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.
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!
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.
