Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Vintage Thread Spools: Fall 2012

I took these after photographing the new Multicolored Barn Owls yesterday.  I like to use the spools as props for staging photos.  It's kind of ridiculous how much enjoyment I get out of taking photos of my vintage thread spools...

I think the colors are a bit reminiscent of the oncoming fall season.

I've made this one my new desktop wallpaper.


Treasury Tuesday: Nature, Books, and Blue

Rainy day got you down?  Curl up and read a book!..or browse Etsy...


A bunch of these items were already in my favorites on Etsy and the treasury started out as a "Recent Favorites" treasury for September, but i didn't have enough items to completely fill out the treasury.  Then I noticed a pattern...hence the title of "Nature, Books, and Blue".  The books that inspired me were The Hunger Games, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Harry Potter. (I just finished the last Hunger Games book last night).


Monday, September 17, 2012

New Monster Monday: Turquoise-Faced Multicolored Barn Owls

Here are the finished limited edition Multicolored Barn Owls!

I've only made three so far to see how people would like them. I'd hate to make a lot of them and then have no one want them.  But based on the response I've been getting on my Facebook fan page after I posted the pictures, people seem to love them!  They are each currently available in my Etsy shop.


For more owl-ish goodness, check out my friend Casey's shop Peaches Products.  It's all her fault I got into owls in the first place!  

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

My Free Shutterfly Photo Book!

Have I mentioned that I love Shutterfly?
Anyone who has seen me in person at a craft show (or even randomly at the store) has seen the one I made last year.  

I carry it in my large purse so I can show people what I do.  Because people don't get the full impact of my work with my feeble attempt to describe it... "I make plush monsters out of recycled clothing".  When I only have that explanation to give them, I get the "Oh that's nice." kind of look.  But once I pull out the book and am able to SHOW them what I do, they get it and are more like "Wow!  This is so cool!"


But my book was starting to fall apart...probably from getting carted around in my purse all the time!  I've been diligently taping the pages back in, but I've been wanting to order a new book with updated pictures.  Wellllll.... Shutterfly just emailed me a promo code for a free 8x8 book this week! (I just had to pay for shipping).  And I just made a new KiraArts Portfolio with pictures of stuff I've made in 2012.  The offer originally expired tonight at midnight, but they extended it a day.  So...if you enter the promo code "SUMMERBOOK", you can get yourself your own free photobook as long as you get it ordered before midnight tomorrow!  Be warned though, I spent most of my day today designing mine!  And that was just with a project already there to edit!  My first book took me a week to get juuuuust right!  But, I AM a bit of a perfectionist.

In addition to getting myself a "free" book, I get a $10 gift certificate/discount promo code if I embed the photobook project on my blog...so here it is! (I hope it works)  Enjoy the sneak peek of my new book!


Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

What's-On-My-Worktable Wednesday: Multicolored Barn Owls

I got a remnant of an interesting floral patterned fleece at Joann's last week. I wanted to make some new Barn Owl style Nubbins out of it.  The white fleece I have that I use for the regular Barn Owls seemed too white.  I didn't have any off-white/cream fleece, so I decided to experiment with making the heart-shaped face a different color.  I've started out with trying turquoise, but I may experiment with other colors later.

 I can't wait to see how these guys turn out!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Vote for the TARDIS in the RNEST Monthly Challenge for September!

Hey there!
Remember the plush Doctor Who TARDIS Police Box I made?  I've entered it in the RNEST Monthly Challenge for September!  The theme for this month is "Geeks Have More Fun!"  And with a smart, quirky hero like the Doctor, who has more fun than Whovians? ;)


Please take a second to jump over to the RNEST Blog and vote for me in the poll in the upper-righthand corner of the page.  As usual, there is NO registering required!  Just click your choice and then click submit! (and you can vote once per computer, so if you have more than one computer and want to give me an extra boost, you can vote multiple times!  You can even vote from your smartphone!)

The poll closes Wednesday night (9/12) at midnight!