Choi to the World

From the imaginations of babes

So last night I got to have a sleepover. I hosted my deliciously wonderful niece Norah for the night and  following day. She is 5 and the most amazing little creature. Doting Aunt, yes, but all who meet her are enchanted just the same. She is delightful, articulate, gracious and thoughtful. She has an artist's soul. If you haven't guessed, I love her.

It is important to note that having a sleep over is the thing to do. It is the most coveted it event for a 5-year-old (at least for this 5-year-old). The morning after the sleeping she engaged herself in vivid imaginary world so I busied myself with cleaning. When she emerged she began to rifle through our recycling bin. Dug out some clear cups. Found a chopstick. I am not sure where. Asked me to punch some holes. We let the creative thoughts swirl and this is what we came up with. 

Decorated, naturally, with cut paper designs. You'd expect no less when hanging out with her papercuttin' aunt.

And here, in my first youtube video, Norah explains it all, in cozy complementary hot chocolate jammies.

Thanks Ike

Well, it was a cold-toe morning. I just love that. I don't really like having cold toes but being able to use my funny piggies as a meteorologist kinda nice when it's time to pull out a cozy sweater. A couple days ago I found this cool sweater at Goodwill. I just love it it is kinda like wearing a mini poncho with little sleeves plus a turtleneck and a snug fit at the waist with a sweet little cable "v".  My friend found it, thankfully she didn't like how it looked on her. So I got it! It is perfect for a crisp day like today. Last night at midnight it was 86°with 88% humidity. Ike blew through now it is 66°and crisp. Yesterday every pore felt as though it were weeping. Today I need socks! You'd think a tropical storm would make it warmer, nope, Ike brought us autumn. Isn't this sweater nifty?

Check out how Ike kicked in a little drama for the second picture.

time to dust of my Dirndl

Actually, I don't have one but I should given my strongly Bavarian heritage.  My latest work drips of Dutch/German/Swiss styling with its sweet symmetric scherenschnitte accents. Symmetry goes against my grain, or so I thought. Of course these little strips are mounted in an asymmetrical fashion.
You can see more in my shop and in my last post.

Another venue for my cut paper

Sometimes ideas can be so obvious. I laugh when it seems to take me forever to think of them. When my wonderful husband and I were married a wee bit over four sublime years ago we had a celestial theme for our wedding.
While we were dating and during our engagement we witnessed so many fabulous celestial events it just seemed a natural choice for a theme. We watched hundreds of shooting stars during the August meteor shower. We both witnessed out first Aurora Borealis together, went to the planetarium to view Mars as it was the closest to Earth it will be for thousands of years, danced in the glow of giant harvest moons, laid on blankets to count stars and put together constellations, strained to see the tendrils of the Milky Way. We got engaged just after the massive northeast blackout when we got to just sit among the stars for entertainment.
I made the invitations, place cards, decorations, my veil, favors and a card box. I made a giant card box. It wasn't that I was expecting tons of cards, we kept the guest list intimate, it was meant to do double duty as a centerpiece. It constructed a star shaped box and decorated with intricately cut stars that my sister and I made. It was gorgeous and of course it is still in my studio because I can't bear to part with it and I just don't know what to do with it. It is just so out of this world!

So if you take a giant card box like this and put it into an incredible shrinking machine you get a bank; star, piggy or otherwise! I have started with a swan. Inspired by the signature swans of Stratford, Canada where Steven and I were engaged and where we have returned every August since.
A Sweet Cygnet Savings Bank another way to express my cut paper designs.

**As I was gathering links for this post I learned with shock and great sadness that the longest serving artisitic director of the Stratford Festival died of a pulmonary embolism on Wednesday night. Richard Monette is one of the reasons we fell in love with the festival. Just a couple weeks ago we saw his last directoral effort of Love's Labour's Lost. He had an amazing talent and energy. Farewell.**

like an oasis

This has been a long, long time coming. My breakfast today: homemade tapioca pudding and fresh local peaches.

I have been craving the peaches for weeks... the pudding, too long to know, this is the first time in my married life that I made it.

A great, great way to start my day. It's going to be a long one, I am sequestering myself to my studio. Except for the occasional tapioca and peach break, of course!