Voices
And now, for your viewing pleasure, two drawings: one old, one new. See? I told you there’d be drawings
This week’s Illustration Friday was “Voices,” vague and potentially creepy enough that I was excited to draw for it. Too bad about reality and all that. With last minute holiday preparations I haven’t had time to get much drawing done at all, and I know it’s only going to get worse as the week goes on, so instead I decided to post this old drawing from my BFA days which I think fits the theme.
The above drawing is part 2 of my 5 drawing series, “Wings,” my BFA thesis at Notre Dame. I’ve used the last drawing in the series for an IF theme before. The last drawing, and the other three, can all be viewed on my portfolio if you’re interested. All five drawings are illustrations from my novel Lost Child of Summer, which did not exist when these were drawn. The novel is my MFA thesis. I finished the rough draft in October and hope to be done with editing by the end of January.
I did manage to get some drawing this week. I finally got around to inking what will be the header image for this blog. I posted the pencil version earlier this month. Right now I don’t have time to figure out how to extend the image beyond the header area, but I thought you might like a sneak preview, so here you go:
If you click on either image it will bring you to a larger version. Probably worth it especially for the thesis piece, which was originally 11X17 and super high detail. Any comments or critiques are welcome!
The Joy of Lying to Small Children
Yesterday I spent a couple hours at the Great Lakes Science Center. With Santa Claus.
Matt started working at SecureState back in April, and a couple weeks ago, when they brought up the charity effort of the holiday season, he volunteered to be Santa. I haven’t spent much time in the science center but I always have fun there, it’s more of a children’s museum than a boring-type museum and I’m pretty immature so it all works out well.
Transforming Matt into Santa Claus took a desperate twenty minutes with various padding experiments. Matt’s got the sparkling blue eyes, the red cheeks, the glasses, but other than that there’s really not much resemblance. 
The biggest problem was that the pillow thing doesn’t work. We tried four different pillows and they all created a square belly. Even the feather pillow. We were afraid we would have to let him go as a skinny Santa, and that would have been awesome because he looked more like the Grinch than anything, but eventually we managed a somewhat natural lump of fat using a towel for the belly and a scarf as man-boobs. He looked ok from the side, and while sitting, but the silhouette from behind was very decidedly NOT jolly enough. We did the best we could, and the kids young enough to believe in Santa didn’t seem to notice. Anyway, the red beard peaking out from the white was a much bigger giveaway, so I guess the uneaven towel fat wasn’t that big a deal.
When we got there, the rest of the SecureState group were setting up for the event. The room had a bunch of freaky science-y equipment up on a stage, which we hoped the kids would ignore, but Matt and I agreed must be some kind of super energy weapon for the REALLY naughty kids.
Since I didn’t quite know what I should be doing, I wandered around for a while trying to keep out of the way. I had a plan if any of the kids asked me who I was supposed to be. I figured I’d tell them that I’m half-elf. The pointy ears are recessive. Duh.
I think the plan was for all the kids to come in with their families and sit down and be called up, table by table, to get their food, their quality time with Santa, and of course, their presents. (And no, they weren’t creepy disfigured smily-faced children, that’s just my way of protecting the innocent and such.) Of course it didn’t happen that way, but eventually everyone settled down, and Matt seemed to be doing a good job Santa-ing. I mostly stayed on the other side of the room because I figured it would be weird for the kids if I accidentally called Santa “babe” or you know, kissed him. I mean, the fake beard was a pretty good reminder, but just to be safe.
After the presents were handed out, they actually had LIVE ENTERTAINMENT. Ok, so it was a pre-teen dance team, but they were actually very good. I’m not sure all the kids enjoyed it, because, yeah eight year old boys love nothing more than ballet, right? Many of the kids were too young to sit still and watch dancing, but I saw at least one group of completely enthralled girls, and, hey, I was pretty impressed.
The older group had serious skills, and the kids in the younger group were surprisingly good for their size (guessing 7-11 year olds) and TOTAL hams. They were adorable. Also, at one point, their music broke down and while it was being fixed they improvised with Christmas carols. They actually sounded good. If you’ve ever heard, or been in a children’s choir, you realize how completely unlikely that is.
The day seemed to go well. The kids all looked very happy and even the parents and organizers were far less harried than you would expect in an activity involving just under a hundred children. We’d planned to leave before everyone else in typical Santa style, and enjoy the museum for a while, but since Matt was sweaty, overheated, and you know, still Santa, we decided we’d wait it out and then go to lunch instead. Once the kids left I got to take my turn sitting in Santa’s lap. I got a little freaked out when I saw the photo because I look even younger than I usually do: I look more like just another one of the kids sitting on Santa’s lap than an adult being a smartass. I’m 27, I swear.
Googly-Eyed
I was looking at my Google Analytics page (never a very wise thing to do on a website less than a month old) and got to the section with top search words. Yesterday someone actually got to my blog searching for the term, Meagan Call. I find this highly entertaining.
Sometime last year on my old blog, I mentioned that I was excited because I was finally the top result for Meagan Call in google rankings. I joked that every time someone meant to type: “professional illustrator” or “fantasy writer” or “someone who would accept my millions of extra dollars that I don’t want” and ACCIDENTALLY typed in “Meagan Call” instead, they’d find me! And now, it looks like that has actually happened!
So, sole person who found my blog searching for Meagan Call but REALLY wants to hire a writer or illustrator or give someone a bunch of money (or, you know, any) I am SO your woman.
My other favorite search terms that lead to this blog: “David Mack Condo Watch” and “Dragon Mating Flight.” Yeah. The worst part is I can kinda see the second one but am totally clueless about the first.
So anyway, seriously, if you are the person who searched for me and found me, drop me a line, or show me some comment love, and let me know who you are! Are you the other Meagan Call who lives in Utah and actually kind of looks like me? (Do you have any idea how weird it is to find someone with your name, the same graduation year, in a photo wearing the same coat you once owned with your haircut, and the photo is too far away to actually make out whether it’s you or not even though you KNOW you’ve never been to Russia? NO, you do not.) Is it one of my friends, or my parents, or someone who was divinely inspired to type the name Meagan Call? A creepy stalker? Tell me!
On second thought, if you’re a creepy stalker, don’t tell me. Just stop.
Bazaar Bizarre – The Strange and the Fine
Just a few more artists I wanted to mention from Bazaar Bizarre last weekend, then I can go back to my normal tangential (as opposed to secant-al) ramblings.
In addition to the energetic collection of colorful crafts, there were many things at the Bazaar that were a bit off the beaten path. Or on the beaten path, as is the case of the beaten metal and wire (and beyond) jewelry of Valerie Tyler Designs, some of the more elegant jewelry I’ve seen. It’s very different from the kind of thing you could expect to find in a mall corner store, but every bit as fitting for a formal occasion.
The jewelry of Oh Melisa is maybe not quite so suited to a black tie event, but the steampunk-esk pieces still have a formal, classic look to them that I love. They were also one of my husband’s favorites of the day. We tried to give our wedding party a steampunk look (photos soon, I swear) so maybe it’s an emotional connection, but the jewelry and presentation have a stand alone beauty beyond any attachment we might give it.
Another favorite of Matt‘s was the felted head from I Felt Like It. Actually, all he said was: “Oh wow, can we have a felted head like this for our house?” but I think that means he liked it. I also approve, and agreed that we’d have to find a place for one in the house of our future. Personally I think it would look great hanging below the gargoyle, but we might need to pick of a few other oddities to complete the look.
Somewhere else in our future house, we’ll have to find a place for some of these lamps from Kirkiture. They’ve got that lovely stark Japanese look to them, and the gentle way the light bleeds through them gives me a feeling of calm. I think they’d look great in a bedroom or library, or anywhere that’s meant to seem quiet. I expect we’ll have a bedroom before we have a library, but since we’re intending to turn most of our living space into a library-ish space eventually, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to fit in these cool wooden lamps.
Then we came across some wings made by Faerystone Creations that would make either a great part of a Halloween costume or a neat ceiling hanging.
Ok, honestly I’d buy some and wear them around all the time, but I’d be afraid they’d get broken. They remind me of the wings I saw sold at a Renn Faire this summer, but I don’t think they are made by the same people. These are simpler, and more stylized, and I think a bit more adventurous. Check out the green leaf wings and ice faery wings on their website… very unique and beautiful.
I would also like to mention Psycho Reindeer, the only booth where we actually ended up spending money (I got a kick-ass dead Pac-Man T-shirt and Matt got a shirt with a creepy owl), and Supernova Design which had some awesome pirate-y art, which is, you know, always good, and also lots of other pretty engraved work.
I’m glad I went this year. Even though I knew the disappointing sights last year were caused by our bad timing rather than the Bazaar itself, it put a crimp in the excitement leading up to this one. Now I am cured of that worry and looking forward to next year without reservation. Who knows, by then maybe I’ll have something of my own to contribute? I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
Bazaar Bizarre – The Clever
Any modern craft show is going to have a huge number of creative people. Even people who stick with traditional crafts, where innovation is not the purpose, are pretty much guaranteed to have some artistic qualities, or else they wouldn’t be so interested in creating. With a show like Bazaar Bizarre though, the room is just packed with people who are pushing the boundaries of their crafts, always trying to be the first to come up the next new thing.
Often I’ll flip through some crafty magazine and come across something interesting, something I’ve never seen done before. Just once. Then two months later it’s suddenly in EVERY craft themed magazine. The same thing happens with new ideas in organizing and storage magazines. So I always love that first new moment, when you see something you’ve never seen before, just before it explodes into popular notice.
These nostalgic bags from ConTrive are a pretty good example of that feeling I think. In spite of the fact that those juice (I use juice in the loosest sense of the word) pouches are extremely durable, so durable they broke the straw half the time, it never would have occurred to me to turn them into an actual bag. If I were going to buy one I’d go with Capri Sun (not pictured) since that’s the kind of juice drink I preferred as a kid. They’re rather cute and definitely attention grabbing, and I suspect over the coming months we’ll see many more repurposed food packages like this, if it hasn’t started already. The only downside is I suspect these bags are no longer water tight.
Then there’s these plastic things from PhilosoPhrets. I love that they’re unusual enough that the creator felt the need to include a “what the heck are these?” sign in his display. The explanation didn’t quite cut it for me, but I suspect anyone musical would get it without any trouble. As I understand it, the boxes go outside of a device that adds weird effects (wammy?) to guitars.
Somehow, I don’t think these will catch on quite as quickly as the KoolAid bags, not because they’re less cool, (though possibly less Kool), but because the potential audience is much smaller. These boxes are beautiful, and actually I can see having them just as decoration, but I think for the most part the niche is limited to people who, you know, play guitar. Musicians who can afford luxuries like art. On the other hand, artistically painted guitars sell for a whole bunch of money, so who knows? Maybe the next Craft Magazine will be full of painted guitar effects enclosures.
Finally, my favorite new idea from the weekend, these bangle style bracelets from Sassyfrass. The bracelets are bent out of knitting needles.
I love the simplicity behind the idea, and the shiny metal finish used for most knitting needles is actually quite pretty and contemporary looking. I’m also impressed with the method used for displaying it, which immediately caught my eye.
It’s been a lot of fun to watch the craft movement over the last couple years: a combination of green attitudes wanting to reuse the old and the desire to create something new and different. Maybe eventually, I’ll move from spectator to participant, but for now I’m really enjoying the view from the sidelines.
Related: Bazaar Bizarre, Bazaar Bizarre – The Cute
The Price
I’ve been meaning to clean the kitchen for a while. I guess I’ve been meaning to do a lot of things– work, pay bills, sleep– but a kitchen is almost alive, and when you neglect it, it grows, spreads throughout the house, and it stinks like a dog that hasn’t had a bath for months.
The trouble is, for whatever reason I’ve been feeling generally bewildered lately. I like to blame the holidays, but I think it’s more inherent than that. Today was especially bad, with my brain unable to chose a direction. I get up to do one thing only to remember something else, but get distracted before I manage to start that. When I have too many things to do I end up stuck in an i robot loop of inability.
My car is in the shop, so I couldn’t do any of the errands I remembered I needed to do: grocery shopping, going to the bank, escape from the house. When I finally managed to settle down at my computer, I sent off a few emails. After reading a few blogs, my Internet connection rebelled. The reload button did no good at all and since my real work required a connection, I gave up and closed my laptop.
There was a time when I was completely dependent on instant messaging to keep connected with the world outside. Before I could drive, before I had a cell phone. Before I learned touch, and speech, and real communication. Alone at home with my kitchen, I almost felt it again, but I opened my phone and sent text messages to my husband, my friends, my brother, my mom. I waited.
I decided to check the Internet connection again, but it was still disconnected. I checked the wires: they all seemed fine. I called tech support, but gave up after an hour on hold. Still no texts back from outside, and I noticed that although my Internet connection was out of service, I had received mail daemon notices from every address I’d written this morning.
Then it got weird.
The silence was bothering me, so I turned on the radio. Before I turned it on, I knew there would be nothing but static. I was wrong, and I had a fleeting moment of relief as I heard the sound of NPR. The signal was poor, and the sound was tinny, as though coming from a great distance. I didn’t recognize any of the voices. They seemed old, from the sixties maybe, barely speaking a language I could understand. Then not. I snapped off the radio.
I buckled, and decided to clean the kitchen, then I changed my mind and went to get something I needed from my bedroom. As I opened the door, I forgot what I needed, so I turned around and closed the door, thinking. The bed, I remembered, I needed to make the bed, clean the sheets, do the piles of laundry. I turned to open the door again, but I was no longer in front of my bedroom door. It wasn’t there.
My phone buzzed, finally an answer to my text messages. The number was not one I recognized. The message informed me that messages sent to non Verizon customers are limited to 160 characters. I looked out the window and saw snow.
I sat down at my computer but my email client didn’t recognize my password, so I gave up, went into the kitchen. The dishwasher, lit “clean,” was only half full, and as I unloaded it, I forgot what I put into drawers. I changed my mind before loading the dishwasher, but when I turned to leave the kitchen I saw there was nowhere left to go. The smell of milk-mildew was overwhelming. I turned on the sink, running it over the dishes to wash away the muck and started loading the less disgusting dishes. The grime disappeared as I loaded them, and so did the dishes. When I closed the dishwasher I pushed “normal wash,” then changed it to “light” because I figured I should save the water since there weren’t any dishes inside. The price of procrastination is no more options. On the other hand, if there’s no bed, I don’t have to wash the sheets, and the comforting swish of an empty dishwasher might go on forever. The kitchen still wasn’t clean, but there was nothing left to clean, so I sat down on the floor and looked out the window. There was nothing but snow. Static.
Bazaar Bizarre – The Cute
For someone with my taste in “cute” the Bazaar Bizarre was probably the best place I could have looked. If I had children I’d be in trouble, and as it was I had to remind myself that I mostly don’t have room for stuffed animals and that we already did Christmas shopping for the nieces. There were plenty of other cute things around than stuffed critters: cool printed cards and artwork, shirts, fun hats, buttons and bags. Ultimately I was able to keep myself from buying anything for the simple reason that I have no money: less effective than you might imagine thanks to the era of plastic.
There were lots of great stuffed things, but my favorites were probably the ones at Caseybots. These were, for lack of a better word, surprisingly shaped. They aren’t your typical stuffed animals, many looked vaguely like Domo-kun only with more animalistic features. The best were the hats, a twist on the cute kid hats with cat ears and such. These are a bit like this only stranger. And far less embarrassing.
I found another group of stuffed animals I liked over at Chile Con Yarne. These were intriguing because of their cube like bodies and simple annotations. The animal style reminded me a bit of very fine cartooning: absolute minimalism in terms of detail, but still effective at expressing the object or emotion. I thought the crabs were especially effective. I wonder whether the artist spent a lot of time figuring out how best to communicate “crab,” and “zebra” or if the animals came out more or less naturally. Naturally in terms of artistic expression that is, not in terms of unexpected barnyard life lessons.
There was also an awful lot of cute wearable crafts at the Bazaar. I was instantly attracted to the felt accessories at Get Felt Up for example.
Now, I’d like to mention that I am generally suspicious of felt. I think this is the result of years of traumatic Girl Scout activities, but you’d think I’d be over it after seeing how many cool things you can do with felt that don’t, you know, suck. Not so. I think I was only able to get over my prejudice in this case because I was attracted to the art style before I even noticed that it was made of felt. Which just proves that felt is not to be trusted, but that’s a rant for another day. Anyway.
I think of this style of art as “twitter art” because it reminds me of the twitter birds (and whale), but I realize that’s not accurate. I just don’t have a better word for it. At any rate, I love the simplistic representative shapes and unexpected color combinations that characterize this style. A lot of the artwork found at the Bazaar could probably fit into this category, but I think these felt headbands and pins and such were the purest example.
There were also some rather good T-shirts from SquidFire, some of which were done in a similar style only with a tad more detail. I love the T-shirt with all the fish swirling across it and, of course, you can never go wrong with cephalopods. I’m also a fan of the non-twitter style shirts, that are a bit more cartoony or line heavy. Actually the more time I spend on the SquidFire website the more I find that I like, so I’m going to stop looking before I buy something. These shirts remind me of the cool things that can be done within printmaking, and I wish I’d taken a few more classes. At least silk screening is not completely out of the question. While it’s still pretty process heavy, it’s not so bad in the literally heavy sense: meaning it doesn’t necessarily require machines that weigh more than my car. I’ve also seen tutorials on making a mini silk screening studio online and in Craft, so who knows, maybe some day I’ll get around to giving it a try. Honestly though, my artwork probably isn’t all that well suited to T-shirts.
Last but not least in the wearables department were some very sweet rompers from Big Pink Heart. Baby clothes are sort of predetermined to be cute (I think that’s in Calvin‘s doctrine somewhere) and the artwork on the rompers was a lovely collage style that reminded me of some of my favorite children’s books, but what really caught my attention was the use of material. Sure, the owls were extremely cute, but seriously, babies don’t care. What babies DO care about though is texture, and these rompers were all about texture. It’s imposible to see the variation just from looking at a photo, but there all sorts of different textile experiences sewn into these garmets, something that would never have occured to me to do. I love the idea of getting a baby something to wear that the baby can actually appreciate as much as Mom.
Finally, being a 2 dimentional aritst myself, it seems fitting to end with a mention of some of the great flat art I saw at Bazaar Bizarre this weekend. Oddball Press is a company I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some of before, and I loved them just as much the second time as the first. I didn’t get a photo because a) there were so many people crowded around their booth I couldn’t get a good shot and b) I knew that style of art wouldn’t show up well on my pathetic Chocolate camera (see rant from yesterday) but it’s well worth checking out. Their designs range from the simple and elegant (if a litter box can be considered elegant) to super high detailed beauty.
The nice thing about this kind of craft show is that “cute” doesn’t really mean the same thing that it does elsewhere. Normally, cute is something I avoid, but here I’m not afraid of it. I even seek it out.
Related: Bazaar Bizarre, Bazaar Bizarre – The Clever
Bazaar Bizarre
For the last couple years, I’ll hear something about the Bazaar Bizarre a couple months before it comes to Cleveland, and I’ll be all excited about it, then promptly forget all about it. This actually works out pretty well because Matt does NOT forget about it, and he gets to surprise me by taking me to there. That’s what we did this Saturday.
The Bazaar Bizarre is a collection of artists and crafters of the modern rather than granny persuasion. You’ll get a lot of knitters, but among the thick striped scarves, a six armed sweater wouldn’t be out of place. These are the awesome sort of crafts you see in Craft Magazine, very creative and surprising.
Last year was a little disappointing, not because of the crafters present, but because we didn’t get there until the last few hours of the show/sale. There were only about ten booths left, and those were mostly out of merchandise, a few were partially packed up. This year, Matt got us there on the second day, early on, while the Bazaar was full in swing.
These are fun people, happy to chat about their artwork. Some of them were making more to sell as they sat there, I even got to see one woman spinning yarn with a drop spindle. By the way, her hair is not actually purple as it appears in the photo, I just got a little bit carried away with Photoshop. She makes handspun yarns (obviously) as well as hats and other knitty things. I think her booth was Cosy Knits Literally, but I’m not positive. I took everyone’s card whose photo I took, but I got them all mixed up.
I’ll probably spend a couple days talking about some of the cool things I saw, and with any luck the photos will do a better job of describing the kind of craft than I am. Today I just want to take a look at some of the more innovative presentations I came across. I included the lady from Cosy Knits because I think one of the best things a visual aritst, whether they be a knitter or a comic book inker, can do to attract buyers is include them in the process (and also because she had some pretty rocking stuff).
Some of the other things I saw in terms of presentation were more conscious. I think my number 1 favorite booth style was the one that used books as jewelry stands. Even if I hadn’t liked the neat vintage style items I would have had to stop and look.
This is especially important for this one where the wares are so small: it’s easy for them to get lost in the sea of brightly colored crafts. Among the books, an old camera and other old items that look like they came either from a flea market or a neo-victorian novel add to this little moment of atmosphere. The dainty little necklaces and such fit perfectly, and the smart layout made me stop and examine them more closely. Personal favorite: the green frame pendant seen above on the left. I think the book booth belonged to Oceanne Jewelry Design & Creative Parties, but, again, I can’t be sure I haven’t mixed up the cards.
Another booth going for a sort of vintage feel was (I’m almost positive about this one) Chleo Dee’s. Her booth didn’t have quite so cohesive a look as the book booth, but it works somehow. It’s half vintage, with merchandise hanging in old trunks laid on their sides. In the center of the table she made little “houses” for her artwork (mostly, as far as I saw, stuffed squid) that looked a bit like the mangers that might come with a nicer nativity set. It’s a combo that has no logical reason to work visually, but somehow it does. This was one of the first booths I noticed when I came into the room, and believe me, that’s a hard feat to accomplish among the chaos.
Some of the other nice booth setups had a more tranquil feel. The second booth I noticed was The Oak Leaves, which was set a ways away from most of the other booths for some reason. This was probably a mixed blessing since on one hand it really stood out against the blank space behind it, but on the other hand, most of the crowd gravitated toward the denser craft space.
I loved the natural zen feel of this booth, which was mostly created by the products themselves, but the use of natural wooden shelving was effective without disrupting the calm. My photo doesn’t do it justice, you should visit her site to see some of the pieces up close. The dolls were the creepy cute kind I love, but the bottled ecosystems were the real curiosity. I don’t see any dolls on her website so I’m not sure she makes them (she could have been lending space to a crafty friend) but the combination is very effective: the handmade organic next to the seemingly free generating organic.
In a more formal style, Valerie Tyler Designs managed a rather elegant booth among the more handmade looking crafts. Again, my photo doesn’t really do it justice (hey, YOU try getting quality photos with the crappy phone camera on the chocolate, and with icky fluorescent lighting no less, plus I have to freaking email myself every photo separately because syncing is a pain in the- oh I so can’t wait to get an iphone). The jewelry is beautiful stuff, which I’ll talk about more later this week. The use of smooth rocks and black cloth gives it an extremely sophisticated feel, I think more so than any other booth I saw.
Clearly, I was far more impressed this year than last year, and I’d like to take the time to point out my favorite artists of the year, so I’ll probably be talking about this for a few days at least. Most of the artists were great, but some were fun, or weird, or just amazing enough to shine.
Related: Bazaar Bizarre – The Cute, Bazaar Bizarre – The Clever
Gift Wrap – Wrap Up
Sunday being a lazy day, I figured this would be a good time to revisit a couple gift wrapping posts I did last year.
Creative gift wrapping is something I do pretty much only when I’m trying really hard NOT to do something else. I am quite skilled at procrastination: so much so that I often end up producing surprisingly elaborate stuff so long as whatever I’m trying to avoid is sufficiently motivating.
The first gift I’d like to mention was a big garment box (I think it was the bathrobe I got Matt last year) with an abstract pattern. Initially I took silver polka dot paper which I bought from Target, and wrapped the whole thing. I guess I’m not a huge polka dot fan, I always feel like polka dot patterns look a bit uninspired, and the size of the package just made the whole thing look kind of sad. Saggy even. So I scrounged around at the bottom of my gift wrap box, came up with some purple scraps of Borders paper, and put an abstract design on top of the box. I thought the result was unique and rather different. Last year’s blogpost gives step by step instructions.
The second gift is somewhat less Christmas-y but could easily be adapted with different colored paper, and is a great gift decoration for a child’s present (not that the kid actually cares what the wrapping job looks like). I wrapped this gift up for my niece, using ugly purple paper. The paper was actually the only paper we had that was not too Christmas specific (this was for a spring birthday) but once I wrapped it I was unsatisfied by the pattern. Since the package was oddly shaped, I decided to turn it into a car. I took some of the same silver polka dot paper and folded it into “window” shapes. Surprisingly, the shiny dots actually made vaguely head shapes, that I thought could represent drivers and people (I was reading way too much into this). As a finishing touch, I picked up some Izze bottle caps from the floor (our cats like to play with them) and taped them to the package edges as wheels.
To use this wrapping technique for a Christmas gift, I’d suggest going with unpatterned red paper (which will be cheaper anyway), with some kind of silver paper for the windows. If you can find something round and green for the wheels you’re set. You could even be super cute and use green yo-yos, or tops, or any round reusable toy from the dollar store. How about yo-yos for the back tires and tops for the front? Then you can make it a race car. My final product looked sort of like a mini-van. I don’t think my niece even knew it was supposed to be a car, but hey, I had fun. Full instructions are included in the old blog post.
I’ve found that my creative gift wrapping projects usually end up happening by accident, and I have enough random crafty crap around to make things look funky without too much trouble. With any luck someone will find them useful or inspiring. If you have any fun gift wrapping ideas of your own, feel free to include the ideas (or links to a similar post) in the comments.
What You Saw
After a quiet day spent mostly in contemplation, you go to one of your favorite restaurants where you have a leisurely, delicious meal. The food – not always the kind you’re in the mood for – tonight hits the spot, the company is charming. Once you’ve finished eating, you sip your drink, chatting with your dinner companion. Finally, deciding it’s time to start heading home, you excuse yourself and retire to the restroom.
Inside you make the necessary adjustments to your clothing and sit down. You look around, peacefully, and then you see this:
Automatically your eyes jump to the drain, located in the center of the room, only a foot from the toilet. All at once you notice that the floor is a bit sticky and, worse, you are standing on the bottoms of your pant legs.