An Entire Village of New Chubby Houses

I have many many favorites in this bunch and can tell you almost exactly what I was doing when I look at each one. I barely had room for all of them in my little "photo studio".

A close up of just one of them. Such happy little houses.

I managed to avoid any heating disasters this go around too. I'm rather pleased by that.

Another Baby Bird!

That's right, another baby bird, same golf course. This one was found being picked on by the ground squirrels there and was rescued by one of the workers there. My friend brought him over for me to see, we snapped a few quick pictures thinking maybe it would help trying to identify what kind of bird he was if we couldn't find anywhere to take him and then we sped off to Gilcrease Animal Sanctuary again! Isn't this little buggar simply adorable and so so tiny too.

Very alert.

Did someone say cheese?

Yes, he was a camera ham.

After discussing various possibilities on what he was we arrived at Gilcrease and were told he was a quail. That wasn't even on our list of possibilities, wow.

The guy there informed us that the owner of Gilcrease Animal Sanctuary was very fond of quail and would take care of the little quail himself and amazingly enough they even had another little quail baby there the same exact size that they were getting ready to take back to him.

Happy days.

Big Eyed Birds Get Hitched and Other Happenings

Admit it, the title got ya!

I have been wanting to do this for ever.

This is called a wedding cake topper. Not that you actually have to use it as such. I had seen some really adorable ones out there and it had me thinking about my birds. I did have 9 extra ones just waiting their turn you know.

The base is wooden and I initially had the darnedest time figuring out how to attach the birds to the base. Hehe, I may tell one day.

Update on the 25 chubby houses.

Going VERY well. Have 8 completely done except words and clearcoat, 11 in production and 6 waiting on inspiration. I took almost an entire day off the houses for the birds above but I think it was well worth it.

Something funny I saw at the Post Office today. A sign advertising getting paid to eat chocolate.

Wait, that's not the funny part! Very nice, professionally done magnetic sign asking you to call a toll free number for more Inforfmation...that's right, Inforfmation, hehe.

Phrenology Skull and Procrastination

It's a little different than things I normally do but I'm so totally drawn to these types of things.

I was supposed to be working on other things. You see, I have 5 days off in a row in which all I wanted to do is putter around the house and get some art work accomplished. My goal for this mini vacation was to paint and finish the 25, (yes, that's right) chubby houses I have started and I have about 9 more birds in the works and I wanted to get them all done before I went back to work next Thursday.

So, of course I painted this! Hehe, bad...I'm so very bad.

I used my colored pencils and acrylics over some vintage foreign text on a canvas. The text I think is maybe Russian?

I just love medical things especially vintage medical things.

I got this fabulous book at the thrift store. It was behind the counter and the clerk acted surprised when I asked if I could see it. When he told me how much it was I considered for a moment and decided it was just too pricey for me. I reluctantly handed it back to him.

He thought for a moment and then told me in the 'years' since he'd had it no one even asked to look at it, I was the first. He would give it to me for half price. I paid for it and left happy.

Ralphie Has Been Stuffed!

I have been itching to do this project for what seems like an eternity. Even got the basic shape cut out, sewn, stuffed and then abandoned...

I'm pleased to say that I finally decided what I wanted to do with him and how.

Here's Ralphie with his little Charlie kitty.

See those little paws? I have those prints all over my work table now...

Tiny Chubby Sweat Shoppe Style Birds

My little Sweat Shoppe Style Birdies have all finally arrived as the last one, that traveled to China, finally got there! These guys are tiny versions of the legged ones and were actually the reason the legged ones were born but after realizing the others were far too large for the swap I ended up making these smaller little guys. I think they logged in about 4 inches tall.

I sure enjoyed them and was sad to see them go...

Happy Mothers Day Mom!!

I just love these old school black and white photos! I have this same picture, larger and colorized. I wanted to post that one but the frame it is in was far too difficult to try and take apart for the scan. This small one will just 'have' to do.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

Wahoo!! I'm Up And Running!!

Thanks go out to Denise from Odd Imagination for being my new best friend and helping me out with my total lack of technology know how. She totally helped me and got me up and running again with the big dogs. I'm so happy...*sniff*!

Okay, now I have some pictures to share. Where to start.

My little baby bird Wally, that's where.

Isn't he ever so handsome and just look at those bright colors! I have never seen a bird like this here before, he's just stunned me with his beauty. Of course until last year I didn't even know we had mockingbirds here. I just don't get out much, hehe.

Here's he's getting a bit sleepy. You can see like a typical baby he's got food all over his face!

We fed him a Green Mush mixture and that's what is all over his little beak.

Here we are with the syringe and you can really see how tiny he is!

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First Friday booth.

Admittedly not the best shot in the world as I realized later that it framed the porta-potties nicely in the background...blech. The wind was kicking up pretty good and we had to add lots of "extras" to the table to keep all the light weight pieces from blowing over. Definitely need some bigger display 'somethings' in there. I'm hoping to get a great idea for displaying my little pocket mirrors. The cool box I had them in confused people as to what they actually were.

I did manage to come up with some last minute nifty little designs that were a HUGE hit. I plan on concentrating on those a lot more for the next one.These were initially for a swap I joined over on Craftster but decided that they were entirely too big and made some newer smaller ones just days before they were due. Lord, I love toe-ing the line!
I used some copper wire I found last year on the construction site for their legs. I totally loved the way they came out and may need to make some more.


There is one right behind the little cardinal that I completely cut out of the picture and she's probably my favorite. They are going to get their own photo shoot shortly as I plan on adding them to my etsy shop soon. The adorable little red guy on the right found a new home Friday night though. I'm sure he's very happy as there are already other big eyed birds living there. (Hehe, hi Amy!)

These guys were the BIG hit of the night. Everyone loved them. I'm even more proud of them because these are my sons. That's right, the one who said he had no talent and didn't know how to make anything. He starts playing with the Celluclay and next thing you know he's joining me in the booth at First Friday. Did I mention that he almost sold out? Here's his booth. I kind of surprised him with this shot and never got another as we were as busy as all get out for the rest of the night!
His stuffed voodoo dolls were another big hit.

This gorgeous rose was blooming to the left of the zombie kids when we were doing their photo shoot and I could not resist.

I'm so happy I have my camera back!!

Gilcrease Animal Sanctuary and the Rescued Baby

I decided to dedicate this post to my recent trip out to Gilcrease Animal Sanctuary where I took the American Coot baby we found yesterday.

His name is Wally. He got his name after my friend and I went to the golf course last night (where he was found) to try and find him something edible. I tried googling information on his kind to see what we could possibly feed him. I know how hard it is for experienced people to hand feed baby birds but between the two of us we basically had no clue.

We tried everything and even went so far to dip into the water that other American Coots were in trying to find something for him. Well apparently one of the golfers there saw us trying to find food for this baby bird and decided he wanted to donate money to his cause. This man ended up leaving all the money he had in his pocket to the little bird which amounted to $13 dollars. I was truly touched.

We ended up mixing up some Green Mush in with some baby food and some of the water/algae from the pond and got that little baby bird to eat quite a bit of it.

He had decided that he felt quite safe and comfortable in my hand so guess how I spent the night...that's right, with him cuddled up in my hand. After he was fed he actually fell asleep and slept throughout the night. I don't think he woke up once and amazingly enough I never once managed to let go of him.

I dropped him off at the Gilcrease Sanctuary this morning when they opened. What an amazing place. There were so many birds there and I totally fell in love with one umbrella cockatoo and a tailless crow.

If you are in the area I highly recommend stopping in for a visit.

They also have an orchard there where you can pick your own fruits and vegetables.

Here is some interesting background reading on them in lieu of any pictures on my part...for now.

Wow! What A Ride!!

Okay, let's start off with, "I can't add any pictures!"
My computer is not recognizing my camera any more. I can't figure out why. So needless to say that until I figure this problem out this post will have to be pictureless, blech!

And boy oh boy, did I ever have some pictures to share!

Been massively busy trying to get my act together for my very first showing at First Friday here in Las Vegas which coincidentally happens on the first friday of every month. What happens is a street festival with art, food and music and amazingly enough not very many people in town have even heard of it. I found this sad fact out when mentioning I was going to be there to many people.

That being said the place was packed. The weather was being awful. It was very very windy and we ended up having a couple pieces being blown over and breaking.

We you ask!

My son had a table right next to mine. He almost sold out of everything he had!

We've both got lots of new ideas to focus on for next month though!

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Finally went through with the long planned garage sale and managed to re-home a ton of stuff making me a very happy camper!
Did I mention how hot it was? No? I had put up my sun shade canopy and still I burned.

Totally loving that big empty space in the garage!

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Have some adorable pics (on the camera) of this little Mud Hen (American Coot, great shots by photographer Greg Lasley) that got rescued off the golf course where my friend works. He slept with me last night. Okay, this should read that I held him all night to keep him from crying. Amazingly he did sleep through the night and seems to be doing reasonably well, all things considered. I've been feeding him a mixture of mossy water from the golf course mixed with some Green Mush and hoping for the best.
My plan this morning is to take him to the Gilcrease Sanctuary when they open at 9.

In case you were wondering, he looks just like the baby in those shots but much smaller and much brighter colors and is stinking adorable!