It’s Thorin’s everywhere!

Please be warned that there’s an abundance of very pretty stuff coming up, so if you’re only planning on window-shopping, please put paypal/credit card details out of reach…

This morning as I was preparing for work I felt an overwhelming need for Thorin to accompany me.

Some of you may remember that I had been fiddling about with some images of our majestic dwarf for the premiere of The Hobbit: AUJ and I ended up creating a Thorin/My Little Pony image (still not sure what prompted me…).

The T-shirt design has faded from washing, but it was still a very good Friday T-shirt option.

It got me thinking about how hand-made (with love) Thorin goodies fill in the gap in the dwarf merchandise that some of us are feeling.

Here are some objects that give me a serious case of grabby hands:

 I absolutely love this  Thorin Owlshield (OK, I did my best to come up with a funny name, but that’s all I’ve got…).

Anyway, this Thorin bookmark is a hoot!

If what you’d like Thorin to do is take an unexpected journey to your bed, then here’s your chance with adorable The Hobbit pillow plushies.

What I want to know is can the Thorin pillow plushy arms wrap all the way around someone… err.. I’m asking for a friend…

Talking of Thorin plushies, how beautiful is this hand-made felt version?

I always thought that his thunder brows were his most prominent feature, but there’s no mistaking this little guy.

Good news if he ever gets drunk, passes out and the company end up shaving his brows off as a joke…

Where there’s a dwarf, there’s always an excuse to party and check out The Hobbit Cake Kit (yup, that’s a thing!).

It includes 3 Hobbit figurines, luckily Thorin is one of them,  and a pop-up background.

If I had my choice of characters, apart from Oakey, I’d go for sassy Thranduil and Smaug, just to heat things up. Mmmm red velvet cake…

I hope the “pop-up” background makes the cake look like this:

How amazing is this! Meemawolf, my BDay’s in November 😉

meemawof10. #sthash.I0eXshIm.dpuf

Ain’t no party like a Tolkien party!

If you want something special (and support one of our own!) I suggest you check out Gisborne’s Boy/Sebababy’s artwork available at Red Bubble.

You can order his images on a variety of items, like T-shirts, phone cases and stickers.

And if your Armitage love isn’t limited to Thorin, how about getting greedy and ordering a Team Everyone design.

There’s also a mountain-high amount of adorable Hobbit/Thorin/Tolkien designs to check out at Red Bubble under the “Everything Thorin” tag.

Have you come across some delicious hand-made design?

If so, leave links in comments so we can all sit around and drool, then go rob a bank.

I will see you tomorrow for the weekly round-up!

23 hours till The Hobbit and Counting…

The Hobbit is so close I can almost taste it 🙂

As I write this post, the countdown on the sidebar says 23 hours before I see the film.

I’ll be heading over to London in a few hours, but before I get on the plane let me share with you some of the ways I’ve been expressing my excitement (besides jumping up and down and overusing the word Yahoooo!)..

Firstly, if you haven’t checked out the fruit of Seba‘s labour of sweet RA love, you simply have to.

Get your Hobbit Cookies Here!

He answered my call for someone to test Hobbit cookie recipes, and went above and beyond.

They look super yummy, so head over there for the details and sweeten up your day!

By the way, Seba saw The Hobbit last night, so scoot over to his blog to read about his impressions.

NO SPOILERS, so not to worry!

I’ve also ordered a few tops with images I’ve been fiddling with, I’m still waiting on them and time is running out.

I’ll be bummed not to have them before London, but not to worry, I still have the Polish film release to look forward to.

 I can only hope the T-shirts come out all rights.

The following image was created as a bit of a giggle.

It was inspired by a post about Hobbit merchandise and the My Little Pony Thorin Spa.

I also printed this beautiful image created by Seba at GisbornesBoy on a white T-shirt.

If you head over there, Seba has created a number of versions of this stunning image to suit all tastes.

We’re so lucky that he shares his talent with us!

Last but not least, I found this amazing image at adlpictures.

I love it on so many levels, least of which comparing the dwarf plight with the biblical story, but that’s best left for another day.

  I fiddled about with Thorin’s Last Supper by aging it a tad and adding crack and “Dirty Dwarves”.

I’ve also mentioned wanting to use my non-existent skills and try making some Hobbity jewelery.

I  decided to make a brooch from Thorin’s Key to Erebor.

I used the key chain that is readily available, although it was a bit too silvery and cheap-looking for my taste.

You have to admit it’s a bit tacky.

I ended attaching the rest of the key chain to my garage keys.

 The pin is attached using the playdough-like substance you use to stop a leaking pipe.

One might think that a  hot glue gun would be a better idea, and sure, you’d be right, that is of course if you can find it…

Anyway, my DIY plumbing material worked like a charm 😉

Then I used some furniture varnish with golden coloured dust to cover the bright silver.

I tried not to pile it on because I already liked the darker elements of the key and wanted to keep the rustic feel.

I also used a regular crayon to add a bit of rusty looking depth, but I’m not sure it’s all that visible.

Anyway, here’s the final effect and I’m happy 🙂

   Talking about visible representations of The Hobbit excitement, the last thing I’d like to mention is the heater in my sisters kitchen.

We use it for magnets and funny notes, so I decided to hang up my birthday card.

I turn around and find a note left by my sister Magzy expressing her displeasure with my Armitage expansion tendencies.

That cracked me up, especially her choice of deity she calls upon!

Clearly she’s struggling to get into the Hobbit spirit 😉

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you on the other side of The Hobbit rainbow 😉

More Hilarious Hilda!

A while back a very special Pin Up Girl won our hearts.

It’s time for some more Hilda, created by Duane Bryers.

Today’s theme is one of my most favorite activities reading.

So happy to see that Hilda loves reading too 🙂

It’s not just about reading, Hilda also likes writing 🙂

Hilda is the funniest when she gets into trouble.

Oh, Hilda!

Have a day worthy of Hilda 🙂

Access Your Inner Pin Up Hilda!

Today’s post was inspired by our fellow Armitage Admirer Luciana!

She tweeted info about a Pin Up Artist that portrayed women in a bit of a different way.

I very often post pictures depicting sexy Pin Up’s with nicely rounded bums and I rack worthy enough to hang an apron on, all clad in stockings covering their shapely calf and thighs.

They all ooze innocent sex and are very feminine.

Duane Bryers created a series of amazing  Hilda paintings done specifically for Bigelow & Brown’s Hilda calendars, from 1957 to 1970, although he continued to do original paintings till the early 1980s.

Bryers employed a number of plus-size models to pose for him, reminding each of us that shapely women have always been considered worthy to inspire works of art!

The artist once said:

“I got the idea for a plumpy gal pinup and thought I’d like to make it into a calendar series, but how was I going to sell a plump girl?”

There are many MANY amazing Hilda images, as Duane painted close to 250 pictures of Hilda over 36 years!

I have no doubt this isn’t the last time I’ve posted images by Bryers, so today I’ve opted for pictures that remind me of autumn and early winter.

By the way, Hilda has more curves than I’d know what to do with, but I think we’ve all felt a bit like this at one time or another:

It’s official!

I love Hilda!

It’s time to take a leaf out of her book and grab life by the… chocolate sundae!

Thanks very much Luciana 🙂

Walt Otto’s Pin Up Girls

Autumn is slowly slipping away from us, but I found these beautiful illustrations by Walt Otto that are reminiscent of harvest season.

They are very wholesome indeed 🙂

Fritz Willis’ Pin Up Girls

Fritz Willis is one of the most famous vintage illustrators.

He worked on ads for Pepsi, Quality Papers, Max Factor, Purex, Sunkist, Crown Zellerbach, SpringMaid Sheets and others.

He also did story work for Esquire, Saturday Evening Post, Redbook, Collier’s, and covers for Ice Follies programs from 1952-1969.

Alexia Sinclair’s The Regal Twelve

Alexia Sinclair’s The Regal Twelve is a series that portrays twelve European monarchs who have ruled supreme and whose lives span over two millennia.

Can you guess which characters are portrayed?

You will find the answers below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1.

Alexandra Romanov.“The last Czarina of Russia” (1872-1918)

2.

Marie Antoinette – “The Extravagant Queen” (1755-1793)

3.

Elizabeth I – “The Virgin Queen” (1533-1603)

4.

Eleanor of Aquitaine – “The Eagle” (1122-1204)

5.

Boudica – “The Celtic Queen” (AD 26-61)

6.

Isabella of Spain – “The Catholic” (1451-1504)

7.

Elizabeth Báthory – “The Countess of Blood” (1560-1614)

8.

Cleopatra – “The Seductress” (69 BC-30 BC)

9.

Christina of Sweden – “The Androgynous Queen” (1626-1689)

10.

Catherine the Great – “The Enlightened Empress” (1729-1796)

11.

Agrippina – “The Poisoness” (AD 15-59)

12.

Olympias – “The Sorceress” (376 BC-316 BC)

Edward Runci’s Pin Up Girls

It’s been a while since we had some Pin Up Girls, so today I wanted to post images by Edward Runci.

His skills are comparable to  Gil Elvgren.

 Runci girls frequently got caught in compromising situations like climbing a fence to flee a bull, or dress blowing up on a Ferris Wheel ride.

His girls are rosy-cheeked, voluptuous, often blonde Marilyn Monroe-types who radiate  wholesome sensuality.

 Who doesn’t like a cheeky Pin Up!

Sensation of Young British Artists- an Introduction

In 1999, when I was living in New York, something quite unusual happened.

The media were commenting on an art exhibition that was to be opened in Brooklyn.

The unusual part was that it was followed by protestors and even the mayor, Rudolph Giuliani criticised it.

The exhibition, Sensation, was a collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi and features Young British Artists.

It first took place in the Royal Academy of Art in London, then toured to Berlin.

I can now say it was one of the most important and meaningful art experiences in my life, and can only really be compared with the Tamara Lempicka exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.

I am thankful that I was fortunate enough to experience it and was able to appreciate it.

Some artwork was really shocking.

Some, I felt, delivered a cheap thrill, but others really changed the way you interpreted life.

The exhibition was accompanied with a CD commentary by David Bowie.

I can’t imagine a better choice!

There were some very powerful pieces, too many to include in one post.

Therefore, all this week I am planning to write about artists that really influenced me and left a lasting impression.

I do, however, have to attach a warning to the posts connected to Sensation.

Although I don’t think my choices are vulgar, they are not for the fainthearted.

Therefore, people of delicate sensibilities should make up their own minds whether to read the posts or not.

They will contain images of nudity and themes that some may find disturbing!

I hope you enjoy!

Illustrating Beauty- Coby Whitmore

Coby Whitmore is a mainstay of American Illustration.

He spent the majority of his life and professional career in New York.

He’s best known as a painter and magazine illustrator for such publications as Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and Saturday Evening Post.

His work typically showcased the post-war, white, American family living a life of moderate luxury.