Little Round Stickers for You and Me

I made up a bunch of stickers yesterday.

Or maybe it was the day before. I get confused.

We wanted a little something to include with purchases. 

They turned out so cute, I wanna stick them everywhere!

Anyway, here are some for you-

Just click and print on sticker paper (you can find in at an office supply store). Stick 'em on your cards, or your homework, or your friend, or your nose, or your friend's nose. . . Just don't go selling them, that wouldn't be cool.

Hope you're all having a just-right day.

Before, After, a Squirrel, and lots of Parentheses

I've been meaning to give this very old bunny a make-over for awhile now. You can't tell too much from this before picture, but he's got some water damage. Plus, I'm tired of brown. So I popped out his wee little eyes (which I was happily surprised to discover were glass), gave him a couple of coats of paint as a primer (that old paper pulp really sucks up paint), and gave him a new bright yellow outfit. (Told you I craved yellow this time of year.)

 Here he is meeting Chameleon and Hedgehog (both of which are my son's doings) -

And here's a little friend that seems to like to watch me work in the studio. (Until my dog, Tuzy the Wonderfluff,  inevitably discovers him and triumphantly chases him off.)

Looking for Spring

Today is gray once again, so I went around The Cart this morning looking for Spring. I always crave yellow this time of year. It's funny, I couldn't stand the color when we lived in sunny Florida.

And a peek at this morning's table-

And a peek and something else I've been working on to be revealed later-

○ ○ ○

Hope you're all having 

a more-than-gray day.

Rag Dolls and Monkeyshine

I've got rag dolls on the brain. Despite their unfortunately clown-like resemblance, I've always loved Raggedy Ann and Andy. Our latest tiny Raggedy has been tromping around The Cart today in her stripy stockings, winning over the hearts of the other studio inhabitants, except for a certain Red Riding Hood who is always slow to warm up to strangers.

This particular Raggedy actually already belongs 

to her very own brown-eyed guardian angel. . .

. . .but I'm making more to share.

And speaking of sharing, here's a bunch more raggedy-esque goodness. . .

PDF - Knitted Sock ... SherriCrochets $4.00	Vintage Raggedy Ann EclecticAvenuV... $14.99	OH, TO LIVE ON SUGA... 3crows $15.00	Love Socks paintingmaniac $150.00
Red Foxen abigailbrown $137.00	Circus Monkey with ... PearsonMaron $13.00	All Grown Up Ragged... hoddleypoddley $18.00	Marty the Sock Monk... alittleindie $30.00
Sock Monkey Wrist W... SheepishKnitCr... $23.00	Print Doll in a Blu... ChasingtheCray... $17.00	Handmade Plush Bear... ClareBears $32.00	36 Raggedy Ann And ... embroiderygirl $12.00
Sock Creature Andy beezmiller $35.00	sock monkey friends... floodplainstud... $8.50	mr. peanut cup ricracandbutto... $9.00	Red Mini Sock Monke... Squigglymonkey... $20.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Back and Front

It's Spring break on The Cart and College Girl has been home! It's such a nice surprise because we didn't think we'd get to see her until this Summer. It's been so much fun getting to sit with her chatting away while we both work on our arty endeavors. I'm a very lucky mom!

I finished another paper doll last night. 

I felt like doing something sunny and bright 

to combat the last weeks of Winter's gray.

Has Spring begun springing 

in your neck of the woods?

New Stuff!

Hooray for bunny ears!

Just added 4 more bunny ears to our collection.

Rainy Day Rabbits-

here    and    here

Added a bug too-

And a little owl-

Aren't his wee little feet cute? 

Not as cute as bunny ears though. 

Erin Go Bragh

○ ○ ○

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

○ ○ ○

Dylan's Latest Silliness

Four Long Ears

Rainy-day bunnies in progress.

Which is appropriate because there is in fact a rainy day in progress.

Blind Lines

Blind contour drawing involves drawing a shape with one continuous line. As the name implies, when you do a blind contour drawing you draw without looking at your paper. No peeking! Instead, you always keep your eye on the object you are drawing. Go slowly. As your eye moves around the object, you draw a line to follow your eye. It's a really good practice for getting in the right mindset to "see" what you're drawing. I did lots of these in my own arty school days, and now my own College Girl is doing them. So cool!

I love the funny-interesting-line-quality quirkiness of them!

Just Playing

Playing with perspective. 

And my toys.

And Photoshop.

Yummy!

Just had to share this darling quilt block made by Kirsty from Pompom Rouge-

Isn't it sweet? She used one of our line-drawings packets and went to town with all sorts of stitchy goodness!  She's planning on making a whole quilt worth of cuteness. I love it when people send me pictures of things they've made using our patterns or tutorials.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Today's Table

It's looking pretty Springtimey around here.

It's a lovely cure for the grayness of Winter daze.

I like to listen to podcasts and books on tape while I do my arty thing. I like this because my hands and eyes are always too busy for actual turn-the-pages books. Amongst many available free on iTunes, my favorite podcasts include How Stuff Works, This American Life, The Moth, and Shouts From the Lawn. Audiobook-wise, I get on author kicks, reading (or rather listening to) everything I can find (for free on-line). Lately I've exhausted my library's on-line collections of Alice Sebold, Alice Hoffman, and Alice in Wonderland. Looking for a new kick, I tried listening to a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's writings today, but very quickly realized the words were too rich to be digested by my ears alone. Some things you just gotta read.

Any of you listen to audiobooks or podcasts? 

Any suggestions for new obsessions?

A New Toy

I got a new camera for my birthday recently! Actually, I got a gift card which I used on a new camera. The one I picked wasn't in stock, so Dylan just went to pick it up yesterday. It's a little Nikon CoolPix L110. Today it came out of its box! I haven't read the manual yet, but I couldn't wait to take it for a test drive. Our old digital camera is 8 years old, which is apparently like 80 in tech-years. It had to be set up on a tripod for all but the brightest outdoor scenarios. I wanted to see how this new one did under hand-held-crappy-light circumstances (as is the regular day-to-day state of things).  

So I snapped a bunch of random pics around The Cart. . .

They're not great yet, but already so much easier than our last dinosaur of a camera.

Yay for new toys!

Mean Ole Dylan

 I'm married to a very silly man, with a wicked sense of humor. Lest there be any doubt, allow me to demonstrate. . .

So, I've been using this adorable house by Amy Blackwell as my desktop wallpaper. Isn't it sweet? It's my little dream house.

Well, for the past few days I've been waking up

to one disaster after another. . .

I rest my case.