noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

eep! the blower motor in my car's heating system finally died! the past few days i had to drive over a bump to get the thing to start working, but this AM it just wouldn't go on no matter how many potholes i purposely hit. thanks st. paul for not fixing your roads!

so $250 is gonna be the damage, OOSH. i am stranded in hugo, i'm going to go out and actually do some studio work! yay! i picked up a bunch of cute organizey things from michael's with my gift cert from chip and julie, so i'm gonna put them to work! i also got new gel pens and stuff to make a black-n-white page sketchbook, but i left it out in highland where i'm house sitting.

maybe i will post some new animals if i can get them done tonite! the owls have been VERY popular, and i have had some valentine's requests as well.

feelin better!

i seem to have mostly gotten over the funk.
i am still going to brekkie with the folks, but then i forgot about a reunion committee planning meeting i'm going to! whoops!
still no crafting time in the near future, but i did go see Underworld:Rise of the Lycans (meh) and have been doing a lot of reading lately-i went to b&n twice yesterday and then to the half-price bookstore right up the street from that. i bought two magazines and three books (one for my sister), of which i read all of them yesterday.

Water for Elephants was good...but i wouldn't say i LOVED it. i DID love Middlesex, the last book i read, and so maybe i'm ruined for other fiction now after that one. anyway. i thought it got a little skimpy during the love portion of the book, and some of the character's relationships seemed a ridiculous (even by 1930's standards) but i did really enjoy the day-to-day circus stuff, and the photos that began the circus chapters. who doesn't love the idea of running off to join the circus? the flash back/forward structure was also very effective, several times i squeezed out a tear or two as i thought of my own grandmother who is the same age as the protaganist of the book.

anyway. i literally couldn't put it down, and started the book at 5 PM, took a dinner and chat break, and then finished it by 1 AM. that's my favorite way to read a book, is pretty much straight through.

it really reminded me of Carnivale, except they didn't have animals in that circus.

i have always had a strange guilt attraction and repulsion with the circus, even as a small kid. maybe it was the fear of clowns, or the awe of the animals who clearly were in distress....i dunno. i love the idea of a circus i guess, just not the reality of one.

but miss L (my high school english teacher) would be very upset with me as i completely missed the biblical references in the book. sheesh! she had us trained like russian bears to recognize those in every thing we read, right down to the back of a ketchup packet. i must be slipping in my old age.

feelin good?

in the depth of winter, i'm feeling a little melancholy. since i'm not at my studio, i haven't 'made' anything (except for work and one birthday present) for almost a month! i am getting antsy!

sunday i will spend the AM in hugo celebrating my dad's birthday, and then we are going down to rochester to celebrate with aunts and uncles too. i know i have so much to be thankful for in this life (not the least of which is a new PRESIDENT!), i feel guilty for wanting more. but sometimes...i feel like those crows know what it's like to be searching for something you can never quite find........

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Reeds driftin on by you know how I feel
Its a new dawn
Its a new day
Its a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom in the tree you know how I feel

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, dont you know
Butterflies all havin fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
Thats what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
Its a new dawn
Its a new day
Its a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

anthony newley, leslie bricusse

send in the crows!

so lately, i have been seeing packs of crows hanging out in the trees. it's a bit unnerving to come upon this pack of black, SCREAMING, sinister looking birds but it's happened almost every day while i've been house sitting in highland park or working in minneapolis.and it's like, FREEZING cold out there, -20 air temp with wind! so i don't know if they are hanging out in packs to conserve energy or what. but they seem to gather right before sundown and perch in the trees. anyone else ever seen this kind of crow action? it's AWESOME and freaky at the same time....

i grew up with crows all around my grandma's farm, but she called them grackles. i have always wanted my very own pet crow, probably because of a roommate who was obsessed with brandon lee, and her subsequent watching of THE CROW like about a billion times....

here is what i encountered in downtown minneapolis. i actually stopped the car and took video, i'm sure the folks driving by and waiting for the bus thought i was a nutter. i really wish my camera had sound, these hundreds of birds were ALL calling to each other. they were roosting in 3-4 HUGE trees next to a church on one side of the street, and in about 10 trees ringing a park on the other side of the street.



anyway. i love that crows are always listed as the smartest of the birds, so smart in fact that they have actually shown tool making abilities! maybe aesop wasn't crazy after all!

duckie, of duckie uglings fame, is actually a crow. i have enjoyed creating crows more than any other animal in my storied history of stuffed animal making. i think in honor of these guys, its time to make a few more!

PS betsy's arm surgery went very well! i didn't get to talk to her today, i'm sure she's pretty drugged up still. i will call her tomorrow to get the details, and see how she feels about now being a cyborg!

Craftstravaganza Application!

Hello Craftstravaganza Jury! Here are some images for you to peruse. Hope you like my stuff, SMOOCHES!

-beccajo

MELT!!!!

although i am completely exhausted from starting a new job and getting 'Miscast 2' open (which is fabulous by the way), i am totally loving being so busy again. well, ok, i wish i was eating dinner and getting more sleep. but other than that....

today i spoke to my nephew matthew on the phone, and when julie handed him the phone he said 'hi becca, i love my boat you gave me!' AWWWW i just about cried in the car! how cute!
anyway. that is all. i have to go to bed before my eyes fall out of their sockets.

tomorrow, tomorrow, i love ya, tomorrow!

ur only a day away!

so much has gone on this past week, started the new job (which i LOVE!!!), started house sitting, and finished teching for MISCAST 2. i am so excited for it to open!

a few other projects are on the horizon, the sketch show in feb., a possible TV pilot this summer, a samuri movie (don't ask....), teaching some classes at Truly in WBL, and hopefully doing a few art shows this spring and summer! i wish there were 32 hours in the day so i could work 24 of them......

the tidal wave

started my new overhire job @ the G today, and got word it will last several weeks instead of just a few days. i get to shop on someone else's dime! how cool is that?

miscast 2 is humming along, the songs are bigger, the actors are so enthusiastic, and the staging and choreography are even better than last time (if i do say so myself!) but i'm freaking out over having to teach myself the light board and writing all the cues myself, not to mention gelling all the lights, focusing them, etc. AND getting the props, costumes, postcards, programs, and set done too. all while starting this new job.

and! i start house sitting tomorrow in highland park! am i packed, NO of course not! who needs sleep, right?

new year lulz

who hasn't been there? right!?!? this cat needs to get his christmas cards in the mail!

The ABC's of 2008

Here are some highlights from 2008, presented in a form both whimsical and tedious. If you want to do your own, please post a link in the comments!
Enjoy!

A is for Apartment, which I moved out of in August. Still rockin' my parents basement in Hugo, although I will shortly start a new house sitting gig in Highland Park.

B is for blogging, I got let go from my blogging 'job' but that meant I posted a lot more here on becca-jo.blogspot.com . That is until I discovered Facebook.

C is for Children's Theatre, where I worked for about a month. It was awesome, but not a good fit. On my way out on my last day, class act that i am, i tripped over the steamer and caused a dog to shoot under the table, cowering, and a giant puddle of water to form on the floor which I then had to mop up. Nothing like making a grand exit!

D is for Duckie Uglings, my awesome stuffed animal company! I finally paid all my monthly bills in December based solely on monies made from the various stores and the sales that I had in December and November!

E is for Elephants. I made several this year, each, in my opinion, cuter than the last.

F is for Facebook, which does the stalking for you! Sorry Myspace, Facebook has won out in my book.

G is for the GUTHRIE theater, where I was lucky enough to sew the backdrops for Little House on the Prairie, and meet Melissa Gilbert during my lunch break! SURREAL!

H is for Hat Pattern, the Good Hat Day Hat pattern was accepted into the book One Yard Wonders, and I will actually be getting published in the next year!

I is for Internet, to which I am still addicted in a MAJOR way.

J is for junk artist, which I think I am now.

K is for Kitchen. Now that I am home and cooking for more than one person, I am LOVING the kitchen again. I hardly cooked in my last apartment, unless it was spaghetti or nachos. Now I'm even BAKING again! Love it.

L is for leisure. I know that this time of having LOTS of time on my hand can't last forever and that I will have to go back to having a full time job. But I do love spending lots of time with friends and family and working on my art. Why can't I get paid for that?

M is for Mosaic Mural, which I finished in February at the Dunn Brothers in Minneapolis.

N is for Nephew, Michael Thomas arrived June 13th and joined Matthew James down with his mom and dad in Missouri. I have gotten to tag along on several visit and they've come up here twice. As my grandma says, "He's a chunk!"

O is for OMG which has unfortunately worked its way into my typing and speech. I am going to try to rid myself of such LOL's and what have you in the next year. ;)

P is for personal space. Something that I miss living with my parents again. But it's a worthy payoff! If you could see my room, you'd see ducks and dogs and moose everywhere. They like to keep it in the same condition as if I wasn't here. I don't know how I feel about that. :/

Q is for air "Quotes". Another habit I will try to drop. Although I am still trying to push the use of the 'Air Parenthesis' which is the same idea, except your hands just go up in a cup shaped form.

R is for relaxing. Hugo is a very relaxing place to live, you can't help but take a nap in the afternoon!

S is for slippers. I have become very fond of socks and slippers and have been obsessed with making myself the perfect pair so I am never short. A pattern MAY develop from this, we'll see.

T is for Therapy, as in Art Therapy. I am trying to decide if I want to pursue a career in either Art Therapy or ESL. I am going to job shadow both those professions to see which might be a good fit.

U is for unemployment, I have spent the bulk of the year technically unemployed but not actually unemployed by the government's standards. eesh.

V is for Vacation: this year held some AWESOME ones. Florida with the whole family in February, Missouri for Matthew's 2nd birthday party, Chicago trips aplenty, les Cheneaux islands for Betsy and David's wedding, and more trips to Missouri! I don't know if they're technically vacations if you don't have a job you're taking time off from, but it's still a getaway, right?

W is for Wedding Flowers, I did 3 wonderful weddings for friends and family this summer, and a few parties here and there. I love arranging flowers, if I could, I would do it as a job. I obsessively check craigslist for floral jobs!

X is for who eXpects me to come up with a word for x?

Y is for YMCA. Jason took me to some awesome concerts and shows this year, I'd have to say my favorites were Kathy Griffin (as a 'sorry you got fired' gift) and the Village People and RuPaul during Pride week.

Z is for Zebra, because frankly, it always is!

OK that's my ABC's of 2008. Link to yours, fellow bloggers!

back to normal, for now...

so the boys and chip and julie left this morning after such a wonderful visit. the toys are put back into storage, the fingerprints are cleaned off the windows, the high chair and monitors and all the trappings of little ones are safely stowed until their next visit, which can't come soon enough for me or my parents. all that's left is the sniffly cold the boys had and passed around to all of us, and some adorable photos from the last week.

we'd had the MN cousins out yesterday (my aunts brought some deadly delish cookies and homebaked breads!) and matthew was entranced by his cousins rosie, hugh, frances and evelyn, and even though 1/3rd of the snow melted since our big snowfall and the other 2/3rds of it turned to ice, a good time was had by those sledding and sliding around on the ice. this morning, before packing, chip and julie put skates on matthew for the first time, and he took to it immediately. that kid can do anything.

michael and i had some good bonding time while his big brother was out skating and sledding. that kid can fall asleep in about 4 minutes. after his bottle and cereal, i sat down with him in the darkened room and rocked for a little bit, he laid his head on my shoulder and sighed a BIG baby sigh, scratched at my hair and my collar for about 3 minutes, and then was out. soooo sweet.

after taking them to the st. paul airport, we stopped off at the mall to do shopping for my christmas present from my folks, some new duds. spent only a few bux but updated the winter wardrobe in a much needed way. i realized it was the first time i stepped into a mall in about 4 months and the 1 hour trip was totally enough for me. chip and julie ended up landing in missouri before we even got home!

when we got home, my dad and i watched the vikings and subsequent other football games, yelling at the poor coaching and refereeing decisions as they were made. i napped because i'd gone to an 11 o'clock showing of 'let the right one in,' a swedish vampire movie, where i ran into the guys from Love in October, the ones I did the music video for! they are moving to chicago on monday, so that was crazy.

so now we get another round of making meals as a family, telling stories that get better with age, and opening presents chosen to make the recepient laugh or cry. betsy and her husband david and their pooch berkley are on their way from chicago, their plan to be here in time to watch the bears game today did not pan out, so instead they will be here 12 hours after the originally planned. which is fine with us, because we needed that time to recoup after hurricane michael and hurricane matthew left town. but i wouldn't have missed their visit for anything. not all the krumkake in the world!

the ARK pt. 2

Although it was NOT the ark of the covenant, as timo had hoped, the ark WAS a huge hit with Matthew, and a wonderment of new things to shove in one's mouth for Michael.

More new photos of these two little guys can be found here.

Besides starting out with a wicked hangover from Brian and Marisa's going away party, I've had such a fun time with Chip, Julie, Matthew and Michael. My mom and dad and grandma and I always love their visits, and like my gram said, "I wish you were here more often!" The handmade gifts were a big hit with everyone, even the ones I didn't get finished hahahahaha.

Church, dinner, presents, sleeping, stockings, brunch, more sleeping, more eating. It's all a beautiful blur.

We are watching Michael while the rest of the MO folks get out of the house for a little bit. This AM I went to breakfast with Robin and her new beau Josh and another 'old' friend Suzanne. Such fun to catch up with them.

I am contemplating going to the movies tonight but it's hard to swing a $10 (two penguin's worth of profit) ticket now that the penguin market has all but dried up. Eh. we'll see.

The ARK!

i finished up my nephews' presents, an ark they can both play with. Matthew is 2 and a half, Michael is 6 months. i have been obsessed with what i call 'elemental animals', boiling down an animal to its most recongizeable elements, proportions, patterns, etc.

i made the ark first, the 'lid' is attached at the back, and the elephants and the giraffes fit inside. i had thought originally of making more animals, but they won't fit inside! these elephants are pretty chunky. tee hee!

so i am pretty pleased with my attempts at making these kind of animals, after a couple of sad little prototypes which I didn't photograph. sometimes I feel like Dr. Moreau, my studio is littered with things that look a *little* like what they're supposed to, but with a leg or arm or tail or fin out of place....i wish val kilmer would show up to be my assistant. anyway. here are the photos of the ark, giraffes, and elephants. enjoy!

Dala Horse Ornament Tutorial

FAMILY MEMBERS:Do not read unless you want a preview of part of your Christmas package!

Since my family is Swedish, we usually like to celebrate the season with swedish-ness. The bright cheery colors of Karl Larsson and the traditional handcrafts of the Swedish people lend themselves very well to Christmas, and we like to make crafts and give gifts that feature the Dala Horse.
If you came to my house right now, you wouldn't be able to swing a Lutefisk without hitting a Dala Horse. They are awesome and if I ever get a tattoo, I would consider getting a Dala Horse.

Anyway-My mom asked for my help in creating an ornament for folks to go out with our holiday packages. She had the idea originally to do a 3-D standing horse, but multiple prototypes proved that it would be too hard to get enough done before Christmas. So I convinced her to let me do this 2-D version! Enjoy!


Whatcha need:
Dala horse images (search the interwebs if you don't have them all over your house)
Tracing paper
Scissors (paper and fabric)
Pins
Needles
Thread
Red Felt
Batting or stuffing (or you can just use another layer of felt)
Rick-Rac, Ribbon, and Lace (or another color of felt)
Whatcha want:
Sewing machine with fancy stitches

Step 1:
Trace a dala horse shape on your tracing paper (or print out one from the web), cut it out with the paper scissors. Layer the felt, batting, and felt, with a looped ribbon between two of the layers. Pin all the layers, and then cut out a large rectangle around the horse. It will make it much easier to do the embroidery steps later.


Step 2: Using the machine (or hand stitching) sew a straight stitch as close to the pattern as possible. If your machine has the setting to end with the needle in the fabric, this will help with turning the corners. Sew all the way around, then using the scissors cut about 1/8th an inch away from the stitching all the way around, being careful of the ribbon!

Step 3: My mom picked up some super sweet mini-rick-rack, so I decided to sew them together to make them more colorful. Use a zig-zag stitch, and offset the rick-rack so that the valleys of one fit into the peaks of the other. You could also sew mini-r-r on top of
regular r-r. Or not. It's up to you.


Step 4: Cut out a lace element (or felt) that looks sort of saddlish, and pin a r-r harness and tummy strap under the saddle, hand stitch it all down.
Step 5: Using a decorative stitch, make the harness on the horse, using white thread. You could also use r-r for this step and hand sew it on. I used a very simplified version of the harness, just three little lines.

Step 6: Hand sew on a little lace for the mane, and you're done!

it's over!

the 2008 craft fair gauntlet has been run, with mixed results.

i have learned lots of lessons about what to do, and what not to do next year.

i may or may not have a trunk show next weekend, invite only, for all my friends who have requested special items for the holidays. i listed a few more things on etsy tonight, find them in my store if you're interested!

this beary godmother didn't sell. she's gonna stay in my permanent collection, i think!

Catching Up....

Well Craftsmas was gangbusters. I was so grateful to all the folks who stopped in to buy things, and the ones who just swung by for a chat. I was completely exhausted Monday, but made up a bunch more cats and bears to take into I Like You for their final push before the store closes on Dec. 23rd. Angela, Sarah and I have learned a LOT about running a craft show. That's for sure!
This chicken will be going to a new home, she's waiting at I Like You for the customer who special ordered her. I love the look on her face, and the way her feet turned out! I will make a few of these for Sunday's sale in Mahtomedi, I think.

Today I mailed off my 10 ornaments for the Swap-bot holiday ornament swap. I've gotten 3 so far, I should get 10 if everything goes according to plan. Here is the quick tutorial on how to make these ornaments. Enjoy!

Step 1: Cut out two heart shapes, one slightly smaller than the other, from felted wool. I used an old scarf (the stripes) and sweater, and a pinking shears on the scarf piece. Cut out two wing shapes from another felted sweater, trying to match the pattern of the stitch if possible. You'll see several different wing shapes throughout the tute, as I made each pair slightly different to take advantage of the pattern.
Step 2: Layer the larger heart, the wings, and the smaller heart. Use contrasting embroidery thread or thin yarn to stitch the whole shebang together.

Step the third:Use a regular old hole punch to make a hole for a grommet, then set a grommet in the hole, 'nice' side up! Thread in some matching yarn and you're done!

bizzay

i am so busy with making animals for craftsmas on sunday, i haven't had the time to blog! plus my computer has been freezing up on me when i have more than two windows open. so....that's annoying.

anyway i'm off to I Like You to work for the weekend, so the girls can work at No Coast today and tomorrow. i'm taking animals with me to work with, so i hope the store is busy, but that i still have some downtime to make bearz!

hahahahahah
love it

Why you shouldn't spit out your gum

Hilarious little video, the whole series is super fun! apparently, they're for french iphone users? you can find more info here, but be wary of auto-play sound!

is she drinking a starbucks?

folks who are squeamish, republican, or vegetarians, please don't watch this video.