You may ask "What is a space monkey?", and I would tell you "I don't know, it's just something I made." I like to sew without a pattern, which is fine if you don't plan on wearing the thing I sewed. This was just cut out of scrap fabric, then sewn together. I used fabric glue on the light blue patches.
The reason why I made a space monkey is because I had to make something for my Sci-fi class in college. I figured that no one would come in with a blue, hand-made space monkey, and honestly, I forget the whole story behind the monkey, but I'm sure it was pretty creative because I passed. Little kids seem to like it, my godson wanted it, but, for obvious reasons (button eyes, pictured below), I could not give it to him.
I just used big black buttons with smaller green buttons on top. Then sewed little nostrils and a thin mouth. The funny thing about this monkey is I never kept him in the same room where I slept because his eyes kind of creep me out.
Keep monkeying around. Happy Imagining!
I've been busy with house projects lately, so I wanted to say that I will be back soon with more post of art and oddball stuff.
I decided to post a cool picture of a motorcycle museum that is located in East LoDo in Denver, I like it and wanted to share. The museum is called Vintage Motos and their website is vintagemotos.com. I would suggest to go check it out if you like motorcycles and are in Denver, but, I believe that they are only open on Saturdays, check the website.
Check out some of my web stuff too. I'm on Facebook, facebook.com/caliradan. Follow me on Twitter @Caliradan. You can also follow me on Instagram, of course, the name to look for will be Caliradan. Happy Imagining!
This is a little sneak peek of our kitchen project. Here are some of the tools we are using, I'm sure that our friend, Chris, will be happy we are not using the pink hot glue gun (lol).
From this photo, you can see that we are making a template for new counter-tops. This island was actually, at one point, a peninsula; we just rearranged the cabinets and made room for the dishwasher by the sink. Of course, all will be explained once I do the kitchen tutorial.
Well, I better go figure out what kind of dinner I can make in a kitchen that is in disarray. Happy Imagining!
This is a fun pen! Obviously, it's Uncle Sam, but it is also like Rock'em Sock'em Robots (some people will know what I'm talking about). Sam's arms move forward in a punching motion (like Rock'em Sock'em), only his head doesn't pop off.
He ended up in my possession by accident. I worked at a little mom n' pop print shop who had a gift store in the front of the shop. This was definitely one of the most interesting jobs I have ever had. A regular customer had purchased one of these pens and had brought it back a few days later. The pen part of this contraption didn't work. So, Brad (the pop of mom n' pop), just gave her a new one that worked, and handed me the broken one. I guess he thought I wanted one because I would always play with them when I was standing at the counter... hey, it reminded me of Rock'em Sock'em Robots, a fond childhood memory. I actually think the reason these sold in the store was because I would be playing with them while the customer was shopping and the customer must have saw how entertained I was with the silly novelty pen.
Here is the punching action
I wish I could of got another one, I would play Rock'em Sock'em Uncle Sam with whoever wanted to play (hehe). Well, I must be on my way. Happy Imagining!
I have a pink Spyderco knife that my husband bought for me. I lost the original at a restaurant; it fell out of my pocket, and, of course, I didn't know that it was gone until hours later. See, the problem with having an awesome (and pink) pocket knife is not with the knife itself, but, the jeans I was wearing at the time. Many manufactures of female pants and jeans think that women don't need deep pockets. In fact, they barely give you any front pockets or non at all. So, when my husband bought me another one I decided to made a lanyard for it so I would never lose it again, and because I can't change all of the pockets in women's pants.
It is a great knife and I highly recommend that everyone get a Spyderco knife, they are made in Golden, Colorado. So, if you live here, go get one. If you plan on taking a vacation to the Denver area, go get one. Or, I'm sure you could find them on their website.
Here's what it looks like on one of my pairs of jeans which, actually, doesn't have shallow pockets. I just took 4 black fabric cords, and did a "friendship bracelet" knot (I'm not so sure what that knot is called). Then, tied it off on the knife and on the metal clip, wrapped a wire around the cord at the base of the knife and the metal clip to keep the cord in place.
I like it when I can make something instead of going out and buy something that someone else made. I feel self-reliant, bring on the zombie apocalypse... actually, don't! I don't feel like dealing with zombies. I think it's bad enough to go to Walmart on a Sunday. Happy Imaging!
I'm posting this picture in light of what is happening in our country right now. I'm not political, I don't follow any of that. I'm not for any side, I think all politicians are morons, I'm sure there are good politicians that don't get any recognition. I believe that anyone can come to America, become a citizen and work their way to the top. I believe in helping the people who truly need help, but I don't believe in hand-outs. I believe every law abiding American should have the right to own a gun. I also believe that women should have a choice. I believe people should have the right to marry who they love. I believe that America should look at the pros of marijuana and not the cons, we should look at the benefits of this plant and work with all of the resources that it can provide (this coming from a person who is allergic to NSAID's).
There are probably some things I missed, but, I believe that the government is not doing their job and not doing what is best for the American people. I, unfortunately, don't think anything is going to change, no matter who is in office. I hear people complain all of the time, I see it all over Facebook, hear it on the news... and nothing changes.
Sorry for getting so serious on this post, I usually only concentrate on creative stuff. This has been everywhere and it is getting annoying. I hope that everyone can create a better tomorrow, whether it be for themselves or for the world. I try to find good in everything, and while I was standing on my little soapbox, I thought of something I forgot. I believe that America is an awesome place and I'm glad to call it home. Remember, Happy Imagining!
I was going through some of my digital pictures on my computer and ran across some of my pictures from when I lived in 5 Points, Denver. When my husband and I lived in 5 Points, we would take walks all over 5 Points, Downtown Denver, Capitol Hill, City Park and LoDo. I would always bring my camera along, actually, I always take my camera everywhere anyway. One night, we were walking through Downtown and passed by some newspaper stands. As you can see in the picture, a cassette tape was sitting on the top of one of those newspaper stands, with a label on it with the title "THE REALITY OF HELL". I didn't want to touch it, so, I took a picture of it. I was curious of what was on it, but never found out.
Just some of the strange things you can find Downtown. Happy Imagining!
Here it is, the project that my husband and I have been working on for a few weeks now. I call it "The Dragon's Lair"! Basically, it's just pieces of packing Styrofoam glued together, covered in grout and sealed with polycrylic. We aren't the ones who originally came up with this idea, there are plenty of other tutorials on this out there, this is just how we made ours. And now, I will show you how we did this, here is the tutorial:
Step 1: Find some blocks of packing Styrofoam. I used some from a portable swamp cooler and the new kitchen sink we purchased (the kitchen will be another project I will highlight on my blog). Then, you just start cutting chunks with a knife, a steak knife does the job or whichever you prefer. WARNING: This is a messy part... well... there are a lot of messy parts to this project. The little pieces of Styrofoam fly everywhere, and you'll find them all over your house for the next month.
Step 2: Hot glue the pieces together. You just have to put a bead of hot glue on one piece and stick it to the other, it's just to keep the pieces together for a little while. We even used paper clips to hold some pieces together while hot gluing; just un-bend them and stick one end in one piece and the other end in another piece, then, take them out when you're done with hot gluing. Another thing, it's best to try to put it together in the tank, or at least set it up in the tank and have an idea of how to put it together and then glue outside of the tank. The reason why is so you know what can fit in the tank. Don't want to make it too big to where it won't fit.
Step 3: Fill in cracks with Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant. With the Great Stuff, you just stick the nozzle into gaps and cracks and let the foam expand, don't worry if you have too much, you can cut it down and shape it. Let the foam harden. WARNING: Using the foam insulation can be very messy. The foam can ruin your clothes, so don't wear anything that you don't want to turn into a rag.
Step 4: Shape and sculpting. After the foam has set, start shaping. You can
use whatever tool you like to shape; like a knife, file, sandpaper,
Dremel (my favorite). I think the shaping is one of my favorite steps,
it's where you can be real creative, like sculpting a masterpiece... for
a bearded dragon. I think it's fun! WARNING: The shaping is just like cutting the
Styrofoam in to pieces, gets everywhere. And, I would suggest to wear a
mask or respirator because those are some fine particles flying through
the air. We have fancy respirators because we do things like this a lot.
Step 5: Grouting, this will provide the strength the Styrofoam needs. We just used grout that you would use on tile floors. You can pick just about any color you want, they even have dyes for the grout too. We decided that this tan color would be a great match for The Dragon's Lair, kind of looks like a rock from Australia? Maybe? Basically, mix the grout and "paint" on to the Styrofoam. WARNING: Another messy step, just don't wear anything fancy.
Step 6: Sealing with Polycrylic. After the grout has dried and set, you need to seal the whole thing. You want to use a sealant that is water based since your bearded dragon, or whatever animal you're making this for, will be in direct contact with this rock. Apply about 3 coats. Now, like I said at the beginning, we didn't invent this. One thing we heard people talking about on the other tutorials we seen out there, the Polycrylic can make the rock kind of slick. We decided to add playground sand after we would apply a layer of Polycrylic, then sealed it in with the last layer of Polycrylic, no sand after that. This is how we did it: Polycrylic - sand - Polycrylic - sand - Polycrylic (last layer to seal everything in). Hope that makes sense. WARNING: Again, can be very messy, use caution.
Step 7: Once everything is dry, place your Dragon's Lair into the tank.
Step 8: Place bearded dragon into tank and enjoy!
Thanks for checking out my first tutorial. Any questions feel free to ask in the comments. Like me on Facebook: facebook.com/caliradan Follow me on Twitter: @Caliradan
Happy Imaging!
