Hoo makes a cute owl?

Soren, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

We go to a movie once in a blue moon around here, but it just so happens that we saw the movie "The Guardians of Ga'hoole" a few weeks before Halloween, so of course we now have an owl obsessed boy. Here is his costume, and his daddy made him an awesome hand-tooled leather guardian helmet. It felt like the Weta workshop all over again...sigh!

A Quilt and some Guilt

A few months ago Sophia (my 10 year old) and I entered in a mini quilt contest

hosted by The Alliance for American Quilts.

All the entries are being auctioned off to raise money for the alliance on ebay and ours ends tonight.

The rest of the quilts are here.  

I just thought I'd post about since it seems I haven't posted a single blasted thing in months!!!

That's where the guilt comes in.  I'm so sorry I've disappeared, I'm really am still here.  I feel guilt for not updating my blog, for not visiting the wonderful blogs of others, and for being the recluse

I have become.  This summer we added a few new family members to our household:  6 sheep, 4 goats, 2 puppies, 14 chickens (after eating a few roosters) and 2 kittens.  I am currently sleeping with a baby monitor at night because I am so excited to be midwife for my goat who is due to kid and day.

We have had a great summer of scooping poop, building fences, and neglecting the garden.

We are still here, and we still love you.  And Stina, I'm sorry I haven't sent your package yet, what is wrong with me?  I will send extra special goodies to make up for my extreme tardiness!

RObotS hims and hers

I never knew that I liked drawing robots, but they are so fun cause pretty much anything goes.

It has become our Sunday ritual to draw robots during church (I listen best when I'm drawing;), and I have drawn robot EVERYTHING!  Robot elephants, robot dragons, robot butterflies, robot sharks, robot crocodiles, even robot mermaid dragonfly princesses!

So of course I had to participate in this week's spoonflower fabric design challenge which is "ROBOTS".  Because I feel that there is a shortage of girly robot fabric in the world, I entered the pink "robo buddies" design.

If you would like to vote on all the robolicious designs

you can do so HERE.

In Print

Remember this post?  It seems like a million years ago.

The Book is now available, and it's pretty neat seeing my illustrations in print.  It's a beautiful book filled with fabulous gardening tips and lovely photos, not to mention cute little drawings;)  

Great job Joy and Karen!

 

It's available for purchase here and here.

Now I have no excuse but to have a fabulously joyful garden!

If only this handy little book had expert weeding skills.

Snow White and Rose Red Puppets

Snow White and Rose Red Puppets, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

The latest fabric design challenge at spoonflower is to create a puppet design on a fat quarter. Since I love fairy tales, and I like to maximize my space in my designs, I did all the main characters in the tale "Snow White and Rose Red". It's a lovely tale of enchantment which can be read here. They are designed for small hands, and the bear and the prince are meant to be sewn together for a quick transformation. The other puppets need a coordinating backing. They are hand-painted in gouache, and were so fun to design.
Voting doesn't start till Thursday, but I noticed there are lots of fun puppet designs already visible at spoonflower.

Tessellation Celebration

It's been a while huh!  I've been sitting in the chaos of my creative dungeon doing

taxes this week, and they are finally done.  

Of course I had to make time to enter the current fabric design challenge at 

spoonflower which is tessellations.

 I had fun playing with many ideas, but settled on this. 

Wild Horses Tessellation

There are many a fine tessellation entered in this design challenge, so pop over and vote

for your favorites HERE.  Sorry I'm a crappy blogger, I have been busy with taxes, 12 baby chicks, and 2 puppies, in addition to the wild animals that already live here.

jungle safari swatches

jungle safari swatches, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

I'm loving spoonflower! The lovely little site where you can have your own fabric designs printed. Here is a swatch sampler of my Jungle Safari collection. I am going to make a whole nursery bedding set out of these prints, so check back. Have a great weekend!

Lucky

Lucky, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

me

star, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

Going through our family photos over the past few months, I only had one or two of me, and they were pretty much hideous. Wouldn't it be nice if someone said, "Oh look how cute mom is, let me go get my camera". Don't get me wrong, I do prefer being behind the camera instead of in front of it, it just would be nice if my efforts (of being cute) were appreciated once in a while. So I had my 4 year old take this picture of me. Not to shabby once a put a gaussian blur on the clutter behind me.
I hope your week is going well! And don't forget to wear green so your bum doesn't get pinched!

Foxy Loxy

I'm not sure what drives me to do the things I do.

An insanely scattered brain... an enormous amount of semi-sweet chocolate chip munching at midnight... perhaps I have a tiny alien inhabiting my inner ear.

Of course while having a million other things to do including much needed housework, I found it necessary to do these illustrations.

They weren't created for any particular reason, I just sketched them one day and thought they would be fun to digitally color.

I was happy with how they turned out, and Isaac loves them.

I am excited to have something that appeals to little boys in my shop

which is a bit overrun with girly things. They are going to be available in the

shop this week in a 5"x7" size.

Let me know what you think of Foxy Loxy, Cocky Locky and Goosey Loosey.

Purdy Birdie

I have been glued to my computer for so long working on various designs/projects, that I feel like I haven't made much time for actual sewing. I've had some clothing designs swimming around in my head, so I decided to pull them out of their

soggy puddle (my brain), and make them. Here is the 1st prototype of my apron top using my original "Sweet Birds" fabric.

My model is very pleased that she has the perk of getting to keep this one!

So bright and cheery, it makes me happy.

Isabelle Pattern Winners

Happy Tuesday Morning!

A big thanks to everyone who entered my little giveaway.

The Random Number Generator has spoken, and our winners are:

From the Blog:

From my Facebook Fan page:

I will be having more giveaways soon, so check back in!

Isabelle Owl Pattern

>

Isabelle Owl Pattern, originally uploaded by mytinystar.

Are you ready for spring?

I sure am, that's why I like Heather Bailey's new fabric line "Nicey Jane".

It is so lovely and springy, I just had to make an owl with it.

I have a new PDF sewing pattern available in my etsy shop!

Isabelle Owl and her two darling owlets, Ike and Iris.

Post a comment on the post and you could win a free copy of my pattern.

For another chance to win, become a facebook fan and comment on my

facebook post about Isabelle.

The winners will be chosen Monday, March 1st.

When I see an elephant fly

Winged Elephant Papercraft 01, originally uploaded by paperkraft.

I love paper creations, and I just found this lovely flying pachyderm created by the curiosity group. Here is the free printable.
Watch him come to life in this fun stop-motion video.
The kids and I are going to make him today.
It makes me want to cut and fold paper all day...dang that laundry and dirty dishes!

A Cold Heart

Saturday I had this lovely vision of my children picking up the pieces of our old, decapitated snowman, and creating a Valentine version. I told them my great idea, they seemed somewhat interested, I enticed them with the offer of having friends come over, they were very interested.

So when the friends came, somehow they kept themselves occupied with everything but snowman building. I kept reminding them of their super fun snowman project they wanted to do so badly, which my daughter lovingly reminded me that it was my idea. They did go outside, but instead of helping my grand vision come to fruition, they pelted each other with ice-balls.

When they came in drenched and cold, I asked how the snowman turned out, and they replied that they found better things to do.

Better? What could be better than a Valentine snowman??

So as they sipped their cocoa I made my very own. It wasn't the jovial, bonding experience I had envisioned, though the kids did knock on the window every so often to encourage me.

She's not that attractive, but you wouldn't be either if you had potatoes for eyes. I just couldn't have a decapitated snowman on Valentine's day.

They all loved her, especially her tomato lips. If I would have just gone out with them to begin with, I'm sure my vision would have been complete.

But it was cold out there.

Happy V-Day, may your heart be warmer than Mrs. Snowmom!

Because I love you

I have been hibernating in my creative cave for the past couple months,

and I think it is time to emerge.

I have been going a bit nuts, and have created over 100 fabric designs just in the last month, and I am just getting started. Most of them are not yet public on my spoonflower page, but will be soon.

I have also been designing party decor and stationary which will soon be available in my shop as pdf printables.

I thought it would be fun to have a free valentine card and envelope set for my faithful blog readers (all 14 of you), because I love you so!

Love Birds Free Printable Valentine

I hope you all have a sweet and hug filled Valentine's Day!

forest friends dress

forest friends dress, originally uploaded by mytinystar.