Mod Mischief

Barley

2012-01-26T20:35:00.001-05:00

Meet the newest addition to our family: Barley.

This adorable little girl came home with us last weekend.

The lovely ladies at La Ratterie des Trois-Rives were an absolute pleasure to deal with - if you're looking for well bred and well loved rats, and you're within driving distance of Montreal, you should give them a call! Both Juniper and Potato came from their rattery and when Julie, Julie and Isabelle heard of Potato's untimely passing, they offered to give us Barley for free so Juniper wouldn't have to be alone.

As you can see, they're already the best of friends.

What I ought to be drinking while listening to music

2012-01-24T18:30:00.000-05:00

Common scenario chez nous: I pile a stack of records on our turntable and then plonk down on the loveseat, only to immediately turn to Chris and say "I think we need a drink"

But what to drink?

Drinkify has come to our rescue by providing an online tool to instantly match a cocktail to the tunes on the stereo.

When the needle drops on the Sheepdogs album, it's time for Southern Comfort, tonic and honey vodka. Seriously, where can I find honey vodka? That sounds fantastic.

When Home hits the airwaves, we should break out an entire bottle of organic wine.

Johnny Cash calls for Jack Daniels and honey, King Charles takes dark rum, milk and gin, and Metric goes well with straight vodka, but the best I've found so far, is the pairing for Chris' occasional morning dubstep craving:

garnished with cocktail onions?

Potato

2012-01-18T22:45:00.000-05:00

I'm so sad to report that Potato is no longer with us. Our little girl developed a tumor that grew very large, very quickly, and while the vet did his best, she passed away shortly after he tried to remove it.

We hate to see Juniper lonely, so we're hoping to find her some new company soon.

Mechanical Iris Greeting Cards

2012-01-15T02:37:00.002-05:00

There's now an instructable, complete with templates, for making our holiday cards.

While working on the instructable, I made two new versions.

Go read the full how to and find out how to make your own!

Way more fun than a Kinder Surprise toy

2012-01-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

Friends brought us these tiny puppets when they came over for the Zombie Movie Marathon.

Grant is a pretty talented puppeteer. Although you can't see him work his magic on these Kinder capsules, you can see more of his art, like this funny video, on his website.

Jamming

2012-01-06T22:01:00.001-05:00

This has been on my to do list for so long.

Bob Marley

Welcome to Beginning of the End of the World

2012-01-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

It's 2012! I hope you enjoyed ringing in the new year as much as we did.

Celebrating the beginning of the end of the world at our friends' party

The rapture came and went, so I'm not holding my breath for the Mayan doomsday, but I'll use any excuse to party in apocalyptic style.

We spent New Year's Day enjoying our second annual Zombie Movie Marathon.

Our 2012 line up:
10:00 AM - Night of the Living Dead (1968)
11:36 AM - Shaun of the Dead
1:15 PM - Flight of the Living Dead
2:49 PM - Fido
4:22 PM - Zombieland
5:50 PM - Return of the Living Dead
7:21 PM - Evil Dead
8:46 PM - Evil Dead II
10:10 PM - Evil Dead Army of Darkness
11:31 PM - REC

We intended to start the Walking Dead at the very end, but by the time it hit 12:50 am we were too tired and called it a night.This year we went with less scary, mostly campy movies, although REC was pretty freaky. There were a few repeats from last year but we tried to switch it up. There really is no shortage of zombie movies to choose from!

Robots with lasers cut these cards!

2011-12-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

Our holiday cards are finally in the mail. Hopefully, what they lacked in punctuality, they made up for in sheer awesomeness.

We were able to put my gift certificate for Ponoko to use, but we left it a little too long before making our order so our cut cardstock didn't arrive until just a few days before Christmas.

it wasn't all robot labour

Fear not, an instructable on making the mechanical iris card is in the works.

Ninja Munny Knife Set

2011-12-25T21:15:00.000-05:00

This is what Chris made Robbie for Christmas. I'm a little jealous, but since the last time I was at my brothers' place they were trying to carve a roast with a butter knife, I know they will really be able to put it to good use.

For My Dad

2011-12-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

It was such a hit last year, my family decided to do the Christmas Challenge again this year.

I had to give a handmade or vintage gift to my dad.

I painted a record for him with Maurice "the Rocket" Richard on it. And I also included some of our homebrew beer.

It seemed like a pretty good gift until Chris blew me away with what he made for my little brother.

We'll be eating turkey for weeks

2011-12-25T19:26:00.000-05:00

Chris is a fantastic cook.

We made Christmas dinner for his parents yesterday and it was incredibly delicious.

It's so nice to have the opportunity to go all out on a meal. We tried to scale it down from last year, but there was still so much food.

This morning we woke up to the white Christmas everyone had been hoping for. We opened presents, put some Bailey's in our coffee and then spent the afternoon watching movies and putting together our holiday cards.

Buck, ready for the holidays

Is it really Christmas eve tomorrow?

2011-12-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

I don't know where the month of December went.

Our tree is lovely and all our gifts are wrapped, but unfortunately the Christmas cards are still waiting to be assembled. It's all good if they're sent before New Year's, right?

Merry Christmas!

It's been a while, eh?

2011-12-21T19:52:00.000-05:00

I feel like I haven't done a painted record in ages.

Van Morrison

We've been incredibly busy, so I tried to keep the Christmas orders to a minimum this year. But I did manage to squeeze a few in.

Next we'll work on the waxed moustache

2011-11-19T12:10:00.001-05:00

At the Ottawa Vintage Clothing Sale we found a fantastic tailcoat for Chris. I couldn't believe it when he tried it on, it looks like it has been tailored for him. We never find things that fit him right off the rack, especially vintage!

I told him he needs to wear it with a silk sash and tight pants so he'll look like King Charles.

By the way, aren't these videos great? The scenery reminds me of Kamloops.

Our finds from the Vintage Sale in 2010 & 2009

Zombie Movie Marathon

2011-11-13T23:12:00.001-05:00

Last year we celebrated New Year's Day by hosting a Zombie Movie Marathon. After ringing in the new year, most people feel like a zombie and there's not much better than spending the day recovering on the couch, plonked in front of some classic horror flicks with plenty of food and friends.

So we've decided to do it again.

Here's our line up from last year:

11:00am - Night of the Living Dead (Romero)
12:30pm - Dawn of the Dead (Romero)
2:50pm - Day of the Dead (Romero)
4:32pm - Shaun of the Dead
6:08pm - Dead Snow
7:35pm - Grindhouse: Planet Terror
9:28pm - Zombieland
11:05pm - 28 Days Later
12:50am - 28 Weeks Later

We'll have to switch it up, but there's plenty of great zombie films to choose from.

In case you want your own mutant rhino and warthog costumes

2011-11-08T22:25:00.001-05:00

Photo by Doug Budzak

Over on instructables I've posted full how-tos for Shredder and the Foot Clan as well as Bebop and Rocksteady.

Photo by Doug Budzak

Picture by Marcela Campuzano

I love it when people send me photos!

2011-11-04T18:11:00.000-04:00

Looks like there were lost of costumes inspired by my instructables this year. Here's a roundup of some of the pictures people have sent me.

Kidnapped Mermaids

jmoniz1

irishpete5

atate5

another beautiful mermaid

Headless Brides

Melissa

Brittles888

ahastings5

Genie on a Flying Carpet

Matt, photographed by his local paper

We are the bad guys from the Ninja Turtles

2011-10-30T20:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday night we ran into some girls in their early twenties dressed as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They had no idea who we were supposed to be.

Costume Progress - bits and pieces

2011-10-26T01:28:00.000-04:00

Random photos of the costumes in the works...

Where to buy Halloween stuff

2011-10-25T18:21:00.000-04:00

While Chris and I obviously make most of our costumes, often it is considerably easier and surprisingly cheaper to buy some pieces premade.

This year we’ve gone to so many different stores that I wanted to take notes, so I’ll remember where the best deals are for next year. And if you haven’t finished your costume shopping, maybe you can benefit from this too.

Value Village

We always start with the thrift and vintage stores. While there are plenty of thrift stores that have better deals and politics than Value Village, VV always has the biggest selection of second hand stuff. So if we don’t have a full day to spend combing through the racks of Ottawa’s vintage shops and charity stores, Value Village is the best bet.

Starting in September, VV stocks a wide selection of brand new costumes and accessories, but you’re usually better off looking for the real vintage items. Case in point: this authentic military cap cost less than $3, the cheap vinyl costume version was closer to $30.

Spirit Halloween

These stores that pop up in the fall and then pack up and leave the first week of November have a great selection of accessories and props. The prices are fairly high and the quality is pretty low, so I usually only go there when I don’t think I can find what I’m looking for anywhere else. This year they’re offering a 20% off coupon on their website, but the best deals will be the day after Halloween when they usually mark everything down 50%.

Malabar

While it has the best quality stuff, Malabar also has the highest prices to go with it. You can often find some of the same accessories available at Malabar for cheaper at Value Village and Spirit Halloween, but the really cool stuff you won’t find anywhere else. While you’re at Malabar you should pick up your tickets for the Great Pumpkin Ball.

Party Packagers

I always forget about Party Packagers until we’ve already gone everywhere else, and then I find out that I could have saved myself a bunch of money, since they carry many of the same things as Spirit Halloween and the Value Village Halloween section.

This year I looked everywhere for cheap toy grenades. The ones I did find at dollar stores were ridiculously tiny. After almost giving up I finally found the perfect set at Party Packagers.

The undead invade the capital!

2011-10-23T12:42:00.000-04:00

on the hill

Hundreds of zombies flooded the streets yesterday for the Ottawa Zombie Walk.

zombie Chris

Chris and I have been meaning to go for years, and I'm so glad we finally made it.

zombie Allison

There were so many zombies! The shuffling, moaning parade stretched over several city blocks, stopping traffic and leaving a trail of fake blood along the way.

zombie Moammar Gadhafi? I thought they shot him in the head

Fun dining al fresco

2011-10-19T18:15:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we joined 750 other darring diners for Harvest Noir, Ottawa's first pop-up picnic.

The organizers were inspired by the famous Dîner en blanc events in Paris, New York and Montreal, and they wanted to prove Ottawa isn't always the stuffy government town it is made out to be. Guests were instructed to dress all in black and prepare local food for a fancy picnic in a secret location.

Chris, clearly thrilled to be without an umbrella

Even the strong winds, cold weather and the occasional rain shower couldn't keep us away.

After the picnic, everyone was able to warm up inside the Museum of Civilization with drinks and dancing.

We'll definitely go if they do it again next year, but hopefully they'll pick a warmer date and a location on the Ottawa side of the river.

The Z-fenbunker

2011-10-11T00:44:00.000-04:00

As promised, our entry for the 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition is now available for your viewing pleasure (and apocalypse preparation research).

When the zombie outbreak hits, our plan is to head for the Diefenbunker, Canada's biggest Cold War nuclear shelter. Built in the late 1950s and capable of withstanding a blast equivalent to 5 million tons of TNT, the once secret underground bunker is now open to the public as a museum.

A group of determined survivors could easily convert the site into a sustainable colony, safe from the hordes of undead roaming the earth.

Originally designed to hold 535 government officials and military personnel for 30 days, the 4 underground levels provide ample space for 50 people to live indefinitely.

To make the bunker fully self-sufficient, the survivors need only install the equipment for power generation and farming. 193 solar panel arrays on the south-facing hillside would produce enough energy for the entire complex. While the surrounding area is ideally suited for agriculture, survivors could produce all they needed within the safety of the walls.

based on this design

The site also has many useful features including a parking lot that serves as a helicopter landing pad, a functional radio tower and full communications studio, an underground garage for heavy equipment and a community library.

You can vote for our design by giving it a thumbs up here. Be sure to check out some of the other entries, there are some really impressive ones!

I wish we hadn't run out of time and computing power, our Sketch-Up drawings look pretty crude compared to some of the truly gorgeous renderings. Some of my favourites: z1611, z1505 & z1629

Costume Progress - Bebop

2011-10-08T17:23:00.000-04:00

Work on Bebop continues...

Fun in Photoshop

2011-10-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

I recently downloaded a bunch of fun fonts and brushes for Photoshop (mostly to use on our Zombie Safe House project). I wanted to play around a bit with them, so I offered to make a concert poster for a friend.

poster inspired by this great tutorial

If you've never been to Zuni Grill I highly recommend you go to taste their coconut shrimp. Yum!

Prost!

2011-10-03T00:32:00.000-04:00

Chris and I went to Beau's Oktoberfest again this year and had a fantastic time. What's not to love about the perfect combination of good beer, good music and great friends?

We camped overnight and I'm so glad we had Bertha to sleep in. The folks in tents must have been very brave, or very drunk! It's definitely starting to feel like tuque and mittens weather.

Costume progress - Bebop

2011-09-27T23:24:00.000-04:00

We've been hard at work on the Bebop and Rocksteady costumes.

Bebop is really starting to take shape!

Bebop & Rocksteady Breakdown

2011-09-12T23:09:00.000-04:00

If you couldn't tell from the start of the masks, we're going to be the bad guys from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween this year.

If all goes according to plan, we'll have a total of 4 costumes: Shredder, Krang's android body, Bebop and Rocksteady.

breakdown of all the costume parts we need

Bebop and Rocksteady are definitely the most complicated of the four, at least when it comes to the number of pieces we'll have to put together.

We've got lots of work to do but I think we've made pretty good progress so far. This weekend I worked on the masks and finished Rocksteady's helmet and goggles.

cheap safety goggles, foam core & bottle caps

finished army helmet from a bike helmet

Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse

2011-09-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

Potato brushing up on zombie survival strategies

Even mainstream media seems to be taking the threat of zombies pretty seriously these days. The Globe and Mail ran an article on Budgeting for the Zombie Apocalypse, This Old House had a feature on protecting your home from the undead and the CDC issued official guidelines on how to prepare for the walking dead.

This is a topic that Chris and I have obviously thought a lot about. But recently we've stepped up the research and planing as we're working on designing the ultimate zombie-proof fortress for the 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition.

With over 600 registered, I can't wait to see what our competitors come up with!

For our entry, we're working on a plan with an Ottawa area twist. All the number crunching has been giving me headaches but the end result should be epic. Stay tuned for more details; we have until the end of the month to get it done!

PS: Add entering zombie-themed architectural contests to the list of reasons being with Chris is awesome

***Update*** See our finished design here.

RIP Simone

2011-09-04T16:23:00.001-04:00

We very sadly had to have Simone put down this week as she was suffering from severe kidney failure.

We miss her very much; coming home isn't the same when she's not there at the top of the stairs to greet us.

Allison with Large Objects - FanExpo Edition

2011-09-01T08:00:00.001-04:00

On our recent trip to Toronto I couldn't resist taking more photos with large objects.

giant dog (reminds me of Wall Drug)

Real Steel robot (real foam movie prop)

Mask making

2011-08-31T08:00:00.002-04:00

Only 2 months to Halloween!

We've started on our costumes but I'm really going to need to step it up if I want to get all 4 done in time. Wouldn't want to wind up legless on the big day, like last year!

So far, we've made plaster masks (like we did for the Ludo costume) and started to build them up with papier maché pulp (like I used for Buck & Little Al).

We've also begun giving a cheap helmet "for skateboarding and trick rollerskating" an old school military look.

Such noobs

2011-08-30T20:27:00.000-04:00

Chris and I went to our first comic convention.

the long line to get in

Chris, excited for FanExpo

We didn't wear costumes because we didn't really know what to expect, but we saw lots of great outfits there.

Princess Leia in pink booty shorts

it's the captain!

best C-3PO & R2D2 costumes ever

One of the highlights for me was watching Tony Moore explain in detail the process of drawing a zombie.

artist at work

maggots are key

It's no replacement for Burning Man (I so wish I was on the playa right now), but we had a great time.

Camping

2011-08-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

If you've ever wondered "Can you fit two canoes on a Ford E-150 van?"

the answer is yes, you can.

We went camping with friends in Algonquin Park and wound up at the same site we had two years ago.

Camping post-Burning Man is an unusual experience. We didn't know quite what to pack since bubble wands and tutus now seem synonymous with camping supplies. It was a challenge keeping it to what we could fit in a canoe, but we managed.

At our camp site we met some colourful characters.

this hairdo wouldn't look out of place on the playa,

neither would someone sporting yellow horns.

Mr. Toad

All in all we had a great time.

happy camper

More vintage clothing lamps

2011-08-18T10:34:00.000-04:00

I love it when people send me photos of things they've made following my instructables!

The Youth Mentorship Program at Soulpepper Theatre Company recently made their own glowing clothing lamps.

Here's the email I got from Jennifer:

Hi Allison,

I want to thank you again for posting your innovative idea on Instructables and for being so kind as to help me with my questions. This activity was an absolute blast to do with the youth group. I was working with 14 youth. We broke them up into four groups and each group worked together to make one lamp. We divided up the work into four sessions as follows: 1). intro to the project/pick the clothes; 2) make the body forms with newspaper, tape, etc.; 3) Paint the forms with stiffy/make a plan for the wiring; 4) wire and assemble the lamps. I went in once a week and we were able to complete the project in a total of 5.5 total hours! (not including drying time). We had such fun with each step - and even though it was a lot of work, the youth stayed really dedicated to the project. They named the lamps and wrote little stories about them too! You'll see that each lamp has a red heart - we used a colourful transparency and attached one to each lamp - as the theme of the program was "heart."

Once again, many thanks!

Best,
Jennifer

I think they did an incredible job, just look at how their lamps turned out!

It's alive!

2011-08-06T14:08:00.000-04:00

Krang in action.

Krang is coming together

2011-08-06T13:42:00.001-04:00

Quite literally, I've finally put all the pieces together.

pop bottle cranium & popsicle stick arm bones

I used crazy glue and then a little bit of liquid latex to join the two halves of the brain together.

The arms went on with some hot glue.

Then he got a shiny paint job.

first coat of pepto bismol pink

With a thick glossy topcoat to make him look really slimy.

I tried to connect the arms to the body a few different ways, but everything I did was too much for the furby motor to handle. I'm not happy with how it looks, but since I'm all out of ideas I'm just going to try to hide the gaps behind his control panel when I get around to building his android body.

Elsewhere on the Internets

2011-08-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

Instructables recently made me a featured author and I'm incredibly honoured to be joining the ranks of some of the best makers around. Wilgubeast asked me about everything from my lack of formal training to my penchant for collecting spare body parts. You can read the full interview here.

If that wasn't enough to give me a huge ego, my post about calling 911 was featured on Offbeat Home this week!

Speaking of our recent scare...
It's nowhere near as pretty a collection as the photos on http://theburninghouse.com/ but if you're wondering what Chris and I would grab if the house was on fire, this is what we actually had with us while sitting on the sidewalk in our pajamas.

cat carrier (Simone was actually in it at the time)
Juniper and Potato
the cordless phone I used to call 911
my purse
our laptops (neither of which are really worth anything beyond the priceless photos they contain)
a hat from the Bay - I picked it up to grab my purse and didn't realize I still had it with me until I was waiting for the firemen outside

Noticeably absent were keys for Bertha, a coat and real pants.

Ice Cream Social

2011-07-26T17:03:00.002-04:00

We're going to an ice cream social tonight. I can't wait for the homemade ice cream and waffle cones!

I'm bringing these yummy ice cream cone cake pops (made following bakerella's instructions).

Everything worth doing is worth overdoing, right?

I called 911

2011-07-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Chris and I came home from a wedding on Saturday night sometime after 1am. The house smelt like smoke but we didn't think much of it at first; we figured the neighbours must have burnt their dinner or something and the smell had stuck around because all the windows were closed.

We opened the windows and started to get ready for bed but, instead of dissipating, the smell kept getting worse. Smoke seemed to be coming up from the vents so I decided to go outside, just to check that everything was okay in the apartment below us.

From the street, even with the lights off, I could see the downstairs kitchen was filled with smoke. I knocked on the door and rang the bell but no one answered

I grabbed our phone and called 911 while Chris managed to get the pets out of the house.

I had never called 911 before but I'm glad I didn't hesitate to do it when I did. Minutes after my call, 3 firetrucks, 3 cop cars and an ambulance were on our corner. When the firemen broke into the apartment they found one of the tenants and his 15 year old son had fallen asleep with a pot on the stove - the unit had a smoke detector but there were no batteries in it.

When thinking of all the what-ifs, I can't help but feel incredibly fortunate for the following things:

How cool Chris can be under pressure. He managed to get Simone into her carrier and carry her, the rats and our laptops to safety. He had the presence of mind to also grab his keys and wallet on the way out the door.
That we came home when we did. Had we come home earlier, we may have gone to sleep before noticing the smoke, had we spent the night in a hotel, we might not have had a house to come home to (and who knows what would have happened to the people downstairs).
The cat carrier was in one piece and on hand. Holding a squirming, snarling Simone would not have been easy.

I'm posting this on my blog because I want to share what I learned from this experience. While I hope I'll never be scared like that again, if there is a next time, I want to be more prepared.

Lessons Learned:

Always keep the cat carrier assembled in an easy to reach location. We often store ours in pieces since it takes up less space - we won't do that again. We were lucky that we didn't have to search for it and put it together when we needed it.
When neglecting the housekeeping, be wary that you never know when firemen will need to march through your home. Piles of laundry can be a safety hazard, on top of a huge embarrassment when your apartment is suddenly filled with strangers in uniform.
Back up important documents and photos online. If our home had burned down, the back up hard drive wouldn't have done us much good if it went up in flames along with our laptops.
Make sure you have a working smoke detector.

July in full swing

2011-07-07T06:36:00.000-04:00

Canada Day crowds

It's going to be a busy month!

Chris and I had a great Canada Day weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed checking out the commotion downtown, catching a glimpse of Will and Kate and hanging out with friends.

With Canada Day barely behind us, Bluesfest has already started up. We're volunteering again so we'll be making the most of our free passes.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros,

for better Bluesfest pictures check out Ming Wu's blog

So many great concerts, so little sleep...

Look what came in the mail today!

2011-06-22T22:54:00.000-04:00

Technically it was delivered by DHL (Canada Post is still on strike).

Papertoy Monsters and an Instructables Robot

A couple months ago, our buddy Buck the jackalope won the Instructables Monster Contest so they've sent us a custom papertoy robot that says I heart ModMischief and a signed copy of the book Papertoy Monsters. I can't wait to start covering my desk with a menagerie of monsters!

Two steps forward, one step back - Krang's progress

2011-06-16T08:09:00.003-04:00

Trying new techniques for the first time is always challenging.

Using plaster of paris, I cast a mold of my plasticine Krang. I'm glad I bought the big bucket of plaster because I ended up needing way more than I was expecting.

clearly I could have done a better job wrapping up the electronics

Getting Krang out of the mold was rather challenging. The little plasticine appendages remained trapped in the mold, and while I tried melting them out, in the end I had to spend several frustrating hours fishing out all the little plasticine bits with Q-tips and various skewers.

finally free of plasticine!

I really wish I would have paid more attention to n1cod3mus's and PenfoldPlant's instructables. I didn't really know what I was doing with the liquid latex and I ruined a couple cheap paintbrushes before catching on to the dish soap trick.

latex Krang

When I first pulled latex Krang out of the mold, I was really excited. Even though the mold wasn't perfect, he looked just like my plasticine model.

But when I started to cut off the unnecessary latex and fit in the Furby guts, I ran into a problem.

Either the latex is too thick or the design itself is flawed because the animatronics won't work inside the puppet.

Naturally, I busted out my dremel to try to sand down the latex in some of the thicker areas that I thought were causing problems, and then I promptly blew a hole through the side of Krang's face.

Oh, and I cut off his arms because it seemed like a good idea at the time. So now I just have a latex Krang with a hole in the side of his head and severed arms.

Tux T-shirts

2011-06-11T21:39:00.001-04:00

Thursday, we went to a 2 months post-prom committee potluck. In addition to deviled eggs and artichoke dip, I made t-shirts for everyone.

The design is my best attempt to capture the "community-oriented, gender-bending, bike-loving, enviro-humping, queer-diggin, slow dancing, big dress wearing" spirit of PromDemonium.

Only in Canada

2011-06-06T21:58:00.000-04:00

Skates spotted on Lewis street.

Great Glebe Finds

2011-05-31T20:47:00.003-04:00

As always, Chris and I had a great time at the Great Glebe Garage Sale. I didn't end up finding anything on our list, but we did get some good deals.

Some of the best stuff we saw didn't wind up coming home with us.

a very Magritte door

Chris, always the voice of reason, wouldn't let me drag home this awesome cutout door, nor another set of jumping stilts, even after I talked the seller down to $60 for them. $60 for jumping stilts! They weren't our size and we already have 2 pairs... still....

But it's not like we went home empty handed.

hauling our loot home

Some of our finds:

awesome old martini shakers - $15 for both

aluminum frame backpack only $2.50

$4 Furby to add to our growing collection

The Mod Mischief Guide to the Great Glebe Garage Sale

2011-05-27T19:10:00.000-04:00

Looks like it’s going rain folks. Best be prepared.

Friends have been asking me about my GGGS strategy, so, inspired by Scrimshaw’s and Zoom’s rules, I figured I should share my advice on how to get the most out of your Great Glebe Garage Sale experience.

1. The GGGS officially starts at 9am.

There’s no point in waking up before 6am to be the first ones there. It doesn’t make sense to arrive before everything is set up and people are far less willing to negotiate with you if you are the first person to stop by their yard. I’m sure that many glebites dislike mornings as much as I do – let them finish their first coffee before you try to convince them to part with a precious family heirloom for $5. The belief that “all the good stuff will be gone” is silly since this is a garage sale and what you think is a great find might not be appealing to anyone else.

An acceptable exception would be if you’re looking for a bike (have you considered getting one from re-cycles instead?) or another highly sought after but hard to find item. But that brings me to my next point.

2. Don’t worry about your shopping list.

I think it’s helpful to have an idea of what you might like to find, so you can devote more time to certain yards that are selling the right sort of item, but if you are too focused on finding a specific thing, you’re likely to miss out on some incredible stuff. So think about what you should look for but don’t stress too much about actually finding it on Saturday.

Some of the items on my wish list this year:
-wooden frames for silk screening
-clocks for parts to use with my painted records
-red leather jacket or vest for a costume I’m working on

3. Bring your wagon.

My little red wagon is my all time favourite GGGS find. A little wagon is perfect for hauling your treasures through the crowded streets. If you don’t have a wagon or shopping cart you can try buying one there! Some people prefer a backpack, but you’re likely to wind up with a hot sweaty back and you can’t fit nearly as much in a pack as you can stack on a wagon. Don’t even think of bringing a car into the residential streets!

4. Pick up the big stuff on the way out.

If you find something great at the beginning of your hunt, pay the seller for it and ask them to hold it for you until you are heading home. I’ve done this every year and no one has ever refused to hold something for me. It helps to write down their address and the seller’s name, especially if you have more than one pick up to do on the way out.

5. Plan a circular route.

I usually start on the west side of Bank and weave my way through all the streets from north to south and then cross over and do the other side of Bank in the opposite direction. The trick is to cover as much ground as possible while avoiding doubling back down the same streets whenever you can. If you have to go down the same street twice, walk on the opposite side of the street the second time.

6. Wear an awesome outfit.

Tight tank top –so you can easily try on clothes without undressing
Shorts – to keep you cool
Utility belt – storage for your cash and camera; way better than carrying a purse
Sandals or comfy boots – based on the forecast, I think I’ll wear boots
Thin jacket – layers are key! You can toss it in the wagon once it starts to really get hot
Sunscreen

Almost, but not quite, the look you want to go for

7. Bring lots of cash, change and your cheque book.

The best negotiating strategy I know is to pull out a bill as if it's all you have left and ask if they'll take it. This won't work if all you have with you is a stack of $20, so be sure to have smaller bills and loonies and twoonies in your pockets. If you talk someone down from a dollar to 25 cents for something, they're not going to want to give you change, so be prepared!

You can see some of the success I've had with these tips here and here.

Painted Records

2011-05-25T09:25:00.000-04:00

I've donated a custom painted record to a United Way charity auction. If you've landed on my blog from there, welcome to my little piece of the internet!

You can see more of my painted records and clocks here.

We're still here

2011-05-22T18:29:00.000-04:00

It's a little disappointing that the world didn't end yesterday. I had been looking forward to putting into practice all the skills I've learned from watching every post-apocalyptic movie I can get my hands on.

My recent favourite is Doomsday. It's like the best possible combination of Escape from New York, 28 Days Later, Mad Max (most obviously Thunderdome, but with lots of Road Warrior elements too) and Omega Man.

Three Years

2011-05-17T21:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Chris and I celebrated the third anniversary of our first date.

photos from Promdemonium 2011 by Lydia Peltz

Since I'm a total dork, I made this little video full of memories from the last three years.

Simone

2011-05-14T16:50:00.000-04:00

Chris' mom wants to see more photos of the cat.

So this is Simone, doing her best impersonation of Maru.

All the way from Dimension X

2011-05-08T01:12:00.000-04:00

If you were wondering why I was taking apart Furbys again, it was because I wanted some animatronic eyes for my next big project.

The Furbys I found at Value Village were considerably more complicated than the Baby Furbys I used for Little Al. I love the fact that their eyes move sideways and their ears go up and down - those two features are perfect for what I have planned.

So what is it I'm building?
It's everyone's favourite evil warlord from Dimension X: Krang!

This is just the plasticine model, the real fun (i.e. tricky part) comes next when I need to figure out how to make it into a plaster mold.

Party of Awesome

2011-05-07T13:17:00.001-04:00

Last week we threw a party. A party of awesome.
Basically, it was an excuse to test out a bunch of ideas for the Ultimate Party Challenge on Instructables, but since neither Chris nor I really did anything for our birthdays we were overdue for some celebrating.

Having recently organized the den (resolution #1) we were finally able to open up most of the apartment and throw a real party (as in more than 20 people mingling about).

We asked our friends to give us their best or craziest party ideas and this is what we wound up with:

Bubbles! While we couldn't pull off a full ballroom, we filled the stairs with bubbles thanks to a bubble machine picked up on clearance at Wal-mart.

Glow-in-the-dark drinks! A little tonic water and some B100 complex vitamins go a long way under the glow of black lights. Full instructable here.

Watermelon punch fountain! Unfortunately we left this one to the last minute and it shows, but version 2.0 should be epic.

French onion dip in a bacon bowl! Seriously, everything is better with bacon.

Chocolate volcano! Friends gave us their chocolate fountain and we covered the tiers in rice crispy treats and plastic palm trees. The whole thing collapsed into a deliciously gooey mess (marshmallow looses it's structural integrity under the heat of molten chocolate lava flows) but it was glorious while it lasted.
Porkamacon! Chris served up a bite-sized version of his original recipe.
Hats! Anytime I need to bust out the tickle trunk for a party, I know it's going to be a good time. Our party guests showed up in everything from sombreros to top hats and both ninjas and pirates were seen mingling amongst the party-goers.

Cup-less jello shots! These were by far the biggest hit of the party. We made 4 different shots: Chocolate Strawberry Jello Shots, Cucumber Gin & Tonic Jello Shots, Lime Margarita Jello Shots & Naughty Shirley Temple Jello Shots The strawberries were definitely my favourite.

Another Furby bites the dust

2011-05-02T23:38:00.000-04:00

I swear I don't have anything against stuffed animals, but I'm once again taking apart adorable fluffy creatures.

All in all, not a bad way to spend election night.

Upcycled Prom Decor Roundup

2011-04-21T18:52:00.001-04:00

Our friend Kate caught us examining something at Prom

Chris and I have both been feeling a little under the weather, so we haven't been terribly productive over the last week or two, but I thought you might appreciate a run down of all we did in preparation for Promdemonium.

As promised, here is the full how-to for the party clothes party lights.

In addition to the vintage clothing lamps, we also made a bunch of other decorations:

-Pop-up paper flowers like these and giant bows (large versions of this) from phone book pages, magazines and old architectural plans

-Paper pompoms from phone book pages
-Toilet paper roll art like this, but we used a glue gun to put them together faster and then we spray painted them fun colours

-Fabric bunting (as mentioned here)
-Silhouettes cut out of used contractor bags - I wish I would have gotten a good picture of these as they looked incredible in all the windows. We first took photos of the Prom volunteers in funny party poses and then used a projector to blow up the pictures and trace them onto the black plastic.

posing

-Photo booth backdrop put together by a volunteer following these plans, with a thrifted bed sheet turned into a curtain
-We re-used the cardboard stars from previous years and made lots of new ones and spray painted them silver and gold

-Finally there was our record arch. Chris drew up the plans and the incredible volunteers brought it to life! When it was strung with freecycle Christmas lights it looked like an old jukebox.

It's not every day that my crafts get mentioned in the Citizen

2011-04-11T23:54:00.000-04:00

Promdemonium was amazing!
Chris and I are still recovering from all the fun (and hard work).

I was so busy partying that I forgot to take pictures of all the fantastic decorations we worked on, but luckily some other folks have posted great photos and the official photo booth pictures should be up soon.

Photo by Ming Wu

As alluded to in this post's title, the decor got some good press which you can read here.

If you're curious about how we made the glowing prom-wear lamps, stay tuned. I've got a full instructable in the works.

Not bad for a Monday

2011-03-28T23:43:00.002-04:00

I took the day off work to spend some time working on Promdemonium decorations.

A recipe for a great Monday morning: Johnny Cash on the record player, adorable rats on my shoulders, a full mug of coffee and yards and yards of colourful bunting

Juniper and Potato were obviously a huge help with the decorations.

Those triangles were once bedsheets or bits of fabric relegated to the bottom of my craft bins, now they're going to help dress up the NAC on April 9.

Killer Shoe Mod

2011-03-25T19:49:00.002-04:00

While I still might not be able to decide on which dress to wear to Promdemonium, I've got the shoes all figured out.

I picked up these heels on sale at Sears for $17.99.

before

They weren't quite prom-worthy as is, so I broke out the power tools. I proceeded to attack the shoes with a cordless drill and some spikes from Rock Junction.

I now run the risk of impaling someone on the dance floor, but it's totally worth it.

after

What to wear?

2011-03-17T23:12:00.000-04:00

Since the majority of decorations for Promdemonium 2011 are being made from repurposed materials, I've had to spend a good chuck of time poking through thrift stores, looking for supplies. Naturally, while shopping for possible decor I couldn't help but also check out possible prom outfits.

So now I've got a problem because I've gone and bought no fewer than 3 dresses to wear to Promdemonium.

I actually got 4 dresses if you count the pink one I bought this summer, but I've now got other plans for that one

Chris won't have any trouble picking out what he's going to wear because we found him a fantastic vintage tuxedo with velvet lapels.

I still can't believe it was only $13

PROMtastic

2011-03-14T17:36:00.001-04:00

As you may recall, I love Promdemonium.

I wouldn't have believed that it was possible to get more excited about "Ottawa’s radical, community-oriented, gender-bending, bike-loving, enviro-humping, queer-diggin, slow dancing, big dress wearing prom," but now that I'm on the decorations committee I'm practically bursting with enthusiasm.

to do list and prototype

The whole decorations committee is so ethusiastic that we've taken on a huge list of projects that should make this year's Prom really memorable. In keeping with the spirit of Promdemonium, everything will be upcycled and utterly awesome.

One important element will be the lighting made from vintage prom wear. To make it happen, we will need to get our hands on a bunch of floor lamps. I've already posted ads on Craigslist and a few other sites, but if you happen to know of anyone with some unwanted lamps in the Ottawa area, please send them my way!

Currently obsessed with: The End of the World, and Pinterest

2011-03-10T21:40:00.001-05:00

photo by Sampsel Preston

Chris and I have both been sick for the past few weeks, so we haven't done much beyond sitting on the couch watching post-apocalyptic movies. Maybe it stems from the zombie movie marathon we hosted on New Year's day, but lately I've had an appetite for movies about the end of the world. On the list of the movies we've watched in the last two weeks: Tank Girl, Mad Max (all 3 - although the second is by far the best), Waterworld, The Road, Cherry 2000, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Cyborg and Cyborg 2 (not nearly as good as the first one despite having Angelina Jolie in it).

One thing most of these movies have in common is fantastic fashion. The movie costumes have got me fantasizing about future outfits worthy of Burning Man's Death Guild or a killer post-apocalyptic party. Having recently signed up for pinterest, obviously I started a pin board to save all my favourite inspiration for dieselpunk disaster wear.

photo by Shannon Cottrel

Living downtown in the capital, should all hell break loose, Chris and I are either doomed or in a good position to mooch off the government's emergency response plans. Nevertheless, after reading this awesome post on life after the earthquake in Christchurch I am comforted by the knowledge that we can always count on having a good supply of alcohol at home.

small step towards resolution #1

But we might need to start hoarding an extra emergency stash somewhere as the newly-organized kitchen's collection of bottles aren't likely to survive even a small tremor.

Pearl Jam

2011-03-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

For a Pearl Jam fan.

The photo is also showing off our new-to-us turntable courtesy of freecycle.

10 Things I Love About Chris

2011-02-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

from Black Rock Yearbook 2010

He makes coffee before getting into the shower every morning so I can sleep in a little longer
He calls me “Peaches” so as not to confuse me with Simone, who he calls “Sweetheart”
He never rushes anything (or anywhere). I know he’s always thought long and hard on something before making the right choice; he never does anything haphazardly.
He takes care of me when I’m sick, when I’m in a bad mood and when my allergies are making me feel gross

Promdemonium 2010

He picks me up, lifts me into the air and kisses me
Not only does he put up with my crazy projects and the chaos that goes with them, he helps me accomplish more than I ever could without him. It takes a special person to live with a dinosaur blocking the hall for over a month.

making a duct tape dummy

He somehow makes me feel small (no easy feat!)
When I’m scared at night, he’ll get out of bed to double check that all the doors are locked and then talk to me about how we could fend off zombie attacks long enough to get to Bertha and drive to safety. It’s important to have a plan for these sorts of events.
We create a wake behind us at concerts, so he ends up standing behind me and holding me close.
He makes me so very, very happy

from Camp :D

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun with Flux & Fire

2011-02-07T17:30:00.001-05:00

Chris and I had a great time this weekend volunteering with the crew from Flux & Fire while they were warming things up at Winterlude.

Dian Carlo in a photo by Marc Desrosiers for Metro

We hope the NCC invites artist Christine Irving and her team back soon. Ottawa could use more interactive art like this!

Finished Jackalope

2011-01-30T02:45:00.001-05:00

In the end we decided to go with the vintage fur. But with a twist.

Buck

I still wasn't happy with the fur I had on hand, so I dyed it with Nice n' Easy. I remembered hearing somewhere that the Museum of Nature used Nice 'n Easy hair dye to restore the caribou in their dioramas after their fur had faded from decades under the exhibit lights. So I thought I might as well give it a try.

Full instructions on how I made the jackalope are over on Instructables.

Kings of Leon

2011-01-29T20:18:00.000-05:00

A special request all the way from France.

Kings of Leon

The Jackalope: to fur or not to fur

2011-01-19T17:06:00.001-05:00

My jackalope is starting to look like a rabbit with antlers, but now I'm not sure what to do. I had originally planned to cover it with some lovely vintage fur I have lying around, but the more I think about it, the more I think that I might prefer a more modern look.

Chris thinks I should cover it in old book pages like this rhino from Anthropologie.

I suggested making it sparkly but unfortunately he nixed that idea.

photo from Ramshackle Glam

Resolutions for 2011

2011-01-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

taking down the tree last week

Now that the craziness of Christmas is over, I've been thinking a lot about what the year ahead will be like. Around this time last year I was dreaming up a big adventure for Chris and I. It was something to look forward to while in the middle of an Ottawa winter; something to make me feel a little less like a grown-up.

My resolutions for 2011 seem to be pointing me in the opposite direction but, strangely, I'm still looking forward to crossing them off my big to do list.

1. Get organized: this will likely be an ongoing struggle, but I want to start 2011 off right by turning our "den" into useful space and sorting out a solution for my dresser-breaking collection of clothes

2. Buy a house: while Chris and I have already been actively house hunting for over a year, I think we can finally "find the one," and hopefully the finances to buy it, in 2011

And since those two resolutions (especially #2) are very likely to turn me into a mature, responsible adult, I'd better add one more.

3. Whenever possible, don't be boring: costumes, crafts and general craziness are de rigueur for 2011

What I'm working on right now

2011-01-05T11:11:00.001-05:00

I really liked using papier maché pulp when I was working on Little Al's head. If you've got scrap paper and glue on hand it doesn't cost anything to make and gives you a lot more freedom than strips of paper dipped in paste.

It's really easy to make. First you shred, rip and cut up paper until you have a bucket full of little paper pieces and then you fill the bucket with water and let it soak for a few hours. This time around I used a lot of black tissue paper that came with a gift basket Chris got at work and it gave the pulp a darker colour.

The paper and water go for a spin in the blender and then the mixture gets strained and all the water gets squeezed out.

You then add flour and water paste to hold it all together and salt to keep it from going gross.

I also like to add a generous helping of white glue. The end result is a clay-like substance than can be molded like play-dough and becomes very hard when dry.

So what am I using it for this time?

Inspired by our adventures south of the border, I'm making a jackalope!

Introducing Juniper and Potato

2011-01-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

Here are the newest additions to our little household: Juniper and Potato. Born October 29, 2010 at La Ratterie des Trois-Rives, these two little girls are settling into life at the tta quite nicely.

We thought naming them Juniper and Potato was a step up from calling them Gin and Vodka.

Other rejected names (mostly cut because they'd be better suited for boys than our lovely little ladies):
-Bebop & Rocksteady
-Threepio & Artoo
-Rosencrantz & Guildenstern

Jasimuddin

2011-01-03T00:32:00.001-05:00

This was a special request for one of Bengali songwriter and poet Jasimuddin's relatives.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T23:39:00.002-05:00

2010 was so much fun! Here's to hoping 2011 turns out just as great!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:14:00.002-05:00

Our homemade pop-up Christmas card

Happy holidays! Chris and I are enjoying a cozy Christmas together in Ottawa.

We had an early Christmas with my family in BC last weekend. Everyone was together for my brother's wedding and my mother brought a cute little tree for our guest ranch chalet.

We made the garland and star from scrap paper

The Christmas Challenge was a huge success. My family is so talented and thoughtful!

this photo doesn't do justice to the etched wine glass my brother made for my mom

Chris and I had the bride and groom to make presents for. Inspired by pillows I had seen on etsy and the work of Ottawa artist Karina Bergmans, I took two thrifted jackets and turned them into initial throw pillows.

In keeping with the font theme, we also monogrammed two hand towels using vintage buttons.

It was really easy to do but I think the finished product is pretty cute.

Nothing says Christmas like zombies and Scooby Doo

2010-12-07T00:43:00.000-05:00

Our friends hosted an awesome gingerbread building contest. With so much delicious gingerbread and candy, our team obviously went a little overboard.

Clearly the trouble started when the Mystery Machine ran over one of the undead.

Watch out behind you Scooby!

Fred is so dead.

We managed to tie for last place. Maybe the judges haven't seen the Threadless shirt.

Missing my rats

2010-12-05T23:24:00.004-05:00

Nim just the other day

Sadly Nim passed away yesterday.

The apartment seems much emptier without my rats.

Update:
Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and to Kim for posting the photo of Nim on desire to inspire.

We're not the only ones

2010-11-24T12:26:00.001-05:00

My family isn't alone in going the handmade route this holiday season. There's a great letter from the editor on Instructables about the value of homemade gifts and Anna over at Door Sixteen is also encouraging everyone to make or buy handmade this year.

I've been busy crafting a bunch of different gifts but since some of my friends and family have been known to read this blog on occasion, I can't post much about my progress. I'd hate to ruin the surprise.

Instead, here are some awesome projects that I'd love to try but don't currently have anyone on my list to give them to.

I don't think a bubblegum pink wild boar rug would really work with any of my friends' decor, but I think it's awesome. Hemi*Housewife describes how she made it over on Craftster.

Who doesn't love candy? The toughest part would be choosing what to depict and which candy to use. Your friend's favourite pet in Skittles? The Millenium Falcon in Nerds for that Star Wars fan on your list? The possibilities are endless! Full instructions on how to make it happen are on Make: Projects.

Who says pirates get to have all the fun?

2010-11-19T23:56:00.002-05:00

Liz made this great variation on the kidnapped mermaid costume. I love it!

New yarn bombing in the neighbourhood

2010-11-16T21:37:00.001-05:00

It's starting to get a little chilly in Ottawa, so it was nice to see that someone gave this sign post a cute sweater to wear for the winter.

Mermaids beware! Pirate kidnappings on the rise

2010-11-15T01:00:00.003-05:00

I just love it when people send me photos of costumes inspired by my instructables. Looks like quite a few mermaids were caught by pirates this halloween!

Shedata used a pool cover to make that awesome bubbly fin.

Sojournerc made the costume in a way that allowed her beautiful daughter to escape her pirate captor and run around as a free mermaid whenever she wanted.

Lyric's costume won a costume contest. Looks like she had lots of other mermaids and mermen to keep her company.

You can see the original instructable for Andrea's kidnapped mermaid costume here.

And this happens to be the 33rd photo I've taken this month

2010-11-14T12:46:00.001-05:00

Bertha hit 333333 km yesterday. She's still chugging along but I think we're going to have to find somewhere to store her for the winter. Winter street parking in Ottawa is ridiculous.

Butterflies and beer

2010-11-11T19:17:00.002-05:00

When my mom drew names for the Christmas gift exchange I got my brother's fiance. Despite the fact that she's been dating my brother for years and they'll be married in a little over a month, I don't actually know that much about her tastes. All I know is she likes butterflies, beer and my brother.

It's not much to go on but etsy proved to be a treasure trove of potential gift ideas.

Butterflies and Beer

dubbel beer-rings rebrewedcreati... $20.00	TILE COASTERS MONAR... whimsycreation... $15.00	2 Etched Highball G... phoenixfirestu... $28.00	Swallowtail Butterf... RandomPrefect $17.00
Yellow and black bu... designhutusa $29.50	Open your beer - ... beerring $20.00	Mrs. Cool 8x8 Fine ... CristyBeckImag... $25.00	Beer Bottle Coaster... MintyFreshFusi... $22.00
4 Pint Glasses in y... BreadandBadger $54.00	REAL FRAMED GIANT S... REALBUTTERFLYG... $39.99	Irish Red Handmade ... thepinksink $4.99	ON SALE The Butterf... ellemoss $24.00
Felt Butterflies - ... fixdesign $3.00	Moustache Pilsner G... modernmadness $22.00	Handmade butterfly ... joypeckjoy $34.00	Keep Calm and DRINK... PosterPop $15.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Extra hugs and kisses for Nim in the meantime

2010-11-10T23:19:00.001-05:00

I really appreciate all the kind words and condolences from everyone.

I wish Noi could have lasted long enough to meet the two baby girls we'll be welcoming into our home in December. We hate to see Nim all alone, but hopefully she won't be too lonely for long.

photos from Ratterie des 3-rives

Noi goes under the knife again

2010-11-09T08:04:00.004-05:00

Our little girl has developed another lump. She did so well recovering from the last surgery that we're hoping she"ll be just fine after they remove this new tumor today.

Update: Unfortunately the tumor was much worse than expected and Noi did not survive the surgery. We will miss her very much.

baby Noi

Fun finds at the vintage sale

2010-11-07T22:51:00.000-05:00

fashionistas clearly need their morning coffee fix

As usual, Chris and I didn't find much that fit us at the Ottawa Vintage Clothing Sale today, but we did walk away with a few treasures.

Chris got a tie and some shiny cuff links and I found a really cool hat.

This Knights Templar feather hat once belonged to a Robert A. Barhydt and since the label inside says "The M.C. Lilley Co." it must have been made before 1925! I feel like I should wear it when fighting pirates.

Christmas Challenge

2010-11-05T19:44:00.001-04:00

When my parents were in town we had a chance to talk face to face about all sorts of things, including Christmas gifts. I'm from a big family, not Duggar big, but big enough, and in recent years the amount of stuff we exchange over the holidays has gotten a bit overwhelming.

My folks have been talking about drawing names and focusing on handmade items for a while and this year we've decided to finally give it a shot.

So here are the rules

Gifts can be any or all of the following:
-handmade by yourself
-handmade by someone else
-vintage / thrifted / second hand
-regifted

I'm really excited about this. I'm going to try to apply the rules to all the gifts I give this year.

Taking Little Al for a walk

2010-11-02T21:29:00.001-04:00

My dinosaur isn't completely finished but he still managed to turn a lot of heads over the Halloween weekend.

We still need to tweak a few little things and attach the allosaurus legs.

How do you follow up a kidnapped mermaid?

2010-11-01T22:29:00.002-04:00

One of the problems with making awesome Halloween costumes is coming up with ways to out do them the following year. After last year's kidnapped mermaid, expectations for Andrea's costume were pretty high. Not one to disappoint, she came up with another impressive idea with just as much exposed navel.

I've posted full instructions on how we made her genie on a flying carpet costume over on instructables.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T02:31:00.001-04:00

I hope you're having as much fun this weekend as we are!

Where are we going to find 1.21 jigowatts?!

2010-10-27T23:59:00.000-04:00

I started working on this steampunk flux capacitor months ago. Made mostly from dollar store items (and those awesome antique edges from etsy), I thought it would be a pretty quick and easy project.

I somehow forgot that what little I learned about electricity in high school is long forgotten.

So Chris and I learned to solder and I discovered the importance of resistors after blowing through a bunch of LEDs. But try as we might, we just can't get it to flux.

Maybe we just need to get our hands on some plutonium.

pencil case, medicine droppers & pill boxes

So what's up with Little Al?

2010-10-20T17:30:00.004-04:00

With all this talk of rocket packs you might be wondering whether I've made any progress on my dinosaur.

I have! Not as much as I'd like to have done at this point, but it's starting to come together.

So far I've managed to do most of the scultping on the head.

Papier maché pulp is awesome. This was my first time making paper clay and I can't get over how easy and cheap it is.

Rocket pack ready

2010-10-18T23:42:00.002-04:00

This Rocketeer rocket pack cost us a grand total of $0. It's made almost entirely from items destined for the trash or the blue bin.

It's supposed to be for Chris' Halloween costume, but I couldn't resist putting it on to get some photos of the finished product.

Full instructions over on instructables.com

Crunch time

2010-10-13T23:59:00.003-04:00

Only 17 days til Halloween!

Despite pulling some 13 hour days at work this month, I've managed to make some progress on our costumes for this year.

Chris' rocket pack is well on its way to being done. We just need to add a few final details and he'll be ready to fight nazis and sweep Betty Page off her feet.

More photos and a full how-to soon.

Ottawa invasion

2010-10-12T00:56:00.000-04:00

Space invader spotted on Bank Street.

Is this part of the global invasion?

Playa dust and pickletinis party

2010-09-28T14:17:00.000-04:00

After being gone for a month, Chris and I were eager to see all our friends again and tell them all about our travels. What better way to show them what we saw on the road than to subject them to a slideshow party?

With the help of a borrowed projector and gifted screen, we projected the best of the 1065 photos we took on the way to and from Burning Man onto our living room wall.

What we ate: Since we were already feeling a little nostalgic about our vacation, we served foods that reminded us of the road trip.

squeaky cheese curds in honour of Wisconsin
diy ice cream in a jar (we used soy milk to make a vegan & lactose-free option)
chips and salsa - a major part of our Burning Man diet

Most popular drink: Thanks to Duty Free we currently have a very well stocked bar, so we were happy to serve up some potent mixed drinks for our friends.

Chris and I discovered the awesomeness that is a Black Rock City Pickletini after one of our bikes broke down and we spent an afternoon hanging out at pimp-yr-bike while the guys there tried to fix the vintage European folding bike's inner tube.

Chris' Dirty Playatini
2 parts dill pickle juice
1 part vermouth
4 parts vodka
shake over ice and garnish with a mini dill pickle

Allison's Sweet Pickletini
2 parts sweet gerkin juice (strained)
1 part vodka
stirred and served with a mini gerkin

Soundtrack for the night: For road trip tunes, I highly recommend CBC Radio 3's mix tapes. The podcasts for 2006 and 2007 are especially good.

More More More!

2010-09-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Billy Idol

It's been a while since I posted a painted record, eh? I've got a bunch of record requests to take care of, so there should be many more soon.

This makes me ridiculously happy

2010-09-15T23:16:00.000-04:00

Confused? This may help.

Superman Saga

2010-09-14T22:29:00.000-04:00

I previously posted that Chris and I were making Superman costumes for Burning Man. In honour of the Metropolis theme, a world record breaking gathering of people dressed as Superman was scheduled for noon on Burn Day and we didn't want to miss out on the fun.

On top of our own costumes, I was making S shield patches to give out to anyone who may have forgotten their superhero outfits at home. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the iron-on interfacing for the patches (and read the instructions) until I had already traced and cut out a couple dozen red logos. Only afterwards did I realize that it would be much easier to iron the interfacing to the red fabric before cutting it all out.

So I started over. Luckily I had plenty of free red t-shirts to use and many many hours of riding in Bertha to spend cutting.

I ironed the red shields onto a $2 yellow sheet in our hotel room in Reno and then added another layer of interfacing so the patches could be ironed onto shirts. Since I didn't have a sewing machine to finish the edges, they probably won't last in the wash, but they held up well enough on the playa.

Full costume breakdown:

red capes: made from old skirt & volunteer t-shirts
blue t-shirts: $5 for 3 at Wal-mart in the mens underwear section!
yellow belts: duct tape generously donated by another burner so our outfits would pass Guiness's record requirements (I later added a yellow belt that had become moop)
undies: mine are from Wal-mart, Chris' are from H&M
blue tights: $5 for 3 pairs at Ardene!

We smashed the previous world record of 122 people dressed as Superman. While I'm not sure of the final count, I was Superman #135 and Chris was #138.

Tiny adventures

2010-09-13T22:55:00.003-04:00

Peering into our finished diorama

Remember when I said we were participating in a group art project for Burning Man this year? Despite a few little hiccups along the way, our finished box made it to the playa to be part of a very awesome installation.

not much to look at yet

Circumstances prevented us from completing our diorama in time to mail it to Team Tiny, so we took our 12 x 12 x 8 box on the road with us.

craft time in Edmonton

By the time we were ready to leave BC, the diorama was mostly done, but I was still working on wrapping it in white duct tape when we pulled into Vancouver, Washington, to hand our box over to the tiny artist who generously offered to deliver it to the playa for us.

progress in Kamloops

After setting up camp at Burning Man, we were very eager to go see our diorama in place, but were disappointed when we discovered that something had broken on route and our box was not lighting up.

emergency on-playa surgery

Fortunately, we had tools back at our camp and were able to rewire the lights and return our diorama to it's place so it could be enjoyed by burners all day and night.

sealing it up again

Here's what they saw inside:

by day

by night (my camera doesn't do it justice)

Ten points if you can spot two Canadian landmarks, two New York landmarks and two Metropolis landmarks!

Enough with the travel photos already!

2010-09-12T22:20:00.002-04:00

Don't worry this is the last of the Chris with Signs and Allison with Large Objects series. 11911 km later, we're finally back in the capital and I have lots of fun projects on the go that I'll be posting about soon.

If you are here looking for photos of my painted records, you can see them all at this link.

riding a jackalope - Wall Drug

Wisconsin cheese curds

Green Giant - Blue Earth

Allison with Large Objects - part 3

2010-09-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Cowboy - Wendover

Sinclair dinosaur - Little America

Jackalope - Douglas