Art Marathon!

I'm participating in the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon, which challenges you to make 26.2 works of art in 30 days from June 14-July 14, 2012. I've primarily been doing ATCs (of course), and here are some of my favorite ones so far.

Day #4 - Jellyfish (fabric collage)

  

Day #5 - Bird of Paradise

  

 Day #8 - Amigurumi Bear

  

Day #11 - Alone

  

You can see the full set to date on Flickr. Also check out what other participants have posted on the Cream City Illustrators blog.

I'm Baaaaack! (and still not organized)

Really I was never gone, but just very busy with non-artsy work. I had every intention of posting "before" and "after" photos of how I organized my creative space this spring, but unfortunately I never got past taking the "before" pictures. I did accomplish a few organizational things such as moving a good chunk of the art supplies out of the dining room and living room.  Here are a few very carefully cropped and staged photos that give me a vague sense of accomplishment while completely hiding the mess piled out of sight.

The living room was briefly craft supply free with new pillows made from fabric found at the thrift store. The area behind the couch that had been craft supply-infested is now "The Library." (And I admit there's a big pile of crochet supplies on the library table now.)
 
In the "Craft Room" we finally hung up the pegboard that had been sitting in the closet!

And the Ikea Bygel rail & cups that had been sitting on the floor! (Just ignore all the stuff that was piled on the floor next to it.) Unfortunately every time I try to clean I get distracted by things I would rather be doing. ("Look, unfinished art projects!" Or "I'd better go look up some storage ideas on Pinterest!") So it will be awhile before you see any real "after" photos.

Some Etsy Treasuries

Well, it has been a busy spring, and I'm slowly working on trying to reorganize and consolidate my work areas (which will be a future blog post). In the meantime here are some Etsy Treasuries I posted recently. Click on the image to to go the treasury, where you'll find the links to each item featured.

For the Birds

Is It Spring Yet?

Robot Roll Call

Yes, this last one was inspired by Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and though it says it was created in December, that's just when I started it, and then it sat pending until Spring!

You can see all my treasuries here. The older the treasury, the more likely items will vanish as they are removed from folks' Etsy stores. You can check out my Etsy store here.

Anti-Valentines

The first Ten Two Studios Design Team challenge for 2012 was to make Anti-Valentines in response to Valentine projects we had done in the past. I collaged some black-ribboned chipboard hearts and "Bloody Valentine" Artist Trading Cards, using images and text from the Ten Two Studios' Anti-Valentine and Black & White collections plus some vintage poison pharmacy labels.

Check out the front page of Ten Two Studios now through Valentine's Day to see the daily Valentine & Anti-Valentine eye candy from the design team!

In Memoriam: Nuts and Outdoor Cat

This winter we lost Nuts on December 20, 2011 and Outdoor Cat on January 9, 2012. Both were older with serious health issues so we knew it would happen eventually, but it was still heart-breaking. Nuts was my husband's cat, and she adopted him some thirteen years ago when a friend of his found her as a stray. When she was little she would run around like a crazy cat, and his young son said "This cat is nuts!" and the name stuck. She was the reason we kept a "Beware of the Cat" sign by the front door because she hissed at everyone except my husband and once chased our former landlord's dog out of HER yard.

Outdoor Cat was much shyer, and when we bought our house, we did not even know that she was living under our deck until our neighbor told us she had been there for some years. No one seemed to remember how long, but the previous owners used to leave food out for her, and everyone told us she was "not very friendly." I have described in previous blog posts how Outdoor Cat went through the Wisconsin Humane Society's Trap Neuter Return program and ended up coming indoors.

She adopted me and slept on my side of the bed at night, while Nuts slept on my husband's side. Often the humans would end up squished together in the middle third of the bed acting as a buffer zone between the two cats, who would hiss at each other on sight. Fortunately since they were older female cats, they mostly pretended the other cat was not there.

Our remaining cat Ruby would like you to know that we do not need another cat. Ruby is enjoying having full command of the humans' attention and having access to rooms that had previously been the other cats' territories. She distributes her fuzziness equally between our laps.

Milwaukee ARTibles Holiday Bazaar - extra hours!

Still looking for unique holiday gifts? The Milwaukee Artist Resource Network's ARTibles Holiday Bazaar will be open extra hours Dec. 19-24, 2011:
Mon-Wed 12 to 7
Thur-Fri 11 to 7
Sat. 10 to 5
(for those of you who like waiting to the last minute)
You can find all sorts of cool stuff made by local artists including clothing, jewelry, purses, ornaments, art magnets, bird houses, quilts, soaps, greeting cards, and more!

Free Vintage Holiday Printables!

Yes, it's time again for the Ten Two Studios Holiday Printables Countdown, now through Christmas. Check http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/ everyday for a new download from Lisa Vollrath. She just asks that you spread the word by sharing the link on your blog, Twitter, etc. And while you're there check out all the cool Christmas products and Ten Two Studios design team projects posted on the main page!