Little Miss Muffet, Tuffets and fun Spiders!

Hey y'all!

Little Miss Muffet detail of painting

by Scott Gustafson

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Poor little Miss Muffet!

Let's make some cute spiders,

so next time she won't be so frightened!

     

Spider Pretzels 

These arachnid treats are easy to make and they look positively lifelike
crawling across your child's snack plate.

For each:
2 round crackers (like Ritz)
2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter
8 small pretzel sticks
2 raisins

With the peanut butter, make a cracker sandwich.

Insert eight pretzel "legs" into the filling.

Place them 4 on one side, and 4 on the opposite side.

With a dab of peanut butter, set two raisin "eyes" on top, front.

Makes 1.

I do have a photo, but I can't figure out how to get it to the blog. Sorry.

Use your imagination, and I'm sure they will be cute!

So just what is a "tuffet"?

Well, it can be a little stool to sit on,

or it can be a patch of grass, like a tuft of grass.

In most of the pictures/illustrations/paintings that I have found,

Miss Muffet is sitting on a low stool.

A vintage Jessie Wilcox Smith postcard

Here is a great Spider Iris Folding pattern, courtesy of Chona:

If you can't quite remember how to do Iris Folding,

type into my search box "iris folding" and a nice tutorial should pop up,

along with several more patterns. These will be in different blogs.

1889 vintage illustration

There is a charming coloring page on Mary Engelbreit's web site:

http://www.maryengelbreit.com/

She has several super coloring pages!

I have a simple scherensnitte (papercutting) pattern for you next.

The pattern page has Little Miss Muffet on the top,

and Little Jack Horner on the bottom.

2 for 1!

vintage illustration, courtesy of http://www.mamalisa.com/

 

 

So what are curds and whey?

Sounds icky....

 

Whey is the watery part of milk that separates from the curds

when making cheese.

I kind of think of it as watery cottage cheese!

Miss Muffet embroidery pattern from TurkeyFeathers

 

Here is another fun 'Spider' to make!

 

Spider Pops

You will need:

black pipe cleaners (chenille stems)

Tootsie Pops (lollipops)

googly eyes

glue

1. Hold four pipe cleaners, center them at the base of the pop and

         wrap them around the stick once so there are 4 legs on each

         side of the round pop.

2. Bend the pipe cleaner ends of each leg to form eight feet. Just

         about 1/2" or so.

3. Glue on googly eyes to the bulb of the pop, in front.

4. Spiders can crawl around anywhere you want them to, on their 

          pipe cleaner legs!

Wouldn't these make cute Halloween party favors or hand-outs?

Note Miss Muffet's MUSHROOM tuffet!

note the slightly different verse on this one.

courtesy of http://www.andrewfinnie.blogspot.com/

He creates interesting digital photography art.

 

I have had fun with Little Miss Muffet today.

This is the blog that I had done in July,

only to have blogspot eat it.

Grrr....

But I'm not mad today, so we had some tuffet-fun!

 

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

 

 

Nursery Rhyme Time with 3 Men in a Tub!

Welcome!

"Attitude"

original Collage Art Doll by inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

Today we will be exploring Nursery Rhymes,

specifically

Rub-A-Dub-Dub Three Men in a Tub!

I haven't done a nursery rhyme in a while, and they are such fun!

from the book "Rub A Dub"

as told by Kin Eagler, illustrated by Rob Gilbert

The oldest versions that have been found (printed) have a different wording.

 See what you think!

Hey! rub-a-dub, ho! rub-a-dub, three maids in a tub,

And who do you think were there?

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,

And all of them gone to the fair.

This version was printed in Massachusetts around 1825.

The origins of this earliest version seem to be from a sideshow attraction at local fairs.

The sideshow featured three maids in a tub who were presumably unclothed.

It's possible that this rhyme made fun of the men who enjoyed visiting them!

The Muppets' version!

The first recorded version is in a Christmas Box published in London in 1798.

By around 1830 the reference to maids

was being removed from the versions printed in

In 1842 James Orchard Halliwell collected this version:

Rub a dub dub,

Three men in a tub,

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker,

The candlestick maker.

Turn them out, knaves all three.

by Graham McKean

Here is yet ANOTHER version, that is currently used today:

Rub-a-dub-dub,

Three men in a tub,

And how do you think they got there?

The butcher, the baker,

The candlestick-maker,

They all jumped out of a rotten potato,

'Twas enough to make a man stare.

flickriver.com

This nursery rhyme has been used by many different ad agencies to advertise,

whether it is a product or a political theme or a change of view:

Christian version, by the Christian Mother Goose,

http://www.marjorieainsboroughdecker.com/

Can't you just imagine John Cleese as the Baker?

:0)

Who do you think the two other men should be?

Let me know!

Sometimes I think I am only writing to myself.

You can easily leave a message on the blogspot to let me know someone is out there.

embroidery design

http://www.d-zignsinc.com/

Here's a fun version we might all enjoy learning:

http://www.anorak-magazine.co.uk/

Here is a lovely vintage embroidery piece from 1952 -

sheet music from http://www.freehandmusic.com/

http://www.nursery-rhymes.org/

That one is so silly, as 3 grown and dressed men are in the same tub!

I do like the rubber ducky on the floor...

Here is another funny one:

Men in a tub

by Roberta Baird at http://www.picturedashbook.com/

Of course, those men are actually in a teacup.

It's fun to imagine what the waves would do however!

Clever painting.

vintage illustration, c.1907

Are you familiar with William Wegman?

It all started with his dog, Fannie.

She seemed to like having her picture taken.

It has definitely snowballed since then!

His photos now decorate entire books - I have "Cinderdogfella"

that's not quite right, but if you look up 'William Wegman'

you will find lists of his wonderful and whimsical books.

Here is his version of 3 dogs men in a tub:

by William Wegman and his dogs

Here's a jolly tub of three:

I found this happy illustration at http://www.bundanadia.blogspot.com/

I believe she is Indian?  Someone tell me!

These three fellows look like they better start bailing water,

and throwing overboard anything extra!

from http://www.rankopedia.com/

Those three look a little shifty, don't you agree?

a wonderful egg I found at http://www.garland-holmes.com/

This next to last image is from the fantastic Scott Gustafson.

His work is just wonderful!

Please go to his website and see more of his paintings:

http://www.scottgustafson.com/

Well, I think it is time to leave these three men to their fate.

My last illustration is by Sundara Fawn:

http://www.fineartamerica.com/

It's been totally fun for me to do a nursery rhyme again!

No, I haven't forgotten the Meaning of Flowers,

and the Flowers of the Month for August.

I have been researching the Gladiolus, one of 2 flowers of the month for August.

See you tomorrow!

(I've been previewing pictures from Santa Fe - oooh I love my new camera!)

Gladiolus Garden

http://www.wellpromo.com/

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

 nursery books.

Nursery Rhymes with Humpty Dumpty

Hey ee

pronounced HAY - ee

the 'ee' is said in the back of the throat

How to say hi in Southern Georgia, USA

vintage print, Humpty Dumpty on wall

Today we will have rhymes, laughter, tears and some broken eggs!

(The tears come from Mrs. Humpty Dumpty!)

Humpty Dumpty is a traditional nursery rhyme that most people know.

HUMPTY DUMPTY

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and

All the king's men

couldn't put Humpty together again!

http://www.thelazypeacock.etsy.com/

So, do you think that Humpty Dumpty had a fatal fall?

Or did he just crack his head 'open'?

c.1930 vintage illustration

www.SkitterCats.etsy.com

and really!

What was he doing sitting up on a wall,

if he was so fragile?

Are we dealing with perhaps an egotistical egg?

a macho egg?

or just a plain stuuupid egg?

vintage song sheet cover, c.1921

Here is a charming scherensnitte project for you.

This would look very cute in a nursery.

Cut Humpty out of brightly colored paper, and then mat him on coodinating paper.

or

cut Humpty from the traditional black silhouette paper, and mount the cutting onto a pastel nursery color

or

cut Humpty from the popular 'parchment' paper, and mount onto black,

or some other vivid, deep rich color.

BackStreetDesigns

Budget Craft Tip

Experiment with tracing paper and a pencil -

Find a Humpty that you like. Trace around him, using the tracing paper.

Add any strong line features to define the picture.

Now, decide if it is right for a silhouette,

or if you need to do a more traditional scherensnitte cutting.

Make sure all your lines are attached to something!

Start simple; don't get too fussy about adding in all the lines.

You are on your way to start making your own patterns!

It's quite fun, and you are not restricted as much with copyrights.

If you keep the cutting yourself, or give it to a friend,

you usually don't have to worry about copyrights anyway.

It IS always nice to credit the artist who inspired you.

vintage teapot with 4 cups with soldiers

www.Jeannine2000.etsy

vintage illustration, c.1889

a stained glass version from Dover Books

Here is the back of the coloring book, Dover books:

This is an out of print edition of the very popular magazine -

 Humpty Dumpty's Magazine for Little Children.

http://www.littlemstips.etsy.com/

Another wonderful embroidery transfer from Typefeathers:

a vintage wood tray puzzle
http://www.auntliz.etsy.com/

Remember those wood tray puzzles?
I sure do!
Especially from when I was teaching Special Ed,
and it was time to find all the pieces, and put them all back together
and tucked back into their places.
They were just super puzzles for our kids.

Here is another outstanding painting from Scott Gustafsen:


This copied clip really does not do justice to his wonderful paintings.
Au

Arthur Rackham illustration, c.1932

Well, the blogspot program is messing up a bit, and I had to copy and paste the last third or so of my blog, so I think maybe they're telling me it's time to close!

4 vintage mini pressed board placques

http://www.sushipotparts.etsy.com/

Hmmmmm....

I think I might be in the mood for deviled eggs now....

hhhmmmmm.....

Have fun trying out your tracing skills for your cut art.

:0)

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com