Calling All You Lovers of Halloween

We interrupt this regularly scheduled month to bring you a bit of October. . .

Tonight's the night!

The brand new Ehag Emporium is officially open.

Go see all the Halloweeny goodness.

Here is our featured piece.

If you missed out on getting it, here are some more of this month's

Halloween creations that are available-

here                      here                    here

and

here                     here                    here

Now back to our regularly scheduled month.

Oh, the Pinks you can think!

Valentine's Day must be just around the corner, because I've been in the mood for pink.

Pretty pink hearts. . .

Pointy pink ears. . .

Pink ears on kitties and bunnies and bears.

Four pink ears on an odd pair of fellows.

One only whispers; the other one bellows.

And last but not least, pink and petite,

Pretty little Peggy looks mighty sweet.

. . .

Let's Make Owl Ornaments

I made some simple little owl ornaments today, and I made a quick tutorial just in case you might want to play along.

What you'll need:

-Scissors

-X-acto knife

-Muslin

-Cotton batting

-Embroidery floss

-Acrylic craft paints (whatever colors you like, plus burnt umber)

First, print and cut out this template-

Then make a fabric "sandwich" (muslin on the bottom, cotton batting in the middle, muslin on top) and trace your template onto it. Sew along the outside lines.

Cut just outside your sewn lines. Trace the eyes. Draw the wing and beak. Then paint inside each shape, trying to avoid getting paint on lines. What color will your owl be? Then you can paint the backs if you want.

After the paint is thoroughly dry, lightly sand the entire piece with fine grit sandpaper. Mix your burnt umber paint with a little water. Paint this mixture quickly over the entire piece, then wipe it off just as quickly with a paper towel. Let it dry again. Then thread a piece of embroidery floss through the top, like so-

Then lightly sand it again, and decorate however you like. I kept mine pretty simple, but you could go all out with beads and buttons and embroidery or whatever else tickles your fancy.

Besides cute little ornaments I think they'd make great Valentines, or maybe gift tags.

Rainbows and Silliness

Here's what today's table looks like-

Birdies and bunnies and hearts, oh my!

And a couple of conjoined cuties, and a bear, a cat, a tree. . .so much silliness.

Tis the season for rain, rain, and more rain here on the beautiful Oregon Coast. I'm not gonna lie, it gets old. All this dreary grayness can dampen even the perkiest person's spirit, but without it we wouldn't get such prettiness. Here's the latest rainbow(s) we were treated to, looking out our livingroom window-

Hope all your gray days have rainbows.

Something-A-Day

I'm inspired by the projects I see here and there in Cyberland in which someone does something similarly creative everyday. There's Skull-A-Day or Toy-A-Day or my favorite What-Did-You-Buy-Today. I've seen many 365 projects, mostly about taking a picture everyday. My amazingly talented baby girl (who is 17 now but was just 7 a minute ago) wants to get on board with that 365 thing, but she felt like it had to start on January 1st and was thus late to the party. So she's doing a 342 project. Because she just doesn't have enough to do. (She actually really has enough to do.)

Here's her first entry-

(Told you she's amazingly talented.)

Anyway, I'm thinking my project will start next month, on my birthday. So now I just have to come up with what I want to do. I love the whole idea of it; the challenge of doing something everyday, the constancy, the documentary aspect. It can't take up too much time though, because I just don't have much extra.
Meanwhile, I'd better get back to work.

Halloween in January??

Here's what last week's work turned into-

here               here                here

The smiley punkinhead in the boat is for a  webshow we'll be participating in on Jan. 31 over here-
Over 20 top-notch Halloween artists are gonna play along,

so you lovers of All Hallow's Eve mark your calendars for

January 31st

Show and Tell --- Collections

I'm a bit of a collector.

I love pretty little groups of silmilar things.

Buttons, bunnies, Red Reding Hoods, teeny-tiny bits-n-bobs.

And chairs. I just love little chairs.

And itty bitty deer. (Or is it deers?)

I wonder what our collections say about us.

(Speaking of which, Lisa Cogndon takes collecting to a new level.)

What do YOU collect?

Show us, please.

Rocking the Boat

We've been doing the art-business thing the same way (more or less) for the past five years. Make the art, sell the art, make more art. Same schedule, same deadline. Each piece was one-of-a-kind, never to be repeated. But this year, we've decided to rock the boat a bit and make many pieces several times-- a sort of limited edition of originals. I've practiced enough now that painting the same face over and over doesn't present too much difficulty, but sculpting the same head many times. . .well, I'm nervous about that. So today's table is filled with twins (amongst other things).
More practice, and a self-imposed test to see if I can manage to sculpt the same head more than once (without using any moulds of course).

So far so good, I think.

It's not the way I'm used to working. But getting used to something isn't necessarily a good thing, creativity-wise. The discomfort of doing something new is bound to result in finding new ways. So I'm embracing my discomfort (with a few curse words thrown in here and there), and looking forward to a new journey. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anybody else start a new journey this year?

All Done. Let's Go Again.

A mushroom, a cat, a mermaid, an angel, and a robot.

Mostly, they're as nice as could be, but that robot is onery. Anytime I ask her to pick up her nuts and bolts she just gives me a blank expression and says in her little robot voice, "Does. Not. Compute."

You can see more of the latest batch here.

It's been a sunless week here on the Oregon Coast, but there were a few bright spots. Two internet buddies, Dani and Janell,  came by for a visit on Thursday. They were both sweet as pie. And Janell brought me a present!

Isn't he adorable?

He is chock full of impeccable little details.

The rest of the week was a blur of gray skies, rain, and creativity (not necessarily in that order).

I took today off and gave my workspace a much needed cleaning. I couldn't believe how many wayward doll limbs had lost themselves in tiny places! And don't get me started on the tangle of embroidery floss that I'm pretty sure thrives and multiplies when neglected. Errant buttons were wrangled, incorrigible scraps gathered, and every last unruly supply was put in it's rightful place.

Now I have a fresh pallette for tomorrow's merry mess!

Haiti

here

Thank you to Sarah, for giving us the opportunity to do a little something.

WIP's and Cyber-friends

Here's what Monday's designs turned into by Wednesday.

Now it's Thursday, and they are farther along. Naturally. But I won't be working on them today because company is coming! I'll tell you more about that later.  First, I just had to share some snail-mail happiness-

This package of olfactory awesomeness is from my friend

Michelle (aka Tinkerchelle) over at The Blackberry Briar.

And sweety-pie Lori over at Vintage Palette sent me the coolest antique buttons as a little cheer-me-up.
Thank you, Tink and Lorikins!

I feel blessed to have made many lasting friendships via the internet. I know alot of people think that web-friends aren't real friends, but I've known some of my cyber-buddies for years and years, and there is something very real about the connections you can make when appearance/geography/social status/age doesn't matter. I have often been struck by the openness, thoughtfulness, and generosity of the people I've come to know. And if the perfect gift says anything about how well a person knows you, then my internet friends know me very well indeed.

Monday-Tuesday

I spent yesterday designing new stuff. When designing new stuff, I usually start with the old stuff. I go through The Box that holds most of our past templates (Dylan traces these onto fabric to sew and stuff), setting aside ones that tickle my fancy.

This is what The Table looked like just before I got down to business-

I've got my idea book and notepad, my reference materials, my beloved lightbox, tape, scissors, favorite pencil, and some posterboard. Posterboard is my favorite thing to cut templates out of, although I've certainly been known to cut templates out of anything I have lying around, like cereal boxes.

I started with a vague idea of what I wanted to make this week. I knew I wanted to incorporate a claddagh into some sort of angel (thus the printed-out claddaghs), design a robot girl, and do a new mermaid. So I went through my old templates and borrowed a head or tail, made them bigger or smaller or fatter or thinner, and generally reconsidered, redrew, reexamined, rehashed, reorganized, restyled, revamped, reviewed, and reworked the design. My day ended with 7 new designs and a more-complete list of what I plan to make this week. I ♥ lists.

Today, I paint.

☺

What possibilities does your day hold?

A Bloggity Birthity

Happy Birthday Sweet B and Lori!

After

Here's that undone batch down there in that last post

all done-up and sitting pretty.

Well, they didn't all make it to the photo session. The bird girl is all done, but there was a little mishap with her stand, so she'll have to make her debut another day. And that little bitty
lime-headed girly isn't in the before picture because she was added later. Miss Lemonhead was lonely.

You can see more of all of them HERE, if you want to.

I set deadlines for myself, but I try not to call them deadlines in my head because that word is just kinda scary in and of itself, don't you think? I prefer to think of them as finish lines. That sounds so much more triumphant. Not that I run through a paper ribbon just after I put the last sparkle in the last eye, arms held high. That would just be silly.

Bird Brain

Here's a peek at this week's batch-in-progress.

The birds are in the majority this week, with four of them in the works. That little yellow table that they're sitting on has been covered in Christmas til the other day, and I'm glad to have it back. My worktable was getting crowded.
The decision-making bit of my brain has been on the fritz this week. I've been thinking and rethinking all my color choices way too much, only to then settle on my first thought. This is why I limit my color pallette; I'm easily overwhelmed by multi-color chaos. Plus, I'm still trying to settle in to a new way of working. That, plus all the birdy designs, has thrown me into bird-brain mode. Chirp. Tweet. Caw. Quack.

Tuesday

Pretty little boxes crowd the worktable this morning.

Are't they cute?? I just love tiny boxes, don't you? I think it's probably a girl thing.

We're continuing to update the website everyday, making little changes here and there. I'm really impressed by Mr. Cart's ability to figure out how to do what we want. I know we sell our wares online which seems really high-tech, but we're both truly low-tech people. Especially me. It took me years to figure out how to get pictures out of the camera and onto the computer screen. I still miss film.

Anyway, please check out the website and feel free to offer any suggestions as to how we can make it better. Your comments are always appreciated. Truly.

The Latest

Here's the latest batch, posing for their portrait.

Look how deceptively sweet Her Majesty looks. . .

I love how her fancy collar turned out.

She was mighty fussy about her crown and I had to make it 3 times to get it just right. Sometimes simple is best.

Along with Alice, I just had to include Little Red Riding Hood-- my two favorite storytime girls.

And what Cart would be complete without a couple of anthropomorphic beasties?

Today I'm making more and more designs to add to our growing collection of limited editions.

Ever have TOO many ideas and get overwhelmed and just wanna take a nap? Or is that just me?

Resolution

I've been thinking on the whole New Year's resolutions tradition. I skipped it last year, tired of making (and breaking) the same old promises to myself. This year I wanted to think of something less breakable.

So here it is, in black and white-

This year I resolve to avoid the dreaded Comparison Trap. I have fallen in many times, comparing myself to bigger and fancier birds. Well, my plumage may no be so bright, but it keeps me warm. Perhaps my nest is less grand than some birds', but it is soft and cozy and just right for my little flock. I might not sing the most eloquent song, but it's melody is sweet and clear. So this year, I promise myself to keep on singing, and to delight in the songs of others without being diminished by them.

The Comparison Trap can't catch this bird!

What promises are you making to yourself this New Year?