Of Birthdays and Blythe Dolls

I just uploaded the baby's birthday photos from last week, and look how sweet this one is:

She just looks ABSOLUTELY thrilled that it is her birthday, as she should be! It was a fun day spent eating just treats, no regular dog food. That's how a birthday should be, right?!

I dug some old goodies out of storage at my parents' house the other day, including three Blythes that I got for about $5 each (!!!) back in the early 90's when I was around 10 or 11. Blythes weren't popular then, but as soon as I saw one at a flea market, I had to had her. Here are some photos of one of them; I made the outfit for her around the same time as when I bought her out of some vintage barbie pants and trims.


What's interesting is how my paintings now have lots of big eyed girls that look like these and other dolls I collected when I was little. My parents used to drag me to flea markets when I was younger, and I hated every second of it until I started to see big eyed dolls from the 60's and began to collect them, then flea markets became hugely fun treasure hunts! From time to time I like to draw these dolls; their faces are just so expressive and kitschy! I'll post more photos of dolls I uncover at their house in the next few days. It's so funny that my childhood toys were really not from my childhood in the 80's at all, but from that of the 1960's...

I'm trying to get a handle on the little "displays" of cute stuff that are all around the apartment, and this one is going to get a facelift today:

It's a mix of antique dolls, dolls made by Etsy friends and artists, and dolls I've made myself. I'm thinking of rearranging lots of little things in my house to give it a bit of a new look. I should really take some before and after photos! Change is good...

I've been working on a new multi-layered screenprint of a big-eyed girl with bear ears, but I need to figure out how to connect my old scanner/copier to my new computer. I think I will need to search my "random computer crap" drawer to find the software, sigh. Pictures soon, I hope!

I'll leave you with one last photo of a doll I found online a while ago. She, of course, has big eyes but is a lot older than the Blythe dolls. She is a composition doll from around the 1920's or so, and I got her on eBay for under $10 including shipping a few years ago! They didn't mention any dimensions in the auction description, so I assumed she would be about 8" tall - she came in the mail in a huge box and turned out to be 2 feet tall! Awesome! She also arrived in this hand embroidered outfit, cutest thing ever.

Sketchbook: May 2009

Pages from my unbound sketchbook... I like to work this way: filling up all the pages first, being messy, changing around the order, and then binding the whole thing in the end when I am done with it. I have big plans for how I want this one to look when I bind it...

I started another small, carry around sketchbook yesterday because the one in the video is getting too huge and unmanageable. It's also getting toward its final stages, and has start to become more "precious" - meaning I want everything in there to look nice, so I have begun to fear working in it a little bit. Don't you hate it when that happens? I think I will scribble on a few of the blank pages as a bottom layer and to combat that problem.

There has been a lot of MAKING going on lately, and I love it. Drawing, painting, screenprinting, planning videos and books, baking bread, and I even started an epic zine project which will probably take years to finish. I feel up to it! Wish me luck...

Happy Third Birthday, Ruby Roo!!

Why did Julie and I bake these special peanut butter doggy biscuits last night?

Because today, Ruby Roo turns THREE years old! I think that is kind of insane. It seems like only yesterday she came into my life so tiny that she didn't even fill up the bottom of my purse! Today has been filled with treats, walks, and playing all her favorite games...fetch...yellow ball...etc. She is having a fun day and is excited for anything else the big day might hold!

Here she is in between begging for food. On her birthday, she gets way more people food than she really should... But she is so cute, it's hard to resist!

In between baking treats for Roo, we also found the time to make some homemade deodorant using the recipe we found on Angry Chicken, and we even made some homemade lip balm. Below is the filling tray we use when pouring the lip balm; it makes it so easy and fun!

We made lip balm that tasted like sugared strawberries, yum! Here are two different recipe experiments hanging out with my pretty Orla Kiely mug from Target:

And I keep forgetting to post about my metal clay experiments... Julie and I found the clay kind of stressful to work with, since the initial setup cost and cost of the clay was so high, but firing it was tons of fun! I made a stump, a deer, and kind of botched up the last pendant I made, which says "mom." I think we may try to get some custom stamps made and try the clay again one day, but we have to work up the nerve (and save up the money...) to buy more clay first!



Oh, and someone requested the recipe for peanut butter bread, so I thought I'd post it here:

Peanut Butter Bread Recipe
(This is for bread machines, so I have no idea how it would translate to non-bread machine bread making... It is delicious, though, and definitely worth a try!)
1 1/8 cup tap water
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Sculptures and Peanut Butter Bread

Poor Roo, all she wants to do is play with her little yellow ball, but I've been so busy crafting lately...


I wanted to stop in and show you some brand new little sculptures I've been working on... The little girl above is called "Bear Girl," for obvious reasons. She will be posted in my Etsy shop in just a few days!


Above is a tiny bear sculpture that I will be posting on Etsy as well. These sculptures are so much fun to make, and as I type there are a few more new ones in the works that are drying with their first layers of paint...


Another one of my new hobbies is quilting, and this is the second quilt I've ever made. It was made with Heather Bailey's lovely Pop Garden fabric, and it's so bright and happy! It lives on my couch and really brightens up the whole room. The pillow in the photo was made by my friend Megan of MooganCreations.etsy.com. I am so in love with this pillow!!


This little Cat Girl was also entirely hand sculpted and hand painted. I decided I can't part with her, so you will not be seeing her in my Etsy shop! This one may be one of my favorite ones that I've ever made, and I hope you like it too! Her eyes were so much fun to paint!!


"Bunny Girl" has tiny bunny ears, a skirt full of love, and she has been faux aged! She is yet another sculpture I can't seem to part with.

What else is new? I've been really into baking lately and pulled out my mom's old bread machine to experiment with. So far I've made many loaves of peanut butter bread, some botched white bread, and my friend Julie and I made some to-die-for cinnamon rolls from some dough she made. I wish I had pictures for you, but these goodies all get eaten up too fast, ha ha!!

My biggest recommendation? Peanut butter bread pudding...wow. Just wow.

Big Smiles

roo posing, originally uploaded by howtouseart.

Roo and I are both happy campers lately, especially since the brand new, fully functioning (and how!) laptop is here!! It is such a joy to be able to go to my computer and know that it will WORK and not have lines all over it from a cracked screen, ha ha! The added bonus is, since I now have a Mac with an intel chip (my last iBook didn't have one), I can now watch Netflix instantly on my computer - hooray!! Since I am my own boss, I decided to take a few days off just to relax and watch "Weeds" Seasons 1 and 2 on the pretty new computer. It was nice and refreshing, but now it's back to work with packing up Etsy orders and wrapping up a few custom orders that are in the works. I also came up with a new design that I am *dying* to show off, but it will have to wait until it is burned into a screen and printed on a t-shirt, since it will be so much more fun that way! Here's a hint: it has something to do with spinning yarn and sheep!

Digging through some old sketchbooks this week, it's so weird to reflect on who I was during the years I worked on those (when I was in college) and the person I am now. There was so much yearning and striving in those books.... I am glad I have accomplished some of the goals I was wishing for back then: I have my own website, I sell my art online, and I make a living (mostly) off of being creative. Hooray! There are still many more goals to aspire to, but at least I am taking baby steps toward them at this point... I'm glad I am more settled now with who I am and feel less of a need to be more, do more, etc...

But I do see myself relating to the person I was too: all the fears and insecurities I used to write about when it comes to making art are still there, but now I am realizing that those fears don't go away. There isn't some magic time in an artist's life where they wake up and realize all their creative fears have disappeared...you just have to banish the inner critics, push through it, and make stuff. Lots of stuff... It's still hard to approach a blank page and think, "I am going to draw something wonderful." Instead, maybe it's better to think, "I am going to TRY." There is so much to be said for stepping up to the plate and trying to be creative; so many people shy away from it... I'm happy every time I make something because I was brave enough to try, and I'm happy because being creative is satisfying in so many ways; I don't know where I'd be without my art. Probably in some crappy job counting down the hours 'til the end of the day, rather than wishing there were more hours in the day to work like I do now! :)

Changes Galore!

Plans are in the works, and ideas are blooming around here lately...

But before all the fun starts, some things have to be taken care of...like my computer. It is on its very last leg. It is crying out for a younger, sexier replacement to take its place... So I decided to work my butt off on cleaning out and destashing all sorts of things in my life that I do not need, and I was able to raise enough money (added to what I'd already saved) to buy a brand new computer! Hooray!! I'm still trying to decide between a few of them, but I think very soon a new lovely Mac Book or Mac Book Pro will be a part of my life. That means I can do videos again! My graphics programs won't be the slowest things on earth any longer! I will be happy about opening up my laptop and looking at a screen that isn't cracked down the middle! I won't have to restart it every hour or so! Oh, the possibilities are endless...

I've also been working hard to reduce the amount of STUFF in general that I have. I have been going through some boxes of childhood things at my parents' house, and it's been like a weird trip down memory lane, especially considering the way I packed my boxes in such a hurry: there are things from when I was 3 in the same box with things from when I was 23... I've been going through all this superfluous stuff, selling things online that will sell and donating things to the Humane Society Thrift Store when they are not worth anything... Mostly everything has been donated, as it seems like things from my childhood aren't worth a dime! I feel lighter and better about everything knowing that I am getting rid of stuff I don't need and that I am donating it to help little puppies and kittens too.

Speaking of little puppies...



What else is changing?

I've decided to focus soley on shirts for the time being in my How to Use Art store, and I also want to work on having enough inventory to be able to sell shirts in ALL different sizes, not just one shirt in one size here and there. I know that having a limited selection is annoying for my customers, and it's something I've been meaning to fix for quite some time. I have another order from American Apparel on the way this week, whoo-hoo! I've also decided to phase out my etsy fiber and yarn store, Fluffalicious, as those listings begin to expire. I just haven't really been selling much from there, and I have to be honest that yarn and fiber isn't what I'm truly passionate about: screenprinting and drawing are what keeps my creativity going even more. I love being able to invent an image from scratch onto a piece of paper or onto a t-shirt, and being immersed in that process is so rewarding. The fact that I have sent clothing all over the country as well as overseas just blows my mind, and it's amazing to think of all the places my clothing lives that I have never even been to.

I'm sure many other changes will roll along soon - some are tricks I've got up my sleeve and others are of the wait-and-see variety, but despite all the changes, one thing is certain:


This dog is so damn cute, it's silly.

A Giveaway, Handmade Lip Balm, and the ROO!

First off, the big news: check out Valerie's blog to see MY $15 GIFT CERTIFICATE GIVEAWAY!! All you have to do is leave a comment, and you can have a shot at winning a gift certificate to My Etsy Shop. There are extra entries available if you follow Valerie's blog, buy something from my shop, or if you follow me on Twitter. Good luck!! :)

I also want to officially announce my brand new Etsy shop (my third...eep!), The Nostalgia Factory. It's chock full of my clay miniatures like the one above and my nostalgic-themed prints. Stop by and tell me what you think when you get a chance...

In other news, it's only the third day of March, but Roo and I have been super busy crafting and making things. I made my first zippered pouch today, and it was so much easier than I thought it would be! Now I am well on my way to being a serious seamstress since zippers no longer strike fear in my heart, hee hee... I've also been doing a lot of screenprinting, drawing, and sculpting, as usual, and yesterday, Julie and I made our first batch of lip balm!

We made about 30 lip balms in three flavors: (from left to right) Sugary Ginger Cookies, Creme de Menthe, and Sugared Strawberries. They are delicious!! It was so much fun to make this stuff, and with a little tweaking every time, we were able to make each new batch better and better. We are still playing with ratios of flavors and sweeteners, but one day we hope to have some on Etsy for you to try! Right now I am just loving the massive amount of lip balm lined up on my counter tops, ha ha. I am so addicted to lip balm that no matter where you go in my house, you are always just an arm's length away from a tube of the stuff. And now it will be this wonderfully moisturizing, vegan, spf 15-containing homemade goodness! Whee!! (Can you tell I am excited about this?) We have also been experimenting with a few other bath and body products, and I have to say that it is SO cool to indulge in luxurious products that are homemade and free of strange chemicals that do who-knows-what to your body.

I think Miss Ruby Roo is also in love with the homemade lip balm. She is a well known lip balm addict too - she's eaten about 6 tubes of mine since the two of us have been acquainted... She has even gotten them out of closed purses and pockets and other hard-for-those-of-us-without-thumbs spaces to get into! When the huge box of lip balm supplies arrived at my house, she was simply drooling with anticipation, and you should have seen her when all of the yummy scents were out and we were cooking the balm! She was going crazy thinking we were making snacks, following us around and fully involved in the process. It was some seriously cute stuff. So is this:

That's Roo stretching - one of the cutest things she knows how to do!

I had some friends in town last week, and it was tons of fun! We went thrifting like crazy. I didn't find too much, just a couple rad polyester fabrics from the 1970's, but in the last few months, I've been finding a lot of great stuff. Here are my two favorites...
Royal Copley Deer Momma and Baby Planter:

Crazily Painted Little Girl Bust:


Hope you are all having as much fun as I am so far this month! :)