Wednesday, August 31, 2011

B movies, crochet, paperdoll basics and Tummy Mint tea

'allo!
(British, informal, 'hello')

I'm feeling like a  home-body today.
Some days are just like that.  Good days to curl up with a book,
or do some beading while listening to music.
I'll play a little piano (no, my piano is full size!!!).
Tanner will get lots of pets, and we may watch a movie.
I have another couple of loads of laundry to do today, so that can fit in with the other stuff. I have hamburger cooked and a load of fresh veggies to make into dinner.  Who knows? I may even try to pull a few weeds (although Michael has scolded me and said I was NOT to do any weeding - sweet man).

c.1918



I have 'promised' my self to finish learning how to crochet in September.
I have wonderful instruction books, easy patterns
and a sister-in-law that lives with me, who crochets beautiful things.
I have yarn.
Lots of yarn.
I'll let you know how it goes.


embroidery pattern by turkeyfeathers
 Don't forget to check out her very nice blog.

Think I'll make a comforting cup of tea.
We toured Celestial Seasonings plant in Boulder, CO, USA.
very nice!
We found one of our faves - Tummy Mint.
It is just a wonderful mint tea that is very calming.
We haven't been able to find it in the stores for like 3 years,
so we bought a case! That's just 6 boxes, but it sounds impressive!

photo by fitnessista.com

c.1918

Here is a pattern for a very simple apron, by turkeyfeathers.
This could easily be done in an afternoon.
Change the fabrics, and you can make a variety for most occasions!

Remember, right click on the image and it should come up larger!


DOW Jamaica, Barbie 1992

I love her bright apron!

Here is a book I have been meaning to purchase for awhile.
I have gobs of fabric, and the one yard wonder sounds just perfect!

you can find this book easily on amazon

You know, I may have to make some more Collage Art Dolls,
or work on my paperdoll prototype.
Making your own paper doll clothes is very fun and very satisfying!
Here is a good basic doll you can use to get you started:

She is from 'Sugarland Sally'.

Here is a more adult version of a basic paperdoll:

She is from 'Sue, the Airline Hostess'; a British paper doll I believe.

This one is for those glamorous movie star-type paperdolls!
from a vintage 'Connie Francis' set of paper dolls

Oh do, please, send me photos of your paper doll clothes!
I wouldn't complain if you sent me the actual clothes either!
You can always send things to me here:

I was watching a horrible vintage science fiction movie last night.

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
1965, Color, with Basil Rathbone

The dialogue was trivial,
and spoken like someone was not placing the cue cards up fast enough!

The color went in and out. Sometimes the guy had a red face, or the gal had a blue face, or all the guys in the space ship were blueish black and white,
except for a natural color stripe at the top!
Ah, I do love those cheesy sci fi vintage movies though!


It was too bad that Basil Rathbone only had maybe a dozen words to say in the entire movie, with maybe 3 minutes total screen time.


Any way, while I was watching there was plenty of time to do something else,
so I cut out magazine pictures to make Collage Art Dolls,
and snipped a few arms and hands that will work nicely while I was at it.

I was enjoying the papercutting, so I decided to watch the follow up movie:

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
1968, color with Mamie Van Doren

Oh my goodness.
I can't believe they got funding to do this.
I can't believe they wasted cameras and film to make this.
wow.



While I was going to do a brief review, I found this one by "Kestifer".


He puts things so well, I have just copied them for you.
Check out his blog, he has some great humourous blogs on B movies!

 'A lot of old B Movies I’ve been watching certainly deserve a fair amount of ribbing for bad effects, acting or storytelling, but most of the time it’s of a good natured sort. I don’t usually “hate them” hate them, because with the best cheesy B Movies, there’s at least one or two elements of quality and/or effort involved.

The next film flat out pissed me off. So much so that I almost decided to throw in the towel and quit this entire reviewing project. It was THAT BAD. So instead of doing that, I figured I could try and briefly explain why 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women almost did me in.

Story
First, some context. The bulk of the footage is from a 1962 Soviet film called Planeta Bur which features a group of cosmonauts and their robot landing on Venus and fending off various monsters as they explore it. It was dubbed with some new footage of Basil Rathbone dropped in to make 1965’s Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, and then the new footage was replaced with newer footage of Mamie Van Doren as Venusian leader Moana and a group of bored looking clamshell clad women standing around on a rocky shoreline and all new dubbing.

So basically, this movie is thrice recycled. Which is a bad sign. The plot jammed together from this awful collision is something about American astronauts (with suspiciously red stars on their rockets) trying to rescue a downed exploratory rocket on Venus and as they wander around, one of them thinks he hears a woman singing and frequently gets distracted. The search party eventually shoots down the Venusian women’s pterodactyl god Terah (I wish I was making that up) and after some surprisingly boring gyrating, the women conjure up several natural disasters for the astronauts.

It’s godawful.'
Definitely time to look at something prettier:


Wild Rose Pot holder to crochet

Size: About 9” diameter
Materials: Worsted Weight Cotton Yarn – 1 ½ oz, 72 yds, White (W); ½ oz Pink (P); small amounts Green (G)
Crochet Hook: Size I-9 (5.5 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge.
Gauge: With 2 strands of yarn, Rnd 1 = about 2”
Special Stitches: V-stitch (v-st): (dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated st.
Popcorn (pc): 5 dc in indicated sp, remove hook from lp of last dc, insert hook into top of 1st dc, pick up lp from 4th dc, draw lp through top of 1st dc.
NOTE: Use 2 strands of yarn throughout
Directions:
Rnd 1: With 2 strands W, ch 4, 14 dc in 4th ch from hook; join with sl st to 3rd ch of beg ch-3. (15 dc)
Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc in same sp as joining, 2 dc in each dc around; join. (30 dc)  Finish off W.
Rnd 3: Join 2 strands G with sl st in any dc, ch 4, dc in same sp as joining, skip next dc, (v-st in next dc, skip next dc) around; join. (15 v-sts) Finish off G.
Rnd 4: Join 2 strands P with sl st in any ch-1sp, ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same sp, remove hook from lp of last dc, insert hook into top of 1st dc, pick up lp from 4th dc, draw lp through top of 1st dc, ch 3, (pc, ch 3) in each ch-1 sp around; join with sl st to top of 1st pc. (15 pcs) Finish off P.
Rnd 5: Join 2 strands W with sl st in any ch-3 sp, ch 3, 3 dc in same sp, 4 dc in each ch-3 sp around; join. (60 dc)
Rnd 6: (Ch 4, skip next dc, sl st in next dc) around.  (30 ch-4 lps)  Finish off and weave in all ends.

Here is a charming vintage paperdoll from Berlin, West Germany
1940 - 1955


I'm thinkin' that cup of tea is sounding better and better.



Time to start that new book too.
I just finished Michael Jeck's "The Bishop Must Die".
I am out of Knight Templar books now, so I will need to go to the second hand store, Barnes N Noble, and Amazon to see what I can find.

Ta-ta!
inkspired



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Last Minute August Holidays

Bueno!
(Spanish for hello)


Just in the nick of time...
we have some last days of August holidays to celebrate!

In no partial order, let's start with
Peach MonthAugust 1 - 31


"I don't like people,
But I like individuals."

- Edward Abbey

 

"Love beauty;
it is the shadow of God on the universe."

- Gabriela Mistral




recycled/upcycled bottlecap magnets
with a hand tweaked and
hand colored Art Nouveau Alphabet
by inkspired



Second, we have

National Catfish Month
August 1 - 31


a blue catfish

I must admit, fishing has never been my thing.
Looking for photos to go with the Catfish Month, I was really grossed out!
Catfish are mean-ugly!

So, I have chosen illustrations for Catfish Month:


www.supercoloring.com


 
 

I mean, really, people eat these things?


Next and finally we have

National Toasted Marshmallow Day!
August 30



Now here's a day I can celebrate!

Toasted marshmallows and camping go hand in hand.
I like to think my Dad was the camping expert of his time.
He trained many men and women to be great camping experts world wide.

Go DT!

I have spent many evenings growing up around a campfire,
roasting marshmallows.
I could generally do without the chocolate or graham crackers,
but those yummy, crisp and gooey marshmallows...


Just sounds yummy, doesn't it?

Here is a must-have for all those chilly evenings around the fire:

toasted marshmallow charms by

So, on the way home from picking up the kids from school,
or going home from work,
or on the way back from your workout,
pick up some marshmallows!
okay,
you can get the Hershey's chocolate bars and box o' graham crackers too!

and maybe a peach or two...


See you tomorrow!

inkspired


Monday, August 29, 2011

A Mermaid Monday

aloha
[Hawaiian for hello]

a fun series of digitally altering famous people into other things,
like a merman - Jim Carrey

Today is a mermaid kind of day.
I'm hoping to see the mermaids in the new Pirates of the Caribbean soon.
I like unusual mermaids,
and pretty mermaids.
You can leave me out when it comes to
'let's make an almost pornographic image/photo/painting,
pop it into a mermaid costume and call it a mermaid' arena.
I don't particularly like ugly mermaids either.
You know, the scary ones with weird gill things going on
and talons instead of fingers.....
So
let's have a "nice" mermaid day today!

One of my mermaid Barbies. I try to collect them whenever I can.


very sorry, unknown artist
Do you know who painted this? Let me know:
Inkspired@yahoo.com


"Mermaid Sighting"
Anne Hathaway


No decent mermaid day would be complete
without a lovely Liana's mermaid costume:

These are from her Paper Boutique line of paper dolls.




These next costumes fit her newer dolls, facing to the right.




Why not get out just a few beads, and make up this quickie mermaid pattern?

'Mermaid Mini'

Get out a few more beads,
take some more time, and make this 'down under' mermaid:


"I'm tired of all this nonsense
 about beauty being only skin deep.
That's deep enough.
What do you want -
an adorable pancreas?"

- Jean Kerr


a Laurel Birch mermaid fabric, made into pincushion,

a Heritage stencil

These mermaids are all hand painted!

These next mermaids are just a few of the
Collage Art Doll Mermaids that I have made.
I use all recycled junk mail to create and hand cut
facial features, body, costumes, tails, purses, hair, etc.
I have so much fun making these, it hardly seems like working!

"Blue, blue mermaid"
Collage Art Doll by inkspired
http://www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com


"Shopping for Lunch" mermaid
Collage Art Doll by inkspired

"Mermaid Pearls"
 original Collage Art Doll by inkspired 

 "Blue Hair With Pearls"
Collage Art Doll Mermaid by inkspired

"Lagoon Pearls" Mermaid
 Collage Art Doll original by inkspired


"Seriousness is the only refuge
of the shallow."

- Oscar Wilde

Mermaid Lagoon Limited Edition pin, Disney, from 'Peter Pan'

Mermaid pin by Kati Savage

Mermaid in Art Deco style


vintage cover of Life magazine

photo by Rene Maltete


original painting by joojoo, etsy


'Mermaid in the Sea' pincushion 
by http://www.pattidolls.etsy.com/

Mermaid musings...
enough for a little while!

Is there a subject you would like me to cover?
Let me know
Inkspired@yahoo.com





"Everything you can imagine
is real."

- Pablo Picasso

sending calming breezes and mermaid good wishes your way,
inkspired
http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/
www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com