Love, love, love

Since I am headed to the Tetons today to witness my brother's holy matrimony (and to hopefully witness some never-before-seen-by-me wildlife [show yourselves grizzly bears!]) I thought I would post some pictures of "Pillow Monster Happy Endings".  

Here are the love bears in action.  I love this picture---I think the bride and groom are glowing with love, love, love.  This is Jaime and Peter with their love bears.  You should also check out Jamie's Etsy shop.  This is my favorite item there.

And here is Mizz Monsta with her special request that ended up being her secret twin sister.  Mizz Monsta was so much fun to work with.

I wanted to post a picture of Eva with Annie, but I was having trouble with the photo.  However she blogged about it.  The picture is great because in it you can see Eva's plush collection, so you need to hop over to her blog.  

Since we are on the subject of love and weddings and such, I wanted to share these two photos with you.  I love looking at photos from my parents wedding.  It's so strange to me to see them when they were my age without the slightest idea of the four kids they were going to bring into the world.  Here is my mom in 1972 with her bridesmaids.   She had a rainbow wedding which I thought was the cat's pajamas, and I wanted to have one just like it.  This is my favorite photo of her and them. 

And here in 2007 is my wedding.  My bridesmaids are awesome.  They really matched the expressions on the faces in the picture above.  An extra coincidence is that Miss Yellow below is actually the daughter of Miss Yellow above.  We met each other at the summer camp that our moms went to as kids and we have remained close since then.  

And, one last little thing in case you have been following along.  I never got to Darby's special request.  I want it to reman a surprise in case she checks the blog, so I won't show you my sketches for it, however I will tell you that it is an under the sea creature and here is some fabric I will be using.

Have a love, love, lovely weekend!

Benny who GLOWS IN THE DARK!

My arms have been doing a great deal better, but I still sometimes feel pain and I don't want to overdo it.  I still was itching to sew, but I didn't want to work on anything big, so Benny was born.  At the fabric shop I finally found glow-in-the-dark thread.  I have been drooling over the fact of its existence after stumbling upon these.  I wanted to start a new line of huggly little pillow monsters who smile and close their eyes when the lights go out.  I think they would be a comfort for children who are afraid of the dark.  This idea was inspired by my friend Molly who gave a little boy at camp one of those plastic glow stars when he confided in her that he didn't like the dark.  The star helped him survive that week, and then he even brought it back with him the next year.

The glow really is strong.  The picture doesn't show that, but you can actually use him to find your way to the fridge for a midnight snack!

Have Benny help YOU find a midnight snack!  You can get him here!

Tomorrow Joseph and I leave for the Tetons where my brother is getting married.  I have never been to the Tetons and I'm hoping to see some bears and buffalos.  I'm the photographer of the event, so I'll have all sorts of pictures to share with you.  If you are Aaron or Maureen DON'T LOOK at this next part.  I wanted to show you these Etsy finds that I got them as a present:

This is from HiTree.  I thought it would be a sweet reminder of their wedding day since they are having a nature-y wedding.

I got them these from an interesting shop called postdesigner.  I was searching for anything weimereiner since that is the dog they have (his name is Duke).  Aaron is very hard to shop for, he doesn't really like "things", I don' know Maureen too well yet, but who wouldn't like these plates?  I think to be on the safe side I will also get them a practical cooking gadget or something.

Regina

Regina has a keen fashion sense.  It was a gift from birth.  Her mother told her that even as a baby, Regina cried if her diaper didn't match her booties.  Regina goes to school in a big city where she is studying to be a fashion designer.  She rents a room above am elderly woman named Gertrude who bakes rhubarb pies twice a week.  Gertrude doesn't charge Regina rent.  Instead, in exchange for the room, Regina designs Gertrude's wardrobe.  She hand-makes the most fashionable dresses, knee-high knitted stockings and sassy head gear.  The members of Gertrude's bridge club are most envious of her outfits.

Regina is here waiting to tell you what not to wear.

Over the next couple of days I am going to work on a special request for Darby who made this drawing of Victor, and whose name I love.  Isn't it charming?  The wild thing is--the request is a present for her for her golden birthday the 29th of May.  My golden birthday is the 28th!  Crazy world.  I don't know what to do on my birthday.  Joseph and I might do something creative like dinner and a movie, which is fine, I mean I joke about it, but those are my two favorite things to do. But, I should do something extra for the golden part.  It would be great if I could go on a tour of a chocolate factory with a golden ticket, that would be the most appropriate thing.  

Bruno

Bruno has a hairy past involving some bad seeds.  But one day when he went into a taco shack and heard a Simon and Garfunkel song "I Am a Rock", Bruno decided to change his life around.  After his mind was made up, everything changed.  Even his taco had a better taste to it.  He is now a janitor for an elementary school.  His favorite part of his job is the mopping.  He loves everything about it:  Filling the bucket up with warm water and watching the bubbles multiply, squishing the excess water out of the mop, and then making all the shoe prints disappear.  The children at the school really like Bruno.  He doesn't talk to them, but they can tell that he has the heart of a teddy bear.  To make Bruno's job easier the children made a pact that never again would they stick their gum under their desks.  Bruno appreciates their chivalry. 

Bruno is hanging out over here.  It was hard thinking of a song that could turn Bruno's life around.  I wanted an Elvis one because he is my fave, but I couldn't pick one.  

Today I am going to roller blade in the park.  I have to do it soon though because it is embarrassing how bad I am, and at this hour hardly anyone is in the park (Bloomington as a whole sleeps in, I think).  I used to be pretty good, I actually used my roller blades to get to work during my college years.  I don't know what has happened between then and now, but when I went out for a little test spin it was as if someone had sprayed all the streets with Pam.  

Calvin Jones

Calvin Jones' super hero name is Rocket Boy.  He is pretty sure Rocket Man is takes, and since he is too young to call himself a man, then Rocket Boy will do.  Calvin's super ability is math, he can add faster than anyone he knows, and he can count to 100 quicker than anyone in the world.  This is why he always wins in hide-and-go-seek, because he counts so fast, people don't have a chance to find a good spot for hiding.  His friends think this is unfair, but Calvin Jones tells them that he can't help it, and to make him count to 1000 instead of 100 would be discrimination against super heroes.  

At summer camp there was a camper of mine named Calvin Jones.  He took my Astronomy class---he was about 9.  Words could not describe him.  He was American, but he sounded like he spoke with a French accent for some reason, and I think he wore the same yellow turtle neck for his entire week at camp.  I'm sad because I remember him being so endearing and hilarious, but I can't think of a way to properly describe just what was so funny about him.    So I guess I wasted this paragraph, but I'll leave it here anyway in tribute to Calvin Jones, wherever he may be.

p.s. Pillow Monster Calvin Jones is here.

Bree in her Bear Hoodie

Bree is an expert on comfort.  She loves things that feel soft and fuzzy.  Her mom is a very patient woman and decided to indulge her daughter when she asked that her entire room be covered with shag carpeting, even the walls and the ceilings.  Besides Bree's slight tendency towards diva-ness when it comes to her needs for comfort, she is a sweet and compassionate girl.  When her dog, Fitzgerald, needed to be shaved for an important surgery, Bree asked her grandmother to teach her how to knit so that she could knit Fitzgerald a striped sweater.  That way, none of his friends could make fun of him for being bald.

Bree is hanging out over here waiting for a couch to sit on. 

On a different note, I applied to the public library here (please hire me, please hire me, please hire me).  It was fun having my pillow monster business, but this cubital tunnel syndrome was a wake up call.  It said, "wake up, you are going to be broke!"  

And I said, "Shhhhh!!!"

But, then it said it louder and in a more piercing tone, so now I am listening.  Besides, libraries are beautiful, beautiful things.  This library even lets you rent DVDs for FREE!  I just finished watching the entire second season of Project Runway.  My favorite contestant was Diane who got the boot about half way through, but she was really scientific and geeky and incorporated science into her fashion.  She made this hoodie that somehow was able to track your heart beat, so when you were excited and your heart beat got very fast a picture was taken out of a tiny camera sewn into your hoodie.  Fun!  If I owned that hoodie I would probably have a photographic collection of Albert being a bad boy on walks and barking at all the people who walk by to embarrass me.  That, and maybe ice cream.

Annie for Eva

This tree girl is for Eva who makes the most tranquil looking crocheted creatures.  Eva is such a sweet person, she leaves me really positive comments and we even went back and forth about our body aches that make us feel like old ladies.  Anna is what I have made for our trade agreement and I can't wait to receive a plush-goodness in return.

Anna is the youngest of a very large family.  She never quite developed her voice because growing up her brothers and sisters always spoke for her.  Anna's passions are banjo-playing, the kind of chocolate that is shaped like and flavored like oranges and drawing different bird species with really sharp colored pencils.  Because Anna never really developed her own voice, her sense of hearing seemed to develop double-time.  She knows all sorts of birds by their chirps.  In order to study them, Anna dresses like a tree and stands completely still in the middle of the forest.  The only ones she hasn't fooled into thinking she is actually a tree are the mosquitos, who often nibble on her nose.  While standing very still, Anna does bird calls.  It is the only time that her voice goes over a whisper.  Then, the birds come very close and she looks at them and memorizes all of their colors so that she can record them in her sketchbook.