Happy Father's Day!!

Just wanted to wish all the Dads out there a very Happy, Relaxing, & Fun Day!! I want to give some extra love to my own dad & brother!!!

EarthDay Giveaway!!

Just wanted to let everybody know that I have been included in an awesome Earthday "Love Your Mother" Giveaway that is being hosted on the Monster Bites blog today!!! My little Eco-Friendly Globe Needle-Felting Kit is included among a short list of amazing handmade items that are featured today in celebration of Mothers & The Great Mother Earth!!!

These are just a few of the items that are included in the Giveaway Today!!! Be sure to click & enter to win!!! And Thank You to Monster Bites for thinking of me & including my Kit in their awesome post today!!!

*Items include:

FeltedChicken - Eco-Friendly Needle Felting Kit
Odelea - Earth Gift Cards
Green Eyed Monster - Reusable Tote Bag

HAPPY 3-Day WEEKEND!!!

And Happy Easter!

And Happy Passover!

And Happy April Fools Day!

And Happy... um... Spring!!






Hope everyone gets to spend some quality time with your loved ones this weekend! Take the time to reflect & appreciate the things you have in you life, not the things you want!









And just to let you know, I'm off this next week so I have plenty of times to post some awesome Bloggy-Goodness!! (and just for a preview... I will be
sharing some super-awesome Hollywood Trick-of-the-Trade tips!!!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Today everyone claims to be a little Irish!! (I am... a tiny bit... on my mom's-mom's-dad's-mom's side!)

Don't forget to wear green, or you will get pinched!
Don't drink too much, you gotta work tomorrow!
Spread the Love o' the Irish!!

Green inspired stuff from my shop!!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Plus Drawings!

(not-so-but-was-supposed-to-be) Quick Sunday Post:

Started my day-job yesterday, it was fine, work is work. I was nervous cause of the awkward first-day thing: introductions, eating lunch by yourself, feeling dumb cause you don't know how anything works.... But it went really well. We were busy & I was impressed that I could pretty much help all the customers w/o help (occasionally having to ask if we had something or where it was). But overall pretty good!!!

And here are a couple of drawings for my next sculptures!!! I'm gluing the boxes together for my Frog & Koi & should finish them today!! But already looking forward to bigger & better projects!!




I've been wanting to make a Pink Elephant for a while now. And I really want to make something CUTE!!! I've been working on more realistic type felted pieces, but want to take inspiration from some of my fellow Needle-Felters (Kit Lane, feltmeupdesigns, paintgranny) who make really amazing, clean, fun, stylized characters. So I want to make my Pink Elephant super cool, plus I want him to twirl in a drunken spin. Going to try to do an electronic motor on this one!!











And this one was my Boyfriend's idea!! I think it will be really cool! Want to make a tattoo-style Asian Dragon with a snake like body that undulates up & down all snake-like. Want to make him BIG, and since I made the Black Mamba, I think I can pull this one off pretty easy; basically a giant snake w/ hinged legs & a bearded horse-face. No problem!!







HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
Today is me & my BF's unofficial 2 year anniversary, nothing planned, not really into celebrating holidays... except Christmas of course!!

Holiday Inspiration!!

My Christmas vacation was awesome!! Spent a ton of time with the family, ate too much, drank too much, got a cold, watched WAY WAY WAY too much cable t.v., and didn't do anything crafty what-so-ever. My lack of motivation to create anything was forgotten after my Mom, Dad, and I went to see an amazing holiday (I call it ART) exhibit.









We went to an ICE SHOW!! It was all Grinch themed and was full of beautifully carved and painted ice sculptures. I call this an "Art Exhibit" because you just have to admire the skill & talent of the unnamed artists. It was very inspiring to see some great sculptures, and to remember that it doesn't matter what medium you choose to create with, but what you do with it!!










It was stupid cold in the exhibit, like 5˚... yes, I said 5˚!!!! They gave you a giant parka coat to wear, they had a huge ice slide and much needed hot chocolate at the end of the exhibit. Luckily we went on a weekday after Christmas, but usually the line to get in to the Ice Show is hours long. It was a great experience & after years of my family talking about going, I'm glad we finally made it.

WELCOME 2010!!

So it's the New Year, can you believe that it's already 2010!! I always forget to date my checks with the New Year. I'll probably be dating them with 2009 for at least 6 months, then when I finally get used to it, it'll be half over.

Looking Back at 2009 -

2009 was a pretty good year I guess. It was definitely a growing year for me. It was the start of my humble little FeltedChicken business. To think back on how much I've learned & have grown with my art is freak'n amazing. I've only been felting for a little over a year now. My 1st year anniversary of my Esty shop just pasted (actually the anniversary for when I signed up, but I don't think I listed anything till the middle of January). Nothing tragic happened (thank god), and I'm pretty sure that I am satisfied & happy looking back on everything that happened last year.

Looking Forward to 2010 -

2010... I have a feeling that it will be an awesome year. I love the New Year cause it's a fresh start, a reason to reassess your life & decide to make changes. This year hopes to offer many new beginnings. The biggest change for me will be that I'll be turning 30!! AHHHH!!! It's the beginning of a whole new decade for me. I'm not too worried about turning 30, but we'll wait & see if the pressure builds as the date gets closer. I don't think I could have imagined how much my life has changed during my 20's. Thinking back to when I turned 20 to now that I'm turning 30.... it's amazing what has happened and what I have done and what I have left to accomplish. My life is great right now. Sure... I'm poor, have been unemployed for pretty much 2 years, need to loose about 20 pounds, still get mega zits, have to clean up my dumb cat's pee, don't clean the house enough, etc... But as I am getting older, I understand that somethings are more important than others. I have a supportive Family, a home full of laughs & love, and exciting potential & opportunities with regards to my art & business.

Simple Resolutions -

Everybody has their resolutions for the New Year. Some of mine are pretty typical: cook more healthy food, exercise more, keep up with the laundry, try to be more positive, watch my house budget, etc....

BUT...

I have some super ambitious Business Resolutions:

1. Do more Craft Shows - I really enjoyed the Unique Los Angeles experience. I am already looking into some new venues that I can sell at!
2. Experiment more with Materials and Techniques - I am still working with learning more about electronics, and got a new book on making stuff move (like with gears & cranks & stuff).
3. Perfect Felting Process - There are still lots of things about felting that I still need to practice. I really want to practice more with wet-felting, maybe try felting vessels or hollow shapes.
   
4. Apply to more Publications & Art shows - I think that my first Publication will be coming out this year. I want to keep an eye on applying to more Fine Art shows & possible Art and Textile anthologies.
   
5. Start My Book - Okay, this one is for my Dad! He has been bugging me about maybe looking into and starting to organize ideas for writing a Felting Book. This seems like an almost unobtainable goal to me right now, but no hurt in trying, right? This will also inspire me to keep writing my blog & coming up with new Felting Tutorials.
   

So that's it. Not too much... uh... yea, right!! HAHAHA!!

HAHA!! Saw this & had to share!!!

Saw this article on www.cracked.com Had to share it cause it is so in the season of things!!!

It states (in a very convencing way) how Die Hard is one of the best Christmas movies ever!! It hilariously compares the traditional Movies & illustrates Morals that are told in Holiday movies, to Die Hard!!! Very Funny!!!

Check it out!!!!





Oh! And thanx to Robin for the Blog Awards, I will definitely grab them & post them! I'm feeling kinda lazy today, it's still raining & I'm not feeling too motivated, but I will post them tomorrow!!!

I am a Victim....

Yes... I too am a victim of the "Black Friday" Craze. I got up extra early (which was insane cause I usually get up at 6am, but today I got up at like 5:15 AM) and I headed out to get the "Early Bird... Door Buster" specials. Actually I just went to Jo-Ann's cause I had a coupon for 20% off your purchase. So I think I pretty much got almost everything I need to the final push!!

1 WEEK TO GO...
7 DAYS LEFT...

OH MY...

Had a great Thanksgiving. We had an awesome time at Lance's cousin's house. They have a 1 month old baby, so that was fun to see the littlest baby ever! SO CUTE! Like a little doll that just kinda looks around and wiggles.

Got alot to finish around here, but things are all 3/4 the way done, so it should start to go fast now. I have some new SUSHI GIFT SETS that I'm listing in my shop right now!!

NEW DESIGN, NEW LOWER PRICE!

Sushi Gift Set w/ Plastic Container & Wood Chopsticks - $15.00!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I always loved this little picture, it makes me smile. I've never been a real big Thanksgiving person. Usually I don't have family to spend it with, so end up with friends or at home with take-out. But this year we are going to Lance's cousin's house, so should be fun. I can't stay all day (still got lots to do)!!!!!

Etsy sent out one of their newsletters it was titled

"Getting Ready for Cyber Monday"

OMG... Black Friday... Cyber Monday...

It's just too much for me now. Well, I can get some new items photographed this weekend in prep for the BIG DAY!! But I still have so much to do for the show. Only 9 days till I set up, I'm never going to get everything done! I like how I never do anything half-way, so of course I had to get the 10' x 10' booth to sell at, instead of a (cheaper) table. But I figured that If I was going to jump in, I might as well try & make a giant splash.




Speaking of Black Friday, I just got my After-Thanksgiving Ad from Jo-Ann Fabrics. Just to tell you that they have a pretty good sale going on for the weekend. I'm excited cause I've been putting off getting more felt fabric, and lucky me, it's on sale for $1.99 a yard!! Usually it's $4.99 a yard, so now I have a reason to head out with all the crazies at the "A$$ Crack of Dawn" on Friday morning. That in theory should be about my last push for stuff to buy.

Well, I wish you all a HAPPY, RESTFUL, FUN THANKSGIVING!
I will try too!

Business & Marketing Tips!

I was very impressed with the vendor meeting I went to on Saturday for Unique Los Angeles. It was super fun & it got me thinking alot about marketing & business type stuff. It focused on trying to get people to think about your products & "Brand". They had some fun questions to get you thinking....

• What Age are your customers? What's your demographic?
• What magazines do your customers read & what do they look like?
  
• If your business were a celebrity, who would it be?
• What are 5 things you want your customers to know about you?
• What are your selling strengths & weaknesses?

We also talked about creative & interesting ideas for how to design & decorate your booth, and cool ways to display signage. I spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with some neat ideas for displays & coming up with a layout for transforming my booth into more of an environment. There was A WHOLE of information they jammed into 2 hours, but I am super glad that I went. Also met a couple super nice fellow vendors. I'm excited, but still stressed & nervous.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

And also today, I will be listing these new sculptures!!! I made them with my typical foam-wet felted- needle felted- airbrushed technique. I'm happy with how they turned out & could really add a hand-made touch to your table centerpiece or Christmas decor!!!


































So here are a few Felted Logs!! I'm planning on using them in a display in my booth (which included a fireplace!). I want to make a flame setup & help them look all on fire!! I made a few of them & they look neat all stack up!

Happy Halloween!!!

So this weekend's Halloween!! Have any super-scary plans? We are going to a party tomorrow night, should be fun! I'm not the dress-up kinda gal, but do enjoy seeing other people's creative ideas. We've been watching some Scary / Horror movies this week, to get into the spirit of the holiday. We also want to see a couple movies in the theaters ZombieLand & Paranormal Activity.
Maybe Sunday!

So in the spirit of the weekend, here is a short list of some fun-super horrific movies we've watched recently on DVD....








An oldie, but goody!!! We watched this the other night, and as over-exposed as it's become, it still rocks!! I haven't seen it in years, and thought it would be pretty dumb, but it's still a great movie!!! Go back & watch it, again!!!

















Just came out on DVD. This one's based on a classic Anime movie. It's not a great movie, but is a fun flick, with a couple awesome fight scenes. Vampires, blood, martial arts... Can't get any better!!! Plus it's in English, so no reading!! Not scary, but vampires count!















So this one isn't scary either, but incredibly gory. Tons of crazy blood shooting everywhere, so much decapitation, a chick who gets her arm cut off and gets a machine gun replacement. AWESOME & FUNNY!

**NOTICE: this movie is super, crazy, amazingly bloody. It's all stylized & not real what-so-ever, but if you aren't into gore & senseless violence, this movie is not for you. Also, it's sub-titled, so gotta read & watch.













And finally.... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch this movie. It's an amazing Swedish movie that is terrifying. It's beautiful & disturbing. There is some blood, but it's not really the focus. It is also sub-titled, but if I remember right, there isn't a whole lot of dialog, so it's okay. The fact that the story revolves around children, makes it that much scarier. PLEASE SEE THIS ONE!!!!







SO HAVE A SUPER-SCARY (and safe) HALLOWEEN!!!!

A Fire has been lit -

So I finally have some inspiration & motivation!! YEA!! This weekend I have decided to apply to my first Craft Show. We went to this show last year & it was really nice & fun!! I'm excited about selling my work in person, & hopefully will do pretty well. I have to apply & get accepted first, so I'll know in a couple of weeks!! In the mean time I'm working on some faster, cheaper ways to make stuff, like sushi pieces & cupcakes. I'm working on covering small pieces of foam with wet felt, then needle felting over top. I also have lots more ideas that I'll be working on & showing later. Wish me luck on getting accepted!!












December 5 & 6

um... I got noth'n....

Well, I don't really have much to share, but thought I'd post today anyways, although later than usual. I am FINALLY finishing the paint job on the jelleyfish today. Of course I decide to paint on the one day in Southern California that it happens to be cloudy. It looks like it almost kinda sorta wants to rain. My luck....

Went to visit my Aunt in the hospital yesterday. She is looking well & hopefully will get to go home today or tomorrow. She rushed to the hospital in such a hurry she didn't have anything to occupy her time. So I brought her a fun grab-bag full of stuff to keep her busy. I got her a jigsaw puzzle, crossword & word-search books, a trashy novel (my mom's suggestion), some crayons & pens & pencils, a deck of cards, some mouth wash, & other stuff I can't think of. It was fun shopping for her & finding all sorts of fun stuff to buy!!

I am making some presents for the family (& a couple to sell in the shop) that I am also painting today. I'm trying to be proactive & make some seasonal stuff before the season has already past!! So you guess what they are, they are white here, but I think you get the picture.



Hopefully I'll have final picts of the JellyFish to share on Monday!! If the clouds & rain stay away, that is. I love rainy days, you miss them when you don't get them that often!

Weekend Day-Cation!!

So hope everybody had a great weekend. Lance & I went out and had a mini Day-Cation. We went on a road trip up the coast and ended up at a little funny town north of Santa Barbara called Salvang. It's little cute little tourist town that was all Dutch themed with shops & bakeries & icecream parlors. We ate too much and after seeing the photos of the day I've decided that I need to go on a diet!! HAHA!! Being unemployed for so long has gotten me rather lazy & I need to step it up! I pretend to workout every-so-often, but we definitely have no excuse. But besides the eating too much junk food we had a blast! We stopped at "Ostrich Land" and fed the dinosaur-esque birds. They were actually kinda scary!!! Here's some pictures from the day!!


We stopped at Neptune's Net for lunch. It's a pretty well know stop on the PCH outside of Malibu. Since it was a nice Sunday, the place was packed full of bikers & families out on a drive. The entire front of the place was lined up with motorcycles. Driving up the PCH is awsome, beautiful coastal drive!








Here's me infront of one of the many Dutch-style windmills in Salvang. I can remember 3 of them off the top of my head. The whole town looked like this. There were also gift shops full of tons of stuff you don't need, a number of Wineries & Pubs, a fun town center with an old gazebo, and lots of people with dogs and kids. It's a long drive but a great day-trip destination.





Here's me feeding an Ostrich. They give you a bowl and then you just put it out & the peck all the food out. Some were cool, but then others would get aggressive & try and take the bowl away. We were laughing and said that they aren't very nice... but then there were no signs saying

"Come feed the super cuddly giant birds"

Instead...

"Beware... WE BITE!!!"



Overall we had a great day. We did get lost and started to fight, but then it had been like 6 hours of driving. But while lost we found an awsome fishing pier that we walked out on and watched the final light fade behind the ocean. It was a great day!! I'll have to think about what our next Day-Cation will be!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

So like I posted, I didn't do anything with the Angler fish yesterday because it is still drying. I knew it would take a day or 2 for it for dry out, so hopefully by tonight, or even tomorrow I will be ready to start Needle-Felting him. I'm going to miss how there has been a visible progression so far in the piece, but I know it'll slow to a snail's pace once I start to poke. Needle-Felting is such a slow process that it won't look like I've done anything for a while. But I will keep you posted.

Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend? I don't think we are doing much, I might stop & get some hotdogs for the grill, maybe we will find a place to see some fireworks, and work on a custom job that I just got for a felted Skull & Crossbones. I'll post picts of it when I finish!

A Summer Recipe for You!!!

With the infinite number of family BBQ's going on this weekend I thought I'd share one of my favorite BBQ recipes with you. The pasta salad is a staple at many a family gathering, and this is my version (which I totally made up myself!) It's super simple, crazy delicious, fairly good for you, & really colorful!

Pasta Salad

1 Package of Mulit Colored Spiral Rotini Pasta
Choice of Balsamic Vinegarette Salad Dressing
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
Pepperoni Slices
Pine Nuts
Sliced Mushrooms
Italian Flavored Shredded Cheese
Misc. add-ins (I usually add chic peas, but you could also add black olives, roasted garlic, squash, fresh basil, corn, cherry tomatoes, beans, etc)

1. Cook up spiral Rotini. I usually make this right before serving it, so you could either let it chill in the frig for a while, or I just rinse mine in cold water to cool.
2. Chop up all veggies, I keep mine raw. You could roast your veggies & let them cool off, but I like the crunch of fresh bell peppers!
3. Roast the Pine nuts in a small pan. Keep it dry so that they brown. Roasted Pine Nuts add a yummy nutty flavor.
4. I like to slice my Pepperoni into bite-sized pieces.
5. Add all pasta & veggies & add-ins & shredded cheese into a giant bowl. Pour in desired amount of Balsamic Vinegarette Dressing. Toss to coat.
6. Best if chilled before serving.

I know you probably don't need a recipe for this, but I love it so much that I wanted to share. You can customize the ingredients to you own taste. I can eat this stuff all day! Man, I was only going to grab a package of Hotdogs for the weekend, but I think I talked myself into making pasta salad!!!

Have a Fun & Safe 4th of July Weekend!!

SUMMER: The season of HOT!!!

So I'm in Dallas right now & it just reminds me how HOT HOT HOT summer can be!! Growing up in Texas, summer is not the season of lazy beach days, evening BBQ's, & pool parties. Instead it's the season of staying inside with the air conditioner. It's the reverse of having Winter Cabin Fever. You get Summer Air Conditioning Fever!! You just don't go out when it's 110˚ outside!

Southern California is a little different. Make no mistake, it gets HOT in the summer! My mom came to visit me a couple of years ago in July & it was the hottest summer ever recorded. It was 126˚ one day. The biggest difference is the hummidity! 126˚ is hot no matter what, but usually you can sit in the shade and it's a slight relief. When it's 110˚ with 90% hummidity, there is no escape!!!


I hope everyone enjoys the last week of Spring! Summer is here to stay!

HAPPY ETSY DAY!!!

Today is National Etsy Day. It's not an official holiday (yet), and the Post Office is still open (for now). This is a gorilla style marketing movement that was organized by my fellow Etsy Sellers to help get out the word. There is a fun great Etsy Storque article that tells you how & what kinds of advertising that will be going on today...
























And in Celebration of promoting today, instead of featuring a couple of Outstanding Etsy Sellers, I am posting a giant "Etsy Mini" of some of my favorite Etsy stuff.



Help Spread the word & tell every relative, friend, and arch enemy about Etsy!!!

Happy Goldfish Day!!!

uhhh... I guess I meant to say Earth Day, but I'm just really excited about my newest Felted Plush!!! Here he is.....






I needle-felted him out of white wool, then hand-dyed him with non-toxic Kool-Aid. He was boiled in a pot of Yellow Lemonade Kool-Aid, then I sprinkled Orange on top to help create the blended colors. I also felted accent colors on top to give him personality.

This little Fancy Goldfish enjoys long swims near the beach & hanging out with his Origami Lily-Pad friends. He does have a slight water allergy, which makes it hard for him to meet other Goldfish. If you are interested in giving this guy a new home please inquire at www.FeltedChicken.etsy.com

HAPPY EASTER!

We are excited in my house because Lance has all weekend off!! He usually works Wednesday through Sunday, But this week he get Friday - Tuesday off. We get to have an official weekend off!! We are headed to the Long Beach Drift Car Race tomorrow. Should be fun & loud!! Car races are always fun!

I'm also officially out of new inventory to list in my shop. It's been 3 weeks of listing a new item everyday!! I'm currently working on a couple of new pieces, some needle-felted sculptures, & fun designs for my bags... But all are "in process". It's gonna be a couple days till I get back to listing, so instead I'm going to start a new Weekly Blog thing.

FEATURED FRIDAY!!!

I'm going to start featuring some fellow Etsy sellers on Fridays... Spread the Etsy love!!!
Today I'm going to go with an Easter and Spring Theme...

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥




rainbowswirlz -
Bunny Rabbit Tote Bag -
$10.00









thesnippets -

Isabelle - Circus Hare OOAK Art Doll-

$95.00

MadeByLaura -
Needle Felted Wool Snail -
$30.00

thishandmadelife -

Vintage A HOME FOR BUNNY Repurposed Upcycled Golden Book Blank Journal -

$12.00

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I'll try and think of a new themes every Friday. Hope everybody has a great weekend!!