Archive for the 'Cool Links' Category

Recently in Awesomosity

Published
by
robayre
on February 4, 2012
in Cool Links, General Update, Mail Art, My Artwork and life
. 0 Comments

DSC_0473
Matt’s parents just bought a new DSLR so they are giving us their old one. This is a picture Matt took with the new-to-us camera.

Mini Lalaloopsy Snowy Fairest
(photo by Nataloons on Flickr)
I may, or may not have gone on a toy shopping binge after reading this post by Silvia Chenault. Come on, The Lalaloopsy above comes with a little gnome! How could I resist?


Recently, Katie shared this corner of her home on instagram, featuring one of my original pieces of art. It is so exciting and thrilling to see photos like this.

2.4 postcard
This mail postcard recently arrived in my P.O. Box from Miss Thundercat. The funny story is that I was enjoying my flickr contact’s photos when I was stopped cold by this piece. Imagine my surprise when I scrolled down to find that she actually made it for me! I love it so much.

Doc on the phone
Recently, Doc, my 23 month old nephew has taken to calling me Bunny. I hope he never grows out of it. Here he is above, talking on the “phone” to me.

 
I got this for Christmas. Yeah, a coin capsule machine. I’ve been only wanting one forever, probably since I was a little kid crying for quarters at the grocery store.

In January my sisters and I had a pinterest party at my place. We each picked a recipes from our food/cooking boards. Chris picked white enchiladas, Dacia picked crock pot hot chocolate, and I picked cheez its/goldfish crackers. Everything was so delicious and now after revisiting this, I want to make some more crackers. So delicious!

Today I am anxiously awaiting an overnight package coming from California for an Etsy project I’ll be working on over the weekend. I’ll be overnighting it back on Monday. Do you have any big plans for the weekend?

Something Monumental

Published
by
robayre
on December 16, 2011
in Cool Links, Coverage, General Update and etsy
. 0 Comments

Thank you Mandy for featuring robayre on Something Monumental.

I love Mandy’s blog and I always look forward to her updates. I especially enjoy our shared love for roadside attractions and unique touristy stops which she features frequently.

instagram mosaic and a few links

Published
by
robayre
on October 20, 2011
in Cool Links and General Update
. 0 Comments

some of my favorite recent instagram pictures

I love this post by Claire over at Bicoastally (Does He Love Your Chairs)

One of my favorite authors, Chuck Palahniuk, has a new book out and Kaylah posted a review of it here.

Lastly, here is a funny video that an old art teacher sent. Cell phone prank/skit. It had me cracking up.

Happy Weekend

Published
by
robayre
on October 7, 2011
in Cool Links and General Update
. 0 Comments

Oh yeah, it’s the weekend! As a way to celebrate I’m sharing some fun links of things I’ve come across on the internets.


This message above was created using straight pins on paper, but can you imagine how impressive it would be straight onto a wall… HUGE?


I’m loving this trend where people are coupling old pictures with the new to juxtapose the difference over time. There are a lot of places out there to find collections, but here are a few one two three four

My sister sent me this link to a tutorial on the 3Rs. You can make your own, OR buy one in her Etsy shop. We’ve been shopping and looking around for something to replace the chandelier in our “dining room” area. I’d like a big statement piece. A year ago I was absolutely obsessed with the Ikea Maskros. See one in action at Heidi Kenney’s home here. But since then I feel like they are EVERYWHERE and Ikea even knows it because when you go in, they have them hanging EVERYWHERE as well. Now I worry that it is overdone and I want something a bit more unique.

Even before seeing this tutorial I decided that I was going to build something of my own and have already constructed a drum base shape to cover. I thought this fortune teller technique would be cool to cover the drum. Every year Matt and I create a kusudama paper folded Christmas ornament, so I figured we’d have fun creating a light shade together. While looking at that etsy shop I found she already had the same idea, check it out here.

Airmail tape, ‘nough said.

For my birthday my sister bought me the Paige bag from Fabric and Handle.  I can’t wait for it to arrive. You see the snaps on the handles? They allow you to lengthen or shorten the handle according to your needs.

One last image to hopefully inspire you.  How lovely is this sidewalk chalk art by camila.leon on flickr?

Have a great weekend!

Mailart365 160-166 PINWHEEL MANIA

Published
by
robayre
on October 4, 2011
in Cool Links, General Update, Mail Art and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

I have a new pattern I’m loving and it’s the pinwheel. It started out earlier this year when I was seeing this pillow by Fine Little Day all over the craft/art/design blogosphere.

Seriously. I was obsessed. The things I loved the most about it was the use of a wide range of colors, AND that the color application looked very handmade. It didn’t look like a store bought and manufactured design, it looked like someone just colored on this pillow with some markers.


Next I saw this awesome garage door on pinterest. How can a person not smile while driving by this house?

Then a couple weeks ago I saw this post by Elise Blaha. This girl is awesome, if you don’t already follow her blog, do so now! Turns out I wasn’t the only one inspired by the pinwheel. She made this lovely painting above, WITH a tutorial on how to make your own to boot! I think I will be making one of these shortly for our new home. (I love to say that)

The pinwheel is so cheerful I think. This week I present to you my pinwheel mailart, tada!
10.4.11 166 365
I’m starting out with my favorite, which was also the last card I did in the series this week. I painted all the yellow and then had the idea to draw in a floral pattern like some of the vintage fabric I have. The solid yellow is watercolor and the flowers are colored pencil. I’m so in love with this, don’t be surprised if I do a whole series based on this idea for next week.
10.4.11 165 365
Thinking about it, it makes perfect sense, the fabric inspiration and the pinwheel. The pinwheel pattern in a very common quilt pattern. My mom is a quilter and I was regularly taken to quilt shows as a child. The pinwheel pattern inspiration really touches on this art, design and quilt kind of a thing for me.

10.4.11 164 365
The three above were the last three I did.

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And this is where I started, with the variety of colors and the apparent texture in mark making.

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Fun, no?

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I made the cards using a variety of colored pencils, water colors, dry pastels, sharpies and highlighters.

10.4.11 161 365
I hope you enjoyed my cheerful pieces this week!

A Pretty Collection: Chevron

Published
by
robayre
on August 24, 2011
in Cool Links
. 0 Comments

    

Clockwise from top left,  Rug on Overstock, Vintage Chevron Necklace by seahagandwalrus, Chevron flat notecards by mrYen, Chevron button or magnet set by yours truly

A Pretty Collection: I’m Writing A Letter

Published
by
robayre
on July 29, 2011
in Cool Links, General Update and etsy
. 2 Comments

   

This lovely post comes with a soundtrack: I’m Writing A Letter by the Smoking Popes :)

Write Me Pen Pal collage, To Get A Letter Write A Letter pin, Happy Red Address File,  Repurposed Envelope and Stationery Set

Labels in Clothes

Published
by
robayre
on July 26, 2011
in Cool Links, General Update and life
. 2 Comments

I’ve been doing a lot of sorting, organizing and de-cluttering lately, and so these three things below caught my eye.

A week or two ago I posted about the “Week of Undies” travel project . While reading through the outfits that Jessi picked for the “WOU” project, I came upon a post where she developed new guidelines about the clothes that she keeps at home. She lives in a very tiny studio apartment, with her husband, and has decided that she would go from having over 500 items of clothing, down to only 100 items. You can read the post here.

While I love the idea, I’m not sure if I could whittle down my wardrobe THAT much. I do know that I could definitely get rid of a lot of stuff that I no longer wear, really don’t like or that has been in storage so long that it hasn’t seen daylight in years. I have a flickr contact who regularly posts this image that simply states “Today I am getting rid of 100 things”. That message is very inspiring to me. I’ve been questioning a lot of my possessions and asking myself if they really serve a purpose or deserve a place in my life.

Under Jessi’s self imposed “100 items or less” project, one of the rules was that she would be ironing a label with her name and website into all of the clothes she donates. She said it will turn her project into a bit of a game, where the new owners might find the label, look her up and then contact her.

This reminded me of two other similar ideas that I saw online within the last couple weeks:

These shorts, via MissMoss. I’m not really into short-shorts, but what I love about this brand (The IOU Project) are all the little extras they put into all their clothing items. There is a “conversation” label sewn into all items, as well as a QR code which tells information about the artisan who manufactured the piece.

And then this video, via Andrea of HulaSeventy and Booooooom where Augustina Woodgate poetry bombs at the thrift store, by sewing poetry labels into clothes at second hand stores.

Mailart postcards 125-131/365

Published
by
robayre
on July 25, 2011
in Cool Links, Mail Art, My Artwork and Projects
. 8 Comments

If you remember from the sneak peek a few weeks ago, I purchased a bag of vintage photographs from the flea market and decided to use some of them for the mailart 365 project.
mailart 125/365
I started out with the idea to create outfits using my paper collection.
mailart 126/365
Then I had the idea to do more of the environment in paper. This piece is a very “Robayre” piece, obviously, with all the individual pieces of grass. It was time consuming, but I love how it came out.

mailart closeup
Here is another detail
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Another environment piece
mailart 128/365
Another wardrobe piece.
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While I was working I suddenly thought of the artist Alyn Carlson and her lovely paper hats. I love her hats and immediately I knew some of my vintage folks needed to wear some fancy hats! I love how they came out and it was so much fun to create their hats.
mailart closeup2
and another close up
mailart 130/365
Here’s a bathing beauty and her showy hat
mailart 131/365
and last but not least, a lovely pair and their extraordinary hats.

A Week’s Worth of Undies

Published
by
robayre
on July 15, 2011
in Cool Links and Projects
. 0 Comments

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I’ve been meaning to post that for over a year. No need to worry about it, if you don’t use Bloglovin, but to claim the blog as my own I have to post it. I’m not even exactly sure I fully understand Bloglovin. I think it might just be another way to subscribe to blogs, like google reader.

Anyway, this post is really to share with you an AWESOME link I found earlier today.  Seriously, I’m very excited about this. Thanks to flickr contact Carolyn_Sewell, I found out about Jessi Arington and her Week’s Worth of Undies project. The concept is this, in Jessi’s own words:

“It seemed simple enough… I’ll go on a trip, and the only thing I’ll pack in a tiny suitcase is the underwear I’ll need. All other clothing will be procured at thrift stores once I arrive at my destination. I’ll wear it, photograph it and have a grand ole time with it, but then I’ve got to give it away, returning home with only my original undies.”

You can read the initial post here, and subsequent posts share photographs of the outfits, and to be honest, I haven’t even gotten through them yet. I hope to them savor them after this post.  In the meantime, I wanted to share this post because I think it is a perfectly fun idea for a road trip. Only, I’m not so sure about having to give away the new treasures clothing that I just found. I might change my mind after completing the series, but right now I’m thinking “what if I just donate an item from my own closet, for every new item I decide to keep?”

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