Autism

If you work in an educational environment, you see autism. You probably feel the frustration and difficulty in having this strange changeling child from a parallel universe shoved in the middle of everything, but not a part of any of it. Children too sensitive yet seemingly oblivious, overstimulated by the mundane yet immune to any interaction, full of random terrors and furies, who just don't seem to belong in our world.

But these aren't strange, changling children. They are our children. They didn't come from somewhere else, they are a part of us, of our world and they do belong.

There are theories as to why autism is on the rise. Is it the environment, the vaccines, or are we just more aware of it and able to recognize it? Whatever the reason, one of the estimates is that one out of every 150 children born is affected by some form of autism, as this design illustrates.


This blog post is a part of a crossover blog. Other participants in this crossover blog are:



http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/

http://www.blogbydonna.com/

http://getyergoat-goatgifts.blogspot.com

http://www.nanwrightart.com

http://randomshirts.blogspot.com/

http://skeetzteez.blogspot.com/

http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com

http://autismshowucare.blogspot.com

http://www.gocamelphotos.blogspot.com/

http://einselgaenger.blogspot.com/

http://beflip.blogspot.com/

Gutter Bunnies?

You know, I've heard of Easter Bunnies, Little Bunny Foo Foo, and Buns of Steel, but Gutter Bunnies was a new one for me.

You've seen them. They're common fauna in the cities. The little spandexed derrieres bobbing up and down as they push the pedals on their bicycles, wobbling along in the gutters as the traffic whizzes by mere inches away from them on their commute to work, are the few, the dauntless, the bicycle commuters.

Brave souls. My bike hides in the corner of the garage with an apparently permanent flat tire. It doesn't get out much.

But, these stubborn, determined people we make fun of as they bob their way through rain and impatient guided missiles on their way to work every day are doing their part to reduce global warming, so give them a little safety zone and and maybe a shirt for Christmas and, if you are one, wear it with pride.





This blog post is a part of a crossover blog. Other participants in this crossover blog are:



http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/

http://www.blogbydonna.com/

http://getyergoat-goatgifts.blogspot.com

http://www.nanwrightart.com

http://randomshirts.blogspot.com/

http://skeetzteez.blogspot.com/

http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com

http://autismshowucare.blogspot.com

http://www.gocamelphotos.blogspot.com/

http://einselgaenger.blogspot.com/

http://beflip.blogspot.com/

Ha Ha Shirt Shop

So, if you could pick your own nickname, what would it be?

Mr. Piano Man, Billy Joel seemed rather blase about it all:


“Call me a joker, call me a fool
Right at this moment I'm totally cool.”

--Billy Joel

Often, though, we're more picky about the little pet names people give us.

“I really hated my nose. They (school children) used to call me pug nose, or buttons. Buttons was an early nickname and I hated it.”

--Halle Berry

Haven't you been anointed with a little pet name you hated? Is there some little affectionate term your family or friends use that just makes you cringe? I never understood grown men tolerating being called Billy Boy or "Bubba." Someone who I knew who was a youngest child was called "It" (short for "itsy bitsy"). Sometimes, you have to surrender to the inevitable. How many Diannas became "Di" when Lady Di was popular? When your father is John, your grandfather was big John, your uncle was Johny, your son is John John, well, you have to take what you get.

“That's all right. You can call me Frodo. Go on, Dave, it's okay.”

Elijah Wood

But, with this design from Ha Ha Shirt Shop, you get to pick. Your very own chosen nickname, kind of like when Michael Jackson tried to make everyone call him the "King of Pop."

Or not.

Would you like a name with street cred? Do you want a name of obscure sophistication? Should you make everyone giggle or gasp? What will you be? Do you want to be Fredrick? Fugitive Folder? Foxy Fun? Future Millionaire? Finnish Water Polo Champion? Pick. Then write it in. Enjoy!


This blog post is a part of a crossover blog. Other participants in this crossover blog are:

http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/
http://www.blogbydonna.com/
http://getyergoat-goatgifts.blogspot.com/
http://www.nanwrightart.com/
http://randomshirts.blogspot.com/
http://skeetzteez.blogspot.com/
http://idesignbrian.wordpress.com/
http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com/
http://autismshowucare.blogspot.com/
http://www.gocamelphotos.blogspot.com/
http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com/
http://einselgaenger.blogspot.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/thecopyeditor

Mosquito Bite Shirt

Spreadshirt Market Place Product

Mosquito Bite Shirt

So, here we have a shirt with a blood-gorged mosquito in the process of biting. Icky, huh? Don't you want to slap it? But then you would get blood all over. Ick. I had fun drawing the legs, especially. Something about all those joints just appealed to me. Also, I like the way the mosquito sort of wraps its front legs around its tubular mouth to support it. I'm not sure what the feathery feeler parts are (maybe feelers?)

I never understood the people that would try to squash a fly by clapping their hands over it. Don't you end up with squashed fly on your hands? People are weird.

infested mind

Fruit Crate Labels by Labelstone

Is there a legend more retold than King Arthur? From The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White to the 1998 movie Merlin on the Sci Fi Channel and the books by Marion Zimmer Bradely, we have been fascinated by this tale of the boy who becomes king and victim, hero and fool. It is a story of high ideals and sordid details. The main characters in the legend are viewed through so many lenses: Guenevere is a naive young woman who stumbled and took the world down in her fall, or a queen and matriarchal mystic ignored at your own risk. Merlin is a dotty old man, a powerful, magical force, or an introverted orphan, making his way as he can. Mordred is a symbol of evil or prince denied his heritage. Even Morgan Le Fey is seen as beautiful, evil seductress and deformed, ignored outcast.

This design, at Fruit Crate Labels by Labelstone, hints at that many-layered legend, with the realistic natural detail of men in the boat, in armor, and the lake mist with the swans and the hint of the parallel, magical world in the vivid reflections in the lake water. The sword thrusts through that barrier between worlds.

Indulge your nostalgia with this and other vintage and mythical designs at http://www.cafepress.com/labelstone.

This blog post is a part of a crossover blog. Other participants in this crossover blog are:

http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/ http://www.blogbydonna.com/ http://mindinfestation.blogspot.com/ http://getyergoat-goatgifts.blogspot.com/ http://shagtees.blogspot.com/ http://www.nanwrightart.com/ http://randomshirts.blogspot.com/ http://skeetzteez.blogspot.com/ http://idesignbrian.wordpress.com/ http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com/

A New CafePress Store

So, what's with the name? Well, I was trying to do an online POD store about flyball as a fundraiser for my team. We need $$$$ to do things like hold tournaments and buy equipment. So, I did this Weasel Puppy Flyball Stuff. But, once I set up the store and started making designs for it, I kept having these ideas that had nothing to do with flyball. I kept drawing things like this:

and this:

Which wasn't flyball dogs. They didn't have anything to do with flyball. I tried to stuff them in little stores all by themselves or in corners in the flyball shop, but they kept leaking. So, I've given up and decided to give them there own store. I also gave them their own blog.

Stupid bugs.

There's other stuff there, too.

Infestation of the Mind