I had a few people suggest to me that I join the 365 Project, where you take a snapshot a day to document your life. After coming across a blog post here about someone revving up to do the project, I was inspired to take the plunge myself. Come find my project over here and stop by and see my friend Sarah’s project as well.

If you are doing it, please let me know and I’ll follow yours!

What I thought I would have wrapped up in a snap took me two weeks to get to this point. Latest robot. I have one more I want to get out. I’m not sure the tree is working. I placed it in there to give a sense of scale but I think I could achieve that without it and the composition would be less busy. Hmm…

And a minor, yet significant change to the previous one. Matt advised me to seek out silhouettes of sperm whales which has a distinct shape that is the epitome of a whale. Thanks babe!

More gorgeous findings courtesy of my friend Charmaine who writes, “I have no idea how I keep stumbling across these sites…” I do appreciate you passing them on to me, Charmaine!

This is the work of Hunter Stabler who uses ink and graphite with paper cuts. I’m featuring one of his images, which is quite large (72″ x 56″) with two detail shots so you can see just how intricate and detailed his work truly is. Breathtaking!

With snow canceling school last week and a mini-winter break this week, I’ve gotten NOTHING done. The third installment in the robot series is nearly complete. Time and children permitting, I may be able to wrap it up this afternoon. Even though the shop is currently closed, I did take on a couple of orders by crafty customers who contacted me directly. Tomorrow I can get back to work as I will be sans children for the morning!

According to the weather reports, the storm hasn’t really even hit yet. With 45 mph winds and as much as two inches of snow fall an hour predicted, we headed out this morning for some sledding, snow play, and the promise of hot chocolate on our return.

It was Leon’s first time really playing in the snow. To my surprise, he loved it.

Over the weekend, I hit Paper Source in Brookline. I picked up a Charley Harper Coloring Book and some scented colored pencils (cleverly called Smencils) as a reward for Amelia. After nagging her about something for a year, she finally accomplished it and the coloring goods were an appropriate prize. At the checkout, the cashier looked through the coloring book and remarked, “Wow, this is great, but my kid would never go for this.” I mumbled something about my kid liking animals and near the surface of my mind I knew that I would probably like it more that she would too.

We did enjoy coloring a page together in the coloring book and she does adore the scented pencils. And when she asked if we could color together today, I broke out Charley Harper and she grabbed Hello Kitty and we did enjoy a fun, fruity scented coloring session swapping Smencils back and forth. And it was obvious that the best part is doing something together.

I still like to color.

Check out this gorgeous papercut stop animation film my buddy Charmaine sent me. Found via Swiss Miss and created by Anderson M Studio for The New Zealand Book Council. Wow!

Matt (paraphrased) : So I was in my old elementary school. Except it didn’t look like my school anymore. It was a bunch of rooms from another era. Everyone was wearing masks and looked white and ghoulish and the same. A beautiful, unmasked woman pulled me into the old principal’s office and locked the door. She spoke to me in a hushed, eerie voice. I think she wanted to make out with me.

Sounds like a dream? Have you ever seen a ghost? Or maybe felt like YOU were the ghost? Have you ever wandered into someone’s dream to bear witness? This is the surreal experience of going to Sleep No More.

At Christmas, Matt’s parents gave us tickets to see Art Repertory Theatre’s co-production with London’s Punchdrunk Company’s Sleep No More. Set in an unused elementary school, Brookline, MA’s Old Lincoln (where Matt did indeed go to grammar school), the four-story schoolhouse is transformed into a stage you can wander around in. The only resemblance to its roots are the dimly lit locker-lined hallways. You meander in and out of rooms right out of a Dali painting, touching, opening, and investigating. You wear a white mask. You are silent.

Suddenly someone bursts on to the scene. A man, holding a feather, slams it into a locker. He whispers something. You can’t hear what he says. He opens the locker, pulls out the feather, examines it and takes off down the hall. Stunned, you come to your senses and follow him.

You watch him from room to room. He is completely unaware of your presence. A woman joins him. They are silent, passionate, fear filled. She flees. Some follow her. You stay with the man. The man enters a small chamber with an incubator. He is examining something. Suddenly, he looks up. He looks right at you. You feel he can see you under your protective white mask. He walks toward you. Slowly. Gently, he takes your hand an leads you into the chamber. Your friends attempt to follow but he slams the door behind you and locks it. You hear your husband shaking the handle. Your heart is racing…

Sleep No More is Macbeth like it has never been seen before–told through a Hitchcock lenses. Days and nights afterward it stayed with me, permeating my dreams, occupying my thoughts. We knew we had to go back. And I convinced our friends Nichole and Evan to join us to an encore performance, telling them absolutely NOTHING except they had to join us for something that unlike anything they have seen before. With a great sense of trust and adventure, last night they joined us to wander into the unknown abyss.

A theatre experience we will remember forever.

The scant two inches of snow we received overnight resulted in a delayed school opening this morning. Which made for a great reprieve from the daily 45 minute routine of hustling with getting kids dressed, lunches made, breakfasts eaten, hair brushed and the sound of me nagging and threatening every step along the way.

It also made for a fun wait for the school bus.

Leisurely morning is over. Aiming to plow through some freelance this afternoon in order to free up some time to work on the next robot. Newest design is templated (and I just think it’s so freaking cute!) and I just need to cut, cut, cut. Made some small, yet significant, revisions to the Gone Fishing one that I’ll post when I photograph the pieces.

Greg, Amelia’s official classroom bear, was assigned to come home with us for a sleepover. We had to record Amelia and Greg’s activities in our home with both camera and in a journal.

Greg goes back to school today and will go home with another family. He was a great houseguest.

Next installment of my robot papercut series. Have ideas sketched out for another two and another couple brewing beyond that. Having a great time on these. I snapped these pictures in haste and because I didn’t tinker with the placement or camera settings, you can’t really see the difference in blues from the sky to the water. It’s subtle, but there.

Leon likes it too.