Excuses, excuses

Sorry I didn't get a pattern up this week.  I had pictures and everything all ready and then at the last moment I decided that I didn't like the way they looked, and then I promptly forgot about it.  I haven't just been sitting around though, although I haven't been working on any crochet crafts lately.  I feel bad, because there are many more patterns I want to make and share with everyone, but sometimes I have a pretty short attention span for those sort of things and I just couldn't bring myself to do any crochet this week.

BUT!  Like I said, I have been pursuing other interests.  I have been painting!  I've been getting the boyfriend to teach me how to paint, and although I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks I think some of my stuff is pretty good, although I still need help with shading and the like.  I'm still pretty bad at drawing.  Here are my two most favorite creations. 

 

A dinosaur!  Look how happy he is.  I think his little flamboyant hands are my favorite part.

And another dinosaur, this one wearing a hat and a saddle.  The only reason I had him wearing these was because the main figure didn't turn out like I wanted, so I just decided to do something silly since I figured it was wasted anyway, but now I love him!

I haven't only been drawing dinosaurs, but those are my favorites so far.  The rest of the stuff is just birds and little sketches, mostly because birds are pretty easy to draw.  Anyway, hopefully I will get back on track soon and release another pattern.  Hopefully.

Stay tuned!

Art Dinouveau

I work in a used bookstore, so I come across a lot of really weird stuff.  Most of the time the stuff is gross, covered with bugs, cat urine, or various other things that don't merit being mentioned here, but every once in a while I come across something really cool, like this crazy bible dinosaur book (I actually see those quite often, unfortunately).  But this book is way, way cooler.  It is the neatest dinosaur book I've ever seen.

I mean, right?  The whole book is a dinosaur Art Nouveau extravaganza.  The title page actually says that the style is called Art Dino (dee-no).  And yes, that pronunciation is included.  Check out some of the pictures.

I really like this little squiddy decoration at the bottom.  (or is it a nautilus?)

A black and white picture to show the crazy border, even if the picture is kind of gross.

You just kind of have to wonder how something like this would get made.  I mean, I'm eternally grateful that it did, I just am very curious.  I really want to display this somehow, but I don't want to cut up the book.  Maybe I replicate one of the pictures in embroidery?  Or force boyfriend to paint one of them?  I don't know.  But it is available at Amazon, and the used price starts at only $0.25!  I guess at that price I could afford to buy a couple and tear out the pictures to my heart's content.


Stay tuned!

My fancy art installation

So, if you've ever read this blog before, you probably know that I really like dinosaurs. So when I came across these little plasticy dinosaur figures at Wal-Mart for $1 each, I instinctively grabbed one of every kind.  But, you know, they were really cheap and plasticy, and I wanted something classy to go with my alien portrait. So here's what we did.

 Oh hey Artoo!  He's such a camera hog, he just had to get in the picture too.

 They're pretty neat looking, right?  We just spray painted them with primer, grabbed some cheap acrylic from the store and went to town!  They're really colorful and bright and really cute, and pretty cheap to make.  Let me know what you think!

Stay tuned!

More house stuff, now with 100% more dinosaurs!

So, remember how I was saying that Olly Moss totally ripped off my idea for a neato silhouette wall?  Well, it's not technically true BUT boyfriend and I also have some silhouettes up in our house.  While ours may not be as classy as John Mcclane or GOB and Franklin, we have fancy dinosaurs, so yeah.

 We made this dinosaur silhouette wall in our tiny purple hallway.  Now, there's no room in here to even have one tiny piece of furniture, so I thought that we could really go all out with the decor.  I bought the frames off of etsy in the vintage section.  I really didn't even plan what sizes I bought, I just bought anything that was gold and frilly.  Of course, the T-Rex had to go in the biggest frame, because he is the biggest dandy.

The photo is at an angle because of the stupid glare, not because it is wonky.  Anyway, here's a closeup of the T-Rex.  I like his teeth.  It looks like he's smiling.  And his tiny little hands.  The background on the T-Rex is some white wrapping paper we had left over from Christmas.  All of the other pictures are white cardstock.

Boyfriend and I sort of let the frames decide what went in them.  Like so:

 Matching frames for a dinosaur couple.  I actually really like the lady velociraptor's hat.  Very chic.

 And here's a closeup of the other dinosaurs.  I really, really like the brontosaurus, who has his head in one frame and his tail in the other.  Not all of the dinosaurs are fancy like the T-rex and velociraptors, and that was for a couple of reasons.  One, we didn't want to overdo it.  Too many top hats and monocles might have been a little silly.  Second, some of these frames are really tiny, and any details would be lost.  I think they turned out great, though.  Do you think we are missing any?  Maybe a dilophosaurus with a neck ruffle, like Shakespeare?  Or something better? Let me know what you think!

Stay tuned!

What is going on here?

Anyone want to take a guess?

A dinosaur warning about the dangers of Jesus...
I guess this guy can arrest Jesus for cocaine possession?
And maybe this T-Rex is eating Jesus' disciples?
Alright, you know what? I don't care what's happening in that last picture, I want to live there. Or go on the submarine mission to find Jesus after he fled to a hidden Russian submarine while evading cocaine possession charges.

Wow, that was a really offensive post. Stay tuned for more! (more posts, not more offensiveness--well, not entirely. I'll try and keep it to a minimum. The dinosaurs made me do it!)

Stitch Witchery! Also, pirates.

Look how cute this is!

At first I thought someone had drawn this on a piece of fabric, until Craftster user ktiounsometimesy said that she had satin stitched the whole thing. So amazing! I'm so jealous that it looks so clean. It almost looks like it was done by an embroidery machine! And duh, dinosaurs are awesome. Especially Dinosaur Comics.

Also, just because:

Grr! Argh!

Alright, just a quick note about this adorable little embroidery project I found over on flickr by TiLT creation!

Dinosaurs? Awesome. Firefly? Awesome. I love the colors she used on the dinosaurs, they are adorable. And I love the childish looking scirbbly font, too. It looks like something Wash would totally draw. Anyway, just a quick note! Back to my own embroidery.

Best Dinosaur Book EVAR!!

Okay, I had to share this book I found today. Check out the cover.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the dinosaur at the bottom of the page. He totally cracks me up every time I look at him. I can't decide if he is like "AHHHHH F$#^ GUYS THERE'S A F#$^@#$( HUGE METEOR COMING GET IN THE ARK" or if he's more of the party type, and like "HEY TASTY ZEBRAS, PARTY ON THE ARK! CALL ME BITCHES!" And the dino in the back is totally skipping towards him (very flamboyantly, I might add) because either way you know there's some serious stuff going down on the ark later on. I didn't scan the back of the book but there are a bunch of people running around in a corn field and also a water buffalo for some reason.

And here's a dinosaur eating melons (no those are not giant beachballs, they are melons. Huge melons. Because dinos are just giant lizards, so there can be giant melons too, okay?). Because apparently the T-Rex really preferred melons to meat. He's really ripping into it very viciously, for some reason. Jeez, it's just a melon, T-Rex, calm down. I guess it makes Jurassic Park less scary if the T-Rex was just chasing everyone down to invite them to his tea and crumpet party. It looks like the dino in the back is bringing the crumpets.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with everyone these pictures because I think you all know I like crazy pictures that crack me up. Anyway, stay tuned for real news coming soon. Probably.

PS-Sorry about the swearing up there. It just felt like something that crazy dino would yell. And yes, he has to yell everything.

Hold on to your butts

I love Jurassic Park. It's seriously one of my most favorite movies ever. That being said, I found some really cute dinosaur related things around the internet! Not to many Jurassic Park related things, though. Come on, people! Get working on that sexy Alan Grant doll! Come on, you know he was awesome (in the first movie, at least, I believe I've effectively blocked out any memories of the other movies). Anyway, on to the cute!

So pretty! At first I thought it was a loch ness monster, (which is also awesome) but it turns out it's a elasamasaurus. Which, if there is a loch ness monster, is probably this little dude who survived the meteor crash/climate change/Raptor Jesus debacle. Very cute, but a little pricey for me.

This second entry is an awesome dinosaur play mat made by Craftster user hollyrh. It would be a great Christmas present for a young kid (or any older, nerdy people you might know), especially since there are some instructions over at Craftster. The play mat can be rolled up around the volcano and be carried around really easily. So much fun!


Here's another really cute necklace, this time a little more affordable. Actually, the whole shop is really cute, it's definitely worth taking a look at. I'm not really sure what kind of dinosaur it is supposed to be, but it looks like a stegosaurus and they are awesome so it's okay.

Yeah. No idea.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! Share in the dinosaur love. On another note, I swear we'll finally get our other dude finished soon, you guys will seriously love him. Stay tuned!