The Island of Misfit Toys

I always loved that Rudolph Christmas special that had the island of misfit toys. Was that the New Year's one? I can never remember.

They always seemed so loney and sad and I wanted to take them all home to love and play with. So to fulfil that childhood wish, I've started to make my own version. They aren't exactly toys, but they are in the spirit of those who are "just not quite right."

These are all up on the Etsy shop if you feel like taking one home to love and play with too. :)

Wow, I suck at blogging...

No excuses- just lazy. But to make up for it, here's what I've been up to over the summer.

Paperclay Easter Bunny

My first foray into paperclay. This guy was so much fun to make. I'm totally thrilled with the way he turned out. The only problem is now I need to get my hands on some more clay and there's no local supplier that I'm aware of. Hrrm, a


trip to Berkeley may be in order... Happy Easter!


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Butterfly by

Just another square to share. I tried to do my own varigated floss by combining the yellow & green on the body. Didn't really work out...



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Another embroidery inchie

Here's another stiching along square. I should mention that my piece is only 16 squares, not the 39 that Amy is doing. I just don't have that kind of an attention span! Also, my squares aren't really inchies either. They're more like 2 inchies. I know, I know I'm such a rebel! :). My dream is to be able to take a picture of one of these squares that's not totally blurry by the time we're done.



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Flower cuff

So ignore my fat arm, but man
I love this cuff. Took one of those flowers from the previous post and attched it to a lace cuff. Just wish I had something appropriate to wear it with!



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Spring fever

Finally felt a tiny bit better today. I've been fighting what I thought were allergies for the better part of a week. I suppose I should just give in and call it a cold. Anyhoo, I made it out to the craft room and whipped up some of these flowers. Love 'em! Seemed like an appropriate way to celebrate the first day of spring.


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Stitching along

As promised
before, here's what I've been up to lately. I've started a spring embroidery sampler and am stitching along with other bloggers as well. You can see the list at http://39squares.blogspot.com



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Blog press testing

I figured it would be easier to update and keep the blog current if I posted from the Iphone. And wouldn't you know it, there's an app for that. Also, I started stitching along. More on that later though in the meantime, let's see if I can upload a picture on this thing.



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Robot Invasion!

So after getting some positive response to my first robot painting, I decided to paint him some friends. Playing with the angle made a huge difference I think. And if I don't say so myself, they've got quite a bit of personality.

Playing with Modeling Paste

This stuff is FUN.

Use it with a stencil, or in this case a doily, and smear it on with a piece of cardboard. Lift off the stencil and VIOLA- a raised surface that hardens up quite nicely.

I tried it out on a tag I recently did and am looking forward to using it on some other valentine projects. It adds such a neat texture. You could use it to make your own faux raised wallpaper remnants that seem to be so popular these days.

Another little tip: the seam binding on this tag is originally off white. I watered down the acrylic I used to paint the tag and sponged it on the binding to make a custom colored ribbon.

Furlough-palooza

My day job as a government employee afforded me some extended time off over the holidays which I've affectionately dubbed furlough-palooza. In between day trips to local fun spots I did get in a little studio time. I thought I'd share a bit of both.

Nevada City-

Had a great time visiting with my dad and doing some shopping downtown. They have an awesome fairy shop but I was disappointed that the one store I really wanted to see was closed. I should really check these things out first... Oh well, good excuse to go back right? In the meantime, drool over the goodies at My Favorite Things web site with me.

Snow day! On another day we headed up the hill to play in the snow. This resulted in a somewhat depressed looking snowman and a very goofy little boy.

It really was a beautiful day.

Finally, a few stray ornaments I whipped up

and our family gingerbread house for good measure!

Bleep bloop bong bing...

Decided to go in a different direction today and make something for my youngest son's room. I was inspired by some kids art I saw in downtown Walnut Creek (great shopping!) and thought, hey I can do that! It's not exactly how I'd wanted it to turn out but hey, Jake loved it so that's all that matters. It's fun to get out of my comfort zone now and then and it seems like a good way to start off a new decade, don't cha think?