DIY: Super Simple Wooden Spool Headphone Keeper

Image ©Bridgette Meinhold

Earbud wires are forever getting tangled up into knots in my bag. Try as I might to keep them neat they always end up in a ball. Then back in December I came across this adorable idea to keep them wrapped up nice and neat. I was on my way to go buy a set when I realized - doh! I can make this myself. After a trip to a great antique shop down in Salt Lake City, I located a few old wooden thread spools. Then with the help of my trusty drill, a big drill bit and a utility knife I was in business. Read on my clever friends to see how I changed a mere wooden thread spool into a headphone keeper.

Amazing 3 Dimensional Fish Paintings of Riusuke Fukahori

I hardly believed this when I saw it, but these are not photographs of goldfish in wooden bowls. These are 3-dimensional paintings by Riusuke Fukahori created by painting multiple layers and then sandwiching them in between resin. Not so much a fan of the resin part, but my god, these are amazing works of art. I can easily see how this translates into encaustic. Watch the video after the jump to fully appreciate how Fukahori creates them.

Korg 3.0 Movement & The Push: A South Pole Adventure

Image courtesy of the High Fives Foundation

Right now, one of my dearest friends is skiing to the South Pole in Antarctica. Grant Korgan is an amazingly positive person with a heart the size of Texas and the drive to do anything he could ever dream up. Cross country skiing to the South Pole is a huge and monumental, cold task in itself. To make it even more amazing, Grant doesn't have any feeling below his knees due to a devastating spinal cord injury in 2010. He's going to be the first adaptive skier to ever ski to the South Pole.

I've been following along at the edge of my seat with the satellite phone calls to the entire team while on their journey. His inspiring mission is not just to do something incredible, but also to help raise money for spinal cord injuries through their project - The Push: A South Pole Adventure. He's out there on the ice with his team giving it his all to get there and my thoughts go to him constantly. I wrote a poem to help him on his path.

WE Lab Report: Disconnect

a slow awakening, 23.5 x 26 in, milk paint + encaustic on reclaimed wood

Last week, I attempted to reduce my time spent online as a way of disconnecting and living a slower paced life. While I didn't hit my mark for social media, I did come close. In fact I'll consider it a success. Because even though I have been sick this whole last week - I got another painting done and delivered to the gallery. This is in part due to shutting the computer and leaving it in the house so I could go out to the studio and paint. No need for a full lab report, but just know this - if social media is sucking up your time, limiting it is refreshing and quite enjoyable. Getting on only once or twice a day actually makes it better than checking it every half hour.

Wondertivity Experiment: Disconnect

It may seem ironic, maybe even hypocritical as a blogger, but I really want to get off the computer. I spend far too much time banging away on these keys and checking facebook. I claim it's for "work", but I  know it's not the only reason. Yes, social networking is an important part of promoting the writing and artwork I do, but how much is really necessary? This week's Wondertivity Experiment is part project and part new year's resolution - I want to be better about disconnecting. I know that this won't necessarily be a "successful" WE, but it's the start of a life long lifestyle choice.

I can't totally disconnect, but I can minimize it. So this week, I'm limiting my facebook usage to 3 hours TOTAL. Email checking only happens when I'm working in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening. Pinning is also minimized to 1 hour total this week. I'll report on Friday to see how well I've suceeded. So far, I've been on facebook for a half hour today. Guess I've got my work cut out for me.

Perfect New Year's Eve Cocktail

I believe I have found the perfect New Year's Eve cocktail. Normally, I'm a big fan of vodka, soda and a splash of cranberry or pomegranate juice, but for NYE, you've got to up your game a bit. While in town this week, I visited the Highwest Distillery and was delighted to test out their Cowgirl Kiss. It's like my go-to-favorite, BUT decidely fancier. Mix one part locally-produced Highwest Vodka 7000' with one part pomegranate juice, mix well and top with sparkling wine. Now we're talking.

Vote For Your Favorite DIY of 2011!

Dear lovely readers - one of my articles from this year is in the running for Inhabitat's Top DIY post of 2011. You may remember my love of terrariums and how they're making a comeback this year? Well, check out this link and then vote for your favorite DIY on Inhabitat. Ahem... I think it should be an easy decision...

WE Lab Report: Pine Tree Studies

A lot of my paintings feature trees, so this week's Wondertivity Experiment was all about pine trees. To paint trees well, you have to understand their structure and how they are put together. Luckily, I am surrounded by pine trees and finding the subject matter was as simple as stepping outside my front door. I also got some exercise while looking at them. It was a win-win experiment. Look on for the results of my pine tree studies in milk paint on encaustic.

Incredible Miniature Matchbook Art of Jason D'Aquino

50 ft Woman and Typewriter 2 | Image ©Lori Zimmer at Art Basel Miami

This past week was the wild and crazy Art Basel in Miami and a fellow writer at Inhabitat and art aficionado Lori Zimmer headed down to check out the art and the people. Based on some of her status updates throughout the week - it sounded like a pretty damn good time. Oh and she saw some cool art too. Especially the works of Jason D'Aquino who is a miniaturist that works on found material. My favorite are his matchbooks that feature intricate drawings of vintage-pop icons. Don't you just wish you could have a whole wall full of them?

Wondertivity Experiment: Pine Tree Studies

This week it's all about pine tress. Since it's one of my main subject matters, it's time to take a more serious look at these majestic beauties and understand them better - from how they're put together to how they move in the wind, to how the weather affects them. While this certainly is by no means a comprehensive study - who can totally understand pine trees in a week?! - I hope to come away from this week with a better understanding of them. So, my goal is by the end of the week to perform a study of the pine needles, the branches, and the assembly. Results will include - drawings and 4-6 small milk paint on encaustic studies.