Fab Finds 5

And now for my fab finds. Take it away... Fab Finds.


    Cat Rabbit, one of my favourite Australian artisans, last year collaborated with Isobel Knowles to create a sausage dog installation. It is a gorgeous design which will immediately make you go 'Awwwww! Cute' and 'Oh my god! I'm never eating a sausage for the rest of existence'. For those of us who missed the original installation we have this sweet video to enjoy...


    This is something of an oldie. It is such a brilliantly useful share, so that is exactly what I am going to do. Share. Another one of my favourite crafty bloggers, Jennie [A Little Vintage Doll, makes unique dolls via a combination of paint, hand and machine sewing. What makes her machine sewing so unique is her drawing style. You see Jennie is able to make her sewing machine stitch in an organic, doodly hand drawn way. A while back Jennie provided an instruction guide on her blog on just how to do this. Click here to find out more on this one. Drawing with a sewing machine! I'm telling you, it is up there with unicorns and rainbow lamas.

© Jennie - A Little Vintage Doll

    I don't own a smartphone or a pad so was a little disappointed [Please! No tears. Really, I'll survive] in not being able to get in on the instagram trend. Coz wow! Instagramers get to have fun with their quick snaps by adding creative filters. Wanting to have a little fun of my own without buying a mobile phone I went searching for a program that would allow me to use these fun filters from the comfort of my computer. I didn't have far to look because the first product in my search that came up was Pixlr-o-matic. This is a visually fun package, easy to use and gives you the choice to use online or even download [for free]. I am going to make good use of Pixlr-o-matic during those blah moments.

Melissa Gaggiano Photography + Pixlr-o-matic = fun fun fun

Day 6

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Pinspirations

    I am so happy that there is going to be a Jem + the Holograms film. To celebrate I decided to do a Jem inspired Pinspirations spread.
    For those uninitiated, Jem was an 80's cartoon and doll range from Hasbro [the same people who gave us Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony]. Jem was a singer with a duel role to play, because when she wasn't performing she was Jerrica the owner of Starlight Music. Jem and her band used holographic technology to change their appearance and control stage lighting. Her nemeses were The Misfits and their manipulative manager Eric.
    And now for some Jem-spiration...

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#jemthemovie
[Never thought I'd be purposely hashtagging something]

Day 5

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Day 4

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Fab Finds 4

And now for my  Fab Finds: Issue No. 4...

    One of my long time favourite craft bloggers, Evie Barrow, has been working on a new series of cloth dolls and has shared a sneek peek. Check it out here. A little background information about Evie: I am a loyal supporter of this gal. When my children were born I commissioned Evie to make each of them a pirate doll. These gorgeous dolls can be played with, but I also intend for these to be family heirlooms.

Evie Barrow - crafter/illustrator/graphic designer/dollmaker

    Photographer, Alexia Sinclair, is a fine art photographer who is recognised for her symbolic and artistic style of storytelling. Her photos have been compared to old school paintings you would find in an art gallery. There are many admirers of Alexia's work, but not all of us can afford to buy a numbered/signed print. Until now! Alexia is trying a crowd funding experiment to finance her next photographic series. In doing so she is selling a limited run [signed, not numbered] of her photo The Cabinets of Curiosity, at a much lower price point, making the work available to a wider audience. To find out more Alexia has all the details here.

Alexia Sinclair Photography

    Technically this is not a find. More of my own creation really. But I'm so excited about what I have started that I wanted to share the news. I enjoy photography. I have a blog folio in which I share my best work. But I wanted to do something more, to ensure that I was taking photos every day. So I started a new blog - Mel's Photo-a-day. The concept is pretty simple - I upload one photo a day. The photos don't need to be technically correct. Just me sharing an interesting image each day.

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Day 3

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Day 2

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Purple Jacket

Melissa Gaggiano illustration

Day 1

Melissa Gaggiano Photography

Tropical Doodling

Melissa Gaggiano illustration.

    This was today's doodling. You know, I can so totally see myself wearing a dress like this.

Butterfly, Butterfly

Words + illustration by Melissa Gaggiano.

Bamboo Eyes

    Kindly step into my Delorian and travel back to the year 1986 with me. This was the year [or was it 87?] that I was introduced to computer illustration. My dad gave me a computer disk to save my stories and artwork on to. He included on the disk some sample art associated with the 'then popular' paint and drawing program - FullPaint.
    One of the illustrations stayed in my memory all these years. It was titled Bamboo Eyes and was by Dave Zinn. In addition to watching the film Forbidden Planet this illustration was perhaps my earliest introduction to exotic artwork. In fact, I was so inspired that only a couple of years ago I recreated the illustration in Photoshop. Certainly not an exact replica [because that just wouldn't be original], but a homage piece if you will. Thanks for the inspiration Dave Zinn.

Bamboo Eyes by Dave Zinn

Bamboo Eyes by Melissa Gaggiano
Buy Bamboo Eyes

Pinspirations

And now highlights from recent Pinterest picks...

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Fab Finds 3

    And now it's time for the things, both new and old, to get excited about.

    The first piece of explosive news is... a Jem + the Holograms film which has been given a green light. I have waited nearly my whole life for this to happen. What do I say to this news? Outrageous!

    The next thing on my fab finds list is a children's book that I bought for... you guessed it - my kids. It is called The Big Green Pocketbook and is written by a friend - Candice Ransom. One of my favourite aspects of this story is that it is based on a real life pocketbook [by the way in Australia we call it a handbag]. This story is something many kids can relate to - wanting to be just like mama and the collection of treasures.

    Today I visited Outre Gallery and, not for the first time, noticed artwork by Matte Stephens. It is called Central Park at Fifth Avenue. I love this piece for it's simple, youthful quality.

Art by Matte Stephens

    These are my finds for the week. Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Unicorn Love For Sale

Melissa Gaggiano illustration

    My Unicorn Girl art piece is available for sale over at Red Bubble. By all means check it out right here.

    In other exciting news I just heard that Jem + the Holograms will finally be made into a live action film. Fantastic! Outrageous even! All my pink haired dreams are coming true.

Unicorn Girl

Illustration by Melissa Gaggiano.

    Living in a conflicting world, more and more people are discovering that it is okay to break from the herd and express themselves in whole new ways. Sometimes though these wonderful people are too easily put down for changing their hair colour, for wearing bright colours and for loving unicorns. To all unicorns out there, never stop. And if someone kicks you down, stand right back up again.

New Work for Sale

Just a quick update!

I have new work for sale at Red Bubble.

You can check it out right

here

and

here