NicoDesigns: Where it's always the season for lovebirds

NicoDesigns is a special Etsy shop not only because of the cute and creative items that are sold there. It's also special because a percentage of the profits are donated to The Ronald McDonald House in Temple and to MD Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston.

Many of our lives have somehow been touched by cancer and by making a purchase at this shop, aside from getting one of her lovely items, you can also be making a bit of a difference in people's lives.

I like her love birds and the pear pincushions crafted from recycled fabrics. They're charming enough to give as gifts and leave out on a shelf.

Gertie, The Obsessed Art Doll made me smile. I like art dolls in general, and at NicoDesigns you'll find some clever ones.

Her blog, also called NicoDesigns, is worth visiting, a clean and informative site with projects and tips.

I particularly liked the information on Japanese patterns. I've got some beautiful Japanese wire and beading books but am not really sure of all the instructions or how to translate them.

Just like in her shop, her blog has an assortment of goodies, and you'll probably enjoy them all.

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Present for Dee, Tuesday Flashback Feature, Whats Happening

This is part of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We reminisce about classic TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

What's Happening!!
A Present for Dee
February 9, 1979

Dee's (Danielle Spencer) 14th birthday is coming up. Her big brother, Roger, known as Raj, (Ernest Thomas) and their friends decide to have a surprise birthday party for her.

Dee figures out the plan ahead of time. One surprise gift is a necklace. It came from Little Earl (David Hollander) and the necklace was stolen.

Dee dislikes it. When she goes to the store to exchange it, she's wrongly accused of shoplifting. When Shirley (Shirley Hemphill) comes to help, things get even more interesting.

"Roger, Rerun and Dwayne are three buddies growing up in Los Angeles. The three of them always have a penchant for getting into mischief and trying to find ways of getting rich quick."

The show ran 1976-1979, and almost always the guys' schemes wind up getting them into trouble. It is up to Roger's mother to get them out of it. Roger's sister, Dee is bratty and the source of additional trouble. [Painting from Rbecoskie's Etsy shop.]

Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources.

Particularly when the episode hasn't been recently viewed personally, information will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

I'm always interested to hear your memories and will often include links so you can get DVDs of the shows, too. In the interest of supporting fellow artists, I'll be featuring a few shops where the pieces tie into the general theme of the featured story.

You can get the series is on DVD. This episode would be contained in The Complete Third Season. The What's Happening: Complete Series set is also available.

You could have your own Stolen Moments Necklace without worry of the law if you visit WesleyAsher's Shop. (left)

That's What's Happening to Me is the name of a painting at Rbecoskie's Etsy Shop. (see above)

There's a pretty Rectangle Ocarina, the Key of D at Fairyringmushroomco's Shop. I bet Dee would like that.

Raj also might have been better off getting his sister the Dee Light Bouquet?? It's a colorful bouquet of plastic buttons. Yanadesigns has one that's cheery.

Dwayne's character is well known for his greeting, "Hey, HEY, Hey," which differs slightly from Bill Cosby's Fat Albert's "Hey, Hey, Hey."

I read that Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) is the only character who appears in every episode of What's Happening!!

In a TVLand list of the Top 100 TV Catch Phrases, Dwayne's greeting was number 55. Barney Fife's "Nip it!" from The Andy Griffith Show was number 100. "Heeeeere's Johnny!" from The Tonight Show was number one.

If you visit SheRadiates, there is a pretty Hey Hey Hey Baby brooch.

Rerun the Happy Hippie Cat pincushion can be found at FatCatCrafts. (above) Rerun the nickname of the third member of the trio of friends on the show.

Even more reason to shop for birthday presents on Etsy. A bit less likely that Dee's problem would arise? Handmade Rules! :-)

Some images from sitcomsonline
An article with links to previous Tuesday Flashback Features

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Portraits Done in Unconventional Materials: Your Face Can Stand Out in the Crowd

Have you ever had your portrait done? Artists are creating portraits in materials other than or along with paint and any time I see artwork created in unconventional materials, I want to hear more. That's an artist to keep your eye on.  (Image at left from CadiGirlDesigns, Etsy)

This is another installment in my Anatomical Art series. If we must be specific, let's say it's about faces, 3-D portraits. These offer up interesting textures and often fascinating feats of construction as well as eliciting double-takes from the viewer. Some artists go for realism while others are more a caricature.

Lisa Kokin is an artist whose work I've been wanting to talk about for a while. I like buttons, partly for their diversity of material and form and partly for their history. Kokin is so creative using them in amazing portraits. (see image below, from her web site.)

"My work has always had an obsessive quality and this body of work is no exception. Every button is stitched to its neighbor to form a low-tech pixilated composition. 

"Up close each piece is an abstract melange of colors and shapes; the further back one stands the more decipherable the image becomes. This interplay between abstraction and representation intrigues me. 

"It is as though I am painting with buttons, building my palette as I go along, adding and subtracting until the interplay of colors and forms coalesces into a coherent image." -- from Lisa Kokin's web site

Among Sally Heller's artworks are portraits of pinup girls created with acrylic fingernails. I featured Heller in my post on fingernail art a while back.

Betty Milliken uses materials such as chewing gum, caulking compound and dried grapefruit peel in her portraits. There's an online tutorial, The Chewing Gum Portrait Project. You, too can be unconventional.

Jo Hamilton's crochet work includes portraits that she's made by turning photographs of people's faces into fiber. She also stitches colorful 3-D distorted cityscapes incorporating fibers of different types. (Jo Hamilton's work above)

Artist Michael Murphy mixes manure with paint for his portraits of some public figures including politicians.  Murphy's work appears to be bi-partisan.

In 2009, an exhibit called Faces: Chuck Close and Contemporary Portraiture as at the Nevada Museum of Art. 
Can a face tell a story?

On Etsy you'll find artists who make custom portraits in different materials.

At Papercutsbyjoe's shop there is an 8x10 Custom Paper Silhouette Portrait.

zJayne offers an ACEO Copper Collage custom made for you. (left)

A portrait/fiber art piece consisting velvet and decorator fabric on a burlap backing is at CadiGirlDesigns.

For those of you who are into cross stitch, visit Weesandy. You can get a custom Cross Stitch Pattern from something like a photo or your child's artwork.

Moonikins can create a 3-D portrait of your pet on a wooden magnet or keychain. A portion of sale is donated to AHS.

So don't keep your good-looking face in a jar by the door. Get an unconventional portrait made. Or try your hand at creating one yourself. I'll bet you've got some materials handy right now.


Like the other installments in the Anatomical Art series this portrait post just skims the surface and may well have a sequel in the future.

 

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The Locket, Tuesday Flashback Feature, All in the Family

This is part of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We reminisce about classic TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

All in the Family

The Locket

November 25, 1972

Edith can't find the gold heirloom locket that her grandmother gave to her on her deathbed. Grandma also told her not to marry Archie. Archie wants to report the locket missing so he can collect the insurance money.

Even though he has to lie and say that the necklace was stolen while filling out the report, he's so confident that he'll get the insurance money, how much it's worth plus extra for sentimental value, he orders a new $300 color television set to be delivered to his house immediately.

He then runs into problems when an agent comes over to verify the claim. It turns out that his greed got the better of him in this situation and the ending has something of a twist.

Lockets tend to be used in storylines particularly when they want something that has an heirloom and a special emotional and historical as well as monetary value.

Aunt Bee's heirloom brooch went missing on The Andy Griffith Show and they collected an insurance check for that. There was some resulting mayhem, as you might recall.

This week's Hairy Situation article is also about an episode of All in the Family.  Black is the Color of My True Love's Wig.  Gloria's brunette wig turns her husband on very much. He's sleeping on the couch and she's very insulted!

You can get All In the Family: The Complete Third Season on DVD at Amazon.

They also have the entire series, All in the Family Seasons 1-6 Bundle. No network ads or watermarks, no commercials. Remember how tv used to be.

Samantha: An American Girl Holiday, a limited edition DVD gift set comes with a locket. And please check out Angelina Ballerina: The Silver Locket.


Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources.

Particularly when the episode hasn't been recently viewed personally, information will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

Please note: The Etsy shops mentioned may be out of business, many of the items may be sold out. Thanks for their letting me feature and discuss them here.

I know what you're thinking. You'd like a locket of your own now. Maybe another locket to add to your collection?

There's a Sterling Silver Photo Ball, Locket For Six Pictures that you might like.

Basilthecat has a Shooting Stars Vintage Locket Necklace that will hold four pictures. (above)  

A vintage photo titled Uncle Ed and Aunt Edith can be seen over at MustyBoxesEphemera. (right)

A nice graphic Mike Brand Indian River FLorida Grapefruit Crate Label which I bet Mike Stivic would like is at LABELSTONE. (below)

Dress up the little one's tootsies in a pair of Edith Cloth Baby Shoes.

Try to remember where your lockets are at all times or Archie might come over and try to work out a deal that you may regret later....

One image from sitcomsonline

See the previous Tuesday Flashback Features

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Etsy Treasury Feature, Most Likely To, I Love Turquoise & Lime

We're in a Treasury! I love turquoise and lime

My Green Swarovski crystal and Italian Glass necklace is part of an Etsy Treasury!

This Treasury was created by TinaFrancisDesigns

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The Engagement Ring, Tuesday Flashback Featue, The Flintsones

This is part of my Tuesday Flashback Feature. We reminisce about classic TV shows usually from the 1950s-1970s where gemstones or pieces of jewelry featured prominently in the storylines.

The Flintstones

The Engagement Ring
November 25, 1960

Barney buys an engagement ring for Betty. It seems that he never got her one, and she's been hinting throughout their marriage that she'd like to have one. He's gotten it on credit but it's worth it.

He asks Fred to hide it at his house. He decides to hide the ring from Wilma assuming that she'd tell Betty about it before Barney had a chance to give it to her. 

First he puts it in the flour container, since Wilma hasn't baked a cake in a long time. Of course, Wilma bakes a cake and Fred has to find a way to rescue the ring once it's in the cake! He ends up stealing trash from the Bedrock garbage man.

Once he has the ring back, he hides it in one of the finger holes of his bowling ball. The ball falls off the shelf and as Wilma is putting it away, and the ring falls out. Whoops! Wilma assumes that the ring is for her, as she's been wanting an engagement ring, too. She shows the ring to Betty, and Fred can't bring himself to tell her the truth about whose ring it is.

Fred wants to buy a second ring, but doesn't have the cash or the credit to get one. He cons Barney into going several rounds with a boxing champ in order to win a $500 prize. Eventually they manage to get the money together, thanks to Wilma actually, and a second identical ring is bought for Betty.

Each Tuesday, we'll feature a different show, often a US sitcom. Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources.

Particularly when the episode hasn't been recently viewed personally, information will be as accurate as possible. When available, a show photo will be included.

In an earlier Tuesday Flashback Feature, Ann Marie, That Girl, also worried about having baked an engagement ring in a cake.  TV plots where wives find gifts that their husbands are hiding for their friends to give their wives have been made before and after The Flintstones.

In an episode of The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show, which aired in the 1950s, George agrees to care for a mink stole for his neighbor. Uh-oh.

Have you thought about going incognito some evening?  You could try the Adult Wilma Flintstone Costume. Maybe no one will know who you really are, and you'll be able to giggle just like Wilma and Betty do? Wilma and Betty, like some other cartoon ladies, were tinier than tiny and not quite realistic. Also available is Rubies' women's Wilma Flinstone, Adult Plus Size Costume And Wig.

The Flintstones movie with John Goodman and Halle Berry has a Collectors Edition available on Amazon.

A Barbie Collectors set, The Flintstones: Wilma and Betty at the Cactus Room is just right for reminding you of who the real stone-age fashion-plates really were.

Wilma also can be found as a little Barbie The Flintstones Kelly Doll.

The Engagement Ring was part of The Flintstones: The Complete First Season of the show.

I'm always interested to hear your memories. In the interest of supporting fellow artists, I feature a few shops where the pieces tie into the general theme of the story.

Wilma Flintstone was known for her glamorous necklace of large rocks. I'm not sure if there was ever an episode that explained where the necklace came from. Many Wilma costumes have been made that included that trademark necklace.

Wilma is one of the characters on a set of character glasses. The Flintstones Kids Wilma Vintage Drinking Glass is from Pizza Hut in 1986.

Betty shouldn't mind if you get these Vintage 70s Flintstones Barney Rubble Clothing Hangers.

They say that The Flintstones was an animated take-off of the show, The Honeymooners, which aired 1955-1956. The Honeymooners: Classic 39 Episodes are favorites.

Happy New Year!
May you have far too much Yabba in your Dabba-Doo
than you know what to do with in the new year!

Some images (c) Hanna-Barbera

See the previous Tuesday Flashback Features

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Go ahead, eat your hat: Edible & Food-Inspired Fashions

The World Chocolate Fair is held in Paris in October. If that news wasn't exciting enough, one of the events at the fair is a chocolate fashion show. French model Laetitia Rey modeled a chocolate outfit designed by Eva Rachline.

It showcased chocolate features by French chocolate maker Magnum. Le Salon du Chocolat is taking its show on the road, next to China. Shanghai is hosting the world's largest event dedicated to chocolate.

Do you have plans for the 13th of March (2010)? You could attend the Edible Fashion Awards in New Zealand.

Edible fashion shows aren't new. Whether they're done for the spectacle, to draw public interest, to show designers' skills and creativity or all of the above, they're fun to watch. We need a lift right now in particular.

The popular television show, Project Runway has had a few challenges for its fashion designers where they've been asked to design clothes using edible elements. The first challenge of the first episode of the first season of Project Runway was a grocery store challenge.

Austin Scarlett won the challenge with his Corn Husk dress. Since then, the show has had another grocery store challenge and a candy store challenge. There was also least one challenge where the designers had to use plants and flowers for their garments.

For the 2010 VMA Awards held September 2010, Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat. Referring to her outfit – and wearing her best poker face – Lady Gaga joked: "I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse."
Seeing the two icons together shows some of the evolution of rock music fashion.

A Guardian retrospective shows other outfits, worn by Gaga and others, that have been meat-inspired.

In a September blog post, I talked about The Berkeley Hotel in London's famous Fashionistas' Afternoon Tea, Prêt-à-Portea. It features cookies, cakes and petit fours inspired by current fashion trends seen on the runways.

On season one of RuPaul's Drag Race, the contestants had an Absolute Vodka challenge. They had to make outfits in the colors of the fruit flavors but also somehow incorporate the fruits themselves into the what they'd be wearing.

I have an article online about an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show where Rob Petrie grows lettuce on his head instead of hair. I found a quote from the make-up man that reminded me of some of the challenges on shows like Project Runway.

"The sight gag that arrives at the episode's climax -- where Rob wakes up to discover that his scalp has been transformed into an actual head of lettuce -- was a special effect that makeup man Tom Tuttle achieved by ingenious means, employing a standard theatrical bald cap and other items obtained at the local grocer.

"'I found an old head of cabbage,' explains Tuttle, 'and then I took a needle and thread and just sewed it through. Leaf by leaf.'" -- from The official Dick Van Dyke show book: the definitive history and ultimate..., by Vince Waldron.

Beatrice Oettinger uses natural materials in her garments, sometimes including plants, grasses and barks. Her outfits may also consist of a little pasta.

If you'd like to wear some more carbs, The Dadada Studio's bread shoes are hot. Not too hot though.

This doesn't really qualify as edible fashion, but it's unconventional material allows it in nonetheless.

British professor and designer Helen Storey, along with chemist and fellow professor Tony Ryan, has created a dissolvable dress. If you're the type who prefers to wear a dress once, this one may be perfect for you.

From their web site: "We chose [a] dress to manifest our new approach because we wanted to create something beautifully familiar with which to stimulate an emotional connection, particularly here at LCF.

"To watch a dress, that has taken months to create, disappear in a few days seemed to connect directly to that place of unfathomable loss. We hope this may work as a metaphor for our disappearing world."

Maybe the dissolving dress is a bit sheer for you. Don't worry. You can try it over some Candy underwear. Remember candy necklaces? The edible womens Candy Bra is sweet and sexy as they say on Amazon. It comes in one size though.

The Twin Pack: Edible Candy G-String & Edible Candy Bra: Top and Bottom for Women gets you a full ensemble.

There's also something for you guys out there in the Candy line: Edible Mens Candy Pouch Thong, too. I don't know about wearing these to the beach or to a pool party. It's up to you.

I like to feature items along the theme that are available from Etsy sellers in my posts and have never had a problem coming up with them.

If you're in a DIY (Do It Yourself) mood, Candypopcreations has a Candycorn Beanie Crochet Pattern. Make a bunch for your whole family. Make another set of them flesh-colored and be the local Coneheads? Just tell people that you're from France.

Maybe you'll get the prime seat at the sushi bar if you show up in your Ikura Sushi Cocktail Hat from CrayonFawn's Shop. (left)

No one will be able to resist the Tutie Cutie Tea Party Strawberry Fairy Princess Tutu Outfit! Get your cutie patootie over to Tutiecutieboutique and see for yourself. (See bottom of page)

Back to feeling DIY. Dianelangan has a pattern for a Food Art Carrot Scarf. Orange is a popular color, too.

Apricotbabybaby has something to go with those bread shoes talked about earlier. It's a Crochet Cozy Buttery Toast Scarf.

Devaniweaver can get you into your very own Cupcake dress with sprinkles and a cherry on top. (right) Be delish in 2010.

You know someone special who'd love these personalized Fortune Cookie Slippers. Just stop by Sushibooties' Shop to find a pair.

[Tutiecutieboutique]

What about sculpture made of edible materials? Butter, cheese and chocolate sculptures you see in the state fair? How many controversia sculpture proposals have there been in the past few years alone? Is it an honor or a mockery or publicity, and who makes that choice?

This is definitely not the last time we'll talk about "edible fashions" as the subject is so interesting and it's good to remember that you are what you eat.

Some images from the London Telegraph and Bravo TV; Cher/Lady Gaga photo The Guardian

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