Best Holiday Commercial EVER

After watching it i feel positively AGLOW with the holiday jollies. teehee!

i know i have been really lame with my lack of xmas crafts and rambling amanda-babbles…i hope i can make it up to ya’ll by sharing  liitle tidbits like this.

Little Red Rawr….the Christmas Beastie!

See, i *CAN* be JOLLY!

…very excellent Christmas show that i only JUST saw for the first time last year! It’s amazing…
“The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” based on a Frank L. Baum story. It’s mighty pagan-ish…with the horned king and Santa being raised by faeries and animals, nursed on linoness milk even…and having his fate decided by an group of “immortals” The creatures are beautifully rendered, and i do love me some stop animation!  If you get the chance to see this one, i highly recommend! Here’s a little snippet….

It’s a shame that it is not on DVD, but i guess it is alittle weird for the average viewer. As for me, i think is is incredible!

SO, i have been pretty much AWOL lately. I was really really sick for the longest time, and then over the weekend we did marathon xmas shopping, tree decorating and some serious immersion in a plethora of Rankin and Bass xmas animation.
I am so overwhelmed by how much piled up while i was down with the ick, and trying so hard to capture the feelings of joy and wonder that i OUGHT to be feeling now that holidays are in full swing. And a part of me DOES feel it….enjoying so much how excited my kids are getting, seeing all the amazingly festive and just plain gorgeous decorations that my blog-pals are displaying….but wondering when that that “Spark” is going to light me up, too, having faith that it’s coming if i remain open to it.

What’s been keeping me going is love. First of all, you fantastically kind blog peeps have been spoiling me so much lately….the sweetness, kindheartedness and massive displays of generosity just blow my mind, and to be honest, make me feel  overwhelmed and baffled at just what it was that i did to deserve such a huge outpouring of beautiful treasures.  My heart feels like a huge balloon, so full. Calamity Kim, Jungle Dream Pagoda, and Band Aids Required have showered me with beautiful things that i need to take proper photographs of so you can see…. The most beautifully sewn (from a vintage pattern, no less) gnome apron that i love with all my heart, incredibly beautiful decadent fabrics, the most amazing Gnome Christmas Craft book, a sweet little mushroom pincushion all full of gnome pins, a big tin tea (a life-saver while i was  so sick) a vintage doll pattern book, the sweetest little tiny Japanese Kimono bear and delicious coconut Japanese pastries…and so much more that i am quite sure i have left things out.  I have not had much energy for blogging, so i am way behind in the photography for the show and tell portion of the post (and honestly, i have been given so much that i am almost embarrassed to show it off because i don’t want it to see like i am gloating! Never have i been quite so spoiled. I don’t even feel like i deserve this huge outpouring of kindness and now i feel shy and awkward!  Blogging has brought so many incredible women into my life….i cherish my friendships with each and every one of you guys so much. Even tho’ i have not done alot of photography, i DID get some pictures of one of the most adorable sock-monsters i have ever  seen, handmade by the incomparable Kim….

as soon as we unwrapped “Halitosis Harold” the little beast seized him and they’ve been pretty much inseparable  ever since.  Best pals at first sight. It’s so cute it make my heart hurt.

Here’s our little kimono bear…she looks so sweet on our poor old fake plastic tree Love her!

Ther eare so many more  things i need to photograph, but ya’ll get th idea. It’s mindblowing.  I know i must be the luckiest woman in the world. And i am still bewildered at what i could possibly have done to deserve it. It’s a mystery. It amazes me that you all read my typo-filled random ramblings at all! But i am so glad you do and i love every one of you bits.
The other thing keeping me afloat is my wonderful hub. He helped me so much while i was sick, making me my favorite spicey thai chicken noodle soap and keeping the little one mostly off me so i could flollop about on the couch stoned on cough meds and misery.  But most of all,  for just loving me in spite of recent nasty family issues, for sticking with me for better or worse, even if i *AM* some evil heathen succubus that lured him away from religion and straight into the hands of Satan. (Please note the sarcasm here. It’s hard when you find out that certain people who you THOUGHT loved you have these sorts of opinions of you after years of thinking that all this kind of nonsense was past us. IT stings. Especially at the holidays when we are all haivng to gather adn plaster on the fake smiles and pretend like everything is just hunky dory when i KNOW the truth is FAR from it) But my wonderful hub stands by me, and gives me those hugs that seem to make all the hurt go away. I wish we did not have all these painful issues with our families, but what we DO have is EACH OTHER, which is pure magic. True love is so rare…happily ever after is a myth. But what we have is incredible, and i cherish ever day we have together. My hub is the best thing to ever happen to me.

I have not been very creative lately…knocked out a couple monsters, finished the do-over of Sugar mama…

made a new batch of soap:

And now i have all this new beautiful fabric to inspire me, so maybe i am read to get back to my making! i already have some ideas, i am just trying to getthe courage to “get back up  on the horse”  I miss it.

Don’t eat the mushrooms!!!!!

THe last time i did an open house at Belladonna’s, i treated myself by purchasing a tarot deck that i have been coveting for many years…The Halloween Tarot by the wonderful artist, Kipling West. The art on the cards is just amazing, and i love it. I went poking around online and soon discovered the website and blog of the ever-talented Ms. West, and found that she makes the most adorably creepy little plush monsters along with all the fab painting and illustrations! It stirred up the long-dormant urge in me to make “rawrs”.

The genesis of Rawrs was the notion i took one day long ago to make something silly for my youngest kid. I had some pieces of fleeces and some felt, so i drew out the wonkiest monster shape in the universe and with my STUNNING sewing skills, “Coreymonster”  (the name that the little beast dubbed the stuffed creature when he first saw it) was born…

HE loved it, even tho’ it was (ahem) imperfect and weird. My friends loved it too, and i soon found myself making monsters constantly. They evolved and got better, while still retaining that wonky simplicity….because i never use a pattern, just draw the shape on the fleece and go at it with the machine.  I still make the face by applique and emboidery, and they still get little paws adn claws on hands and feet…and now they all get a “RAWR” tattoo on thier booties!

i don’t even KNOW how many of these i’ve made over the years….so many that i got dead sick of looking t them. So it’s been awhile, but Kipling’s monsters made me feel  the urge, so i’ve spent the week working on this silly pink thing to take to the next open house at Belladonna’s tomorrow….kind of coming full circle in a way I enjoyed making this one…it’s alot smaller than i normally make them, and the fabric is a weird soft snuggly vintage terrycloth i found in the thriftstore a while back rather than the usual fleece.  i like her! But i don’t think i am going to be in any hurry to make tons more any time soon!

I still have alot to do to get ready for the open house….i’ve been under the weather, and now my little one  is sick too. SO i suppose i should get back to the business of making and mothering. Hope everyone is having lovely friday! RAWR!