i vant to drink...

your bluhd! Mwhahahaha!





Ok, this looked better in my head and in the sketch. I think the bottom looks like it's wearing some oddly shaped pants, and the widow's peak is too skinny.

And it's not even remotely vampiric looking. Oddly quirky, but not vampire-like. Although I am rather happy with the rouge colored fangs. Hee.

So, back to the drawing board. Of course, if anyone wants to give my poor Vlad prototype a home, I would not be adverse. He's all felt and about 10" tall (25.4 cm).

kitties and ghosts, oh my

Look! Pocket stuffies with clasps!


Look! You can attach to a bag!

I also finally figured out how to balance the contrast... I changed the camera setting from Auto to Indoor, which instantly made the white background go from a warm to a cool, so that helped. And then I got some black posterboard and added a third light to the left side for more depth. But then, after awhile, I stopped using the second light on the right, which seemed to wash it all out, so *shrug*, it's all good now. I'm happy with the way the photos came out, but I still think I might have to return the one lamp to Home Despot and get the smaller one. Or just use a less wide shade. Or maybe diffuse the light altogether.

Gosh, who knew this thing would take so many other skills besides cutting and sewing material?

new card

New 5 card set.

boo

A little preview of the ghost and kitty pocket stuffies. (I'm still trying to clean up the background color which is supposed to be white, not beige.)

photo box

I've heard this called a light box, which isn't the same as the thing you put transparencies over to trace (box on worktop with light shining up through whatever it is you're looking at), but Jim and I made it with foam core, duck tape, duct tape, and lights from Home Depot.

It's huge. I will either add in another "shelf" or put a crate inside and a piece of foam core on top to bring the items up closer to the top light. Or, we could cut off about 10" from the top and bring the light down. It's foam core, so not really a huge loss if I muck it up.

This will help me tremendously when I'm eyeball deep into the PacNW gray winter. (PS, that's the small pumpkin stuffie I haven't yet put up in the shop. She's very anxious for her closeup!)

favorite Etsy shops

TV Tray Art makes all kinds of really neat things. She also packages her necklaces in a really wonderful package. And look, a knitting bird!


Taina's Warm & Fuzzies makes really nice knitted kidlet things. I lurve this monster hat!


Rosebud Factory makes really cool felted critters in little seedling pots! So cute!


Squidglass makes really cool art glass pendants. This one is sold, but he makes a bunch of other robots. And squids. And people. There's a cool coffee line, too.


Attic Creations seems to make things with wood, makes jewelry, and sells other vintage items. I just love all the little drawers--glad someone bought it... wish it had been me. :-)

Meet Peck, the stemless wonder

I just added this pumpkin stuffie to the shop.

Things are a little slow here in the studio. Spent a wonderful weekend with a great friend in the SF Bay area; no crafty goodness, but lots of really neat eyecandy. I'm guessing I'd better finish my Halloween cards, and then it'll be on to the holiday designs.

If you'd like me to make you a boxed set of blank holiday cards, now's the time to let me know, and we can work out details. I might make one or two original designs featuring the wee people and/or a robot. My fabulous in-house techie (aka my awesome husband) just upgraded me to a new iMac and a new all-in-one scanner/printer/copier. I am now dual monitor-ing my way through Photoshop and Etsy, and OMG it's the most awesome!

We also celebrated our fourth anniversary on Thursday. Life is good.