September 29, 2008
· Filed under Crafts, Feminism, Guava Worthy Art, Uncategorized · Tagged artwork, body image, decoupage, guava, media, mirror, to flourishing
Just a little note from my inspiration corner… and in the spirit of l’arte d’arrangiarsi… may I just give a huzzah to Towanda, who you may have noticed on my blogroll: To Flourishing, and decoupauge! Two of my favorite entities in the entire crafting universe. She’s amazing and is both inspiration and a fellow guava lover! Our conversations/experimental projects always end up in great ideas, some better than others, and while many never come to fruition some great ones do. Some of our best include an apartment dressed in tulle, hikes with semi-skinny dip breaks, and this fantastic mirror!!
I wish I had a better picture that does this work of art justice but the quotes say:
“today let’s fall in love with the woman in the mirror, the one you see everday but seldom truly look at, the one who gives more than she ever takes, today let’s take nothing, not this day not this moment not this chance not even ourselves, for granted.”
“Does beauty mean looking like everyone else?”
“let’s first love who we are.”
“Hello, Beautiful!”
I love projects that use conflicting media to send an even stronger message that really makes you think. This one does this in a big way (a) by using beauty/fashion ads to send a message of empowerment and (b) on a second level because the quotes are taken as a whole sending a message about the way ads like to sell us this sense of solidarity even while they’re hawking mindless consumerism and unrealistic body image. And then of course to put all of this on a mirror so that you yourself are part of the work lends to a great dialogue with the piece and confrontation that is inevitable. At any rate this was my long-winded way of saying I love it! My guava loves it! And it sits next to my craft table to inspire and motivate! Hopefully, after we find some better sealant (let us know if you have any good products to recommend) I can convince the lovely and talented Towanda to get these up on ETSY to spread the pro-guava inspiration!
September 24, 2008
· Filed under Crafts, Self-Indulgent Crafts, Up-Cycle · Tagged Corkboard, gina carano, lisa loeb, pictures, rachel ray, Shelving, Up-Cycle, Vintage Fridge
“l’ arte d’ arrangiarsi”
“the art of making something out of nothing.”
One of Elizabeth Gilbert’s, and soon after reading one of my, favorite Italian phrases from her autobiographical novel Eat, Pray, Love (a gift from the very talented Towanda). She says that this phrase can mean “The art of turning a few simple ingredients into a feast, or a few gathered friends in to a festival. Anyone with a talent for happiness can do this, not only the rich.” I instantly fell in love with this quote as it’s always sort of been my mantra in my arts and crafts (and my new hobby of cooking), but I vowed to remember it more quickly in times of complaint with life–
So when I found this sad little corkboard out by my neighbor’s trash I knew it had big things coming and that it’s life was far from over!
And… walaa… some painter’s tape, old paint from my fridge and various other crafting projects, and I had a brand new corkboard re-newed with life and newly outfitted with some words of wisdom.
Now my kitchen is already my favorite room in my house because of how bright it is and, while we purchased some choice items, most of it is just up-cycled to be color coordinated. Of course the pride and joy of my kitchen is this janky old Kenmore fridge that we purchased from a rather suspicious used appliance salesman in Westminster. And while I love to see the potential in things it was pretty sad looking when we got it. Old enough to be kind of gross but not quite old enough to pass over into that vintage cool category. Someday maybe I’ll have a mint green and chrome refurbished refrigerator or avocado green oven but until that day I’m quite satisfied with my princess blue icebox complete with these fun deer decals from Elphannie.
Add in this great shelf we painted to match the fridge (who knew my little Irishman was so handy and that those ridiculous heavy tools we keep carting from apt to apt would actually come to good use!) which we use to store a hodgepodge of useless but well loved articles.
Of course no room would be complete without pictures of our furry four legged spawn (in painted frames from the $1 store BTW) which I’ve I photoshopped in the hopes that this would make the pictures look cool and modern rather than make us look like the crazy dog parents we are… epic fail… I believe these pictures have made us look even crazier… I plan to replace some of them with some pictures of actual people b/c we do sometimes interact with actual people … I swear!
To top off our craftiness Mom and Dad pitched in to outfit us with some great square blue and green dishes and this amazing lime green Rachel Ray pot and pan set which we store on this very affordable baker’s rack from Sam’s club!! SCORE!!
So that’s our kitchen… what we like to think of as our little piece of art… l’arte d’ arrangiarsi!! I couldn’t ask for anything more… except maybe that my Rachel Ray pans came with Rachel Ray herself.. and Lisa Loeb… and Gina “Conviction”/”Crush” Carano American Gladiator and MMA fighter extraordinaire (My dream celebrity lesbian threesome) because I mean who wouldn’t want to “turn the radio up” and be seduced by serenade, go a rough and tumble ten rounds, and then sit down to a fantastic home cooked meal in less than 30 minutes???
September 16, 2008
· Filed under DIY Wedding, Guava Randomness, Uncategorized · Tagged chinese propaganda, gift, mao, poster, wedding, wedding gifts
BTW… if you’re wondering what to buy for the couple that has the highest hopes of taking their sacred vows at a Taco Stand… look no further than Maopost.com. What better gift than immortalizing our youthful glow of love in a Chinese propaganda poster? I haven’t exactly confirmed this addition to our registry with my significant other but… I’ve won tougher battles.
This one’s a favorite of mine but feel free to choose one of your own to add a personal touch:
For the record this reads: “Wei geming shixing wan hun he jihua shengyu.”
Translation: “For the revolution’s sake, marry late and practice family planning.”
September 15, 2008
· Filed under Crafts, DIY Wedding, Guava Randomness, Guava Worthy Art, Up-Cycle · Tagged art, Crafts, folkart, Martin Sanchez, Tio's Tacos Riverside, Up-Cycle, wedding
So as Patrick and I stand staring out into the horizon that is our future we have some big decisions to make. The first one was did we want to get married, big philosophical, political discussion there. The next one was, “Okay, we’re getting married. Do we really have to do this wedding thing?” Now we’ve been back and forth on this several times: cruises, castles in Ireland, theatrical cowboy duels, among other ideas, have all been on the table at some point or another. So for those of you getting antsy, and we acknowledge that you have good reason, okay about 2 and a half years of good reason, give us a break, we’re working on it. If we’re going to do this wedding thing we want it to be perfect. Perfect in the sense that we want it to be fun for everyone, indicative of our personalities and lifestyle, a representation of our relationship and the life we want to have, and not put us or any generous relatives out on the street for it’s sake. That being said, and no one get too excited as there aren’t any dates or anything, we’ve found a pretty good contender for the site of the big day. Ready:
Site of the blessed event from http://unusuallife.com/riverside-folk-art-installation/
From http://unusuallife.com/riverside-folk-art-installation/
Where is this little beer bottled doll of a chapel you may ask?? Where at none other than Tio’s Tacos in Riverside. That’s right on a recent adventure with my Sister-in-law to be and her main squeeze (which included a trip to the gun range! possible upcoming post on that adventure and why Traci will never be a gun owner to come) Patrick and I were treated to lunch at this little gem of Riverside. Unbeknownst to us this fun little lunch date would very well knock my dreams of a cowboy themed barn wedding out of the water (vaquero theme still in question)!
From http://unusuallife.com/riverside-folk-art-installation/
Lunch was consumed in front of a small water fall made of stone, bottles, bottle caps, small toys, and the like with diving Barbie dolls and several anatomically correct sculptures made of topiary wire and filled with all sorts of surprises. After lunch we ventured to the courtyard over a beer bottle paved pathway to find another topiary structure complete with a Shrek mask and Hulk gloves.
From http://unusuallife.com/riverside-folk-art-installation/
Here’s where the idea hit us.. and we ventured yet further into Tio’s gardens to find a water display where you could walk amidst gorgeous streams above your head and greenery all around without getting wet or eaten by the hose anaconda above, further still was an event area with various junk dinosaurs and yet more sculptures! Just when we thought the perfection of this site couldn’t be beat we passed a topiary statue birthing a doll to find a small chapel made of bottle caps, complete with a mini Sistine like ceiling, and green and yellow pews! YES!! Just enough blasphemy for perfection! Add in the music background from a GOB Bluth Illusion extravaganza and you’ve got my dream wedding! Check out more pictures of all the amazing artwork of Martin Sanchez from this great blog Unusual Life.
September 10, 2008
· Filed under Crafts, Self-Indulgent Crafts, Up-Cycle · Tagged before and after, bicycle, Crafts, Up-Cycle
While I continue to procrastinate in the building of my craft empire I decided to take yet another detour project and decided that, while I’m bragging about it, why not make it my first post? It all started with a little $5 teal huffy from the school salvage yard. Which turned out to be a little too vintage for my amateur riding and bike re-building abilities. My bike adventures may have stopped there as one may ask, “How much money would someone who doesn’t even know how to ride a bike really want to spend on one?” but you underestimate my obsessive personality friends. My appetite was whetted (I looked up whetted.. I’m using it right). I then found this sassy little number on Property Room:
Before being dino-cycled...
Upon pick-up (which was a ridiculous show of my lack of tool wielding abilities & my Avalon’s lack of being a large transport vehicle), however, I decided that my purchase could use a little sprucing… and only one 10-12 hour day of hard labor, several nicks and scratches to the bike and myself, a new wheel, a new basket, 3-cans of spraypaint, and basically enough financial investment to have just bought a new bike in the first place I got this… TADAA…
The Dino-cycle in all it's sunlit glory!
Imagine my cool stripes without that big chipped part in the buttercream... -_-
It needs some touch-ups but I’m pretty satisfied and have been riding, or errr… wobbling about Orange as proud as a potato slug who managed to not get run over during the Tour de France. Now you may wonder where the Dino part of my Dino-cycle comes in… and while I don’t want to ruin the surprise let’s just say there will be plastic figurines involved as well as a hat for my little Dino Scooter and some sort of helmet sprucing for myself because let’s face it… it’s not am I going to eat it but when…
Scoot road ready... and wary...
No Scooters have been hurt in this photo shoot... and seatbelts have been perfected to avoid more incidents of mid-ride bungee jumping.
Updates as they happen! Tell me what you think?!
