmmm...

All these bands I used to listen to that broke up are now reunited and are playing in my town at the beginning of fall which can only mean...Hooray! The entire world bends to my nostalgic whims!

Now I'm going to go eat an apple and gouache doodle some more. And maybe come up with a bizarre costume plan just in case nostalgia prompts someone to invite me to a party...

An Empire Strikes Back Birthday: Episode V -- Various Vader-esque Victuals

2010-09-17T09:11:00.024-05:00

Nom, nom, nom! How could a blood thirsty snow creature look so sickeningly cute and sweet?

I reckon when it's really just a re-decorated Halloween ghost Peep, it's kinda hard to look blood thirsty.

With all that piñata busting going on at the big three-oh Empire party, we needed plenty of appropriately themed snacks and food for energy all night long. Sure we had cake and Yoda-ritas (and the less-visually-exciting-and-therefore-unblogged Calrissian Coolers and Lobot-omy shots), but we needed more options, dig?

And so here we are. We're closing out The Empire Strikes Back Party week with a collection of all the various side foods served, complete with their cute little signs (thank you, left over 'Save the Date' paper!).

The Wampa Puffs, as mentioned above, were a moment of spontaneous inspiration whilst spying ghost Peeps in the midst of my regular shopping chores. I simply used some buttercream icing from the cake preparation, and piped on some horns, claws, and a new gaping mouth. So cute! And delicious both fresh from the box, and a few days stale. Mmmm, Peeps!

And of course, we needed some items on the savory side of things, so using this awesome recipe for olive balls, I made these Bossk Balls (and yes, I'm aware of the bathroom humor waving its arms at you there, and I still prefer it to Bossk Bites), named after the infamous reptilian bounty hunter. They did turn out having an eerily Bossk-esque bumpy tan orange texture to them -- worked perfectly!

These were the first thing to disappear, and were really easy to make. I followed the directions exactly, except I drained and patted dry the olives first, and then made the dough using a pastry blender instead of just my hands, which helped homogenize the mix a bit better. And I am so making them again!

Also on the savory side, other than the unpictured Mynock Munchies (sorry - I missed that photo, but it was kettle chips and a homemade french onion dip, and crackers with the tapenade), we had Cuban creole chicken breast Nug-Naughts with Molten Carbonite Mojo (pronounced mo-ho -- a Cuban garlic sauce)!

It seemed only natural to make the only meat-centric dish based on the porcine ugnaughts of Cloud City (though I opted for chicken over the obvious pork, as I've found foul tends to have more takers). I used the recipe for 'masitas de pollo frito' from the 'Memories of a Cuban Kitchen' cookbook. Also a quickly disappearing dish!

And just in case you're looking for a good Cuban cookbook, I highly recommend this one. It's incredibly close to our own family recipes, and gives a lot of good history and information on the foods and culture of Cuba.

And it's not a party with a veggie tray, so I give you Cloud City Crudités with Tibanna Gas Dip! Tibanna Gas Dip, named for the gas mined in Lando's Cloud City, being from my mom's 'catering days' -- a dill veggie dip.

In the background, Zuckuss-tash, a garbanzo bean, corn, and zucchini salad named for the widely (un)known Zuckuss the bounty hunter (I know what you're thinking, 'Who???') that resembles succotash enough to me that I call it that for the sake of a pun.

And yes, the lighting is different, because the sun had gone down at this point. Boo artificial lighting!

If we have a Cloud City veggie dip, how's about a Dagobah fruit dip? A Nutella and cream cheese dip makes a perfect murky, muddy mire of Yoda's home swamp planet. And if you loose your apple, or maybe even an X-Wing fighter, in its murky depths, you can always use the Force to levitate it out of the bog.

And our final exhibit from the ice planet of Hoth are the Tauntaun Bonbons (well, coconut macaroons, really). They were looking for a hiding place from those murderous Wampa Puffs, and we last seen seeking shelter in the bellies of many guests.

These are a favorite family treat anyway, are super simple to make. I liked that they have a hairy, coconut shreddy look to them, kinda like tauntaun fur. I only wish I had dusted them with some powdered sugar to make them snow frosted, but that might have been a bit too cloyingly sweet (and nerdy), perhaps.

And last but not least, my favorite dish that required no preparation on my behalf: Luke and Leia, Brother and Sister Incest Kisses.

Just plain old Hershey's kisses. With a sign.

I distinctly remember seeing Jedi as a kid, and being thoroughly grossed out when I realized Luke and Leia were siblings! I mean, here I was, and for the past three or so years of my life I had been make-believing, acting out my own scenes and pretending all sorts of stories about the love triangle of Han, Luke, and Leia. I knew that Leia kissed Luke, and I knew that kind of kiss she gave him was supposed to be a romantic thing. And then they go and tell me that's her brother? Eeew!

Even a three year old can tell when something is gross and creepy, and kissing your brother, Leia? That's gross and creepy.

See, even Chewbacca is all, 'Whaaaaaaaat!?!?!'

And there you have it! Thus ends the week of An Empire Strikes Back Birthday. I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a great way to trun 30, indeed. And I would love to see other folks' inspired creations if they are any -- from piñatas to quiches to Yoda-ritas -- just send them on over!

Thanks for reading this series of blog posts, and as always, may the Force be with you.*

*ahem**cough*NERD*cough*

An Empire Strikes Back Birthday: Episode IV -- Luke Vs. Vader Piñata with Tutorial!

2010-09-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Luke Vs. Vader.

Poor Luke. He loses a hand. Finds out the evil Lord Vader is his pops. Loses his friend Han in the meantime to carbonite freezing, Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt. Poor, poor, whiny little blonde guy.

That doesn't mean that you don't wish you could beat the crud out of Luke and his whiny ways every once in a while, though. Sure, he's the hero of the series, but come on! Wah! Wah! Wah! 'No, it's not true! That's impossible!' *whimper* *whimper* 'Noooooooooooooooo!' Yep. He's a whiner.

So now, everyone can get the chance to give Luke a good thrashing and chop off his hand, with my handy dandy Luke piñata complete with a Darth Vader blindfold and lightsaber beating stick!

A little piñata history before we get going here. My mom taught me to make piñatas. She taught all of her children to do this. And it is something I for which I am so very grateful. I wanted to take some time and give her and her skills some props.

There's one of her piñatas now! Must've been for Easter. Looks like those kids are contemplating strategy to beat that rabbit up, despite its super cute prettiness.

And look, there's another one! I remember that one. It was for a company Christmas party. With real twig antlers!

You can see even more of her piñatas over here, by the way, if you're so inclined.

So I am passing this process of piñata making of hers on to you, dear reader, so that you may be able to make your own piñatas WITHOUT paper mache, but WITH complexity and detail.

That's right. Boo, paper mache! You don't need it. It's messy, it's sloppy, and all of that gross stuff. And although we used to make Cuban piñatas (what with my being half Cuban and all) most of the time, with the ribbons coming out of the bottom as seen here, you can use a very similar technique to make a traditional style piñata meant for busting up.

One that can be broken without having to be stomped upon by a frustrated adult 30 minutes into kids' and then parents' futile efforts trying to get to the sweet candy innards.

I'll have to show you how to make Cuban piñatas for another day. I really should, because they're sooo much better for kids anyway, but they're just not as much fun for slicing off Jedi extremities.

By the way, that Kermit the Frog piñata? It was made by my brother when he was 8 for his own birthday party. Not too shabby for a kid!

Soooo, hopefully my tutorial is understandable enough for even crafty kids to start making their own piñatas, or at least with minimal adult help. Fingers crossed.

Here we go! How I made the Luke piñata without paper mache:

Here's what you'll need:

Cardboard and masking tape. That's it.

Well, not really. That, and your crepe paper of various colors, a pencil, a marker, some rope, and some Elmer's glue. And time. Just about any piñata making technique will take some time (it's the paper decorating part that's time consuming), so start it well ahead of your party.

First I sketched out what I wanted him to look like on some paper. You could also print out some clip art or a character of your choice and trace it to get your design sketch settled.

Then, I resketched it onto a big ol' flattened Crate and Barrel box (thanks, wedding presents!)

If you're not me (meaning I eyeball everything), you could use the grid system or enlarged photo copies or print outs to proportionally transfer your design onto a larger cardboard sheet. Your cat can help you do this.

Let's start with the front side only. We can better sketch out the costume details on the back if we use the front to make a shape template first, to then trace the outline onto a sheet of cardboard, and cut out the matching back. It's kinda like making a gingerbread man shape by tracing a gingerbread man cookie... You want both sides, front and back, to match.

Plus, by tracing the one shape to make the other, we can be sure points match up without having to do things like redraw a boot because it ended up an inch off from what was planned to originally match, or perform the dreaded 'M word' -- measuring. I hate measuring! I'm all about the eyeball, tracing, and estimating!

Your cat can help you with this part, too by being incredibly cute and distracting.

Here he is all sketched out onto the first piece of cardboard (the front).

Using scissors, I cut Luke out of the cardboard. You could use a box cutter or x-acto, but I actually feel I have more precise control with scissors.

I reinforced any weakened bits or folds on the wrong side (the Crate and Barrel side) by taping scraps of perpendicular running cardboard (the corrugations run vertically on the small support strip instead of horizontally like on and along the fold). This will help your piñata stand up, and also support the weight of candy better when it's suspended.

Then, face right sides together (here, brown side of the front to brown side of the other box), and exactly trace the shape of your front cutout against the other sheet of cardboard. *I actually removed the leg supports shown here at a later point, deciding they were TOO much support for the construction, so ignore them*

Ta-daa! Now you've got more cutting to do! But, you also have a back for your piñata.

Soooo, now I've cut out both the front and back. It's time to cut off Luke's right hand to make sure both sides are the same size and shape. I set them aside to assemble and attach them later, in the same manner I build my piñata, since I want his hand to be detachable, to imitate the moment it gets sliced off by Vader in the film.

I cut a flap for loading in the candy on the right side up (see brown side) of the back sheet of cardboard. It's important to do this before you start gluing on paper, and it's easier to do at this point before it is formed into a box.

Poke a hole in the center of that flap to latermake yourself a rope loop to thread through (knotted on either side of the flap) for easy access for candy loading. You'll probably want to add the rope after gluing on the paper though, but it's good to have the hole where you want it before paper is covering everything up.

You have your two sides (front and back), so now just determine your depth for your piñata box.

I just eyeballed a depth I thought would be nice pot of candy (about 3"-4"), and cut strips of cardboard with the corrugations running horizontally on them. I traced a side piece that was cut to the proper size against a scrap sheet of cardboard to maintain the same width/box depth for all the side pieces.

The length of the various pieces that make up your sides will vary, and you can always tape your side pieces together if you need a longer piece than you have available. Corners and joints makes great end points for the side pieces to be taped together!

And remember, if the depth of your piñata box depth is slimmer, your piñata will be too hard to break open, and if you make it too big, it'll be too difficult to suspend without breaking from its own weight.

Just cut them out and keep taping them along the contour! You don't have to tape too much, because remember, you want it to be able to be bust open. But it should also be able to support the weight of the candy and prizes. If you use too much tape, you can always add slits to weaken the structure before decorating.

When taping a curved side, like here on the head, I roll the cardboard side strips along the horizontal corrugation to give it a nice curve. It should be able to fit easily along your curve now.

Once you finish adding the sides to the back piece of your piñata, set the front on top, and start taping again!

I super-taped the top, to try and make it a more sturdy and supportive structure to prevent the weight of the candy pulling it apart. Poke two holes for a rope loop from which to hang it after you've taped your sides. I'll reinforce it on the inside with a square of cardboard to help keep the holes from ripping through after I've glued on all the paper.

This is what my taped together piñata box shell looks like. Yeah! Almost ready for some gluing.

I go over my original pencil sketch with sharpie after everything is together to make sure front and back match up all right, and to give myself a better and more visible guide for the color fields and lines.

Here I am using a razor to cut weakening slits into the box. I want to make sure it will whack open, and this'll help. If you cut into it too much, just tape it back together again.

You can get a feel for the right amount of give by standing your piñata up and twisting it ever so slightly to and fro a bit. It should give a bit, but not start breaking just yet. Just don't do this after you've starting gluing paper on, or you could mess up your decoration!

Cut your crepe paper into squares. You can eyeball this, and the amount you'll need will vary depending on the density of piñata paper puffs you like, and the area you're covering. There's not much space for his eyes, the only blue besides his lightsaber, so I didn't need much here.

You can also use tissue paper or even colored party napkins instead of crepe paper. The drab tan of Luke's fatigues wasn't available in crepe paper, but the golden party napkins at the store were very close in color, so I trimmed the textured and folded parts off, and used napkins instead of crepe paper for most of this piñata.

Tissue paper can work too, but sometimes it is slicker and thicker, and therefore doesn't stick as nicely. It doesn't have as nice of a crinkly sound as crepe paper either, but maybe that's just me.

Wad a square of tissue paper up, like so.

And squeeze a dab of plain old white school glue on the bottom end (and not the ruffly end) of it. This is more than I might normally squeeze onto a single piece, but I wanted the glue to be visible in the picture, and even still you can barely see it.

Then just plop the glued end of your crepe paper onto the cardboard in the area for that color. Keep doing so until that area is filled! Think of it as making a tissue paper mosaic or hook rug of sorts!

To create thinner and finer lines to separate color, fold your paper square into quarters, like so, and draw a bead of glue along the folded edge. Then stand the glued and folded edge onto the cardboard. It helps to support it on either side with the puffs of its surrounding colors, whatever they are, so that it can dry in the correct position.

Here you can see how I used the black folded squares to outline his eyes (and eventually mouth), and all the other color areas are filled in with crumpled paper puffs. Just keep going, section at a time, until a whole area is covered. I like to work on each side entirely before moving to the next, so here I started with the front.

Here he is a bit further along. I used folded brown crepe paper squares to draw the details of his costume.

Whoo-hoo! The front is almost finished! Here you can see how I used sharpie to continue lines of the drawing around the whole shape of the piñata.

Ahhhhh!!! The front is done! Now, on to the the back, and then the sides. I don't have pictures of those because of the poor lighting available during the evening, but I will make a note that when I was gluing the paper to the sides, I did so in more of a flattened and pleated style, instead of paper puffs, to help keep his shape and silhouette trim and not too puffy.

After you've finished adding all the paper, just tie your reinforced rope loop at the top, and the one on the candy door, and that's pretty much it!

In the case of piñatas as large as this one, I placed a trimmed down paper plate in the bottom of his belly (just above the start of his legs) to prevent all the treats from dropping right into his legs. How fun would it be if a leg got knocked off and there goes all the candy? We want his belly to burst!

So I filled the legs with red crepe streamers and bits, placed in the false bottom paper plate, and THEN filled it. Worked like a dream! Belly full of goodies!

Here's an example of how horrible the lighting is in my house at night! And also, what the guy looks like finished with his hand attached. I used a paper towel roll and a toilet paper roll for his lightsaber and sheath, but cut them down and rolled them thinner to create a more proper proportion.

Here's a detail of his bloody stump of a hand! Complete with velcro tab radius and ulna nubs.

Just imagine him screaming 'Noooooooooo!'

Here Luke and Darth Vader await party piñata time in the corner. They have some father/son issues to talk out while they wait.

Which reminds me, oh yeah! The Darth Vader blindfold! And Darth Vader lightsaber piñata stick!

I took absolutely no pictures of this process, but basically it involved me, some scissors, a hot glue gun, craft foam, an el cheapo wooden rake handle, red spray paint, and the DVD case of The Empire Strikes Back and a lightsaber keychain as references.

And some Netflix. I think it might've been Hoarders, or maybe Hook (wow, I didn't remember that movie being so bad when I saw it way back wehn, but, yeah...did not hold up for me!) for entertainment and diversion.

As nice as it would be to provide a template for both of these, I admit I totally winged it on the stick and the blindfold. I didn't even have a plan when I started them. All I know is that when I finished it, I cut a black bandanna in two, and tied and hot glued it to slits I made on either side of the bottom layer of Vader's face. Then stood back, and was pleased.

And that was that.

The result, by the way, was fantastic!!!!

Here you can see Luke's hand lying about in the back yard, and a dress wearing Vader socking it to him.

Actually, the rope broke on that swing, but we got him back up in no time. You can see some blood red confetti starting to ooze out of his leg, too!

I believe it was the swing after this one that took the young Jedi down. Who'd think that Luke would be defeated by a Darth Vader in heels?

And the crowd dives in for candy, treats, and prizes.

The piñata was stuffed with a number of envelopes, some of them containing duds, and some containing vouchers for some swanky and some kitschy prizes: gift certificates, gourmet chocolate (Dagoba, no less), fancy beer, toys, comics, etc.... All those things your friends might like that don't really fit in a piñata!

I have to say, that system worked beautifully! It managed to make a piñata for grown-ups fun and interesting without being tawdry.

But it was gory. And I have to admit, I loved it.

Poor Luke! With his innards all busted out. He put up a decent fight, though. He evaded me on every hit but one! Maybe I'm just a bad aim...

Looks like somebody won a prize! I hope that Book People buys them a very nice and enjoyable book, perhaps one even about building intricately gory pop culture piñatas... or maybe about Star Wars nerds and their crazy nerd-and reference-ridden parties.

Or maybe something else completely.

So, that's the big fat post for today, and I believe my first tutorial! It was a fun one for me, and I hope it can be for you as well.

I can't wait to see everybody's Luke piñatas floating around the intercomputer. Or any other piñata you might make using this tutorial. ¡I do love me some piñatas!

And don't forget, tomorrow is the last day of The Empire Strikes Back Birthday Party saga. Be sure to catch it!

An Empire Strikes Back Birthday: Episode III -- Boba Feta Quiche

2010-09-15T10:48:00.007-05:00

We have the cake, we have some Force-strong refreshments, what we need now is something to eat. Preferably something featuring everyone's favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

Boba Fett + feta cheese just seemed like a no brainer.

The hard part was figuring out a way to incorporate that into a party-esque food that could convey Boba Fett. What could I make, a salad? A salad can't have a face. Boo!

So I settled on a quiche, which seemed like it would allow for some artistic food drawing surfaces, ingredients of proper colors, and it could be a nice vegetarian options for the veggie quests.

I, however, am not fond of quiches (it's an egg thing -- I like my eggs mixed into cakes, but not so much other dishes), but that doesn't stop me from making them...especially if I get to draw a bounty hunter in food materials on top!

The green is the spinach of the quiche, the brownish purpley black the kalamata olive tapenade, the red is chopped red peppers (you could do tomatoes, I reckon, but I hate tomoatoes - yuck!), and the white is grated cheese (I think it was swiss? I dunno. Again, quiche. Meh.)

I used this recipe that I found over here, mainly because I liked the idea of the tapenade, of which I am very fond. It was the perfect drawing medium for the darker parts of Boba's mask. I did not taste the finished quiche (again, the quiche/egg thing), so I cannot personally vouch for its yumminess. The tapenade, though, I can say that it is yummy, indeed.

And despite not tasting the finished product, I thought it looked pretty awesome!

Wampa, Yoda, and Boba Fett - check. What various Empire Strikes Back Elements do we have left for the next two posts? You have to check back tomorrow and see!

I can tell you, tomorrow's post -- it's a big one!

An Empire Strikes Back Birthday: Episode II -- Yoda-Rita

2010-09-14T12:35:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the continuing saga of my The Empire Strikes Back 30th birthday party. Today's adventure brings us to the far and distant Cocktail System, where we encounter a small yet delightful creature called Yoda-rita.

The Yoda-rita is one of my preferred margarita recipes (with fresh squeezed lime juice - not like the mixes do I), housed in a transparent plastic cup, perfect for being decorated with a little sharpie face, and of course, two slim lime wedges for ears. And by preferred margarita recipe, I mean, the force is STRONG with this one.

Let's all drink to the great Jedi master in his original Empire, crazy cute-n-funny puppet version of himself!

Crazy cute! And delightfully delicious...for grown-ups.

You could make a virgin cocktail alternative with the young'uns using a favorite lime or citrus flavored soda, or another kind of light colored soda mixed with some fresh squeezed lime juice. Just decorate and garnish with the limes in the same manner, but prolly skip the salt.

Plenty of guests (especially all those artist type friends of mine), really enjoyed getting to draw Yoda faces on their cups. And it works brilliantly for cup identification, too.

Mmm, yes. Yoda portraits a fingerprint are.

And just check out those lightsaber swizzle sticks. That's right, I'm just that nerdy! And totally worth it! A bit of paper, and bit of hot glue, and everyone is a Jedi. Thanks, Yoda!

Now, armed with the teachings of the Force by the master Yoda-rita, we are prepared to meet the Dark Side. What treacherous fiends await us tomorrow? Check back to see!