Two art projects

Last week was L's first birthday. In honor of the occasion I made a mini banner with washi tape and baker's twine, and some miniature flags for his cake. I ordered the washi tape from Happy Tape.


L worked on some finger painting. Very messy but very fun.

Arts and Crafts

Last week marked the 2010 Ann Arbor Art Fairs. As usual, it was hot. Unfortunately, there were also some severe storms. We did manage to see a lot of the fairs on Wednesday night. We were particularly enamored with (and ended up purchasing) this photo of a Scottish Highland bull from Joel Anderson. I think that it will look great in a kitchen nook. I also really liked these sheep. We also picked up a hand-carved whale on wheels for L.

On Saturday I dropped by Blue House, a handmade studio in Ann Arbor, to check out MittenMADE, a 2-day craft event featuring artists from Michigan. I really liked the wellie prints from sloe gin fizz and the letterpress cards and posters from Elevated Press.

Wellie print from sloe gin fizz

Letterpress card from Elevated Press

But I am really excited about the workshops offered at Blue House. The deadline for my list is looming (don't worry, it is almost complete), and I have spent a lot of time thinking about the things that make me happy (other than O and L, of course). Handmade things (edible or not) are way up there and appear in multiple places on the list. One thing that I'd like to do is sew something. That's right; I am keeping it simple. I think that the Beginners Quilting Series at Blue House sounds like the perfect fit.

Maps

O. and I really love maps. I'm not sure what it is about them exactly. They are practical yet can be works of art. Here are a few handmade maps that recently caught my eye.

Karen M. O'Leary hand cuts absolutely stunning maps. They are modern and minimal and incredibly interesting. She also make some really beautiful prints.

Detail of San Francisco hand cut map

Manhattan handcut map

Famille Summerbelle's whimsical world map via Hither and Thither. I think that this would be really fun in a kid's room.

Detail of hand paper cut

World map print

And the perfect daydreaming map courtesy of You and Me, The Royal We. Hand drawn by Oliver Jeffers, the print comes with 202 pins to "chart your path to global domination. 200 of the pins are black, one of them is red and one of them is blue. Red is for headquarters, blue is for next target." How fun is that?

Detail from Places on Earth print

On the list: Tanya Aguiñiga and Crafting Community at the Ace Hotel

I first noticed Tanya Aguiñiga's rope necklaces via a post about the Community Shop on the Heath Ceramics blog. Here's a peek into her studio. She has an interesting story; she was raised in Tijuana and uses her experience of living in two cultures as inspiration for her work. Recently she designed a Toddler Texture Forest for The New Children's Museum in San Diego. It looks like such a whimsical place; I would love to take L. there someday.

Toddler Texture Forest at The New Children's Museum

But what I really love is her jewelry, especially the small cotton rope necklace. The larger necklaces hanging on the wall look fantastic, too.

Community Shop at Ace Hotel Palm Springs

Unraveled small cotton rope necklace

The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs (home of aforementioned Community Shop) also plays host to the Kimmel Kids Crafting Community retreat, a weekend of eating, crafting, and family hang-out time in the desert. Such a cool idea. Sign me up!

Welcome

Aren't these prints from Eva Juliet fabulous? I think that they sum up the motivation behind this new little blog of mine. Trying to balance work and home life with my PhD candidate husband and 9 month old little guy has been challenging. Especially when you are a planner (or sometimes control freak) like myself. Welcome to my little outlet; I'm glad that you're here.