Painted Wood Cuteness! Part One

When I was a kid, we used to go to my grandmother's house fairly often, as she lived across the bay in Oakland. Gram had an amazing 1920s era apartment that overlooked Lake Merritt. She had a penchant for holiday decorating and always created these great displays in different rooms. 

My favorite displays, however, were the dining room centerpieces. She had a large collection of Erzgebirge figures which she arranged for holiday decor. (Erzgebirge is a region in Germany that has been producing beautifully painted wood figures for centuries.) One Easter centerpiece that I remember well consisted of a manzanita branch and lots of little painted wooden bunnies, some up in the branches and some on the tabletop. It was like a little Easter rabbit workshop scene. They were kind of like the bunnies in this photo I found on UncommonEye's flickr photostream:

The only figures I have from my Gram are these two: a rather cross and prim looking lady with an umbrella and a large boy in lederhosen with a tiny balloon.

There's an incredible store in Berkeley called Castle in the Air, and if you're ever in the area, you definitely need to check it out. They carry lots of these Erzgebirge figures, Swiss and German cuckoo clocks (don't even get me started on how much I love cuckoo clocks), beautiful toys, and fine art, stationery and craft supplies from Europe. It's one of my most favorite stores, and I'm not allowed to go there very often.

But in case you're thinking you might want some of these Erzgebirge treasures for yourself, and you can't get to Castle in the Air, here's a few from online. 

Ladybird Musicians from Xvoto on Etsy

Mushroom Gnome Incense Smoker 

Flower Girl with Doll

Star Child on Moon Music Box

Next time I will blog about some American painted wood cuteness made by a company called Irmi. Until next time!

Vintage Charms

I've always had a thing for charm necklaces and bracelets, and I love collecting the charms themselves. When I say collecting, I really mean hoard. Most of the time, it takes me forever to get around to putting them on a necklace, etc. so I just display them in trays and dishes on my dresser.

My friend has been adding to her charm bracelet lately and got me to searching for some more myself. Here's my top pics that I can't justify buying:

Antique German Gnome with Mushroom

Silver Acorn with Squirrel Inside

Same as above but in closed position. Rad, right?

Vintage Hedgehog Smoking a Pipe

Happy July 4th

I totally forgot until the last minute that I got some amazing July 4th decorations when I was in Seattle last year.

So I put them up just in time!

Love Circus Imagery, Hate the Circus

Part of my Rement Circus Set

Why do I love the imagery of the circus but not the actual circus?

When I went to see Ringling Bros. as a kid, I remember it made me really sad to see all the animals having to live and work as traveling performers. I suppose I felt bad for the people, too, but as with movies (dying animals on film are always worse for me than dying people, let's not analyze that too much), the animals got to me more.

And don't even get me started on clowns. Like many other children whose parents weren't paying attention as they watched HBO in the other room, clowns were ruined for me by "Poltergeist." I used to build a wall of stuffed animals on each side of my twin bed to protect me from the evil clown beneath.

But strangely I have become über enamored with the visuals of the circus. Even clowns.

Here's a few pics I've taken when out and about.

I LOVE the little clown in the bottom left with the harlequin pattern!

To be continued...

Hawaiian Vacation

Eating Shave Ice at Jo Jo's Anuenue

We had an AMAZING time on our vacation to Kauai. I didn't even look at anything that reminded me of work. Well, OK, I went to some amazing fabric stores (Vicky's in Kapaa and the Kapaia Stitchery near Lihue) and bought some super cute fabrics.

We did a lot of hiking, pretty strenuous and muddy, but breathtakingly gorgeous. 

A bit of rain in the Waimea Canyon, but we're looking pretty fashionable.

Looking out over the top of Waipo'o Falls.

Our muddy feet after the Pihea and Alakai Swamp trails.

I got an infection in my foot from some tropical bacteria buddies, but it was all taken care of by the super nice and fast ER staff in Kapaa. Maholo nui loa, Mahelona Medical Center!

We ate lots of delicious food!! You saw us slurping down the shave ice up above, but we also had loco moco (hamburger, fried egg and gravy over rice) and dinner-plate-sized macadamia nut pancakes at the Kountry Kitchen, melt-in-your-mouth opah fish at the Dolphin, lilikoi chiffon pie at Hamura Saimin, banana pineapple frosties at Banana Joe's, kalua pig with taro macaroni salad and mango taro smoothies at the Hanalei Taro Food Truck, Kauai grass fed beef burgers at Bubba Burger, and a solid mai tai at the Tahiti Nui!

Kevin's struggling to conquer the Kountry Kitchen.

Bubba Burger's funny sign :)

OK, OK, so it's seeming like our vacation revolved around food, and that's not entirely untrue...
But really we got lots of exercise everyday, which is why we had to eat so much, really, seriously. You saw the hiking pictures...I don't have an underwater camera so I can't prove the swimming and snorkeling...

Anyway, thanks again, Kauai, for some much needed relaxation and good times!

At Wailua Falls.

P.S. I will not miss covering myself in SPF 100 sunblock everyday. I will also not miss being eaten by mosquitoes despite wearing bug repellent.

Maker Faire This Weekend!

I've been my own personal sweatshop for the past months prepping for this year's Maker Faire, May 21 and 22nd!

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset.

This year I will have my felt lariat necklaces, lots of charm jewelry, stuffed animals and dolls, and art.

Come by and say "Hi!"

Kittie and Cubs being born for this weekend!

Cute Toys = Cute Necklaces

Sometimes I love little cute toys so much that I have to be around them all the time. My solution is to make them into necklaces.

The first toy necklace took me forever because I wanted lots of colors, and it was actually hard to find enough toys that were just the right small size. This collection was started just before cell phone charms got popular, then cell phone charms saved me.

 Cheburashka, in the center, is one of my all time favorite charm toys. Don't know who Cheburashka is? Check him out, it will change your life.

When I was little, I got a super cute little green unicorn charm taped to a Hello Kitty store bag. I had bought a little coin purse with the weird cute unicorn on it, and it said "My Unico". I still have that purse, too. I googled the name Unico which was on my purse and found out he's a Japanese cartoon character, I think made by the same studio as Astroboy. So I recently found a tiny painted Unico cell phone charm, and this had to be done. I say "found" but really it was an all out search :)