Monster House

Look! A house! With monsters in! It's a wee bitty tight, so I hope some punters will show mercy and buy some (or all!) of them. I kinda thought I need to come up with a better way of displaying them at the art market, so when I came across this on the Craft: blog (where else?) a while back, I though I should make one. So, last night, realising that, apparently, I've done most of my stuff for the market, I turned to display matters.

I kinda made it up as I went along, using an old cardboard box as a base, rather than following the instructions. As a result, it's not collapsible. But it's got wallpaper!

Whilst I was at it, I also revisited the packaging for the bags.



It could do with a bit more fiddling, possibly, but seeing as I'm now out of those patches and the fabric, too, I'm not sure how many more bags there will be. I kinda like them, and they sold well at the Christmas market, but I'll have to see how they do this time.

Art Market Countdown (that time of year again...)

Oooooh... I do like me a good faff with packaging.



Things are kinda taking off, suddenly. Last weekend I was all chuffed for managing to convince Mike to do me a nice fancy wee website, and he was actually willing to do it, if maybe a bit stuck for time in which to do it in, and then suddenly an in-between-jobs friend offered to help yesterday. Yay for geek friends!

Now, friends, time to get your calendars out along with a big red pen, cross out Meadows Festival on the 6th of June, and put in the forthcoming Art Market instead.

Art Market
6 June 2009, 11am - 7pm
The Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street, EH6 8RG

New Moo cards

Here they are! I like how they turned out, but I wonder why it is that my brain just conks out whenever I've got to decide what to put on the back of things like these... So, a random collection of information there, but oh well.

Will it ever end?

I've been spending a bit too much time with Photoshop recently. This is the aforementioned Happy Hitler illustration, even though I've looked at it for so long now that it doesn't look like Hitler to me anymore.

I went to the cinema for the second time in three days today! Wooot! Finally got round to see Coraline, and suddenly a lot of stuff I've been seeing in the swap made sense. I thought it was absolutely amazingly well done, even though it's very different from the story in the book.

Monster systems are go!

Hey - I went to see the new Star Trek movie yesterday and it was ace. I never use that word usually, but it seemed to fit there. Really enjoyed it.



The monsters mentioned recently got me a bit obsessed, so I came up with some more. The one on the left is my favourite, for some reason. Mike doesn't like it. I guess I like this one a lot, too, which surprised me, actually. Anyways, I got so excited about these, that I ordered some Moo cards and stickers! With, like, my website address on'n'stuff, and even the folksy shop address. Even more incentive to get my ass in gear.

Btw, did I mention, that in an incredible stroke of luck, I came across somebody who'll make my website all fancy in return for some fairies? Well, I did. How exciting is that?

Productive times

Last weekend, for the first time in a good while, I felt the madness again. You know, that urge to make things. It was really good. I'm determined to get my ass in gear now, and sell things, so a new bunch of monsters was called for. A couple of them are still waiting on eyes, but the other two are done.





I like this one. The front is made from an old coat, which I bought for the equivalent of about £3 at a fleamarket ages ago. It was one of those pieces of clothing where the idea of wearing it is far more amusing than actually doing so. It got me quite a few stares, and several lots of desperate sighs from my mum. I didn't wear it often. The back is a particularly crazy type of plush, which seems to be mega-static. It gets absolutely *everywhere*. But it's just the best shade of pink, too.



Nils tried to adopt this one, but I've got to be strong! I think we're doing really well on the avoiding-to-buy-every-piece-of-crap-he-asks-for-front, but when it comes to stuff I make I give in far too easily. Flattery will just get you pretty much anywhere with me...

On Monday, I finally made a dress!



When I saw this fabric in the shop, I bought it without even thinking about it. Somehow, it just seemed to have decided to follow me home and resistance was futile. I had no clue at all what to do with it, and for a while it just lay in the bottom of my fabric box, and only occasionally came out to serve as a tablecloth or photo background. And then, about a month ago, the idea for this dress came to me in a dream (no, really!). Since then, I had been playing with how to do it in my head, and on Monday I finally set to it. I adapted the top half from this pattern in Burda magazine (11/2007), and did a circle skirt for the bottom. I'm really pleased with it.

Now, I'm aware that sewing snobs who look closely, or see it in person (Hello mum!), might feel tempted to point out that the fabric is squint at the top. I know that, and yes, it was, with hindsight, a mistake. But when I cut the fabric I honestly couldn't work out if the funny crinkly bits were supposed to be level. When I tried to straighten out the fabric it went into all sorts of wrong-looking folds, so I went with it the way it was, which turned out looking a bit... well... wrong. But oh well. Most people I know aren't sewing snobs, so I think I'll be fine.

The picture above doesn't actually make it look particularly exciting, and I tried to take a picture of myself in it, but the best one I could come up with before my camera died is this:



Maybe I should just pay somebody to do the photographing for me.

Happy Monsters

I thought colourful happy monster notecards could help make the world a slightly better place.



So, people, I think this is it. I think this will be the item with which I'll finally be leaving etsy and defecting over to folksy. I have no quarrel with etsy. It's a lovely place, and I like how easy it is to use. It's simply the fact that it's all based in the States, rather than Britain, that has brought me to the decision to move over. I never got that much business from it so far anyways, and it seems to make sense to be dealing in pounds.

So, farewell then, etsy for sellers. I shall remain a devoted buyer, I promise!

Don't mention the war

I've had a whole litter of new monsters today. The air in this flat is thick with pink furry fuzz, and I fear my nose may never stop itching ever again. I wonder if there's a condition called Monstermakers' Lung.

Mike is fully responsible for me not having any access to a camera. The details are too boring, really, but it means that I can't take pictures of the monsters, which makes me sad.

If I had a camera, I could also show you our lovely new couch, which is comfy! And has also been covered by yours truly, after IKEA refused to give us the cover we wanted.

So, instead of photos, here's some doodles I did for colouring in purposes for that kid that keeps hanging round here.


Yesterday, I did an illustration which involved one hundred million (almost) tiny swastikas and a happy Hitler. I'm strangely nervous about it. Luckily, it is for a guy who routinely calls me a nazi, so I'm hoping he'll get the joke.

It's actually very cute and I want it on a t-shirt, but I'm a bit too scared of the Don't Mention The War brigade.