Monday, May 21, 2012

Eclipse


The eclipse left lovely crescent shadows on our screens and walls.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

From the mind of a toddler

Here are some things I discovered while Starboy was playing on his own.

Starboy loves the little plastic tiles from the Rummikub game. It looks like he discovered that they are the same width as the notches in the playmat.

Starboy is into matching lately. I noticed he ransacked the Velveteen Rabbit story bag, and matched up the characters with the picture on the endsheet of the book.


Ummm...? It turns out the Squinkies bubbles fit exactly on the cabinet knobs.

 Lego crane transporter with ramp.

Zoo animal transporter. Vehicles figure prominently on a daily basis.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Leif and Cetus fall in love with the world

My girlfriend Leif* and her son Cetus* up in Santa Clarita went on an Earth Day adventure with our cards! Looks like they got a passel of kids involved—spread the love!

 They met a gentle giant.


 They tried to climb a very tall tree.


 They saw and smelled beautiful flowers.

They saw a fast alligator lizard.

Now they are sending the cards on to more friends to share the adventure!

*Nearly everyone gets a secret code name to help with privacy.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Fairyland is expanding

My friend Venus* and her kids made a fairy garden! Isn't it awesome? Maybe she'll enter it in the contest.

*Everyone gets a code name to help with privacy.

Gnomey surprise

I came out the door this morning, and a new friend greeted me. We don't know where he came from, though Starboy thought I was behind it. Techman gave the guy a wary sideways glance on his way to work, figuring he'd get more information later.

We thought he and his birdie friend would be happier in the garden.

 Starboy made sure the garden is appropriately ready for guests or new tenants.

 What a lovely surprise!




Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Snowy egret has a friend

 I finally finished the second snowy egret for the charter school display.

This one has an actual armature, which makes him a lot more sturdy. It was sewn into him as I added the belly piece. (Which was a bit annoying.)

The new guy (gal? on left) isn't displaying his mating plumage. Just a regular snowy egret. I used the same pattern, but tilted his tail downward, which meant I needed to create an entirely new back piece and underside piece.

Okay, so it's practically a whole new pattern. Which I hope to post at some point.

I'd hoped to make one bending down into the water, or doing something cool, but I couldn't face creating another pattern from scratch last week—too much else going on.

The feet have the same glue issue, but at least the base is sturdy. The mask is slightly better, but I didn't think the bill was as successful.

Traveling companions.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The fairy garden is finished — for now


The arbor finally arrived, the dead Bacopa plants were returned to Lowe's, and we still need to cut the grass. Everything is thriving—for now. Check us out — over at The Magic Onions 2012 Fairy Garden Contest! There are lots of other great gardens featured there, and on my Pinterest board

The alligator loves to swim in the pond. The bridge is cute but is a bit out of scale with the other items in the garden. Something to think about as you shop, if you're picky about such things.

Zebra is hiding in the chives. Starboy just asked for some more water because Zebra wants to swim in the pond.

 Baby tiger likes to play in the cave.

 The arbor gate is beautiful! We are warned that "The arbor is not a toy, for decorative use only, contains sharp edges," So I watch Starboy carefully when he plays and he knows to be gentle with it.

Tiger climbs on a rock that Starboy found in the street during a walk with Techman.


Serenity in the garden.

Baby Giraffe checks out the well. Sometimes he likes to swim here. He is a very clean giraffe, so we are not worried about the health issues with that.

Starboy loves to play here in our shady spot! Here's how we built our garden. I think overall it probably could use one less feature (maybe lose the bridge? Not very many of the animals fit on it) but Starboy and his zoo animals love every element. Cross your fingers the new purple plants survive!

Fairy garden fail

So in addition to all of the trouble I had at Lowe's, the flowers they sold me died within about three days! Sadness!

And little did I know that the moss we put in the garden is Irish moss, and is growing like grass! I wonder if there are any fairy teens who want to make some gelt with a mowing gig?

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Waldorf water bird

The river scene to promote the Waldorf-inspired charter school is, in my opinion, wholly inadequate without some authentic Los Angeles River flora and fauna.

So I worked to create a snowy egret for the scene. I started with this photo from the Bolsa Chica (I would like to find the photographer, to link back properly to his site and give him credit). 

I couldn't figure out how to mathematically draw a pattern, so I built a maquette out of a printout of the photo and some structural elements cut from magazine paper.

This was a tremendous mindbender for me, and I have no idea how I can draw the final pattern and digitize it in a way that I can offer it to all of you so you can make one. Stay tuned on that.