Saturday we had to go to Naperville to get the tire on our mini Sally replaced……….run flat tires are a serious pain in the ass by the way,  no one ever has them in stock and joy of joys even though I called and got the appointment to replace the tire a whole 5 days in advance the genious dealership forgot to order them as well.  But besides that brilliant start they also discovered that because of the awful state of the roads in Illinois my poor beloved Sally had broken struts and would cost $1,100.00 to repar……..sigh,  welcome back credit card debt you never seem to go away for very long.

So off we headed into Chicago in our fancy new loaner mini where the day was salvaged by the purchase of some new awesome and on sale Oakley frames……hmmmm which reminds me I need to find an optician who can put lenses in them

I love them and it will be  nice  to have a change of glasses…….and then we saw the Detroit Cobras at the double door,  they are one of those bands that are always brilliant live and you are practically gauranteed a good time at the show.

Friday I got this guy finished

I figuered with the abundance of mice I’ve been making of late I had better employ someone to keep them in check.  His name is Mr Orange and he lives to slash and cut.

Well this weekend we were baraged by some of the worst thunderstorms I think I’ve ever seen……we even had a tornado warning or two.   This generally means no weekend excursion,  I mean who the heck wants to go out and look like a drowned rat?  much better to stay home watch old movies and try and do a little of the home projects you’ve put of for ages.

During a break in the torrential downpours I made it to the local gardening store…….so my balcony looks like this now

I got 2 different types of tomato plants (yum) the planters along the top of the piccie have sweet peppers and banana peppers in them……can’t wait for them to grow.  And the lage terracotta plant has a papyrus plant…..I’m always drawn to weird wild flowers and grasses so this was a garden center must have for me.  I also got something called a candy corn plant which I have never seen before it’s so cool and it’s very obvious how it got it’s name,   just check out the blooms

How cool is that?  I hope it can survive our crazy erratic weather……..less than 10 mins of taking these piccies the sky turned  black  and the heavens opened again.  Oh well at least I got in some crafting for the craftacular,  I can’t believe I only have two weekends of crafting left before the big day……ooooops better get busy!!!!

I know I’ve said it a million times and I’m sure you are all bored with me saying  it but I don’t care I’m saying it again………I love Madison!!!!!! This weekend was fabulous weather so we headed out early to catch the farmers market around the capitol…..It was my intention to have one of those blog posts showing the beautiful farm fresh produce and gorgeous plants and flowers but unfortunatly we bought a yummy loaf of cheese bread and I spent the time wandering around stuffing my face instead of taking piccies.

I did stop by Ekra’s and orangyporangy booths they were having a great time trying to ensure their booths didn’t blow away (it was a little windy) and I picked up my much coveted vase from Ekra

I love it, it’s so cool she used a beer bottle for the brown tiles and a light fixture for the accent tiles……anyway after wandering around the market for a while and buying some catnip plants for the boys we headed on over to the terrace.

I love the terrace in summer it’s always packed with students and it’s a great place to sit out and enjoy a few beers……..I have turned a beautiful shade of bright pink thanks to my love of the terrace.

And other than having a fabulous weekend the only thing I created is more critter clips but this time hedgehogs

These lil hedgies might be my new faves in the critter clip line and of course I will add them to the shop.

why I love, love, love flickr…….

A little over a month ago whilst perusing my friend and contacts photos I came across this sweet lil’ guy made by Raggy Rat

I love Raggy Rat’s handmade toys (my personal faves being her rats and mice) so I of course had to leave a comment letting her know just how cute I think he was…. and joy of joys she was up for trading him for a needle felting kit. So he arrived on Friday and I absolutely adore him, he pretty much hangs out with bubbletime’s cats and Skippy the Beastly (I think he secretly enjoys being bigger than them)

Anyway you should check out Raggy Rats flikr pics to see for yourself how well made and unique her handmade toys are. I hope she loves needle felting as much as I do.
And other than my new mousey nothing much else going on over here at the mo. Just trying to make schtuff for the Craftacular but feeling very lackadaisical about it as I still have a month solid of crafting before crunchtime (June 28th)

I did tell you I was going to Vegas right?   Oh ooops sorry  I guess I forgot to mention it here.   Anyway as always it was fantastic I mean where else in the world is the cop shop manned by Elvis?

I had my fix of blackjack for the year………ooooooh I love blackjack and I seem to do well at breaking even playing it,  well except for one night but that’s a different story ( and a very short and not very  good one at that either…..waaaaaah!!!)

We stayed at the new Planet Hollywood formerly known as the Alladin and as much as I adored Alladin they did a really nice job on PH.  All the rooms are movie themed and our room was the 90’s movie Made in America that starred Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson,  so for 4 nights I got to look at Nia Long’s pj’s suspended in a perspex box………I swear to God I would awake in the middle of the night convinced someone was standing at the side of the bed I mean look for yourself

More than just a little bit freaky huh?   I also got to spread some Etsy love,  one of the dealers at Treasure Island asked what I did and when I told her I made toys she was facinated by how I sold them as she had never heard of Etsy (there’s a surprise..oh how I wish they would advertise)  anyway she makes her own power bars and granola as she loves to hike and didn’t like any commercially  made bar……….who’d have thought a Vegas dealer who loves the handmade life…. anyway I hope she does sign up and start selling them on there.   Giving her the napkin with the website info written on it was like passing secrets to the soviets during the cold war it had to be approved by the pit boss and I know the cameras were honing on it like crazy.

Anyway in other news my little Mario is featured on cuteables.  It was a lovely surprise to find that out this morning and I’m also going to be in the Summer Craftacular at the High Noon in June………so I guess I had better get busy it seems like it has been a while since I’ve made a critter……..gaaaaaah!!!!

I just wanted to share my delight with you

He has made an instant friend in Yankee Doodle the piggy bank.

Funnily enough Martha Stewart is doing a segment on sock monkeys right now……..so I really want to try and make my own asap!!!

Oh and check out my crafting friend Ekra’s blog……..she has started making gorgeous glass vases (I want one sooooo bad) and she purchased one of my roses to display them when she does shows……..how cool is that?  thanks Ekra

Wooohooo this weekend I reached 100 sales on Etsy………and I did it in under a year………wooohooooo.   Sorry I don’t mean to toot my own horn,  but I never thought when I opened my Etsy store I would ever get to a hundred sales so needless to say I am very excited about it.

And of course  I am very greatful to all the people who have made a purchase from the critter store….thank you so much for liking my work and supporting an independant artist,  and for being wonderful of course.

So now I’m thinking of new critters for the shop and goodies for Summer to surprise you all with……….hmmmmm

I do really love the Craftaculars…….mostly because the other vendors and organisers are brilliant. Special thanks to Glitterworkshop and Ekra for again putting on a fantasticaly organised show.

The weather got pretty ropey in the afternoon, when I looked out the window at one point I was sure we were in a giant snow globe and someone had just given us a really good shake, but thankfully it didn’t deter the wonderful folk of Madison from turning up and supporting independant crafters. Anyway I thought I’d share a piccie of my booth

So upon seeing the piccies……..the diet has started (again) waaaaaaa . I got some fantastic cards and pins from Space Oddities and I loved that I was lucky enough to be beside Kitty Girrlz yarns‘ booth again she really is fantastic on her spinning wheel and she had some fantastic valentine yarn with kitty beads through  it which must look fantastic knitted up……..damn my lack of knitting abilities.

After the show and on the recommendations of a lovely customer we headed on over to Brasserie V for a few Belgian beers……yum, I highly reccommend you check it out if you are a fan of decent beer and the food was fantastic too.

So it was a great day, thanks to everyone

Remember tommorrow is the Valentine Craftacular at the High Noon in Madison WI where me and the critters (and 20 other brilliant crafters) will be from 10 am until 4.00pm so if you are in the area please pop on over and say hi.

So today is the crazy hectic job of packing all the critters up (something they are not that keen on) and not forgetting any show essentials like extension cords and tape, and trying to keep everything in a reasonably easy to find order……..not my strongest point.

I am really excited though……I loved the Christmas craftacular it was a ton of fun. I am really hoping to try and get organised enough to take part in more shows this year, guess I should start researching that now……..and being more productive in the critter makin’

Yup, tons going on over here in stabby land. First of let me introduce you to Chester

Yup a brand new critter to add to the shop, which is brilliant because the good news is I have been selected to take part in the Valentine Craftacular at the High noon saloon in Madison on the 9th of February…………yaaaaaaaaaaaay I’m going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….

My other news is the very sad news that the Glitter Workshop in Madison is closing…. Sad day, but the good news is that Naomi is expecting an ickle baby so it makes sense that she can no longer expend all the energy it must take to run such a fabulous store, congrats on the bubba Naomi and Jerome I just wish I had discovered you sooner.