My pets are very helpful

I do my sewing upstairs in my room, where the cats aren't allowed. I get really obsessive about preventing cat hair from entering, I've got an army of lint rollers.

But when I come downstairs to draw, they just have to get in my way. We've got two cats, picked them out as kittens when I was 3 years old (they're 18 now). Skyler and Sherman, sister and brother, and they're more like dogs than cats.

I tend to talk more about my more unusual animals (like the snakes) but my cats are pretty fabulous. They are indoor/outdoor (big backyard on a dead end street with no traffic), come when we whistle, follow us around (inside and outside), and know when we're not feeling well. When I was little they would wait for me at the bus stop and walk me home - they're very protective of us! They also love strangers though, and are super friendly. Whenever someone comes over they have to examine the car, sniffing and circling it for a good 10 minutes until they're satisfied and come back inside.

Here is Skyler in her usual pose (paws crossed) hogging the tv remote. Meanwhile Sherman is trying to get on my lap, nuzzling my arm as I'm trying to draw.
Notice the huge jingle bell. We always ensure they have correct tags and bells so we know where they are, and so that potential prey has a bit of a warning (hasn't stopped her from getting her fair share of mice, though). The problem is Skyler keeps losing her little bells! So, fed up one day, my dad sent me to the craft store to get her a big bell. So that's what I got! The day we put it on her (a few years ago) she was NOT HAPPY. You could tell... she had this "I hate you all" mood for a couple days. But she hasn't lost it!

The kitties are getting old now, Skyler has a lump on her shoulder (could be cancer) and Sherman has thyroid and other health problems. They're hanging in there though.

Oh, and Pepper likes to help as well. If "help" means "throwing markers on the floor".

More sharpie drawings

Been feeling the drawing vibe lately and haven't been able to resist the pull of my sharpies.

Went thrift store shopping and scored big time, got 8 great frames for about $8, so now I've got to fill them up.

I really like including the frames with my drawings, I pick ones that I feel match the piece and make it feel more complete. What do you think? Click the photos to be taken to the listings (and you can see more photos).

Triops

New addition to the shop: Triops (tadpole shrimp) plush soft sculpture.Triops are fascinating animals, crustaceans in the order Notostraca, related to the infamous "sea monkeys" (fairy shrimp). They haven't changed much since the Triassic, making them a sort of a living fossil.

They get considerably larger than their fairy shrimp cousins, reaching up to 2" long. This makes them interesting additions to an aquarium and can be kept as pets. They live in ponds and temporary pools in the wild, and have eggs that can stay dormant through long periods of drought.

When I was little I had these as pets once, they came in a kit, similar to sea monkeys. They didn't get very large before dying off though, they need a good aquarium set up to really thrive. If I ever get a fish tank later in life I'm definitely getting some triops!

Treasuries

I'm in two Treasury West treasuries on Etsy, check them out, they're pretty fabulous! Click the image to go to the actual treasury, though remember they expire soon.

Putting my sewing skills to good use

It's not too often these days I make something for myself, or something actually useful (plushies might be fun and cute but they're not exactly utilitarian).

So at work we got a bunch of new safety vests for our next field project.

Apparently, they only come in extra large. I could fit three of me in this thing, the picture doesn't do it justice. It goes another inch or two past the bottom of the photo, and one side is folded over a bit.
I tried it on and was absolutely swimming in it. Not exactly... safe.

Looking through the catalogue all the basic vests were also only in large or extra large, the only ones that came in small were the expensive fancy vests. So I decided to do some tailoring.
It was like liposuction for fabric, haha. Took out fabric from the back, sides, bottom, and front edges. Reshaped the neck opening, put in new velcro, and it's perfect! If anything I made it a tad too small, but it still fits over a jacket. It's quite comfy and nonrestrictive when I move (unlike the last plastic-y vest I had). The other girls in the office are jealous. There might be more alterations in my future.

Planarians

Did you get to play with these guys in biology class?

I remember in high school we got some planarians to mess around with... if you cut them in half they'll grow into two worms, and if you cut the head in half it'll grow two heads.

They are flatworms, phylum Platyhelminthes.

I made a few plushies! One small, one medium, and one with two heads. Available now in my etsy shop.

Small
Medium
Two heads

All my babies

In one place:I spent several hours sketching and coloring this page, one of my favorite works. Done in sharpie markers, of course, 9"x12".

The animals are not to scale.

Check out my flickr photo to see notes of all their names.

Going to frame this and hang it in my room :)

Cambrian EXPLOSION

Is the name of the treasury I created today!Click HERE to see the treasury and check out the awesome products/sellers. I could find surprisingly few Burgess Shale creatures on etsy, though you can see I dug up an anomalocaris and hallucigenia. And of course there's the trilobites.

I was inspired to make this treasury because of a custom order I completed this morning... a HUGE trilobite.
It's about 24" long, super soft and cuddly and made out of my absolute favorite fabric.

Here's another order I finished recently: dragonfly nymph and blackfly larvae:
Always looking forward to more custom orders :)

Art on Lark - results

I'm back from the show - what fun! I'm getting tired just thinking about it, craft shows are fabulous but so exhausting.

So here I am in my tent:My boyfriend Josh went with me, so glad he loves craft shows and wanted to help :) He kept me company and wandered around the street with his own giant centipede. I wish I had gotten a photo of us together! A bunch of strangers took pics of us though, wonder if I'll manage to find any of them floating around the internet... here is Josh guarding the booth:
And some shots of my display:
And the million dollar question: "So which is weird, you or the bugs?"
The answer is "both"

And if I had a dollar for every time someone picked up my plush weights I'd be rich! Did well money wise considering there was a huge crowd but no one was buying. Saw hardly anyone walking by with bags or things they've purchased, and by the end the other booths still looked pretty full. Didn't get to talk much to other vendors though, so I'm not sure how well people did overall.

I had a lot of fun talking to people, got to meet a lot of repeat customers and people who remembered me from past shows, as well as a few who recognized me from the newspaper article I was in last year. Passed out nearly all of the business cards I brought so that makes the show worth it no matter what.

My favorite part was talking to kids - I love answering their questions and giving them some good creepy facts to tell their friends. It was annoying having to readjust my display every 5 minutes due to grabbing hands, but considering I make soft plushies I knew it couldn't be helped. So grateful for attentive parents!

Hopefully have some more custom orders coming my way, need to keep myself busy. Only now I have to unpack everything and put it away and do the paperwork for my business - it can't be all fun.

Overall very glad I got to attend this show, I'll hopefully be back next year.

Art on Lark street

My first (and perhaps only?) craft show of the summer! I LOVE this show, had a lot of fun and success last year and am excited to be back.Here's a little map of the show location and I'm pointing at my spot (and I circled it in green)- #51, just about in the middle. I shouldn't be tough to find anyway, my fabulous boyfriend Josh will be there with me and we'll both have our giant plush centipedes.
By the way, this is in Albany NY so if you'll be in the area - BE THERE! June 6th, 10 to 5. Come visit me (and maybe buy something?) and with all the other great vendors and food and music you'll surely have a good time.