Alphabet Animals Design-A-Mug

It's another insert for yesterday's Design-A-Mug. Alphabet animals...well at least up to G. They can't really fit everything on there unless the critters were teeny weeny.


A is for Ant, B is for Bird, C is for Cat, D is for Dog, E is for Elephant, F is for Fish, G is for Giraffe.


Couldn't it have been A is for Axoltol, B is for Bandicoot, C is for Coati, D is for Dugong, E is for Echidna, F is for Fennec Fox, G is for Gazelle?


Either way, the Giraffe is cute :)

Animal Circus Design-A-Mug

Where do a lion, elephant, seal, pony, bear, poodle, ostrich, tiger, and monkey hang out together? On an Animal Circus Design-A-Mug!


I got two of these at Hobby Lobby for myself and my 3 year old art collaborator to work on. We ended up coloring stickers instead. So I came home and colored one insert after dinner.


I don't think crayons were the best choice for coloring media as they left little waxy bits on the inside of the mug. I'll use markers next time.


Green Monkey!

Smeepins Celebrating My Birthday

It's my birthday! I'm out on the town! Smeepins is dancing on a birthday cake to celebrate!

Fluffy Lion Noggin

I got this kit from JoAnn fabrics to make a tissue paper Lion head. You wrap small pieces of tissue paper on a pointed stick, dip them in glue, and then push them into a styrofoam form. It reminds me of the crafts I made in grade school with tissue paper wrapped onto the eraser end of pencils and applied to construction paper.


It was really fun and took like a million hours! Okay maybe over an hour.


Guidelines for where to place the tissue paper

Blogger Nom Om Nom?

Is blogger eating anyone else's posts? I posted on Monday and I viewed the blog and then FWOOF the blog post is gone. What is up with that?

I'm going to try to update my blog from a different web browser tomorrow morning? Different computer?

Apatosaurus

My friend Kristen used to want to ride a dinosaur to school. I imagine this is the kind she'd ride :) It is essential that it is purple for some reason. What was your dino's name, Kristen?


I wanted to show some of the process I went through drawing this. First, I looked at some of the dino pictures I took at the Field Museum last week and sketched out the apatosaurus with a light pencil.


Then I refined the sketch some with a colored pencil on top. After that I used a window as a light box to hold a new piece of paper over my sketch and trace him in purple marker and colored in with some crayons.

A Pigeon for Bert

Bert from Sesame Street's birthday is today! Bernice was always his favorite pigeon so I say this is Bernice :) There is a hotdog because when I was in Chicago last week I saw a pigeon eating a hotdog and it cracked me up.

Instructions for pigeon drawing found here.

Panboo In the Rain

It is going to be a rainy rainy week. I've been stalking the weather report, tracking the weather for Friday since I'm supposed to go to the Zoo. I don't want to go to the Zoo in the rainy rainy rain. I do have a pink umbrella like Panboo at least.

Monster Pencil Case

I found this near the school supplies at Target. The pencil case is by RoseArt and they had some other cute designs too. I picked it up specifically because of the little monster faces.


I think this guy is my favorite - he says "!" which is Monster-speak for "YO YO HAPPY TO SEE YA!"


Little lizardy-dinomonster.


The pencil case came with washable markers and I don't know if that is what made the colors bleed together or if it's the fabric the case is made of. Not sure how I'm going to fix it...


Pre-markering.

Rocking Horse Ornament

It's Christmas in July! And there is a cat trying desperately to bite this ornament!


I bought this plaster ornament painting kit at JoAnn fabrics for 50 cents, just so I could have something easy to make if I was busy. On Saturday, I was busy having vacation hangover. That feeling you get when you realize you have to unpack your suitcases and you aren't going to a fun museum and you have to do responsible things around the house instead of jumping up and down on hotel beds or swimming in a hotel pool.

The only cure for vacation hangover is painting a rocking horse with pink hair. I think...

I'm Back from Vacation

I was making art while I was gone - one thing I even made in the Museum of Contemporary Art!

Since we were driving, I didn't get to post yesterday and will have the last few days updated before Monday. Have a great Saturday Night everyone!

Koi Pond at the MCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art has a white spiral staircase right in the middle of the place. At the base is a black marble koi pond filled with huge koi fish. One of them came right up to me and said "Blub blub!"

I took this photo with a new app for my phone called LunaPic. It changes photos to comic book or pencil sketch or gives things lens flares.

Bird Pin

On Thursday on my vacation, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. I checked out an exhibit by Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth where they created the exhibit out of materials found at the MCA that could be returned unharmed when the exhibit was over. I enjoyed how surprisingly comfy the chairs they made out of boards and packing blankets were.



They had a table where visitors were encouraged to make an Art Pin out of paper ephemera bought from thrift stores, shaped hole punches, card stock and glue sticks. I used a small bird advertisement, some kind of map of water for clouds, and a lovely stripy blue red advertisement. The pieces of advertisement were glued on card stock and just clipped together with the bulldog clip.


Wearing it :)

Mammoths and Triceratops and Bears Oh My!

I took some portraits with very cooperative animal subjects this week.


They were all quite a bit larger than me...


This one looks a little too lifelike! I'm outta here!


Photos taken at the Field Museum and the Nature Museum in Chicago, edited with Camera+ app

Walking Hat

For my sister, Bridget, inspired by a poem by Shel Silverstein.

"We can't find the cat. We don't know where she's at. Oh, where did she go? Does anyone know? Let's ask this walking hat!"

Nature Museum Friends

I spent today at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum after having brunch with my friend Lisa. It was an awesome choice for today because the museum was like a zoo with air conditioning! They had all the cute reptiles, bugs, and birds I wanted to see without melting outside. Here is a Foster's Toad who posed so nicely on his rock pile. He was my favorite lil green guy.


They also have a huge greenhouse room with butterflies and birds. This butterfly had wings the size of my palm.


Possibly my new favorite bird! These ground dwelling quails all wander around the butterfly garden so you first notice one, then another here and there. Then suddenly you see 4 and then 5 and realize they are all different colors an everywhere! I talked to one of the employees and she said there are 25 and they all have names but she can't remember them all. I name this white female quail, Lisa :)

Flutterby

I colored in this butterfly with the same app I used for my patriotic zebra earlier. I colored it in while in the car. Why was I taking a roadtrip on a Sunday night?


Vacation! Can you guess where I am from the panoramic photo of the hotel room?

Tiger Suncatcher

I made a suncatcher from $1 kit I got at JoAnn's Fabric. You get what you pay for in this case. The "paint" for the suncatcher was very bubbly and plasticy and I could not get it to flow right. This was a few layers of white and orange paint with the white looking like I put nothing at all on it. At least the tiger itself is cute.

I couldn't post the suncatcher in the evening as usual since I needed sun - technical difficulties! Tiger made on 7/16, posted on 7/17 *heh*

Silly Golden Snitch - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

I am writing this in line for the 10pm Harry Potter and te Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 3D showing!! I drew my silly golden snitch at work today since I knew I would be busy tonight. So excited!


The snitch days "Neener Neener you can't catch me ppbbbtthhhlllthhjh"


I also drew this tiny snitch which I think is a baby snitch. It hasn't grown into it's fancy scrollwork yet.

Hermione's Otter Patronus - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

Expecto Patronum! 

Hermione's patronus is an adorable, frisky otter. Self confidence and happiness are two things a wizard needs to focus on when casting the Patronus charm. Otters seem to be very big on happiness and self confidence so I think they are an excellent representation of the spell. I read that J.K. Rowling's favorite animal is an otter and that's why she gave it to Hermione this way.


The pattern for my Patronus is available at the Wild Olive etsy shop. Mollie makes such cuteness. I got the pattern tonight and stitched it up on felt right away. Yay fast Etsy turn-around! I shrunk the pattern by about 50% and I think I'm going to turn it into a fridge magnet.

Draco the Ferret with Guest Rap - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

Draco gets turned into a snowy white ferret by Professor Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. Serves him right - he was trying to attack Harry! Ferrets are tricky buggers to draw. I had a busy evening and was trying to draw one at 10 pm. I drew like 7 that I didn't like so I went looking for "How to draw ferret tutorials" and found this silly one. Hee! I tried to make him look a little mean since he's Malfoy.

I was thinking about Draco today because the actor that plays him has announced he's going to be a rapper - say what?? To "celebrate" the bizarre news, my great friend Kristen wrote this awesome rap about him today.

They call me Draco,
I'm like a shark, but not Mako
The ladies say I'm all that
The men say I'm fake-o


My robes are dope
My wand is money
Keep that ho Hermione
'Cause Pansy's my honey


Yeah I'm all down with You-Know-Who,
So's my mom, and my dad is too
We're called Death Eaters
we're Quidditch cheaters
Slytherin's tops and
We're Gryffindor beaters


Don't tell me you're gonna hate,
This is Wizard school, not second grade
Malfoy's pureblood pedigree
I'll Crucio your a$$ if you disagree! 


Word to your Wizard.

hahahahahaha! Thanks Kristen!!

Animagus Rita Skeeter - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

And now Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and one of the more annoying characters, Rita Skeeter. She's such a lying tricky dweeb. I'm glad Hermione caught her in her animagus form at the end!

Apparently, Rita Skeeter takes the form of a brilliant green Rose Chafer beetle per the film. In the book, the illustration is a black beetle wearing glasses. I decided on a blue and green beetle wearing silvery glasses with some curly blonde antennae/hair. Since she is a beetle, she needed a little shiny on her back.


I doodled the embroidery pattern. She is less than three inches long so I stitched her in 3 strands of embroidery floss.

Lil Screechie Mandrake - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

Everyone put on your ear muffs! You don't want to get knocked out for a few hours, no siree. The scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where they repot the mandrake roots makes me giggle. Malfoy gets bit by one! Neville faints! The little potato flaily root babies screech and look adorably creepy.


I think this mandrake is more adorable than creepy :) He is right in the middle of being repotted.

I think he doesn't like it much, why else does he say "AAaaieeeesceereeaAAaa!!!!!!"

Owl Podium - Let's Go to Hogwarts Week

Today we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets during breakfast and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during dinner. I paused the DVD while Dumbledore was giving his welcome speech to sketch his owl podium. I particularly liked the swoopy shape it's wings made.


I did a rough sketch from the screen and then kept drawing from memory during the movie. I gave the owl some colorful eyes and colored the globe he's perched on.


The podium of owlishness.