5 years, stuck on my eyes. 5 years, what a surprise.....

yeah, i've been slacking! well, at least when it comes to maintaining this blog that is. we have been putting our all into finalizing last minute details for the packaging of our goods and the like, as this saturday will kick off our 5th summer at the riverfront market. 5 years, i can hardly believe it! i smile when i think about our first year with our hodgepodge setup & the stuff we were making & selling then. i mean, i wasn't even a mama yet (and let me tell ya, being pregnant & being a mom has definitely prevented those early saturday mornings where i was still slightly drunk from the karaoke/dance-athon that started the night before. try selling my wares to strangers with maker's mark still fresh on my breath in a voice raw from belting out red hot chili peppers songs the night before. ahhh, those were the days! i could never pull off such a feat these days. and to be honest, i really wouldn't care to. i have a dance party everyday and night with this little boy who totally reshaped our lives. ahem, where were we?) okay, so i've only been a mama for 17 months, 2 weeks & 5 days, but still. being a mother has been rather enlightening. plus, i've had a lot more time to devote to creating since quitting the day job.  and while we're still doing a lot of the same; jewelry, photography, paper & fabric goods, etc., we're doing them with a little more precision. it'll be good to get back out in the heat! i'm looking forward to mingling with the other awesome crafters, making fast friends with random strangers, running across the road to use the potty & spending most of our earnings on organic produce & amish baked goods! well, maybe all except that last part. we're actually going try to earn as much & spend as little as possible this summer and have planned ahead and finally planted a garden! we'll still have to buy blueberries and a few other things, but we've "weeded" out a lot of regular purchases. wha wha! 

speaking of spending as little as possible. our materials fund has been little to none which has forced us to look at the things we already own (the things that fill up many a drawer & craft closet around here). we've collected lots of things over time & it's about time they got used! lots of up-cycling going on around here lately. t-shirts, old dictionaries, moby wraps, an atlas, etc. here's a couple of necklaces & bracelet that i've made out of H's old homemade moby wrap. oh, and a photo of my little boy in it last summer when it was first made. 

my goodness does time fly! this child has grown so much that front carrying isn't really an option. we also upgraded to a soft buckle carrier which is a lot nicer to our backs. apparently, i subconsciously stuck with similar colors. here's a photo of the carrier taken at it's unveiling, about 8 months ago). 

i based the design off of a few other carriers (baby hawk mei tai & ergo to name a few). it's been a dream and is still in working order today, but my toddler, like most, would much rather use his own two feet to get from point A to point B. and who am i to intervene with that. 

until next time party people! i leave you with this, a photo of an old church-no more. it was just recently bulldozed. i think it's been empty for awhile, but the sign was always reassuring. 

drama day weekend.....

we really try to utilize every minute of our weekends, whether it be relaxing to the fullest, or getting as much done as humanly possible. getting stuff done can sometimes prove to be tough when you have a 17 month old who demands your constant attention. another reason why nap time is great! (yes, i'd much rather be napping alongside my baby boy right now, but blogs don't write themselves)
anyhoo, it's been kind of a whirlwind the last few days. we've done so much, it's hard to remember everything. good thing i had the camera out to capture it all!

nutella stuffed french toast. yum! could eat it daily, but that wouldn't be fair to our little H as he has not yet had the joy of experiencing the fine delicacy of chocolate (we keep him away from most processed foods and don't make a habit of eating food he can't). 

discovered our old cribbage board (which hasn't really been used since i was in college in chicago & my roommate and i  played while waiting on our clothes to dry at the laundromat) makes a quick and entertaining fine motor/color recognition activity. we made sure to stay close as the small pieces could become a choking hazard.

as previously mentioned, we've been going through stuff and either passing it on to a new home or finding a new use for it.  i came across two pairs of H's corduroy's (2 of my favs) that have become too short for him and it's also getting too warm for cords, so i decided why not make cute cut off shorts? i've seem them at stores this season, but could never bring myself to purchase new cut offs (for myself or H). it was super simple and they turned out uber cute! i cut them a bit shorter than his other shorts, as they are made of corduroy and we don't want to start any fires. i thought about running a stitch around the bottom, but these probably won't fit by the end of summer, so i didn't bother. 

mmm....left over grilled chicken, provolone & avocado sammies on honey whole wheat. so good! one of H's favorite lunches! he loves avocado.

have you ever heard of made by joel? this guy comes up with great activities/toys for his kids and shares them on his blog. if you have yet to check him out, do it now! www.madebyjoel.com  a lot of the stuff is for older children, but he recently made these fleece squares for babies. i decided H needed to have some and well, since i have more felt on hand than fleece, i decided to make them for him outta felt. we talk about the size and color and even count them while playing. learning can be so much fun!

the riverfront market will be starting up in less than 2 weeks! so, needless to say, i've been staying up late working on new stuff for it. we (papa & i) have been designing things on our trusty ol' mac and i have also been putting my hands to work making jewelry & such. here is what we started (& actually finished:) this weekend. the print is based on neutral milk hotel lyrics (who were name dropped on parks & recreation last thursday-did you catch that?) and the necklace is made out of old t-shirts. we strive to reduce, reuse and recycle in our lives and in our art wherever possible. whaddaya think? until next time........

word to your mother.......

that's my mama. i love her glasses! wishing there was some way she could've known then that the 9th child she bore (yeah, that's right, i'm #9) would've loved to wear them now. ahhh, the 1950's.... staring at this photo makes me wonder how our son will maintain photos of us in the next 20, 30 years. other than the huge storage container overflowing with photos, negatives and contact prints from my teenage years and our early 20's, everything else is pretty much online or on a memory card of one sort or another. granted there are prints here and there, but not of everything. remember going to pick up your film and getting prints-sometimes doubles-of every frame? even the bad ones with people with their eyes closed or whose heads were chopped off. that huge, plastic, probably not BPA-free (now that i come to think of it) tub full of our memories might smell kinda funny, but at least we can still see, touch, smell and if we really wanted to, taste those captured images of our past. will our stack of SD cards be readable in 30 years? will they be obsolete? will you need a special device to access the info being stored on them? what about our flickr accounts? will they be viewable? these are the things, however minor in the grand scheme of it all, that i sometimes worry about. so what can we do? well, keep taking photographs, but let's start being more determined to get prints made on a regular basis. even if you're simply printing at home, let's all be proactive about passing on a non-digitized history! i plan on leaving behind my analog story for a digital world, what about you?


a few of my favorite prints from non-digital cameras (that have been scanned and digitized, yes)......

                                               my papa

                                                  us 

                                      

a head shot taken with my old quad cam

                               zebra puppy love polaroid

we both recently started a 365project. have you heard of it? well, it basically makes you want to be the most innovative photographer you can be and on a daily basis! we always have a camera in hand and take at least a photo a day, but for the last 17 months or so, our attention has been absorbed by a delightful, handsome, photogenic, cherub-esque little man, and while we have taken some beautiful photos of him, we are both ready for somewhat more of a photographic challenge. obviously photographing a toddler can be a challenge, but we've had a sort of photographic re-awakening. we've made more of an effort to go out for the sole purpose of photographing again! this is a good thing as the summer market will be starting up in a few weeks and we'll need some fresh photography to try & sell in one form or another along with our other goods. and while we know our little elver is as cute as can be, there aren't too many people out there looking to buy photos of other peoples babies (& wouldn't we be creeped out by those that were).  here are a few of the digital non-offspring images we've captured lately....

dolphin wedding.....

we love all things that hail from athens, ga and the B52's are no exception! when H was right around 6 months old we were playing on the floor and like we always do, had music going in the background. we were listening to the ipod on shuffle when "rock lobster" started to play. out of nowhere H started shaking his little body with everything that he had. we knew he enjoyed music (how couldn't he, his parents are slightly obsessed with it), but he was really rocking out! we died! by the time he was 10 months, he could hum the beat, "duh, duh, duh, da da da da da da." halloween was right around the same time and of course we decided our little elver(baby eel) needed a rock lobster costume. he was one cute lobster baby! he even won best costume at a roller derby contest where buzzed, very tan, mature ladies got the crowd chanting, "lobster baby!" but that surreal night is another story for another time.......

when H was about 14 months, we introduced him to yo gabba gabba! (thanks to the flaming lips) and he slowly started to obsess with the show and the music and was soon over his love of "rock lobster." he only wanted gabba tunes and we obliged as we too love of montreal, the shins, the roots and so on. we eventually even made him his own playlist on the ipod & even though it normally doesn't get heard these days, added "rock lobster" to it too. yesterday afternoon we were drawing in his playroom while listening to his playlist and "rock lobster" came on. he immediately stopped what he was doing, got up and proceeded to shake immensely! it was like the movements were dormant in his body for the last 6 months and only needed to hear the right notes to be re-activated. when it was over he signed, "more" and well, 27 hours later, we're still listening to it! i have to admit, while it does get redundant, i can't help but dancing right alongside my boy every time! so here it is now, for you! crank it up and get down to it with the shamelessness of a toddler. you'll find it's quite the good time.

nobody beats the biz!

as previously mentioned, we have recently moved. while we are settled in for the most part, there are still a few boxes & bags of clothes that need going through. papa had the afternoon off and we decided to take on a few of them bags. we figured if the clothes have been in these bags for the last month and we haven't missed them, surely we needed to reconsider whether they were worthy of being kept any longer. we started to dig in & quickly had 3 piles going-keep, donation & re-purpose.  it wasn't very long into it that papa opened up a bag to find the awesome and mega clearanced biz markie & fat boys t-shirts i got online for him last winter (i also bought a digital underground shirt that day, but it wasn't in that bag because it actually gets worn on a regular basis). the print on these two are a heavier, thicker ink making the shirts stiff & uncomfortable for papaeel. knowing i would want to upcycle them both, he handed them to me. i immediately showed the biz markie one to H (as he is slightly obsessed with yo gabba gabba! & will frequently roam the house beat boxing like biz does). it took him a second, but when he realized who it was, he took the shirt and carried it through the house performing his very own style of biz inspired beat boxing. i looked at papa & we both knew that i had no other choice but to make H his very own biz shirt! i redirected my intentions of unpacking & began to focus on finding a shirt of H's to use for this sure to be unparalleled, applique adventure. i thought this one would do just fine.....

i knew i wanted biz, but i also knew all of him wouldn't fit on H's shirt. i went ahead and cut all of him out so i could play around with positioning before making any final cuts to biz himself.

once i determined placement, i cut biz to size and ironed my adhesive paper to the back.

i cut biz out, peeled off the backing of the adhesive paper, made sure he was precisely where i wanted him & began to iron him on (because i knew there was a chance the ink could transfer onto my iron with it being so hot, i used the remnants of the original biz shirt to place in between the biz & the iron).

i have to admit, when i pulled that top t-shirt remnant off, i was impressed! what a rad shirt for my little man! i knew in order to withstand being worn by a toddler & survive multiple washings that i should go ahead & run a stitch around biz's perimeter.  i went with red thread. i thought it would compliment biz's bling well.

i couldn't be happier with the finished product! H rather likes it too!

country air.......

today's adventure started early this morning when H, grandma & i had to take the former 4th member of our family, chad the cat, out to a friend's farm where he will happily live out the rest of his days. long story short, our england-esque ways of cat rearing was not ideal for our new neighbors & we grew tired of their incessant complaining & threats. H loved "duh" like a brother. luckily, we'll have the opportunity to go and visit our eldest "son" whenever we'd like.

our friend's have cows, goats, cats & bunnies on their farm, which made for an instant field trip! they had a bucket of feed ready for the goats, but H is not yet a fan. he refused to go near them, but did find joy in stomping around in the mud, mooing at the cows & being king of the cats. grandmama eel & i rather enjoyed the baby goats. isn't this one sweet? i believe she is a fainting goat. if you haven't heard the word about the fainting goat, read on here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat

after our educational & emotion riddled morning, we headed back into "the city." H was beat and slept the whole ride home and even went back to sleep for a bit once transferred into bed from the car. this gave me some time to whip up a quick activity for the afternoon. i love paper! so much so that i have trouble parting with the scraps. i always promise papa i will find a use for them & did so this afternoon! i decided to punch out circles & squares for a shape collage.

H woke up & after a quick lunch of avocado chunks, mozzarella cheese stick & orange wedges, we got the glue out! H loves to glue....

it can get messy, but so what! a mess can always be cleaned up. there's nothing i love more than watching H's brain absorb new things. maybe it's cliche, but watching the little human you've created with the person you love grow and change everyday is truly amazing! and if that doesn't do it for you, just look at the fun art that can be made by a toddler! 

proper introductions.....

hello there! we are the eclectic eel. we are a family of 3 (& we all know that 3 is a magic number!). we strive to be as omnific as possible and are always excited to complete any of the many tasks we have at hand. mama & papa are the main doers while baby H mostly serves as a muse. he does rather enjoy coloring and gluing but knows too well the pitfalls of going commercial and so currently chooses to make art for arts sake. we love each other & we love photo booth! here is proof:

when i (mama eel) am not wasting what little precious computer time i get on band sites, etsy & pinterest, i'm trying to get the eclectic eel to serve as a full time job. last year (about 6 wks after returning from maternity leave), i quit my job as a case manager for child care subsidy to stay home and raise H. having worked in a few daycares, i knew it was not what i wanted for my family & after many a restless night, we basically decided to take a vow of poverty in order to raise our son the only way we felt was acceptable. for us, it wasn't worth me being apart from my child for 40+ hours a week, dealing with all the hassles of pumping at work, and stressing over what my child was doing at that exact moment on a daily basis, for very little gain after paying for daycare, commuting, et cetera. plus, i was so drained it was hard sit down and just be creative. and so, while my shoe faucet has dried up, i have had the luxury of staying at home and being a full time mother and creator instead. i've had the pleasure of napping mid afternoon with my son, going to the zoo on a weekday, not dressing office casual, creating whenever i'm inspired & meeting papa for lunch whenever we'd like!  i'd say we made the right choice! & lucky you, cause you get to benefit from us finding blog time!

so, what kind of things do we create? well, all kinds. we've recently become more obsessed with baby stuff with becoming parents, but still find time for photography, sewing, graphic design, jewelry, stamp carving, et cetera...below are a few of the things we've been making/selling lately. you can find more at our etsy store, theeclecticeel

we are creating things everyday in this household! below is an elephant hand print i made with H today. i cut out the print, doublestick taped it to some fun scrap paper, framed it in an ikea 5x5 clip frame and hung it in his playroom. he & i try to make the most fun of everyday and that has seemed to get easier the older he gets. he's going on 17 months now and i can't believe it!  if you have a little one, bust out the stamp pad and make one of these with them today!