Movie Reviews

I have been a participant in a Summer Movie Pool the last few years and I just love it. It's like fantasy football but it's for the movies released from May to Labor Day. Since summer is starting to wind down I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Top 15 at the box office as of this past weekend.

FWIW, we're huge movie buffs and go to the matinee at the theater nearly every weekend.


1. Iron Man: Didn’t see it. Can’t seem to make myself go. I liked the first two just fine but I’m burned out on super hero flicks.

2. Despicable Me 2: Really want to see this. So we’ll be adding $35 to the take...

3. Man of Steel: Did we really need another earnest super hero movie? Or a new Superman so soon? I think not. And The Incredibles really ruined capes for me. I can't help but snicker. LOL

4. Monsters U: Went with friends and six kids ages 17 to 4. None of us were all that impressed. Too much mean behavior. Not as funny or as clever as the original. I did like that the plot didn't go exactly as I thought it would and Helen Mirren was awesome!

5. Fast and the Furious 6: Oh! My! God! Best movie ever! And Letty! *squeal* Saw it twice, once opening weekend and once at the dollar theater so we accounted for 11 tickets.

6. Star Trek: Into Darkness: If it wasn’t for The Batch I’m not sure I would have made the effort to drag the five of us there. It was fine, perfectly forgettable. Pretty, but full of holes. I don’t think Chris Pine has much leading man, star quality, charisma-stuff.

7. World War Z: I have to preface this with saying all five of us have read the book at least once and we listen to the dramatized audio version often. I freaking LOVED the shit out of this movie. We went twice in 24 hours and are dying for it to come to the dollar theater so we can watch it a few more times on the big screen. It rocked! If you think of it as new chapters. Sort of like, “meanwhile, elsewhere on earth this happened” it’s the best thing ever. LOVE. Love. Love. And the clever little nods to events in the book (like the nuclear bomb going off as Brad Pitt is flying to Israel) was just a terrific bonus for us hard-core fans.

8. The Heat: Um. no. I’ve seen 48 Hours and all the other mismatched buddy cop movies. Making it with chicks doesn’t make it fresh. And I resented the internet campaign that ‘women should support it’ and ‘if it fails they’ll *never* make another movie with women in the lead roles’. Please. *eye roll*

9. The Great Gatsby: Saw this at the dollar theater also. Kinda glad I only paid something like $3.75 for three people to go. It was okay, it felt like Baz lost his way a bit. The whole thing was a little too ‘try’ for me. And not terribly interesting to boot. Sad, as I love Baz Luhrmann.

10. Grown Ups 2: Judge me all you want but this was the funniest movie we saw all summer. And everyone in the packed theater we saw it in was laughing so hard I swear I smelled pee. It was what you’d expect from an Adam Sandler movie and it was full of heart with a great love of the 80’s and 90’s. It was aimed squarely at our age group (40-44) and I got all the jokes and references. And the burp-snart is a classic. One review that I think really said it best is  this one from EW

11. Now You See Me: This, to me, was like a movie about magic for dummies. No surprises, no twists you couldn’t see coming a mile away. But it was sparkly and pretty. I was hoping for a, The Illusionist or The Prestige so it was disappointing.

12. The Hangover III: Didn’t like the first one. Skipped the second and third.

13. The Conjuring: Hubby doesn’t do scary, I don’t watch much violence so this one was out.

14. Epic: Missed this. Wasn’t interested.

15. This is the End: Stupid movie. So misogynistic. Hated it. Sad as I really like several of the comedians in it.

Honorable Mention goes to Red 2. It was much better than the original and I found it to be a perfectly acceptable, and pleasing way to spend an afternoon. The cast was fantastic and they hit the precisely right balance of humor and action. It was also practically bloodless which was nice for me. Great fun, really. And can I say it again... Helen Mirren. Love!

Pretty Girl Modern Girl Collage

Here's my latest Modern Girl.

I've really enjoying making tweens lately. I think it's a great bit of childhood to represent because it's not too babyish nor is it too womanly. 

My favorite part of this one is how she's standing in a rainbow. It gives the impression that this angelic girl really can reach for her dreams no matter how big. 

And this message, I wish we could all internalize it... young. 

It would save so much heart ache.

Available on Etsy

Punk Fairy Girl Original Collage

So I had to make another fairy girl using the lovely Jill stamp from Stampotique. 

Couldn't help myself :-)

There was some serious Gelli Plate madness going on with this fairy girl. Every part of her, save for the book paper is mono-prints I made by hand using my Gelli Plate. Oh my gosh, how I love that thing!

Did you know Julie Balzers's Blazonry stencil for TCW is PERFECT for making wings. Seriously. Perfect. 

And I used the little skull stamp from Bombshell Stamps Panther Tattoo set

Available on Etsy

Speaking of Etsy, I have a sale going on through Monday:
 $10 off purchase of $25 or more with coupon code: 10DOLLARSOFF 

For the Bride: Mixed Media Art

I made this for someone close to me who is getting married next week.

And I tried to make the dress as close to her wedding gown as I could.

She's having colorful banners and mixed flowers in her bouquet.

I wish them a happy future together.

La Calavera Catrina: Mixed Media Day of the Dead Painting

Here's my latest redone canvas. I thought I'd show you the before and afters. La Calavera Catrina is a companion piece to the Shadow Man I posted on Monday. Basically I took an old canvas that we'd painted on years ago, covered it in gesso and then spray-painted through stencils to add a little something to start with.

My next step was to add collage pieces, acrylic paints and pen work to personalize it. Then I splashed alcohol ink here and there to bring all the disparate parts together.

Then I started blocking out the main image and deciding what parts to keep and what t conceal. 

I imagined her as a Painted Lady Calavera so I left her chest designs exposed but covered over a lot of the stenciling on her face.

Her mouth and necklace are two of my favorite parts.

I used caran d'ache neo colors for most of the drawing. They blend into the acrylic paint beautifully and provide their own shading when they smear. 

Her hat is decorated with My TCW Balzer Designs Feather stencil.

This canvas was originally painted by one of my boys in a spider web pattern with thick dimensional paint you squeeze out of a tube. You can still see the raised sections. To highlight the texture, I scraped off the acrylic paint and gesso down to the spray paint. I love the effect.

Thanks so much for visiting. Have a great weekend!

Making Treats Special with Washi Tape

I was bringing treats to a friend's celebration and wanted her to feel especially loved.

And you know, for us crafty types, nothing says love like tiny washi flags. LOL.

I wasn't going to post this because it's a well-known idea at this point but just in case, I thought I'd share anyway. All you do is trim the end off a skewer with scissors, sit it in the middle of a piece of washi tape,  line up the short edges and seal the tape into a two-sided tab, trim a notch in it for the flag shape. Done!

As far as cupcake toppers go, they are the most effective in my opinion. 

Don't they just scream, "PARTY"?

(does your fridge have a giant coil in it? It's so weird!)

These look great in mini sausages, holding finger sandwiches together or skewering veggies in a bloody mary. Put all that washi you're hoarding to good use and make someone's day :-)

Voodoo Man Mixed Media Canvas

During this year's season finale of Grimm we met a zombie raising vow-doo man. I love the iconic, inspiring imagery. 

From Grimm:

Here's the villain from Disney's Princess and the Frog:

And this picture was too amazing to pass up.

So I took a crack at my own Shadow Man.

I started with an old canvas and gessoed over the previous picture. While the gesso was wet I etched words and marks into it. You can see the water-reactive colors coming through and tinting the gesso. Yummy!

Once dry, I spray painted the whole thing. Lately I've really enjoyed painting a background entirely and then blocking out sections with a solid color until the picture emerges.

 A few close ups:

It's the first time I've tried flowers and I'm hooked. You'll be seeing more of these.

Here's how that texture worked out. I love etching into wet gesso. 

It creates so much visual interest.

The playing cards might be my favorite part :-)

My husband took this canvas and hung it in his office as soon as it was dry. What a sweet compliment !

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Warmly,

~~~Nicole