Artist: Clinton Rost - Paintings

Found this awesome artist today. Clinton Rost. Really beautiful depictions of light. He'll be at the MCAD art sale that's coming up Nov 30 and Dec 1.
1: Late Evening Light - 16 x 20"
2: Facing West - 16 x 20"
3: White Fur Hood - 9 x 12"
4: Cafe Reflections - 80 x 64"

Fox is done!

I've been slacking this week on posting, sorry. But now I can finally show my fox guy, woo hoo. I was trying to do option number 3, but I ended up making him a little taller (not sure if that was a good idea). He feels a little unfinished to me yet, I always feel like that I think. But I'm learning so that's good.

More Target cards Yea!

So I've mentioned before that at my day job I work for a greeting card/gifty/desk accessory manufacturer, and we make a bunch of items for boutiques and big box stores. Well I went to Target and two more of my designs were just set a little while ago. Yea! I'm super excited. The bachelorette card has a little rhinestone that goes where the diamond is on the hand, and the penguin gets a big white puffball on the end of his hat.

What to do with this guy?

I was crocheting for fun the other night (while watching Planet in Peril on CNN) and I made this fox head. It's about 4.5 inches tall. I'm not really sure what I want to do with it so I decided to make some sketches and do a little photoshop mock-up action. So the first two pics represent what it would look like if I just decided that his head was going to also be his body and I put little arms and legs on and he'd be a short little dude. Pic one he has a long but flat tail that's crocheted and the second pic is a more 3D stuffed tail that's also crocheted. The 3rd and 4th pics he's taller. On these I thought that the tails/arms/legs would be crocheted, but the bodies would be sewn with some sort of fun fabric and then stuffed. So there's my dilemma. I'm going to let it sit for tonight I think, but by this weekend a decision will have to be made!

Photo shoot

I thought I'd share my crazy attempt at taking better photos using the bare minimum of supplies. I acquired a piece of white tag board from work and basically lean it against the kitchen table where there's the most light in the apartment. The Alphabet Bears don't stand on their own so I strung them up with thread and tied it to a ruler that's taped on the table. And there you have it. So for how cheapo this is and looks, I think it does the job for now.

Artist: Jennifer Strunge, COTTON MONSTER

I feel like I must've posted about Jennifer Strunge and her Cotton Monsters before because they are so fun and right up my alley, but I haven't, so here ya go! Each monster is unique and made from recycled clothes and linens. How cool is that! Check out the Cotton Monster blog and website/store. On her website you can see some great pics in her photo album and portfolio. Jennifer even made huge blow up version of her monsters! Neato.

Blog: all*over*print

Love these cut out patterns/shapes from Ayelet Iontef on the all*over*print blog. Really beautiful color choices. Check out her blog, there are lots of fun patterns and pics.

6 Etsy Favs: Candy Corn

Candy corn is my favorite Halloween candy so I thought I'd dedicate this post to those yummies by showing off some candy corn Etsy products.
1: Candy Corn, Cat and Skeleton Bowl Fillers for Halloween by HodgePodgeCreations
2: Candy Corn Cutie Necklace by luckycoloryellow
3: Custom Boutique Candy Corn Scarf Crochet by Oililla
4: Halloween Amigurumi Patterns by EternalSunshine
5: The Dorky Candy Corn Brothers HALLOWEEN Plush Characters by DogboneArt
6: Scaredy Kat and Corny by theduckpond

Images!

The pics are working today on blogger, woo hoo! Here are the colors of the different alphabet bears you can get from my Etsy store. Any letter can be placed on them. So if you know of anyone having a little baby or someone who wants a fun little wonky bear, you know where to find me :)

Custom letter Alphabet Bears

Well, blogger isn't working right now so I can't load any pics at the moment, but I wanted to let you know that I have Custom Letter Alphabet Bears in my Etsy store now. Woo Hoo! Hoping to start updating the store more often, especially with little one-off things that I'm experimenting with.

Artist: Oliver Jeffers

Well, I didn't do my Etsy listing today (I went out with family after work and I just got home) so I'll be posting it tomorrow instead. In the mean time here are some paintings by artist Oliver Jeffers. I found him on Amy's blog, but I realized that I've already seen his children's book that I think is gorgeous "How to Catch a Star". These paintings have so much character but I think that it's the titles of them that I really connected with. The first image is entitled "Understanding Everything". The second is "Seagulls Will Inherit the Earth". And the third one which just made me want to cry is called "The Process of Running Away". So sad, but I love it! Poor little doggy. So anyway, check out his site, super cute.

Some bears and an old Cuddler

Here are some Alphabet Bears I worked on this weekend, hanging out on the couch with an old corduroy Cat Cuddler. Tomorrow after work I'm hoping to get a listing up on my Etsy store for anyone who would like to get an Alphabet Bear made special with whatever letter they want on it.

Jon bear - another random stuffie

I finished up another random stuffed animal guy last night. This one was made out of one of my husband's old shirts. I wanted to try to make something that reminded me of what he likes and the little drawings he does, which turned out to be a much bigger challenge then I thought. Mostly because I'm not in his brain and design decisions I would make he would make in a different way. So anyway, this guy is what I ended up with. I tried to make him a little asymmetrical like the last guy, his legs and arms are different lengths and his head's a little skewed.

Check it out!

Caren from HGTV.com mentioned me on her blog today! Thanks Caren.

Dusting off more holiday: Guatemala Xmas

I'm breaking out another holiday thing that I made a while back. It's a character sketch for a children's book I might be doing for a friend. It's a Christmas story that takes place in Guatemala. I scanned in a pencil sketch and then colored it on the Wacom tablet in Photoshop so it would look watercolory.

A Bunny named Kinkos

OK, I didn't want to work on anything last night (bills, making inventory, etc.) so instead I thought I'd try and make a random stuffed animal just for fun. I haven't ever really made anything "3D" before except for my Sweater Pigeons (my Cuddlers are pretty flat) so I had no idea what I was doing, and worse yet, I decided that I wasn't going to plan anything or make a pattern, I was just going to start cutting and sewing and see what happened. Also, I knew I didn't want my final guy to be all even and perfect so I cut my shapes all asymmetrical which made things even harder. So anyway, I had a great time being totally confused last night. I ended up with this little sideways bunny. I used little doll eyes for the first time too, so that was exciting. I'm naming him Kinkos because he was made out of an old uniform shirt that I had from when I worked there a few years ago. I have to say that it was so refreshing to make something just for the sake of making something. I'll have to do it more often I think. But for now it's back to the grind. Adios.

Blog: blow your horn hunter!

Found this fun blog this evening: blow your horn hunter! It is ran by artists: Abraham Twist, Cornelia O'donovan, Drew Beckmeyer, Jesse Hadden, Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch, and Phillip Fivel Nessen. Here are some images to entice you to check it out.

Holiday Spirit - Trick or Treat

Well my last post got me into the holiday spirit, and since Halloween is coming up I thought I'd post my little "Trick or Treat" book that I did a while back. It's a little portfolio that I made with little postcards in it of kids all dressed up.