A little R & R

I can't believe it's May already. This year seems to be flying by. In February I decided I needed to recharge the batteries so to speak and took a two month break from Crafted. First stop was reorganizing my work space, it had reached that point were I would look in from the outside and then close the door. There was not a lot of creative output going on for a while, but it's looking good now so I'm excited to go in there and create. It was so tidy in fact that I did a painting, just for a change.
Time off has given me the time to focus on my long wish list of things to do. The Birdie and Bear project finally got the attention it deserved and long talked about products got made. I have wilfully neglected this blog as I have become obsessed with Instagram, my name is imustdraw in case you want to follow. So I ended up deleting a lot of photos not intentionally off my phone and was thankfully able to still have the majority of them in Instagram form, so consider this peek at my Instagram as a fill in for those few months of neglect. Enjoy.
Instagram - A year of 

2013 the creative process

So it feels like 2012 flew by in a whirlwind of activity. It's been a slow start as the holiday season was pretty non stop I feel like I've earned a little break. Still even as I lie in bed I get an idea for a card, I know pen and paper by the bed, write it down. (Of course theres no pad of paper ,im not that organized.) In order to be able to stay tucked up and warm, yes folks even in Southern California it occasionally gets cold and unlike London there's no central heating so it's all about the layers and hot water bottle and if I'm really lucky Sanford earns his weight in gold by being a heat source. So this idea I don't know where it came from but in my head I'm like "that's funny it could work" but I don't want to get up so if its memorable I'll remember it in the morning. I then can't stop my brain from thinking about other puns, should have bitten the bullet and written them down... A few hours later I'm up and I can still remember the idea, I run it past my pun panel and it gets the thumbs up.

The drawing is done same day et voila. Le brontosaurus is born. Sometimes things happen pretty fast, other times they get mulled over and months later surface.

Ugghh new year also means time to hit the accounting ! What you mean you thought I did it every week, entering all those receipts I wish I have a small Mount Etna of receipts to input into Quickbooks which cheers you on with this almost applause like sound every time you enter one in.... In other news I made the resolution to try new things, so with that in mind I bought a ceramic pen. I have dabbled in Ceramics and while I wish I could make magic using a wheel I'm much better coiling but the part I like the most is embellishing and decorating. So why not skip the clay part and go directly to fun. This is going to be a new line I think. The beauty of having a shop is that you can test your product out next day pretty much, I'm very excited about the potential.

So I have a confession, all the xmas craziness has left me sewn out, I need a break from sewing to recharge the batteries. I don't want to ever feel that what I'm doing is a chore so I've been making little pouches and gathering more wool to get inspired all over again but mostly it's back to the drawing board literally with lots and lots of bad puns/some good and ideas on a page. There are some exciting developments an Artwalk on February 1st at Green Bliss Cafe, note to self get sewing!

No sooner is Xmas over than Valentines is creeping up.

Tis the season to be jolly

Halfway point of the Chrimbo season, I feel like I've been working since September non stop, a bit like a continuous spin cycle. The OC mart mix popup shop was a huge whirlwind of activity and it was nice to have a change of scenery. Alongside its me Mary and pooka queen I think we did a wonderful job transforming our temporary home.

In other news I've had some commissions, a little dog plush, dog pin and hedgehog. I think I mentioned in the last post that I have a kind of love/hate thing with commissions mostly because it pushes me out of my comfort zone, and always inevitably takes longer than a normal piece. I'm pleased to report that at least half of these were fun.

This is hedgehog. He's rather robust.

This is a little daschund dog, this has inspired me to make a Sanford dog plush. So,In all the frantic ness of the Xmas season I forgot to hit publish , so I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. In case I don't get to the blog before the new year, thank you to everyone who has supported my handmade vision. I am continuously humbled by the generous enthusiasm and appreciation shown for my designs. I have plenty more ...so please continue on this journey with me!

November's Blog Update

Blimey, there are just not enough hours in the day anymore for all the crafting that needs to be done. In case you were thinking I was sitting back and resting up, oh I can dream... January will be my vacation time.

Xmas at Crafted

Mega Owl the biggest Owl I've ever made.

Custom mobile

So, I was commissioned to create a baby mobile a while back and I was so happy when it was finally finished. The logistics of creating the structure itself and balancing the components took a really long time and tested my problem solving abilities to the max. I was really happy with the end result and despite it taking a lot longer than I had initially thought, am excited to perhaps make this a future store offering. I'm already working on a Forest type theme. It's good to have things that push you but it was a big relief to finish and be satisfied with the end result.

Add caption

Ok, so since the bats I finished my Christmas Card collections, after a hiccup at the printers they are finally ready. Here's a few, all themed around Peas, I had to have a pun and this one came to me in September or October and I've been excited ever since.

A Christmas Pea of course

More Peas

Penguin

Bird

Stop by and say hello Dec 3rd to 11th

There's a new exciting place that's just opened www.creativeoutletstudios.com and I will be teaching some workshops this month including upcycled stocking, wooly bird and printing workshop and there are lots more fun things too. The owners are lovely and just so much fun stuff to learn. Oh and lastly I'll be doing a pop up shop at the OC Mart Mix with It's me Mary Taking over one whole shop ! Back to sewing there's only one week to go eek.

It was 7am and about 100 degrees and unbeknownst to me I was supposed to bring wintery clothing hence the slightly odd outfit.

And lastly, see this is what happens when I blog once a month it turns into a very long round up. Got some nice press !

October, you're here

Hello, it's been 4 weeks since my last blog. It's been a challenging couple of weeks to say the least. We have a neighbor that's not being very neighborly and the whole apartment just got new carpet and paint. It was like moving out but instead of taking all your belongings and putting them in a van they just got shifted to other rooms and there was a LOT to shift!


I had to go through everything in the studio and take it all out but not before sorting everything. All accompanied by this delightful heatwave weather we've been having. I haven't been able to make anything for two whole weeks ! That's such a long time when you have a shop ! However, I did discover that I had a lot of fabric I didn't know I had, and as such do not need to shop for more for a while and also that it's actually quite a big room that I made look tiny. I did decide to get some shelves and the same morning that I spent hours trawling the internet for some lo and behold I walk the dogs and there's one sitting on the side of the street looking for a new home. I dragged the dogs across the road, accustomed as they are to their walk for closer inspection hardly believing my luck. They were actual wood and not particle board which was quite exciting. Someone had attempted to paint them black and only got halfway. I promptly finished walking the dogs and then got the car, the tricky part was getting them in the car, singlehandedly I might add. I'm a recycler it's what I do, take abandoned things and make them useful, it doesn't make me look any less dodgy though. I was still wearing my running gear so  you can only imagine me lifting this 8ft tall shelf into the back of a Hyundai Santa Fe. It did fit, just and I made it home where the shelf stayed till my husband got home.
Two days of sanding later, a combined effort followed by paint it's almost ready and mentally I have already planned what's going on each shelf.

Here's Panda.

Orange wool coat plushies

On a craftier note, this is Panda. Well, I think you have to go back a bit to find when I had the idea for Panda, this is attempt no 3 and I like him. He looks like he has a black sweater on which is my favourite part. In other news the book is coming along, I have some watercolors to experiment with and I'm excited to see how it turns out. There have been some exciting wool finds, an orange wool coat, it's always tricky to find bright colors and the timing is perfect as we head into fall.

Here's Black Widow Spider

 I decided to make a spider, see I am getting into Halloween slowly but surely. He has wire in his legs and a wooly body. He was a bit too cute which is when I decided to add the distinct but deadly red hourglass on his back. The dogs didn't seem too bothered and reluctantly posed for pictures.

So there you have it, the new carpet feels pretty nice and everything feels clean and fresh. The process forces you to declutter two car loads went to the charity shop. Various surplus bits of furniture have found new homes and while all the artwork still needs to go up I must say it feels a bit more zen.

Getting a bit Batty and other animals

Bat and Robin

Can't wait to display these bats @Crafted

So, as we approach Halloween which is a big deal in the States much more so than in England I thought I should make a plush or five. If chocolate actually tasted like real chocolate, (sorry America your chocolate tastes horrible) I would love Halloween, but as it is I get into the spirit of things but I  know that my heart's not really in it. However I may have turned a corner, I decided to make a bat the other day out of wool of course, I made a bird too but he needs adjusting. So the bat, after discussion with husband resident Halloween and bat expert, some adjustments were made to the beak placement. "Haven't you ever seen a bat ?" he said. "Well, no actually" I replied. In my defense my plushies aren't meant to be anatomically correct. So beak was moved, the Earth kept on spinning and I sewed him up. I was quite pleased so I shall be making some more.

In other news, thrift store finds galore (over the course of a few weeks not one crazy splurge). 

A Wooden Dog

I will display my felted doggie poop bags holders in this.

Squirrel and Nut Ceramic Combo

I'm not usually a big ceramic animal purchaser but the nut has storage and storage pretty much allows for any purchase in my book. The eyes are a little scary.

Tortoise mini stool

How have I only just realized that everything is animal themed in this blog post? This tortoise spoke to me, it has Alaska 1969 written on the bottom, I could use it as a giant pincushion among other things. The colors are bright and someone clearly put a lot of love and effort when they made it so it's found a good home. I am going to have to have a yard sale if I am going to have any more room for new purchases.

Desiree B. Lookbook

Click here to view this photo book larger

So on my day off I decided to make a lookbook. I haven't got the hard copy yet. After a couple of hours fiddling about with images I hit the order button. I then received an email about all the cool new features that I hadn't used when making the book. Next time, i was a tad annoyed though. Some of the photos were taken by my talented photographer friends Lindsey Kliewer and John Santoni. Those of you with an eye for these things will instantly know which ones are mine !