Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Voodoo Scrubs



Consider this post a follow-up.



 In my previous post, the inspiration for creating small cloth skullies and a brief description of how they were made was provided. Here my daughter models their first application in use. The skulls were appliqued to the pockets of these thrift store scrubs.




In the picture below you can see the bone skull bead that was sewn at the neckline of her scrubs.



She will be wearing these when she takes anatomy class later this summer at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She starts classes for her graduate degree in Occupational Therapy tomorrow. As we did not have a scalpel handy she posed with an Exacto knife.


Carina





Sunday, May 20, 2012

Oh-la-la Granny Panties




Sensible white cotton panties wear out. Sometimes they get tossed, sometimes they become rags and sometimes they find a whole other use. This is just such a tale.


 Scrolling through photos taken at the past, last Artfest this spring I was drawn to some of the clothing worn by the stuffed creatures made in Junker Jane's class.
 
        http://junkerjane.blogspot.com/2012/04/artfest-2012.html

When she is not creating ghoulish, monster dolls or intriguing journal bags, Jane goes by the moniker Catherine Zacchino

The clothing detail that drew my attention was these crude little skull appliques on several outfits. Outfits that the monster dolls were wearing.Gathering up supplies including the backside of worn, white, cotton panties, black lining material from inside a wool skirt and some cast padding I made a material sandwich and got the sewing machine humming. My own little skullies would be forthcoming.



After sandwiching my layers, I drew skulls by hand with a Sharpie marker. The marker lines were stitched by machine with black thread. With a small, sharp detail scissors the eye sockets were cut open to reveal the underlying black lining material. Small, black beads were sewn on by hand to represent nostrils.




The first two sullies to find use were appliqued to the pockets of a thrift store navy colored scrub top. My daughter takes human anatomy this summer at Virginia Commonwealth University and I gave her these as a gift to wear to her lab section, Voodoo scrubs.


Carina

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Turtle Burgers


Yes, the idea originated on the internet, Facebook to be exact.
No, no turtles were harmed in the production of these turtle burgers.



Part of my fascination with Facebook is the pictorial images and those of turtle burgers grabbed me, intrigued me, even though I seldom eat items with protruding hot dogs.



 Recipe details were sketchy when blog sites referencing the actual preparation of turtle burgers were visited. The video linked here used ground turkey and turkey bacon.


Other variables included oven vs. grill and the use of straight-up ground beef. I opted for a meatloaf-style beef mixture, as it was more likely to stay moist during oven baking. Near the mid-point if baking the appendages were covered with a little aluminum foil to prevent over cooking and becoming too dark.



Whole cloves were inserted at the end of cooking made turtle eyes.


A little over one pound of ground chuck mixed with breadcrumbs, egg, onion and grated cheddar cheese, 12 strips of bacon and 6 good quality hot dogs made for two very substantial turtle burgers.


The husband ate 1/2 a turtle at dinner and the daughter and I split the other 1/2. The remaining turtle got sliced and made into sandwiches later in the week. This is not a menu item destined to become part of our general meal options, but now I know how to make these odd burgers. They would be an interesting potluck choice for the right party.

Carina

Monday, May 7, 2012

Dignified Old Dogs

Old dogs know a thing or two about about dignity - and fake bunny ears are not part of the equation. Blame it on Facebook, all those Easter-time photos of dogs and cats sporting bunny ears. Blame it on digital cameras and the ease of photo processing.




 Yes, I gave in to peer pressure and my dogs suffered the consequences. I thought that pictures of our dogs in bunny ears would be a darling addition to the chocolates in the Easter basket, so I set about getting some. Levels of canine cooperation with this decidedly human venture varied.





Ranger, weighing in at 10 pounds and guessed to be a chihuahua and corgi mix seems genetically programmed to pose and wear adorable outfits. Just do not try to get little boots on his feet ( to prevent toe pad frostbite on frigid weather walks). He ain't having any part of that.

Greta, with a probable rottweiler and Australian herding dog heritage aims to please. While her look tells me she feels silly, if this is what her human wants, well then, she will do it.





Roxy, true to her terrier ancestry, just wanted to pull those ears off Greta's head and run around the dog yard shaking them, making sure they were dead, quite dead. Once they were on her head, it was a whole different story.





The dog aware of the dignity engendered in being the family's elder canine representative is Calypso (aka Butchie). She is your basic brown dog, with a family tree so interwoven with the various strains of dogdom that she identifies as nothing more specific than dog, a dog with dignity. At 14, she takes human foolishness with a grain of salt. While she will wear those preposterous ears, she will not look into the camera and pose.





After putting up with this whole business quite long enough..... thank-you.....she heads for home.

 



No use in calling her name, even if her deaf ears could hear me, she's done with this, done baby! No more photos and no comment!




Carina