ten things...

Friday, September 27, 2013

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4. Aviators! (picture from pinterest)


I'm normally super jealous of any semi-coherent "about me" on a blog. I can't even get a measly paragraph about myself on my own. So I find the "about me" page of the blogger behind The Band Wife to be out of this world amazing. I mean, she has such a cute story behind her marriage. Pretty much one of those dream come true sort of lives. So very jealous!

Guilty pleasure... Cookie Clicker. Seriously, I'm building a cookie-making empire. All day, every day.

Another guilty pleasure... Teen Wolf. I especially love Stiles' Jeep. Like, it's probably my favorite part. If it ever died, I would be heartbroken. I would love to own a pretty teal Jeep of my own.

This fireplace on A Beautiful Mess! Black and white stripes? Yes please!

This cute little kitty (affectionately called Sir Stuffington) was rescued after a raccoon attack. The attack left him with some deformities on his left eye... and now he is the cutest pirate to ever walk the land.
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Addicted to Sunglasses

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

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inspire me... Willy Verginer

Monday, September 23, 2013

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Willy Verginer was brought to my attention by The Jealous Curator blog, and I had a hard time picking out a favorite sculpture to show you guys because they're all SO good. I don't think I've fallen this hard for sculpture since my first time viewing Giacometti.

Basically, this guy was doing dip dying and colorblocking way before it was cool. His realistic wood sculptures are carved with breathtaking detail while still maintaining the beautiful texture that comes from the process. I love that some parts of these pieces aren't smoothed to perfection. It really gives you a feel for what went into creating the piece. On some works (like the one pictured below) he adds ornate details to certain sections, pushing the already gorgeous piece into the realm of legendary.

And the color. I can barely type I'm so in love. Most pieces have a base color of a lovely creme or dark gray, which work well in that they force you to look at the details. And then you get to the beautiful pop of color, in elegant plum or lavish gold leaf or shocking orange, all placed with geometric perfection to draw your attention in the best way.


Willy Verginer links:




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Gone fishin....

Saturday, September 21, 2013

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Okay, not really. But I'm going to be spacey about posting again while I work on churning these babies out for a booth that I will hopefully have set up next weekend. I've got big plans, cause there's another concert I want to go see, and a game I want to buy. :]

Have a stellar weekend!


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Steampunk Waterguns

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

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Okay, quick runthrough for those who never have heard of the word "steampunk." It's a style/movement inspired by the works of Jules Verne, and characterized by clockwork, brass, and of course steam powered apparatuses. This style is amazing, and has been around for quite a while. Go to any con and you're bound to see at least one booth selling steampunk themed items, and tons of cosplay with the theme in mind as well.

This year I decided that I wanted to do a steampunk themed workshop as part of our summer activities series. I wanted the kids to have an easy craft that they could do that had the potential to look (and be) epic, so I decided on a project that embraced the theme but could still be enjoyed by the kids: water guns.

Preparation for this event was a little bit intense, but not nearly as bad as some of the more decorated events we've had. We got these guns from Oriental Trading because they had a unique shape and a very sci-fi look to them. I sanded them down a bit, just enough to give them a texture that the spray paint could latch onto. After sanding them I took them outside and sprayed them with brown, silver, gold, and copper spray paint. As you can see, I left some guns just one color, but others I sprayed with multiple colors to give them a more unique look.


To transform the guns into steampunk creations we gave the children decorations to add to their guns, including watch parts and gears, stickers (all from Oriental Trading again), paint, and whatever other craft supplies we had in our closet.  All of these decorations had to be hot glued onto the guns.


The kids painted first, surprising me with their attention to detail. After their paint dried they would pick decorations to put on, and we would hot glue them wherever they told us to. All it takes is a dab of glue, any more and you'll burn through the plastic of the gun. We had quite a few inventive decorations. One participant even used one of the gears to make a sight. 


After everyone's gun was glued and dried, our participants decided that the next step was pretty logical... I mean, what else would you do with super awesome water guns on a hot day?


Oh, and this was my creation. I plan to keep it around to spray my cat when he's not behaving. 






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Minnesota

Friday, September 13, 2013

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Guys, I posted this 4 weeks ago, and then accidentally deleted it. Like right away. And then I just couldn't bring myself to try again. Mainly because I had this whole bunch of information written out, but of course I can't remember any of it. Blogger problems, haha.



Okay, I've never been on a camping adventure like the one my boyfriend, his family, and I went on last month. We stayed in a cabin on a lake for a week, and it was beautiful. I caught 4 fish. My boyfriend picked me flowers from a lily pad. We stole away for a date and went putt-putt golfing at a place that I'm pretty sure has been there since before I was born. I waded across the Mississippi.  We were on the lake every single day. The sunsets were breathtaking. There were campfires.

It was amazing. 


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ten [Etsy] things...

Thursday, September 12, 2013

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I went did some intense Etsy window shopping, so I wanted to share the things I've been drooling over the most.

These pillows from LauraFrisk are just too bright and bold and quirky and fun not to own!

I love this driftwood clock from Railis. Simple, modern, but still natural. 

The colors of this diamond pattern rug from HandCraftNepal are just perfect.

Also loving the color of this rug from NotARug (huh? The name makes me giggle too much).

The message and color of this print from LisaBarbero is just perfect. 
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WIP Wednesday [Claire]

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

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I was kinda on the fence about showing you guys this piece because I haven't got a good scan of it yet. A lot of the elements from this drawing are used in later works, but she's still a unique piece so I decided to go ahead and upload what few pictures I did have. 

Hatching for shading done with ink, background and collar piece both in watercolors, on watercolor paper. It took me a long time to finish this one because I started working on stuff that had a deadline.

I think she has the saddest expression of all the girls I've drawn so far. :[


The original "Claire" is for sale. 
Contact me at jeslesemann@gmail.com for details!
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inspire me... Guy Catling

Monday, September 9, 2013

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I usually don't have much patience for art that is "too" simple. There's something about minimalism that, while I respect it, never really wows me. But the artist I'm featuring today is about as simple as it gets. Just a few patterns or colors collaged on top of vintage photographs, but the composition entrances me.
 I originally saw the work of Guy Catling on the jealous curator blog, and I instantly knew that this is an artist I would be talking about on my blog. While I like his other work, the pieces that really stuck out to me were the ones that were accented with floral pyramids. Specifically the images of pyramids (which makes me think that the over-saturation of the design world with triangles is finally getting to me), or mountains. The colors chosen make everything a little more beautiful. :)



Links for Guy Catling:

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ten things...

Thursday, September 5, 2013

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Guys and gals, I don't know whats up with the illustrations on the numbers for this week's ten things. Stuff happened, and then I was done. So apparently now twigs with circle flowers are a thing. And now, on with the show!

Really into these sculptures by Etsy shop stoneandviolet. I first saw them on design*sponge and instantly fell in love.

I love this whole post on apartment therapy. A wall full of art and a shelf behind the couch. Awesome, and even better, simple. Really appeals to my lazy side. :]

I love this spring collection from the shop San Remo. It's girly without being cheesy. 

I'm looking for a hutch to store my lego creations in. (Yeah, I'm an adult, I swear.) I really love this shelf I found on pinterest.

I've been thinking a lot about bed covers, so my pinterst board "quilts" is getting a lot of view this week!
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WIP Wednesday [Elizabeth]

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This little drawing was more of a free form don't put any pressure on myself kinda piece. You can kinda tell cause her eyes are huge, her nose is tiny, and she has crazy cheek bones. All of those features can be found repeated again and again in my work. 

I put scars on a lot of my girls not to show that they are weak, but really for just the opposite. I think that these girls are gorgeous, scars or no scars. They always have battles and back-stories for every mark I mar their face with, so please don't think of them as victims. Also, I think that in their culture they were scars with pride, much like warriors are apt to do.

In my head this little queen found a crown at an abandoned accessories shop one day, put it on, and declared herself leader. Leader of what, I have no clue, but she's proud of her title, and the other girls tent to follow her.  Maybe it's because the crown is shiny? (I should really learn how to work with gold leaf...)


And if you would like to own the original piece, please email me at jalesemann@gmail.com
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