This past weekend we spent in Madison at the wonderous Art Fair on the square.   It’s such a cool art and craft event that happens out and around the state capitol building.   I actually prefer the crafts at the Art fair off the square as they are definitely more in my price range.. my favourite artist being Suzanne Miller.  She makes brilliant papier mache animals and such… I got two of her pieces last year and it was all I could do not to run to find her booth as soon as we hit the square

see all those hanging things?   Well I got a phoenix and I love him.

The other artists I was eager to check out was Circa Ceramics booth,  they were actually on the square and as always their work looked great…….one of these days I’m getting (at least) one of their vases it’s just hard to pick a favourite when they are all so cool

See what I mean

I also stopped by Anthology to drop of a box of Stabby Goodies…..I specifically made these candy hair clips for them as they like candy theme goodies (the store used to be a chocolate shop)

I wanted them to look like crazy Willy Wonka candies…….they are pretty cute even if I do say so myself.

I will add them to the shop next week as I am of to San Diego for a week  just in time for my birthday…….yeeeehaaaaw

I thought I’d start this post on a positive happy note and show you my chubby chirpers…..

I originally made these for the craftacular and they sold really well so I decided to make a few of ‘em and because I got rather addicted to making them (and that they are my new favourite things)  I also made a mobile

So now for the drama………the reason I had so much time to make chirpers is because on Thursday I got the phonecall no one married to anyone who cycles wants to get………..”lulu I’ve just been hit by a car……..but I think I’m fine……..oh I’ll call you back the ambulance is here”  click……    eh?  what?  where are you?    hello!!!! hello!!!!!    oh shit     he blogged about it here  so you can see his knackered bike and broken hand if you want.    So yeah drama isn’t my favourite thing in the world I just thank god he’s basically ok although he is seeing a specialist about his hand tommorrow………keep your fingers crossed his hand is ok cos’ he sure can’t.

The lovely Naomi  ( of Glitterworkshop and organizer of the rather fabulous Craftaculars)  is expecting an ickle baby,  and had asked me to make a forest friend mobile for Henri’s room…….and here it is

I hope she likes it,  personally I love it…….which amuses me as I was sorta hesitant at making it.  I don’t know why I don’t make more needle felt mobiles really,  in my mind I think it takes so long to needle felt the pieces but seeing as how I hand sew the other ones there really isn’t too much of a difference,  I guess once I get an idea in my head it takes a while to shift it.   Anyway I may eventually make more when I have a moment……..oooooh which really gets my mind clicking over with possibilities.

Phew….I’m still exhausted from the whirlwind that was this weekend………….The Craftacular (as always) ran incredibly smooth and literally hundreds of people came,  thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and said hello to me and the critters.

I thought I’d share a piccie of how I set up my booth

It was pretty cool to be so close to the Miss Pacman machine I had to fight the urge to plug it in all day……and it made me wish I had made another pacman mobile.

I also took a piccie of the main floor

All the vendors were fantastic and there was a ton of goodies I wanted to purchase,  but with our car woes I just collected a ton of cards to add to my growing etsy favourites list.

We were lucky enough to stay  with our Madison friend Rose for the night which meant we got to enjoy rhythms and booms,  the giant free firework show set to music over the water…….it seems to last forever and we snagged a great spot to watch it on a private jetty right by the water…..very fun night.

And so now I have a few very cool commissions that I had better get cracking on…….I’ll share with you as always when I’m done.

Just thought I’d take a second out of my ” gaaaaaaaah Craftacular this weekend” panic and share Buttercup with you……

She’s a really shy girl so photographing her was a little tricky.  I of course will add her to the shop

In other news I still don’t have Sally back (my mini cooper) waaaaaaa I miss Sally!!!!  and I’m trying to pack up the critters for the Craftacular this weekend…….not an easy job as they hate being cooped up.  Speaking of the craftacular remember that the first 50 people through the door get a goody bag with awesome freebies in it……..including a little something from yours trully so come on by to the high noon in Madison WI this Saturday

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.

challenges………well let me clarify that sentence I love needle felting challenges (life challenges I’m not that keen on). I finally got finished with the latest two and here they are

It’s Arlene and Pooky……for those who don’t know who they are, Arlene is the one and only fat cat Garfield’s love interest and Pooky is his teddy bear. I loved making Garfield and Odie

and was very sad to see them go…….but very glad that they went to someone who loves Garfield as much as I do. And soon they will have company…….I’m sure Garfield will be happy to see them.

So other than working on those guys I’ve been trying to get organised for the Craftacular next weekend………eeeeek where on earth does the time go? It was ages away and now it’s almost here…….

If you are in the Madison area I highly recommend you stop by early as there is a goody bag for the first 50 people who come in……..

He’s been here for over a week but he hasn’t stopped tutting and sweeping since he got here for me to take his piccie……..but finally I got him trapped in a corner and clicked a few shots.

cute lil’ feller ain’t he?  I will list him in the shop of course
Currently I’m working on a few commissions that I can’t wait to share with you……….but for now I’m back to the stabby.

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!!!!

A new big critter finished…….yaaaaaay.  He was a ton of fun to make,  probably because I was itchin’ to make a big guy again.  Something about doing the ickle stuff for a while makes me go a little doolally……I mean I like how the little stuff turns out don’t get me wrong but it’s nice to make my critters,  reminds me of why I’m so addicted to needle felting in the first place.

Anyway meet Marty,  he’s  a dorm mouse

……..that’s right a dorm mouse.   Marty attends Madison University and is currently working on his degree in dairyland farming and production.  He’s determined to put an end to hard cheese and the problem of mould.   Marty despises the fact that most traps seemed to be filled with more mould than cheese……I mean really if you wouldn’t why on earth would he?   Anyway Marty is a very good student and he mixes well with the other collegiates they love his friendly daily greeting of   ” Yo,   got any cheese?”

I’ll add Marty to the shop as soon as I can take some better piccies of him……pesky camera and bad weather don’t go hand in hand