AWOL

Hello, peeps!

My lazy summer days mysteriously got busy as August hit.  My mother-in-law was in town for a visit, the kiddos had soccer tournaments and my paper bag puppets were rediscovered by customers.  I recently had a request to create a Thomas the Train invitation.  Always up for a challenge I went to work with paper and glue.  I must say, I think he's a pretty cute rendition.

My creative muse is supposed to be whispering about Santa, Christmas and Hanukkah right about now, but devilish creature that she is she keeps pointing me in a Halloween-esque direction.  Here are a couple of new items I've added to the shop.

Creepy Halloween Coasters, $19.95

Skull image stamped on medical dictionary pages

 Both of these items use recycled/repurposed materials.  The tiles are contractor leftovers and the Skull Dictionary Pages are taken from an old medical dictionary that may have otherwise met its demise in a recycle bin.

I hope August is finding you well.  Back to work for me...

Yo Gabba Gabba - 1, Julie - 0

I love my customers.  They come up with the greatest ideas for my paper bag puppet cards and really get my creative mojo going by asking me to create custom items for them. 

In the past couple of months I've had several people ask me if I make Yo Gabba Gabba invitations.  What?!   You haven't heard of Brobee, Foofa, Toodee, Muno or Plex?  How about DJ Lance Rock?  My littlest one just entered double digits so I hadn't either, but these happy little dancing beasties are all the rage with the preschool crowd these days. 

So I spent the other day designing, cutting and pasting and came up with these little wonders.

Kinda cute, aren't they?  I was so pleased with the way they turned out and added them to my Etsy shop right away eagerly awaiting some feedback. 

But alas, (queue the creepy music) before you could say "Tiny Ugly Germs" (villains in Gabba Gabba Land)

an attorney for GabbaCaDabra came raining down on my parade uttering big words like "Copyright Infringement" and "Deactivation" and "Exclusive Property".

Oh.  (Unhappy face)  Yeah,  I did make them look like the characters.  But ...
there are lots of other Yo Gabba Gabba items on Etsy...digital ones and mass-produced ones not hand-crafted piece by itty-bitty piece with tender loving care like mine.

 I don't think that argument will pull any weight with her though.  I guess what Mom said is true.  "If all of your friends were jumping off a cliff..."

Darn.

R2D2, Where are you?

"Excuse me sir, but that R2-D2 is in prime condition, a real bargain" - C3PO to Luke

You betcha.  A customer asked me if I could make one of my paper bag puppet cards into Yoda, R2D2 or Luke Skywalker.  Always one to take on a challenge I heartily replied, "No problem!  Of course I can!"  To me there is something very endearing about good ol' Yoda so I tried him first.  No go.  Those ears of his just don't work on this kind of card.  I thought about Luke, but trying to make him look like Luke, and not just some guy, would be tricky.  R2D2 it is.  Lots of little bits and pieces on this guy and fiddly little gluing but here's what I came up with:

She loves him!  Yay!  I keep hearing little "bleep-bleep-bleep" noises in my head while working on these.  :)

I love the little monsters

I teach at a preschool 4 days a week.  It's a blast.  The little kidlets certainly keep me on my toes and it never ceases to amaze and delight me when they discover some new and amazing thing or reach some new milestone.  As I was packing up this box of invitations for one of my customers this morning I was thinking about my little preschool monsters.  I wonder what mischief we'll get into today.  :)

Paper Bag Puppet Cards are the best sellers in my Etsy shop; especially the Mario bunch.

Hmmmm...makes me think today would be a good day to make some paper bag puppets with my little monsters...