Etsy

  • ETSY

Urban Beauty

Unimportant Things About Me

  • •As a child, I did not like gathering eggs on the farm because the hens were mean.
    • I played the Doris Day part in “Pillow Talk” in a high school play.
    • I played defensive line woman on my girl’s football team in high school - real football, not powder puff.
    • I ate dinner at a restaurant next to Vice President Bush’s table in Fort Smith, Arkansas surrounded by secret service agents.
    • I played the French horn and the cymbals in my high school band – horribly.
    • I was the Sports Editor of my high school paper.
    • When I moved to California, I lived in Malibu. I now live near Skid Row.
    • I did not finish kindergarten.

Favorite Magazines

  • Art Doll
  • Home Companion
  • Cloth Paper Scissors

101 Things in 1001 Days

  • THE START OF MY LIST 1 Go to Paris and shop flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales 2 Go on a holiday trip with my entire family 3 Do stretching exercises five days a week for one month 4 Write the second edition of the Raile Family History 5 Finish the Harry Potter series 6 Create “gorilla art” 7 Make a map of every place I have been 8 Elaborately decorate my loft for Halloween 9 Invite at least four guests for dinner at the same time and everyone wears red 10 Go to Yosemite Park 11 Host a pajama party 12 Go on at least one date 13 Turn the big room into something whimsical 14 Change jobs 15 Keep a better diary 16 Set-up a trust fund 17 Write my life story 18 Create a web site to sell things 19 Make things that I am willing to sell 20 Send an admiration letter to RK 21 Visit New York 22 Attend Artfest in Seattle, Washington 23 Visit Watts Tower 24 Send out secret friend packages 25 Create a margarita bar and a coffee bar in loft 26 Read five books that I should have read in high school 27 Create five photo studies

July 2009

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The trash is piling up

Bonnie Baylee Yes, the trash is piling up - as in Trash Dolls.  Here are two more for the posse.  The rose color is Bonnie Baylee and the blue one is Luscious Lou.


After scoring a huge load of new fabric from the Italian Fabric dumpster yesterday (I traded with a dozen donuts), I spent the evening organizing.  I have a beautiful assortment of silks and satins now and a bit of fancy lacy material.  For some reason, I also took some Sponge Bob polar fleece.  Why, I don't know.  I have enough to make many baby blankets - which, of course, I won't.  Maybe I can use it to make some weird tote bags or pillows.

I hear there is a new issue of the magazine Stuffed out.  I need to actually get in my car and drive someplace other than Starbucks.  Now that I think about it, I could go to Starbucks at Barnes and Noble to get the magazine.  I also want to get the new Cloth, Paper and Scissors magazine.  EHAG artist, Kristin Beason is featured on the cover.  (EHAG - Eclectic Halloween Artist Group).

Luscious Lou

Trash Doll

Trash Doll Here is a "Trash Doll" I made today from the material I snatched out of the Italian Wholesale Fabric dumpster.  The material is silk and I suspect expensive silk.  It is beautiful.  The black eye feels like cashmere but is felt.


I really want to work on my Whim-Bots, but this material is so beautiful that I can not just let it sit on my table without doing something with it.

Rifiuti Pesce II (Italian for Trashy Fish)

Trashy Fish 2Another Trashy Fish. (Softie made out of fabric found in Italian Wholesale Fabric dumpster this morning.) The red material is soft and cuddly. By the way, I did wash all the material before I started sewing.

Rifiuti Pesce (Italian for Trashy Fish)

Trashy Fish "Fished out" fabric from Italian Wholesale Fabric's dumpster (with their permission) this morning.  And this afternoon I made this cute little "Rifiuti Pesce."  My Italian is rough, so my translation made not be right.


Pennyfest

BLog Kim and Lorraine, Artfest friends, visited me this last week, and we had so much fun!  It was all about "making stuff, and then making more stuff."


Shown here is "Pirate Girl" that Lorraine whipped out in about twenty minutes.  She is such a speed demon.  JJ, the cat, usually does not like to have his picture taken, but he seems to really like "Pirate Girl."  He also took a liking to Kim and Lorraine.

I'll  post more photos later from Pennyfest.

Guesta Rey Bot

Guesta Rey Bot BLOG With all of the Whim-Bots I have created, it was nice to have Guesta Rey Bot appear.  He likes order and seems to always being telling the other Bots which way to go.


He is made of a thin cigar tin, two beads, two pickle forks, two black rubber washers, a black Lego piece and two small measuring spoons.

With the anticipation of company in less than two weeks, I started clearing my work tables of "body parts." All that is left on the tables are half completed Bots. They are either missing "heads" or 'bodies." Kind of creepy.

More Whim-Bots

Scale Man BLOG The Whim-Bots continue to multiply.  I finished two today.  This one is "Scale Man" for lack of any other name.  He came to me so fast that I did not have time to get to know his personality.  He did seem happy to have his picture taken.  


He is made of a scale, two forks, two mini loaf pans, a cable outlet thingy, two white leg casters, two black beads, and the thing that goes inside a percolator.
My neighbor Suzy gave me some great canisters last night that are going to work perfect for my "Tin Man's" legs.  He is one of my bigger pieces that has been sitting patiently while I found him some limbs.  Now, I need to figure out how to attach his arms (two sink faucets).

Betty Bundt Cake

Betty Bundt Cake BLOG Betty Bundt Cake aspires to be a ballerina.  She likes to eat berries and collects buttons.  She plays bingo every Saturday night and refuses to go close to bananas.


The newest addition to the Whim-Bot family was made with a bundt cake pan, a thermos, tongs, games pieces including a rook from chess (her nose), two measuring spoons, a fan from a computer and a cute little pink fu-fu.

Ms. Apple Red Joins the Whim-Bots

Ms Apple Red BLOG Just finished Ms. Apple Red, one of the few female bots I have made.  She seems to be quite congenial though she does tend to keep to herself.  She did take offense to her original base which was a red fan to dry fingernail polish.  I spent a good 30 minutes trying to attach it with no success.  So I used a black wood cone instead.


Recycled items:  little ballerina from music box, red pot and lid, poker chips, two forks, a red plastic apple and a fan from a computer.

Tip and Mitten at the Thrift Store

TipMitten1957 Tip. Where is Tip?  Find Tip.  Well, today I found him along with Mitten at the Deseret Thrift Store in Boyle Heights for 25 cents.  It was one of those moments that all thrift store addicts can relate to - the big score!


The book is in good condition and was a 1957 reprint of the 1949 edition.  I learned to read along with many others from the Tip series of books.  Now if I could only find Dick and Jane.