MLP Parasprites!

I made these little critters to offer at Salt Lake City's Crystal Mountain Pony Con back in mid July, but was unable to attend. Ah, well. Maybe next year. ;)

A Toothy New Year

Happy New Year! May it be filled with all the creative endeavors our little hearts can stand!

On a previous note, Christmas was sadly undercrafted. I had delusions of grandeur, and didn't consider how much time a short engagement wedding would consume -- especially one 4 days before Christmas. BUT! I was able to make a gift for my brother-in-law (whose name I drew out of the mystery hat this year). He's a pediatric dentist, if you couldn't guess, so I made him a healthy tooth and a cavity zombie tooth.

He later reported their success:  One of his patients needed to have some teeth pulled, and he notified the parents who then straight up told their little girl what needed to happen. She did what any child would do:  she freaked out. After a few attempts to calm her down, my brother-in-law then pulled out the two teeth plush toys I made, and let her hold them while she calmed down and underwent the procedure. Apparently, she clung to them with force. :) 

Oh, That Crazy Life

Much to my disappointment, I haven't had ANY time to put towards artistic endeavors. Instead, October, November, and December have been and will be ridiculously packed! I could list off everything I've been slammed with, but suffice it to say that I feel like this. ->  @_@

One of the things I've been swamped with is my dear friend's upcoming wedding. As the maid of honor, I've been tasked with a fair share of to-dos, but nothing has been more exhausting than making over 150 tissue paper pom pom flowers. With the help of the other bride's maids and my wonderful mother-in-law, I finished them off this morning -- but not before Kiki so graciously offered her assistance. Yes, kitty. I see you arm deep in that tissue paper.

Hopefully I will have more things to post after Christmas. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of a project I was working on before the chaos whirlwind whisked me away:

(I hope I'll get a chance to finish it!)

A Stitch in Time

Here is my most ambitious cross-stitch project yet:  The Kingdom of Hyrule (light world map)! It is my and my husband's goal to fill our apartment with little Zelda Easter eggs... like coasters that look like the pixelated boulders in 'Zelda, a Link to the Past' or storing our milk in containers labeled Lon Lon's milk...

Anyway! What I have so far really doesn't look all that impressive, but there are over 14,000 of those blue stitches. If I haven't yet developed tendinitis, I will by the end of this project.

Pattern purchased from "Pixel Comfort" on Etsy.

In Loving Memory

About a month or so ago I finished a commission for a friend of a friend. It was a gift, a portrait for a gal whose mother had just passed away.  :'<

I must confess, I don't feel like portraiture or caricatures are my strong suit at all. This was quite a challenge for me. It took me forever to dump out some pretty awful sketches, not quite capturing what I wanted or how to make the mother (with so much detail, wrinkles, and folds in her face) look her age without her looking stylistically weird.

But then, I found it!

 And the project lived happily ever after~  :->

Mini Paper Art

I did some paper art mini's for two very lovely gals! They're the same size as an owl I mentioned in a previous post (3"x3") and are of each girls' characters. Minis are always fun (especially since, from cut to frame, I can finish them in about a day).  :)

Gameboy

A while ago I bought a Pokemon cross-stitch pattern off of etsy (see end of post). I've been sporadically working on it, but with Christmas drawing near I decided it was high time to get it done if I wanted to give it as a gift. Then I went kind of crazy with the frame, making Dallin cut out the pieces for me. :)

 

Side note:  that frame is 18-inches long. It's a behemoth.

Pattern designed by Siobhan Barbour  *  www.fingerpricks.com  *  www.etsy.com/shop/lithy

Craft Baskets

I was in Joann's, patiently waiting for Dallin to finish gathering his loads of fabric when an adorable flannel caught my eye. Not only was it ridiculously cute, but it was also on sale for $2/yard and it looked like there was about just a yard left. Score! Then, my gears a-churning, we scurried over to Hobby Lobby where I found the perfect specimen to use with that fabric:

Behold! My first, completed sewing project of my adulthood!

Kiki thought it looked pretty swell too :)

Momma and Baby

I think I may have mentioned that we draw names in both my and my husband's families for Christmas. On his side, as soon as I found out who I was giving to, I knew immediately what I wanted to create. I was so excited that I bought all of the supplies back in early November.

From start to finish, this piece was extremely satisfying and seemed to create itself. I love it when the process works out that way.

Theme:  Love

Sugar Rush

The promised photos. Dallin had some great expectations for this little house (as in it was going to be a two story monstrosity and probably three times the size), but he ran out of ingredients to make more gingerbread dough. So we gussied up the yard instead.

 

 Can't forget to add one drunk little candy man (courtesy of my brother)!

The Christmas Project that Could

This holiday break has been packed to the brim with nothing but projects! Scrambling to finish in between visits with family and friends, parties, activities, and giant gingerbread houses (photos to come), it's only a matter of time before one of those projects falls a little short of my vision.

Meet, my "Together in Paris" adventure:

My plan was to make this a cute and classy piece, peppered with little ribbons and swirls and maybe even some strategically placed hearts! Once I got the vision down, I was really excited to get to it, but time was definitely not on my side.

The major players (the couple, the Eiffel Tower, and the clouds) turned out really well! But those daggum trees! And all the other little details I still needed to add! There was still too much to do and not enough time to do it in and do it well. So, I painfully decided to chop down my piece. Majorly. And this is what came out:

I agonized over the background. I still wanted to include that Eiffel Tower daggumit! But around midnight, I realized that the new size and overall simplicity of the piece needed to be echoed in an equally simple background.

Despite my starting sketch, I'm not the least bit disappointed. I still feel like I achieved my goal:  cute and classy. :)

"Simply Us"

Owlie

I feel like December's going to be a very chaotic month:  crunch time with work, Christmas presents, more Christmas presents, and... oh yeah! Christmas presents. So there will likely be a small explosion of posts after the holidays, but until then... enjoy this teeny tiny owl (3in x 3in)!

(inspired by the owls of Brittney Lee)

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Weddings! Family! And babies! OH MY! Talk about one incredible non-stop month! The highlight:  my brother married his little bride on the 17th, and then my brother-in-law married his bride on the 24th. Slap in a ton of traveling, some family events, and a dash of people coming and going and you've got yourself quite the sandwich!

Which brings me to this fan-based paper art. I've been trying to work on this for the past 3 weeks, but between work and all of the hullabaloo I haven't been able to touch it. I finally got to really dig into it on Friday and Sunday, and viola! It's been about 15 years since I was first introduced to Sailor Moon, and I still enjoy the quirky antics of those sailor senshi.

Theme:  Stars

Summer!

The final installment for the owl season series. I wasn't as gung-ho to finish this one as I have been the others. A large part of that is due to a top secret hush-hush commission I received while in the middle of working on this piece. I'm ridiculously excited for the upcoming project (it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun to put together). But! In the meantime, summer owl:

(This collection idea came to me after seeing one of Brittney Lee's pieces)

Cloudy with a Chance of Love!

Whew! Talk about work! It took me three tries to get that cake right (mmmm...meringue)! And don't even get me started on those waffle cones! But I must say that it was worth it. I really love the stylized credit sequence at the end of this movie so I decided to implement it to the fullest! My only regret is that I couldn't fit in other characters, but that just begs the question..... round two? :)

I might add that this is my husband's absolute most favoritist animated movie in existence. It makes him giggle every time he watches it, which I find adorable.