Advent Calendars

I'm sorry that I've been absent from my blog these last 3 weeks! All I've been doing is working on ten new advent calendars.  I just couldn't see that getting on just to tell you that that's all I've been doing would be very inspiring!  I thought I'd finally get back to you today to report that they are here.  When they're finished, they actually feel like they're worth all the effort, but making 10 in a row, assembly-line style doesn't show results till the very end--it was hard to not get bored and stay inspired. (Click on the photo for a closer-up view.)

If you're interested in buying one, please see my Etsy shop!  Believe me, they are even better in person. :)

As an artist, I'm already thinking Christmas!  It is a strange thing to prepare for such a thing in October.

My "Other" Life

You know I love being at my art table.  Love it.  Period.  And yet, my "other life" (like "the other woman") takes over sometimes.  I found myself having to look at my archives for something to post today, because it feels like it has been ages since I've made something significant enough to show you.  These are cards I made recently, but still, nothing this week.  Sigh!

The card above was made for a dear colleague on occasion of her retirement, and I have to say, it's one of my favorites of all the let's-combine-scraps-in the-right-order-to-make-something-aesthetically-pleasing cards I've made in this Denise Schmidt fashion.

 

I particularly like that I elaborated on the theme for this birthday card for my step-mom in the message I wrote inside.  Things like, "You deserve to stop that negative self-talk," "You deserve to eat an entire bowl of strawberries," and "You deserve to have kindness in your life."  

And this was a variation on a theme from the bat card I showed you a couple weeks ago.  It is more vibrant and contrasting when you look at it in person, but at least this photo gives you an idea of it.

My friend Brittany emailed me saying that Advent Calendars are "hot" this year.  That's what I've been working on in my limited art time these days, especially as the one I've got on Etsy has received hundreds of hits (people looking but not buying).  I definitely need to post more on there.

A small celebration: I sold the giraffe bike band to a stranger on Etsy last week!!!  Special thanks my new Sunnyvale, CA customer!

A Long Time Coming

You may remember this excellent creature I made about a year and a half ago?

(Click here to return to the post about it, and to see the hilarious video we made!)

Well, it turned out to cost hundreds of dollars to ship abroad, so we saved it for the day that my niece would someday visit us here.  Well last week we presented it to her (she is now 4½) on day 1 of her visit, and she was delighted!  At first, she named it Helinka, and all of us shook our heads at where she came up with that name.  But a couple of days later, she declared it had a new name.  No idea how one would spell it in Spanish, but in English, here's my best attempt: Juvia.  Turns out Juvia is the name of a horse in a very popular horse story  at home (I suspect similar to Black Beauty here). Here is the very satisfied customer, riding Juvia with her best friend Teddy.

Inspired by the pillow I made a couple posts ago, here is another one, made with the leftovers from that one, and gray scraps from our newly-fabric-covered closet doors (in our bedroom). 

Today, I've otherwise been working on business stuff (possibly getting a marketing/PR intern in January??) and assembly line production.

A Thank You Gift

As a thank you to the folks who participated in my 100th blog Etsy activity, I made these fun miniature collages and turned them into wall-hangings.  

What I liked the best is that they were all created (as is my style) from one larger collage, then cut up and embellished.  But this time with small collage things.  Each overall piece measures about 4½" square, so the collages are only about 2½" square.  In total I made twelve but the 12th one didn't get photographed.

This butterfly one was one of my very faves, so I thought I'd give you a chance to see it close up.  Remember to click on any image for a closer view (right-clicking and opening in a new tab helps to not navigate away from my site).

More Things

Since I outgrew trick-or-treating, I haven't been a great fan of Halloween.  Scary things, hype, kids eating too much sugar, and the thought of older kids stealing little kids' candy have kind of rubbed the thrill away for me. However, other people LOVE Halloween, and The Eyes Have It is asking for more cards (yay!), and 'tis the season, I guess, for Halloween things.  So I miraculously got inspired today during an art date by this textured purple paper, and it reminded me of my favorite Halloween costume I had as a kid: a bat.  My mom made the costume.  I was so cute.  And so, I made this pretty cool two-tone card.

Another recent arting adventure has been with more of the watercolor-painted paper bags.  I made these lovely leaves, and think they are beautiful!

My cousin had a birthday this week, so I secretly sent her this creation I made from some brightly-colored scraps.  I am inspired by this project to try making an apron like the white ones on my Etsy, but with black instead of white.

Here it is in her house, and miraculously, it was meant to be together with that neat bird tray she has...