Happy Holidays Folks

I decorated the xmas cake this year, but was limited to icing and marzipan hence the yellow penguins! XD"

The cake has a story with it too:

As everyone well knows Polarbears and Penguins live at opposite sides of the world and can never meet.
but obviously in this modern age, sometimes a polarbear will strike up a friendship with a penguin via the internet.
And sometimes, on special holidays like xmas maybe they will want to visit each other.

William the polarbear has caught the Ice-flow Express to the Antarctic to exchange gifts with his good friends Wilfred, Rodney and Thomas the penguins! X3

Featured!

I had another nice surprise today when I dropped by at RedBubble, one of my designs was featured on thier home page!



The theme was bears and my design Star Bear was in some excellent company!
Bears have been top of my favorite animal list for a long time and are a long time inspiration, so to get featured for the first time during a bear theme is extra special! X3

It won't be up for long so go check out Star Bear and the other excellent bears on Redbubble's hompage today!

Congrats on 6th place Rufus!

Much to my surprise and delight, Rufus the troll, came 6th in the Etsy best toy contest!
Out of 60 entries I was really amazed he was so high up!
It seems voting was pretty close too, so he wasn't far behind the winner in votes!
Congrats Rufus! \ ^_^ /
And thanks to anyone who voted for him! ^^




He's still needing a new home, so if anyone wants to buy this popular fella please visit my Etsy store!

Vote for Rufus!

Well today I had a great surprise Rufus the troll, a mouth puppet thats for sale in my Etsy store has been nominated for 'Holiday 2008: Choose Your Favorite Toy!' contest!



He's one of 60 toys you can vote for, so please go here and vote for him, or whichever is your favorite toy!

Out of the millions of amazing toys that must be on Etsy, I'm really proud of Rufus for making it into this contest! ^^

Crafty Christmas

Christmas is closing on us fast now and the annual shopping frenzy will no doubt descend. So here’s a few ideas and tips to make your Christmas shopping a little easier.

My top tip is, buy handmade!

There are a lot of good reasons to buy a handcrafted gift for your loved ones.
Handmade gifts are most likely unique, you won’t find stacks of them in every store, so you can be sure you’re giving a very special gift.

Whether you made it yourself or it was handmade by someone else, I think the fact you took the time to pick out a special handmade gift for someone will make the person receiving it, appreciate the gift more.

Also rather than buying multiple generic gifts for someone, a single well picked handmade gift will do the trick and be much more special!

You can have a guilt free Christmas knowing your gifts were not made in a sweatshop, but lovingly, individually crafted by a skilled artist.

With online stores like Etsy, there are millions of handmade items easily to hand, you can avoid the Christmas chaos down the shops and order everything from the comfort of your own home!

If you want to give a handmade gift you made yourself, but don’t know what to make, how about buying a pattern to work from?
You can still make the design unique by changing colours and adding your own enhancements but it’s a good kicking off point.
Also you can make all the gifts you need from 1 pattern, so with only the materials and the cost of the pattern to pay, it’s a good way to save money.

And not only will these gifts make your Christmas great, but you’ll be giving crafters and artists out there a great gift too buy buying their items!

International shipping dates are closing fast so please order soon if you want an item for Christmas, I’ll do my best to post all items as swiftly as possible!

So take a look at my Etsy store, I've added lots of new items and readjusted my prices!
If you don't see the perfect gift in my store, check out all the other great stores on Etsy and buy handmade to make someone’s Christmas!

Tako the Octopus Easy Sewing Pattern

Octopus are one of the most awesome among the many awesome creatures of the sea!
They can change colour and shape, they can get through really tiny holes, they are really smart and thats just a few of the awesome things about them!



Now you can make your very own pet octopus with my new Tako the Octopus sewing pattern!



The pattern is very easy to make so even beginners should have no trouble making this cute octopus!



You can purchase the patter at Etsy!

Foo-Dogs

I've been fond of Foo-dogs since I made sculptures of one some years ago for my family.



(If you want to know how i made that, read this!)

Foo-Dogs are mythalogical guaridans of temples in China and Japan, they're often found as a pair of statues on either side of the entrance.
The female will be on the left and have her paw on a cub, the male will be on the right and have his paw on a sphere.

Here's a new take on Foo-dogs.



These are avaliable as t-shirts, as a pair or individually, and are avaliable as cards and prints at Redbubble.

Farmyard Rock, Rockin' the Farmyard!

Farmyard Rock are:

Quentin Duck on vocals:

Lead singer of Farmyard Rock, and writer of all thier lyrics. His vocals have been described and heavenly as well as powerful.
Outrageous and energetic on stage, he's surprisingly sensitive and shy when not in the public eye.

Cowboy Horse on lead guitar:

Cowboy is the undisputed king of the guitar solo.
This along with his good looks means he always gets the most fan-mail.
Cowboy is the most rebelious member of the band, but he’s also a dedictaed friend to his band-mates.

Oscar Pig on bass guitar:

He's one funky pig and the most outlandish and outrageous member of the band!
He's always up for a joke or some crazy adventure.

Euan Sheep on keyboard:

A brilliant pianist he writes most of the music for the band.
Not afraid to try new things this is one sheep who does not follow the crowd!
Together with Bently, he's one of the more mature and sensible members of the band.

And last but not least, Bently Bull on drums:

Bently Bull is a skilled drummer with the best rythmn on the farm.
Bently formed the band with his best friend Cowboy Horse on guitar.
Steady headed as the band leader, Bently goes wild once he’s sitting at his drum kit.

Here's a snapshot of them performing at thier debut gig:


And a poster for thier upcoming tour!


You can buy all of these designs as t-shirts or prints and posters at my RedBubble site.

Make a Moving Mouth Puppet!

You might imagine making a moving mouth puppet is tricky, but it's really not, and now it's even easier because I've designed my own simple pattern for a moving mouth puppet!



It's a 14 page PDF which you can buy from my Etsy store

Using the pattern you can make a troll or lion puppet, or use it as a base for your own creation!
As well as the full size pattern the PDF pattern includes step by step instructions, photographs and diagrams.



They're lots of fun to make, and play with!

While probably not being up to a professional standard for a mouth puppet, because of the flexable foam mouthplate they are very expressive puppets!



If you want to try out one of my patterns before you buy, check out my free patterns on the Extras page!

Dreamland Chronicles Character Hats!

Earlier this year the creator of The Dreamland Chronicles Scott Christian Sava saw my cat hats and asked if I might make some hats of the characters from his comic.
Being a fan of the Dreamland Chronicles and knowing him from a ways back now of course I wanted to give it a try.

I was still learning about sewing at the time so I didn't know how it might turn out, but overall I think they turned out pretty good!

There's Paddington Rumblebottom the Third who's a Rock Giant


Nastajia Ashenheart a royal elf
Short hair:


Long hair:


And Felicity a feisty cat-lady!
Brim:


No brim:



There had been hopes of mass producing them however due to time money and other issues that has fallen by the wayside for now.

However these prototype hats are now up for sale in my Etsy store!

If you don't know the Dreamland Chronicles, go here and educate yourselves!
It's a fantastic and epic tale and with it's beautiful CGI artwork its also rather special in the comic world!
You can read it online, but even better, why not nip down the comic shop and buy the TPB so you can sit back and relax with it! ^^

Happy Halloween!

It was tough getting a pumpkin this year, but eventually I spotted the perfect one!
Here's what I did with it:





Thats Totoro from the Studio Ghibli movie Tonari no Totoro if you don't already know!

I'm chuffed with how he turned out!
I haven't carved a pumpkin in that way before, just taking the skin off in places and not cutting right through. This year I broke out my wood carving chisels and did it with those! ^^

It was tough to photograph him all lit up, not least becames the candle kept going out! XD"

I made tomato and pumpkin soup from the flesh I scooped out the middle! Yum!

Have a Happy halloween everyone!

October Snow

Yesterday it snowed!
Not enough to make a snow Totoro, but I was still excited to see it.
This morning of course there was just a scattering of hard frozen snow left, but it was still cold and a good frost too.
And to top it off it was a beautiful clear morning, so I went to my local patch and took a few photos, here's a few of my favorites:







You can see a few more shots I took and also buy prints of them if you wish at Red Bubble.

Free Halloween Finger Puppet Tutorial

Here's my gift for you this Halloween, a free pattern and tutorial!

Skull Bird is a fun finger puppet for you to make, and he'll be perfect for when you go trick n treating this Halloween!

He's super quick and easy to make, and you can make him by sewing from felt, or by gluing from cut paper depending on your skills!

So what are you waiting for, go get the pattern and get making!
Free Skull Bird Pattern and Tutorial


Skull Bird is also avaliable in 2 designs on T-shirst from RedBubble, so you can look the part too this Halloween!
Skull Bird design 1
Skull Bird Design 2

Also check out my other free things to make on the Extras page!

Ninja-Bear, Bear-Ninja!

Ninja-Bear, Ninja-Bear,
Sneaking here, peeping there,
Where's he hiding? Could be anywhere!
Oh, where is Ninja-Bear?

He's... heeeere!


Is he a bear in a ninja suit, or a ninja in a bear suit?

Bear-Ninja (or Ninja-Bear) will never reveal the answer, even if you were fortunate enough to be able to catch hold of him!

Sneaky and mysterious, he could be hiding in your bowl of cereal, or laundry basket right now and you'd never know he was there!

Ninja bear is so cute he's deadly!

Ninja Bear has popped up as a puppet:


A plushie:


He's quite numerous on T-shirt designs!


*These and more avaliable from RedBubble*

And now he can be all yours in the form of this adorable hand made phone charm!


Which is up for sale right now on Etsy!

Jellies!

As a child, a trip to Llandudno was never complete without peering over the side of the pier at the jellyfish!
In fact if there weren't any, it was a big dissapointment!

Now I can see cute jellies where ever I go because I've made a cute jellyfish phone charm!



There's no worries about getting stung by this little chap, his non-stinging stinger is made of harmless pretty beads.

And you can own one too as there's one for sale now on my Etsy!


I decided to make a backing card for the jelly charms.



Usually, because I am a Flash dunce, I take my vector illos into photoshop to add any gradients. However on this illo I did everything in Flash, and I'm pretty chuffed with the results!



I liked the design so much I have made it avaliable on Redbubble in 3 different styles as a t-shirt and prints.

Tea Time!

My dad funded a pottery painting adventure so we borrowed the paints from the shop and set to work!

It took me about 3 days to paint my teapot and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!







Now I can finally have a cuppa tea! XD

I also painted a plate to put cake on while enjoying my teabreak, it stars Tao and Zen my gerbils. To stop them nibbling on my snack I also painted sunflower seeds on the plate for them.

Ryki TPB!

In a far and distant past life I was a comic book artist! X3

Ok so I still could be one, but well recently my creative urges have taken me in other directions.

However my first ever proper comic was sitting sadly neglected and unpublished and I decided it was time to get it out there into the world.

So after a long wait the Ryki TPB collecting issues 1-3 of my and Chris Sawyers comic Ryki plus loads of extras such as sketches and pin-ups, is avaliable now.
It's 124 pages B&W with full colour wrap-round cover and suitable for all ages.



Here's the blurb:
Brash and advanced, the Teku control any aspect of the mystical Eeko they wish. These conditions have done nothing to dampen the spirit of the Eeko. From their distorted past, looms a broken present and a questionable future. One brave Eekoian sets out on an adventure that will change the fate of an entire planet and will lead him back to the one place he does not want to return. Home.
And here's the website: Ryki site

Buy Ryki TPB

PS. If any of my family or friends is reading this, you'll probably get one for Xmas, so please consult me before buying a copy! XD"

Since we're talking comics I may as well tell you about my other major comic project, this time a solo project, it's called Ninja Tom's 'Philosophy of Life' and is also avaliable in a TPB collecting issues 1-4 plus some special short stories and all the other usual extras!
It's 170 pages B&W with full colour wrap cover and suitable for all ages.



Here's the blurb:
Fun, fights and philosophy for all the family! Master Ninja and Grizzly bear, Tom teaches his young apprentice Tayo through telling stories. An experiment in art and storytelling, this book collects issues 1 - 4 of the comic book 'Ninja Tom's 'Philosophy of Life''. It also includes 2 new bonus short stories and lots of new illustrations and a behind the scenes look at the making of Ninja Tom. Also learn about the inspiration behind each story and get clued up on some cool bear facts along the way! Suitable for all ages! Let me tell you a story...
And here's the website: www.ninjatom.tk

Buy Ninja Tom TPB

I Must Clean My Fridge!

Look at all the bacteria growing on my fridge! 0_o

First it was these guys


And now there's even more of them!


Well, there's only so much room on my fridge for bateria, and since I'd feel bad disinfecting such cute bugs I've decided to sell them on Etsy instead!

That's right, you can start your very own bateria colony with these Bateria Buddies sets!