I can’t help but notice that Halloween is upon us, everywhere I look is pumpkins, skeletons or black cats. Today in my email I received Lion Brand Yarn’s newsletter and it, too, is decorated with Halloween images. But the images in the newsletter are of projects that you can make.

Crocheted Halloween fun stuff. Here’s my favorites. When you click on the picture, you will be taken to Lion Brand Yarn pattern page.

You must sign up to download or see the pattern. It only takes a minute and then you will be on your way to crocheting your very own skull or wreath or black cat. I think it is time I make a black cat myself. Have fun.

Well, I guess everyone knows by now that the rain came in record amounts to Chicago and Ike slapped Texas silly. We here in East Dallas received only a hint of Ike’s raging winds and rain, just enough to make us glad we don’t live in Galveston or Houston. Galveston will never be the same…. And the Texas seafood industry will take years to recover, no more affordable Texas shrimp and oysters.

But let’s change the subject, shall we? Paper Maché. Or Papier Maché if you’re French speaking. I used to spend a lot of time sticky with paste, creating various objects with newspaper and paste. I made a series of cat heads, brightly painted, of course, that hangs in my kitchen over the sink. A friend in NY asked if she could purchase a couple and I took them all down to photograph them for her to choose which cat heads she wanted. So that got me thinking about Papier Maché again.

So I stumbled upon a few artists working in Papier Maché that I think are just fabulous. These cool cats are from Liat Binyamini Ariel. I love the colors and shapes of her kitties.

Nancy Winn’s animals are created with such personality. I really enjoy this piece, it’s entitled “Dog Paddle”. Such fun.

Dédé au Château has a style that is unique and very appealing. Her creations are quite engaging. Quirky, amusing and most wonderful. Don’t you just adore this dog? She has titled this “The Little King”. Fabulous. Such great ears.

And I’ll leave you with a photo of one of my cat heads. If you click here, you’ll see more of my Papier Maché works.

Enjoy.

If you live in or will be in the Chicago area this weekend, stop by the Renegade Craft Fair and visit the Plush Team at booth #70. Lots of cool squishy stuff will be there in abundance. A pile of my stuffed drawings are making the trip. Not I. Stuck in Texas once again, only this time awaiting Hurricane Ike. Hopefully, he’ll lose a lot of his hot air by the time he gets here. It’s gallery walk time here in Dallas and I thought I’d actually venture out of my studio and check out the local art scene. There is an encaustic art demo near my house that I’m definitely attending. So rain, stay away from Dallas and Chicago.

I have been missing in blog action for a few weeks now. It has been hard for me to return to the computer after toiling away in front of the monitors all day at the job. Besides, all I really want to do is make stuff and my studio is filled with projects awaiting my attention. So that’s where I spend most of my hours away from the job. There is no computer in my studio. But there is lots of yarn and fabric and paint. In the last few weeks, I have produced a bunch of stuffed drawings, four little paintings and Terrance, my latest crocheted critter. He’s hanging out at Critter Central, awaiting adoption. Stop by to meet him.

I have been enjoying myself lately by playing around with Zazzle.com’s customizable Keds shoes. Have you seen this yet? You upload your own images and have sneakers made exactly as you want. Very cool. Of course, they’re not cheap. But still…

Of course I had to try this. I have made two versions of my big mouth cat graphic available as shoes that anyone can purchase. Click on the shoe photo to be whisked to Zazzle for more details.

Have fun, wear cats on your feet!

A few weeks ago I posted regarding the Etsy Plush Street Team’s latest challenge, Let’s All Go To The Fair. Well, I finally created my entry, a pig. I like to visit the livestock at the fair and I find the pigs pretty cute, even when they are being disgusting. So here he is in all his turquoise and purple glory. Another of my stuffed drawings.

We are posting to the Etsy Plush Street Team’s blog and this is my little paragraph:

I remember pigs at the fair, but the ones I remember were big and ugly, but in a cute way. So I made a pig, or shall I say I drew a pig. He’s only cute ’cause I drew him on fun turquoise and purple fabric. Otherwise, he’d never be called cute. Well, maybe…he does have a friendly face. OK, all the pigs are cute at the fair. I think this pig will win a blue ribbon for most unusual coloring. They do have that category, don’t they? To take him home with you, click here.

I was avoiding working today at the day job, perusing some blogs and read about Wordle. How did I miss this cool site? In case you’re like me and have never heard of it, Wordle is a fun but addictive site where you can make your very own word clouds. Word art. You type in the text or paste in some text or do what I did and plug in the link to the RSS feed for this blog and voila, you have word art! The site provides random action or you can fine tune the details. I liked the serendipity of random and like these two versions of my feed. Warning, though, Wordle is a time waster, but in an artistic and even scientific way. Have fun!

I’m a member of the Etsy Plush Street Team, I think I’ve mentioned that before. We are proud to announce that our mascot, P. T. Stitchy can now be found adorning many cool articles of clothing available for purchase by you, the special friends of the Etsy Plush Street Team. Just point your browser towards this link. Take a look at these cool items. This is just a sampling, you can customize to your heart’s delight. Have fun!

Is this not the cutest little dog you have ever seen? I think he is, although I must admit I am biased since I am the one who crocheted him. I think I fall in love with every critter I crochet. I am sad to pack them up and send them away, but I must send them off to live elsewhere or my house would overflow with yarn creatures all begging to be hugged. I can barely keep up with the eight fur critters that want my attention. I would feel so guilty if I didn’t hug the crocheted animals, so it is better that they get hugged by someone other than me.

And this cute guy is on his way to being hugged by a nice lady who provided me with pictures of her dear departed dog named Chance, who she called Fluffy, and granted me the opportunity to create a crocheted version of him. I am so grateful to her for giving me this project. I really enjoyed looking at the photos and trying to interpret his personality and appearance using crocheted yarn and stuffing. When I had completed his creation, I was nervous about whether I had met her expectations and emailed several images for her approval. Her response was better than I could hope for:

“Oh my goodness, I almost cried when I saw him! He looks so much like Fluffy and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you so, so much for doing such an incredible job! I am extremely pleased with how he turned out. Thank you again for everything. I can’t wait to get him!”

I hope she has many happy hours of hugging pleasure.

The Etsy Plush Street Team, of which I am a proud member, is going to the fair these days. We’re in the middle of a two month challenge period of creating plush fair food, fair sideshow attractions and/or fair animals. We’re posting our creations to the team blog. I am always so impressed by the output of this ensemble of creative geniuses. And I am also always intimidated by their sheer talent. So I haven’t begun my contribution to the challenge as of yet. I just finished a custom crochet dog for an Etsy customer, so that’s my excuse. That and the day job. So in the meantime, enjoy my fellow team members’ works.

by Yummy Pancake

by Electric Daisy

by dkoss2