Fairytale Rooftops

A glimpse of my new miniature sculptures! I just can't decide if these are gnome homes or fairy homes :) Maybe a little of both...

I'm excited to show you the whole little magical village in the next day or so. Stay tuned!

Thoreauvian Etsy Treasury

Etsy Treasury love continues! I can't believe it! Another one of my owl sculptures AKILINA has landed in the Thoreauvian "Cabin in the Woods" Treasury, curated once again by wonderful LaTouchables. Walden is a staple in our book diet, so I'm loving this Treasury too. Lotsa cute stuff so enjoy the Treasury before it expires April 30th.

Have a nice Tuesday!

The New Redheads

My post title would make a good rock band name, yes? I'm giddy about my latest prints, the Redheaded Pillow Children. Girl and Boy are now up in my shop, available individually- though they also make a fetching set (I kinda planned it that way :o).
These illustrations are printed on archival 8.5x11" matte paper with archival pigment inks. *Watermark will not appear on your print.

I love the faux bois (wood grain) on the boy. Do take a peek!

Have a relaxing Monday evening! xoxo

"N" is for Nest

Rob and I took a lovely short walk today (as we often do) in between the raindrops sort of speaking. Chicago has had steady on/off showers since yesterday, and looks like more H2O coming tomorrow. The moisture is making everything bloom, so I can't complain. I took some pics along our stroll for you:

Birds seem to come up with the most imaginative places to build a little nest, don't they? I've seen many a' nest in unexpected "industrial" nooks. These birds seem to know their alphabet, how else could they so appropriately chose the "N" for Nest? There was an unoccupied "Z" and even an "O" (a good nest shape I would think). Let me just add "B" is for Bird, and Brilliant!

Forest friends, a small herd of spring deer (5 of them). I used the zoom feature on the camera, as I'm a believer in "forest etiquette" which means respecting their/our space and treading lightly. Also, I didn't want to disturb Miss Pinky Tongue's mid-day snack:

So sweet!

After our walk I had a lovely surprise today! I found out that BRONTE Owl is featured in his second Treasury! He must be trying to keep up with AODHAN Gnome (see previous post). You can see BRONTE in Etsy Treasury "Mediterranean Blue" curated by LaTouchables (thank you!) until April 28. I love this Treasury, so full of turquoise blues - one of my favorite colors. I'm so flattered for all the Etsy love, it is a great community they have going on there. "N" is also for Nice, maybe the birds knew that too. :o)

More Gnome Love Going Around

Little AODHAN Miniature Gnome (the last of my rainbow children) is getting a lot of Etsy lovin'! He's now featured in his second Treasury this month! It was curated by lovely Sarah John Afana (thank you!). Be sure to check out Sarah's shop and the other unique items in her Treasury.

In KLAY MAN news: the elusive no.6 is now up in the shop! He's a little shy but has finally come around to say hello to the world (he'll do anything for a marshmallow, little bugger).

Have a terrific Thursday!

Swiss Misses & Little Houses

Look at my new wooden dollies that arrived today! They are called "Swiss Miss mother & daughter" by sweet Etsy seller Mooshoopork. I just love how clean and simple they are, with the two tiny dots for eyes (ya gotta love it). Be sure to check out Kelly's shop for her adorable painted wooden dolls.

Now what is this strangeland of organic shaped houses with beaded rooftops?

It's my new little magical village of sculpted houses and tall wise trees. These are works-in-progress just to give you a sneak peek of things to come! I'm loving the way my mini village is coming along. And yes, that is an itsy bitsy pig taking a sun bath on a rooftop, which is what I'd like to be doing right now :)

xoxo

Procuring Curious Supplies

The Chicago drizzle has yet to let up, going on 3 days straight of rainfall. Something about the overcast skies and pitter pattering of raindrops put me in the mood for "gathering" things. So I went on a (small) mission today to procure some crafting necessities for upcoming projects I have swirling around in my head. And I'm just delighted with my little bundle of goodies, even if they are quite humble and simple.

I brought home some adorable miniature glass bottles with corks, natural raffia, an assortment of old wooden shapes, a tiny box of tumbled gemstones, and these cool pencils topped with a miniature rock collection (the cap is a removable eraser). Little things to make little things!

Talk soon..xoxo

KLAY MAN #1 Gets His 15 Minutes of Fame

In all his bald, miniature, monochrome glory KLAY MAN #1 had the distinguished honor to grace the front page of Etsy today (trumpets sounding)! I just got home from the gym and happened to check Etsy before making lunch, and it was a good thing I did. Thanks Etsy!!

KLAY MAN no.5 is now up in the shop. I've been slow at adding the rest of them.. since there are only 9 in this limited edition series. But I will try to get the final four up soon!

Have a marvelous Monday!

Bye Bye Chain Link Fence!

Hallelujah! The chain link fence is coming down! How I've waited for this moment since the day we moved into our house 1 1/2 years ago. The weeds sandwiched between the neighbors fence and our chain link was driving us nuts. So now free of the offending eyesore (at least on one side of the yard) we can commence planting our mini prairie. Today I used water for the first time from our overflowing water barrel~ and how the clean water flowed excitedly from the little spout.. as if it couldn't wait to be of some use :O) I admit I felt a bit like a giddy pioneer woman with my large water pitcher, turning and watering the compost bin. Such simple pleasures.

Tomorrow we're heading to the nursery to pick out clematis for the cedar lattice we're attaching to the garage. Spring fever has officially begun :)

Have a delightful weekend, and hopefully a plant-y one!

New Bear ePattern #4 Marshmallow Peanutte!

At long last! I'm so happy to present my fourth ePattern: Marshmallow Peanutte! In this pattern I show you how to make a cute muzzled bear with footpads. The original bear had paper clay sculpted eyes, so I made a substitution in the pattern. The new ePattern is now up in my shop! What a fun project for the weekend!

Some quick sketches of new little bears...

and a neat stack of hand-dyed, short pile mohair that they will be born from. Bears are in the making!! Fun Fun!

Have a Terrific Thursday :)

Digger from Down Under

Guess what? I'm playing hostess for an entire month to a teeny little fella all the way from Australia. His name is Digger. The chronicles of this globe trotting teddy will be the feature story in an Australian teddy bear magazine. He is to spend a month living with a teddy bear artist, have the highlights of his visit recorded, and then be forwarded on to another (willing) bear artist. When Art Rogers asked if I would like to take care of Digger, well.. how could I say no? So Digger made the hop from Missouri to the Windy City.

It's okay little fella.. you're in Chicago now. Better keep your coat on a bit longer.. it's chilly for springtime.

Digger travels safely inside his Aussie cardboard tube (within a shipping box of course). That's about all I can say for now, the rest will be documented in the forthcoming article. It will be a hoot to see all the places tiny Digger has been!

xoxo

Spring Showers Bring Good Things

It's raining cats n' dogs here in Chicago! Our rain barrel is overflowing, just dieing to use it to water some plants (that is, when we get a'planting, which will be soon!). We've got 2 compost bins in the yard, one I made from a large plastic garbage can (with animal-proof snap down lid) by drilling air holes in it. That one I started about 1 1/2 yrs ago and we used most of the compost for last fall's plantings. Our new compost bin is the Earth Machine.

Chicago has a great program for residents that offers deeply discounted rain barrels and Earth Machines every year. Finally last year we found out the when/ where and got in line! And I'm proud to say it was a LOOONG line. I don't care if it looks like a Dalek parked in our yard, I'm a Dr. Who fan anyways (the Tom Baker years).


On a daily basis I feed our yard "Dalek" cuttings/trimmings of produce, egg shells, coffee grinds, brown paper, leaves (saved from last fall), even dryer lint is compostible. I can't stand the thought of waste, especially when it can be turned into the "black gold": fertilizer.



The spring shower today has brought yet another Etsy Treasury! Curated by the lovely chyrls (she's been SO good to me!): Spring Showers-of birds and greens by mother nature. My mini Gnome Buddha Bear AODHAN is featured, he's the last little bugger looking for a home.. and hopes to bring you sunshine and rainbows and spring miracles :) Take a peek!

Have a lovely Monday! xo

Bronte Owlie has Landed in a Treasury!

It's Treasury madness! I'm so flattered that another creation of mine has been featured in Etsy Treasury this month. Little BRONTE Owlie was chosen by the sweet Miss Chyrls (thanks hon!) for Etsy Loves... a Taste of Country Inside and Out. It features a fresh assortment of avian & country cool finds, so take a peek!

Glendan & his wee sidekick Oonagh have been adopted!

Today I'll be getting the final Owls and Gnome Buddha Bears posted in my shop, so that leaves plenty of time for hunting chocolate eggs :O)
Update: only 1 Gnome is left! Be sure to visit the Owlies, they make good friends too :)

Have a fabulous weekend!

A Rainbow of New Owlies and Gnomes!

*C*O*L*O*R*I*F*F*I*C*!

These little children of the rainbow will be posted in my Etsy shop starting today and continuing over the weekend!
If you'd like to reserve a colorful mini Owlie or Gnome Buddha Bear just e-mail me :)
(Gnome #3 is available, others are SOLD)

:: click pics for larger images ::

Happy Passover and Easter!

xoxoxo

Best Friends Treasury

Such a nice thing happened today. Just the sorta thing I needed to boost my spirits as I've been struck with a bad case of stomach virus, which has kept me bedridden all day.
chyrls put together a lovely Etsy treasury about Best Friends, and my print of the same title is featured! chyrls, what a sweetheart, and her shop is super cute (I love her miniature cards).

This is about all the typing I can do, will check in later when I'm feeling 100%.

Thank god Rob stayed home from work to monitor me. A best friend indeed ;o)

New / Recent Web Sites to Peruse!

Recently I've had the honor to design new web sites for 2 amazing fellow teddy bear artists: Deb Beardsley and Art Rogers. Highly original work and always fresh.

Not only was Deb Beardsley a big inspiration to me, she was also one of my earliest encouraging supporters of my bear making. Deb also gave me my first 'official' web design job a few years ago when I initially overhauled her web site. And I just completed it's second incarnation/ relaunch of her brand spankin' new site last week! Check it out here.

Art Rogers: Anyone who knows about artist bears, knows about this guy. His work is unmistakable. When Art and his manager George approached me to design a web site for CVB, I was all like "I'm not worthy!" It was so fun designing it for them. Art is incredibly prolific and has a massive catalog of creatures, it boggles the mind. You must check it out here.

There are many other talented-peeps web sites I've had the pleasure to design, I have the links listed in the right sidebar --->

Well, that's a peek at some of the things I do "behind the scenes"! Happy web hopping!

Meet the KLAY MAN's!

KLAY MAN, a new "mini series" which is a play of words on my surname. :) I'll never forget when one of my Fine Art Painting professors in art college joked "Klayman, you oughta be in ceramics!". Hardee har har. Well, rest assured I didn't switch majors (I'm a survivor, damnit!). However, yes, there is something I like about clay...

"we are simple, minimalist fellows"

As much as I adore color, I also am a big fan of monochrome white. I love the clean lines and purity of it. I found myself actually liking the natural white color of the paper clay. I did however paint them warm white for consistency. So this is my first monochrome endeavor, and I'm a wee bit giddy/ nervous about it, but I just had to try it :)


A few of the mini KLAY MAN's are wearing hats, just as my grandpop Klayman always did. I think men should wear dapper hats more often, like they did in the 1940's, don't you think?

They are also achieving various states of baldness (love ya dad!). You will find that some are totally bald, some have wisps of stubble, some with rapidly receding hairlines, and even one has a comb-over (I won't tell who just yet). Their subtle details are revealed upon a closer look. A really closer look. They're only about 2 inches small afterall!

Just what the world needs... more KLAY MAN's! (loud cheering)

Each KLAY MAN is one-of-a-kind, individually hand sculpted from paper clay over a weighted internal armature. Then sanded, painted and sealed with a matte finish, signed/ dated on the bottom. Each comes with an archival hang tag and hand stamped gift box.

All nine will be available in my Etsy shop. I'll be posting them a few at a time in my shop over the next few days, beginning today!

Have fun this weekend! xo

On the Front Page of Etsy!

Yesterday's rainbow must've brought me some good luck (or did the gnomes do it?). Today my Miniature Gnome Buddha Bear GLENDAN made it to the front page of Etsy! He was chosen by Zygopsyche for an Etsy Treasury (*Hugs* to Zygopsyche). Once again, I had absolutely no idea I was on the front page, until a few fellow Etsians brought it to my attention. Seems I'm always the last to know, lol!

So that's 2 Gnomes in 2 Treasuries in 2 days! Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket with the number 2's . I'm so flattered to be chosen amongst all the wonderful items out there in Etsyland.

Even though Glendan and Tadhg(Tadhg is sold!) Gnomes are both loving the attention & hearts on Etsy, they'd be ever so happy in a forever home~ where they can assist you with gardening, cooking, and in the general good luck & magic department. They are currently available in my shop!

Have a wonderful Wednesday~ xoxo