Zombie, Zombies Everywhere!

I have a major obsession with Zombies. Love zombie movies, dolls, art, etc. So I wanted to share some favorites from some etsy sellers.

 I want this so bad and might buy it for myself for Mother's Day. 

Nothing says Happy Mother's Day like a Zombie!

Zombie Toast

ZombieQueen makes awesome cloth Zombie dolls. I bought

one for my son for Christmas and he loves it.

Zombie Doll

All time favorite Zombie movie and this print is

freaking amazing!

Zombie Print

Love this!

Zombie Necklace

Obama punching a zombie! It just doesn't

get any better than that!

Zombie T-shirt

Dr. Crap, WIP and Craft Store Shopping

So I had a Heart Echo test done today. Not too invasive unless you count wearing a gown with a man you don't know poking at your naked chest with a goo covered probe. Not the best of times but it was over quickly and the tech was very professional. Then I was off to the lab to be poked with needles. This tech was awesome and sweet and got my vein the very first time which is highly unusual. Needless to say I did not have a panic attack and cry like I usually do, I'm probably going to save that for my stress test next week when they try and put an IV in me. Oh joy, oh fun, not! 

Anyway the whole point to all of this is I had a really good morning so to treat myself I went to the craft store. Alone. Yeah you know that means I over spent as usual! I go in for one thing and come home with 25. Typical.

So here's what I got:

 Embroidery thread, photo fabric, buttons, a cute owl tin (for a dollar), fabric fray stop stuff, great teal felt (not shown) and 2 packs of 2 frames. All but 2 things were on sale so I didn't feel too bad.

Spent time last night cutting out felt for some new Garden Owl designs. I have 3 new designs but only have 2 started.

This one is my favorite so far.

Haven't pieced the front together yet.

Here's a sneak peek at one of my zombies I'm working on. They are still at the drawing and planning stage, very rough. Think Frankenstein + Addams family + Zombies.

 
I really can't do gruesome, wish I could but cute and demented seems to pour out of me! It must be a personality trait! Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been doing.

Tuesday Treasures

Did you ever have that one special toy that was so dear to your heart that you never let it go? Well I do she's my Raggedy Ann doll. I'm not entirely sure why I love this doll so much but from the moment I received her at Christmas 1970 she's been my constant companion.

She's now a very well loved treasure of mine. She has survived my open heart surgery at age 5, a big city to wide open suburbs move, my parents divorce and the struggles that produced, my growing up, college, my marriage, my children and my divorce. Through it all and at the ripe age of 40 she's my oldest and dearest friend.

What very special doll or toy do you have? I'd love to hear about it and any memories you'd like to share.

By Air and By Sea

I'm the kind of person who can't sit still. If I am sitting still then my hands have to be occupied somehow. I guess that's why I like to hand sew so much. Usually I can work thru most of my bouts of illness but not this time. So when I was upright again I was feeling very behind schedule (a crazy, unrealistic schedule that I delight in making for myself!) and kind of worked overtime to get some things done. Luckily my patterns were already made and just waiting for me.

I'm making a new line of owls...can't seem to stop making them. They are called Psychedelic Garden Owls. They are vintage inspired with a floral theme. I have several designs and the first completed is below. They will be one of a kind soft sculptures. If I repeat a pattern the colors will be different so each will be unique.

I've also been working on the rest of my Under the Sea themed items too. Mermaids, octopus, crabs, fish, etc.

The mermaids are still a work in progress. I'm waiting on my product tags so I can finish sewing their tails and then they will swim along to my shop.

This is Arnie The Anxious Octopus. A tough design for me but I finally figured the mechanics out.

He's so cute I might have to keep him. Hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've been up to. What do you all have going on lately?

Sorry for being MIA.

I've had the worse bout of my chronic illness since last year at this time. Major pain, major pain meds, enough said. During all of this I've had a lot of custom jobs going on even though I'm supposed to be on "Stay-at-home-cation". I guess that's just the way things work out.

Meanwhile my poor ebay store is still on vacation and I've had no time to work on my website. Hopefully next week will be calmer, slower and more productive in those areas.

I didn't accomplish much sewing either so feel very behind in my schedule there too.

Leaving you with a photo of my pup. She was very upset about my recent illness and was a great companion.

All The Dancers Are Finished.

Sweet trio of ballet dancers are now finished and in my etsy shop.

All my drawings and people dolls are ethnically diverse, just

like the world we live in.

 

Mermaids are coming up next and I've been making drawings and

patterns for some funky vintage inspired owls, completely new

and different from anything I've done before. Busy, busy!

I'm on Paper Cakes Finds Again!

My little Seahorses are on Paper Cakes Finds Flickr Friday!

Love this sweet blog and so excited to find one of my items

here again.

http://papercakesfinds.blogspot.com/

A Finished Ballerina

Finally finished my ballerina prototype. Am now working on 

some of her dancer friends for my etsy shop they are similar 

with a few small changes.

 

She's completely hand sewn from my own pattern based on my 

ballerina graphic. You can see her soft doll version in my shop 

already. She's about 14 inches tall.

She even has toe shoes.

A quick peek at the 13 yards of felt I just purchased.

Getting ready to make many fun things!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Lita's afternoon nap spot. 

She asks to be lifted up and then taken down when done.

Sorry about not doing the Tuesday Treasures yesterday. Having
problems with my scanner. I'll have it all sorted out by next week.
Dug thru old photos so next Treasures post will be a walk down 
memory lane for me and possibly you too.

Whoa Nellie, Here Come The Seahorses!

Finished the prototype of my new Seahorses plush I'm going to be putting in my shop.

 

Their tails can be twinned together.

My daughter loves these so much she wants me to make an over sized one for her new room re-do. These are prototypes because I don't have any product tags yet. I found a great seller on etsy who makes them. Once my tags are here I can finish up everything I have going on and show you my "official" tagged plush.

Lita and New Pal Bun Bun.

Lita's "Nana" gave her a bunny toy for Easter and it's become her favorite toy and goes everywhere with her. I often find them both guarding the neighborhood from the living room window.

Tuesday Treasures

I'm starting a new feature on my blog called Tuesday Treasures. Every Tuesday I'll share something new or old I found that I love and vintage treasures I've had since childhood. I hope you enjoy my treasures!

This book I've had since I was 3 or 4 and was the book I probably learned to read with. It has some sentimental value but also has awesome simple line graphics and two color printing that was so popular in the 60's and 70's. The copyright is 1965.

 I love the sweet little rhyming story of the boy who rides the bus from Chicago to visit his Grandma in I'm guessing New York.We lived in Chicago when I was young and I remember wanting to ride the bus that Mr. Gonzago drove from Chicago.

 All these years later I still treasure this book and remember reading it with my mom. Do you have any favorite books from your childhood that you treasure?

New Dolls I'm Working On and Other New Things.

These little felt dolls will be available in my etsy shop. As you can see they are multi ethnic. Some are Ballerinas and some mermaids. I'm thinking of doing some fairy tale dolls too.

I've put the rest of the Wonderland dolls on the back burner for now. My time is very limited so I'm concentrating on things I can finish quickly. 

I've been working hard at the other side of my business, the stationery side. Moving just about everything off eBay, organizing and re-working some older graphics in preparation of getting my sad little website filled up and running. 

I've also re-worked this blog design and created a blog just for my stationery business. This current blog will be for only my etsy items, my fun creative efforts, rants, sharing fun things I find and photos of my dog. The other blog will be for my stationery, website and eBay promotion. I hope to be able to give each equal time.

Another new bit of news is that I've opened a Zazzle shop and have a lot of my newer fun graphics available there for t-shirts, mugs and more. I'll post a link soon.

Now that the Girl has gone back to school I can roll up my sleeves and really get some work done!

Happy Easter and a Frosting Covered Chihuahua!

Easter for me is all about family and the food, especially a good coconut covered lamb or bunny cake and I've been craving one all week. Apparently though it's almost impossible to find one unless you make it yourself. And since I sold my lamb pan some years ago on ebay I was stuck buying a lamb cake. It was NOT coconut covered but since it was the only one I found I snapped it up.

It looked more like a frosting covered Chihuahua and the Girl (my daughter) refused to eat "the dog cake". I didn't understand why the poor thing was stabbed with a Knights Templar/Crusade banner and plastic flower! Oh, ha I get it now it's a cross, still weird to stab into a cake though! But anyway how bad could it be? It must taste good right? Oh you would be so, so very wrong! The frosting had no taste at all and the cake inside was so dry I'm sure the baker left some ingredients out. Very disappointing. 

One amusing thing happened with the cake though. My mom thought the head was a plastic piece and grabbed it to pull it off and discovered it was really cake and mushed half it's face in, now that was worth it! We immediately named it "Zombie Lamb"! LOL!

On a happy note I was able to find my deviled egg tray with bunny and bouquet salt and pepper shakers. I just love this goofy thing! Isn't it cute?

My brother stopped by with both his boys for about an hour and then went home to cook his own Easter dinner. His family and ours don't do any family holiday dinners anymore. Long, stupid story. His youngest (19 months) proceeded to terrorize my dog. At one point he grabbed her out of my arms had her by the head and a large clump of my hair too! He just a baby so I wasn't mad at him but at my brother who just stood there watching while I yelled for help. Poor Lita couldn't breathe and I was getting a large portion of my hair ripped out! Oh what fun we have on the holidays with family! Things calmed down after they left and we had an enjoyable dinner, so other than having the dog plastered to me and shaking in fear it was all good.

Trolls!

I'm not actually writing about these Trolls but since I am on the subject thought I'd show some of my Russ Troll collection. These were huge when I was a kid and I never had one and was jealous of my friends who had whole collections of them. So as an adult I started picking them up at yard sales etc. I recently found a box of them stored away and decided to give them a home in my studio. This is only some of them, maybe one day I'll share my complete Troll obsession with you! O.k. so maybe this post is a little bit about these Trolls! LOL!

Now on to the real reason for this post. For some reason, who knows why Trolls have been on my mind lately. I know I'm weird, but that's o.k. cause I like myself that way. Sitting watching t.v. I did a quick sketch (kind of embarrassed to show you) then made a quick pattern on the computer.

In the beginning Trolls were flat, without features or life.

They come into the world naked and grumpy.

(kind of like me in the morning, only not naked)

Even with warm tunics they still are not happy.

(Must be a Troll personality trait)

Please meet Granite. He's a Rock Troll. They live in

caves but prefer a good bridge where they can waylay

humans, play mind games, impose tolls and crunch bones.

  

They also have the cutest bums but hate to show them.

(this one bit me after I took the photo)

I have a forest Troll in progress so stay tuned for his debut.

Sneak Peek and a Tale of Pain.

I was hoping to show you all the Monster/Troll I've been working on but my back had other ideas. It's been bothering me for a while and decided to throw itself into spasms yesterday. The spasms prevented me from raising my arms above my waist without pain so I couldn't sew or do much of anything. The Troll itself is mostly finished but he's naked so I'll just show a sneak peek until his outfit is made.

A face only a mother could love!