I've been busy...

making a baby boy!

My blog and Molly Made craftiness slowed down there for a bit while I did my darndest to stay up past 9pm. But, I made it into the 2nd trimester and I'm getting my energy back. 

While the little one has been baking I've managed to accomplish a few tasks

Co-Directed a Production of Into the Woods at www.TheMusicRoomTMR.com with EIGHTYSEVEN children.

Took a trip to San Fran to meet my adorable new niece.

Coreographed the Swing numbers in a production of "Swing!" at www.MacHaydnTheatre.org in Chattham NY. (which I was nervous about being prego... but it was amazing and seriously made everything feel so much better)

Made it to my dear friend Mark's 28 acre NY farm for an afternoon off.

Met up with great friends in NYC.

Spent a week assisting the summer production at The Music Room, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

Taught a felted soap class to some of the kids on Mary Poppins tour which was in Orange County

And, tonight, I finally got back to my spinning wheel!

Tomorrow we head to Wisconsin for a music festival, and then round out the summer with the www.adbacademy.com recital and the Anaheim Performing Arts Center's big Great Gatsby themed 2 day fundraising event! 

      Now, my blog is all caught up! Hope to be posting some classes and shows soon. 

Happy as the Day is Long - help me choose a flyer

I've been busier than a 16 armed Octopus! So many great things on the horizon!

In addition to putting on productions of "Peter Pan", "Mary Poppins" and "Into the Woods" and teaching all around town... I've also been working on a show of my own at the Anaheim White House.  It's set for April 22nd. Just around the corner!

The show titled "Happy as the Day is Long" has a kickin band, 3 great guest artitsts, AND a 3 course meal.  And, to top it all off, a super talented friend designed flyers!

I'm planning on using both flyers, but I'd like to choose one to use for advertising with people who I don't know.  I'd love your help deciding between the two.

Peppermint Headband Tutorial

The peppermint headbands we used in Willy Wonka this summer at The Music Room School of Performing Arts were a total hit. With Halloween and Christmas quickly approaching, I thought you might want to make one of your own.  Here's a little tutorial to help.

MATERIALS 

(These can be found at your local craft store, or at the links I've provided)

Glitter Foam Sheets 1 Red and 1 White 

Styrofoam Disk (this link is for a 1"/3" disc... but a larger disc can be used for a louder look)

Fabric Covered Headband 

Scissors

And a good old Glue Gun

Cut 2 circles (one red and one white) about 1.5 inches larger than your styrofoam circle.  Specific measurements are not needed here, you will trim edges at end.

Fold red circle in half and then in half again.

Take two folded corners and fold them back toward main folded edge.

These folds will give you a cutting guide without measuring. Yay!

Cut along each fold without cutting all the way through the circle. Leave about 1 inch across between each slice. Triangles will be slightly uneven. This is good. It gives each peppermint it's own personality.

Cut off every other triangle with a flat edge. Triangles will not come to a point. Glue red piece to white circle.

Make a small cut (about 1.5 inches) into the white circle along the side of each red piece.

Fold and glue the white edges down. They will overlap.

Fold and glue red triangles own and trim edges along bottom of styrofoam.

Glue Peppermint to the side of fabric covered headband.

Place on your own head, or on the head of a real cute kid.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Craftiness and Musical Theatre Come together to make Willy Wonka Magic.

You might remember this post about the performing arts studio I went to as a kid.  It's called The Music Room and I am so lucky to have grown up in such a supportive loving fun environment. They are now in their 25th year and running stronger than ever.  Now, I'm back at The Music Room as a teacher/director.
 
The production of Willy Wonka Jr. I co-directed and choreographed opened last night at the Fairmont Private School in Anaheim. They were serious Rock Stars!

 We have 2 more shows and they are almost sold out!

With only three weeks to put up the show, we did some seriously collaborating.  Here's how we made a few of the tricky sets and costumes work...

 CANDY GIRLS! I'll Be posting a tutorial on these headbands soon.

 Wonka with a giant Molly Made needle felted flower with wool from Suzoos Wool Works.

 AGUSTUS! The first ticket winner!  Our fantastic set designer David built a giant TV that sat on stage right thru the entire first act. It worked very well. Especially when Augustus leapt out of the screen to steal a kiddos candy.

 Happy Birthday Charlie! I love our little Bucket family and their newspaper birthday hats!

 Varuca Salt wins a golden ticket!

Mike Tee Vee wins a Golden Ticket.

There's no Knowing when you are on Board the USS Pink!  We used a strobe light, black light and disco lights to create this creepy effect. 

Violet! You're turning Violet Violet! We used a Blow up Pumpkin Costume underneath this blue fabric. I can't believe how well it worked! Our parent volunteers are the best!

Oompa Lompas! In the Lion Brand Yarn wigs they made all by themselves! 

SQUIRRELS! These tails really worked after lots of hemming and hawing. There are little slits cut in the back of their hoodies and an elastic band is slipped thru and tied at the waist. They had to quick change out of their Oompa cotumes... hence the green tights : )

Charna and Melissa! An amazing directing team to work with.   Sporting our new Molly Made Peppermint clips, of course :  )

*** Willy Wonka Jr. is available thru MTI if you are interested in putting it up with kids of your own***

Way to Go 2010!

So, the year has just started and already, 2 wildly different kick butt pieces of news to share.

First - I'm lucky enough to say I have some seriously talented, hard working friends. On the 28th of December at 2pm a cast of 9 singers, 8 band members, a director, stage manager, costume designer, sound designer and a 3 person crew got together to put on a show at the Fireside Dinner Theatre in Fort Atkinson, WI. The show was conceived by our Director, Ed Flesch, who was also a member of the cast. This would usually seem like a normal task for all of us but here's the kicker... the show went up on New Years Eve. That's 2.5 days to put on a full 2 Act 2.5 hour show in a 700 seat theatre.

I don't know how - but we did it! And... it was actually pretty fantastic. Only a few little word flubs here and there, but I can say without a doubt both of our full houses had a great time, and so did we. Here's a few pics from the crazy day.

Here's few members of the cast right before the show.

I sang Goldfinger and got to wear some AMAZING shoes.

My fiance John Dominguez who also played bass in the show!

And - my second bit of news...

So - I wake up this morning, clearly EXHAUSTED. We get ready and head to spend a nice day off with JD's family. On the way to their house we stop to look for a book for his mom. She's also an avid knitter and has been wanted to knit a top down raglan sweater for his dad. I found a book that looked just right called Knit on Down. It has several patterns that are mostly seamless and mostly knit from the top down. Done and done. As we head to the register, I tell JD I want to stop by the magazine section.

SIDE NOTE - A few weeks ago, after announcing to my Molly Made Facebook group that my Doggie Shrug pattern is now available at www.redheart.com, Drew Emborsky (aka The Crochet Dude) mentioned there was a Doggie Shrug used as a full page add in the Jan/Feb issue of Crochet Today. I honestly thought he was mistaken. I was a little sad and thought someone else must have written a Doggie Shrug pattern. I often buy this crocheting magazine, but I don't subscribe because I spend so much time on the road doing shows. It's hard to have magazines forwarded all over the country. I've looked for it in several shops, but had yet to find the Jan/Feb edition.

So, we stopped by the craft/hobbie magazine section of this Barnes and Noble in Milwaukee. I gave JD one copy and I took one copy. I started slowly page by page, he quickly leafed through and... BAM! There's a giant pic of my Doggie Shrug on the inside of the back cover! I seriously freaked out!! I screamed and jumped up and down. I have got to be the biggest dork in the world!

It's an add for Red Heart Yarn which is a great tried and true brand you can get mostly anywhere. My name isn't even listed by the picture - but I could care less! I'm seriously so honored and excited to see that they are using something I created. I also have a pattern for Flower Petal Leg Warmers available on their website and I have a secret pattern coming out on another website... so I know this is just the beginning. I do wonder if, some day, seeing my piece in a mag will be old hat, but I will never forget how unbelievably excited I was to see my first piece in print. Knowing it is in book stores and yarn shops all over the country, sends me over the moon.

I had JD take some pictures of me with the magazine before I bought a few copies. I do think it is really hilarious to compare the pic of me in my Goldfinger costume to the pic of me in my tragic day after the show get up. (I love this giant knit Anthropologie sweater.) Oh the "glamorous" life of an actress with an addiction to yarn.

I can't believe it took so long to find! Maybe I was meant to find it today as a way to kick off the new year.

At last... the begining

This is one of my first Dance Recitals.....

This is my first show at The Music Room. I played Peter Pan : )

     About a year ago my fiance and I started formulating a plan..... I call it our 10 year plan, but we really have no time limit set.  Our plan is to open our own Dance/Music/Theatre studio for children(and adults) with a yarn store/coffee shop/performance space attached. Now... I know this is a gigantic plan.  BUT, I really think we can make it happen!

      When I was a kid, I went to a musical theatre studio called The Music Room School of Performing Arts.  My Mom always called it "The Church of the Music Room", because it was such a great source of positivity and happiness as we were growing up. There were no religious affiliations, it just kept us happy and kept us out of trouble.  The studio had two large dance rooms, a few smaller piano rooms, and a lobby with a few chairs.  Many of the parents would sit in the lobby while we were in class, but there wasn't much there to keep them busy.  Other parents would hang in their cars, in the parking lot.  How great would it have been if the parents could have been sitting in a LYS, taking their own class next door! Crocheting, Knitting or Felting while your children hone their craft! 

      What's better than spreading more love of art, and craftiness?  Food and drink while you work on what you love (or while you do homework).  We want to have a cafe with sandwiches, salads, juice, smoothies, tea and fresh roasted coffee.  When I was a student at The Music Room, the studio shared a parking lot with a Carl's Junior.  Somehow, we ended up spending most of our homework time between classes at this fast food joint. They had a salad bar, and the employees were all very nice.  But, I can't help but thinking how nice it'd be to have had a little cafe next door that was run by the fantastic couple who owned The Music Room (Sharon and Lee Westenhoffer).  

      And... how about a more "grown-up" cafe/wine/cheese bar at night.  In our wildest dreams of this complex, we see a small performance space.  How great to have a venue for our friends (and students) to share their music. I'd love to teach our students how to put together their own songs,  sets, or even full evenings of music.  

      In addition to taking many classes at The Music Room, I started teaching there when I was 16.  I continued to teach there all the way through college.  I so clearly remember the day I finally confessed that I just couldn't manage to continue teaching while pursuing my own career as a performer.  Boy... was that convo filled with a lot of tears.  I loved teaching and, while I feel so lucky to be a WORKING ACTRESS, I know I want to teach again someday.  My fiance also has several years of teaching experience.  He worked with an AMAZING nonprofit called First Stage Children's Theatre,  and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.  I could go on and on about those studios, but I'll save that for a later post. 

     I am so grateful for the millions of hours I spent at The Music Room. It provided a fantastic foundation for a fearless imagination and a place to work on my craft in a supportive, loving environment.  I'm even more excited about the idea of providing future generations with a similar playground.