Donation Time!!

I know I'm a few days late for this... but it's time for me to donate to my Featured Charity!!! Thanks to all of your support (and a couple months of rock'n Etsy sales!) I was able to make a HUGE donation to the American Red Cross!!! It's just in time too, because OUR donation will go towards helping the victims of the past Haitian & Chilian Earthquakes, but also the very recent floods in the South. There has been so much destruction & many deaths here in the U.S. and it isn't getting much coverage on the news!! Our thoughts go to you all in Nashville & all the other communities that are being affected by this tragedy.










And I would also like to announce the next Charity that I will be donating to!! (I know that Mother's Day is this weekend) But also Father's Day is in June, and because of this I want to announce that I will be donating 10% of all of Felted Chicken Sales to a charity that is close to my own Dad's heart. He has been involved with Engineers Without Boarders, and even took a trip down to Honduras with the organization to help the local people build & construct some water purifying structures. They are an amazing orgainization who:

EWB-USA helps create a more stable and prosperous world by addressing people's basic human needs by providing necessities such as clean water, power, sanitation and education...

Engineers Without Borders – USA supports community-driven development programs worldwide through the design and implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while fostering responsible leadership...

I think the best thing about what EWB does (from what I have talked to my dad about) is that they go into communities and really work with the local people and teach them how to build and maintain their own infrastructure. This allows them to then take the responsibility into their own hands rather than just relying on the charity organizations to support them. It's like they always say...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

So for the Month's of May & June, Engineers Without Boarders is the Featured Charity!!! Please check out the link on my sidebar if you are interested in donating or getting more information about them!!!









And I just thought of this....

Now that the chaos of the Haitian & Chilian Earthquakes is over, it is now time to help them REBUILD!!

My New Favorite Animal!!!

So I was looking through Yahoo News to get my daily dose of useful & useless info, & came across this article about my new favorite animals!!!

The woolly mystery known as the Sheep-Pig!!!

At first I thought this was a joke (it reminded me of that South Park episode with Al Gore & the "Man-Bear-Pig"). But to my surprise & delight, it's a real animal!!!!

It's a combination of 2 of my favorite animals Sheep (cause of their wool) & Pig (because of bacon)!!!!!

OMG... So awesome.. need to felt it!!!

New Charity!!

Well, January & February are past, and thanks to everyone who supported my Featured Charity the ASPCA!! i just made my FeltedChicken donation this morning & thanks to a few last minute sales in February, I got to make a sizable donation!!! I'm sure there are many homeless animals that will benefit from all our support!!

So now's time to announce the Next Featured Charity! 10% of all my FeltedChicken Sales for the months of March & April (including my craft show sales!) will be donated to....



I wanted to Feature this Charity because of the amazing work they did during the Haitian Earthquake, and their continuing need for our support for the most recent Tragedy of the Chilean Earthquake.


March is American Red Cross Month!!

The American Red Cross is part of the world’s largest humanitarian network – 97 million volunteers helping in 186 countries. In this country, the Red Cross helps change lives seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

* 200 times a day, American Red Cross volunteers help a family who has lost everything in a house fire or other disaster.
* 475 times a day, the American Red Cross connects deployed service members with their families.
* 21,000 times a day, a patient receives blood through the American Red Cross blood program.
* 43,000 times a day, someone receives life-saving American Red Cross health, safety and preparedness training.



About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org


So Please help me support this amazing Charity by making a donation from my "Featured Charity" Link, or help me make a larger donation by making a purchase from my Etsy Shop!!!

A Week of Ups & Downs....

It's been a crazy weeks of Ups & Downs here at the FeltedChicken Headquarters. Haven't got much crafty work done, which is bad cause I have the Pink Parlour Festival coming up in about a month. Need to crack my own whip & get down to some serious felting. It's not going to be as stressful as the Unique L.A. show because I only have a 8' table space (instead of a whole 10' booth), but that doesn't give me the excuse to slack off!! So here is a short list of the Ups & Downs this week.....



Got Super SICK last weekend. Sick enough that I had to go to the doctor & get some meds. This was bad cause I'm pretty poor & I knew that every time I go to the doctor, it costs me like $500. I have crappy Health Insurance, so I was hesitant to go....







Got a call back for a possible job! Of course it was on the day that I was couch-ridden & felt like POO! Called back & had a phone interview... Pretty much got the job....






Woke up feeling better yesterday.... BUT... then saw that some Punk-A$$ stole my credit card number & decided to drain my bank account. Luckily I didn't have that much money in it, but some little PUNK-A$$ is going to get like $400 worth of Rock 'N Roll Tee-Shirts... no joke, those were the websites they bought from...





Got a call, then went & filled out my final paperwork for the possible job... AND... Start TOMORROW!!! YEA!!! It's been years since I worked retail, but I thought working at an Art Supply Store would be pretty fun. Lots of artists working there, probably a rock'n discount on supplies, and a chance to brush up on my some customer service skills.



So overall, the week looks like it's gonna end on an Up... but I'm not going to get too excited, the trend shows that I'm due for another downer today.... But pretty happy & trying to stay positive & totally going to get some crafty work done today!!!! Hope everybody has a great weekend....AND...




Wanted to wish my Mom a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!





And want to wish everybody a

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
on SUNDAY!!!

A Paranoid Saturday Night Post....

So, I don't know if it's the fact that I've been listening to the CNN coverage of the catastrophic Haiti Earthquake all day, or the fact that (I'm not gonna lie) I've had a couple of glasses of my favorite Boxed Wine, but I saw a post on one of my favorite blogs about having a 72 hour Emergency Plan. It got me thinking, cause I live in a place that fears to have a mega earthquake & could possibly fall into the Pacific Ocean.

While at home this Christmas, my Dad & I had a conversation about what to do in case of an earthquake. He's a structural engineer & knows a hell-of-a-lot about what happens to your house during an earthquake. He gave me a great bit of advice that I think about everyday. He said that if you are involved in an earthquake, the best thing to do (contrary to the popular belief of standing in a door way) is to crouch down near a large piece of furniture, like a couch or cabinet. This way, if a floor of your building were to collapse, you might be able to hangout in a small space that is left after the furniture takes the majority of the impact. Or if there is time, run to your staircase. The stairway in a building is one to the strongest areas of the house cause there are multiple walls that surround it.

I want to share this link with you also:

Building your Family's 72 Hour Kit

It just gives you a great guide-line for what you should have on hand in case you are involved in an emergency. They say you should have a 72 hour kit because in the event of a catastrophic event, emergency services might not be able to help you for 72 hours, and up to 6 days. It's been 4 days after the Haiti Earthquake & there are so many people that are in desperate need of aid.

So there is my paranoid, slightly drunken post for the day. Please check out the link, cause even if you don't get everything on the list, at least it might get you thinking. It's got me thinking, and I THINK that I might grab a few more canned goods to store in the pantry the next time I go to the grocery store.

And to quote our not-so eloquent former President regarding the Earthquake in Haiti:

"I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water... Just send your cash."

...

DONATE! DONATE!!

So unless you have been living under a rock, then you have heard about the TRAGEDY of the earthquake in Haiti. I visited RedCross.org, and made a small donation to help the 3 million people that need aid. Everyone can spare a little bit (forgo buying that name brand Toilet Paper this week). This is so tragic, I heard that anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 people have died.

American Red Cross Pledges Initial $1 Million to Haiti Relief

Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999

Call (202) 303-5551 to speak with an American Red Cross spokesperson.

National Headquarters
2025 E Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
www.redcross.org

State Department sets up toll-free number for information about Americans in Haiti -

The toll-free number to call for information about family members in Haiti is 1-888-407-4747. The State Department advises that some callers may receive a recording because of heavy volume of calls.

**Sorry for the hodge-podge of info here, and I'm sure that if you are affected by this tragedy, that the last thing you would be doing is reading the "FeltedChicken" Blog, but I wanted to inform everyone of all the information.

Rainy Days make Chrissy Bored...

So she ends up spending the day surfing the Interwebs....

So if I'm not the last person to see this, HAHAHA on you!
Please watch it, I think it might be one of the most amazing videos I've seen in so long!!




Oh, and my thoughts on Tiger....
It's tragic, very sad, he needs to take some time to reassess his marriage & life, he will loose some endorsements right now...
BUT...
When he wins his next Tournament, no one will remember.

I am a Machine...

My days & nights... my house... are all being taken over with Craftiness! I am trying to make up for lost time and am working hard on getting ready for my first Craft Show. I kinda feel like I'm running in place cause I'm starting all sorts of projects, and haven't finished any yet. But hopefully I will get a few things finished up & photo'd this weekend so I can start listing X-Mas friendly items in my shop. There is alot of prep work that I have to do to get the ball rolling with my felted sculptures, so here are some fun picts of my quickly expanding crafty work...






Sheets & sheets & sheets of white pre-felt drying on my home-made clothes lines. I just tied some twine up between the bars on my windows out back. Usually I just stack 'em up and let them air dry, but I figured I would be making so many that a couple of nice dry-lines would come in handy!













Stacks of cut foam waiting to be wet-felted with the pre-felt. I have a ton of great ideas & am excited to get to felting!! There is some logs & sushi & other stuff hiding in the stack just waiting to be made!!









A bag full of felted sushi waiting to be finished. They are like little blank canvases ready for some color!! They look so sad being all white sitting in their festive bag.

So I WILL BE SUPER PRODUCTIVE this weekend & I WILL have pictures of new products on Monday!! YEA!!!




**Also just wanted to mention that I am deeply saddened & moved by the tragedy yesterday in Texas. Everyone needs to send their thoughts & prayers to the families of those fallen soldiers. It's amazing how it only takes one irrational person to destroy so many lives. It's a sad day....

PinkKiss Pottery is Amazing!!

So just wanted to share some awesome news for a super great friend. Shawna Pincus is an amazing ceramics artist who has recently been featured as "Etsy's Featured Seller". Well now you can find her in this month's issue of DIY Magazine by Better Home & Gardens. Congratulations Shawna! Go buy your issue today!!



(Her's is the cute little rectangle dish with the... um... running foxes? on it)

Also check out her Etsy Shop :
Pinkkiss Pottery Shop

And Blog:
Pinkkiss Pottery Blog

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

Exciting News & New Pieces!!

So I just got an email that has some exciting news! 2 of my pieces got accepted into a fibers book for publication!! It's called 1000 Artisan Textiles and I think it's like a giant book of fun fibers art. Both of my fish sculptures (the Goldfish & Pufferfish) will be included!! So this will be my first official publication!! It's supposed to come out next May, so I'll let you know more info when the times get closer!!

Also I've finally got some pictures of the newer pieces that I finished last week. I'll show a couple today & the other tomorrow. They will be listed in my shop, for a little cheaper than the past couple pieces that I've put up!!!






















These are a couple of Budget & Economy inspired pieces. I usually don't feel the need to make political or social statements with my art, but I think money has been on my mind (and everybody's too) for a while. I also wanted to accomplish a new technique with each piece. The "Burning Dollar" piece was made because I wanted to try my hand at making some fire. It's pretty stylized & cute, but I love how the charred & burnt parts turned out!! And the "Wood Grain Dollar" was made cause I wanted to try to make, well, wood grain. That one was really fun with trying to blend the wood grain into the graphics of the Dollar!! I also used stencils while airbrushing to layout the different colors for the graphics. And sped up making decorative line work by pre-felting tiny cords of thin wool to use as lines.

It's fun when you can see good progress with understanding the different way to work with you material. You find that the creation process goes much faster & that you can take on more challenging projects!!! I'm not uber excited about them, but I like 'em well enough, & think they were successful with what they taught me!!!

News 'n Stuff

I don't have much to share crafting wise today, but here are a couple news stories from today & this weekend I thought I would share.....


It doesn't rain much here in SoCal, so when I saw these clouds on the horizon I got really excited....

but...

No, they aren't rain clouds...
That's just Los Angeles burning again...




Another story that I just read on the news this morning....

Disney to buy comic book powerhouse Marvel for $4B

I don't know how I feel about this... My parents owned a Comic Book shop when I was growing up. It was back in the early 90's (comics come & go in popularity every 10 years). It was great, & I really think that Marvel has brought itself back from the mess it was in in the late 90's. Their movies are (mostly) all blockbusters. I don't share political views very much, but this story kinda makes me sad. Why does Disney have to own everything? I think that giant corporations sometimes do more harm than good. I like the products that Disney puts out, but I'm scared for the future of Marvel. I guess they let Pixar do what-they-do, without coming in & taking over the whole operation. So there is hope! Very interesting... The article says that Disney wants to get more of a foothold on the young male demographic, why don't they just do some market research & come up with their own ideas? Well, I guess you could look at it like this...

"Congrats Stan Lee!"

RIP - John Hughes...

So sad, if you haven't heard, the 1980's teen-movie making icon John Hughes died yesterday. I grew up watching all of his movies, and we even watched "Breakfast Club" last night to show our respect. John Hughes was mainly known for his teen movies like "Sixteen Candles" but here is the list of the some of the movies he wrote during the 80's....

Home Alone (1990)
Christmas Vacation (1989)
Uncle Buck (1989)
The Great Outdoors (1988)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Weird Science (1985)
European Vacation (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Vacation (1983)
... aka National Lampoon's Vacation
Mr. Mom (1983)

*sniff*sniff* There are so many on this list that are my family's favorties!! We watch "Christmas Vacation" every year, "Planes, Trains, & Automobiles" I think was voted our official Family Movie, "Werid Science" is probably my personal favorite, and my dad and I just watched "National Lampoon's Vacation" when I was in Dallas visiting. Can you believe the influence of one man on movies, especially in the Comedic Genre.

Please have a great weekend, and maybe sit down and watch you favorite John Hughes movies, with you kids if you got 'em. Gotta pass his genius onto the next generation...

Vacation (1983)
Lasky, Guard at Walleyworld
"Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya"

They always come in Threes....

Man it's been a wild week in Entertainment News. And they are right, unfortunately, deaths always come in threes.
First this week to pass away, was Ed McMahon. So sad, he had such a rough time the past couple years. He was the oldest of the 3, so the least surprising. He reminded me of a Dick Clarke or Ryan Seacrest, had his hand in so many projects. An overall entertainer & Host.









Next was Farra Fawcett. A little bit before my time, but an inspiration to every little girl non-the-less. She was beautiful and courageously fought a long and tiring battle with cancer. She was 62, gone way before her time.













And finally, the MOST SHOCKING!! Michael Jackson. Man this is crazy... I remember one day when I was really little, maybe like 5, my family and I were driving down the highyway the day of the Michael Jackson Concert in Dallas. This was in the mid 80's, at the height of his solo career. Anyways, we saw a limo and started waving out the window... I swear this happened.... Then a white sparkly glove waved ou the window!!!! It might just the dream of a little girl, but ask my mom!!!

The irony of yesterday's tragic death of the King of Pop, was that I happened to have an appointment at the UCLA campus, where they took Michael Jackson for medical care. There were tons of helecopters flying around. Then on the way home, we saw a street off of Sunset that was completely blocked off with Crime Scene Tape & Police Officers & Media Vans. We figured that must have been where he lived. Crazy, I had never been to UCLA before that, but the street with the Crime Scene was just blocks from the campus. As crazy & funky as we thought Michael Jackson was, he will be remembered for his amazing influence on Popular Music.

The Entertainment Industry has had a rough week, and the world is mourning the loss of these amazing people.

New Critter Tease...

So feeling a bit more motivated today & riding that energy, I will be (hopefully) finishing my newest Needle-Felted Critter today!! I just have to finish the details & take some super awesome pictures.



Be sure to check back tomorrow for the official unveiling!!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Also wanted to share a couple interesting links that caught my attention this morning...

Improve Tags - Action Words @ Handmade Marketing - This is an intersting post about thinking about tags a different way. Sometimes I find tagging to be a brain-buster, but this gives a new and inovative way to look at using action verbs as tags.

Early skeleton sheds light on primate evolution - AP @ Yahoo News - Hmmmm... Super exciting article about a possible "missing link" to early primates & our earliest ancestors. I am such a geek!!!

Feeling Philosophical Today...

As a self-proclaimed Political and News Junkie, the chaos in the news is almost too much for me to handle right now. There is so much going on right now: flu epidemic, economic crisis, record unemployment, companies going out of business, war, pirates (yea that one's a throw back), "enhanced interrogation", shootings, suicides, obesity, global warming, N. Korea.... ARRRRG!

Will we look back and say "remember those days, they were rough"? These are tough times, things might get worse, but as of right now, I could look back and think "That wasn't SO bad". Hopefully this is the worst of the worst. We all learn and change during times of crisis, so maybe it's all for the better.

We can all do our little part to help settle the chaos. I decided to look up "Flu Prevention" this morning, because I live in a state that has declared a State of Emergency because of it. Hey, the last thing I need right now is to have anyone I know get Swine Flu. So according to the official CDC (Center for Disease Control) website, you can take these easy steps to help stay happy & healthy.
(it's pretty much common sense, but I'll just remind you!)

•Avoid close contact (I avoid people whenever possible) - √+

•Stay home when you are sick (easy since I don't have a job) - √+

•Cover mouth & nose when you cough or sneeze (duh) - √+

•Wash your hands (it does counts if you use hand sanitizer) - √+

•Avoid touching your nose, eyes, & mouth (yuck, germs) - √

•Practice good habits (sleep, eat right, control stress, etc.) - √-

Maybe I'll share some more Chaos-Reducing tips soon. I have some things that I try & do to make my Etsy shop a little bit Greener.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

On a more fun & less Apocalyptic note, I have some new Needle-Felted Creations that I will be finishing & unveiling in the next couple days!!! Here is a sneak preview: