Yoshi etch a sketch by *pikajane on deviantART
Fantastic rendering of Yoshi on an Etch-a-Sketch! Something I would never have the patience to do!
Tags: yoshi
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- Jayden as Pooh’s Honey Pot
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- Jayden as Tigger
Here in my household we love Winnie the Pooh and all his friends! This year for Halloween we’re trick or treating and partying Pooh-style. My 6-month-old nephew Jayden took turns dressing up as Pooh’s honey pot and Pooh’s friend Tigger. He looked terribly cute in both costumes so we let him wear both! Funny story about the honey pot costume…I found it on clearance at the Disney store at least a decade ago and couldn’t resist buying it even though I didn’t know any baby who could fit into it. Then, lo and behold, all these years later, my nephew is born and the costume fits him perfectly right around Halloween! Too cool!
We also found some really cute designs featuring Winne the Pooh and friends celebrating Halloween over at Zazzle:
Tags: Pooh
Yesterday my niece and I spent a wonderful afternoon down at Lake Union as we took a tour of the lake and Ship Canal on board the Queen of Seattle paddle wheeler. The boat is the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi and the whole experience replicates that of travelers back in the gold heyday of Seattle (1890s). The two-hour journey took us past houseboats, GasWorks Park, and the Locks as well as past dozens of kayakers, paddle boarders, and folks in small boats.
It was a cool, windy and gloriously sunny day and the scenery was breathtaking. I convinced my niece (who is not a fan of wind or cool weather) to spend most of the trip on the open top deck where the views were the best. This put us right in front for the steam calliope performance which sounded great but the performer was quickly lost to sight amidst all the steam. On the route back to the dock, we joined the other guests inside the covered deck for a short performance featuring period songs and dances. We had an excellent time and highly recommend the experience.
Little dragons by `imaginism on deviantART
I love these little dragon sketches, particularly the little guy with the caterpillar. Really like the wings and all the different poses and expressions.
Allyson savors the first bite of the first cupcake from the box
I know cupcakes are trendy right now and I can certainly understand why. They’re small which makes them so cute when they are decorated and they are the perfect portion for those folks who care about stuff like that. I like them because I get a variety of flavors all at once and most bakeries are experimenting with the most surprising and delicious flavor combinations.
Through Groupon (yay, Groupon!), I discovered that I have an award-winning cupcake bakery right near my neighborhood: Trophy Cupcakes. It was surprisingly difficult to select the flavors for my first dozen…so many choices and I definitely wanted to see how they treated my old favorites like red velvet. I also included a few “standard” flavors like chocolate and vanilla for my less adventurous family members.
The verdict? Every bite was superb! I could tell the ingredients were high-quality even in the standard flavors: the chocolate was rich and the vanilla had a wonderful depth of flavor. In the name of research, I convinced everyone to give me one bite of each of the flavors (some folks took more convincing than others) and I must admit that I enjoyed every bite. The more exotic flavors (like Salted Caramel and Strawberry Lemonade) were outstanding. I still think my favorite was my old standby: red velvet. The cupcakes are a great size and, while some of my other testers thought there was too much frosting, I found the frosting to cake ratio to be perfect.
I definitely recommend these amazing cupcakes. They feature different flavors on different days (see their website before heading to the store) and will run out of flavors later in the day so stop by early to get the best selection. The cupcakes won’t stay fresh long so plan to share with friends if you buy a dozen or more.
Tags: food
As an art student, my niece Allyson is asked to do projects that require her to learn new tools and techniques. For a recent project in her technical drawing class, the instructor demonstrated how to use french curves to achieve perfect curves. After several disastrous attempts to work with the french curves, Allyson finally reverted to drawing curves freehand in order to get the project finished on time.
Here’s her take on trying to learn the french curves tool:
- Hard to master. The ink kept creating dots whenever she’d start or end a curve.
- Didn’t seem to be as useful for small scale curves. Might work well drawing large curves where it’s harder to keep a steady hand.
- Much easier to draw curves by hand. (Keep in mind that she is a rather proficient freehand artist.)
Having never successfully used the french curves I acquired back in art school, I was curious about french curves and how they are used today (if at all). After some time on the web and chatting with my designer friends, I found that most folks either did not know how to use french curves at all (many had them tucked away in a drawer since art school) or chose to either draw curves by hand or on the computer. Interestingly enough, my friends who sew or do wood working were the only ones who still used french curves regularly. Perhaps engineers and architects still use them as well?
Here are some interesting things I found while researching french curves:
- Instructions with illustration on how to use a french curve (looks like it’s from a textbook)
- How to use a french curve for sewing (general suggestions)
- Using French Curves and Circle Templates with Wacom Cintiq (combining hand tools with the computer)
- French Curves and Watercolor Flowers (student art project with lovely pics)
- French Curves, Sharpies and Patience (amazing art done with french curves)
Tags: art
Dancer by *shimoda7 on deviantART
Came across this stunning piece of charcoal/pencil art over at DeviantArt. We love the shadows, the details, and realism. Simply amazing. Like it? You can buy a print of the work here>>