Archive for the 'cool links' Category

zebra stripes

Published
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robayre
on August 5, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
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zebra, originally uploaded by robayre.

Inspired by a zebra from a wrapper of Hammermill copy paper I started making a collaged zipper pouch. I scanned the zebra and replicated him to make the above collage and printed it on iron-on transfer. I have been using a, much loved, Boygirlparty zipper pouch for years and it is just frays and tatters now.

You can see the progress of the pouch at my flickr here http://www.flickr.com/photos/robayre/2734662368/. I still need to add the zipper tonight, so I’ll be heading over to JoAnn fabrics after work. I’ll wash it and see how it stands up, and hopefully if it works I’ll be making a bunch more. For years I’ve been wanting to do collagework on fabric, but in my mind I wanted to make a skirt. It wasn’t until I knew I needed a new zipper pouch, that I thought of the idea of doing it on fabric to sew into a zipper pouch. I wanted it to look like my style of collage that I did for my mail art postcards, thus the “Place Stamp Here” indicia that have been on all of my postcards.
Speaking of recreating collagework in other mediums, here is some lovely artwork.
a link on how to easily grow wheatgrass, something bunnies, kitties and girls alike can enjoy.

If there is one thing to know about me I am obsessed with front porches, so naturally porch swings fall under that category. I am easily gushing over this picture of a porch swing installed into a home.

Good Morning!

Published
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robayre
on July 28, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
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Good morning! I hope everyone had an easy, laid back weekend. This weekend I went to an art opening for a member of my art group, had sushi, spun a yarn, and began knitting after it was washed and dryed, and went to my favorite new hiding space where I made the following video:

I made this video to add to my “Natural Grafffiti” project series. I hope it can help ease the transition from weekend to work-week. It was inspired by my series, by the idea of watching something so closely that it can be therapeutic, and how the sound of the running water is soothing as well.And here are some of my flickr favs to inspire you.

Be a Collector

Published
by
robayre
on July 20, 2008
in Art, General Updates and cool links
. 1 Comment

All right, so we saw Batman and it was pretty great. Worth the wait, but man, I was so tired (it was a midnight showing) and it had been a looong day before that. I’m sure I’ll see it again and appreciate it even more when my eyes can focus straight.

Then yesterday we did a double feature with Hellboy and then Wall-E. I did something I’ve never done before, something very bad and something I’ll never do again. Don’t do this at home kids, er, um, at your local cinemas. I snuck into the second show without paying. After seeing Hellboy I thought, what the hay, and said “Let’s just go see Wall-E” and didn’t think anything really of it, other than a little “woohoo, I’m being sneaky”. But once we were in the theater I started to feel SUPER guilty and was waiting for the cops to show up and take me away. In fact, even though I was sucked into the movie from the very beginning short beforehand, I looked over to Matt with sad eyes, hoping he was feeling the same way I was and hoping he’d say “Let’s leave”. But nope, he just gave me this look like: “what is your problem? You are disrupting my movie going experience.” I enjoyed the rest of the movie and only had a mini panic attack that once were were leaving they’d have guards at the door checking tickets for the two that snuck in, handcuff us and take us off to prison. Friends, this kind of tells you how rebellious of a person I am.

Anyway, I think it was a good order to see these movies in. I have to say Wall-E was my absolute favorite. Beforehand, I’ve had plenty of people saying “Robyn, you MUST SEE Wall-E” and after seeing it, I have to say I think those people know me pretty well. This has instantly become my new favorite Disney movie. I just can’t stop thinking about it, it was that great. Matt and I have decided that I am the Wall-E in our relationship and he is definitely the Eve, which is kind of funny because he is the PC user and I’m the Mac user, so that part is backwards. Also, it’s kind of backwards as he’s more the romantic one, I’m more sentimental though, if that makes any sense. This film is just so beautiful in the way it was illustrated (at times I even forgot that it wasn’t film photography, yeah, I know) and in it’s story as well. Afterwards, while were discussing the movie, we both came to the same conclusion at the same instant; We want to have Wall-E in our home, as our pet or friend or what have you.

Last week I read about this girl who posted a youtube video of herself last winter, crying as she watched and reacted to the trailer for this movie.Her crying watching it, made me just about cry.  Here is the link, it’s a pretty cool story, apparently her video was seen and appreciated by Pixar and some pretty cool stuff came from it all. Haha, I just found this link that proves that Wall-E, like myself, is a law breaker!

So, one of the great things about Wall-E, and one of the reasons I related to him was that he was a collector, which brings me to Keri Smith. I just read on her blog that she is releasing a new book “How to be an Explorer: The Portable Art Life Museum” and straight from the page of her new book, “When I look closely at the work of all my favorite artists & designers, I notice they all have one thing in common… They are collectors.”

Get your tissue box handy

Published
by
robayre
on July 14, 2008
in General Updates and cool links
. 2 Comments

Fellow CADer, Bri posted this video on our group blog and it is amazing, so without further ado, I present you with a video this Monday, enjoy!

And if you are anything like myself, it will leave you a cry baby mess. AND it’s absolutely true according to snopes.

Shop Update

Published
by
robayre
on July 10, 2008
in Art, General Updates, Shop Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 1 Comment

7.9 circle 12 angle, originally uploaded by robayre.

I’ve added two new original pieces to the shop. I love the one above, it really embodies the qualities I have in mind for this series.

This piece is a bit different and has a sea theme. It might be cute for a child’s room or a person who has a passion for the nautical. Speaking of ships and the sea, yesterday I found out an interesting derivation of the word Posh. It comes from the location of luxurious cabins on ships back to Britain, Portside Out, Starboard Home (P.O.S.H.).

This last weekend my friend Al had a booth at the local Art Show on the lawn of the Ellwood House. While I walked around I met a few wonderful artists. Clark Bending was selling his paintings and I was just in awe of his use of colors. His booth really stood out as a breath of fresh air, amongst the other “realistic landscape” painting booths. I spoke to him for a while, bought a print and discovered he will be giving a lecture for the local Art league in the fall. Another artist I met was Bob Politsch, who doesn’t have a website. He carved wooden sculptures from the dead bark fallen off of trees. The sculptures were very imaginative, with detailed execution, little dwellings, like castles, homes, churches, etc. They contained elaborate, doors, windows, balconies, down to bricks and mortar and wood panels with nails. I could just imagine how much fun it would be to create each one.

The cancer that grows and grows, originally uploaded by Chrissie White.

Earlier today I was searching around Flickr, as I often do and found this talented photographer and designer. Her work was very inspiring, so I went to her profile to add her to my contacts when I see that….wait for it….it’s coming…yeah…SHE’S ONLY 14 YEARS OLD! Check out her photographs, wow! I was just amazed, here I am 30 and I don’t even know how she did some of the techniques she pulled.
One last thing I wanted to mention was that Bishop and Theo are doing really well and getting adjusted to each other swiftly. Theo has turned around her attitude more beautifully than I could have ever hoped. Now, she does not get angry at the kitten and in fact she braves him wonderfully, when he tries to “play” pounce on her, she does not act like the prey instinct in her should, instead she stands her ground, but in absolutely nonthreatening manner. In fact, I think she might be enjoying the kitten because she comes out of her cage more often and explores more than ever before now. If she was feeling threatened, she would run and hide in the back of her cage, but instead she and the kitten are chasing each other around. So cute. Matt and I just waiting till the day we walk in and they are next to each other grooming one another, that would be the ultimate.

It’s been a while

Published
by
robayre
on July 8, 2008
in Art, Found Art, General Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 0 Comments

I’ve just finished this yoyo set that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s a bit different from the old regular ones. This new style contains 64 yoyos, as opposed to only 16 and it uses no matte. It’s in the shop here.

So, once again, it’s been so long since my last post that I have an inbox full of links to share, I think a lot of them came from Craft or whip-up.

-Here is an inspiring tutorial on papercut work. Back in the day when I first worked in graphic design my specialty was in paste-up and wow many people with my way around a pen knife. What can I say, I really love cutting. Sadly, I’ve realized nowadays when I need to cut something I revert to scissors…yes, I know, gasp. Scissors are a sin in paste-up. Anyway, I think I need to try my hand at some paperwork soon.

-This link reminded me of Rosa’s project, Found Art Tuesday. The Toy Society encourages people to leave handmade toys out for people to find.

 

 


Mixwit

-Here is an energetic mixtape I’ve made for you. Listen, and just try to not shake your booty.

-A funny link to AFI’s top 100 films summed up in 5 words.

-Hey creative ladies! This just in, keep plants in your studios and be more creative and productive! I read this on AOL yesterday: In a study from Texas A&M University, women who worked for an hour in a room decorated with two potted plants and a bouquet of flowers generated 13% more ideas than women in a room with abstract sculptures. Studies show that plants are a mood booster, and good moods are associated with higher levels of dopamine, the hormone that controls the flow of information throughout the brain. Your next bright idea: Head to a nursery or garden store and pick up a few houseplants of your own.

button, button, whose got the button?

Published
by
robayre
on June 17, 2008
in General Updates, Uncategorized and cool links
. 0 Comments

originally uploaded by robayre.

Last night after watching a tutorial, (or was it just craft night?) I was inspired to break out my button maker and make some buttons. I was really stumped what should be on them until I remembered this page from my page a day book that I really loved.

Tonight my sister, sister-in-law and I are going to go see The Swell Season at the Chicago Theatre. You know the Swell Season, they’re the couple from Once. If you haven’t seen the film yet, get thee swiftly to the video rental store.

Happy Saturday

Published
by
robayre
on June 14, 2008
in General Updates, Projects and Games and cool links
. 2 Comments

Hi everyone! I hope your weekend is heading off to a great start. The weather has taken a bit of a summer break and cooled down enough to open up the windows again.

Let me open my email and extract the rest of the good links that I’ve been holding to share:

Designsponge shared this post featuring a project embellishing stairs with design. I think it is absolutely fabulous and wish I had stairs of my own to do this to. Someday.

Racheal Anilyse contributed to Found Art Tuesday with these postcards which are lovely and perfectly capture the spirit of Found Art Tuesday with their uplifting message. On the back of the postcard is a modified version of the poem Sonno Mama: As Is.

A new-to-me artist that I have flipped-fallen in love with is Heather Smith Jones, which was featured on Creature Comforts yesterday. Here is a link to her flickr.

Decor8 shared this link to a company who will print up to 5 yards of your designwork onto fabric. Very cool. Actually, that reminds me, last week I printed out a pattern I designed onto some iron on transfer and afixed it to some fabric. It was pretty stiff so I plan on putting it through the washer and dryer a few times to soften it up.

For those who enjoy workingfortheman.com, here is a link to a site with potential, here is Start Procrastinating.

Last night at my artgroup meeting, we started talking about how energy is harnessed. There was lots of talk about the sun, coal, gas and generators. Well, as the headline on their blog states: this next site is not about those kind of generators. Onegoodbumblebee shared a link to the Generatorblog which just keeps us all up to date on the latest internet generators.
A few good ones from a quick browse through the site: What’s Your Problem, apparently my problem is that “I’m a bullying crankypants who don’t take no crap from nobody”. It’s especially fitting because I do use the term crankypants with some frequency. Here’s a generator for making cool worm paintings. And lastly, a little known and possibly embarrassing fact is  that when I was in early college and had late morning classes, I would watch the smurfs on Cartoon Network and started keeping a list every the names of every smurf ever mentioned. So in honor of that, I present you with the smurf name generator.

Smurf on Everyone!

inspirational links

Published
by
robayre
on June 4, 2008
in cool links
. 1 Comment

A bunch of links I want to keep for future reference:

 Inspire someone, contribute and destash

Square foot gardening 

Gathered scarf pattern

Cathedral window quilt pattern

Graphic Novels by Kate Williamson

It’s like jellyroll, like sculptchah!

Published
by
robayre
on May 30, 2008
in General Updates and cool links
. 2 Comments

My college professor just sent me a link to this video about artist Arthur Ganson who creates moving sculptures. It is very inspirational to see an adult who has managed to keep such a sense of wonder, add to that a bit of grown up engineering knowledge and you’ve got some amazingly beautiful pieces of artwork. I kind of felt a kinship to his way of work. It seems to me as if he has an idea in his head, wants to see how it would be to create it, doesn’t ask himself too many questions about it’s importance or significance and just creates it.

Here is a video about using resin to create jewelry, since we were just speaking about it at our art meeting/sushi dinner at Ju Rin. It seems that I was tagged by my fellow C.A.D.er Stacey, to post 7 interesting or weird things about myself. There are a bunch of rules, but as always, I like to throw caution to the wind and wing it. Here is a link to Stacy’s etsy shop.

  1. Earlier this decade I had a pet parakeet named Olive. My friend Elaina caught Olive on a Chicago street. Elaina had a pet canary and the parakeet and canary did not get along so I took Olive. Olive was not social, which is pretty unusual for parakeets, which leads me to believe she was probably a wild bird. I’ve heard lots of big cities have wild colonies of parakeets and tropical birds that have escaped or been let go and find each other and thrive. When I moved into “the dungeon” the lease had a specific rule saying “no parrots” which are not the same as parakeets, but I did inquire and they asked me to not bring it. My father found a coworker who kept parakeets and I was glad to know that she would once again have social companions of her own sort, which I hope is what she really wanted because I knew for sure she wasn’t crazy about humans.
  2. I am a music fan and pride myself on knowing all the lyrics to most songs, or as matt would point out to me - that I know ‘most’ lyrics to almost every song. I occasionally wow people with my recognition of songs in only the first few notes, although I am horrible at remembering the titles of tracks or album names for that matter. If they brought back that game show “Name That Tune” but used the original music (not an orchestral version of the song) and instead of title or artist, they just wanted me to sing the rest of the song, I could make a killing.
  3. I wear almost all my shoes without socks, and I’ve got pretty sweaty feet, so basically all my shoes stink . . . badly.
  4. Genealogists in my dad’s family have tracked back our family heritage to include Button Gwennet, Abraham Lincoln, and Charlamagne.
  5. I started my first blog in 2001. It was kept private, locked down, and eventually was deleted after neglect. My second blog was public, on textamerica, and after years of continual use, deleted without any notice after the company decided to start charging their customers and never notified me. Fortunately, I had backed it up and was already in process of creating this site and blog.
  6. I hate driving and didn’t get my driver’s license until it was absolutely necessary. It was a week before my senior year in high school and I was also starting a new job and would need to be able to drive myself from school to work. Granted, I was still only 16 years old at that time, but when most of my peers were anxious to get their driver’s license, I was more than glad to let them drive me around :)
  7. I have an addiction to tchotchkes. I can’t stop myself from buying useless little things to place all over my living spaces. You got a garden gnome? I’ll be happy to take it off your hands. Old steel coin banks, I’ve already got a couple, but I could always use more :) The worst is junk stuff, like when I discovered Kinder Surprise Eggs. I might throw out the chocolate egg, but I will hold onto that little smurf toy inside forever.

Okay, so that’s it for now. I’m supposed to tag 7 other people, but ya know…the rules thing, yeah you remember. If anyone reads this and would like to participate, be my guest. Please leave a comment and a link, I’d love to read your zany factoids.

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