Work In Progress- Chibi Topper & Flower Album

As mentioned before, the Mario & Princess Peach cake topper were started while interrupting another felt project. It was this, a Chibi topper. As I'm doing it, I'm thinking this could be a cute birthday theme. I dressed this one today (there will be a boy too) and made a couple of strawberries from what was going to be the tips of Mario's arms (waste not).
It's funny to work in felt in particular because there is such a sense of every single tiny piece being able to be used. There are times when I've accidentally thrown away a 1 cm circle and later thought, "shit, I threw away an ear".



This is another thing I'm working on- imitation flowers. Each layer is cut and then the edges are burned and then stitched together. The biggest one was my first, a test. It's very burned but I kind of liked how it came out dusty pink (it actually started out peach).
The project will need more flowers and then I'll need to get materials and stitch them into a cover for a book. We'll see...

Work In Progress- Mario & Princess Peach Cake Topper- "It's Me, Mario!"

I must shoot this properly before I sew them down but I had just finished Mario and had so much fun posing them around that I thought I'd jump in and shoot a couple pictures.

Now that he's done, I've gotta figure out how they should be posed and what (if anything) I'd like them to stand on. I was thinking maybe a big mushroom, I'm also considering the top of a turret but it's all IFs and MAYBES right now.

Work In Progress- Mario & Princess Peach Cake Topper

A few days ago, I bought a bunch of felt on a whim because I wanted a faster (faster than several weeks anyway), colorful project to work on (instead of finishing the ones I've already started like a good girl).
While I started, I came up ideas for TWO other projects in the middle of what I was doing and STARTED them instead of finishing that first "fast colorful" one. So now I have two felt projects in the works and one book cover I'm working on besides the other projects I have going...uhhhh.
At least I'm having fun with this particular one,

Princess Peach! Skirt is unfinished till I can figure out Mario and get the height worked out. That felt mushroom on the side is actually part of the original felt project I was working on. The mushroom for the Mario & Princess Peach topper will have to be bigger and shaped a little differently for accuracy. Hopefully I can finish one of these soon!

UPDATE 10/12/2010:
To see when Mario was first made/ Princess Peach & Mario frolicking (yes, frolicking):
http://sacrificialrabbits.blogspot.com/2010/08/work-in-progress-mario-princess-peach_30.html

To see the completed piece:
http://sacrificialrabbits.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-wildly-different-listings.html

Work In Progress- Great Gatsby Cake Topper

So, just to update on the topper, it's pretty close to done. There is beading work on the base (not shown) and the birds are mostly outfitted.



Still left is the inside base detailing, a bit of the dress and the wings of the boy and their legs... oh wait- there's a lot left! X_X;



I've had so many ideas on other things to make and bake, hopefully I can make some strides.
One thing I definitely want (and is taking away my attention) is this:


Message-in-a-cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma
Individual alphabet lettering to create customizable msgs.
I read the reviews and they seem generally good to somewhat mixed but I still can't wait to get these and try them for myself.
A lot of people seemed to be displeased with the large size of the cookie but I'm pretty sure that won't dissuade any of my friends. ;)

Featured in an Etsy treasury/ Wedding Gift "Basket"

My Pride & Prejudice cake topper was featured in another Etsy treasury,
A Regency Style Wedding
This one is by user bubbletime and is a charming collection of Austen-era goodies. I love how prim and proper it is and also that it includes real menswear which is hard to come by on Etsy.




I was away for a while attending my friend, Gloria (aka Min)'s wedding. Before attending, I fulfilled he registry (pillowsham) but felt kind of lame for it:
"Hi! Here's a pillow case for the two of you! Congratulations!"

I know it's the thought that counts but I also wanted to add in a few things that were useful and some other frivolous things that would be nice to have for little celebrations in the future.

I decided to go for a gift basket and got things like a soy scented candle, quality spatula, baking sugars and cookie cutters, wine stoppers, etc.
Then I thought, "Well, I could put this in a basket that they may or may not have room for and may or may not match their aesthetic OR I could get a colander that they could definitely use."

So, they ended up getting a pillow case in a colander.
Haha but I think I did a decent job packaging the whole thing up.
I played off the blue in the colander and used the natural choice of white by using doilies as a running theme. The wrapping paper is a few shades lighter than the pillow sham itself and is quilted just like it so I think I got pretty lucky with that one.

I also ended up making a box (I refuse to buy boxes with the obscene amount of reusable cardboard in my apt). I used the doilies for the outside packaging as well.


Hmm...in retrospect I should have blocked that out in white instead of black but you guys get the idea.

Blushing In A Gilded Age Treasury

Blushing In A Gilded AgeTreasury on Etsy
After my Woodland Decadence treasury was so well received (and made the front page) I wanted to make another with a few items I wanted to include earlier (but couldn't because of the color scheme). Hopefully this will do as well ...

An Etsy Treasury

I was inspired to make my own treasury, visit the link and send the sellers some love.

Featured in an Etsy treasury

The dollsandbunnies treasury : "Together Forever"

A nice way to start out an upcoming long work day.

I'd also like to share a profile on Reuben Margolin who makes kinetic wave sculptures. His work is beautiful and mesmerizing and I can appreciate that it is very much unlike my own because it is so based in mechanics. I think that's a credit to his work, there is so much fluidity and nature in his structures it feels organic, life-like and calls upon our innate senses so that several audiences can all appreciate it whether for it's function, structure, design or theory.

Kinetic Wave Sculptures on MAKE: television from make magazine on Vimeo.

Nameplate Mock-Ups

I was never formally trained in calligraphy (public school kid), but it's always been a hobby of mine. I was recently asked to create a few mock dvd covers (in a Victorian theme) for a photography-videography company that is looking to expand on the styles of their wedding materials.

I first drew them by hand in drawing inks and then scanned them in.
There are a few variations, for fun here are the styles I created but in nameplate form:
(Fatima & Ramon are the names of their latest couple.)





I liked this font but it was a little too flowery for the company style.






A less densely ornate one in a different font.






And finally the second font with the first border.



Scripting has got me thinking about tattooing, goldsmithing, embroidery and so many other things I'd like to get around to

Pride & Prejudice Topper

Listed and ready to find the perfect home as a cake topper, curio cabinet ornament, faux-terrarium display or pillbox hat (?):




Detail indoors by me
Outdoor shots courtesy of Will Star

For details on the make of this piece, please visit the Etsy listing

VISIT MY ETSY STORE
PURCHASE THIS PIECE VIA ETSY

Back

from the Bahamas (which was only 5 days of my absence but took up much more time).
Jet skiing, snorkeling, riding on motor scooter and an underwater (sub-like) scooter but I can't even swim and I don't drive. Considering all, it was eventful.

Now it's back to work. The day job and my making. P&P topper's photos are complete and will be ready to list soon (maybe tomorrow?)

Tonight My Fair Lady aesthetics on my mind and the Tennessee Waltz resounds in my ear.
After a day of catching up with necessities and a night of "dayjob" work, it all comes together.

In the mean time, here's something I <3, it's hearkens back to paper puppets and aristocratic ways, collages and magic.

Ramona Falls "I Say Fever" from Barsuk Records on Vimeo.

Ramona Falls "I Say Fever". Directed and Animated by Stefan Nadelman.

So good.