Meet Monroe.

It has been awhile since I have been able to craft something with felt, needle and thread. I had the idea of a wolf doll back in the Summer but it wasn't until this past week that I finalized on it. Here is our family wolf doll, Monroe. Inspired by our affection for wolves (I often refer to the kids as my little wolves) and in part, my affinity for the show Grimm (yes, that Monroe). Here's to new adventures with our felted forest friend (p.s. he wore is handmade bow tie for the season premiere last friday)!

My Owl Barn Calender

For all you owl lovers, a new free calender is available at My Owl Barn for download. Many thanks to Shivani for asking me to participate again!

The Bear Wedding

Last Summer we made our first paper theatre and called our production company Scout and Pony.  We made the cast of a couple of our favorite fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Nattie had a fantastic idea to create our own original fairy tale, one that predates both Riding Hood's and Goldilocks. One year later, we finally got to it: The Bear Wedding!

The cast of The Bear Wedding is the two bears that are the parent bears in Goldilock's story. The Wolf and Granny, both from Riding Hood are the best friends of the Groom and Bride, respectively. The Wolf even officiates for the ceremony. As for the witnesses/friends we decided to use three famous little pigs who had houses made of sticks, straw and brick.

Instead of a paper theatre like our first, we wanted something more stable and permanent. Originally I was going to recycle and reuse a cereal box, cutting out a huge frame in the middle for the stage. I am glad I waited because the box we ended up using was absolutely perfect! Our box theatre is a Bulleit Bourbon gift set box that already had the opening to see the items inside. All I had to do was remove the clear plastic and I had an instant stage box. I turned the insert to the blank side and created our back drop of the forest with markers and crayons. For future productions and stories, I can reuse this one or take it out, use it as a template to cut and fold a new backdrop to illustrate. To cover the header of the theatre, I used black stock paper, decorative tissue paper and a white chalkboard paint marker to make the 'curtains'. For the wedding, we also included a coffee paper daisy garland on twine. I also added two bushes and just inserted them in the front (for the actual play, my son got to them and you'll see them just laying in the box). Our Cast of Characters are drawn, colored and cut from stock paper, and glued onto bamboo skewers.

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Our story for The Bear Wedding is not concrete, but has a basic structure. We have decided that the two meet at a Blackberry festival in the woods while accompanied by their best friends. After the festival they return to Granny's house for blackberry jam on fresh made biscuits with blackberry lemonade. The three pigs are in the story for support and help and they are delighted once their hear of the engagement. My daughter manage to video the Wedding scene. It's quite different from what we imagined the scene would be but we did forget that our audience included a one and half year old. Here are scenes from the play, taken by Nattie.

We played Seabear's The Ghost That Carried Us Away in the background and deck ourselves out in fancy jewelry for the show.

And now I present to you, The Wedding Scene featuring the entire cast and audience involvement:

the bear wedding from Andrea Millán Gutierrez on Vimeo.

 Nattie had the great idea for the next time we put the play on (besides keeping it on a higher platform away from her brother). She said we should have a reception scene for the play where we include all the blackberry treats we mention in the story. We are part of the reception and we will bake/make and have biscuits, blackberry jam, blackberry honey, blackberry lemonade and maybe even blackberry pies or tarts. Sounds good to me.

Until next year October...

Yay! The computer and I are friends again because it allowed me to post a few photos from October to share. Very grateful for new Halloween and Autumn memories for my family and I...

Littlebighead at Blackbird Attic!

I was hoping by now I could have shared with you a few family photos from this past October. Pumpkin patch memories with Natalie and Finn and Halloween photos of them as Little Red Riding Hood and the (little) Big Bad Wolf. For some reason my Mac is not allowing me to upload photos into posts so I am pretty bummed about that. I do however, have some Instagram photos of our little events if you feel so inclined to take a peek. Hopefully we will work out what's going on here because we all know how much I love to share photos.  Until then, I can share some new art and news as well.
Starting tomorrow, I will have ten original pieces up at The Blackbird Attic in Beacon, NY. This is my first solo show and I am too excited! I wish I could be there but if you are around, please have a visit! Here are a few pieces that are a part of the show:

New season and little things

September is finally here, the girl has begun third grade and a whole new season is beginning. Even with a Summer that loves to linger longer and longer each year, my mind is still gearing itself for Fall.  Things are definitely changing even if the climate hasn't yet. Now that school has started, the boy and I are working on a new home schedule which now also includes meal times along with his nursing.  This is definitely a busy time for me not only because of family, church, domestic and softball duties but because I have an art deadline coming up soon. My mind is trying to work itself up but I also have to remember to slow down and rely on His grace and strength to get me through. There are many things, both big and small that I am thankful during all this, including a very helpful, supportive husband!

With that said, a little list of simple pleasures of late:

• My new littlebighead calling cards (okay, business cards but I just like the sound of an old fashioned calling card!)
• This amazing tree house bed I would absolutely love for me, I mean, the kids someday
• Loving the idea of this fallen tree trunk turned free public book exchange and totally inspired to do the same with family and friends
• Our new family show Gravity Falls, an animated series set in the Pacific Northwest with just the right mix of strange and fun
• Excited about the new Esther series starting this Sunday at Mars Hill church (plus our first Sunday at our new location!)
• Looking forward to our Little Red Riding hood themed Halloween with Nattie staring as the LRRH and Finn as the Wolf
• Learning to Cultivate the Habit of Focus and to be a Thank You-er

I'm also excited about the folks at Bulb in Blue/Blue Marguerite posting a few of my crafty things from my previous blog as tutorials on their websites! Bulb in Blue is the English version and Blue Marguerite is the French version:

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7639-festive-cardboard-garland.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7640-guirlande-en-carton.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7645-famille-monstres.deco

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7643-yeti-family.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7642-bonhomme-de-neige-en-papier.deco

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7641-papier-mache-snow-owls.deco

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7649-egg-carton-owls.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7646-chouette-en-carton.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7665-sorciere-en-filtre-a-cafe.deco

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7655-coffee-filter-witches.deco

http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Loisirs-creatifs/tuto-7767-fantome-avec-un-filtre-a-cafe.deco

http://www.bulbinblue.com/DIY-Craft/diy-projects-7766-coffee-filter-ghosts.deco

Be back soon hopefully after alllllll my work is done. Well, at least the art work for the show because we all know work is never done! Until then, looking forward to the air becoming crisp, sweaters engulfing me with warmth, gilded and crimson leaves crunching beneath my feet, pumpkin spice everything and tea tea tea! 

An Evening with the Bard

 Last Saturday, we saw The Comedy of Errors at Griffith Park with my parents and a few friends from our Church Community Group. The play is held outdoors where the old L.A. zoo used to be and is performed by the Independent Shakespeare Co. The entire event (including parking) is free, and it was a great way to spend a Summer evening. 

The stage was set at the bottom of a broad, sloping lawn, and it was covered with blankets and chairs and picnic food. The kids were entertained by the nearby 'caves' that once housed animals for the zoo.  Nat had lots of fun exploring the enclosures with her dad, and was delighted when a cast member dressed as an old-timey policeman stopped them to show her a couple of magic tricks.

It was a relaxed, light-hearted atmosphere, and the play was so much fun! A trio of musicians performed songs on ukelele, drums and piano that helped the story along. The play was set at the tail end of WWII, and I loved seeing the dresses, costumes and hair styles from that era. Nat enjoyed herself too, even with the occasional asking 'What just happened?'

(this elderly couple stole my heart!)

The Griffith Park Shakespeare Festival will continue on Thursdays through Sunday until September 2nd. They also do A Winter's Tale and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I would love to see the other two but found that The Comedy of Errors was perfect for our little family. It's hilarious and relatively short and a good place to start when introducing kids to a play from Shakespeare. Though, I do think Nat would like the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream!