allsorts

Month of Softies - June Bug

Allow me to present Miss April Mae June Bugg. She is my entry in Loobylu's Month of Softies for June. I am so glad I was able to get something in for this month. Last month I just couldn't get it done.

Not the surest on her (six) feet, getting her to stand for her photo shoot was exhausting. I felt like a fashion photographer with a tempermental model. "Now turn slightly to the left, put that foot out to the side a bit, no not that foot... THAT foot... yes that's it darling, you're beautiful darling. Didn't I hear you were dating Leonardo....???" She's wobbly, but she does stand on her own.

She's sewn from felt, over a styrofoam base so her pipe-cleaner legs could have something solid to stick into. Her feet are cut from builders foam with felt sewn over it as well. Her antennea (sp?) are paper clips, her eyes and nose are buttons, and her pearly whites are map tacks. Here she is in her yoga pose, contemplating her chakras or something bug-like.

I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of JULY! Where is the time going?

Cheers!

Jenny

Artists and Artisans

In my travels around the web, I've stumbled across several web sites of artists or artisans whose work I admire and bookmarked them. But I realized I didn't have a suitable typelist for them, as I've focused on blogs only. So I added a new list, with a few to begin with. Of course these are not the sum total of my favorites, but at least now I'll have a place to put these in the future. All neat and tidy. I am so smitten with the quirky, lovable creations of Tamar Mogendorff - right and above. I would love to have the free, loose attitude these convey. Aren't they adorable? Deceptively simple, I just want to take them home and tell them how special and wonderful they are. The photographs are charming, too.

I love the artwork of Jill McDonald. Its so fresh and colorful. It seems like she must be influenced by outsider art a little bit. I think it is absolutely joyful. I have a hunch she ia a quilter as well. There seems to be a quilt-like look to a lot of her paintings.

And long overdue is an homage to Jennifer Murphy, creator of this wistful little circus bear. Her amazing little masterpieces are fantastically wonderful! She was profiled recently in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine and since then it has become nearly impossible to buy one of her creations, they sell out almost immediately. I consider her to be one of the greatest softie-masters of all time!

Last but not least is Camilla Engman, who has many many fans among my fellow crafty bloggers. Her illustration work is just as fabulous as her crochet characters. I like how she works in a variety of styles (maybe because I've always done that, too). This one made me smile!

Enjoy!!!

Jenny

Cheery Cherry

Did I ever show you this? Its my long-neglected cafepress shop, Cheery Cherry. Being (bing? ...there's a pun in there somewhere) crazy about cherries, I had the brilliant idea to do variations on a cherry graphic, put it on all sorts of merchandise and make a killing. Well, what they don't tell you is how hard it is to sell anything on cafepress. Anyone know of any success stories? I don't think I've sold one single item from that store, but I had fun creating the cherry art, like a cherry 'bomb', and clusters of red and pink cherries. And of course, for the upcoming holiday an All-American Cherry. Unfortunately, after I did the art, set up the shop and so forth, I then checked to see if there were any other shops with cherry stuff, and holy smokes there are about a zillion of them. So... my poor little cherries are lost amidst the crowds. But that's okay, I have a new idea that I'm sure will be a hit... stay tuned!

Cheers everyone, and have a great week!

Jenny

Second thoughts

Rats. I just came across this cute little illustration I did a while ago, just for fun. It would have been perfect for my Illustration Friday contribution for the black and white theme. I love the pairing of scotty dogs and westies. These two are apparently enjoying a hoe-down or something.

Cheers,

Jenny