Sex and the City

These past few weeks have been so energy consuming, that I have not made anything but earrings for a very long time. In fact, I did not make any puppets since February, I believe. That's how it works for me, I fear. When worries come through the door, my creativity goes out the window.

But this week, I finally managed to sit myself down and bring to life a project I first thought of two months ago. It's almost too late, as the hype is already gone I fear, but still it's better late than never. So please welcome the wonderful, sexy, fun loving, devoted and oh so trendy Sex and the City girls!

This is my original draft

And here is the gang, which will be available in the shop

tomorrow (Saturday the 19th of June)

Carrie Flutterbutt is wearing her signature tutu outfit

with Louboutin cowgirl boots

Miranda is wearing a printed strapless day dress with a

trendy oversized straw bag and huge earrings

Charlotte is wearing a strapless coral velvet dress'

with black lace and satin roses. She also has a 

sequined evening handbag and is wearing her 

matching pink diamond ring and earrings.

And finally, Samantha is wearing a super reveling yellow

micro mini sequin dress with her signature statement jewlery

which include a purple crystal bracelet, huge gold earrings 

and, of course, the flower ring she got from Smith.

I hope you like them, and remember to check back for the 

shop update tomorrow.

Experimenting in a new field

My devoted readers probably noticed I have been complaining about lack of inspiration, or more accurately - a lack of drive to create (though I have several ideas for projects, and received some wonderful ideas from you, my dear readers). This, combined with a phenomena I recently got aware of, drove me to get my hands on a new endeavor - earrings making!

There are several jewelry makers on Etsy I follow and admire who I found out are not goldsmiths or silversmiths, but actually are buying ready made jewelry parts and putting them all togeather, while charging high prices. That annoyed the hell out of me, especially since I just spent a large amount of money on one of these shops. I decided I am going to make myself the earrings I like from now on, and then decided to also sell them - at a much better price than the wannabe jewelry smiths I previously looked up to.

So, I am proud to present the first of my new earrings collection! I am selling them on SharonArt, since they do not fit on Raisinlike, which is a much sillier shop.

Humming bird in a hoop earrings in matte gold and aqua

Lovey dovey skulls

Red Babushka earrings

Sweet humming bird earrings in matte gold and pale pink

Flower tear drop earrings in matte gold and blue

 I hope you like them as much as I do. I am not used to such delicate work but I am quite pleased with how they turned out!

World Traveling Flutterbutt

I haven't blogged lately, due to my cold-flu thing now turned sinus infection, but I wanted to write a short update regarding my World Traveling Flutterbutt Project.

The little lady is almost ready to go. I will write an introductory post, of course, during the next few days. But in the meanwhile (aka - till the antibiotics kick in) I would like to ask anyone who wants to join and haven't done so yet to comment here!

The hosting guidelines will be, more or less, as follows:

1. Take good care of the Flutterbutt and make sure she is not eaten by stray dingos.
2. Ship the Flutterbutt to its next host by registered mail, so we have a tracking number to follow-up on.
3. Write about your mutual adventures on your blog and add photos.

I will be making a "I hosted a Flutterbutt" button for the participating blogs, so they can boast in their glory.

Okay, headache now. I am looking forward to your comments!

In the meanwhile, here is another world famous Flutterbutt traveler,
Pinky during our trip to London

Yes I can!!

Lately, I have been discussing the issue of declining custom work with my fellow artist, who shall remain nameless. I was telling her how I declined a custom order for making an owl puppet a little while ago, and she said I should never turn down an order just because I am afraid of making it. When I told her I never made a bird puppet, she said "so?you'll learn". After that discussion, I decided I will start saying "yes" to orders that scare me.

When a lady asked me to make her a custom Flutterbutt in shape of her brother, I was horrified. I can't sew, I have no masculine shoes at home, I can't make a mustache! It was clear the order scares me, and that I must accept it, so I did.

The customer wanted me to portray Mr. Brother during his ski vacation. She asked for a blue parka and a scarf. I was planning to work on him on Saturday, since Friday was full of Hanukkahish and other pre-planned activities. The first of which, was going to a clothing swapping party (where each participant brings a bag of cloths she doesn't want and everybody can look for something new. Very ecological, and so very 2009!). After locating a sexy evening gown with a sequined snake, a completely new purple skirt and stylish black skirt-pants, I decided I'm tired of looking for cloths and decided to pick up some leftovers for puppet supplies. That was when I found a single blue ski glove, which I immediately recognized to be the perfect material for my tiny ski coat.

It took me two hours to sew the little coat, and let me tell you – it almost drove me nuts. I was miserably sticking needles into myself, curding the rough parts I could hardly get the needle through, and sewing tiny fingers to make sleeves. I thought it is going to end in a total disaster, but once I was done (including stealing Pinky's holiday shoes. I promised to buy him new shoes on eBay ASAP), added a scarf my mom knitted and of course a mustache, I had to admit it to myself and the world – this must be the cutest Flutterbutt ever!!

I mean, just look at him – how cute is he??

The parka is asymmetrical, with writing on one sleeve and a single wide aqua stripe on one side. The inside is partially padded, to keep Mr. Brother cuddly and warm. Can you tell how hard I worked on sewing this?

Do you need a new brother, mother in law, or friend? I can make one for you, in various sizes, with or without a mustache!

Custom made sister

Thanks for being in the Gift Guides, I got some last minute custom orders for Christmas.

One wonderful lady asked for a look alike Flutterbutt of her sister who turns 30 on Christmas. I have to say I was very excited when I heard her description - professional dancer with long legs, short dark hair, big blue eyes and a huge smile who loves mini dresses, Converse shoes, and long dangle earrings. Is that a dream Flutterbutt to make or what?

Since the last thing I watched on TV before starting to work was an old Project Runway rerun, I was very excited to start working on her dress already. Though I have to admit, that it was fun making her nose.

I made her a double layered mini skirt, reminiscent of the dress she wears in the photo her sister sent me. I used an under layer of black satin with a lace trim. On top of that I added a golden sheer organza bustier with gold trimmings and a thin black satin belt. It was designed to mix well with the colorful Converse All Stars I had for her, to help her stand up (she is not a Puppet Mobile). The final touch was adding long dangley emerald colored rhinestone earrings.

So here she is, waiting to meet mer mommy. I hope mommy will love her Mini Me, as I love mine!

Merry Christmas to both sisters!

The Adventures of Mini Me

My web designer requested I make a puppet in my own image, to use on the new website. I am very eager to get the website up and running already, but my tasks list on top of which was this project, was quite scary which lead to almost a month of delay. But last night, motivated by the utter lack of anything remotely worth watching on TV I decided the time is now and started working on mini me.

I have to say the hair turned out quite accurate, tied at the back with lots of unwanted freeze on the front.

There was only one option of clothing for the little one - jeans, snickers or a pair of thong sandals, a cami (preferably a frilly designer top) and nice bag. I was most worried about the pants and the eyeglasses. I don't like sewing, and usually refrain from it, but there was no way to go around it with the pants.
I made a Tovale's blouse with black and white polka dots and the signature Tovale's baby logo, decorated with a little black rose (she has a matching black rose on her ponytail). Tiny Paul Frank monkeys snickers and a large hemp bag decorated with big Indian beaded sparkly flowers.

I usually wear either a long necklace, or earrings. This blouse has a lot of details so I opted for long earrings. She has two holes in her right ear and a piercing in the exact same color as my favorite one.

We took about a 100 photos, till she got really tired.

So I told her "honey, baby, my very own soul - why won't you get some dinner for crying out loud?!" to which she responded "for crying out loud!!". So I setup dinner for her, just as I like to eat it - sitting on the rug in front of the TV, leaning against the sofa. Since my favorite food is French cheese, I made sure she is Lactose tolerant (unlike poor me). Bon apetit little one!

Some blah and another international cooperation

Today I am feeling rather blah. I had an actual lump of blah stuck in my throat for several hours, but even now that it is gone, I am still sort of blah. My shop, for example, needs refreshing with some tasty new items, but I have no inspiration. Plus, I was commissioned to create Passover gifts for seven aunts, but didn't start working on them yet. I know what I am making, but keep procrastinating. Blah.

In the midst of all this blah, there is the beautiful result of yet another international cooperation with Dave from Craftiness. Dave and I already worked on a cross seas pen project, which was just for the two of us. This time, Dave the wood craftsman and me decided we will create a commercial product to sell on Dave's shop - a wooden hand painted kaleidescope!

First, Dave curved four maple wood eggs (made out of maple growing in Austin Texas, where he and his family lives) and shipped them to Israel for me to paint on. I hand painted the eggs, using ink and acrylic paint in the styles Dave and I worked out before hand (mainly, not too cute). It was a real challenge for me.

The front of the eggs - a sleeping woman, gazing at the stars, bear
and "מים רבים לא יכבו את האהבה" which means "Many waters cannot quench love" (Song of Songs, 8-7).

The back of the eggs

Finally, I shipped the eggs back to Dave to be turned into kaleidescope. Dave polished, glazed, and turned the eggs into unique pieces of art. As he wrote in his item description These eggs logged about 14,000 miles of travel so far, I cannot wait to see how much further they will travel.

The final result. The eggs are available for purchase here.

The Diary 2009 Project

Last year I participated in a project called Diary 2008. A wonderful idea, initiated by Lucy (you can find her Etsy shop here), who envisioned a daily journal where each page is designed by a different crafter or artist.

Diary 2008 was a great success, involving hundreds of artists from around the globe. The diary ended up being both a functional and a promotional item - Enabling each contributor to promote their products and websites. We created a Flickr group where all contributors publish pictures of their submitted pages, and eventually got copies of our collective work for a cost price. Each could use and handout their copies, or sell them (but only with a original handmade cover).

I am using mine as an Etsy journal, where I write my goals for each month, ideas for new products, order information and so on. I am always happy to "meet" an online buddy on the pages of the diary, not to mention discovering new artists I never heard of before.

Following its success on 2008, Lucy is now working on Diary 2009. The main deadline is now over, but there are still available pages. You can find more information on contributing here and here. This year, unlike last year, I managed to snag my birthday in time!

If you are looking for a free promo, on a popular platform, with a fun creative side - This is the project for you!