A Little Brightness To My Day

Not feeling great today so thought I'd share something I'm kind of proud of. I'm a terrible gardener and my yard really is a mess except for these lovelies. Thank goodness they can take care of themselves! They add a little brightness to my day and I hope you'll enjoy them too!

Worktable Wednesday...so much going on.

I've been approached to possibly have some plush at a Tech conference this summer. They were especially interested in my plush Tardis since the Doctor Who show is gaining popularity here in the States. But I can't just sell those so I started playing around with some new designs to go along with the Tech theme. A Nerdy Guy and A Robot. Thinking about A Nerdy Girl too. What do you think?

The other side of my worktable holds 2 of my Pirate theme plush dolls that I've had on hold forever. They were in my unfinished projects pile. I dug them out and started working on them until this whole "Tech" thing came up so they may remain unfinished for a bit longer.

Messy, crazy worktable! I'm usually pretty good about tidying up but since I'm in the thick of working right now it's going to stay a mess for a while. What does your worktable look like?

A Silly Easter Story About My Mom.

O.k. so some of you may remember the story of my mom and the Turkey that was a ham at Christmas? Well here's another silly thing my mom did. After church she decides to go to the deli and pick up more meat. We were having an Easter buffet lunch this year. We didn't need more meat, we already had turkey, roast beef and ham. Anyway she goes into the deli that's open on Easter Sunday and asks for ham. LOL! It's a Jewish kosher deli! Somehow my mom didn't realize that and couldn't understand why they didn't have any ham cause it was Easter and probably knowing her got a bit loud about it. Oh to be a fly on the wall there! So I guess they were nice and explained why they didn't have ham and my mom felt like an idiot once she finally understood. She did come home with more turkey and some fabulous corned beef! Still we didn't need more meat so I don't know what she was thinking to begin with!

Mom holding Lita after we ate.

My daughter and my 2 year old nephew

working on an art project.

My brother did show up with his boys for Easter. I called him and read him the riot act after he said he wasn't coming cause his soon to be ex wife was starting drama. She was going to be at work all day anyway and our mom never gets to see the boys so I told him to grow a pair. Apparently he did and we had a nice time.

Hope you all had a nice holiday dinner whether it was Easter or Passover.

Jumping into Paper Clay

After making the fun little head from my last post I got excited and realizing that Mother's Day here in the US is May 8th and the fact that I'm flat broke right now I decided to make my mom a paper clay sculpture. I might have bitten off more than I could chew. I tend to turn the simplest thing into a huge deal. UGH! I also have way too big plans for that little head! I'm trying to rein myself in a bit but well we'll see.

Here's the start of the new piece. It's larger than I probably should be doing, but I'm working with what I have in stock. Not sure my idea will work. It's telling me it want to be something other than what's in my mind. See I'm just giving myself stress...sigh. 

I haven't given up on my plush or soft sculptures just moving slower on them, it's been a rough month. The female Rabbit has new legs and can stand now. Working on her bonnet then need to add arms then she's done.

I hope you'll come back and see what other crazy thing I'm doing.

Quick WIP,,,and an Uncomfortable Realization

I really don't like talking about myself but I feel this needs to be said. To all my new followers who may not know and also some long time followers ...I suffer from a chronic and very painful illness that enjoys pounding me to the ground on average twice a month. I'm telling you all this not to gain any sympathy for my sad little self but to explain why I suddenly seem to drop out of blogging, twitter, facebook, etc on occasion and also to give an explanation of why it seems to take me forever to finish projects and why some just never get done.

When I'm feeling well I start all kinds of large projects with the full intention of completing them. I pretend that pain isn't lurking around the corner waiting to pounce.Unfortunately I usually only get part way through then I am down for the count. I find it's a struggle to get back into the momentum. As much as I hate to admit it, there is a depression element to my illness too which really doesn't help my creativity.

Now on to my uncomfortable realization. Some of you may know I design stationery and have my own little business doing that. Well after 5 years of suffering from this illness I can no longer keep up, meet deadlines and focus properly. It was a very difficult decision but I've closed that business. The stress level isn't fair to me physically and my not being able to do quality work isn't fair to my clients. I'll greatly miss those lovely clients and hope they will understand.

Meanwhile on occasion I have little bouts of lower pain times that I use to sketch or sew small items. Last night I had one of those times and pulled out the Paper Clay looking for something small and creative to do and made a little face. I've been so encouraged by Moriah of MLB Studios and Pam of Yoborobo to give clay a go. So I did. It was fun and since it needs to dry in between it was something I could do when I could and leave to dry when I can't. One day hopefully it'll go on a body and make a doll. Anyway here's my little WIP.

Lumpy and bumpy and full of eyes.

A little more detail.

Oh look a face.