Daily Art Stop: Transformation

I have the perfect image that I dug out of the archives for this theme! Above is a book cover design that I did for my old job, called: Transformation - Fellowships in Early Childhood Education. One of the co-authors of the book absolutely loved the color turquoise, and when I illustrated butterflies for the theme in her favorite color she was thrilled. Ever see a turquoise monarch? Now you have!

Junk food polymer clay magnets!

Cheeseburger and French Fries anyone?

Krispy Kreme doughnuts?

I made these polymer clay magnets for some upcoming birthday presents. My brother-in-law has an unhealthy obsession with fast food, particularly cheeseburgers and fries. I thought it would be cute to make him a cheeseburger, then fries and then I thought. . . I should make some Krispy Kremes for my father-in-law! He has an equally guilty pleasure for those guys. So hopefully they won't check my blog before their birthday party on Saturday. Cheeseburger and doughnuts are roughly the size of a quarter.

Anyone have any special requests to see in my Etsy shop? I'll make whatever you want, either in clay or felt with no obligation to buy. . . because I just can't stop making stuff!

Miss Diana Evans is next on my list for felted cupcakes.

IF: Legendary

The Beatles. The most legendary band of all time. And when I hear them, I think of my Dad and how much he loved them. We used to play their records and sing their songs together. . . particularly "Yellow Submarine". I remember the first time I saw the cartoon I was absolutely memorized and confused at the same time and I loved it! If it wasn't for my Dad, I don't think I would be the music enthusiast that I am today.

April 16th will be 2 years since he passed away at the young age of 58 from cancer. My favorite way to remember him is to listen to the Beatles. I can almost hear him singing to me.

A year ago, I posted another entry of a sketch I did in his memory of portholes. My Dad was a very skilled carpenter and participated in the construction of the new Dolphin Wing at the Baltimore Aquarium. Particularly the portholes, which he constructed on his own and was very proud of them. My husband asked me if that's why I decided to do an illustration of the Beatles looking out submarine portholes. It must have been completely subliminal!

Maybe this year I'll visit the aquarium again and sketch them from the inside.

What the Font?!!!

I just found this nifty application for my iPhone and think it's the neatest thing! Basically, you take a snapshot of some text with your phone, crop, upload, and in seconds it will provide a list of the closest family of fonts to choose from. It doesn't always work well, as a good snapshot is needed to produce good results. There is also a website to upload pics of fonts, check it out!

A little gem I want to share with my blogger friends.

I've had this beautiful little magazine sitting on my desk for a little over a month now. I've skimmed through the pretty pages, and just today I sat down to read it, cover to cover. It was absolutely inspiring!

Come January 2009, I was determined to accomplish a list of goals I had set for myself. The biggest one being the creation of my website. I went off to the local bookstore for software books since web design is kinda new to me. And that is where I picked up this magazine. So now that my website is complete, (take a look and tell me what you think! www.cynthiadiblasi.com) I decided to read this magazine for some inspiration on polishing up the ole blog.

The stories were so intimate and inviting, and the pictures were inspiring and beautiful. I've photographed a few pages for you to see:

The Feathered Nest: Dawn Edmonson
I love the name of this blog, the jar faeries, the little blue birds adorned with signs, and all of the imagery shown in this spread. Dawn writes about her love of sharing new ideas with her fellow bloggers, passing the knowledge, and the joy it brings her. She's won my heart!

Dudadaze: Diane Duda
Ah Dudadaze. She says that she decided to become an artist at the ripe old age of 41! Her illustrations are so adorable, and it certanly looks like she's been doing this all of her life! I say she's got some mad skills.

Marie Antoinette Birthday Soiree: Joy Jones
Celebrating all things Marie Antoinette. And Joy is throwing a party upon another magazine release! Here are the details Joy has written:

"In celebrating the magazine release, I've decided to theme my party “Celebrating Marie”. The party will last for 1 week (April 1 - 7) with a different Marie post each day. I’ll also have several give-aways during the week, lots of fun history and facts about Marie’s life and lots of sparkling glamour too!

So mark your calendars dear friends! You are invited to come and celebrate your inner-Queen as we also celebrate the beautiful Queen of France, Marie Antoinette!"

Sounds like fun!

There were other great things featured in the magazine, such as a group of 9 ladies getting together from all over the country who have conversed through their blogs for a year or so. It sounds like they had an absolutely amazing time.

I highly recomend this magazine to you all, and I hope you find it as inspiring as I have.

Happy blogging!

IF: Breezy

Right now in Maryland there is 6" of snow on the ground where I live, but soon enough the snow will melt, and the cherry blossoms will be in bloom. I can't wait to get out and take my camera to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, and be surrounded by beautiful cherry blossom petals blowing in the spring breeze.

Inspire me Thursday: Moon

So this looks like a typical southwest landscape with a coyote howling at the moon. However, my inspiration for illustrating this scene was me wondering if this will be a view of my backyard sometime in the not too distant future! My husband's office that was once company headquarters is shutting down, and his department is mainly located in Phoenix Arizona. We were toying with the thought of moving to Phoenix last night, and getting excited about the idea of a major life change. Of course this probably won't happen. . . but it's fun to dream, right?

Photo Friday: City Life

Driving to Brooklyn New York to see a very dear friend, walking for miles and miles taking in all of the sights, having cappuccinos at one of the oldest coffee shops in Greenwich Village, and living it up with drinks after. . . I'm itching for a trip to New York soon!