Sophie the Pearl

Going in a New Direction

I'm in the process of designing a few pieces of stationery for my Etsy shop, and the image above (that's Mary Pickford, by the way) will be one of the designs. I have a stash of vintage images, collected over nearly 20 years, and love doing this kind of art more than anything! No mess to clean up!

I will hopefully get my designs listed on Etsy before Christmas, but I'm in the process of packing and moving. I have only 2 weeks to pack my whole house (yikes), but at least I don't have to drive that big ol' truck across 2 1/2 states (Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Eastern Illinois)!

I will have to continue working until I'm 80, 'cause after paying off my minor debts, paying the moving company, putting my household in storage and paying bills out of thin air, I have very little left in my "nest egg"; however, the way things are going with the "world economy", I could be losing the whole egg tomorrow without getting any "goodie" out of it! At least this way, I'm accomplishing something I really, truly need to do—be with my family where I belong. My adventure to a new planet was an interesting one, but it's time to go home and enjoy the rest of my life!

And this is one of the reasons I'm so anxious to get back to Illinois—E himself!

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Annegg

I bought Ethan the most beautiful little wooden egg rattle from Etsy artisan Womanwoodworker! She makes natural wood toys that are smooth and non-toxic, and really enjoys doing so.

His little hands will be big enough to hold it in a month or so... and it's velvety smooth. It's so beautiful that even if he doesn't get attached to it, it'll be a nice keepsake. I might burn his name and birthdate on the bottom later on, just to give the egg some recognition.

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Amazing Giveaway

When I visited Craftzine.com this evening, I found a link to this amazing giveaway by Jena Coray, AKA Miss Modish, on her blog, Modish. It's called the Cosa Verde Earth Day Giveaway! There are tons of beautiful creations made by many of her artist and crafter friends, and the goods are divided into 4 groups, so there can be 4 winners, y'all! Take a look and follow the directions for entering. You'll be glad you did!

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Monkey Boy

This is my darling little grandchild, Ethan! His parents call him Monkey Boy. In the photo, he's about 2 months old, but by now, he's a bit over 3 months! And 8 hours away! I took this when I was visiting in Illinois this past March, and it's my favorite image of him -- when I look into that little monkey-face, I just want to hold him forever. He's a cuddler and a cooer, and once I move closer to him, he will get to know me sooooo well!

He is my incentive for moving back to Illinois -- to be a Prairie Girl again! It will be grand to be able to see my son more, too (that's him holding his baby!) I have some loose (financial) ends to tie up here in Pennsylvania, then I need to build up a fat little savings account so I can afford the move back (I'll need a BIG truck), and have enough money to make my student loan payments and pay for my room and board until I get a job and my own apartment. That's the best part about being a CNA -- I can get a job anywhere in the country! Supposedly, it's easy to have my certification transferred from one state to another, just by filling out the right forms.

Creative Info: I've put Ethan's little face on a vintage Pierrot image that will end up being a tiny "jar fairy", which I will send to Anna, his mother, for Mother's Day. I won't put a photo of it here because I want it to be a surprise (even though I don't think she has time to read my blog!)

There is something magic about a grandbaby! And I am in love!

Etsy Plans: I will be making more Heart Stuffies, but also some Note Cards with my own digital collage images on them! And a calendar for 2011.

I have all sorts of plans in my head, and more than enough art supplies to execute them all -- if I only had the time! The only new art supply I've added is PaperClay -- I have wanted to use it for a long, long time -- even though I still have a large amount of polymer clay in my stash. Once my PaperClay arrives and I work with it enough to know if I really like it, I think I'll de-stash my polymer clay on Etsy. I'm sure other people will find a use for it. I need to DE-STASH a lot of my supplies, but it will be hard, because I'm so fond of them.

I plan for PaperClay to be the base of my "bum fairy" pins that I've designed to give to my co-workers. Little brown fairies with brown silk wings. A bit of humor for a job that isn't always very pleasant. They're still in the design stage, but once one of them is finished, I will post a photo here.

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A New Baby

And I don't have any decent pics of this new baby (fume), but my son's little boy arrived on January 6, weighing in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 21 inches long! His name is Ethan Lee Bash, and the only pictures I have are tiny wee ones that my son, Cody sent me on my cell phone.

I have no excuse for posting this information so late. Maybe it's because I'm 10 hours away from this baby (Urbana, IL), but I haven't been NEARLY as excited about my grandchild as most grandmas would be! And I don't even know the baby's mother, though Cody assures me she is a long-time friend of his. Modern families are so much easier to deal with!

At least I'm making something for him: a true blue baby blanket out of Brown Sheep Company wool! Here's the color:

I'm using a pattern by Alicia Paulson called "Tiramisu":

In late February, I'm planning to drive all those 480 miles in my trusty old red Jeep to meet the little guy. I haven't seen Cody in three years, either, since I haven't had the time or money to make the trip. Now, I've broken my vow of never using a Credit Card, and will charge most of the gasoline for the trip, so it's going to happen! While I'm there, I'll see a couple of girlfriends, and hopefully get to go to The Fiesta Cafe, where they have some of the BEST Mexican food I've ever had! It'll be a short visit, but a sweet one! And I've vowed to do it once a year from now on. Maybe twice, if my finances are healthy.

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Is it too late?

JANUARY

I found several downloadable calendars online, and thought it would be so much fun to make my own! So... I started to design collages for each month, then it occured to me that it would be wonderful to sell copies in my Esty Shop! I should have done this before Christmas, but if I go ahead and make the files now, I might as well put them in the shop, because sometimes people want a new calendar in the middle of the year, don't they? I know I won't get the calendar done anytime soon... so it will have to be a 2011 project that I plan to get out before Christmas. Maybe I will make it in time!

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New Digital Collage

I haven't been designing much for IF (Illustration Friday), lately but I found some great backgrounds online for free, and wanted to get creative. I used some Photoshop brushes and styles, and a 19th century photo. Lots of fun!

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Spoonflower Submissions

tiny squares

posies and circles

striped flowers

Right now I can't afford to have anything printed at Spoonflower, but eventually, I want to sell yardage in my Etsy shop. I'd also like to use some of it to make more Heart Stuffies.

I based my designs on fabrics from a vintage quilt that I purchased many years ago. The quilt doesn't have a specific design, rather, there are randomly patched pieces of very interesting fabric. There must be stories behind the pieces, i.e., "Aunt Gert's favorite dress", "that old tablecloth Mother loved so much", or "Annette's play clothes". Maybe I'll make up stories for them.

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