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Cuckoo Craze

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I am going to Switzerland in September.

To say I am excited about this trip is like saying the Pope is Catholic. It’s an understatement.

I can hardly wait. There is a village on the western edge of the Bernese Alps where I claimed home for several years growing up, but haven’t been back since 1997. Part of me wants to keep those memories in cerebral snow globe, unbesmirched by the footprints of time. Another part of me wants to go and live inside those memories when things were so different. So simple. And then there is a third part of me that wants to go eat chocolate croissants and watch a cow parade. Third part wins!

Back then everything seemed so familiar that I hardly ever took the time to take photos or tuck away touristy items to remind me of my time there. Nowadays, here at home, if I see a souvenir handkerchief with edelweiss in a thrift store (mystery stains and all) I snatch it up with Gollum-like “MY PRECIOUS” enthusiasm. Nostalgia is a powerful force.

Come September, on my list of must-get souvenirs is a cuckoo clock. I always wanted one, even before I lived there. Problem is that real Black Forest cuckoos, the fancy ones, are handmade by life-long specialists and cost about as much as a car. I don’t want a fancy one. Even just a little plastic one would be okay. Now I started looking online and am finding all these cool ones available here and now.

Hmm….I might need to get in on some cuckoo action early.

    Sources: ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | EIGHT

PS: Love a good eccentric clock as much as I do? Check out these crochet babies!

By Popular Demand: The Wall

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Some folks asked me about my “salon wall” (fancy name huh?) after seeing it on Apartment Therapy…What is that red thing?… Are they related?… I have that piece, where did you get yours?…Where can I get one of those things?
Since my home has never been featured in any sort of public forum, I was a little taken aback when it came to identifying my possessions the way they might be listed in a catalog. Very flattering, but it’s a little weird too! Especially when your whole creative ethos is based on glorifying the mundane. In short, this is new to me!
So while I sat on the couch this weekend emailing the responses, I looked up at the wall for a moment to see what was there, and thought, Wow I have a lot of crap. If I ever wrote where this all came from people would think I am really flippin weird.
But y’all knew that already 🙂
  1. My Grandfather’s ashtray. It reads May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. Surprise! He had a tracheotomy (a surgical hole in the throat) and died of smoking related cancer. He lived with us for a while when I was a kid and sometimes I’d get a lemon flavored lifesaver for using a special vacuum hose to suck the phlegm out of his throat hole. (tmi? sorry!)
  2. Olive green mirror from Aunt Nancy’s farm house.
  3. Tin Candy box featuring the Presidential seal that my cousin John stole for me from the President’s box at the Kennedy Center. Apparently our Commander-in-Chief gets free M&Ms wherever he goes. Who knew?
  4. Silhouette 1968, from the childhood friend of my fairy godfather, Dale.
  5. Scrap of a green oil pastel project. (Click here to read more)
  6. Vintage Louisiana Yam advertisement.
  7. Illustrated makeup diagrams.
  8. Vintage playing card with a portrait of a beat up owl labeled as “Pugnacity.”
  9. Line drawing from my Uncle Joe.
  10. Bambi’s antlers.
  11. Valentine 2007
  12. Tree Painting by Kiki Bird.
  13. African mask purchased in Istanbul, 1997. (Yeah, doesn’t everyone goes to Istanbul for African goods?)
  14. Photo of a hairless cat.
  15. Portrait of two sheep that my father hung on his door, purchased in Woodstock UK, 1989
  16. (Top) photo of my mother in her kitchen in the late 1970’s (Bottom) photo of my father wearing all white, holding a bundle of wild flowers (if only you knew how unusual that moment must have been!)
  17. Acrylic painting of a tree by Kiki Bird
  18. Vintage Swiss cuckoo clock
  19. Collage box by my Uncle
  20. Collage of a paper hat.
  21. Madame Rhinoceros
  22. Stencil painting. Reads chez le fluer..
  23. Gift box covered in salvaged stamps.
  24. Collage made from old letters.
  25. Drawing from Aunt Nancy to my mother dated 1973.
  26. Illustration from Shel Silverstein’s, The Giving Tree
  27. Collage made from an old story book highlighting the words Foxy Loxy.
  28. Oil painting of a naked woman doing yoga by a window by Helen Goldfus.
  29. Watercolor and glue resist, Almost March
  30. Wooden frame with noodle alphabet letters.
  31. Watercolor by my uncle, painted the day I was born. Supposedly he was going to paint one stripe every hour they waited for me to be born, but my mom was in labor for 49 hours and he ran out of space. A piece of me still believes that story.
  32. Charcoal sketch of an old man, Lausanne Switzerland 1996.
  33. Acrylic painting from Kiki Bird.
  34. Watercolor and charcoal painting (used to be in a twinkle light frame and looked majorly creepy!)
  35. Nightlight made from an old acrylic frame and twinkle lights.
  36. Collage made from coffee grounds on a Monday.
  37.  Collage made from coffee grounds on a Tuesday.
  38. Shadow box collage of screaming carousel horses.
  39. Ladder of Tzedakah. I am very superstitious, especially when it comes to ladders. Maimonide’s Ladder of Tzedakah is a Jewish symbol/guide/reminder on the importance of generosity, but I also see it as a talisman. Ladders are very good luck in my mind (a man who has no where to climb is quick to fall...or something like that.)
  40.  Coffee filter flowers.
  41. Plastic cup set on fire and melted into a flower.
  42. Blue chocolate wrappers.
  43. Ahmed. Golden dinosaur and Tool of Worship.
  44. Vintage birthday card, probably from the 1930’s, salvaged from a dead neighbor’s kitchen. She kept it taped inside a kitchen cupboard — it must have been very special to her.
  45. Holiday card 2008
  46. Swiss train stub.
  47.  Jonathan Adler vase that I got super cheap at HSN. Yeah, HSN, no kidding!
  48. My initial embroidered with 250 french knots. Intense, huh?
  49. Yurt nesting boxes from Kyrgystan.
  50. Diet Coke. Sometimes I wish I could show you the raw, un-edited versions of the photos I post on this blog — you would see that half of them have a Diet Coke can cropped out.

….and let us not forget, The Ultimate Matserpiece, Lola.

Wow, are you still here?  I’m exhausted just reading this inventory and I live here. Go home and hang up something on your wall. Now go!

 

Oh Lydia, Oh Lydia

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Anyone remember this post from last May about a fish sculpture in Takoma Park Maryland?

My friend Leah posted the photos of the most amazing bottle cap fish on Facebook a couple years ago and I got obsessed and wanted to make my own…blah blah blah…of course, surprise, I am still working on that project too.

But then, last week, through the wild and wonderful powers of the interwebs, the mysterious origin of the bottle cap fish was reviled when I received an email from Krista…

She is on my front lawn, her name is Lydia Capulet and she ran in the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture race in 2009 (snakehead). 

All photos courtesy of Krista Weiss Tretick

Turns out, Lydia is more than just a pretty face—she is mode of transportation!

Having never heard of the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race prior to Krista’s email, I was a little confused at first….is it a parade? A boat race? A tandem bicycle competition? An art show?….well, it’s all that and a bag of chips!

From the official website:

Kinetic Sculptures are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in central Maryland.  The eight-hour race covers 15 miles—mostly on pavement, but also including a trip into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand.

Now, having read the rules (no seriously y’all, check out the official entry rules) I am all kinds of jealous. The very thought of people getting dressed up and teaming together to build, ride and race using living works of art has me all aflutter… Who thinks of these things? Where do I enter? If I build a giant, water tight sculpture of Lola, will anyone come to race her with me? What if we don’t have a kinetic race where I live? Maybe I can do my own in the bathtub? Yeah, that’s it, the bathtub!

All photos courtesy of Krista Weiss Tretick

Many thanks to Krista for sharing Lydia and introducing me to this amazing event!

The Amazing Parade

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“Scrambled Eggs”

Did you ever feel like your head was filled with a mass of buttery, salted scrambled eggs?

Yup. Me too.

This week has been filled with challenges and chocolate in equal measure.

Thank you for hanging in there with me.

Sometimes, I struggle.

Sometimes I find myself in a creative rut and rely on my fellow blogmeisters for inspiration.

Sometimes the internet can make me smile.

Sometimes good news deserved to be shared.

I noted some of my favorites this week and lined them up to share with you in one amazing parade.

Marching Band, where you at?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I used to think I made cool party hats. Then I saw these. Whoa. Nelly. 

Paint-by-numbers wrapping paper. Why didn’t I think of this years ago?

Anyone have a Rick James theme party in the works? Get yourself some gold pleather bunting.

For anyone with dry hands and a love of kooky beauty tips: Get your lemon on. (PS: I tried it this morning. It works!)

Look at your shoes. Now, couldn’t they stand to gain some carnation-style pom-poms? The answer is obviously.

Kate Spade coat at half price. It’s like a car payment, but prettier. 

Huzzah! The Two Fat Ladies are back in action!

Valentines for bird lovers. And book lovers. And everyone else. Sigh.

If I were far more well read, I would identify a love poem about a caged bird, print it, then use it to create these little babies, then give away as three dimensional valentines. What is the likelihood of me getting it together long enough to do it? Zero.

Does anyone else think this cat looks like Dick Cheney?

It’s sort of like having Paris Hilton in my living room.

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It’s been a long time since the mailman brought me anything nearly this nifty…

As a consolation prize for beating my butt in the Great Gift Wrap Challenge of 2011, Michele sent me two of the amazing the most amazing stained-glass-like paper charms based on her children’s childhood drawings. Aren’t they wonderful?

You know, I see all sorts of artistic creations online all the time, but I rarely see them in person. It’s funny when you become familiar with the image of something in your head and then get to see it up close. It’s sort of like having Paris Hilton in my living room.

Secret Nibblet: Organize Your Inspiration Files with Wishpot

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Idea file labeled: “Artificial Flowers in Unusual Ways”

Every once in a while I discover a ‘nibblet’ of new-fangled technology that puts a smile on my face. Something that makes life a little easier. Something that makes life a little happier. Something I want to share with everyone I know.

Now, I’m not in the business of promoting products or service, but if I come across something that makes me say “Why didn’t someone tell me about this years ago?!” then, chances are, I am going to let you in on it too. It will be our little secret 😉

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sometimes people ask me where I get ideas for stuff. The answer is usually;

a. Something I did as kid.
   or
b. Something I saw on the internet.

The kid stuff I’ll have to sort out and record one-by-one, but the internet stuff is far more abundant and complicated. At least two or three times a day I see something and say HOLY BAJEEZERS THAT’S COOL!….and I’ll have to make note of it immediately, otherwise it will fall off the hamster wheel inside my brain, never to be seen again.

Now, when I say make note of it that’s a tricky thing.

How do you note it? In a journal? On a que-card? On the back of a napkin?

Ten years ago I would print out the webpage and stick it in a file. Five years ago I would bookmark the hyperlink. Two years ago I would save the image to a file on my computer’s desktop and use the URL as the image description….but, as of six months ago, all that changed. Thanks to a nifty little program called Wishpot, my growing library of inspiration snippets is organized, online, and isn’t consuming gobs of paper or space on my hardrive. Nifty, huh?

If you know about Wishpot, then this is old news to you! If you have never heard of Wishpot, get ready to be impressed. It’s free. It’s fabulous. It’s easy to use. You are going to love it.

Think of Wishpot like a online bridal registry, minus the wedding, and instead of tagging gifts, you are tagging ideas. Interested? I could explain all the knitty-gritty here, but I suggest you pop on over and watch this quick video on Creature Comforts –Ez explains it so much better than I ever could! (BTW, while your over there, pop around the site. Geez, talk about sources for inspiration!)

Wishpot is initially intended as shopping site, but you can use it to organize just about anything online. I use it to record and sort my online inspiration, while my friend Jami uses it to keep track of online recipes. I have a coworker who uses it to store the titles of books and music she is considering buying down the road. I have even heard of people using it to organize their business receipts and invoices. The possibilities are endless!!

I know there are other similar services out there, but I have found this one to be the easiest for me to use. If anyone else out there uses other tools for organizing their sources of online inspiration, or just other nifty tools in general, feel free to post it in the comments!