Careful, It's a Jungle Out There!

Hi-ho friends,

It was a wonderful Christmas for the ladies here at Artful Anthro. The best part? Giving our quality handmade gifts and watching little faces light up. However the aftermath of the holidays has us both drained and energized. (Weird combination - how can you be both!? I'm sure you're asking). Well, we've got a ton of new ideas swimming in our heads as we need to find homes for a few things. Drained because as I look behind me at the workspace it seems as if a major natural event has occurred and left the room a disaster zone.

So before I commence my holiday overhaul of our workspace I have a few friends I'd like to introduce you to:

Meet Rwar!

Rwar the tiger is a crochet pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli that has some minor modifications by us. He is on safari at his new home now and we hope he's very happy with his new pal!

Hello, My name is Squidy

This is Squidy the Octopus (are you going to argue with a 5-year old over the finer points of cephalopods?) With every octopus I make I feel as if they're legs get shorter and fatter each time. This particular specimen differs widely from those made in the past because her eyes are felt instead of safety eyes. My reasoning? I ran out of the giant ones I normally use. It must be time for a spread sheet of inventory, me thinks. Last I saw Squidy she was happily nestled between the Little Mermaid and her pal Sebastian.

Introducing The Penguin

This little guy was a bit frustrating to make. Don't get me wrong I've made birds before, you know the cute little song birds that tweet tweet on the branches - a penguin is not a songbird. While the basic pattern is from Ana Paula Rimoli, this bird barely resembles that pattern. His shape is all wrong, but you know what? I LOVE HIM! I actually like it better and find it to be a more believable penguin that what I set out to make. This little guy is cheerfully crashing Gotham City and taking on Batman now (no kidding, he stands as tall as the city).

We have a few more gifts, still living at home just waiting to meet their new owners so they'll be making their debut here soon as well as some new craft projects we've completed around the home. Tune in next week for more crafty fun!

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

There's Only One More Sleep til Christmas

....actually more like two or three but who's counting! (Everyone of course). Nothing better to put you in the xmas mood than A Muppet's Christmas Carol. This movie has seen a lot of wrapping and gift making over the past four weeks. In fact we sat down and tallied up how many times this movie is watched by us over the course of the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It averages 6 viewings, over that time period, in a year. The only other movie I have viewed into the dirt like that is The Sound of Music ( I went through 3 vhs copies of the film from age 3 to 8).

There won't be any postings of new items today, they're all top secret until after Christmas, who knows who could be reading this! I don't want to ruin any surprises. However I will say that we have quite a variety of products to display, so the long wait shouldn't disappoint!

In the words of Luann Platter, "Hold your babies tight."

Happy Holidays,

Artful Anthropology

Dochtah!

Sorry about the long wait, end of term and inventory time at work has made coming home and going straight to bed a near standard here. However, we have new and exciting merch for you all to see.

Introducing The Doctors Who

This is Ten and Eleven - shall we have a closer look?

ALLONS-Y!

The Tenth Doctor. He is sporting his long sexy brown coat and dapper blue suit with a pair of classic chucks. In his hand he holds his super high tech 3D glasses. Whether he's on Raxacoricofallipatorius or chilling in New New York he be sytlin'. :P

GERONIMO

I give you The Eleventh Doctor, and yes people bow ties are cool. Suspenders are cool. Fezzes are cool. This man is ready to bust out of the Pandorica, take a quick tea break with fish sticks and custard before scurrying off to rid the worlds of Weeping Angels. With Amy Pond and Rory by his side this man is going places!

Like The Doctors? Well the beauty of these dolls is we can make whomever you want! Endless possibilities!

Ladies and Gentlemen.....THE BEATLES!!1!

Like the Beatles! If you like what you see give us an electronic jingle.

And now for something completely different:

Happy 8-bit Xmas

Our 8-bit Christmas wreath. Tis the season to be nostalgic. This little beauty comes from the fine geeks and geekettes at ThinkGeek. The best part; it lights up!

Well ladies and gents we'll be back after Christmas with all the great stuff we made for all the people in our lives.

Looks like another victory for the good guys

Merry Chrimble and Happy Chanukah,

Artful Anthropology

T-Shirt Blanket

Here's something a little bit different from our normal fare (and environmentally friendly too!): a T-shirt Blanket.  Basically we cleaned out our closets of all the clothes that do not fit anymore.  But what do you do when you see those trusty staples that have long been a part of your wardrobe in that dreaded toss pile? Why, you make a blanket, of course!

This one was a fairly easy project, that is if you sew the right sides together.....

So we took a number of t-shirts we've been hoarding for a few years and cut out the graphic.

Salami guarding the t-shirt piles

Then came the hard part: figuring out the order in which to place them on the blanket. Once that was decided, we started sewing the rows together until voila, front of blanket.

A row of t-shirts waiting for their time with
 Madame Von-Sewing Machine

Sewing together two rows

Now, here's the best part: the backing! Go to your favorite department store and head for the bedding section. Pick a nice jersey sheet set that will compliment your t-shirts and buy it. (ours was $15).

Use the flat sheet as "batting," cut off the elastic in the fitted sheet and use that for the backing.  Sew it all together and not only do you have a nice new, warm blanket but matching pillow cases!!!

TADA!

And there you have it, a quick and easy project for those cold nights that winter is sure to bring. If you have lots of old t-shirts and don't feel like making a blanket yourself, Artful Anthropology will do it for you!

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Photos Revealed

Hi all!

Sorry this took so long it's been such a long and busy week not to mention we both got sick at the beginning of this week :c

Congrats to our winners of the Halloween contest: Marissa, Bethany and Jen! Woohoo!

I'm sure you're all dying to know what the heck those photo close up were of and what the Halloween gifts are. Well we shall reveal the answers to the contest now but the gifts are for a later post.

Warty Gourd

Halloween Owl

Paper-Mache Ghost holding
a pumpkin

Punk Ornament
looks like a Tim Burton character

Ceramic Pumpkin

Well that's it. Aren't they the cutest!? We'll have our contest prizes posted next week and maybe a pumpkin-y surprise.

Until then, stay worm with some hot cocoa.

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Decorating for All Hallows Eve

Good Afternoon all you Guys and Ghouls,

Halloween will be upon us in little over a fortnight! That is exciting!! We've decorated quite a bit around here. We have lights, pumpkins and even a Halloween tree. It's a bit odd and concerning that no one else on the street has decorated. I'm curious if our hopes for trick or treaters are in vain. I'll be really sad if that is so.

Our fall flowers; Hardy Mums and an assortment of gourds.

Our Halloween tree topper.

But back to the decorations, not everything is setup, so things will have to wait until Halloween but our window display is adorable and the front of the house in general isn't too bad. I was quite impressed with what we could do with the place.

I'll close with a few looks at our decorations and a reminder to check out our previous post for details on our Halloween contest. There is just one more week to enter your guesses by email! The first three people to correctly identify the 5 close ups will receive a Halloween themed gift from us! Homemade, heartfelt and Hallo-rific.

The front window.

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Musings

Happy Fall,

It has been a very busy week here, one of us has a new job she is preparing for, while the other has a pile of school books that just won't deplete. We've started decorating for Halloween, our favourite holiday! We'll post pictures of that next week when things calm down a bit.

Here's a hint of what's to come:

Here's a keen idea; a contest! So We've posted five images of a few Halloween friends that have decided to chill out here with Artful Anthropology.

Email us with the correct guesses of each of the objects and the first three correct guesses win a Halloween themed gift from Artful Anthropology. Homemade, unique and heartfelt.

Until then, stay warm.

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Last of the Summer

Hello Guys and Gals,

I meant to post this last week but I got caught up with paying bills and birthday type things. Not to mention actually making my tomato sauce. I do a batch of tomato sauce at least once a month from the start of tomato season to the end. I use only fresh ingredients straight from the farmers' market and I grind up my spices myself.

Getting ready for the pot!

I grew the basil in this batch of tomato sauce but I found out very quickly that I'm not very good with veggies. I can grow mums like crazy but everything else seems to die on me. (I'm told I care for them too much). But anyway my sauce, it is an all day affair that takes about an hour and a half of prep time and four to six hours of cooking depending on the batch.

After four hours of simmering

Oh it was so yum. This was the first batch I decided to can, the rest we ate up fast. The canning was an interesting process, I'd never done it by myself before. Sure long ago as a kid I had canned strawberry jam with my grandmother but really I had only filled the jars.

This time though, I did everything myself and boy did I make a mess (sorry no pictures). But in the end it turned out great. We gave jars to our parents and still managed to have three left over for the winter. So exciting! Every-time I open the pantry I see them and grin.


We've found that this tomato sauce pairs great with a sweet red wine. Our suggestions would be Oliver soft red or Smith-Berry Farms Flat Rock Red (both delicious local wines and fairly inexpensive). As a matter of fact I might break open a jar and nom some of this tonight :)

Tomato sauce pasta with mozzerella cheese, Smith-Berry Farm wine.
Flowers and Cherry tomatoes fresh from the Farmers' Market

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Leather, Lace and Cogs

Good Morning,

The sun is shining and it is gearing up to be a beautiful day. We are readying ourselves for the Louisville Steampunk Tea Party this weekend and our little suitcase show. There is a lot to do this week and unfortunately my crocheting fingers have yarn block. not exactly the best time! However we are chugging right along with our jewelry. Here's a peek at my favorite pair of earrings, I'm sorely tempted to keep these.

Lock and Key earrings

We're very excited about our new pieces, and boy have we been stretching our imaginations on these! I'll leave you today with a few more teaser pictures of our wares for this weekend.

Mad Hatter

Leather/Lace Choker

We have lots of exciting things even our costumes are handmade, well most of them, the coat of Liz's is doubling as a Halloween costume this year.

Steampunk Over Coat

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

Steampunk Month!

Good Morning Everyone!

It's a bit of a gloomy day here with a drizzling rain and chill weather. I love it. The weather is telling me that fall is right around the corner and coming on fast.

On a more business like note, we have started a Facebook page where all of our wares will eventually be displayed. This month's theme is Steampunk! Check out all of our jewelry and in a few days we'll have some costumes up.

Why costumes? For the Louisville Steampunk Tea Party of course! On Sunday 18 September Artful Anthropology will have a Suitcase Shop down at the riverfront. Come in costume and bring a snack to share among like minded individuals. It will be loads of fun!

Also participating in the Steampunk Tea Party is Number Nine Designs, a local shop on Frankfort Ave here in Louisville, KY. Check out their Facebook page or if you are local, stop by the store and check out their beautiful wares.

Finally, for all you Steampunk fans in Louisville visit the blog, Louisville Steampunk. It keeps people up-to-date on Steampunk news and events in the Louisville area. Quite informative!

Here's a teaser, and watch for other things to be uploaded soon. Oh! and not just Steampunky thing either, we do much more, so stay tuned!

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology

So It Begins...

Artful Anthropology is the brain child of two enterprising young women in Louisville, Kentucky. We work out of our home and create a variety of items from clothing and jewelry to dolls and toys. We hope to use this blog as a chronicle of our achievements as crafters, cooks and as a journal of our progress towards our goals.

Our Goals
-To create more imaginative crafts
-To become better businesswomen
-To network with other Crafters

On a more personal level we hope to use whatever income we generate from our craftiness towards our academic goals.

Cheers,
Artful Anthropology