Summer Sweater Monsters...

Sorry for being slightly neglectful on the blog these past couple weeks. Things are busy busy busy (It comes with the summer, right?). I'm working at Primele in the mornings (9am-1pm). Plus, now that school is out, I'm watching our friend's 11-year-old daughter, Emily, during the day and they're staying with us for the summer. But, I have found time this week to make new monsters!

I've been working out of my sweater scrap basket this week...trying to use up a bunch of the scraps I have saved up before I start cutting into larger pieces of sweaters I have in my stash. The fun part about working from scraps is trying to arrange the scraps into a good monster...

Some monsters' back part isn't even made from the same sweater as the front part...

Nature in the Studio...

This little guy was stuck in the Primele studio the other day...

The "Other" Luna

I'm at my parents' house today (we're going out to dinner for my birthday tonight). At one point Luna starts growling at something out the window. But she wasn't looking at the street like she normally does when she starts growling...she was looking more beneath the window. I followed her line of sight and saw what she was growling at...

This is the "other" Luna. Luna the cat. She belongs to Wilma, my parents' neighbor across the street. (*EDIT*: My Mom has informed me that she was actually just a stray that Wilma started feeding...but she is essentially Wilma's cat). She's a big, beautiful, very friendly, social cat.

You know I love cats, and I knew Luna was friendly, so I went outside to pet her and take some pictures of her (which my Luna didn't like one bit!). I kept calling her to get her to look at the camera, but kept accidentally calling her Terra!

She's also a very vocal cat. She seemed to have a lot to say to me!

Tree Necklace Present

It's my birthday today! I'm 28 years old now. That's only 2 more years 'til I'm 30! Aaarg! I'm getting OLD! Whatever...30 isn't that old. That'll just mean I'll be a "real" adult instead of a "young" adult! But, you know what they say, "You're only as young as you feel!"...and I still feel 18!

This necklace was an early birthday present from my Mom. She's terrible about waiting until my birthday to give me gifts (probably because she just loves giving!). I actually had to tell her this past Saturday when she and Dad came over to celebrate Father's Day that I didn't want the rest of my gifts until today when we go out to dinner. She gave me this necklace a couple weeks ago. She bought it at the Lilac Festival. (I wish I had the name of the artist and/or a link for her website) I like it, not only because it's gorgeous...but because, with the stars, the design reminds me of the tree of Gondor design in The Lord Of The Rings.

Custom Carved Logo Stamp from JackBear Stamps

I got my custom hand-carved stamp of my KiraArts logo from JackBear Stamps yesterday!

I think it turned out great! I'm ordering another one with a Nubbin design...

I'm so excited! JackBear (John) is on vacation this week, so it'll be a bit before I get it. My plan for using it is because I was inspired by the Swag Bag I got from MayDay Underground...

...and I want to make some similar bags with my nubbin design instead of the owl. (which John carved the stamp for as well!)

The cool thing is that John suggested making a trade instead of me just paying for the stamp. He picked out this blue & purple guy (because he liked how the monster looks like he has a beard!) and I traded it to him for the stamp. I actually had my hubby meet John at a Starbucks after work to make the trade (since CJ works in Rochester). I love the idea of bartering with fellow artists!

Sock Paradise

Apparantly...
I may just have to go visit Japan.

"I have never seen so many beautiful socks or so many stores devoted entirely to them."

"The advanced sock culture can be attributed in part to the custom ofremoving one's shoes upon entering a home."

These pages are from a book called "A Year In Japan" by Kate T. Williamson. It's an artist's visual journal of sorts, with short, handwritten text and illustrations. I saw the book at the library and was intrigued, so I checked it out. I came upon these pages while reading it this morning. It made me smile. You all should know how much I love colorful socks. Yes... I may just have to visit Japan...someday.

Ogre Doll

One of the drive-in movies we saw last week was Shrek Forever After. In the movie, Shrek's daughter has a little ogre doll...and it was so cute that I was inspired to make my own...

Pretty Primele

I am impressed at how well branded Primele is...
And I love how Rachel and Tricia package their products. They look so professional...
I helped package these thank you notes and envelopes today. They look like they could be from a big stationery company. You'd never guess they were from a homegrown business, packaged by three 20-something girls in an art studio loft.

Speaking of the Studio...here's a glimpse into the workspace...

I have concluded today (after only working 4 days) that working for Primele is the best job I've ever had! I get to do graphic design stuff on the computer, do stuff with paper, and hang out in a sweet art studio loft with two of my good friends for 4 hours...and get paid for it! Best...job...ever. :)

Working for Primele

I have a part time job! My friends Rachel and Tricia have their own business, Primele. They've been getting more business than they can handle lately, so they've hired me to help them out. The business right now is largely based on Tricia's calligraphy...


...but they've recently started offering custom return address rubber stamps.

(I love how they're packaging the stamps.)

They're getting orders from all over. We sent a package to Switzerland today.

A lot of the work lately involves scanning Tricia's calligraphy into the computer and pulling it into Photoshop to arrange it... which is where I come in!

4 Year Anniversary!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. CJ took a vacation week and was home all week, and when he's home, I tend to want to spend time with him...so I was barely on the computer at all. The reason CJ took vacation was that Thursday, June 10th was our 4 year anniversary! Wow...I've been a married woman for 4 years! Can you believe it? At the risk of sounding cliche`... It feels like it was just yesterday!

We didn't "go" anywhere (as in...go out of town), but we relaxed at home and spread the fun out over the week. We went to the local drive in theater TWICE...once Wednesday night and once Friday night. I love the drive-in. Two movies for the price of one, we get to bring in our own snacks (but the snack bar is pretty reasonable!) and we get to bring the dog! We saw Prince of Persia" and "Iron Man 2" on Wednesday, and "Marmaduke" and Shrek Forever After" on Friday. The first movie last night made me want to hug my dog, the second movie made me want to hug (and kiss!) my husband!

On Thursday we went out to dinner at Applebee's...because I LOVE Applebee's! Give me their Oriental Chicken Wrap with the Triple Chocolate Meltdown for dessert and I'm a happy girl!

Mmmmmmm...Triple Chocolate Meltdown... (ie: Lava Cake!)...

"Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts" and Sock Dogs

I heard about "Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts" book via the Craft: blog, and actually entered the giveaway they were having for the book (which I sadly did not win). I was ecstatic this week to find that my local library had it in their "new books" section! Can I just say right now... I WANT THIS BOOK FOR MY BIRTHDAY! (June 21st...hint hint!)

Oh Martha, you truly have sucked me in. I just can't escape your crafty grasp.
You know my favorite part about this book?...

...the SOCK DOGS!!!

The dachshund is my favorite (of course!)

It's such a simple project. You know I just HAD to make one!

It took me less time than when I typically make my monsters because I didn't have to come up with a design since the design was already there for me. Making it Martha's way involved more hand sewing, but it was okay. And of course, I don't think I made mine exactly like the books says. (what can I say...I'm a rebel!) I made this one from a pair of socks my mom recently gave me because they had a hole in the heel.

Not bad huh?

I liked making this one and want to make more! My monsters are all going to have pets soon!

You know I'm going to have to make a Luna sock dog soon!

Stripey Sock Monster

My in-laws and nieces are coming to visit this weekend and I've been cleaning all day (I get weird about wanting the house to be perfect when people are coming over). But I'm making myself take a break, and during this break, I'm going to post pictures of another monster...

This one is related to the last Zipper Mouthed monster because it's made from the same sock that served as the stripey belly of the Zipper Mouth monster.
(I liked these socks. They were toesocks. I was kind of sad when one of them got a hole in it, but at the same time, I was kind of happy I had an excuse to make monsters out of them!)

I think it'd be interesting if I took on some sort of challenge where I had a "chain" of monsters, where each monster was related to the previous one due to using some of the same fabric...because it seems like the last 3 monsters I've posted have been related. I'm not sure if I'll really do it, but it's a fun idea

If I went with the "chain" challenge, I would have to incorporate this pink, fuzzy sock fabric into the next monster.

Another Zipper Pocket Mouth Monster!

Remember that work in progress post awhile ago? It's finished!

Well, it's been finished for awhile, but I just got around to photographing a bunch of new monsters today. Life's been busy lately...which tends to happen when the weather gets nicer.

You may look at this and think "hey, that's not new! I've seen that monster before!" Nope. You'd be thinking of this monster. This one is similar, but not the same. It's made from the other pocket from the same vest. So it's kind of a long lost twin sibling.

And of course, his/her mouth opens! (Boy or girl? What do you think?)