The Viridian Muse -Naturally Inspired

Today's featured blog: Bone-Needle Arts and Crafts

2012-02-10T20:59:00.002-05:00

Today's blog is Bone-Needle Arts and Crafts. Do not let the art behind the blog fool you or make you move on! This blog is full of amazing arts and crafts based on antiquity! Her embroidery is swoon worthy, and so wonderful. I love the patch in this post! Her atcs mostly sit within the historical or ancient arts. I love the renaissance fashion atcs in this post! You really need to stop by and check her out.

Today's featured blog CRAFTING WITH BLUE

2012-02-09T22:37:00.003-05:00

Rhonda @ Crafting with Blue This lovely little blog is full of wonderous paper crafts and scrapbook layouts. She's got an eye for layouts that aren't overly fussy or busy, with just the right amount of color and design. I love the current Valentine card she's got posted along with the link to where she found the pattern for the cute little card. Check out the ASL I love you sign card she did! I LOVE IT! She's also got a yardsellr account where you can find some really fun things! Check it out! Take a minute and check out her lovely blog!

Barely hanging on....

2012-02-06T23:42:00.003-05:00

I've been away from creating for far too long. The last few fairies I did have been packaged and sent without so much as a photo taken of them. That's not like me at all, but finding time to do such things with a near 2 year old running around the house making messes, and fitting in my actual job, and then fitting in even more of my actual job once he goes to bed is a bit of an impossibility.

I've been finding time to do small things, quick on the dawn things. I wanted to have a lot of Valentine things to offer in my shops this year. All I have so far is this:
My little lovey whale. I've got four more square pieces like this penciled in, but haven't had a chance to sit and add color of any kind.

Custom Rainbow Fairy

2011-09-26T01:58:00.001-04:00

Custom Rainbow Fairy, a photo by Chel Morning on Flickr.

My latest custom fairy. People are gearing up for Christmas and starting to place orders for gifts now. I'm so excited. I'll be making a large batch to take to the gallery soon. I know they're probably out. I haven't taken any in since Val was about 3 months old. I was hoping to be able to get more time in to do them, but he was not much of a scheduled sleeper and wanted to learn too many things to sleep longer than half an hour at a time. I can barely pull out my art supplies in that time let alone make fairies. It'll be nice to get back into selling at the gallery. Val's on a nice sleeping schedule which frees up time for me to work during the day and that allows for me to do some much needed crafting time at night! YAY! My brain has been in need of some creative outlet for awhile.

In Process

2011-06-10T23:30:00.003-04:00

I'm in fairy mode again. Something's in the air and the fairies are appearing left and right. This one will shortly be up for grabs in my shop for personalization. I think she's turning out ultra cute! She's got a lotus style crown (don't know where that came from, it just appeared) and an adorable face. She''l be holding a sign, and the grass will be colored in. I just couldn't wait to share her though!

I think I'll be starting some watercolor fairies soon too. Watercolor is a lot easier to pick up and put down while chasing an adventurous little boy. Those are the kinds of things I need right now. I need a bit of creativity. I'm starting to feel lost and aimless. The sewing machine has been calling me for about three months now. Unfortunately it's buried in the craft explosion in my craft room. It's so far buried that I can only see a peek of it behind some canvases and other crafting debris. Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to start digging out. I need to get started on stock for the Art and Things Nice event in the end of October. That's not too far off in terms of crafting time.

I've got to spend some time in the coming week updating photos of all my ACEO pieces. I've got images of them but I mistakenly thought putting them on a beautiful cabled knit was a good idea. Not so much! They washed out the images and colors or just made them all look sad and depressing. I want the vibrancy to show through and really pop! So I'll be spending time resetting the photos and taking much better images so I can post and sell them.

My new custom fairy names

2011-05-29T01:28:00.005-04:00

Here's the new design idea for the custom fairy names. I think they're really nice! I liked the old style with the block lettering, but think this is ultra cute. It also affords me the ability to make a piece of art to sell and then customize at the customers request. I can build up stock and not have to worry about people not buying because they're unsure of how the fairy will look when completed. These two will be off to their new homes on Tuesday.This one is one of the open custom pieces. It's the first one I've made with the sign blank and will be the very first listed on artfire or etsy.
We'll be heading out to Charlotte in the coming week and I hope to have a chance to take some paper to work on more. I'm still working on a boys version of this idea. Haven't quite nailed it down yet. I'd better get to work! I feel bad not having an outlet for boy names (especially having a boy myself)

I'd love to hear ideas on what kind of art you'd like to see next! I love taking suggestions and seeing what happens when I put pencil to paper! It starts getting the creative juices flowing and I usually end up with four or five pieces based on the original idea. Leave me a comment and tell me what YOU'D like to see!

New fairies going to be listed

2011-05-25T18:27:00.005-04:00

I've had a few new fairies for awhile now, but just haven't had time to list them on the websites. I've got a box of about 30 that just need dressed out and finished, but I just haven't had time. We're still digging out from under the estate stuff from my mother-in- law's passing and when I'm not on baby duty, or doing my actual money making job, I'm doing packing and clean up.

So without any further whimping and whining on my part.... here are the fairies.This is Amelia,
AudreyTrulie,

I've got a few more, but don't have good shots of them. I've got to get my last two fairy names scanned and send off. Then I'll be all caught up. I've been itching to do a good amigurumi (crocheted toy) project. I was going to dolls for all my girl nieces for Easter, but missed that deadline. I think I might post some questions to the Viridian Muse Designs Facebook page and see what people are looking for in Ami. I'd love to try something new and interesting.

So slow in getting new art out there.

2011-05-19T00:48:00.003-04:00

So here's my latest pieces...not very exciting, but it's a start. Little atc size Kawaii Little Red and Big Bad....

I've been working on more fairy names as of late. I haven't got new images yet, but they'll be coming shortly. I've changed up the format a bit and will offer both options in my shops. The one I'm currently doing will be a bit easier to sell I think. I'm starting with the fairy image, and then leaving a sign blank that I can fill with the requested name. This way, the person knows the fairy they are getting and won't have to worry about getting a fairy they might not like as well. I think this will be a lot better in shows rather than just taking special orders. Then I can pop the name in right on the spot and just have a back up of fairies to choose from. I think I'll look for a nice flip book to store them all. They'll be protected and people can flip through them to choose. I'm looking for a few new shows to do this fall and winter. I've only done one show regularly in the past, and need to start broadening it out a bit. I'm going to do a few word fairies with words like "Love" "Peace" "Courage" but I'm not sure if they'll be a good seller or not. I really need to get more of my artwork selling. Granted I don't have a lot of free time currently to do a lot of custom orders, but I need to start doing more art. I feel so disconnected if I'm not doing some kind of art project at least once a week.

Val's starting to "draw" it's ADORABLE. Though he's more interested in eating the crayons rather than drawing with them. He's made a few "pictures" that we're sending off to people. Daddy got the first crayon piece. Grandma got the second finger painting piece. The finger painting doesn't go quite as well as the coloring does. He just wants to eat the paint, not paint with it. I'm looking forward to the days of art projects and the never empty box of creative recycled bits to play with! Patrick will think I'm nuts, and call me "Eliza" (inside joke) but I don't care. Some of my best memories are of doing art projects at home with non-artsy materials. My mom was queen of the crafty art projects.

Well it's late and I should really be in bed. Been burning the candle at both ends a bit too much lately. Thankfully it hasn't yet reared it's ugly head in sickness yet...so I'd best watch it! New art to follow this weekend.

A new multi media piece.

2011-04-04T21:39:00.001-04:00

I might have posted this already, but I'm not sure. I did this for a swap awhile ago. I've been working on some ideas for some cute whimsical paintings, and a few more realistic paintings. Val needs some new art in his room and I figured why not paint it myself, though I've been spying on some pieces I might have to get in the future!

This peacock turned out better than I thought it would, but not quite as good as i had hoped. I should have done it all in watercolor, but ended up adding some sharpie to it to give a bit of detail. I love peacock colors. So in the next few weeks I'll be putting together some cute whimsical animal paintings. I'll decide if I want to keep them or perhaps offer them up to the gallery. I wonder if they'll want my sort of kiddie whimsy style art? I never really asked when I've offered up other things if they'd be interested in them or not.

I also have a few more fairie names to work on. I'll be uploading more pictures of names as soon as I complete them. I've got a Madison and a Christianna to do. I missed taking pictures of the Alayna fairy.

More art completed.

2011-02-01T13:56:00.005-05:00

I've been really loving watercolors these days. I never thought I'd be able to say that so many years ago. I've had very little time to do much art, but what I have done has been in fits and starts. I really need to fit in a bit more time. I feel so much better when I've done some art for the day. It really clears my mind.

This project was called the "Magical/Miracle Hand" we had do draw a hand and decorate it and then send it as a postcard. I was inspired to trace my own hand and Val's to celebrate what my hands do as a mother. I was just going to decorate his and mine in blue and pink, but once I got his little hand decorated, I was inspired to write a message to him. I really should have copied it down though I think I can read most of it in the high resolution photo. I love the way it turned out, and I think I'm going to do this for his first birthday invites. Do another with his changed hand size. I think for the next six months, I'll be tracing our hands together so we can see how much it changes in size until he turns one.

I've got a lot of trading card projects in the works and a few handmade postcards too.

I've been missing again!

2011-01-29T00:13:00.006-05:00

Boy! I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted last. We've been spending so much time watching Val hit baby milestones that I've been remiss in keeping my creative life updated. I've been doing a few small swaps here and there in the hopes of keeping my mailbox at least somewhat happy. I get so sick of seeing bills and junk mail.

Unfortunately with work and baby life, my creative life is almost nil. I still squeeze in a bit here and there by staying up waaaaay too late into the wee hours of morning. I seem to be doing that at the moment now. I should be in bed rather than doing an update, but if I don't do this know, come tomorrow i"ll forget all about it.

So here are a few of the things I've done in the past month swap wise.
My Barn Owl watercolor atc. I love the way this turned out. I had the intention of leaving the background completely white, but instead decided to put the green in. I think it really makes the owl pop.
This is a book mark with a crow and poppies. Also in watercolor. You know for a gal who HATED watercolor ooo so many years ago..it really seems to be my go to paint these days. I think I'm getting more used to manipulating it to my desire. I was so used to using pencil or marker that water color was just too loose and unpredictable for me. I couldn't control it enough to ease me "perfection of detail" obsession. I really like it now though.

I've got more in the wings, stay tuned for another burst of project photos. I'm getting too sleepy to stay up much longer and need to clean up the craft/art bomb that has exploded all over my kitchen table.

O

2011-01-29T00:13:00.001-05:00

More custom fairy names almost complete.

2010-12-22T13:59:00.002-05:00

I've been back to work now for a little over a month. It's put a bit of damper on my creative mojo. I seem to be finding little snippets of time to slide in a bit here and there, but not anything link the time I'd like to be spending. Now with the holidays fast approaching, my spare time, what little I have, has dwindled down to almost nothing. Not that I haven't been trying to find time to make some art in some form or shape.

I spent most of last weekend doing cookies for a cookie exchange. I wanted to plan one for my family this year, but didn't have the where-with-all to get it under way. However I stumbled upon one someone else was hosting. Now I've got 7 or 8 dozen cookies, and only had to bake one kind, instead of the 8 different kinds. That's nice! I have other things I want to make, but don't know if I'll find the time to get them completed. I made butterscotch cheesecake bars for the cookie exchange. I didn't do them with nuts as a few of the people I was exchanging with had nut allergies in their household. So I plan to make an extra batch of them with cashews .. mmmmmm

I'll be posting a few of the last custom fairy ornament orders that went out in the next day or so. I loved the way they turned out and can't wait to have some time to make more. I've got a bunch of things to list on etsy and artfire, but I need to get some sort of prelisting file or something to get everything ready and then just drop and paste things into the upload boxes.

I'm hoping to start selling more of the custom fairy names too. I just ADORE doing them, they're so fun. I think for Valentine's day I'll be making a few special Love ones to post and sell.

Custom Fairy orders

2010-12-12T21:01:00.007-05:00

I've been working on custom fairies like crazy these last couple of weeks. Here are a few of the ones that have gone out. Lots of pink and purple this year. I usually do a lot of different colors, but this year seems to be mostly pink and purple...and straight pink and purple...not a mix of colors. I really like how these all turned out though.
This one needed red hair. So instead of doing the typical "red" hair red..I did a lovely shocker red and russet color. It turned out LOVELY. I usually have a standard red for red-heads, but I'm really glad I mixed it up this time.

This one was all pink. I needed a bit of a break up of the color though so put on lovely crystal green shoes and some green bows in her hair. She's a pin. Not the standard ornament. I need to get the other pins I have completed listed. They're just sitting here waiting for pictures and editing.
This one was requested to look like a fairy I had made before. She liked it so well she was hoping I could recreate it almost exactly. I got pretty close. The only difference was the hair (it's impossible to do the hair exactly the same anyway) because she wanted two buns, and the color of the star on the ring on the original was purple. The other thing I did was put an overlay of pink over the melon colored shirt. It looks like a little raglan t-shirt with different colored sleeves. Other than those three differences it's pretty much the same.

I missed taking photos of a few of the others that have gone out, and have two that still need photos taken before they're shipped off.

I LOVE doing custom fairies for people. It's fun to make something special for someone. Now I'm off to do some work on the last few Custom fairy names I need to finish so I can get them out this week.

Black and White Zentangles

2010-12-10T23:29:00.005-05:00

I've been working on Zentangles again. I love these because they're very easy for me to tote around and work on in little bits and pieces. These are a few pieces I've done for a swap recently and I found them a bit hard to pass on. I love henna/mehndi designs and was inspired by them for some of the art in these pieces.

This piece here reminds me a little bit of lace. Well the top design does, but not necessarily the rest of it. I love to do these sorts of images and then do washes of watercolor over the top. It adds that little bit of extra pop to it. I've also done things like this in the past where I've then added blended sharpie over the top. I'll have to dig through my past art files and see if I can find any of those older pieces. A lot of those are from about 14 or so years ago and I don't know if I was scanning things at the time or not.

I think this piece is a little too higgelty piggilty. Too much going on and not enough contrasting design work. It just doesn't seem to flow as well as the other pieces. I think my next attempt will be to do a larger zen piece and then dice it into atc size, or even 2x2 squares. I'll have to see how to work it out and exactly what I want. Atcs would be ideal.
I

I loved the way this one turned out. I started with the little round in the corner and was going to work it outward in shapes, but liked the round effect so just continued on with it. It reminds me of the medallions around light fixtures on ceilings, or a fancy carved wall hangings.

For the rest of the weekend I'll be working to finish up a few more custom fairy names, and a few custom fairy orders. I'm amazed at how quickly Christmas is sneaking up on me. I guess that's what happens when you go back to work. Time flies and you seem to get less and less done.

Keep watching! I'll be posting a few of the newest custom fairy ornaments and pins I've done this past few weeks. I'll also be loading a lot of new fairies in my artfire shops.

Time Flies!

2010-12-08T23:40:00.005-05:00

Well here it is, nearly midnight again. I've been back to work now for a few weeks. Needless to say, I've got to get better at the juggling act. I once had it down, little snippets of time here and there to really make a dent in art/crafting. Now, not so much. The sad thing is I really need the creative time. My head is so much clearer after a good creative dumping of my brain. Even if it's just five minutes of mindless sketching, I feel better.

Tomorrow it's off to work in the later afternoon. I've never been one for working at night. Night is when I really come alive and want to create. If I were sleeping like a "non-mom" I'd have no problem running myself until around 3 and popping into bed for a few hours to awake and go about my day. Now I pop myself in and out of bed at two to three hour intervals as my son reverse cycles since I'm back to work.

I do have a bunch of crafty images to upload of new things and the custom fairies I've done this past week, but I need to edit the images and all that happy stuff, so instead I leave you with a few random images from my trip to our local lake this past year.

New Art

2010-11-24T00:42:00.008-05:00

YAY! I've gotten more art done in the last couple days that I have in a long time! I'm so excited. It's nice to be on the other end of the busy train for once and being able to tune in to my creative muse is helping to clear my head. I actually think I'm becoming more inspired as I get back into the art thing. Art therapy is GOOD!
So here are things that I worked on this week. Just think, I'll be pulling out the paints soon!
I am doing a swap and needed five post cards and based on the profiles these are four of the five that I have tailored to their specific "likes". Two of the swappers love recycled paper, or interesting papers. Anyone who knows me knows that I do know usually do "collage" or "scrapping" type artwork. I love the results people get with it, but it just doesn't jive with my brain. So these two cards are what I came up with from my box of random paper "junque".

then I broke out my favorite sharpies and went to town. One girl likes crows, and I've done a lot of crow art in the past. I dreamed this idea last night and just had to see how it would turn out. I kind of like the results. I didn't do it exactly how I had dreamed it, but I was just doing a trial run to see if I liked the end product. I think I'll be trying it with other things.

and the last of my entries for tonight as it's really late and I promised myself I was going to be in bed early tonight **snicker** Another sharpie piece. This based on the fact that the person liked blues and greens. I'm always happy slapping a lot of sharpie onto a nice slice of vellum bristol! It's like a runners high. Well ok, the fumes might have something to do with that, but I don't even notice them anymore. I've been working with sharpies for far too long. So here's the piece, it's a little bit nature a little bit abstract.

I guess being completely sleep deprived over the last few day's might be a good thing. I think it's forced my brain to think outside of the box. I took on the challenge of writing a techniques feature on the Passion for Painting Guild Blog. That's going to force me to try things I wouldn't have otherwise done. I'm kind of excited about it all!

So, for now, I turn in for the night. I'm hoping to get a really nice night's sleep...though I might have to wait until Thursday for that. I'm thinking tomorrow just might be a good day for a late afternoon nap while Val's down for his nap. NIGHT ALL!

Creations from the week

2010-11-20T00:35:00.007-05:00

Here are some things I've done this week!

Zentangle-esque bookmark. This was the first I made, then lost, then found again. I did a second to replace the first one but as always, the first one was nicest.
Well I guess looking at them both close together... they're both nice in their own way. The first one I did based around a henna design idea. I love mehndi, it's such a gorgeous artform. I've done a few images in my own mehndi style. I'm getting a bit better each time I do it.. I'd love to atually try doing it with real henna sometime, but that's a whole other beast. For now I'll stick to my sharpies.

Speaking of my Sharpie addiction: Here's a sharpie piece I did yesterday.

I did this piece intending to send it off for a swap that's due in December. I decided instead to send it to my friend's mother-in-law. She's battling cancer for the second time and going through chemotherapy again. I figured something so bright and cheery just might make her day.

Then I've been getting back into atcs again! HELLO atcs! It's been so long my friends. I was in a totoro swap and did a little white totoro atc. That's the other piece of art that disappeared a few days ago and I had to make a replacement for. So this is my replacement piece:
He turned out pretty cute I think. My other one was a bit better if I remember correctly, but i could be totally wrong.

YAY! Now all I have to do is break out the paints for the painting guild and I'll be on a roooooolllllll!

I'm running a SALE!!

2010-11-18T09:15:00.003-05:00

Well Black Friday and Cyber Monday quickly approaches. I thought I'd take the time this year to offer a coupon and have some fun! Here's your chance to save on those fairy names and custom fairy ornaments! You have until the end of the month (if you're within the United States) to order your fairy names to have them in time for Christmas. Don't miss your chance for fantastic savings on original personalized art!

Visit ViridianMuse's Studio

SAVE 15.00 % On
All Items

Use Coupon Code:

FAIRYGOOD

during checkout.

Handmade Christmas

Custom fairy Special Order 1 down 5 more to go

2010-11-16T23:59:00.006-05:00

I finished my first custom fairy order from last weekend today. It turned out really cute. I really love doing these, and these next few are particularly special. I'm modeling them after the girls they're going to! How fun is that?

So this is my first of the six that were ordered. I don't normally do colored eyes, but figured I'd try them out for this one. I'm letting her mom decide if she wants to keep them green, or make them black like most of my fairies eyes usually are.

She's got the most gorgeous red hair and I'm hoping I've done well in capturing the beauty of it in all it's fiery red auburn gloriousness. Most of the time when I do red headed fairies, they're cartoon-y red and funky. I like it that way, don't get me wrong, I think it's fitting with the whimsical style of my art. This one is an attempt to make it a bit more "real"

She's also got silver lined shoes! That's new in my fairies. I don't know what possessed me to give her silver soles, but I did it. I'm now thinking over the multi-colored names I've been doing and wondering if I should just start making the names in all one color, or just straight black so they really stand out. I think the multi-color is fun, but it tends to not POP off the page like I'd like. While the fairies are the central art, the name is what makes it special. I think I'll pose this question to my fb page and see what the consensus is on which people would prefer.

Finally some creation time!

2010-11-15T13:15:00.006-05:00

Things are starting to hit a predictable ebb and flow here. Valor still has his days ( like today) where napping seems almost non-existent and I'd been up most of the night with him. Days like today are when the art time comes in and soothes the stress or anxiousness.
Thankfully I've got a lot of custom fairies to work on. I'm hoping once I get them all colored in, the pencil sketches are already done, I'll be able to draw some more sales from the 6 I just had. More variety in names, and coloring I think will help.
Here are the pencil sketches, granted they're really light. They turned out really cute! The fun thing is, of the 6 images, 4 are modeled slightly after darling little girls. The hair styles and skin coloring, once colored in, will be a perfect match. I also like customizing the colors to match the girls favorite colors.
Here's a few close up shots of them:

VALOR ARRIVES!

2010-08-09T23:42:00.003-04:00

We've been awaiting our little man for many months. My pregnancy was a beautiful experience! Other than having extra testing and monitoring due to an existing health condition I truly had a wonderful, problem free pregnancy. It was a true joy, from the very beginning when we found out to the very end of it all. I did 12 hours of labor after being induced and ended up not making any progress which resulted in a c-section. It wasn't the way I wanted things to go, but apparently nature had other plans. It was exhausting, thrilling, and at some moments disgusting (I ended up vomiting about 5 times, including once on the O.R. table NOT FUN) The end result was well worth it all!

Baby belly and the gals!

2010-06-23T19:53:00.002-04:00

Here's a picture of me, my mother and sisters and sisters-in-law.

The Artist's Continuum Chunky Book Project

2010-06-23T18:17:00.002-04:00

The artist trading card group I hostess is starting out a year+ adventure into Chunky Books. We tried to do a small book with just a few members involved and it turned out so tiny it should be called a thin book. We had a good time doing it, but it was a bit disappointing when the end result is only 4 pages long. So we've decided to do a continuous chunky book. We're doing a round cd shaped book that we're going to continue to add to over the year. We're picking a color every couple of months and then have a month to get our pages done and put together. The first time we're getting together to punch the pages and start out the book is in November. This is mainly due to the fact that the baby is due next month and I want to be sure I have plenty of time to get into a routine with him before I start crafting regularly again. I'm very excited about this new creative venture and hope it turns into a great project and group.

I'm still working on finishing things for the gallery before the upcoming birth too. They've been minus my work for so long that I hope I haven't lost my place. Things around here have been incredibly crazy and insane, but I'm trying to bulk up on lots of wares so that they don't run out right away.

FInally back on the creative trail!

2010-05-30T09:51:00.005-04:00

Well it's happened finally. I finally felt up to doing some creative work on fairies and getting stuff ready for the gallery. It's been so long since I've felt like doing anything. Since November when my mother-in-law passed away I've been feeling a bit dark and heavy and creative things, while part of my daily life, only kept me occupied for minutes at a time.

Now I'm back to working on fairy ornaments and getting them ready for the gallery. With this big batch I did in the last couple of days I just might have enough to keep some for the online venues and I can refresh my stores finally! The fairies are still a work in progress but at least I'm doing something constructive finally! It sure feels good. After this I have to tackle my sweater animals. I've got a stack of fulled sweaters just awaiting a bit of personality and then they too can head off to the gallery! They sold out of my last batch in a few weeks and have been wanting more for awhile.

New Fairy Name Art..

2010-05-05T18:39:00.006-04:00

YAY! I've got new name art in the works. These are turning out so adorable. I cannot wait to work on more and come up with some boy themed art as well. Here are the two names completed last week. I've got about three more in the works and will be posting them as well. I feel the single fairy is much more adorable than the older versions I'd done with simple block lettering and a scattering of fairies. These just seem to have so much more personality! I can't wait to have people request more so that I can get to work on them. I'm hoping some people will go crazy and get ones with funky colored hair not just your standard blond, brunette or redhead.

These were made for a set of twins. What fun! I can just imagine them in their room.

The Art Every Day Month Challenge

2009-11-05T23:54:00.005-05:00

I decided to participate in the Art Every Day Month challenge from Leah @ Creative Every Day While I've been creavtive a little bit each day, it's only been a little wee bit. Since my mother in law has been in the hospital it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I don't even know which end is up currently. I work all day, go to the hospital afterwork, and come home to cook dinner at about 7:00. It's been tough, but to keep myself a wee bit of sane, I need to create. I need to create daily anyway, but the stressful, awful times are when I need it most.

Yesterday I completed a little octopus amigurumi to send off to a swap partner. I'd already sent off what should have been the complete swap of two amigurumi ornaments, but for some reason my little ami bird flew the coop! I found her days afterward on my desk...long after the package had left my hands and started the trip to Mexico. So I figured I'd get her packed up and sent off, but she needed a traveling companion to keep her company and make sure she stays in the envelope this time! So, of course an octopus came to mind! What other creature could hold a little bird in place, one with 8 legs should be able to do it! Here's the octopus:

This is Ollie...at least that's the name I've given him...his new owner might have a different name for him though :)

Today, November 6th, is when I'm going to buckle down and really start posting about my jaunts through Art Everyday Month. I really look forward to making a dent in some creative time, and getting my creative things back in order. Can I consider "creating an organized crafting space" part of Art Every Day Month?

The Artisan View - Avalon_Studios on Artfire

2009-10-17T21:44:00.007-04:00

Today's interview is with Athena of Avalon_Studios! In Avalon_Studios, you'll find all kinds of wonderous jewelry. From natural stone, to metal charms I'm sure you'll find something that tickles your fancy! I'm personally quite taken with these fun rock and roll earrings!

So without further ado, here's Athena!

Name: Athena

Location: New York

Artfire Link: http://www.artfire.com/users/avalon_studios

Blog Link: http://avalonny.blogspot.com

What got your started in your craft? I started out making gifts for friends and family when I couldn't afford to go and buy presents for birthdays and holidays. It eventually turned into a year round hobby.

Where do you find your greatest inspiration or sparks that creative muse? So many things. My kids are probably the best inspiration. I also take inspiration from nature or art that I've seen.

Are you Formally Taught, or self-trained? I'm self-taught. I learned almost everything through trial and error and hours upon hours of reading.

Any advice you would like to share with other artists? Do what you love no matter what you think others may think of it. If you aren't doing something you totally love you'll never be happy with the end result.

What''s some weird, fun, random fact about you? I'm a huge nerd. I like role-playing games and the latest technology (when I can afford it LOL)

What is your studio/creative space like? I recently marked out my own little work area in my living room. It's a tall bar-like area held up with shelves. You can see pictures of my room make over on my blog.

Do you have a favorite piece of art you created? I think my favorite piece so far has been my Medallion Pendant. Using the natural materials and blending them together was fun and it was interesting to see how they fit so well together.

Something New is coming!

2009-10-17T18:56:00.003-04:00

Greetings all! I've been so inspired by all my creative friends online that I've decided to do some Artisan Interviews on my blog here. Every other day, I'll be highlighting my favorite Artisans from all over!

I feel this will be a great place to get to know some of those artisans who have inspired me, become close friends, and who's items I just go loopy over. There's going to be lots of eye candy to ooo and ahhh over! So prepare to be wowed!

"The Artisan View" Will be starting here in a few minutes. If you are a shop owner and would like to be part of my Artisan Spotlight, drop me a line! Once I receive your answers you'll be put into the queue for the blog postings. Along with this posting will be a twitter, facebook and plurk announcement. Hopefully it'll bring your shop some extra exposure, and business.

New Ideas and less time to create.

2009-10-03T11:33:00.005-04:00

Greetings all! It's been so long since I posted i figured I'd best take some time to pop in and revive this little spot of creativity. I've been under a lot of overwhelming time constraints lately dealing with an injured family member and trying to keep up with everything else I normally do. Art and my close friends have been my link to sanity. I've been trying to prep for an art show at the end of October and that is starting to weigh heavily on my mind. I've got a few things in the works, but just don't know how I'm going to have enough time to get enough product done. Three things a night (if that) over a 30 day period does not an art show stock up make.

I'm trying my darnedest though. I've spent the last few days searching for things to turn into pin cushions. Here is the resulting first trials of this venture.

I'm not really sure if I'm going to carry on with the clear ones. I'm not sure I like the way they turn out. My friend however like it more than the others. I did five more last night, and will be posting pictures of those later. I've got a huge batch of fairies in the works, but I've got to split them between the show, the gallery and my artfire/etsy shops. I might just split them between the gallery and the show for now and worry about the websites later. However I fear missing a lot of good holiday shopping.

These are two postcards I did for an all pink postcard swap. It was fun working in shades of only one color. A bit of a challenge...but I think they turned out pretty neat.

Ok, it's off to do a bit of photography this morning and then get to some serious art work.

A few new ACEOs

2009-06-29T19:56:00.002-04:00

These were done for a recent swap of Things with Wings for art 42

I had also done two bird cards to go with this, but didn't think to scan them before popping them into the envelope. One was a crow piece, and one was my little bulb headed birds with long spindly legs.

Watercolor Cards

2009-06-28T01:45:00.007-04:00

Working on fall cards....breaking out the watercolor as it's been so long since I really "played" with it. These are for a swap via swap-bot. I love how they turned out, especially because i hadn't used watercolors for awhile, other than quick background washes and easy fill for aceos.

So I had to do something fall themed, without being Halloween. I LOVE the fall for the brilliant colors in the leaves and figured that would be an easy way to edge into blending colors again. I then moved from there to the purple martin migrations. This turned out kind of neat, though not exactly what I had in mind.

I then thought about the lovely gourds and pumpkins I so love during the fall. I think there's nothing more lovely than a centerpiece of freshly fallen leaves and harvest gourds. Natural and wonderful!

I figured the envelopes needed a bit of beautifying so I did some simple leave designs for the two leaf and harvest cards.

And a quick purple martin over the tree tops

Quite a satisfying artful evening. Hopefully I'll have plenty more of those to come. Now it's off to bed with me since it's now nearly 2:00 am. I've reverted back to night owl status since being on vacation. Monday is going to be HARD!

I've got myself prints now! WHOOT!!

2009-06-12T21:20:00.005-04:00

I found a place to get prints of my aceos...or my larger art on aceos without much hassle of setting up the layout myself (what can I say... I'm lazy and slightly computer illiterate) However, this place seems to be the way to go. I figure if I can make enough money from fairies in the next few months I'll be able to offer a free fairy aceo with each sale next year. :) The bad thing is I'd have to limit it to one striking image (or two as I can get double sided printing) so I'll have to really think about it. They did a great job with the things I sent them. They're photo paper prints right now, but I'm going to try the upgrade next time to a thicker stock which will make them even more "print" like. I'm still going to keep my eyes peeled for other printing venues as I'd love to find affordable printing for larger versions of my artwork.

Here are the prints I'm currently offering in my artfire and etsy shops:
"My Blue Days"

"Carmine Bee Eater Trio"

"Basking Cat"

"Gaia"

"Blue Throated Bee Eater"

Now taking custom orders for Fairy Names

2009-06-09T21:31:00.002-04:00

It's about time you say! Finally the fairy names are up in my etsy shop, and my artfire shop available for purchase! Here's just one of the ones I've done.

It's ANOTHER TREASURE HUNT!

2009-06-06T11:00:00.003-04:00

If you missed it last time, be sure to check it out this time!!

Have you ever been on a Treasure Hunt? Now is the perfect time!

A group of sellers has hidden a picture of a treasure chest in their shops. All you have to do is find the item with the picture and you can receive the special that they are offering.

Sounds simple, right?

To make it even easier, I’m going to give you the links to the shops and tell you what special they are offering.

These specials are going to run today, Saturday June 6, from 10:00 am EST to midnight.

In each shop’s announcement, you can read more about the special they have running and how it is going to work

Happy hunting!!

ViridianMuse
Find the treasure chest and get 10% off the item and free shipping!!

MNHPhotography
50% off item with Treasure Chest

VanceStudios
50% off item with Treasure Chest

SpunSisterDesigns
BOGO at 50% off (equal or lesser value)

SheDesignsJewelry
Free bracelet with purchase of item with Treasure Chest

newhopebeading
25% off item with Treasure Chest

AccessoriesbyGottJoy
30% off the item with the Treasure Chest

GottBeads
30% off the item with the Treasure Chest

KraftyLady
25% off plus free shipping on item with the Treasure Chest

Angelas_Adornments
20% off and free shipiping for the item with the Treasure Chest

I've been digging through old files....found some good stuff! :)

2009-06-04T23:46:00.004-04:00

My very first experiments with photoshop. I was realllllly green at this point (as if I'm not still a novice) but I think this was pretty cool!More photoshop play. I just loved this image of my nephew and thought it would make a great card image. This was for a blue swap as well as the x-ray floral above.

Viridian Muse is now offering Flower Fairy Photo Prints!

2009-06-03T16:31:00.003-04:00

I found it was time to start adding prints to the shop. I've been getting a lot of compliments on my latest round of fairy photos and thought it might be time to see about getting prints available. So here are just a few! There are more to come! Plus I'll be soon listing my macro photography.

Need to really get some photos edited!

2009-06-01T23:02:00.002-04:00

I've got a bunch of photos to get prints and put onto disc. I love this one, of my niece last year. It's amazing how quickly they grow and change.

I'm also working on getting images loaded to my cafepress shop. Pretty soon you'll be able to get images of the flower fairies on cards and t-shirts. I'll be taking time over the weekend to get the first few up and loaded! Right now you can get the Nature Fairy watercolor images on cards and t-shirts. These are fairies I drew a few years ago. I absolutely loved them, and have been trying to re-create the style in other natural seeds and florals, but haven't yet been able to do it. I guess the muse only had plans for these three. Hopefully soon I'll be inspired again to make more. Check them out (warning-artful nudity on these fairies) The Nature Fairies are located under the "Fairy Corner" heading. You can also find some of my macro photography there as well!
Including some gorgeous white roses.

It's an ARTFIRE TREASURE HUNT!

2009-05-30T13:11:00.002-04:00

Hi all! I'm participating in an artfire treasure hunt today! It's offering up some great deals on some wonderful shops! Check them out! Click this link for direct links to the shops listed below

My shop is offering an amazing 50% off your entire order if you can find the treasure!

Have you ever been on a Treasure Hunt? Now is the perfect time!

A group of sellers has hidden a picture of a treasure chest in their shops. All you have to do is find the item with the picture and you can receive the special that they are offering.

Sounds simple, right?

To make it even easier, I’m going to give you the links to the shops and tell you what special they are offering.

These specials are going to run today, Saturday May 30, from 10:00 am EST to midnight.

In each shop’s announcement, you can read more about the special they have running and how it is going to work

Happy hunting!!

MNH Photography

Free International Shipping in addition to the existing 50% off sale.

lillies

25% off the special item

newhopebeading

25% off the special item

VillageBoutique

$5.00 off the special item

BohemianRose

Free shipping on special item

SpunSisterDesigns

50% off second item of equal or lesser value

VeridianMuse

Find the treasure and get half off your entire purchase in my shop. just mention the treasure chest and where you found it when you check out.

GlasstasticTreasures

25% off the item containing the Treasure Chest, plus FREE shipping if the order is over $25.00 (total order does not include shipping) Just purchase and pay, I'll refund the money! Message me with questions, Enjoy :)

SarenzoBeads

buy one Get one 50% off

The Cap'n Has been Spotted again!

2009-05-28T22:58:00.002-04:00

Cap'n Nemo has surfaced again! He's spending some time in Costa Mesa and the surrounding California area! Check him out, and don't forget to follow his blog to stay updated on where Cap'n Nemo's been! Meet the Cap'n Here!

More New Fairies!

2009-05-23T14:32:00.009-04:00

Here are a few new fairies I've put together.This is Adita. Adita is wearing a pale pink lace skirt and sky blue top. She holds an adorable little birdie friend. Her hair is gunmetal grey with a pink highlight. She has metal wings.

This is Beibhinn...pronounced Bay-vin. Beibhinn wears multiple layers of white and a navy blue top. Her hair is verigated green and she holds a cats eye wand.

This is Gillian. Gillian wears lovely skirts in pinks and white with a multi colored metallic top. Her hair is a lovely shade of pale lilac. She holds three red roses in her arms. Gillian is an ornament with a white hang ribbon.

This is Lalita. Lalita has a beatiful red and white skirt with a white lace apron. Her wings are sky blue with hand drawn detail. She holds a white and black floral wand.

This is Millicent. Millicent is dressed in a short purple skirt with multiple layering to make it extra flouncy. Her hair is an adorable aqua blue with a pink Alice band. She holds a golden lantern in her hand and sports a bit of attitude. Her top is a golden yellow color and she's got tiny metal wings.

This is Pilar. Pilar is a tropical colored fairy. She wears a gorgeous peachy pink sorbet toned skirts with a tropical orange top. She holds a silver ring with a deep purple star.

This is Roxie. Roxie wears a taupe and green colored skirt with a light gold colored top. Her hair is a raspberry color which she highlights with a stylish sparkly blue pillbox hat.In her hands she holds a dark aruora borealis crystal. She's a clip but could easily be made into an ornament.

This is Shanti. Shanti wears skirts in gold and silver metallics with a sky blue overlay. Her top is done in the style of a sari with a golden mesh ribbon. Her dark black hair is braided into two braids down her back. She holds a little golden ocarina.

This is Taryn. She wears a beautiful skir in pale pinks and cream. Her top is raspberry colored which sets off her aqua hair. She's got gold metal wings. She holds the wand of hope in her hands. She's an ornament with a beige colored hang ribbon.

2009-05-21T22:43:00.002-04:00

WHOOOOOT! Got it working! Pretty Spiffy...if anyone out there needs an or would like a nifty animated something or other..give me a yell. I've got to learn somehow and there are only so many banners and avatars you can make for yourself. :)

Learned something new today! Whoot!

2009-05-20T21:13:00.003-04:00

Working on animated banners and ads for my shops. I cannot however figure out why I can't get them to show on blogger....I'm cornfused. :) I'll figure it out though!

well this is the beginning of the looped images. I'm still not sure what I'm doing wrong. Guess it's back to the research stage. I can get them to list as ads correctly, but I cannot list them here on blogger to show the animation. Perhaps it should be an html break down to put it in here....I'm slowly gaining a bit of intelligence when it comes to this sort of thing. :)

Where has May gone?

2009-05-19T23:18:00.003-04:00

It seems like only yesterday it was the end of April and I was looking forward to May with new hope of finishing projects in the works. Now it's nearly the end of May and I don't think I've even made a small dent in the goals I had in store for May. I've got a new pile of fairies that need photographed and set up for sale. I've also got another 30 bodies dressed and waiting a trip to the hair salon. I'm hoping to take some of my day tomorrow and get at least the photographs up and shown.

I really need to buckle down and get some serious cleaning done. I think I'll play the timer trick and set a timer for 15 minutes at a time and clean piles in 15 minute increments. That way I have very little time before I switch to the next thing. That will mean I have less time to get bored and distracted. I find when I'm searching through things that I get a bit distracted. The next thing I know, two hours have passed and I've been in some sort of cluttered trance and haven't done a thing!

We're gearing up for our annual trip to Charlotte, North Carolina in June. This means P's got to dig out the comics he's taking to the convention and that's beginning to involve a lot of moving around here in our cluttered four rooms. We always start talking about getting things done early this time, but it never works out that way. We're behind yet again. It's now literally a month away and we're no further ahead than we were when we first started talking about being ahead of the game this time around.

I've been watching my nieces the past couple of Friday's and I'm really enjoying the time I get to spend with them. They're such adorable girls. D came over last friday and spent time with us too. Dae is my 6 year old Nephew. He's spent a lot of time with me over the years. When he was a tiny baby he spent one or two days with me a week with me while his mom worked. We're really close which I absolutely love! I wish I were as close with the neices as I am with Dae. He's really intelligent and comes up with some amazing discussions and melt your heart statements.

So, May is almost gone and I sit here thinking of all the things i want to finish before the end. I'm not much of a list person, though I wish sometimes I were. I've tried lists in the past, but I usually write them,then lose them. If I don't lose them, I forget that I even wrote a list. There's something to be said for people who can write a list and slowly tick off the obligations. Then there are the obsessives...those list writers who list every second of their day from the moment they put foot to floor, to the shower times, to the breaks they're taking....I have one of these types in my life and it literally drives me NUTS! She'll write a list and it will have " get up, bathroom, laundry, make breakfast, swap laundry loads, get dressed, take break, go to store, home, unpack, go to post office, home, collect papers, go to church, drop off papers.....SERIOUSLY! If I needed a list and it starts out with GET UP and has to remind me to come home from the store!!!! that's tooooooooo MUCH! I'm much happier flying by the seat of my pants. It's much more fun to not plan my day to the second. I also thinks it makes the stress of a normal day a lot easier to handle. I don't have a list that is shouting at me from my pocket, screaming of all the things I hadn't got to in a day.

Well I think I've rambled on enough for the day. I guess I just needed to pour out my brain and clear it for a good nights sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive and satisfying day!

HAPPY MAY 19th! JUNE is COMING FAST!

Even more new fairies!

2009-05-04T21:56:00.005-04:00

More new fairies, there are more to come! Soon to be listed for purchase. These are perhaps spoken for, but if you see something you like, contact me and we can talk.

I'll be announcing when the new listings go live. Until then I'll be peppering my blog and flickr, with fairy images.

New Fairies!

2009-04-30T23:52:00.005-04:00

New Fairies, possibly spoken for. I've got a whole new batch in the works though, so there will be plenty more where these flew in from!
You will notice the new metal wings, some of the fairies are wearing! How exciting! These metal wings work for ornaments, but not for pins (yet)..I'm trying to work out the logistics on that still. However, they're stunning!
You'll also notice some of the fairies are wearing their finest laces. These few just have a bit of lace. It's been a real challenge figuring out how to make the lace work with the construction of the fairies. I've got some other fairies with peeks of lace under or over their skirts, some wearing veils. Who knows how I'll figure out how to make it work from here on out! The more I play with it the more ideas I come up with!

Keep your eyes peeled on etsy and artfire! The fairies will be making their debuts soon!

new fairy products.

2009-04-20T22:21:00.004-04:00

working on new ideas for the flower fairy series. This is the begining. I don't like the base but it was a good place to start. I'll be most likely painting the bases from now own as the wood just sucks up the sharpie. I'll probably try to keep them pretty plain and simple compared to this one. I think the lines are distracting and take awa from the posed fairies. I don't think I'll be doing moss on all of them or maybe not at all. I think it's kind of cute as it adds a bit of natural feeling to the set up.

Nature Faries have been released!

2009-04-18T01:05:00.005-04:00

Well the nature fairies have finally met their introduction to the world. They're up on cafe press now on various goods! I loved the way these turned out and was just waiting for the opportunity to get the onto something. They're just too perfect to leave hidden away in my stash of art

SQUIRREL ATTACK!

2009-04-03T00:29:00.006-04:00

Well ok, now that I've got your attention, they're not really attacking. They haven't banded into an army yet...but it might happen! I've been on a squirrel kick and these guys are getting more adoable with every one I make! Here's a little grey squirrel and he's got four buddies just waiting to be stitched together. I've got brown squirrels in the works as well, but currently only have one of him sewn up. Oh and did I mention that they're irresistibly mini. They come in at just about 3.5 inches tall. Cute AND pocketsized!

I'm offering "unnatural" colored squirrels too! So if you've always wanted a pink squirrel, or a blue squirrel....let's have a chat! I'd love to make an odd colored squirrel for you! :)

P.S. FOR A LIMITED TIME FREEEEEEEEE SHIPPPPPPING! Don't miss out on the bargin!

100 ideas: A swap-bot challenge

2009-04-01T12:34:00.008-04:00

These are things I did for the Swap-bot challenge. I'm going to be doing plenty more. We had to take Keri Smith's 100 ideas and work with them. We had to do at least five: here are my piece that are "digitally" recorded.
Map Everywhere you went in a day.
Well as you can see, I'm not a very good map maker. (cartographer?) This map is utterly boring and uninspired. I should have done different trips in different colors. That would have been at least a bit more exciting. I might try this again when I have an intersting day planned.

Create an image using dots. I had a blast doing this one and plan to do more dotty art. There's something very relaxing about doing art in dots.

#62 Write an entry in LARGE LETTERS: Ok this one was weird. It's like almost an incomplete though process. Fill an entry in large letters. That means it's got to be short sweet and to the point. So I think this sums it all up.

#100 Draw a Double Handed Mirror Image Drawing (this is one of my own..the last give are ideas of your own making)

#20 Write A Haiku: I like writing Haikus. This one is a bit simple, but i Wanted to play with the color/word play.

I've got another Haiku in a different book, but I can't find it. It's a tiny little portable book and it tends to slip under things and get lost.

So check out Keri Smith's blog and try the 100 ideas yourself. It's a lot of fun! I'm off to dig into the deeper more challenging of the ideas.

a new piece I did today!

2009-03-22T23:00:00.001-04:00

I just completed this new piece of artwork. I think I'll be doing a series of these as I just loved the way it turned out! I'm thrilled with the image all together, the joy in the colors. A very happy piece I must say. Thrilled that it turned out so well!

It's a Spring Sprout-ackular!

2009-03-10T20:36:00.005-04:00

Over the next few weeks the sprouts will be showing up en masse. Nothing kicks the winter blahs like a lovely shot of lime green, or any green for that matter! What better way to get your shot of green than with an adorable MINI SPROUT! Check out these cuties!

Plus a few shots of Sprouts who've been adopted!

Holy Moley!

2009-02-09T22:18:00.003-05:00

Where does the time go!?!?! I swear, only yesterday I was saying to myself; I really need to buckle down and create for selling. It's now the second week of February, and it seems as if I've been dragging my feet. Oh sure, I'm doing tons of things for swaps, (which always help to inspire) but nothing is being done for me to sell online. I've been playing around with shrink plastic. Having a blast making sugar skull charms, fairy pendants, artsy graphic deisgn pendants...I've even been trying to figure out a good "art button" design and size. I've GOT to do more fairies...my poor little etsy shop is starting to look old and moldy. Not enough new things to perk up the masses. Not enough listing being done...not enough creating being done. I was hoping to get things to the gallery in the middle of January and now it's the middle of FEBRUARY! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO! I swear, I need to clone myself!

On the agenda for tomorrow...atcs, photographs of finised projects, uploading said photos, writing to a few friends, and about a million and one more creative things that I won't fit in, no matter how hard I try.....OH YEAH...and sleep!

Ok, I'm off to bed early so I don't waste tomorrow.

Does anyone have any good chicken recipes they'd like to share? I'm bored with my oldies.

working on new patterns!

2009-02-03T11:15:00.003-05:00

I've been having so much fun playing around with felt creatures. I've come up with a great squirrel pattern and I'm now looking to work on a hedgehog, a new bat pattern, mini elephant... and then I've got to get to making another crocheted creature for my nephew. He announced last Friday that it was time for me to make him a new animal. Green Gregory Ra is fine, but he'd like something new. For those of you who don't know, Green Gregory Ra was my first attempt into the world of crocheted/knitted animals. He was a large knitted orange and gold lion. Yes, yes, I know...with the name Green Gregory Ra, you'd think he would have been a green lion, or at least would have had some green in him. Nope, not the case. Why my nephew named him Green Gregory Ra I have no idea, but that's what he'll always been named to me. D of course states now that his name is only Gregory Ra, that he's not Green Gregory Ra any longer, but I'll always refer to him as that, and have even been thinking of doing some cartoon panels a'la Calvin and Hobbs to hang in his room.

So my very first squirrel pattern worked out wonderfully well. So much so that I couldn't quit saying how proud of myself I was. I think I drove my husband nuts! He's just so darn cute though and as soon as I get pictures of him I'll be posting them. I'm hoping to do an art festival in May, and I think I'm going to do an army of Squirrels to sell there. I've been sewing them by hand but I think I'll try the next one on the machine. I also might try making them even smaller. He's almost three inches tall.

My Goddess ATCs

2009-01-28T19:14:00.008-05:00

Made these for a swap. I think I'll be doing more of these paper profiles and faces. I just loved playing with it! Saraswati turned out to be one of my favorites of the batch. Brigid went missing. I'm not sure if I tucked her into someone else's envelope or if she's somehow slipped into a pile of my crafty bits...so Saraswati was made to take her place.

Octopus Amigurumi!

2009-01-19T18:06:00.003-05:00

Well here he is finally! My little wee octopus amigurumi. I'm definately going to be making more of this guy! He's too cute! I sent him off to my swap partner the other day and he was well received. I also sent along a traveling companion for him, a little lime green fish friend. I forgot to take pictures of the fishy though. Doh! Oh well, I'll just have to make another.

Working on Custom work once again! YAY!

2008-12-23T22:33:00.002-05:00

I had a special request for a poodle with butterfly wings. So here's my rendition. Pretty cute, in an overly pink girly way. :)

What's Stopping You From Taking a Self Portrait?

2008-12-03T19:58:00.006-05:00

This question comes from an interview on Chrysti's blog Art By Chysti. She's taking on the 29 days of giving challenge. Quite a fascinating concept and one I'll most likely tackle myself soon. I like random acts of kindness, and feel that this might be the universe's way of pointing me in the "right direction".

So anyway, the first giveaway ( why haven't you gone and checked it out yet??) today was a very interesting looking book Mixed Media Self Portraits by Cate Coulacos Prato. Chrysti's blog held a lovely little interview with Cate and at the end Cate asked, "What's stopping you from taking a self portrait?"

So I thought long and hard about it. I never was really much of a self portrait person. I suppose a lot of it has to do with the fact I never felt myself much to look at, let alone pose myself in front of a camera for the good of all mankind type. Granted, I think everyone has those feelings of insecurity, but mine was heartily backed by years of being picked on as a teenager. I was from a large family, wore hand-me-downs from someone who was wearing them as hand-me-downs. (though I wouldn't change a thing about my formative years now...it's made me the person I am!) I didn't have the "cool" things. I was told I was fat A LOT by peers. Compared to my siblings, all tall lanky and beautifully structured, I was fat, squat and sloppy. At least that's how I felt. So why take a self portrait, when it just cements the fact that you look exactly what people have said you look like.

Over the years, I've gained more trust in my self-worth, my own special beauty. I noticed that over the past five years or so, I've been taking self portraits with more regularity. Most of the time I don't even know what inspires me to take them...but I do. Most are logged away in my digital photo albums, some make appearances in odd places, digitally altered and used as avatars or art. I think my progression into becoming a Self Portrait "Artist" is more about becoming comfortable with exactly who I am as an individual. I'm me, and that's a mighty fine thing to be! There's very little I'd change about me!!

Digitally Altered Me:

Goofy Me at Halloween:

So I ask you .... are you a self portrait artist?

Customized Fairy Pins Ornaments or clips.

2008-12-02T17:18:00.003-05:00

Want a customized fairy. I'd love to make one for you. You can either shop through
my etsy shop or find me at my newest venue on ArtFire

New Westie Amigurumi!

2008-11-20T19:56:00.003-05:00

A new westie amigurumi has been created! Check him out! So adorable! You can find him Here

Frog in our Hands

2008-10-11T19:36:00.001-04:00

Frog in our Hands
Originally uploaded by Chel Morning

Adi and I found this most amazingly small toad on the 4th of July. I just adore this image and want to get prints of it! I wish the coloring were a bit less pink. Ahhh what can you do. Now I just have to see how a digital print will turn out. Then it's offffff to the races! I plan on playing around with a few different ideas. I saw someone some where post that they usually do their business cards as digital prints from wal-mart or target or any of those places that do digital prints. I'm quite happy with the way my business cards are now, but I'm going to need a new set soon and from what I hear vistaprint is ridiculous now. I always wondered why I wasn't getting any email from them anymore. Whom ever it was that said they're ridiculous also said that they require a monthly "membership" fee now. Bahhhh! I hate having to go search for good deals on business cards again.

West Highland Terrier Amigurumi

2008-09-22T20:07:00.002-04:00

I had a swap recently with someone who had a west highland terrier. So I tried my hand at making a westie amigurumi! I think he turned out pretty cute!

My Latest ACEO

2008-09-22T20:03:00.004-04:00

This is my latest ACEO. I was going to keep all my aceos to the alteredartqueens, but figured if they're fantasy related, I'll keep them on my original etsy shop. I love the way this turned out and the pictures just don't capture it at all.

Auroa goddess of dusk, streams across the sky dropping her star adorned jet hair across the land bringing in night. Her golden sunset crown sparks the last light in the sky before night falls.

The purple gets lost, and the oranges and reds just bleed together. It's hard to show off a lovely piece of artwork, when your scanner and camera don't want to particpate.

I've started painting again!

2008-09-18T22:35:00.003-04:00

Thanks to swap-bot, I've picked up the paint again! This is my latest.

My swap partner liked the nouveau style. While this can't compete with the real thing, it's not a bad rendition. I love these gallery wrapped canvases (i think that's what they're called anyway) It allows you to bleed the work over the side. A great way for me to practice running my art "off the page" so to speak.

Finally! The Flower Fairies are BACK!

2008-09-05T17:06:00.005-04:00

Check out my two newest flower fairies!

Triana the fairy of Goodness
Meet Triana! She's the fairy of Goodness. She's constantly there for a friend in need, does good deeds, always wants to help, and is just an all around good fairy. In her arms she' holds a lovely blue flower gift. It's her way of sharing the joy she gets out of giving!

and
Jemma the fairy of Wonderment

Meet Jemma! She's the fairy of childlike wonderment. She's the one who creates the joy and gleam of bubbles. She hand crafts all the gorgeous rainbow patterns that appear on bubbles. She's in charge of making the most interesting bugs irresistable to children. She makes sure they are dressed in their best glimmery, gleaming wings and shells to attract the most attention! She's great for keeping the amazing child-like wonder in the front of your mind

Yellow Floral Brooches

2008-09-02T19:40:00.005-04:00

Here are some lovely yellow brooches soon to be listed in the
Altered Art Queens Shop

This one has two lovely purple and fuschia shell buttons highlighed with a single pearlized bead.

This one has one large central white disc bead.

Each one is backed in yellow felt with a pin back attached. The pin back is stitched over decoratively for long wearing durability. No wimpy glued pin backs here!

Check me out at the new shop!

2008-08-22T23:38:00.005-04:00

I'm still on etsy under
Chelmorning/Viridian Muse Designs and also
The Altered Art Queens but I was introduced to a cute little new marketplace. So I'm giving it a try and hoping to make the best of it. You can see my new shop
Viridian Muse Designs on winkelf.com. I hope you'll come see me. I've got a few things listed already.

the carnation pink ribbon rosette pin:

The Grey Queen felted floral brooch:

and last but not least, another mini sprout!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2008-08-15T17:27:00.003-04:00

"WHAT?!?! Christmas you say?? That's crazy, Christmas is a full three months away, nearly four if you take into consideration what's left of August."

Yes, but I'm actually late in planning for Christmas. Christmas shopping starts soon, and to have a fully stocked shop and things on hand for a holiday show or two, I should have started two months ago! I'm terrible for being on top of the holidays. I'm usually the one listing holiday things the week of the holiday. I'm trying very hard not to do that this year. I'm hoping that in the next few weekends I'll be able to put together a small bank of items to put on etsy, and a bunch of fairies to get listed. My fairies have been suffering since I took my current job a year ago. I haven't much time to create like I used to. Sure I like the money I make at my current job....but being able to craft on my down time would be nice.

So what's my goal this weekend? Well I've got a bunch of ornaments I'd like to get sew up, a few plush toys, and perhaps even an amigurumi or two. Now, that's a bit over the top, but if I get at least two of those ideas into play, I'll be quite happy!

Oh and here's some eye candy for you! :)

My newest Fairy Dotee!

2008-08-12T20:35:00.003-04:00

I love the way this one turned out! It was so hard to send it out, but I did. Thankfully it was well recieved by my swap partner and her 3 year old daughter! I originally didn't inten to use these wings and was going to hand form a wire crown, but I absolutely love the way this all came together. I have to say she's one of my best dotees yet!

mm-checka mmmchecka mmm check it out!

2008-08-11T22:02:00.005-04:00

Above you will see a lovely etsy mini of the wonderous talent of FAE and their Atlantis exhibition! SO much lovely art and craft, so little money to buy it all ;)

To see other fine FAE (Fantasy Art of ETSY) just search the tag FAETEAM in the search bar at ETSY

WOW! Check out the FAE Visions of Atlantis Exhibition!

2008-08-04T23:14:00.004-04:00

The amazing artists of FAE (the fantasy artists of etsy) have submitted beautiful Atlantian beauties for your perusal! Check it out and perhaps you might find that perfect something for someone special!!!! Visions of Atlantis

wowza! too long between posts!

2008-07-15T19:17:00.004-04:00

Well it's been far too long between posts again. I've been kind of under a creative funk, and kind of (well ok, reallllllly)overly busy. It's been a little sad and depressing to be honest.

I've been dabbling in projects that take under an hour or there about to make as that's about all the down time I have before going to bed to prepare for the new day to dawn. The Sprout series of Amigurumi have been keeping me pretty happy. Their constantly popping up and making things happy. They're also something I can do a bit "mindlessly" as they're pattern free. They're like my flower fairies, they come out with their own personalities as I crochet along.

I'm thinking of doing rain drops/water droplets and little flame characters too. I've got a bird or two to do and a request for a Kangaroo. I've sold two of my little Sheepies, and need to finish a third. Things are slowly picking up.

I need to prepare more fairies. My site is looking thin at the moment. I've got a bunch of bodies prepared, but getting them wrapped and dressed and decked out in their fairy finest takes a bit more time than I've had lately.

So my last creative offering for this post, is my two lovely little blue birds. It's a 5x7 watercolor piece that I've put into the The Altered Art Queens

That's all for now!

HOLY MOLEY! I'm winning!!!!

2008-07-10T19:04:00.002-04:00

A lovely member of the FAE group is going through some really rough times medically. Numerous surgerys, and terrible pain. Some of the members have been doing some wonderful charity pieces of which the funds will be donated to Nora and her family to help defray costs.

I'm currently the highest bidder on this gorgeous piece from Battlemaide Studios! Check it out and maybe make a bid! Too lovely a piece to let it slip by, and an original no less! Seriously, I'm getting it at a steal if no-one outbids me!
here's the link! Go check it out!
http://battlemaidenart.blogspot.com/

New Dotee Doll

2008-04-25T11:33:00.006-04:00

As I've been taking small breaks from work I've been working on this dotee. I think she turned out pretty amazing. I'm kind of getting bored with the dotees. While they're cute, and really easy to make, they're also a little boring to make. This one however piqued my interest. It was a "fairy" dotee. So I thought that would make it fun and give it an interesting twist. I tried something new with this one and used a rub on transfer in a few spots on her body. I wasn't sure how it was going to hold up and was pleasantly surprise that it stuck pretty well. To help in keeping it attached I glossed over it with gel medium. I'm come to the decision that it will work as long as you don't have any additional fabric scraps attached as I did on this one. As you can see in some of the images the bird transfer split right on the division of the green patch and where it's attached to the brown material. While most people would have found that incredibly frustrating I find it lends a kind of aged look to her. Like she's beena bit weathered. The wings are hand formed and wired by me. I found the wire loops in some jewelry findings and worked them into shape last night . They're not exactly perfect mates, one is slightly rounder than the other, but again I think it lends to her charm and just makes the hand crafted beauty of her that much more appealing. I did her in earth toned colors as that's what my swap partner likes. So I hope she likes this one! :)

I really like the way her face came out. I usually either paint the face, or embroider flat simplistic faces. This one took on a life of her own though! She really came out with a neat personality and grace. I did her nose in a build up trying to give it a bit of dimension. It looks pretty good, I'm not 100% happy with it, but it looks ok. Her "hair" of course is a manner of free form embroidery to help hold her face on it turned out pretty neat.

Over all I'm realitively happy with her! I'm going to work on some more in kind of the same fashion but with shaped bodies. I have been obsessed sketching out fairy dolls, in notebooks on breaks at work. Hopefully as soon as I get these Dia de Los Muertos books out of here I can get back into making my little flower fairies and fairy dolls.

My newest creations

2008-02-05T20:52:00.000-05:00

Another Fairy

2008-01-19T00:24:00.000-05:00

I did this for a swap on swap-bot. I love the way she turned out. I think I might start making little matchbox "suitcases" for the ones I sell on etsy. I think it's a fun little collection of goodies to go with the fairies.

NEW FAIRIES FOR 2008!!!

2008-01-17T17:46:00.000-05:00

Yay my sencond Fairy for the new year. My first one went to a very special person! :) This is Antheia Queen of the Flowers. I love the way she turned out. She's so very purple and beautiful. I try to come up with a little blub story for each of my fairys. Most of the time they come to me while I'm creating the fairies themselves. As each fairy presents it's personality to me, a story usually emerges. I'm working on improving my photos of them to create more "wow" factor. I think this image is pretty, but I feel the background takes away from the fairy.

Her little story "She's the Queen and there's no doubting it. She loves to make sure all the flowers come up in time for the first spring blooming. Her favorites are the purple flowers of course, but she likes the other colors too. On her head she wears her little leaf crown and golden flower."

Another image of Antheia:

2008! It's here!

2008-01-04T11:25:00.001-05:00

I'm hoping very much to spend a great part of 2008 creating things for my etsy shop. I had a pretty nice pace going there for awhile, and with my new job it kind of took a back seat. I'd love to take it back to full swing and really start pumping out wonderful handmade crafts.

FAE is top priority at the moment. The lovely people there at FAE are growing in leaps and bounds membership wise, and we're hoping to take the group to all kinds of new professional highs. We're looking to get into specialty magazines and publications geared toward our general buyer base.

In that respect there are tons of new ideas floating about from a brainstorming session with some of the lovely gals from FAE. They filled my head with all kinds of new package plans for my fairies, and ideas for new items! So if you like my fairies, keep your eyes peeled! They'll be arriving soooooon!

In the meantime, here's an old one to give some eye candy to the blog. It's sad it's been so bare lately.

I'm gearing up for the holidays!

2007-11-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

I've been working like crazy getting stuff ready for a local Christmas shop. I'm hoping to have a bit of a stash made up in the next few days so I can get my product out to the lovely lady running the shop! I can't wait to see all the stuff she's got. I'm going to be dragging my sister along as we go to look.

Hopefully with all I've been working on I'll still have things to add to my etsy shop. It's been a little stale in there as of late as my "day" job has been taking up a lot of my time and energy. I'm quite exhausted when I come home and find it hard to sit down and do much artwork.

I've been participating in Swap-bot a bit, and doing a few other random swaps and charity donations, but other than that, not much else. My house is a mess and my crafting space is even worse. Hopefully I can get up the get up and go attitude in the coming week and really whip this place into shape. With the holidays fast approaching it seems I'm quickly running out of time!!!

I'll be posting some photos in the next few days of randon assortments of things that I've been making for swaps and to sell. Well, some of the things from swaps. I've been terrible at recording what I've been making and sending out as of late. My favorite swaps so far have been the goddess doll (see the post below) and the BATSTRAVAGANZA swap. I had to make bat things for the swap and made two lovely stuffed brown felt bats. It was great fun. I've also made a black bat, but I don't like him as well as I liked the brown ones. He's still cool though :)

Alright, it's getting late and I've got a KILLLLLER headache, so I'd best be on my way!

Goddess Doll

2007-10-06T01:07:00.000-04:00

Felt doll, hand embroidered,hand wrapped acorn. Made for a swap on swap bot. I had a great time doing this doll. She turned out much better than I had planned. I'm not sure I like the hair but without tearing a lot of the stuff off her head including her little "fire from her head" I can't remove it. I hope the girl I'm sending her to loves her.

Green Postcard Swap on SwapBot

2007-08-18T13:38:00.000-04:00

Here are two of the three postcards I did for a green postcard swap on Swap-Bot. Swap-Bot, I could get into a lot of trouble over there. Right now I'm sticking to a few things at a time. I just sent out my first two swaps. A doodle page (which is SUPER easy for me since I doodle all the time) and these postcards.

I had a blast doing them. Trying to come up with ideas that kept pretty much to the greens. I of course had to throw in a little pink and blue to highlight the greens.:)

Playing with the pad and stylus

2007-08-14T23:06:00.000-04:00

The guy I work with let me borrow his tablet to try. I've been thinking of getting one for awhile. This is the results of just a few hours of familiarizing myself with the thing. I'm sure there's tons more to learn, but I was pretty happy with the results.

Been away too long

2007-08-07T19:12:00.001-04:00

Things around here have been NUTS. I started a new job, which basically took over my life. It's good in a way, but I am just now starting to get the hang of the whole balance thing again. Finding time to do things I used to have all the time in the world to do has been a little dicey.

I'm getting pretty excited with some of the new projects I have coming up in the next few months. I'll be participating in a gigantic chunky book project run by Chrysti at the Altered Abbey This should be fun, but incredibly challenging for me. I've been finding it so hard to find time to fit in home life, let alone art life as well, that I might be setting myself up for a giant downfall. However I LOOOOOVE chunky books and this is just my kind! All original! I highly recommend the Altered Abbey for great supplies.I've ordered a few things in the past and they're always wonderful in quality and speed of delivery!

I'm also getting ready for another great chunky book through the
Absolutely Everything Swap Central Group. I can't wait, this is truly an amazing group of ladies and we've been having a great time together for awhile now. It's going to be a Halloween/Dia de los Muertos book. I just loved the last Halloween book I did. It'll be fun to see what everyone comes up with. I hope we have a lot of participants. It'll be hard getting things put together, but well worth it in the end I'm sure. The Alice Book we did a few months ago turned out really super awesome.

On the art front I really haven't been doing a whole lot of anything. A few random pen scratchings in the ancient sketch book (holy crap I've almost filled it finally!) or random scribbles here and there on any scraps of paper I can find. Typical me, stick a pen in my hand and I'll doodle on almost anything.

My poor sharpies have been trapped in their box for far too long. They're just SCREAMING to get out. Thankfully I'll be doing some atcs soon. I've fallen out of that for the time being as well. Hopefully not for long though! I like my atcs and sharpies far too much to let myself be separated much longer. Gosh that makes me sound like an addict!

Well I'm off to do some cleaning so that I don't feel so guilty when I sit down to do some art! Cheery creative messes everyone!

Meet Oskar

2007-05-17T22:15:00.000-04:00

Meet Oskar! Number one in a new plushie series that I'm going to do. He's going to be the very first Eeppy Creepy Cuddlies. What do ya think? I've got a little story to go with him, but I haven't yet figured it all out. Hand and Machine embroidered with saftey eyes and hand cut felt teeth.

I'm back on a creation kick....

2007-05-16T15:17:00.000-04:00

I'm finally feeling almost back to normal. Things have been a little nutty around here and it's caused me to slip into an uninspired mode. However, the veil is lifting! I worked on magnets a few days ago. I've got two of the sets photographed and the other I hope to have done tomorrow.

Then yesterday a creature appeared while I was visiting with my friend Lois. I took my box of felt to play around with thinking I was going to do more of the tropical felt pins, but couldn't get my head into them. I randomly cut out a felt shape after stithing up a small art doll I had waiting....and today Oscar came out! I'll be posting pictures of him tomorrow as he isn't quite finished. I think he turned out really cute!

Friday before my nephew comes for the day I'll be working on aprons for someone special! ;) The material is here and I have a pattern worked up..I just have to make sure the sizing is ok. I cannot wait to get into it. I'm in a sewing mood as of late!

So here are the magnets!

I've been a crazy busy girl!

2007-05-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

Things around here haven't been too agreeable on the creative front! Unfortunately that means less time to spend on creating things, which means way less time spent on updating my blogs! However in the last couple of days I've been on some kind of neat freak, clean up, clean out mode! It's been great so far, but I've got a long way to go! Here are a few things I'd left unfinished and completed in the last couple of days.

A cupcake pin cushion:

A fun funky strawberry cupcake with chocolate icing! LOOK MA NO CALORIES AND FAT FREE TOO!
OOOOOPS! I just realized I don't have an image of that one yet! My darn camera is on the fritz (i hope it's just the battery!) and I could only squeeze out the image of the top cupcake!

And some ribbon pins I've been working on. I did the first two in the hotel while we were at the comic convention for the dear hubby! and the Blue one is from tonight!

2007-03-28T14:39:00.000-04:00

Sock Florals

2007-03-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

Flower Pins made from socks. I loved this pattern on this sock and it just screamed to be made into a flower.

Adisyn and Elise Blocked Letters

2007-02-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

2007-02-21T12:31:00.000-05:00

Up for sale on EBAY

2007-02-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

LOOK! It's LEELA THE LITTLE LOVE FAIRY! She's just waiting for a new home.

Leela loves to wander among the leaves and shower each tiny flower with love. In her hand she carries a little heart wand. Being a brand new love fairy she's still learning to wield her wand as a proper fairy would. This adorable little fairy clip is a great gift for any fairy lover! She is approximately 2 and 1/2 inches long from the top of her head to her little beaded feet. She is made of floral bits wooden bead, seed beads,florist wire and embroidery floss. She holds a beautiful silver heart wand in her hands.This little bitty beauty would be great as a package attachment, a gift for the fairy collector in your life, or a unique conversation piece.This piece is a CLIP! That's right, now you can clip the Flower Fairies ANYWHERE! She is hung by a closed wired loop and a lanyard clip.So easy to clip on and off of anything! She is hand made by me and comes bagged and carded signed by the artist (me) and numbered in the series numbers. She is unique and one of a kind! MANY MORE FAIRIES TO COME!

See my ebay link to the right ~~~>

PALCHEMY #1

2007-01-30T21:49:00.000-05:00

I'm participating in a project through etsy.com called palchemy. On etsy they have something they call alchemy. You can post what you are looking for and people make bids on the cost of making said thing. Someone then took the idea and decided to pair people up as pals. Either one person sends to a maker, or both are makers and senders, or some are just senders. I decided to do all three since I'm a packrat and have things to share. So I got paired with a lovely girl who's shop you can view here: http://ashabee05.etsy.com . She's got amazing yarns and beautiful knitting and crocheted items as well as jewelry. Check her out!

So this is a picture of the items she sent me. She sent some beautiful satin fabric (still not sure what I'm making with this... I think a doll will come from some of it, and then I don't know what will happen to the rest. Some nice faux pearls and a great skein of lion brand chunky yarn. So here is what I've come up with so far from the yarn she sent me. Meet Baasil Lamb. Isn't he cute! Another random amigurumi thing where I just crocheted along until a form came out. I think he turned out rather well. It took me a few tries to get his legs to match up properly. I never count as I go (which I should really learn to do) and that makes it a bit difficult. I should really start writing patterns down as I go so I can make things again when I want to.

I've got the amigurumi bug though. I absolutely adore Beth Doherty from GourmetAmigurumi. I think this is my favorite so far, but all of her stuff is absolutely adorable! My favorite:http://www.flickr.com/photos/38635695@N00/134858635/in/photostream/

Well I think that's all I have to say for now. I'm exhausted and work has been kicking my butt as of late. I'm hoping that things will calm down in the next week and I can actually get some art done!

New Fairies in the NEW YEAR!

2007-01-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

Fairies are already starting to appear for the new year. Check out Ryuusei. Ryuusei (pronounced du-say) is the little shooting star fairy. She dresses the stars in their shiny, sparkling best to flit through the sky to grant people's wishes. In her hands she holds a little shooting star all dressed up and awaiting it's debut in the sky. In her hair she wears a flower with little beads.

Older Mother Earth Cards

2006-12-15T16:27:00.000-05:00

my cards from September October. My best one is missing from here as I sent it out this afternoon without scanning it. DUH! But I hope to get a scan from the girl I sent it to. The pink on the cheeks isn't as garrish in person as it looks in the scan. My computer really skews pinks and purples. I love the way her hair turned out though. It's so not my typical hair. I stink at doing hair to make it look realistic.

Gaia/Mother Earth cards from today

2006-12-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

Mother Earth cards I was working on today. I was sorting my cards for a swap and it sparked more ideas. So I sat down with my sharpies for the first time in almost three months. It was nice for a change. It's been so long and I was missing them something fierce. The Kuan Yin Gaia isn't done yet, still a work in progress. I think I'm going to try to translate some of these into paint at some point. I mailed off one of my older mother earth pieces, so I hope to get a scan of that from the person I sent it to. It was my favorite.

birds in process

2006-12-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

My little crochet birds. Only about two inches long and two and a half high. So cute and small. I don't like the beak though. I think I'm going to do a felt beak on the other bird. I think I like the crocheted feet though.

DUE TO AN UNBELIEVEABLE AMOUNT OF SPAM....

2006-12-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

This blog is now set for word verification and comment moderation. I hope you all understand. :) Thanks for all the nice REAL comments! I really appreciate it!

Tried Something New!

2006-12-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

Well ok, technically it wasn't NEW, it was just a new take on things I've been doing. I took the crochet flower I do and put a little spin to it. I found a giant spool of curling ribbon floating around here and wondered what the heck I was thinking when I bought a roll with so much yardage. Then it hit me, why not try making a flower from the ribbon! Eureka, it turned out really cool! Check it out. I listed it on etsy, but I doubt anyone will take it, but it was a fun try.

Crocheting the night away

2006-12-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

I've made more flower pins for ETSY. I also had some spare crocheted flowers floating around so I thought I'd offer them up as a pay it forward on ETSY. It'll be my second one offered. I'm going to do more, but i want to figure out what else would be nice to do. So here are some images of my new flower pins and the extra flowers. These floral pins aren't felted and are made from acrylic yarn. Just bits of things I had laying about. I love to do these because they don't take me hours upon end and I can move on to something new faster than other projects. My little mind doesn't like to dwell on things for very long. They're things I can do while watching TV.

AHHH i feel much better now!

2006-11-30T16:01:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to paint for AGES! Today, feeling particularly low after having to give up Ceasar (see http://flickr.com/photos/chelmorning) I decided I wasn't going to do much of anything. I had thought about taking a nap, but ended up spending time catchin up with some long lost pals! While I was chatting with them I decided to get out my paints and paint a picture. I didn't have any idea what, or if I was even going to finish, but I DID! YAY! Check it out!