Yeti time

It's Yeti time...

Last night I did a fun Make-it Thursday event at the The American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. It was a great evening filled with Yeti making. Check out the upcoming craft events on Thursday nights or visit the museum's beautiful collection.

Tonight is the opening of the Pictoplasma Missing Link art show. There is over 500 artists' work of Yetis, Abominable Snowman, and other creatures in the gallery, La Gaîté lyrique in Paris, France. I wish I could make it. There is lots of other character design lectures and events to check out. I can't believe I was able to spot my yeti in the installation.

Brooklyn Design Lab Display

The Brooklyn Design Lab is a great studio that teaches children's art classes in Park Slope. A variety of classes for all ages are offered such as robots and aliens, textile design, toy design, lego architecture, and many more. Amy who runs Brooklyn Design lab invited me to dipslay some of my plush characters. Check out "Animals and Monsters" in the window from November 20-December 2.

Maker Faire recap

This post is a bit late. Its been a week since my first Maker Faire NY. I had such a great time making zombies from my craft book, Beasties. It was none stop crafting for two days. Luckily I had the three crafty assistants to help me out. I met some sweet kids, parents, and awesome zombie loving crafters. See you next year at Maker Faire!

Rollingstone Music Video premiere

Andy Cahill and I worked together on a music video for local Brooklyn musician, Kevin Devine. His new album, Between the Concrete & Clouds was released September 13th on Razor an Tie. Andy and I were excited to direct, animate, and create puppets for Kevin's debut song, Off-Screen. Watch it on Rollingstone Videos or You Tube.

Maker Faire NYC is in less than 2 weeks

The countdown begins! I will be hosting a craft booth at Maker Faire NYC on Saturday Sepetember 17th and Sunday the 18th. Stop by to chat and make your very own soft stitched zombie. Remember Halloween is just around the corner.

Simple Better

Check out my friend Carly's blog for posts about design, art, fashion, DIY, and interviews. She invited me to do a guest DIY post. My first DIY project shows you how to frame art.I had this lovely armadillo art from Italy that my friend gave me and I finally found the perfect frame for it.

Lucian Freud

Last week Britsh artist Lucian Freud passed away. I remember seeing a retrospective of his work while traveling in Italy 6 years ago. Seeing his work in person left an impression in my memory. His large paintings are so rich, raw, and surreal. He studied the human form and painted the figure with intense detail. Here are two postcards I bought at the exhibit. He is known for his figure paintings but here are spme animal portraits that represent his beautiful brushstrokes.

Parents Magazine

Puppet Play in the August issue of Parents Magazine.

July Pie

I baked my first blueberry pie. I decided to document it in my sketchbook.

San Francisco visit - The Reading Bug

My last stop in San Francisco area was just a few train stops south in the town of San Carlos. The Reading Bug is not just a book store for children but also a store where you can attend author readings and craft events. I was excited to greet the bouncing kids who screamed,"Puppets." Parents and children worked together to make there own puppet. If you stop by say hello to Lauren, one of the store owners.

San Francisco visit - MOCFA Craft Bar

On June 2nd I hosted a craft bar at the Museum of Folk and Craft Art in San Francisco sponsored by Etsy. The project I presented was a mini-Cyclops from my Beasties book. I had so much fun chatting and meeting new people. The museum was packed. I was so impressed with the variety of Cyclops being sewn.

Crafter Elisa Tam of Happy Moon Moon blog took her Cyclops on a tour of San Francisco. Check out her blog for more photos the adventure.

Stop by the museum every first Thursday of the month for a craft Bar and check out the new exhibit on Korean Textiles.

San Francisco visit - Street art

While walking around the Mission area I came upon some beautiful murals, painted doorways, and sidewalk stencils.

San Francisco visit - SFO airport

I stumbled upon a great recycled folk art exhibit at SFO on my recent trip to San Francisco. It's always nice to have time to view art even when at the airport. Here are a few shots from the show.I realized how we have now replaced tin, aluminum, and other metals with plastic. The exhibit included art from Mexico, Africa,India and the US. Stay tuned for more about my San Fran visit.

Blog Tour at Schmancy and Craft Gossip

Check out the awesome blog of Schmancy. They have a wide array of soft sculptures and plush chracarters by artists. I did an answer and question session with them for Puppet Play.

And check out Craft Gossip for a book giveaway.

Beastie Animation in progress

Andy Cahill animating.

Day 15-18 Blog Tour

I got a little behind on the blog tour.Here's a catch up.

Friday
Visit my guest post at the Happy Honeybee.

Thursday is Time to Play!
Yay another giveaway at Arrow Cabinets.

Wednesday
Interview and giveaway at Pink and Green Mama.

Tuesday
Stop by Progressive Pioneer for a review see how Sam's elephant puppet came out.

Blog Tour Day 13 and 14

Cuteverything posted an interview with me. Learn why I decided to make crafts out of recycled materials.

Check out Craft Test Dummies for a review and Jenny's awesome fish puppet and monkey puppet. There is also a book to giveaway.

Powerhouse Mother's Day Craft recap

On Mother's Day I spent the day crafting with some children and their moms and dads at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I was impressed with the variety of puppets. Check out the monkey, rock star, sassy critter, and the other lovely and kooky puppets that were created.

Blog Tour Day 11 and 12

Prudent Baby has a book giveaway and so does Canadian Living.

Day 10 Zakka Life

Stop by Zakka Life for a craft book giveaway and review.

Day 9 Blog Fiskateers

Stop by the Fiskateers blog and see some puppets made by readers and learn more about the book Puppet Play.

Day 6, 7, 8 Blog Tour

It was a busy weekend. Here a catch up on the Blog Tour

Day 6 This Mama Makes Stuff Check out this awesome theater that Carrie and her children made and filled with puppets.

Day 7 Roots and Wing Co. Here is an interview with me and another chance to win a free copy of Puppet Play.

Day 8 Whip Up
Learn more about my process into making the book.

Day 5 Blog Tour with Little Birdie Secrets

Stop by Little Birdie Secrets by May 10th and enter to win a book.

Day 4 Blog Tour with Sew Mama Sew

Sew Mama Sew post and Book Giveaway for Puppet Play.

Day 3 Blog tour with Craft Sanity

Jennifer Ackererman-Haywood interviewed me for Puppet Play. Check out her awesome blog

Craft Sanity.

Day 2 Blog tour with Oh my! Handmade Goodness

For the second day of my blog tour stop by Oh my! Handmade Goodness. Check out my workspace and sketchbook pages too.

Blog tour kickoff with Luvinthemommyhood

Stop by Luvinthemommyhood to kick off the first day of the blog tour for Puppet Play.

10 years of Anti-Social Music

This past Friday was the 10 year anniversary of the collective Anti-Social Music at the Chashama art space in NYC. You may have heard about Anti-social Music this past month on NPR.

The show had a variety of pieces from members and ended with an interesting collaboration with the hip-hop group Dälek.

The artist Scrapworm created some beautiful installation art and a film projection for the show.

Anti-Social just released their new album entitled, "The Future of Everything. You can buy a copy now!