Slowly but surely...

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and now for some animals...

it's been a very long day.
very long.
i am exhausted.
wednesday, for me, means teaching from 11am to 9:30pm; two different classes; two very different kinds of students.
my back hurts and my brain hurts. i had planned a very different kind of posy for today, but frankly, i am too tired to be witty or say anything terribly inspirational.

BUT, i remembered that i forgot to show you the pictures we took at the dc zoo the other day.
because, really... who doesn't want to look at super special animals?



komodo dragon. if you haven't seen the freshman, waste no time... a young matthew broderick & a komodo dragon.


a capybara--- like a giant guinea pig. fantastic.


hippo. you know how you "know" certain things, but you don't REALLY know them?
i *knew* hippos were big... but i didn't KNOW hippos were that big. do you get how big that hippo is? it's like a mini-van.
oh, and it can hold its breath underwater for 6 minutes. and its feet were super cute and squishy.


possibly the cutest thing ever. panda. napping. covering its eyes. amazing.


these two otters were totally performing. they did everything together; including jumping up on this rock so people could photograph them.


green magpie (yes, it's actually blue). i'm sorta completely in love with this bird. if i could DESIGN a bird it would look like this. i love it to tiny little birdie pieces.


um, i waited outside of here, but i understand it's a good exhibit (if you like those sorts of things)

soooo... on a non-zoo animal related note; we were getting pretty hungry and hadn't really planned to eat anywhere in particular, but the idea of chicken fingers and ice cream had become pretty attractive to us as the day wore on. we were going to stop by the concessions and get "real food", but having recently completed a marathon home viewing of the stephen king miniseries, kingdom hospital, in which a gigantic anteater named antubis (anteater-anubis) decides who lives and dies,

we were pretty keen on going to see the anteaters (who, as it turns out, had already gone to bed, and thus were not seen), so we kept walking away from the concessions and found ourselves super hungry around the same time as we found ourselves face to face with a hot dog vending machine.

i KNOW!!!


like a glorified microwave. hotdogs (rather "sausages") live in the machine and are heated when you select one. a bun is moved across the inside of the machine and opened by these little tong-things.



only moments later, a very hot hotdog is plopped into a bun, and the whole thing plopped into a plastic tray, and that whole thing rides a little hotdog elevator down to a doorway of magical wonder. and presto-- hotdog. there's even a little sliding door thing to access packets of condiments.



it was good.
it was really, really good.
also--- to be quite honest, even if it tasted crap, it still would've been good because i really like automated things and things in vending machines that don't belong in vending machines--- like shoes and underwear (which i hear you can get in japan).

speaking of hotdogs & amazing animals, i'll leave you with this.

xoxo, danamarie

keep believing, keep pretending...

i'm not a terribly weepy person, but i cried like a baby this past sunday (some of it in public, and some of it privately), when AJ and i went to see the Jim Henson exhibit in d.c.



it's hard to explain... actually, it's not hard at all. i was raised on the muppets. i have very early memories of NEEDING my ernie doll in order to function. i still have my first kermit. i (it's true) have a little bit of a crush on kermit. i watch the Muppet Movie more often than most children probably watched it when it first came out. I still dream of reenacting moments from Kermit and Piggy's wedding when AJ & I tie the knot.
(can you imagine if we had a bunch of penguins and bears singing "somebody's getting MAAAAAAAA--WEEEEED"?)

jim henson and the muppets are childhood. they are dreams and they are possibilities.
seeing the 1970's Kermit puppet in a glass case was like seeing, i dont know, maybe the Mona Lisa for some. They were there! Bert and Ernie, and Rowlf, and these guys:
Mahna Mahna.
(man! i love that video! thanks youtube... this song, these muppets... this is the oldest "inside joke" my mom and i have).
To this day i can not listen to The Rainbow Connection without sobbing from the pure faith and hope in those lyrics--- "it's something that i'm supposed to be...." ; its a mantra i must have adopted before i ever knew what i mantra was.

i have no doubt that growing up with all that dancing & singing; all those happy, optimistic felt and feathers and eyeballs; all that love really affected me. it's not a coincidence that i make dolls, (as an adult) whose main audience happens to be adults. its not a coincidence that i try every day to find things i love and ways to share them and even more, ways to make a living sharing them. admittedly, it's hard to stay optimistic and positive every day... it's hard not to give in or give up and i know i get affected by that a lot more than i'd hoped to when i was younger, but all in all, i think i've handled adulthood pretty darned well, and i can't help but want to credit this amazing man, who only ever did what felt right and did it because it made other people happy too.

Henson once accepted an award and thanked the academy for allowing him to share his work, or rather "his fun", and i think i'd be happy to say the same to anyone who asked.

i found myself smiling in a full grin the entire way through the exhibit (occasionally singing along with the video clips, oohing and awwing at sketches and notebooks of Henson's private thoughts and plans) and managed to stay completely sober and calm until the last wall of the exhibit, when a poster with a slightly different version of this photo (this is the one i am familiar with from the commemorative stamps--- the one they had showed Henson face to face with a Bert doll),


and above the closing remarks were the lyrics from the song that closes The Muppet Movie. And this is when i lost it. I felt an actual lump moving up in my throat, and luckily, my sweet boy was there to hug me (and shield me from any strange looks or children my outpouring may have frightened). We left the exhibit, after watching an 18 minute wrap up film about Jim Henson's life and proceeded on with our day (including a trip to the National Zoo... amazing photos to come), and the rest of the day just felt B E A U T I F U L.

maybe it was the weather.
or the company.
or the animals.
or the fact that we barely paid for anything all day.

or, maybe it was the sensation of weightlessness that comes from knowing Optimism is Power and everything happens for a reason, and Anything truly is Possible. all i know is, i can't get these lyrics out of my head and i am determined to keep them there.

thank you kermit.
thank you mr. henson

"Life’s like a movie,
Write your own ending
Keep believing, keep pretending
We did just what we set out to do –
Thanks to the lovers
The dreamers
And you"
xoxo, danamarie

happy weekend!

wow. rough week. anyone who has sent me an email this week, and promptly NOT been responded to, probably figured that out. but, monday starts a new, equally trying week and for now, i am celebrating saturday night with a little "me" party and tomorrow, we're going to d.c. to see the henson (that's HENson, as in muppets, not HANson, as in blond brothers signing group) exhibit and that makes me feel like this.

enjoy your weekend, friends! xoxo, danamarie

Off to the post office!

Thanks to everyone who jumped on the 100th sale bandwagon... Your goodies are going in the mail today.

If you missed the sale, don't fret! I will be restocking the shop on a daily basis and ALL orders for the next month or so, will go out with a coupon for free shipping (for future use).

Remember, hand made is best for the holidays!

I'll be doing a number of shows this season, but online is always fun too, right?

Xo, danamarie!
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100th ETSY SALE CELEBRATION!!!

magnet sets

guess what guys?! it happened!
at 1:03pm, i hit the 100th sale marker on etsy.

SO, to celebrate, i am offering a TWO DAY sale (all orders have to be received by Tuesday, 9/23, at Midnight)-- what KIND of sale? oh... so glad you asked.

well, ANY etsy purchase will be shipped to you with the following:
*a free $10 Gift Certificate
*a coupon for FREE SHIPPING (perfect for last minute holiday shopping, or giving as a gift itself!)
*a free pack of stickers ($2 value)
*a free bar of Knitimal soap ($6 value)

***At checkout you HAVE TO include the code: "ETSY100" in the Message to Seller section in order to receive the goodness.

AND, if you buy any of the following, you'll get TWO $10 gift certificates!!!!


hand painted yellow shirt
knitimal excerpt
grey minimal
blue nose coffee cozy
"be better" limited edition print
orange nose coffee cozy
set of 3 bookmarks
bird excerpt
orange knitimal keychain
pink knitimal keychain

UPDATE (5:52pm) Many of the "special sale" items above have been purchased--- i've de-linked the ones that are sold.
below is the CURRENT list, including some new additions!

grey hand painted knitimal shirt
"make me a knitimal" magnet game!
child's hand painted shirt
blue nose coffee cozy
"be better" limited edition print
orange nose coffee cozy
set of 3 bookmarks
bird excerpt
hand painted yellow shirt
knitimal excerpt

remember-- you must include the code "ETSY100" in your "message to seller" section at checkout, to get all the goodness!

belair festival of the arts!

Come one come all! 10am to 5pm, greenstargoodness in belair, maryland.
See you soon!
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be a knitimal!

guess who?....


knitimals! wearing Knitimal masks! funny right?
ok, what about humans wearing knitimal masks?



and there's more where these came from... lots more. halloween is only a little over a month away, and if you're pressed for a costume, maybe a knitimal is a good way to go? or heck, why wait for halloween? you can wear one of these bad boys to the big meeting next friday. Or to happy hour. Or keep one in your purse or backpack to make people smile during rush hour. If you have little ones, how about adding a few knitimal masks to their dress up trunk/drawer/box/bag?



this idea was a long time coming, and now it has been realized... consider this a "sneak peek" of sorts; i'm probably only going to list a couple of these on etsy for now, so i can have a nice full basket of them for the belair festival this sunday, BUT, after the show (most likely Tuesday), i am going to list whatever is left of my stock into the etsy shop, so those of you in cyber space can browse at home.

of course, if you can't wait for next week, you could always check out what's in stock already...

blue mask on etsy
*remember-- all orders this month come with FREE SHIPPING (that's huge) and a percentage of the etsy sales will go to the september charity of the month: 2 Dogs 2000 Miles

from behind my mask, i wish you lots of xoxo, danamarie

Guess who?!

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Something up my sleeve

Mayhaps a little make believe is on its way?....
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