Making a Marie Antoinette Cupcake Display Doll

Unfinished Cupcake Display Doll

The last time I had a craft fair for my Mai Sweet Shop, I really wanted to make a Marie Antoinette Display doll to house my cupcake carousel and never found the time. A while back when I was browsing through cyberspace, I saw a gorgeous old porcelain display doll and I never forgot it. I went to A.C. Moore and bought a generic plastic doll. I plucked her legs off (sorry legs). Using a Dremel I cut the pelvic area off and drilled holes along the bottom edge of the torso.

I drilled holes with a Dremel I used strong wire and pipe cleaners to make the cage There will only be cupcakes in the open cage...the bird is free Unfinished Doll This is the face the doll came with that I plan to alterpattern for satin skirt The fabric and color palette for her dress Buttons that show the dress color palette Stay tuned to see how she turns out. I think she would make an excellent table centerpiece too - maybe you can make your own! Let me know if you do!

Drawing With Light

So I was going through some pics from this past summer and I found these silly abstracted photos from when I was playing with drawing with night light:

path by marisol diaz hearts by marisol diaz circles by marisol diaz

In the popular world of drawing with light my pics are definitely little itty bitty babies!!!! To see some AWESOME, sophisticated, funny and flat-out spectacular drawings with light images (and EVEN get in on the action with awesome INSTRUCTIONS check out this site- BOOM!) Boom is a site made by genius designer Jeff Hamada in hopes to foster a community of creators. He asked for submissions of light drawings and boy did he get them!

Light Drawing submitted to Boom by Brett Peacock & friends | http://www.soap.com.au/

Amarettogirl Craft Book Review- The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry by Jennifer Perkins

Since I'm big on reinventing the function of small plastic toys into jewelry (such as my Mai Sweet Shop Altered Rement line) I was beaming with intrigue when I saw the new book by Jennifer Perkins (yes the DIY network's Craft Lab host herself!) has a new book with her trademark kitschy style, entitled The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry.

One day, in a hurried rush I browsed through the book in the bookstore, but I was too tired from a hard days work (teaching is not easy) and I didn't immediately purchase it. Then my fave Threadbanger podcasts had a Naughty Secretary Resin Bracelet demo on their weekly show with Jennifer Perkins and her book. The demo was so informative and thorough that the second I got on Spring Break I went back and bought the book. Boy am I glad I did, since a big chunk of my vacation was all about crafting with Jennifer!

The Naughty Secretary Club by Jennifer Perkins

• Paperback: 144 pages

• Publisher: North Light Books (August 11, 2008)

• Language: English

• ISBN-10: 1600611168

• ISBN-13: 978-1600611162

So here are some of the many strengths and little weaknesses of the book:

Excellent for beginners and inspiring enough for experienced folk (like me). Jennifer's overall mission is to get creatives and non, to see outside the normal confines of jewelry making and in this -recycle and reuse way- to see potential in anything, and I mean anything.

excerpt from pg. 14 of The Naughty Secretary Club by Jennifer Perkins

So on the negative side, if fun colorful, larger than life kitsch, garden gnomes, telephone cords, swizzle sticks, plastic toys, eyeglass necklaces, pencil earrings and watch headbands are too over the top for your traditionalist-little-beady-jewelry-makin'-mind than this book is not for you.

Ms. Perkins applies a secretary (9-5 gal) theme throughout the book with funny little side-notes, hot-tips and blurbs on the working girls history, holidays and lore. She includes what I think are hysterical, informative tidbits on the art of true, multi-tasking ability, ie., six other uses for coffee filters and a list of eight other uses for pantyhoses!

So in honor of the first day of Spring I tried my hand at an over-the top plastic, fantastic bracelet inspired by Ms. Perkin's Secretary's Bouquet Bracelet on pg. 120. excerpt from The Naughty Secretary Club by Jennifer Perkins I was super lucky to find a cha-cha bracelet blank (yes thats what its called) at A.C. Moore (Michael's didn't have any). However the cha-cha bracelet blank that I found had only one loop running across it, as opposed to the two loops on the blank that Jennifer uses in the book. I'm sure if I would have found the correct blank my Spring Chic bracelet would have come out a lot meatier. Instead I opted for the longer hula-skirt style.

Another great aspect of the book is that is categorizes every project in chapters of difficulty. This bracelet is a three star difficulty (highest level in book). In addition, she explains that this bracelet is great for the collector and Lord knows thats what I am truly master of.

My Spring Chic Bracelet inspired by The Naughty Secretary Club Spring Chic

So if you're interested in adorning your body with original, funky, re-cycled, joyful and often whimsical jewelry BUY this book!!

On Resurrecting a 24yr. old Animation Project

Unearthed envelope of drawings by Gregg Emerydetail of stack of illos by GE

So while my hub (fellow artist and teacher Gregg Emery) and I have been on Spring Break he unearthed a couple of things from the deepest bowels of the garage (imagine a garage that two artist employ). He had been stretching some new canvases when he stumbled across a large brown envelope that housed a project he did back when he was in the 9th grade.

Mind you we currently teach high-school and we have just assigned a sixty-second digi artistic-animation project to our advanced portfolio development class made up of 10, 11 and 12th graders.

details of 24 yr. old Animation by Gregg Emery

In the past I have made some short test runs of my own animations inspired by artist William Kentridge, who primarily illustrates a single drawing that he animates by erasing and redrawing on the same page. You can see samples of his work on Youtube because much of how Kentridge's work is displayed, is in moving projection form. However, even with our love of Kentridge and my work on animation I had never known that in my husband's past lurked this behemoth of an animation memory.

Today, using programs like IMovie on the Mac or MovieMaker on a PC (and countless other free movie programs) it has become very simple to drop hundreds of photos into a track and speed them up. Now, things like transitions and animated titles often come in prepackaged cookie-cutter forms.

Yet back in the North Country 24 yrs. ago there were no digital cameras, no accessible movie making programs and definitely no prepackaged ways of making animated titles.

hand drawn animated title by Gregg Emery

So here lies my husbands ninth grade self-assigned animation project in which he hand illustrated every single sec of movement and photographed each new page. His art teacher at the time assisted with driving the roll of painstakingly shot 8mm film to get developed. Needless to say the film never returned developed.

There had been something mysteriously wrong with either the development or the film itself.

Can you imagine the heartbreak that caused a young man who had put in that many hours of self-assigned work?? In the end this entire project never saw the light of day. It was designated into an envelope that was to be moved around and spontaneously unearthed 24 yrs. later. opening scenes by Gregg Emery

So for my last days of Spring Break, my project is to do some artistic CPR and resurrect this amazing piece of art work from the land of the forgotten.

my sequencing notes

We have already reordered all the sequencing. Since it is so old, it was often difficult for my husband to remember what many of his intentions in specific areas were.

I have also written out his overall story arc vision and we discussed where I might breathe some 'Marisol' life into aspects of the story to boost his overall narrative.

Thankfully, my husband loved all my proposed additions (not changes) and I'm starting today!

Everyday Typography..

sample of a Primitive Country Folk art sign

I went up to the North Country this past weekend to visit my in-laws. We even crossed over the border to Cornwall, Canada for an afternoon of consignment/thrift/antique/ (really window) shopping. One thing that shows up in all the country decor and antique shops on the way up North are those "Primitive" (I just learned that is indeed what they're called) country folk art wall quote signs saying things like "I don't repeat gossip, so I'm only going to say this once" or "don't look down on someone unless you're helping them up" or "family is..." you can fill in the blank with any sugary heart-warming thing you like (cuz it all looks good on an antique-treated, wood stained, framed sign).

An embroidered primitive sign from Susie's Bittersweet Treasures

However, I'm partial to the hand-lettered signs as opposed to the computer generated ones that are meant to imitate the hand-lettered look with a cleaner polish. I am also partial to the beautiful hand -embroidered quotes that are sewn on to tea- or coffee stained fabric. As they are meant to be, all of them are very inspirational.

So for today I thought all of us 'creatives' in cyberspace could all use some inspiration and motivation to put our hand and art back into writing. I discovered this 'envelope' (scroll down) in my writing desk (its origins unbeknownst to me) and I thought I would share the images of the writing tools and eloquent instructions that came within the envelope with you.

Instruction #1

A well positioned desk is an invitation to write.

detail of pen nibs

Instruction #2

Dip the nib in the ink-pot and try first on scrap paper: otherwise the first line might be a spot or ink blot. Use a protective sheet to cover the blank part or your sheet as you write. Always write with the full width of the nib.

front of envelope envelope insert

Instruction #3

Do not use pads: use single sheets. To begin the quiet art of beautiful writing, inner calm and concentration are required.

back of envelope

Instruction #4

It might be that at first your hand will not accomplish what you expect. Try again. Eventually you will reach your goal, and, in the process, gain a true feeling of peace.

When finished with your writing thoroughly clean the nib. You are now experiencing the pleasure of writing.

For really wonderful examples of lettering one of my favorite art magazines Somerset Studio has a wonderful section entitled Lively Art of Lettering that you should be sure to check out!

Youniverse- A Visual-based Personality quiz

As a creativity blogger meandering in cyberspace I usually find lots of silly little cupcake and spice quizzes, but this time I found Youniverse. Lets just say I have been on it for almost an hour now, assessing my strengths and weaknesses in a series of different quizzes about career, traveling, new years resolutions, love, friendship, tastes, art, etc.,

The good part - lots of fun and often accurate results (but so is a visit to the local palm reader since generalizations can be about anyone). The bad part (which might be good for others) is that Youniverse is also a social networking site and by joining you'll see they can hook-you-up with meeting and chatting with people. They even have a relationship with travel sites and hotels to help you pick the right hotel through a visual quiz. Within my first hour I recv'd two emails from men wanting to chat (one in India) and for the record I checked the 'married' looking for girls with which to be friends box! So if you're single and like to virtually meet people this could be really good or at least an interesting way to meet people...

So... ready to discover more about yourself? Well, you're in the right place! Find out more about how your mind works, your personality, what kind of traveller you are and what's going on in your heart right here- take our quizzes to discover your unique VisualDNA...

According to Youniverse, it turns out I am the following -
my NEW YEARS resolution: SPIRITUALITY
CAREERS: CREATIVE
ART: EYES WIDE OPEN
MOVIES: SENSITIVE SOUL
PARTY: PARTY POOPER
MIND: THE CREATOR
LIGHT MY FIRE: PLAYER
DATING: BASHFUL BLUSHER
PERSONALITY: EASY RIDER
LOVE: LOVE MAGNET
TRAVEL: WANDERING SOUL
WELL BEING: COUCH POTATO (ouch!)

So if you try it, let me know what you think!

Art House Sketchbook Event!!

Spread from My Arthouse sketchbook click HERE (or scroll down) to see it

The Arthouse Sketchbook Brooklyn event was this past Friday on the last day of school before our Spring break. And what a day that was...but that's another story. It was a beautiful way to end the day as we (my husband fellow artist Gregg Emery and I) accompanied our student Colin (who is also an artist featured in the sketchbook event) to the Brooklyn opening by public transportation from New Jersey. At the last moment, we were joined by two of our other art students, Ji Min and Nicole. What an adventure it was to take the bus, subway and walk through Brooklyn's warehouse district with our students in such a spontaneous, unplanned and informal trip.

All of us at 175th Train StationThe ArtHouse Event was at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn

The Arthouse Event was sponsored by 3rd Ward Creative Space in Brooklyn, NY. 3rd ward is an amazing space with art facilities from wood to computer center available for use by the public. There were over 2500 international participants in the sketchbook event. When we arrived there was already a major crowd spilling out onto the street, music blaring, and sketchbooks galore being perused.

Our three students checking out sketchbooksfolks checking out Colin's sketchbook

As soon as we realized how the sketchbooks were being displayed - simply laid out to be handled and traded we knew finding any of our own would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but we tried anyway. By a stroke of luck, Colin immediately spotted some folks checking out his sketchbook! He was overjoyed as they were commenting on how much they loved it!!

Colin peeking through an uber-creative sketchbookMy sweet cousins, Tai Tai and Kas came to the show too! ready to check out some art!Another amazingly creative sketchbook!We met up with some co-workers and alumni (students of ours from 1999 and 2000!)There were so many varied responses to the Everyone I know theme...it was mesmerizing!Sketchbook spread by artist Duncan Reid - my favorite sketchbook of the night.

So thanks for tagging along to our Art house sketchbook event in Brooklyn! Hope you are as inspired as we were when we left...we were so hungry we got off the subway in Manhattan and had some Gray's Papaya before heading back up to Jersey!

Wednesday Etsy Window Shopping featuring Etsy Seller Poodle Breath

So every once in while I like to feature some amazing Etsy finds that I have discovered and fallen in love with! This week its Poodle Breath's amazing, Alice in Wonderland-like porcelain charms and wall plaques. White Sinking Fairytale by Poodle BreathBlue Porcelain Rabbit Brooch by Poodle BreathAmber Porcelain Rabbit Brooch by Poodle Breath I hope you all see the beauty that I see in these pieces and in their stunning photography!!

An Alternative Way to Think About the Creative Process

Seeing as I've been feeling a little under the gorgeous Northern Eastcoast weather this weekend, I spent a good portion of time laying back perusing through some of the amazing talks on TED. Something I highly recommend to any creative whenever they have 18 minutes to spare.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Currently Ted features an amazing online community and offers what I consider to be a phenomenal set of free, brilliant, educational video-talks on what they appropriately have tagged 'Ideas Worth Spreading'. Their mission is to make the world a better place by the spreading of ideas.

So here is just one of many TED ideas that I want to help share, especially with my readers since this blog is on living an art-full life. This idea comes from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of best selling book, Eat, Pray, Love. Her idea is that instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. She's an excellent, inspiring speaker and this talk was just what every creative needs to hear every time they ask themselves, 'What's next?'

I hope you received a spark or an 'a ha' moment from this video. Let me know, as I will most likely be featuring Ted talks again!

New Mai Sweetshop Products in the Works!

Having been a while since my first MAI Sweetshop debut this past November, its time to get back to work! The product line was more popular than I could have ever dreamed and I learned so much in the process. To read about how Mai Sweetshop started, please read this older MAI Post.

I have to say that I am a bit surprised that the products have remained in demand. I sold out of almost every piece I made for that December craft fair. I now know what people want more of.

In resurrecting my efforts I experimented a lot more with different materials and have learned some new and improved ways of making some of the objects. I have been teaching myself from Japanese crafts books that I can't read - but the pictures are phenomenally elaborate and systematically clear.

New Mai SS Cupcake Ornament

Since I use the soft clay material, as opposed to the silicone (either is recommended), the products are very fragile and I am now combining that with stronger material for protruding parts. In addition, I've learned some awesome glaze and chocolate syrup techniques that add a whole lot more realism-moxie!

New! Mai SS altered Re-Ment cake ring

The altered Re-Ment hot cocoa rings were so popular that I have started a whole new branch of altered Re-Ment jewelry. Re-Ment is a Japanese company that makes miniature doll house pieces and parts. And since necklaces were a hot request item, I'll be making whole jewelry sets (earrings, necklaces and rings).

So here are some shots of what's up and coming in my little studio that I now call 'The Hovel' since I feel like I'm in a closed in cave when I'm in there!

New Mai SS cupcakes!New! Mai SS altered Re-Ment Ring!Mai Sweetshop Altered Re-Ment Rings

When it comes to altering Re-Ment, I am mixing and matching pieces and parts from different sets, drilling holes, gluing, adding glazes, filling cups, adding sprinkles, re-touching paint and adding blank jewelry parts. Since many of these are the only Re-Ment pieces I have (until I order more), if you see something screaming out at you please let me know before I place it in my Etsy shop so that I can reserve it for you!

Mai Sweetshop altered Rement jewelry in the works!New! Mai Sweetshop Hot Cocoa! New! Mai SS altered Rement ring (Too bad I didn't get this done for V'day!)

So this is all hot off of the press and nothing is listed for sale yet - but it will be- so stayed tuned! Hope you enjoyed the pics and let me know what you think!