The · Toymaker

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm doing the flappy, slappy, happy dance right now. I just got back from having lunch with my Studio group and the amazing and wonderful Alice Provensen. She is a children's book illustrator, a Caldecott winning art goddess illustrator. Photos of the lunch coming soon.
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Here are some samples of her work. She is known by many folks for her wonderful Little Golden Books like The Color Kittens and The Children's Garden of Verses. Here's some of the work she did with her husband Martin.
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AND, AND! She wants to join our group. So of course we said yes. She's coming next Wednesday and we are going to get to WORK!
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I am made out of happiness.
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Marilyn.
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The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

~ Frank Lloyd Wright
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One of the best things about being on vacation is getting to read. A good book is indispensable in airports and a one of my favorite luxuries. First I read this...
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Perhaps you have heard of it? It's about a clutzy, whiney teenage girl that hates everything in her life until she meets the yummiest, prettiest, shiniest, sparkly superhero vampire who wants nothing more than to know everything about her (like her favorite color), watch her sleep (cree-peeee) and to drive really fast in really expensive Volvos. Once you get past the fact that Bella is a total helpless victim through the whole book and is continually saved by the growling but chaste Edward, it's a fast read and a guilty pleasure. I'm embarrassed that enjoyed reading it even though I annoyed my poor husband every five minutes with snort laughing and "Can you believe this?". It was like eating a bowl of sugar babies.
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Then I read this book by Tamora Pierce...
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Alanna is about a teenage girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can train to be a knight. When a bigger boy is bullying her and beating her up she trains really hard so she can kick his butt. Which made me really happy.
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Guess which sequel I will read next? :-)
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A disclaimer here, Tamora Pierce is a friend of mine. We met at a conference where we both speaking and I asked her what she wrote about, she said, "I write stories about girls that kick ass." She is one of the wittiest, coolest people in the world. I've never met Stephenie Meyer. If I did, I'd ask her how she managed to have three kids and write a bestselling novel by the time she was thirty.
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What's on your nightstand?
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Marilyn.
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"...those of us who read because we love it more than anything, who feel about bookstores the way some people feel about jewelers..."
~ Anna Quindlen
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Catalina
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Ensenada
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Vacation people.
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It was an interesting holiday. The Pacific ocean is really beautiful, not so much during the day when it's all hot and sparkly, but early in the morning and in the grey of twilight. This morning there were pods of dolphins swimming by the boat jumping and zooming along.
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As lovely was it was, I'm glad to be home, to my own house and my own bed.
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Marilyn
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We are going on holiday today, a four day cruise down the Baja Coast. First stop, Catalina Island. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, partially because it's an outdoorsy sort of adventure involving lots of sun and crowds of people. However, I have fortified myself with level 50 sunscreen, a satchel of interesting books and the following items...
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A new Moleskine sketchbook. My art journal mentor Janet Takahashi gave me a whole pile of cool tips for how to make an interesting travel journal.
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A snazzy hat.
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And an iPod full of cruise music.

<"http://www.scottwatersdesign.com/1lj/cruise.mp3">
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I promise to come back with a good story to tell. What's the best vacation you've ever been on?
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If we do not find anything very pleasant,
at least we shall find something new. 

~ Voltaire
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Met our deadline for the first draft of Haunted Histories. Here's a study for Hameji Castle in Japan.
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Took a couple of days off. Well. Enough of that. Weeded garden. Picked giant cucumbers.
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We had the awesome artist, Andrew Mitchell over for his birthday tonight. Made homemade biscuits, garlic cream spinach, fingerling potatoes, orange avocado salad and for the carnivores, parmesan chicken wrapped in prosciutto. For dessert, a hot apple tartin with vanilla ice cream. Delish and good company!
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http://ajmitchellart.typepad.com/ajmitchell_art/
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Tomorrow, it's back to work!
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American friends and family, what do you have planned for the fourth? To my friends and family in the north, how was Canada day? Hey Australia, you staying warm?
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Best thoughts,
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Marilyn.

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Oh my gosh! Tim Burton is doing "Alice in Wonderland." Fan girl melting here. Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter.
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Have you seen the pictures?
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http://www.nypost.com/photos/galleries/gossip/popwrap/20090622_wonderland/photo01.htm
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Must go lie down now. Whilst I am reclining on my fainting couch, what's your take on Alice? Dodgson? Whimsical children's book or full scary?
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Marilyn.
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Alice: I've had nothing yet, so I can't take more.
The Hatter: You mean you can't take less; it's very easy to take more than nothing.
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Ah dads, they teach us stuff, like how to tie a tie, how to fish, how to rub sticks together to make fire, good manners, how to check the oil on the car and how to say please and thank you. Some dads do this kind of stuff. Some don't.
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The Wonderhub has taught the Boy how to cook, in the kitchen and over a fire, how to lay bricks, how to weed, how to ride a motorcycle, a bike and a quad. He also taught him how to play chess and checkers and they can both can defrag a hard drive and make a bed. (Well okay, I lied about the kid being able to make a bed.)
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I've butted heads with my dad since the day I was born and our relationship has been that of two strong willed people. I guess apples don't fall far from the tree. But I know that I inherited my ambition from my dad, my love of travel, my entrepreneurial spirit and as my husband teases me, my ability to grab any microphone and talk into it. I also got my love of family from my dad.
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So here's to dads. May they enjoy their day.
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Best thoughts,
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Marilyn.
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http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/Fathersday/1Fathers.html
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My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys. ~ Harmon Killebrew
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Oh Beatles, now I remember why I love you.
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.http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/cinematic.php
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Watch it now....
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We are all into hobbies around Casa Del Aguas. I make paper toys, the wonderhub gardens and builds guitars, the Boy makes cities our of Legos and is learning to calibrate watches.
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Here's the label that I did for the inside of the hub's guitar. You can read about the whole thing here....
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http://theronnshow.blogspot.com/
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Here he is practicing timing a watch.
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And here is my adorable nephew Ollie with my sister-in-law Wendy making marble mice. He's been taking batches of them to his preschool.
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What are your hobbies and manias? What would you like to learn in the future?
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Have fun!
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Marilyn.
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I've been messing around with designs cut out of paper.
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Two more weeks of school and then the boy gets vacation. On one hand it will be nice to be on another schedule , on the other hand I have piles of work to do so having to get up early and getting to work on schedule is nice.
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I bought a handful of new drawing pencils today. Derwent pencils are the best! The line that Derwent sketching pencils make is so buttery and smooth.
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What small items make you happy?
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Marilyn.
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Many people are inventive, sometimes cleverly so.
But real creativity begins with the drive
to work on and on and on.
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~ Margueritte Harmon Bro

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A couple of quick little sketches.
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Draw on!
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Marilyn.

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Hey Friends! Saturday is Drawing Day! http://drawingday.org/
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Drawing Day is a worldwide drawing event encouraging everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art. Help us create 1 million drawings online this day.
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Get those pencils sharpened! You know you want to! Let's go!
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Marilyn.
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Drawing is seeing.
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I grew up about ten miles from Disneyland. We used to climb on the roof to watch the fireworks. And we'd pretend to be the wall carvings that come to life and sing from the Enchanted Tiki Room.
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Good times, good times.
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Marilyn.
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In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
All the birds sing words and the flowers croon
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you!
If we weren't in the show starting right away,
We'd be in the audience too.
All together!

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We went to dinner tonight at our friends Greg and Janet's house. The Boy did a beautiful job of cooking the burgers.
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After dinner, Janet, who is the most amazing calligrapher, showed us her collection of inkwells and antique copybooks. Greg, who is a Swiss trained watch repair expert, put the Boy to work sorting and straightening watch parts.
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I asked Greg to explain what the Boy is doing and he said, "He is using a truing caliber to straighten wheels that came from a 1940's wristwatch. Often wheels become bent or damaged which necessitates the patience of a watch repair person with steady hands to once again make sure the wheels run straight and true, hence the need to bend and adjust them so that the wheels will be in good condition."
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That's a hundred-year-old pair of calipers that the kid is using. How wonderful is that?
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How's your weekend going?
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Marilyn.
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Janet's blog...

http://janettakahashi.com/
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Greg's blog
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http://gregminuskin.com/

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I have to get to work.... do you hear that self? Stop drawing pictures of Disneyland and get to work, will ya?
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Honestly!
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Marilyn
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There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main ... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life. ~ Walt Disney.
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Yesterday, I took a Busman's Holiday and went to Disneyland with my studio group for a day of sketching. It was a blast and I'm hoping that next month we can go to another location to draw. I learned a lot!
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It was also the first time in twelve years that I had been to an amusement park in a "non-mom" capacity. I listened to the other mom's say, "Did you go to the bathroom? Do you need a snack? Which ride do you want to go on next? No, you can't have a fill in overpriced item here." I only felt a small twinge of guilt as I sketched merrily away.
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This is four parts of Studio Five. Bob Singer was missing because of a sinus infection. Left to right, J.R. Johnson, me, Andy Mitchel And J. H. Everett.
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A water spout from Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
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The Haunted Mansion.
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What is your favorite amusement park ride? I'm still a sucker for PIrates of the Caribbean. But for me, whereever I'm drawing is the Happiest Place on Earth.
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Draw on!
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Marilyn.

This morning we gave the boy and his friend twenty bucks and sent them down the street to IHOP for pancakes. ALONE. They had a great time. I was a bit of a Nervous Nellie but we all survived. I keep telling myself that a good parent raises children to be self sufficient... which is true, but hard.
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I remember the first time that I rode my bike to Carl's Junior with a friend. It was a grand adventure. My hub said that when he was twelve he had a paper route and rode his bike everywhere. He also went scuba diving. I know that "times have changed" but when I was a kid visiting my grandmother's house in Mississippi, my cousins and I would spend all summer playing in the creek bed, riding ponies and scaring each other in the cemetery, without a grown-up in sight.
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Later in fourteen, I rode my bike to the beach with friends. At fifteen and a half one of my best friends got a driver's license and a car so we went everywhere, movies, Los Angeles, Disneyland, Knotts.
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I hope that we have raised the kid to make good choices, wise decisions and be independent.
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How did you learn to be self sufficient?
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Marilyn.
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PS Today, we are eating home grown ARTICHOKES!

Last year I wrote....
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Some day, in the not so very distant future, after my Scholastic book comes out in December, I would like to do school visits. I figured out a way to make skull masks, tarsier hats and Komodo Dragon hats out of paper...as modeled by my imaginary friends here:
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Well, today I got to actually test it out. I have to say that three kindergardeners decked out in headhunter masks with cornstalk spears made out of newspaper hunting a teacher wearing a green construction paper baby komodo dragon mask sums up my idea of adorable.
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I love it when a plan comes together.
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Marilyn.

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So I get this phone call last Friday asking if I still wanted to do an author visit at the Boy's school, something I'd volunteered to do a million years ago. Of course I said calmly, "Yes, I'd be delighted." Then, after I hung up, the only thought in my head was, "Holy Moly! Four hundred kids, two 45 minutes assemblies! What the heck was I thinking?".
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Actually I was thinking that it would be pretty fun, and I'm still sure, in spite of the butterflies, that it's going to be a blast.
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So I bought a new pair of pants, snazzy black stretch denim flares in case you are curious, and made a sheet of bookmarks to print up for everyone. I've got a powerpoint of art to show and a bunch of toys to make.
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Fame, adventure, the great unknown, bring it on!
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Marilyn.
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PS Have you ever seen an author visit? What did they do that was cool? What was boring? Do dish.
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Six years ago, on May 15th, I registered the domain name, thetoymaker.com. I had a closet full of paper toys that I had made just for fun and thought that I might put up a little website where people could download them for free.
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There were about twenty five toys back then, now there are several hundred, I"m not sure how many there are exactly. I've lost count. I'm also not sure how many toys have been downloaded, last count was over four million.
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Then I started a newsletter with just the two dozen people in my email address book, now I have 20,000 people on my mailing list. I'm rather flabbergasted by all this, I have to say. But the best thing has been all the very kind emails from people all over the world. It makes me feel useful to be able to make things that help grownups and kids spend time together.
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So wishing you a creative week.
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Make Toys! Play More!
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Marilyn.
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If one advances confidently
in the direction of his dreams
and endeavors to live the life
which he has imagined
he will meet with a success
unexpected in common hours.
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~ Henry David Thoreau