One Happy Dork

I have loved the character Totoro (from the movie "My Neighbor Totoro") since I was a small child. It's one of those things I obsess over: I have Totoro slippers, Totoro seatbelt covers in my car, and various custom Totoro stuff my mom has made over the years. Now I have one more thing to add to my collection! It all started with the fact that hat-scarves are super in right now. I saw a really cool florescent pink & black zebra stripe, extra furry one, at JCPennys a couple of months ago, but I didn't have the money to buy it. By the time I did, they had sold out of them. It dawned on me as I was looking at some other ones that if I could find a pattern for them I could just make one - and how much cooler would Totoro be than the one I saw (don't get me wrong, I LOVE hot pink, but I love Totoro more!). Sure enough, Simplicity had a pattern for this style of hat. Well, yesterday I finally got to put it together - with mom's help - she's the master seamstress after all. We modified the pattern to give it an extra lining in the hand pockets, eyes, nose, different ears, and little toes. It came out super cute! Of course, I couldn't resist taking the iconic shot with the umbrella - my favorite scene from the movie:

So where's the Catbus?

And here's a close up to see the toes better:

Lending a Creative Helping Hand

Once a month, my church has what's called "6:35 Service." Basically, it's an 'artsy' evening service. I haven't been able to go for a while, but lately they've been working with the Micah 6:8 - "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." This past Sunday was time for the 'act justly' part. We divided into four groups to participate in different service projects. One group collected hats and mittens to hand out locally, another made laundry soap for Next Steps (a women's recovery home), another made 'Blessing Bags' (bags full of helpful things like food and hygiene items) to give to local homeless, and the other was charged with making artwork to decorate the Department of Child Services (DCS) rooms where children have visitations with their parents. I was fortunate enough to be part of the artwork group. (Also blessed because originally I was suppose to work and they called it off!)

I had a blast creating some melted crayon art; something I had seen on Pinterest but never tried before. I decided to incorporate one of my favorite characters Totoro into mine. Basically I drew Totoro on the canvas, inked him with a black sharpie, then carefully covered the sketch with blue painters tape (love that stuff!). Then I hot glued the crayons to the top and used a heat gun to 'make it rain.' After that I carefully peeled the tape off and painted Totoro with some gouache paints. Super jazzed about the end result. Hopefully it will make some child smile.