Dardikism

Cup of Wild, watercolor, by Helen Dardik

We Are One, watercolor, by Helen Dardik

I fully support Dardikism, a philosophy which reveres the creative imaginings of Helen Dardik. Ok, I made that up. But her work is so delightful that she should have an -ism.

I've long drooled over her fantastic patterns and illustrations, so imagine my delight to find some original watercolors for sale in her etsy shop. Being the connoisseur of any bracing hot beverage in a mug, I had to have Cup of Wild, and she even threw in (!) another painting entitled We Are One. I need to find some great frames for these so they can go up on my wall.


While I was in a Dardik fever, I went ahead and bought her Embroidery For Little Miss Crafty as well, and it is just chock full of lovely, whimsical things for young girls (or youngish 40 yr olds) to sew and stitch. I might share it with my girls. (And if you missed it last year, here is a very timely, very sweet and very free bunny embroidery pattern on Helen's blog.)

have a lovely (fashion) week.

image from The Hidden Seed by Elsa Mora

I'm on blog break this week. I thought I'd share a fashion blog that caught my eye. The Hidden Seed is from Elsa Mora, tortured genius of all things papercutty, and maybe I'm the last one to discover it. Her clothes and photos are so artfully staged and lit! They look like portrait paintings instead of photos. Not surprising. Plenty of inspiration to scroll through and get lost in. Oh, the shoes.

stuff I want to do instead of the stuff I'm doing.

My mind always jumps ahead like five projects when I'm working on one that is currently baffling me. It's so much easier to dream of future perfectly executed projects than to fix the one in my lap.

I wanna...

do stamp carving like her. Actually I want to paint
birds like her too. or paint anything like her.

just make myself a top like her already. she amazes me with her sewing moxy and the fact that what she sews actually looks great on her and is in fact, wearable. That's a hurdle I'm still trying to leap.

make my girls a dress like she did.
How amazing is this woman's sense of design?
answer: pretty amazing.
I have one like it in the works already in my head:
dark denim with a brown Katie Jump Rope print inset.

make another paper diorama collage a la her.
Everything she creates is completely captivating to me.

craft trek: the next generation

Can I just brag on my 6 yr old a little bit? Of course I can, it's my blog. ha.

I have been admiring this series of of Buki animal cutouts she colored, so I thought I'd share. A thing of beauty is always worth sharing, right?



I like how she has no rigid ideas about what colors things should be. She just goes with it. I learn a lot from my kids like that. Is it just me, or are these gorgeous? (hint: your line is "Yes! Clearly genius at work!") I just keep staring at them. I'm thinking of making them into a garland to hang up. And I'd love to have a T-shirt with that dog on it.


The animal cutouts above are from a Buki activity book we picked up at the curriculum fair here (I had to smile when I saw the name of their website -- Poof-slinky?). I always pick up an armful of these little books when I go, and the girls just love them. Their web site seems a bit sluggish, so I've just done a Google search and also found them easily on Amazon and various online toy stores if you'd like to try them.

I love to watch my girls learn anything, but I have to admit having a particular soft spot for any glimpse of emerging artistic talent or love of crafting. I'd like to think I wouldn't mind it a bit if neither had any interest in art, but in my secret heart of hearts it would be a real blow.


That is why I'm so jazzed that my youngest, who for 4.9 of her 5 years showed ZERO interest in drawing or painting (ok, more accurately, less than zero. ok, actually active animosity), has just within the last few weeks really gotten into it and her pictures amaze me. She paints them to look like little quilts.

Ok, I'm done. Honestly. Thanks for hanging in there.

splurge

All images shown above are from 'Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life'

eeeeeeee!
I won't embarrass myself by trying to comment intelligently about this eminent man's body of work. Suffice it to say, looking at this book makes me very, very happy.

The book itself is so huge that it is awkward to hold or pick up. It definitely has Presence, of the kind that should be gracing a beautiful and sizable coffee table, of which I have none. Sadly, it had to settle for the top (and then some) of a demilune table that is just not up to the job. I love to see it there all the same.

etsy = happiness

I have been going a bit etsy crazy lately and I wanted to share. Elsa Mora's papercuts take that artform to a higher and more surreal level, and I'm happy to have these gorgeous prints of them in my greedy little hands. My photos just don't do the details justice. The paper is so rich and heavy, and she just couldn't be nicer to order from. Now I need to find some frames!


Also giving me joy are these cards from Herzensart. I can't really purchase one of her beautiful art toys right now, but I can (and will) absolutely enjoy having these great notecards, all produced from her original handmade paper collages. I love how you can fill in your own greetings. All came in a pretty little bag with matching envelopes. Now, can I make myself actually part with any of these by dropping them in the mail? It's looking iffy. They may just hang around to make me smile.

amazing helen dardik

Images by Helen Dardik

Can't remember how I got to Helen Dardik's blog, Orange You Lucky, but was immediately smitten with EVERYTHING she creates. Especially her repeating pattern designs, examples shown above. If you are unfamiliar with her stuff, go jog through her blog and also her website to drool over some great design.

Dare I hope for Helen Dardik fabrics in the future? Please oh please...fingers crossed.

kooza

images via cirquedusoleil.com

Incroyable! To say the very least.

If you love death-wish acrobatics, beautiful live music, breathtaking (and bizarre) costumes, clown humor, feats of bone-bending flexibility, all packaged with that indefinable French Canadian uber cool factor, you must go see Kooza. I hope it comes to your city.

Man. We went to see it Friday. I had to remind myself several times to close my mouth. It was that good. There were some tense moments in the second half when an acrobat was injured on the head by a flip that went awry, but he walked off after several minutes of evaluation from medics. If you see it, how stupid straight crazy is that Wheel of Death? That's all I'm sayin.

What an awesome birthday present for me from my Schmoopie. After which I was plied further with ahi tuna, stuffed lobster, steak, and a heart-breaking vanilla bean creme brulee topped with fresh fruit at McCormick & Schmicks.

Ok, I love you already! :-) Thank you, Cuppy Cake.

um. wow.

ALL IMAGES VIA YULIA BRODSKAYA

The bomb-diggety illustrations of Yulia Brodskaya. I've never been particularly interested in learning quilling until I was flat wowed by her work the other day via Folding Trees. Man. Genius typography combined with curled paper just sent me over the edge.

If you are interested (like me) in finding out more about quilling you can check out this handy guide on Craft Expert. (via CRAFT)

Also, of course Martha has a few projects if you'd like to try out your new found knowledge.

viking love from Herzensart

Image by Herzensart

Image by Herzensart

I'm swooning today for these wonderful Viking and Knights Templar softies created by the immensely talented Sandra Monat, apparently with vital assistance from her blue sheep, Friederike!. Her work made the cover of Whipup's new calendar, and that's where I found the link.

I've just spent an entranced half an hour trolling through her blog and website, which pegged the meter on my inward Creative Envy Gauge.

What a kickin' gift idea for the poor, neglected, handmade softie-less boys in your life. And of course she has some girl stuff too.

oh. my. word.

Even just her blog banner has me mesmerized. Artist Elsa Mora is a new find for me (thanks for the link, Jhoanna) and her papercuts just bumfoozle my brain. Simply amazing craftsmanship combined with haunting imagery.

Images: Elsa Mora

You can find many more examples of her work in the new section on her blog devoted wholly to the art of papercutting, and she also has a shop.

halloweeny drag n drop game

image credits: Jenny B. Harris of Allsorts

I know I just linked you to Allsorts the other day, but she just posted about this really really cute Halloween dress up game you can play with your chillins. Or you can just revert to childhood and play with it yourself, like I just did. I must still have a paper doll fixation in me somewhere.

artists that amaze me: Jayme McGowan

(Comments are still open for the Katy Kitty giveaway. I'll post the winner on Oct. 6th. I'm LOVING all your crafting stories. Thanks for playing!)






Sigh. I am just lovestruck by the body of work produced by artist Jayme McGowan, of Roadside Projects. Her work was featured in the latest issue of Small Magazine. I have been obsessively clicking through her shop and blog just drinking in the little exquisite paper and mixed media dioramas she designs and handcrafts.

I am totally in deep art love and wishing I had an extra $350. Luckily, if you can't spare the $ for an original work, she also sells prints of her most popular pieces.

I was so lovesick, I had to try one of my own. I'll post about that soon.