craftmania

I started using Google Reader (a wonderful service, btw) last year around April, and have been starring all the crafty diys and tutorials I want to try. Not even a year later, I have 346 starred items. Granted, this includes the occasional lolcat and xkcd comic or two, but when you consider all the projects in my queue on Ravelry, you realize I could create a different thing a day for a year without any further input. Even from current ongoing projects or my various inspiration files.
Unfortunately, these days it seems I can't even get time to go to the bathroom by myself, so the backlog will continue to multiply . . .

At least it's fun to scroll through.

serendipitous

I was trying to find out if the picture at the bottom of this post was by the same artist that's popped up in several blogs lately (the answer, btw, is yes: apparently the PC online world is in a summer state of mind these days) when I came across this instead. Don't ask me how the search for one led to the other, but I'm so glad it did. I love iconography anyway, and this is so wonderfully expressive and just lovely. I could stare at these offerings for a long time, and probably will (until my baby wakes up again, anyway).

at the arboreteum

I love the colors in this photo; it looks almost like a polaroid. I wouldn't have normally put these colors together, but now I'm seeing all sorts of possibilities in it.

So. Pretty.

I'm drooling. Chicki's faux jade ring is unbelievably beautiful. (the photography is stunning, too.) Originally found through CraftGossip.

takeoff

lily-of-the-valley, April 2009

unexpected

Saw this on tv this weekend - it's like jewel-toned steampunk meets the natural world. I like it.

pretty

went looking for inspiration tonight, this is what I found. almost enough to motivate me out of my post-Easter slothphoric slump

Hoppy Easter!

Normally I'm pretty clueless when it comes to Craftster's monthly challenges, but this month I actually have an idea - inspired by Gail of "that artist woman" (which probably gives it away, but whatever). Now to actually find the time (and eggs) to do it with!

Inspirational

I think the whole world goes a little pink-mad in spring . . .

FAIL, part 3

I melted my teapot box. It was very sad.

”The seed of your next art work lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece. Such imperfections (or mistakes, if you’re feeling particularly depressed about them today) are your guides -- valuable, reliable, objective, non-judgemental guides -- to matters you need to reconsider or develop further.” -- David Bayles and Ted Orland

Saw the above today at the ICPG. I'm starting to realize how true it is. Although, perhaps not so much in the matter of the melted teapot.

the wonderful world of biology

When artists speak of being inspired by the natural world, they seldom mean at the molecular level, which is a shame. Nature's exquisite forms aren't limited by the resolution of the human eye.

I just wish that I could have reached this conclusion other than by pondering the nasty cold I appear to be coming down with . . .

Red, red, my name is red

spring has sprung!

Confucius say

While looking up Confucianism this afternoon (and realizing once again how patchy my education is) I found this picture, which is perfect for something, I just have to figure out what.

Cassowary Jewelry

This is fantastic. Not only the transfer, which takes advantage of the characteristic desaturation of polymer clay transfers to add a certain vintage quality to the piece, but the color scheme of the whole is just perfect. Can I be that necklace when I grow up?

Need Inspiration?

This is an amazing tool. Seriously.