Thank You

Time for another Etsy Texas Challenge! This month's theme was Gratitude, which is noble as heck, but awfully abstract and hard to portray.

I think the team may actually have gone too abstract, and I'm not sure there's going to be enough entries here to run the challenge. But for you, my bloggy faithful, a picture:



There is nothing more hideously critical to the learning process than an audience. So thank you, mysterious people of the internet, for hanging around this rather infrequent blog. Your comments and encouragement are more appreciated than you know.

Look! A Distraction!

Though I do the wonderful Folk of Etsy a great disservice to call her such....

I'm trying very hard to have a fun post for ya'll tonight, but for now, why not check out my interview with Folk over here:

http://folkcraft.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-craftlight-carapace.html


She asks a lot of fun questions, and I took my own verbose time answering them, so that should keep everyone busy for quite a while. Look over there, while I remember how to type!

Fair Notice With a Turtle

I am not well.
There's no punchline here; it's not a joke about me being crazy. I have some serious health issues, and they're rearing up to bite me lately. So I may be a bit quieter than usual. A whole big bit. I'll try to keep the blog lively though, and when I post I'm liable to not be in my right mind, so stick around! And if it's ever quiet for two weeks at a go, you can call the Marines. Or the Coast Guard. Or the Glee Club. You know, whatever.
I don't like to talk about it, because it is complicated and boring. But I felt my hypothetical blog readers, needed some explanation for my occasional long quietus. So, there it is.

Hey! Check it out, I'm drawing a turtle!:

Cephalopod Rodeo

I don't talk about other blogs a lot. This is a shame. And weird. There are many very cool blogs out there, and talking about the good work of other people is always easier than coming up with my own stuff.

For instance, Cephalopod Tea Party, a fantastic blog about cephalopods and only cephalopods (pronuounced SEFalopods, not, like kep-halo-pods or anything weird), dedicated entirely to the awesomeness of our headfooted friends. No random self-promotion, no craft talk-- this blog is for octopods, and squids, and other similar awesome things. And the Tea Party is having a potluck, inviting other people to contribute things Cephish! These being some of the neatest and most artistic beings in the world, I couldn't resist:



Though I of course can't do the chromatophores justice. I did a lot of image study here, though it wildly and profoundly does not show. Now I want a Cephalopod Photo Album.

However, I did not draw a Cephalopod Rodeo. I did not think of it until I had to title this blog post. But I think I now know what the next thing in my Etsy shop will be.

Thank You, Etsy Texas Crafters!

Oh boy, I won the Etsy Texas Crafters Dia de los Muertos challenge! Well, I came in fourth. Which is better. No, really! See, the challenge has prizes, and every challenge I've entered, the prize I really wanted has been third place or later. It is bizarre, but true! This month it was a pair of luxury washcloths from the lovely Laine, of Cradle And All, who even let me choose my pattern!



Don't those look amazing? It's just the sort of thing I always sigh after and never buy, because I am a sensible responsible household budgeter who is saving all my money for patching the roof. No fun, and not nearly as luxy as these washcloths. I think that's the best sort of prize or present, really, something useful and loveable but not...quite..in the budget. So big thank yous, Laine! And it goes really well with my prize from last time!

Last time? I was in the lower-place prizes again! And I won a Pink Sugar Whipped Soap from Amanda of Fairy Bubbles.



Which is pretty great all on its own, right? But then she went and double-sized the prize just because she's that cool! I love using this stuff; it's like showering in an ice cream sundae, but somehow getting clean, instead of just sticky. And then I smell good, but somehow don't attract ants. Fantastic! You really should try it out. But only if you like smelling good.

I Have No Words

It is time for me to Enjoy Being A Girl. You do not want to know what I want to be saying today.

So have a comic instead, to explain why I've been away this week:

Dance Of the Bones

VOTE FOR ME! Or, you know. Vote for someone else. But vote here:
http://etsytx.ning.com/page/october-design-challenge-day


Soft skin blushes because it knows
It can never dance alone
Powder pink and sun gold,
Old and loose and young and toned,
Hot blood sweats and muscles struggle,
But the dance is made by bones.

Etsy Texas is having another one of their art challenges! The theme this time is Day of the Dead, a wonderful Halloween co-holiday that remembers those gone and invites them back into our lives. I'll post the voting link here whenever it's live, and of course you'll all go vote for me, yes? Or at least vote. Man, I'm not even in the running on this one, but I wanted to play along. I really love Dia de los Muertos, and every year I make sure to get a few calaveras and hold a memorial in the local woods. I've had no complaints, so I must be making someone happy.

I don't remember where the poem's from. Could be I got it wrong. But it was running through my head the whole time I made this.

Anyway. Go look at all the entries! There are some really amazing pieces up. And vote vote vote! Well, just vote:
http://etsytx.ning.com/page/october-design-challenge-day

And come say hi to the great people who made the entries!
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6328460