What?  You don’t believe me?……..sure,  sure they are not going to comic con anytime soon (it’s not  really their thing) but hey a hamster has to be fancy dress party ready (oh my how hamsters love fancy dress parties……..just ask one and they will squeak excitedly for days)

Julie sent me a piccie of one of her party ready furry friends…….do you like his cupcake outfit?

Pretty cute huh?  I mean you really can imagine picking him up and eating him he’s so sweet……..or is that just me?

So of course being this cute means that he needs a stabby homage……

No offense to the original hammy but I felt that his costume would have been a little more fun if he had a blob of cream as a hat so I made him a detachable one that he can tie on, should he choose to,  his cupcake I hand sewed from felt.

I hope Julie likes her little furry cupcake as she is one of the vendors from strangefolk (which is how she found me to request this critter).

Speaking of Strangefolk I can’t believe the date is getting closer and closer

I am really excited for this show,  almost as excited as I am to be leaving for Las Vegas on Saturday………wooohoooo I love Vegas!!!!!

Poor ole’  Walter,  all his buddies are leaving for their winter vacations and checking themselves into the fanciest river retreats and Walter will not be joining them……..you see Walter is scared of heights.  It’s pretty tragic,  even standing on the jetty brings Walter out in hives……ever seen a duck belly flop in a panic?  most likely it was Walter.  So Walter is looking for a nice warm home to avoid the winter…..do you know of anything?

Walter will be in the shop soon.

No it’s the super mischief monkeys bringing chaos and mayhem wherever they go.

I made these little caped monkeys at the request of Sher.  Her mother in law had given her children long armed catapulting plush monkeys that the kids loved playing with on their vacation in Florida this year,  so naturally Sher wanted a stabby homage to the vacation and fun everyone had and requested I make goofy monkeys for the family  Christmas tree this year…

And so that’s the story of the super mischief monkeys,  I hope Sher likes what I came up with.  I’m rather smitten with the lil’ fellas I love thinking of the mischief that ensues upon their arrival.

Well ok not tigers and bears exactly,  but anyone who knows me does know that  I am prone to over  exaggerate.  And as  we are heading to Vegas in a few weeks (yippppppppppeeeeeeeeeee) it got my mind ticking to the critters of Vegas,  hence the lions and tigers (is anyone capable of thinking Vegas and tigers and not instantly have the image of Roy being mauled or is that just me?)

So anyway I introduce to you Pierce the little white Lion Cub…..

He’s still a little shy but he’s eager to be a big star like his dad, and his dad before him.  He’s really a born performer.

And he will be appearing in the shop today.  Oh and keep your fingers crossed for me as I am on the waiting list for the Diy trunk show in Chicago,  which I am (nuttily) very excited about……..it would be great to get in but I am feeling terrible about thinking of apocalyptic diseases that may just happen to  befall the crafters that made it in……….aren’t I terrible?  I promise I do feel guilty though : )

Wow I can’t believe it’s already been and gone,  The Craftacular that is……..and much fun was had by all.

Obligatory booth shot to follow

Because of my love of schmoozing I even got a mention on a blog check it out,  although I think the author is the only person I’ve ever encountered that thinks my prices are too inexpensive…….I generally use the rule of thumb of “what would I pay for it if I saw it at a craft fair”  and usually that seems to work out pretty well,  but what do you guys think?  time to increase my prices?  ahhhhh it’s a tough one,  but  I think I love the fact that kids are so into the critter boxes and generally spend their own pocket money on them too much to incorporate a huge price hike.

This week was also the annual visit to the vet

The boys are just so pathetic  as soon as they go through the door,  that it takes all my strength not to point and laugh at them although I had to snap a picture to share………they had absolutely no intention of coming out of their cases either…..poor babies

So now it’s a count down for Strangefolk……….eeeeeeeek

And then I can officially say my first year participating in Summer shows is done………..woohoo

So the Crafter’s round up has come and gone and it was a ton of fun.  Quite a few critters found fabulous new homes in Chicago,  I was very sad to see Connor go but thrilled to think that he had found such a lovely new mummy…..

So cute!!!

The weather was fabulous on Saturday we even saw disgraced ex governor Rod Blagojevich Jogging in the neighborhood  (the hair truly is a sight to behold)………but Sunday was a whole other story……..(gotta love the Midwest in Summer) after toughing out 3 hours of rain,  the winds came and the fear of losing my precious new E-Z up to the great blue yonder was just to great,  so sorry if you headed out to Chase Park to see us as we were already Rockford bound.

Many thanks to the rather fabulous Pam who thought of me when she saw some rather fabulous cloches at a friend’s yard sale………they are truly awesome and I can’t wait to capture some critters under them.

So this Sunday we have the Summer Craftacular in Madison Wi

Just keep your finger’s crossed Sunday’s weather is blue skies and beautiful………

Wow………when did that happen?  I’m shocked,  time it really does fly by…….

I can’t believe tomorrow the Crafter’s Round up is finally here,  I’ve been stabbying like crazy for weeks in preparation for it and now I’m finally starting to feel like I might not have a half empty table after all……….phew,  that’s a relief (although I’m not sure at this point what I would do  if I wasn’t feeling ok )

So remember if you are in the Chicago area to come on by to Chase Park and say hi to the critters this weekend.

I remembered that I never ever did show you guys some of my birthday goodies even though I said I would,  aren’t I awful?   Anyway to rectify this blatant blog neglect I thought I’d show you what my friend Matt sent me…..

Norman the big snow rabbit made by Etsy sellers monsters etc……..and I just absolutely love him!!!  you should check out their store for other cuties too!!  many  thanks Matt.

Mark bought me quite a few goodies,   my favourites being this cute fishy made by Michele Smith of Mud Spun Studio that I fell in love with at the art fair on the square,  he’s supposed to be a ceiling fan pull but I have him hanging up on my bathroom cabinet….

He also got me a pizza slice

A Heidi Kenney pizza slice for Kidrobot silly…………not a real pizza slice,  although that would have been greatly appreciated too……….mmmmmmmmm pizza.   I recently bought this little guy for myself on Etsy too with the pretense that it was part of my birthday……

I just loved it at first sight……it’s a vintage find from Etsy seller Bethtastic who is based in Chicago and has a lot of very cute jewelry in her shop,  and it’s perfect for me as I am born in the year of the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac…….gosh I really will find any excuse to validate my needless spending sprees won’t I?  Shameless!!

I’m off to pack up the critters for their trip to Chicago,  hope to see you this weekend.

Yeah I’m looking at the bees buzzing around and all I can think is……….slackers!!!!  So apologies for the lack of blog updates but something had to give and the poor ole blog has suffered.

Yup but lookeee at my new captured critters

A little bee, ladybird and hedgie…….I’m loving the way these guys have turned out  and it had me thinking of a bigger captured critter so I grabbed my trusty fairy net and managed to snag

Norm the gnome……….He doesn’t seem that keen on being captured but luckily the glass is pretty thick so his protestations can barely be heard.  I’ve also been busy working on the goody insert for the craftacular bags (yup the first 50 lucky people to walk through the doors at the East Side Club in Madison Wisconsin  on August 15th will be getting a goody bag),  and trying to get stores restocked (something I’ve been a little slow at sorry guys),  all while trying to enjoy the beautiful sunny Illinois summer…….god how I adore summer,  never will you hear me complain about the heat, humidity and thunderstorms I love it all.

Okay so I’m off, back to work so much still to be done before the Crafter’s round up

Can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away……….gaaaaaaaaah!!!!! don’t panic!!!!!

I’m very excited today…….cos I just got the fantastic news that I am in to Strangefolk, YAAAAAAAY!!!!

I am so thrilled to be part of this show,  the name alone makes me feel right at home……..eeeeeeeek I thought I was busy before though.

So that means my Summer show schedule now looks like this

August 7th and 8th  The Crafters round up at Chase Park Chicago Illinois

The Summer Craftacular In Madison, WI

then of course the strangefolk festival

This past weekend was my 2nd favourite Madison event (the first being Maxwell street days which is this weekend) it was art fair on (and off) the square

There was tons of visually brilliant booths and I got a few goodies (of course) but this Saturday is my birthday so Markie won’t let me have them till then……….pooooooooooh.  I was in my element wandering aimlessly around the wonderful artists until the call of the terrace hit us,  nothing beats a pitcher of beer and a brat from the terrace in summer even when the heavens opened up and chucked it down it’s  still one of my favourite Madison spots

Love the terrace chairs,  they are just so cheery and did you know you can buy ‘em…….makes me want a garden patio really bad,  of course it would need a bar and someone grilling brats but still.

Ok really do have to get very busy now,  before I start freaking out about my lack of critters…………gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

Wow what an utterly fantastic weekend in Cleveland,  Bazaar Bizarre was so much fun as were the hundreds of people who stopped by to say hi to the critters,  Smithy even decided he liked Cleveland so much he was going to stay and call it home…

Wanna see a picture of the booth with my new theme?  Oh alright then here ya go

I was really pleased with how it looked,  and I was lucky enough to snag a super sweet booth location…. mostly because I was beside my fun buddies from Oblinaknit

They are super nice,  and to prove it I can tell you that all the  booth pics you see here were actually taken by them………I am not very camera proficient at the best of times and this time I even had the special knack of forgetting my camera……….oooooops.

So that was my first official outdoor summer show and I gotta tell you I loved it,  it’s made me incredibly excited about the impending Crafters Round Up in Chicago.  And the fact that it is 2 whole days outdoors makes me feel positively giddy with glee,  woooohoooo for ez ups and sunshine……(fingers crossed).