Absolutely Small

What have you been working on?

2009-11-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

Most of last week was taken up by getting creatures ready for Craftland, and by having a cold. (Now there's a fun combination.)
But I still have a few new creations to show!
There's the new little red riding hood for the Blythes:

and a new Chickenpants baby named Starry Eyed Slim:

(so tall & skinny!)

and although most of these guys are heading to Craftland, I managed to save one or two for the shop:

But one of my very favorite things to happen this week wasn't my creation at all:

It was some very thoughtful fan mail! I was sent all these tiny chickens by a very thoughtful girl. I am so bowled over by this that it's still really hard to find words. How does thank you, thank you, thank you sound? I have decided that fan mail is my new favorite thing.

Stay tuned...I have a feeling there will be some really wonderful new creatures to share with you soon. (And, if you're not already on the mailing list, you *might* want to get on there...I have another feeling, which is that I'll be sending a message out soon with a very nice exclusive code indeed.)

Inspiration Friday

2009-11-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

It's really fall!

The Return of Fall Maul
Originally uploaded by 8 Skeins of Danger

Photo by the ever entertaining 8 Skeins of Danger. That fella has a way with toys.

☆ Over on 43 Folders, Merlin Mann posted some useful advice about writing.

I've really been enjoying Summer Pierre's comics-y, journal-y drawings:

Algebra
Originally uploaded by summerpierre

Never before has algebra seemed even remotely interesting. I really like her style!

✧ Natalie Portman's Shaved Head: Beard Lust - This song has been in my Blip.fm playlist nonstop lately: http://blip.fm/~ftw5r

I've been neck deep in getting everything ready for Craftland (and I'm only two days past my deadline! Yeah!), so I haven't had much time to spend online. And although this is completely old news, Dan and I picked up a copy of Firefly last weekend. We'd never seen it before, but had heard good things. And
HOLY COW!
It's really good.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you haven't had tv in years. And if there are spoilers, puhleaaase keep them to yourself. Only two more episodes to go!

Now on to this week's Follow Fridays:

@Jennisg Creator of plushies, and all around cool person.
@IndiebizchicksCrissy is a sweetheart, and generous with sharing her business knowledge.
@PhilBarbato Funny AND crafty guy. And growing one mean beard.
@Nonesuchgarden Fellow Plush Team member and awesome draw-er.
@trinlayk Very fun, very talented, cute avatar, nice person. The whole package!

If you're on Twitter too, feel free to leave your name in the comments. I have a (bad?) habit of following pretty much everyone. Or if you've got a good link for next week's IF, share away!

The Etsy Marketing Tracker

2009-11-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

Okay. So you've read countless articles on online marketing, and spent countless hours doing it. And maybe you feel like you're being swallowed alive by it.
I know that's how I felt. I was having a horrible time keeping it all together. What had I already done? Was it working? I felt like I was going around and around in circles, and never doing enough. So I did what I always do: I made a list. I wrote down what I did every day, and what my results were at the end of each day.
Is it anal retentive? You bet! But it also helped keep me sane, and definitely helps to cut down on the amount of time spent/wasted on marketing.

Click here to download the form.

Using the form is very simple.

To start out a month, save a copy of the file with the name of the month written in the top.
Daily, type out what you've done for marketing in the "Marketing I Did" column. If you've been mentioned on a blog, or received any sort of marketing boost from someone else, write that into the "Mentions, etc." column. At the end of the day, type in how many sales you've had, how many hearts you have, etc. I added a follower spot as well for you to track whatever sort of followers are important to you. Feel free to add to this or take away as you see fit. Make it relevant for you.
How this helps:
At the end of the month, you can compare what you've been doing and what's happened with your Google Analytics report. How much traffic are you getting from relisting/twitter/blogging/whatever? Are your efforts syncing up with your results? Adjust as necessary.

That's all there is to it. Happy marketing!

*Downloading notes: When the new window opens, click on File, then Download, which will give you options for how you want to download it. I exported the file as a Word document. Feel free to share & change this willy nilly, but please let people know you found it here: http://absolutelysmall.blogspot.com Thanks!

Recycling!

2009-11-03T16:27:00.001-08:00

Lemon Juice
Originally uploaded by absolutely small

When I was a little kid, I saw my dad's habit of hoarding bottles and cans for months as smart, and earth friendly. I was especially in it's favor when he offered to split the proceeds with me if I would help him crush the aluminum cans and take them to the recycling place with him. Ways for an 8 year old to make money tend to be limited. Stomp, stomp, stomp.
We'd hop in the truck and drive for miles in the heat to some horrifying smelling place in the middle of nowhere, loud with the sounds of hundreds of pounds of beer bottles being transferred from one container to another. After all the sorting and weighing, I'd be presented with $4.87. Wow! $4.87! I can buy SO MUCH STUFF with this! Like...candy!
My dad still hoards bottles and cans, taking them to the recyclers every so often. He stores them in 5 gallon paint buckets and trash cans. They are delightful to look at.
"Don't toss those bottles out!" He'd say whenever visiting.
"We're not throwing them out, Dad, they'll be picked up by the garbage guys to be recycled."
"Don't you want the money?"
"Uh...I don't really want to go to the recyclers."
"Well then, save them for me."
Being a good daughter, I did. I wound up with bags of recycling in my pantry after all.
When we moved into the new coop, the old lady had left behind years worth of recycling. Maybe there was something to be said about this recycling after all. Score! I thought. We'll make some money off of this house yet! I too began to hoard the bottles and cans, for months. Delightfully overflowing garbage bags adorned our back porch, until I couldn't take it anymore and took them to the recyclers.
45 minutes of feeding bottle after bottle after bottle into an automated machine while talking to the guy who worked there about his son's art education later, I had made...$8.05!
$8.05? I kept bags of garbage on my porch for months for $8.05? I made a special trip and wasted a bunch of time to shoot the breeze with a guy for $8.05? We looked like alcoholics with a hoarding problem for $8.05?
All the cans are gone now, and our porch has never looked better. We'll by all means keep recycling...but no more hoarding cans for cash, thank you.

New Things

2009-11-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a few new goodies from the Absolutely Small studios this week.
There are some new Chickenpants who are ready to fly the coop:
Willy:

Chickenpants Slim:

Marzipan:

Lil' Orphan Chickenpants:

And I think a few others. I'm trying to list one a day (M-F anyway). Craftland preparations and the general busyness of living get in the way sometimes.

A new stop motion short short, made from the crumbs of Let Them Eat Cake:

One more little critter:

He's only 1" tall! I just started making these. I wanted to see just how small I could make my pompom headed dogs...turns out the answer is "very".

Inspiration Friday

2009-10-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

The miniature obsession continues! Really, how could it stop when I stumble upon things like this:

All these photos are the work of one lady: Annina on Flickr. She not only collects amazing miniatures, she makes her own. (Including lots of tiny Ikea replicas. So cute!) Especially from the thumbnails, it's hard to tell these are all miniature environments. I don't think I've ever seen miniature clutter before...but I like it!

Meanwhile, over at Tinyhaus, she shows you how to make miniature trees:

These mini trees and parks are simply wonderful!
Here's the tree tutorial!
And here's where they make tiny parks out of said trees.

And finally, for those of you who don't have any use at all for tiny things:

Heh heh.

Finally finally, here are my Follow Friday recommendations:

@Needlings - A wonderful artist and fellow Plush Team member.
@Beefranck cracks me up...and her avatar is so interesting!
@WeirdBugLady Another plush superstar!
@PlushroomSoup -Super original plush artist, and sweet lady to boot!
@ImaginaryThomas Again with the cool avatar, and always funny.

Life in the country

2009-10-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Boy, it must be charming. Living in the country, and all that.
Yes. Yes it is. And also...not so much.
Here's a typical morning in the country:
You are woken up extra early by insane barking dogs in the house. What's the commotion? You run to the living room to see deer in the back yard. Lots of deer. 8-10 deer. This is normal. So you return to bed, only to be woken up 10 minutes later by what sounds like small dogs being torn limb from limb. "The coyotes are here!" you think. "All those dang deer finally brought them upon us!" But no, this time it's the neighbor's dog. The tiny red-dirt colored one with the nightmarish bark. Ha ha! He used to be white, but going outside has turned him salmon colored. Ha! You return to bed, only to be woken AGAIN, this time by what sounds like extra loud knocks on the door. "Now, who could that be? I hope they don't mind being yelled at." You fling open the front door...and no one is there. Yet the knocking continues. Really loud ghosts? Nope, woodpeckers drilling giant holes into your siding. Ha ha! Oh, nature. You yell at the bird, the bird squaks at you and flies off. For now.

In addition to the 8-10 roaming neighborhood does and babies, there's a herd of bucks. They too are drawn to your yard. "Hey, hey Tony! This looks like a great place to fight!" "You're right, Toby! Listen to that small dog barking applause. Engarde!"
As they commence locking horns, the rest of their herd eats what is left of your yard. Then, they poop all over it. Did you know that deer don't just poop pellets? Amazingly, they poop giant dog like things. Also amazing: dogs love to eat this, and then throw it up on your clean carpets. Why this abomination of deer digestion? Hey, is that your next door neighbor feeding them by hand? What is that, bread? YOU'LL BRING THE COYOTES DOWN UPON US ALL, WOMAN!
Wild turkeys also cruise through your yard. Lots of them. This too will cause your dogs to have conniptions.
Why all the wildlife? Well, you made the choice to move into a "gated" community way out in the country, which you knew was nuts but hey! they had cable internet so how bad could it be? And guess what one of the 100s of CC&Rs is? No killing of deer or other wild life.

You start thinking about 10 foot tall fences and guns with silencers several times a day. How much poison would it take to take down 8-10 deer, and just how deep would you need to bury them? Would the neighbors notice? Do you think they might come over with shovels and help? Shock collars to get dogs to stop barking...unethical? Or just unethical enough to work?
All this is just what is happening in the battle field that is what is left of your yard. Never mind how my younger brother opened the door one morning to find a bear sitting right in front of said door, eating his garbage. And how seated, he looked directly eye to eye with it. We won't talk about the rattlesnakes, or the fires that consume the other side of the canyon every summer and fall. Or how a bear fell into another friend's hot tub. Or the giant unexplained monster bugs. Or how you get to see chickens and goats frolicking every day. Exotic cows in the fields, grazing peacefully. Gorgeous views. How quiet it is at night, and how you can see so many stars. The sinkhole/possible mine that suddenly opened up under your parent's house. How we don't have pet stores, we have feed stores, and high school boys wearing cowboy garb unironically (hay bucking champions!) load the heavy stuff into the car for you. (Seriously!)
Yes, life in the country really is charming.

Fall wish list

2009-10-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ah, fall. The leaves are changing, the air is getting crisper, and all the bugs in the world are trying to invade my house. Oh Fall.
Here's a few things I've been admiring on Etsy in the fall-ish vein:

The Real Ultimate Power Cha-Cha Ring by Pollyanna Cowgirl is so fantastic.

Blythes get cold, too. No worries, Hilarywagstaff has you covered.

Maybe caramels aren't just a fall thing, but something about the cooler weather gets me craving them. These fleur de sel caramels from Bliss Candies look perfect!

New season, new purse. Well, sometimes. In any case, the purses by Pine Blossoms are simply amazing:

What's catching your eye this fall?

I've been tagged!

2009-10-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Lemon Shortbread to fill out this thing. And I'm in just such a mood to do so.

The rules:
-answer the questions
-replace a question that you don't like, with one by your choice
-add one more question
-tag 8 people to continue the game of tagging

What is the thing that makes you happy?
SSRIs?

Coffee or tea?
Coffee and tea, and lots of both.

What’s for dinner?
Leftover mujadarrah from last night

What was the last thing you bought?
A kiddie pool, for my tortoise Henry.

What are you listening to right now?
I was listening to my pug bark like crazy FOR HOURS at the deer in the back yard. Now she's sitting on my lap, and I'm listening to the other pug chew on a toy.

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Can it be shoes? Because I have a pair of Betsey Johnson heels that are just perfect. Black & pink fabric tied in a bow on top of of wood soles. AND they're comfortable enough to wear all day, which is just freaky.

What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
Green tea, or that plain frozen yogurt they have at Yogen Fruuz, but with raspberries on top. And the black raspberry ice cream from Graeters. I really like ice cream.

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you?
I really like her art! It's super cute! I don't know her that well, but she seems very sweet. ^-^

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Could you just drop me off in Tokyo with a few fresh credit cards? Shibuya station please. Thaaanks.

Which language do you want to learn?
Japanese, still.

What is your favourite colour?
Green!

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
A new blonde Blythe doll. Or maybe a passel of Re-Ment goodies. Or maybe a new pair of boots. Red ones. Okay, I may need more than £100.

How much do you rate your creativeness?
(I'm changing this one to: What is your favorite animal?)
Chickens! And pugs. French Bulldogs, too.

Describe your personal style?
Recovering conservative with a dash of goth, a swirl of twee and half a pint of odd.

What are you going to do after this?
Get crackin' on the work! Which in this case means stuffing and sewing a lot of plushies for Craftland.

What are your favourite movies?
I really like the Studio Ghibli movies. Elizabethtown. The original Star Wars trilogy has a very, very dear spot in my heart, too.

What inspires you?
Keeping a sketchbook and drawing from life inspires me like nothing else. Which is probably why I avoid doing it like the plague. Also, working inspires me. Busy hands seem to generate ideas.

What is your favourite fruit?
Raspberries.

Do you collect something?
I collect chickens, Re-Ment miniatures, Blythe dolls, compliments, shoes, neurosis, and tiny cute things.

How many hours do you sleep a day?
9 seems to be the magic number, but it varies all the way up to 12ish a day.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up?
It really varies.

What is your favourite smell?
My husband, Dan. Is that gross? Also the Nordstrom shoe department, bacon, charred meat, and cigarette smoke on asphalt. (I don't eat meat or smoke, by the way.)

What is your biggest regret?
Being paralyzed by what people thought for so long.

What are you most proud of?
Hmm. I guess sticking with a creative project for 2+ years now. (Absolutely Small, of course.) I used to have real trouble completing things and bringing them to the light of day. Not anymore! I've learned to be a lot bolder in recent years, which is a big change from the little chicken I used to be. I'm proud of that too. (Maybe proud is the wrong word. Happy seems to fit better!)

Cats or dogs?
Dogs!

What’s your biggest fashion mistake?
Being far too conservative when I was younger and truly could have gotten away with more.

What is your guilty TV pleasure?
All of it. I haven't had tv reception in years, but we do at our new house. It's bizarre to see it with commercials and everything. I like the noise, but I always feel like I should be reading or doing something else.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
An artist or a writer. Living in the big city in an APARTMENT! (Because that's where all artists live, don't you know?)

If you could meet any person dead or alive who would it be?
Do fictional characters count? I have a long list of those.

What is your biggest dream?
To have two small residences - one where there's snow, and one where there's heat. And to be able to switch between them willy nilly. To be able to live in Japan for awhile, too.

What is your favorite book when you were a child?
I remember really enjoying the Andrew Lang colored fairy story books. And a lot of other obscure "fairy tales of the world" type books. I have an aunt who is a children's librarian, and she would send me great boxes of old books. Wonderful stuff.

If today was your last day on earth what would you be doing?
Probably not sitting here typing. Hunkered down with my family and friends, wearing great heels and eating eating eating.

And here is the question I am adding:
If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Here are the folks I am tagging:
-MoonsCreations
-Felicia's Fluffy Flowers
-Samaria Project
-Mincing Mockingbird
-Frantic Meerkat
-Plushroom Soup
-Keep Calm & Kerry On
-Star Munki

New Chickenpants Stop Motion!

2009-10-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Drumroll please.
Moving three times in a year can really put a damper on things. Like making Chickenpants movies. It can just suck the will to move things around quarter inch by quarter inch right out of you.
Well, those times are over! Allow me to present the first Chickenpants movie in waaaaay too long: Let them eat cake!
Alas, it can only be viewed tiny here. Hop on over to Youtube to see it larger. (There are details people! Funny details!)
(here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwoCvTxQ9eo)
Enjoy! Rate it! Comment! All that good stuff! But mostly enjoy!
Update: it's also on Flickr, Blip.Tv, and Vimeo.

Inspiration Friday

2009-10-23T01:09:00.000-07:00

This week's Inspiration Friday is all videos. With, of course, some Follow Friday reccomendations thrown in.
First up: Hachimitsu Rippu No Tarte Tatin by Hazel Nuts Chocolate.

I once had this song stuck in my head for about a month straight. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. I was overjoyed *overjoyed, I tell you!* to find it on YouTube. I've searched for the cd in vain for about two years now. Quite a feat in our lovely digital age. If you find it, let me know!

Next: Bunny carnival!!

This one found via Cute Overload. It's an ad for the NY Lottery, believe it or not.

Politics With Charles always makes me laugh:

Even though it's a year old already.

On to the Follow Fridayness:
@Jazz_Katt always has amusing things to say.
@ggmossgirl runs an adorable shop, and has the most amazing doll collection EVER. No, seriously.
@inkblotsart is a talented artist & all around friendly person.
@Locket2You has fun taste in music, a good sense of humor, and a baby on his avatar. Nice.
I don't usually like to link to "famous" people, let alone "famous" people who don't follow me, but darn it,@BillCorbett is just too great. And he replied to me once, so that is awesome.

If you're on twitter too, or just have a link that is too good to keep to yourself, feel free to post it in the comments!

Etsy Marketing...the non snarky version, with just a dash of sarcasm

2009-10-20T17:39:00.001-07:00

Oh, we had some fun talking about Etsy at the Etsy Marketing people's expense, didn't we? Good times, good times.
As promised, I'll be positive and have something useful to say today. Well, I'll try anyway. But first, a disclaimer: I am so not any sort of marketing expert. I don't spend my free time pouring over papers full of data about target markets or anything. Possibly because I don't have any free time. And if I did, I'd probably just take a nap.
So here's a few things I've learned from listening to people who know what they're talking about, mixed with a healthy amount of trial and error.
I figured there was going to be an awful lot of text and no photos, so I filmed myself fumbling through a few of the tips. I wound up just talking about Twitter and re-listing. Talking takes a really long time!

Yeah. Five minutes long, and lots of background pug snorting. Maybe I should stick to the typing of words.
Here's a few things that I should have said:
♛ If you don't like Twitter, don't use it. Seriously. If any given social networking tool rubs you the wrong way, just leave it. There are others.
♛ A hundred followers is probably not enough. A few hundred followers is probably not enough either. More is better...to a certain point.
♛ Thank people who re-tweet you. Comment on things people tweet, and when they comment on your stuff, comment back (when possible). Be sweet.
There's more. Two and half year's worth of more. But let's just leave it at this for today.

Here are the links I promised:
Twitter Karma - Lets you follow/unfollow people who you are following...but in bulk! Follow.
Buzzom- Like Twitter Karma, but with stats. Less buggy, too.
The Etsy Goal Spreadsheet- Something I made up.
@absolutelysmall - Me, but on Twitter
The Needle- Collaborative plush blog extraordinaire, with generally very cheap PW ads.

Etsy Marketing...the snarky version

2009-10-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

I've been selling on Etsy for two and a half years now. Which means I've been researching and working my butt off at marketing for two and half years. Here are my snarky, sarcastic observations. Take them seriously at your own risk.

♂ If you are a guy, things tend to work better for you. No, really. Etsy appears to be flooded with ladies, and men who flaunt their manliness seem to have an advantage. (A crafty man? Swoon!) Is it that they are naturally better at this stuff than women? Unlikely. My guess is it's something to do with facial hair.

☝ If you want Etsy traffic, the best way to get it is to fashion yourself as an Etsy expert and start giving advice away. Mine those forums! Collect that data! Slap it into a pdf and baby, you've got something that will really sell.

✍ Twitter. Blogging. Facebook. Do these things religiously, and you will have all the traffic you want. Or...maybe not, depending on how well you do them.

Ⓐ ALL CAPS ARE DEATH. REMEMBER THIS. AREN'T YOU ALREADY TUNING THIS OUT? WHAT? YOU AREN'T SUDDENLY OVERCOME WITH THE DESIRE TO PURCHASE WHATEVER IS ADVERTISED IN ALL CAPS? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. PERHAPS IF I ADD A BUNCH OF ~`*!L@@K!&-~*

☄ Photos. Your photos are not good enough. You need to take better ones. Hire Annie Leibovitz if you must. Because you have that sort of margin built into your one of a kind baby bow-wipe-onesie. Don't you??

☺ Give away your products to random people in the forums who ask for them! This will surely bring you customers!

Okay, I think I've completely snarked myself out for the day. Come back tomorrow, and I promise I'll have something positive and actually useful. (Like actual Etsy marketing tips. Oh yes.)

Fight Like A Man! (Er, Chicken!)

2009-10-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Things are getting rowdy in the Chickenpants coop. And it's all the fault of these two chickens!
Firecracker Tendercrisp:

Firecracker Tendercrisp Chickenpants is every bit as wild as his name implies. He's a wrestler, well known for his signature move of spinning his enemies over his head while tickling them. Yeah, it's a bit disturbing.

and

Lightningbolt Tenderthigh:

Lightningbolt Tenderthigh Chickenpants is the arch-rival of Firecracker Tendercrisp Chickenpants. He's the Vader to his Skywalker, the deodorant to his underarm, the werewolf to his vampire.
They're the first wrestler Chickenpants ever. I think finding all that wrestling stuff in the basement may have put the idea into my head.
Extra weirdness! Although they were released on the same day, Lightningbolt Tenderthigh has waaaay more views! Does that mean he's winning? Who's your favorite? And, naturally, this begs the question: WHICH ONE WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT?

Inspiration Friday with a dash of Follow Friday

2009-10-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

This week I've found myself creatively stymied to the point of thinking I'd be slightly better off as a temp, when an Etsy success mail arrived with this article:
Pikaland's 9 tips to be more creative

Oh, sweet relief! Some excellent tips in there, and excellent links. The photo above (by Pikaland, of course!) is of the wonderful zine she puts out called Good to Know. I want all of them. The current issue is centered on the question: Do you think that artists need to have degrees/qualifications from art school in order to be one? Did you study art? Does it matter?
Shocker, I used to worry about the answer to that one all the time.

One of my favorite comics makers, Vanessa Davis, has a page up on this Where The Wild Things Are tribute.
Tony Millionaire has his name on there, too, but the link is dead so far. Here's hoping we get to see that soon.

Felicia's Fluffy Flowers always seems to have a dose of sanity and...well, southern comfort, just when I need it most, too. I can't even choose a photo to share with you from her blog. They're all quite lovely!

Okay, so here's the Follow Friday part. For those of you not yet acquainted with all the Twitter jargon, Follow Friday is when you link to people on Twitter that you think other people should be following, as they are just so awesome. (Well, that's the Pollyanna version, anyway.)

@moonscreations makes the most darling bunnies you have ever seen. No, really.
@whskr always has interesting things to say, and often links to really helpful crafty buisness articles.
@susarto is another plush makin' artist...who also happens to make amazing mixed media pieces as well.
@loucreates is a sweetheart. A very generous sweetheart!
@LolaChickenpant is not me. Seriously. I have nothing to do with this, but I really enjoy reading her tweets!
@pollymarie is actually Pollyanna Cowgirl, maker of awesome jewelry that will always win you compliments, and runner of one wonderful blog.

Are you on Twitter, too? Leave your twitter name below if you wish!

DIY Dollhouses

2009-10-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm just a little obsessed with tiny environments. Blame my upbringing chock full of make believe and books like Hitty: Her First Hundred Years.
A chance clicking on Flickr led me to the most amazing diy dollhouse ever. She turned an Ikea bookcase (bought 2nd hand, on Ebay!) into a retro manner. It's still a work in progress, she says...but wow, is it ever an inspiration.

Bedtime for Daphne
Originally uploaded by @lollipop@

You can check out the whole set here. That colorful room divider/curtain thing? Handmade, baby.
Added bonus: it makes my Re-Ment addiction seem like nothing. A great thing to show the husband when the tiny boxes start showing up again...
I'm thinking the new house needs a dedicated dolly bookshelf. I've actually started one. It isn't nearly done yet, but you can see the very beginnings of it on my flickr.
Check out this room made from vintage and new miniatures:
It's from a blog called Call of the Small. Love that!
Here's a blog post that has the most wonderful tiny wall paper. (And windowsill! And tiny plants!)

Re-Ment Chateau #7
Originally uploaded by pbrigitte zombuki

One more Flickr find:

Doll house - the living room is almost finished
Originally uploaded by lilolOops

Wow.
So. Seen any good dollhouses lately? Obsessed minds want to know!

Oh. My. Gosh.

2009-10-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for more finds from the depths of the bowels of the basement? Are you ready for finds that involve cake? Cake with boobies?
Brace yourselves, and shield any kiddie's eyes. No, seriously.
Imagine going through a box, pulling out prayer card after prayer card, and then suddenly, YOU SEE THIS:

Hey baby, nice armless legless torso!

Are those plungers?

Is that breast personalized with a mole?
Oh the horror.

I don't even know which aspect of this cake is more terrible. The rubbery looking plunger nips? 70's man about to take a bite? The MOLE which says, hey, not only is this cake lewd, it's modeled after SOMEONE YOU KNOW WHO IS PROBABLY AT THIS PARTY! Or is it the "Happy Birthday DADDY" inscription? Yeah, that may be it.

In which I've been working on new Chickenpants

2009-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

It hasn't been all sewing teeny tiny Blythe clothes over here. Nope. There has been an awful lot of skulking around Ebay as well.
And always more Chickenpants:
I created this custom fella for my Dad:

And this chica for MonkeyDogStudios:

I've been working on a new brood for the shop, too.
Cynthia has already been posted:

but Catherine has not (yet).

Oh my goodness, the kitten fabric. When I pulled that out of the Reprodepot scrap bag, I laughed and laughed. And cried a little. But mostly laughed.
I also finally got around to making some Chickenpants carrier pouches to keep the little rapscallions tidy when traveling around with you:

They make rather fetching sleeping bags, too.

I'll be posting new CPs to the shop throughout the week.
What do you think of the new brood so far? ^-^

Inspiration Friday

2009-10-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the lovely things I've seen this week:

Purl Bee shared this pattern for how to make a tie. It never occurred to me that I could make one of these before, but I'd love to try it!

Here's a great clip that was found by the ever amazing Pollyanna Cowgirl. It's Lewis C.K. on Conan. "Everything's amazing, nobody's happy."
Funny how these sorts of things pop up when you most need a reality check. (Chello, Jonathan Adler Barbie couch I absolutely had to have?) (Did I just type Chello?)(Yeah...I really did have to have this.)

I just finished reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann. It's nonfiction about an explorer who disappeared searching for El Dorado. Fascinating stuff, and full of descriptions of the horrors of traveling in the Amazon. Yikes. Remind me never to go there! Still, fascinating stuff.

My Paper Crane posted a tutorial on how to make surprise balls. I became completely obsessed with these for a while after I found I could no longer buy them in my favorite junk shops.
(photo (c) heidi kinney, of course!)

What fun stuff have you found this week? Hungry minds & eyes want to know!

How To Make Blythe Hangers

2009-10-08T11:26:00.001-07:00

As those of you following my creative endeavors know, I've recently driven completely off the tracks and am now spending entirely too much time sewing tiny clothes. Once you sew all those tiny clothes, you have a problem, though. How are you going to store all those tiny things? Barbie hangers are fetching absurd sums on Ebay and Etsy. (And my recent Blythe habit hasn't just consumed a lot of time, it's consumed a lot of money, too!)
The good news is, with just a tiny amount of tinkering and a pipe cleaner, you can do it yourself.
Start with a 6" length of pipe cleaner:

Measure out the middle 2 1/4 inches:

(Actually, you want to leave about 1.5" in the front, and 2" in the back. But you don't have to freak out about it.)
Fold up the edges:

Fold the left side in, and around the right side:

Pull the tail of the right side up straight:

Then bend it round your finger to make a hook:

(Or a pencil, or the dowel the clothes will hang on)
Ta da!

You can of course make them from larger pipe cleaners to accommodate wider necklined items. It's really easy to just fiddle around with these things and bend them to your will.
Final step: make a bunch more:

That's it!

Video reviews from a sick, sick mind

2009-10-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well hey there, lovely people. I wrote this little post when I had a cold a few weeks ago. I find myself with a sick husband in the house (aka distractions like crazy), so I think I can still post it. Enjoy?

I've had a cold, which means I've been parked in front of tv screens even more than usual. I've discovered that we have some tv channels. Said discovery was quickly followed up by the realization that there is still nothing on. And that Jay Leno is no longer funny, and possibly slightly racist. Wait...was he ever funny? I can't remember.
I drug myself out of the house during a brief "I'm WELL!" stint for groceries and 9. 9 was...eh. I expected better. I don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say I am awfully tired of movies that hammer you over the head with the "The world is in your hands. Are you going to ruin it again? ARE YOU? RECYCLE THAT CAN!!" message. Hey, movie. I was brought up in the 80's. We were told there would be no more gasoline by the year 2000, and that we'd all die in a burning trash pile by 2001. You can't scare me. And yes, I did recycle that can.
Although, to be fair, there were plenty of views of little devices made with cast off human things, which I always enjoy.
Alex brought over Wolverine: Origins, which I had not seen. This clip is better than that whole movie, and sums it up fairly well:

Curioser and Curiouser...

2009-10-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

We've been chipping away at the boxes the old lady left behind in the basement. We've gone through maybe a dozen of them so far, and we've barely scratched the surface. Gauging from the weight of what's left, it looks like there are a lot of moldy books in our futures.
Some of the more interesting finds include:
* a very small kid's size Get US out of UN t-shirt
* lots & lots of John Birch Society stuff...including information for a kid's summer camp.
* More prayer cards than you can shake a set of rosary beads at
* Old newspapers complete with full page cigarette ads:

* Books. And books. And oh, hey! More books! Old books. First edition books. Books I am now trying to sell on ebay. Can I interest you in a 1929 copy of O. Henry's Finest?
* A swim cap
* Tons of vintage patterns, some of them very old and very cute!
* Hundreds of lids to containers that are long gone
* A bunch of really cute cards from the 30's:

* Three movie projectors
* More Avon promotionals than you can shake a handful of John Birch Society pamphlets at
* A wresting bumper sticker:

* And more! So, so, so much more...

And, perhaps the weirdest and saddest thing of all: a greeting card with the following written inside:
Dear Mrs. G -
Thanks for all the rides home. I really appreciate them. And congratulations on finding your daughter after so long!
Love - C.W.

What? WHAT? No seriously, WHAT? I want details!! Also, this makes it a lot harder to mock her hoarding problem. Once you loose something as important as a daughter, I'm sure all the screws are going to come loose in your head. You go on and save that 1973 Publisher's Clearing house packet. And that other Publisher's Clearing House packet. And the Reader's Digest one, too. And all those looser lottery tickets. And...

On that note, I'm trying to profit off of someone else's hoarding problem. Hop on over to the shop to have a peek at the best of the gems. And as we pull up more stuff, I start to worry more and more about developing a hoarding problem myself. Yikes!

Inspiration Friday

2009-10-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here's some things I've been enjoying this week:

Cleveland tourism video - just how I remember it from my travels!

Totally awesome comic about a dog

Check out this collage by Mincing Mockingbird...the sharp of eye among you may recognize the kid from Almost Twelve. Yay!

Yoda's school photo

True whether you're an illustrator or a plushier:

the perils of being an illustrator with access to the internet
Originally uploaded by gemma correll
Gemma Correll, you are wonderful.

Beebalou's enchanted garden diorama

Very much enjoying Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds.
Tons of color pictures of chickens, plus helpful descriptions. For example, did you know that guinea fowl make a noise that sounds like "buck-wheat". Neither did I. But now we do. Aren't you inspired?

One expensive week.

2009-09-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

The week started out beyond awesome. Dan said he'd pay for half of a new Blythe (I'd been majorly jonesing). Woot! And thusly I ordered a Punkaholic People. Yay!

A day or so passed with dancing and rejoicing, etc. Then I noticed Topanga was limping a little. Upon closer inspection, she wasn't just limping. She was bleeding from the toe (OUCH), AND her lady parts were all red and swollen and horrifying. The scooting. Oh, the scooting! Poor dog!
An unexpected expensive vet visit followed this discovery.

Anyway, Topanga's back with pills, ointments, and a very infected ear. (An ear infection? Just for the heck of it, apparently.)
Anyway, how are you? Seen any good vets lately?

New Hooded Capes!

2009-09-28T14:16:00.001-07:00

Here's a few little somethings that I've been working on. I drafted a new pattern and everything.
These ones are near & dear to my heart: hooded capes for Chickenpants!
All that amazing fabric I've been hoarding has been calling my name lately. Plus, what is cuter than a small creature in a hood? NOTHING!

I've been working on other Chickenpants/Blythe accessories lately, too. Things like:

vinyl wings
and gothy tutus:

the Robert Smith model...
and the Siouxsie Sioux:

What do you think?