Whew, that was one busy December! Lots of jobs, lots of orders, and one very cold craft fair. I am pooped. But not too pooped to say thank you to everyone out there who supported MamaRobot in one way or another this year, especially the two cutie pies pictured here. Happy Holidays everybody, and we'll see you in 2010 with all kinds of fun new stuff! Peace.
Just found out my Robot one-piece outfit is featured in this month's Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine! I think Penny's pediatrician has this mag in the waiting room, so when I take Pen for her 9 month check-up next week maybe I'll slyly leave it opened to my page :)
December is shaping up to be a really busy month. I've got two major freelance jobs, the 3rd Ward Handmade Holiday fair, and the usual flood of holiday orders (not that I'm complaining)! I'm going to try to take it one day at a time, keep a to-do list, and drink lots of tea and water. Let's all get through December feeling somewhat serene!
Just popping in to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Here's a pic of Penny in one of my onesies. It's nearly impossible to get her to pose for product shots anymore. She is constantly on the move and has no interest in sitting still.
Chris, Penny and I are heading out to my mom's early in the morning. I'm thankful that Chris likes to drive so I don't have to! Wishing you all a peaceful holiday.
A new week means it's time for a new drawing on Penny's chalkboard wall!
This week brought the good news that I've been accepted to 3rd Ward's third annual Handmade Holiday Craft Fair! Here's a pic of my table from last year's show. It's a very cool location, with vendors I haven't seen anywhere else. For example, Chris found a guy selling handmade guitar microphones. He bought one and thinks it's the best guitar mic he's ever owned. So if you're in the Brooklyn area, come on out! Visit the link for all the info.
Since it's Thanksgiving week, I thought I'd share the link for my favorite new charity, Youth of Malawi. Some friends of mine visited Malawi for the first time this year and witnessed the unimaginable poverty and disease first hand. They began this charity. Their charity's first project is to take 300 orphans to the beach for the very first time. Chris and I loved this idea so much we sponsored one of the children. Visit the link for how you can be a part of this wonderful day. Already I feel extra thankful for all that we have. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This past Sunday was one of the last warm days, so we walked over to the Socrates Sculpture Park with Penny. We saw a subway to nowhere:
...a yellow brick road:
...a vinyl dissected whale: 
...and a pile of cakes: 
Then we stopped for smooches: 
It was a lovely time. Hope you're all having a wonderful week!
My Flirt Bot Gocco on wood piece is up in the shop. Go check it out!
We're just back from another relaxing weekend in the country. This is me relaxing in a leafpile my brother made. I also got to play some accordion, eat lentil soup, get a foot rub from my mom, and play with my nephew. We drove home at sunset on Sunday. Now I'm all set for a calm week - no freelance, not much on my to-do list. Hope your week is calm too!
For Penny's first Halloween, Chris had requested a chili pepper costume ("so she can be a 'Halloween-yo pepper!" he explained). At first I thought I'd have to settle for a strawberry. (I firmly believe that all babies should dress as food.) I almost bought the strawberry costume. And then, I found it. On sale too! She was the only chili pepper in the whole Roosevelt Island Halloween Parade.
Sorry I've stepped away from blogging for a moment...it has been unbelievably busy around here. I had a couple of huge wholesale orders, plus a freelance assignment due, and then one of the cats got sick and a couple of trips to the vet were needed. (She's feeling much better now, purring away!) Above is a picture of an extremely cool present for Penny from an old friend of mine - it's a bucket of plush fish! (Cinder's just checking to make sure they're not real). Here's where you can get your own bucket.
And now, apropos of nothing, I want to share a recipe with y'all...
The other day my mom sent me her recipe for hummus. This, to me, is real hummus: no garlic, no spices, just chickpeas, tahini, and lemon. I don't like another thing in my hummus. This is an easy thing to make, and so healthy! I can't wait to feed some to Penny. Happy weekend everybody!
HUMMUS
One small can of garbanzo beans
Two lemons
Third to half a cup of Tahini
Salt and pepper
Quarter teaspoon olive oil
Half cup of parsley sprigs
Drain almost all can liquid from garbanzo beans (but keep in reserve). Place remaining beans into blender. Add juice of one lemon. Blend until pureed (mixture can be a bit grainy unless you like it very smooth). If you need extra liquid to puree add a touch of reserved can liquid (just a touch – hopefully the lemon juice will be all the liquid you need.
Pour puree into small bowl, add all Tahini and the juice of the second lemon ( half at a time so you can make to your taste. I like a lot of lemon.) Add salt and pepper and mix all ingredients thoroughly until Tahini is completely incorporated.
Decorate the perimeter generously with sprigs of parsley. The parsley is meant to be eaten as it makes a nice contrast to the velvety tart hummus. Dribble the center with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil
Tip: If your tahini has settled in its container with the oil on top, stir until it is well blended or hummus will be too oily. You want the Tahini paste to be well distributed.
Tip: Don’t use organic garbanzos. They are tough and don’t blend well. Goya is my first choice, Progresso second.
If you're in the New York area, this Saturday is a great time to check out my little neck of the woods, Roosevelt Island! I'll be selling a selection of MamaRobot items in the plaza in front of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd from 11 to 4. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm, and if all that's not enough to convince you, Chris Fuller will be performing in the plaza, right near my booth, from 11:30-12:30. Mayor Bloomberg is coming too! He supposed to visit all of the booths personally, so I'll try to snap a picture and thank him for the smoking ban. Click on the images above to read all the details. Hope to see all you New Yorkers!
Saturday we took Penny and her grandparents to Coney Island and the Aquarium. I snapped a few pics along the way, including a funny robot and a gorgeous jellyfish. When we got home, I put Penny to bed, and my mother-in-law made delicious margaritas so we could enjoy some adult time. It felt right to indulge in some drinks - this week I finally got our security deposit back from our last apartment, and I finally found product liability insurance for MamaRobot! Major progress on my to-do list, and major events in store for my little biz...stay tuned!
It's Tuesday here at MamaRobot headquarters, and I'm sending you over to see the following:
-yummy chicken recipe I made the other night
-an awesome new brick and mortar eco-friendly store in Oklahoma that sells MamaRobot goods!
-my animation buddy's new Etsy shop
-my husband's rad new podcast (with some guest appearances by me and Penny!)
That's life in a nutshell over here. I'm loving this cool grey treasury created by Fluur featuring my print. And my sweet potato, wearing her dinner of sweet potatoes. My crazy, lovely 6 month old.
Hope you're all having a great week!
I needed some hang tags for some upcoming MamaRobot business, so I changed one of my existing designs a bit to make these, adding some matching twine I bought from The Whimsical Muse on Etsy. I think they capture the spirit of MamaRobot quite well!
Today is a crisp autumn Saturday, and we've just returned from the farmer's market, where I bought a batch of Honeycrisp apples to make applesauce for Penny. This afternoon we're taking her to the Central Park Zoo. Then later, we're having friends over for what Chris calls "Spaghetti Madness"! I love the weekends. Hope you're enjoying yours :)
A few nights ago I mentioned that my last Muji notebook sold and I was going to have to make a trip to the Muji store to re-stock. Hearing this, Chris opened his bag and voila - 10 new Muji notebooks for me! How did he know?! So today I printed on all ten of them. I like the way they turned out. I only made the ten, so if you want one, go grab one now!
OK, so it's not just "my" art show. But my three Gocco on wood pieces will be shown next to some pretty rad work by a lot of my buddies from the world of animation. And I've made limited edition buttons and magnets that you might be lucky enough to nab as well! More info here. I'm so proud to be involved with this cool event. If you're in the New York area, please drop by!
This week I finished my Gocco pieces for my upcoming art show. Printing Gocco on wood was quite a challenge. There were some duds. Anybody have suggestions on what to do with misprinted wood panels? I might Gesso them and paint on them. I just don't want to waste them. There are one or two non-duds that might end up in the shop, along with whatever doesn't sell in the art show, so keep an eye out!
On Thursday I took Penny to story time at FAO Shwartz with a couple of her friends. I hadn't been to the store in years. As we walked in I got all giggly. They have a build your own Muppet station! And the most gorgeous dollhouses. And soft puppets that made Penny laugh hysterically. We listened to stories and songs, watched people dance on the giant piano, then headed home. I love having an excuse to do these things :) I hope all of your weeks were fun as well!
September began with a chill in the air here in NYC. Penny and all her baby friends wore their hoodies and their socks. I'm finally making some progress in my list of goals for August (a little late, but still!) Things I'm looking forward to this month:
- Too Art For TV 4!
- Pilates class on Thursday nights
- Buying a pool membership so Penny can keep up her swimming.
- Labor Day weekend at my Mom's house. The above picture was taken in her backyard. We always have fun out there.
- Finally getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight - I'm within 3 pounds!
I hope your September is off to a great start!
Penny had the sniffles this week and consequently has been taking unusually long naps. So I had time to make another design for my Gocco on wood project. I won't be able to burn it until I get more bulbs - I wasted two of them yesterday when I forgot to put a screen in the machine. My design got burned into the blue filter instead. Ooh, was I mad at myself!
Chris is coming home early today, and I'm going to take a Mom-cation. (That is, a walk down the street to get a pedicure.)
Hope you all enjoy your weekends!
Here is the start of what will be my Gocco on wood project. This image began as one of those ideas that come to me just as I'm falling asleep. I jumped out of bed and scribbled a sketch, then the next morning scanned it into the computer and cleaned it up till it looked like what you see above. Next I'll print it out and re-ink it with a brush pen to put a little life back into it. The computer step is helpful in adjusting proportion and symmetry, and saves lots of paper as I play around with details. Next steps: ink the design, photocopy the ink, and burn a Gocco screen. Then comes what I hope will be the fun part! I'll post more pictures soon!
I've been meaning to offer some sort of discounted bundle for a while now, so here it is! Order a Robot and Friend Bib with your choice of outfit, and you'll save a couple bucks AND get free shipping. Bing-bang-boom, your baby gift shopping's done. Here's the listing. Have a lovely day!
My to-do list for August:
- Secure product liability insurance
- Design new hang tags
- complete 2 comic strips for freelance gig
- make two gocco prints for September art show
It's going to be a busy next couple of weeks! Thankfully, we've just gotten all re-charged from a weekend at my mom's. Saturday was spent at the beach, then on Sunday a long walk led us to this field of driftwood horses. Aren't they stunning? Here's more about the artist if you're interested. Now off to complete some of these goals so I can cross them off the list...
It rained all day Sunday, so we puttered around the apartment, hanging art and rearranging things. Our new place feels very grown-up; we had some art framed, our two secondhand couches were swapped out for one new couch, and I'm even buying coasters for the coffee table. I think we'll get a set of these neat recycled glass ones from YAVA Glass. Penny and I are getting ready to head to Brooklyn today for a little coffee date...hope you all have a lovely week!
Penny has finally decided to get reacquainted with what is known as the "morning nap". For 2 exhausting weeks she decided there was way too much fun to be had and that naps were for losers. Thank goodness that phase seems to be coming to a close!
When she wakes up we're going to head downtown to the County Clerk's office for some official MamaRobot business. It's funny, I remember being afraid to take her into the supermarket! It's nice to be past that. Here she is with her daddy over the weekend, having a little business meeting under the straw hat.
Now that we're settling in to the new place, I decided to splurge on this print from Matteart. I've wanted to own at least one of his pieces ever since I first spotted his work on Etsy. I just love his style and his color palette. This will look so cheerful on our big blue wall.
This week we've had absolutely gorgeous weather, and Penny and I have been spending most of our time outside, coming in only for naps and wardrobe changes. Now she's fast asleep and I've got a freelance deadline to meet, so I should be wrapping up the blogging and getting to drawing! Hope all of your weeks were sunny and fun :)
This year Macy's decided to have their fireworks on the Hudson river instead of the East river, so there was nothing viewable from our balcony. We did get to see lots of cool boats head downtown to watch the show, though. Instead of leaving town for the long weekend, Chris and I worked on settling into our new digs. I was able to find some environmentally friendly, fume-free, non-toxic wall paint at Home Depot. The only drawback is there was a really limited palette of colors to choose from, and most of them were earthy, muted colors. We chose this pretty sky blue for the living room. (It's actually a bit brighter than this pic shows.) I'm all about painting accent walls, rather than doing the entire room. It's so much easier and has just as much of an effect. The bedroom and Penny's room will be yellow (with one chalkboard wall!), but that will have to wait till next weekend. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
This is how the sky looked last Friday night. These pics are not Photoshopped. Amazing, right? I had never seen clouds like this. Neither had a lot of people! Penny had just gone to bed, and Chris and I enjoyed a moment on the balcony looking at this strange sky. I wanted to post these pics sooner but we've just finally moved to a bigger apartment! I only just located my camera. Our new place is just one floor up from our old one, same view and everything. Moving was not quite as horrendous as I expected, thanks to my mom, my awesome sis-in-law, who knew just where to put everything (thank goodness, because I sure didn't), and a friend of Chris's who actually volunteered to lend a hand. We're still decorating. Today we went to Home Depot and bought chalkboard paint for Penny's room. I drew all over the walls when I was growing up, only I didn't have chalkboard walls. I don't remember getting in trouble for it either...I guess my parents decided to roll with it. See you soon with pics of the new place!
I'm sitting here on a Thursday morning, enjoying a delicious iced coffee with honey, watching some pigeons build a nest on our balcony. Penny is napping away, unaware that she's made it into her very first treasury! I was so pleased to see this...she looks so good right there in the center :) Thanks to EttaRose for including us!
Lots of goings on this week, including an exciting prospect for the MamaRobot biz. I will share more when things are definite. Meanwhile, Penny and I are going to take our first Mom and Baby Yoga class today. I used to do a lot of yoga, and even seriously considered learning to teach it at one point. It still seems like it would be a job that would nicely compliment what I already do. If Penny enjoys it I think we'll make it a regular thing. I hope you're all doing fun things today, too!
I've been meaning to list these new onesies for about a week now and have finally got around to it! I'm so pleased that American Apparel is making their organic onesies in some new colors. I love this shade of blue, and I had the robots printed in silver ink - so cool. I ordered just a few of these, so if you like them, go here and grab one for your favorite baby!
Speaking of babies, I also wanted to wish all the Daddies out there a very Happy Father's Day! Chris was treated to a card featuring the photo above, this t-shirt he had been eyeing, and his favorite breakfast - blueberry pancakes. After a family walk, I sent him off to do something he hasn't been able to do much lately - an open mike at one of his favorite spots: Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn. Penny's gift to her dad was to sleep for 12 uninterrupted hours last night. And that was much appreciated by both of us. Hope all of you enjoyed your weekend. Happy Summer!
I am so pleased with how these new bibs came out. We go through 2 or 3 of these little shirt-savers every day. The MamaRobot bib is made of creamy organic cotton, has a velcro closure, and is screenprinted with my Robot and Friend design in a beautiful red-orange. Now even if your baby's cool onesie design is hidden under a bib, you still got some cute 'bots to show off :) These will be posted in the shop later today, hopefully.
Other goings on...
- I had a rather grueling surgery at the dentist's yesterday. Let's just say that if I do any socializing this week, I'm going to have to explain what is going on with my face! On the plus side, I have an actual medical reason to eat ice cream.
- I am up-to-date with shipping! If you're waiting on a size medium Robo tee, it is on its way...
- Penny is 3 months old. Yes, we made it to 3 months!
Hope your weeks are going swell. Look for more new stuff later this week - just gotta snap some pics!
Another week, more comics. Sorry I don't have any other artwork to post. These comics are pretty much all I've been drawing lately. I hope to get a break soon! Other highlights from the week:
- I got my acceptance e-mail for the 4th installment of Too Art For TV. I'm very excited and glad I proposed something that will be realistic to accomplish in the little bits of free time I have left after Penny, the shop, and freelancing.
- Omega 3's are especially vital after having a baby, so Wednesday night, I made this yummy salmon recipe. Thanks Jenna Lou!
- Went for a run along the river Thursday morning, my first serious attempt in ages. It soon became clear that I am in desperate need of some new workout clothes. My baggy sweats are not cutting it, especially now that I'm chipping away at the baby weight. Anyone have recommendations for places/websites to buy basic workout gear?
- We're getting cable installed today. I was content being cable-free, convinced it would sabotage my productivity, and also satisfied with watching The Office, LOST, the news, and Seinfeld re-runs. However, we just bought a flat screen tv and apparently you can no longer just plug in a tv and get reception anymore. So we're giving in. I must admit I'm looking forward to it. A lot.
- Chris had a show at the local library and I took Penny to see her dad perform. Chris announced her to the crowd and she got an applause! Penny stayed pretty mellow throughout...I think she recognized her dad's voice.
- The shop has passed the 700 sale mark! I'm so grateful that so many of you find the Robo tee a fitting Father's Day gift.
Well, that's mostly what's been going on around here. Enjoy your day, and look for new goodies in the shop next week!
