Amy and Alexz: Cryptozoology BFFs!

I love Craftster because of the friends you make! I have fabulous friends that I have never met in real life, but I feel so close to them! You all know who you are!

I am wrapping up on the last of my personal swaps for awhile since I need money for my wedding, but I am sure I will keep making friends! And I plan to pick up swapping again once I don't have a wedding to save for, but who know when it will be, because after the wedding, real life starts for me and Kevin. Scary!

Anyways! I just did a swap with Amy who is just plain awesome. We have so much in common it is amazing. And she loves yetis so of course we are just a perfect pair. We did a little cryptid swap of our own and she sent me this amazing stuff- go look at it because she rocks!

In return I did some cryptids of my own for her. :) 

In exchange for one giant yeti:

In exchange for one little yeti:

In exchange for one Bigfoot:

In exchange for one Nessie:

And finally, one little extra:

And then to top it all off, she made me two more little married yetis for my wedding display and they are fabulous!! So I made her this little cthulhu bag in exchange:

I sent her some other stuff too, but I will save those for another more fitting post. We will stick to cryptids for now! :) Thanks again Amy! You are so awesome!

I am going to do a post soon, just to show off some of the fabulous things I have received for my wedding already! Deedra, Audrey, Sam, and some others have sent great things already. I will be sending some more stuff this week (I have to stretch out sending packages or else I will be broke!) Stay tuned!

Help Wanted!

So, an amazing Craftster, Sarah, posted about a little art project she was doing called "Where's Alonso". Basically, she made this adorable plush monster who goes by the name of Alonso and then asked volunteers to take him on and take him around their town and post pictures of him in different places that represent where you live. When you are done, you pack him up and ship him off to his next destination. Each week, she posts about his visit and shows the pictures of him hanging out and she is putting together a big project in the end. She has also asked to send a postcard to her to represent his visit.

It is pretty awesome if you ask me! I just finished my week with the little foreign exchange monster and had a blast taking Alonso around town and having strangers stare at me as I took pictures with this little plush.

She is doing this for a class, but I just think it sounds fun just because! Would anybody be interested in doing this? In the end, I want to make something awesome, I just don't know what yet. Maybe a book about his journey that included illustrations done by me, and each person could send a little ATC, postcard or anything drawn/handmade that I could put with it. Each person would have to pay shipping to send him to the next destination, but in an envelope a little plush like this is at most 5 dollars.

If anybody is interested in participating in this let me know and I will make some sorta of plush (come on, we all know it will be a yeti) and get this party started! I don't want to make anything until I know if people are interested or not. I would do the same and post about his journey each place. Let me know what you think!

Art Doll Quarterly, Here I Come!

Well, I am back at work...sigh. lol...not really, I actually love working. It is a blast and seeing my kids was wonderful. They were all pretty excited to be back, though very sleepy after sleeping in all week long over the spring break. It was a bit of long day, but I managed to keep up!;)

I have shown one of these guys before, but I just have to share again, because something amazing has happened! I am being featured in Art Doll Quarterly! This fall when the Autumn issue is released, you will be seeing Roderick and Tut's cute little faces. How cool is that?! I am quite excited about this if you can't tell!

Killer on the Loose!!

Okay, I have some receivers, so here is one quick item that many of you have already seen on my facebook, but oh well. Many of you have not!

Watch out for the CEREAL KILLER. 

Friends and family, I feel that I should warn you. There is a Cereal Killer on the loose. Armed with a chain spoon, he is extremely dangerous. Please keep track of your cereal at all times until he is caught.

King Tut

Okay, I am slacking again. But since my computer has been redone more than once in the last few weeks, I have been spending my time organizing all my files and filtering them. So I have good reason for my absence. Plus, I have SEVERAL packages going out this week so I can start showing you tons of new projects once they are received.

So for now, enjoy King Tut!

Wedding Plans!!

Okay,  I am doing a lot of personal swapping for my wedding, and then a lot of people are helping me out and lots of family members are making/sending things. But everybody keeps asking for details about the big day so I thought I would do a post about it for some inspiration for friends and family.

Most Important Details:

Who: Kevin Talbot and Alexzandra Cramer

Date: September ??, 2010

Theme: Gothic/Whimsical/Tim Burton-ish/SpookyPooky-like!

Colors: Black, White, Jewel (Rich and Saturated) Purple and Orange

Like these colors (I am not wearing a purple dress, I just love the color!)

In a nutshell, this will be a very un-traditional, but still very classic wedding. Picture a Tim Burton movie set and there you have it!

Decorations:

The centerpieces are going to be black vintage birdcages (no two alike!) with black staggering candles inside of them. The outside of each one will vary as well, but in they be wrapped in purple flowers (all different), orange leaves or a few subtle orange flowers and black feathers. Sort of like these:

My dad is an amazing artist, and is making A LOT of AMAZING things. The biggest will be an archway for me and Kevin to stand under. He has it started and he drew inspiration from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice in Wonderland. It has the Burton Swirls and all!

 

The dancefloor will have a gothic chandelier instead of a disco ball or whatever else people use for dancefloors. It will look something like this and will also have the flower/feather elements to match the centerpieces:

Now for the cake, this is something I am very excited about. I could not decide if I wanted a cake or a tiered cupcake stand. So what is a girl to do?? Have both, of course! So my ideal cake is this Corpse Bride one, but I would want it to match my colors more. Luckily, we know a baker who just happens to be a family friend and she owes me a favor. She is going to start practicing to see if she can do it.

And then, my awesome dad has started building me a cupcake tier stand but not just any ol' cupcake stand. Nope. He is making it look like the Nightmare Hill and my cupcakes will look like little orange jack-o-lanterns!

So take this first stand...

but picture it looking more like the last three:

Yes. My dad is awesome. He is hoping to make a fountain, two chairs for me and Kevin based on Tim Burton's work and some other cool details, but you are getting the picture I imagine. But one other thing I wanted to make sure to share with you guys is my awesome shelf. My craftster friends are my favorite people ever. So I am heartbroken they cannot be there. But a craftster is clever so I thought of a way to have their presence at my wedding! I am swapping with all my favorite friends and in return they are sending me something I am can display at my wedding that matches the decor. I have been making little plaques with each sender's name on it, and their gift will be displayed. My dad is building a display unit for these gifts that will be displayed by the guestbook table. He has started it too, but he is building each shelf/space to fit the senders item so it will be a long process as I receive stuff. But best of all, he studied some Tim Burton movies and it looks a little something like this (except much wider and there will be shelves and units all over the place):

There will be tons of little details everywhere, and I have a million things I want to make including some wedding pumpkinheads and a Kevin and Alexz themed curio. But overall, I hope the helps you envision it!

 

Attire:

I have not bought my dress but I know exactly what I want. I am not into big huge ball gowns with tons of beading and tulle and all that, but I am also not a straight and simple gown kinda-gal. So my ideal wedding dress is this one below.

I love that it is simple but still very elegant and classic. I love sweetheart necklines and the skirt is exactly what I want...not too big, not too straight. The wonderful and talented Tracy, or MadGypsy, is making me a mini top hat to go with it! 

My bridesmaids consist of 4 girls...my two cousins (raised as sisters) and my two best friends. I am letting them choose any dress they want as long as it is short and all black. That way they can wear them to other occasions and events and I really am not a fan of the matchy-matchy thing. They are all four as different as can be, and none of them are really weird like me. But I am hoping to talk them into wearing something like these:

If they agree to it, I am either going to make them myself, or hire on Tracy to make some more headpieces!

Lastly, Kevin will be wearing an all black tux and white tie and saddle shoes just like this:

So if you just suffered through this ridiculously long post, congratulations and thank you! If it is too long and boring, just scroll through the pictures and you get the idea! :)

I hope it comes out as awesome as I am envisioning it and doesn't look like a badly-decorated Halloween attraction. But I have faith it won't! It will definitely be unique...I mean, I am walking down the aisle to the Jack and Sally montage for crying out loud. lol! 

For my family and friends that requested this, I hope it helped! And once again, a big giant freakin' thank you goes out to all of you who are swapping with me for my special moment! It means the world to me and you guys are making my day that much more special!

Paitience is a virtue...

I have so many new awesome things to post but they are all going out to readers and they are all surprises. I haven't shipped any of them yet either because I am poor and I work during the post office hours AND because I have some things to finish in photoshop with each package. Sigh. Though my photoshop finally arrived, I had more computer troubles so it is back in with my friend who has been a HUGE help to me. Ugh though. I just want my computer! lol. I am getting it all worked out this week though, so be expecting some stuff very soon ladies...you know who you are!;)

Until then, enjoy this cute little owl set I made for the lovely and amazing Kira in our first personal swap. This girl is amazing. She is so sweet, and talented and never has anything bad to say- EVER! She truly is inspiring. I have a brand new package awaiting her. Luckily, she agreed to swap again, this time for a yeti (imagine that, right? Me? Wanting a yeti?) and a wedding gift/surprise. I can't wait to see what she does, but mostly I can't wait to see if she likes what I have made for her! She knows she is getting a Wind Waker Link painting but the rest of the things are...oh, you will just have to wait and see!

Yetis! Again!

So I had a pretty rough day, but I was greeted by some awesome yetis AND Nessie and bigfoot. How awesome is that? It totally turned my day around, and I am just so happy. Thank you Amy! Go check out her blog. She creates awesomely cute stuff and she is just so nice and she is just plain awesome.

Meanwhile, I am diving into the world of plush-making. I have made 2 so far this week. They are not perfect, but for having only sewn two things before, one VERY SIMPLE pocket organizer and the link quilt I blogged about earlier. So for having such little experience I am pretty proud of how they turned out, though I still need A LOT more practice and some major pattern tweaking.

I can't post the first one because it is for a swap, but I made this last night while trying to get over my headache. He is a trial run, and still needs some major work, but he is still kinda cute. Based on my yeti, he is very fat and round. I eyeballed a pattern and just winged it. I should probably make or buy a real pattern, but I hate following them! Loveandasandwich made my yeti into a plush that is so much cuter and made so much better, but like I said, this is only my second plush and only my fourth sewing project. :)

The fur I used is SO HARD for a noob like myself to sew with. It slips and slides all over the place but it hides my flaws and mistakes so well it made it worth it in the end. I bought some real fur online, but it was EXPENSIVE. I am going to make some more of these yetis with this much cheaper fur until I perfect the pattern, and then I will use the real fur.

Anyways, I hope you guys like him! He is a labor of love, and though he has some major flaws, I am still kind of proud of him!

And for good measure, here are my new friends from Amy! I plan to take some better pictures in the daylight, but for now these will do. I am going to post my whole cryptid collection soon so I will post better pictures with that. But I couldn't resist showing them off now and these are the best pics I could get!

Testing New Looks

Just a heads up! I am testing new looks for my blog, so it may be changing a lot over the next few days. :)

Dead Fish Tell no Tales

Well, I should be at work, making money and hanging out with cute and fun kids, but I am stuck at home with this awful headache. Ah well, I will be back in no time. Like I said, this weather just kills me. I LOVE the sun and I love that the cold is going away for good. However, it does a number on my head.


So I have another short post for you! I had my goldfish for 8 years, so when he died, I really was upset! So I made gave him a proper burial with a casket, tombstone and all. The casket is a small candy tin, and the tombstone is a block of wood and tile sample. 
Good bye, Jack Sparrow! You were a good fish.

Day of the Dead Shrine and Day of Rest for Me!

This is going to be a short post. Seems like at the beginning of every season change, I have the WORST migraines. I have had one since yesterday, and it is just not letting up. I was pretty much worthless at work today. Hopefully it goes away soon.

Anyways, I made this for RobbinZombie in a personal swap. She loves Day of the dead, and her name is Morgan. Hence the 'm.' :)

I am expecting at least 4 YETIS in the mail this week. Two are from a personal swap, and two are from Amazon and Etsy. Goodness, I need a life.

Ganesha Brings Success!

I have been working soooooo hard this weekend! It has been going so well! I have so many things to show you all, but I have to wait, because every single thing I made this weekend are going out to my readers and contacts! I am finishing up my package for my partner in the creepy-cute swap and I am pretty much done with it. And then I have packages 95% done for my friends Shannon, Kira, Audrey, Deana, and Amy! All I am waiting for is my photoshop to arrive so I can finish some minor details. And then I have Tracy's BIG package halfway done now. And it is coming together nicely!

Anyways, I am making some changes to the blog in the next few weeks. I have decided that I am changing my blog/artist contact name to "Spooky Pooky Creations -by Alexz." I thought this new name would give a little more insight to my style and it is a lot more fun! I have a new mascot/logo in the works...again, just waiting on photoshop. So be on the lookout for that!

Meanwhile, enjoy this Ganesha shirt I made with a bleach stencil last spring to celebrate my love for India and my passing with an A of my year long Hinduism course in college! I thought it would be appropriate since I have overcome my obstacles in the last few days and gotten so much done.

Alice in Wonderland is Here!!

(I just checked my posts from last night. I had not slept at all in a few and was absolutely exhausted and it showed in my spelling. lol. I had to go back and correct it all because I HATE typos and I am embarrassed I had so many)

Anyways, I have been sooooooo excited for Alice in Wonderland that I couldn't even talk about it. If I did, I would get too worked up and emotional. Yeah- emotional over a movie. I am just that nerdy. But tomorrow night I FINALLY get to see it!! So in honor of my big day ;) I have a couple Mad Hatter Pumpkin Heads to share with you. These both went out to two different people.

The first one went to a lovely craftster gal who made me a yeti in return (yes, more yetis!) She also loves Tim Burton and creepy-cute things so I made her this little guy. He is actually a lot smaller than my normal pumpkin heads. I wish I would have taken a size comparison picture! His cards are 3-5-10 to celebrate the release date of the movie!

This next one was made for my new incredibly awesome and talented friend Tracy. Go check her blog out because she is so awesomely talented. She made me this incredible yeti you can see on her blog and I made this as a thank you gift. I just love that yeti and she likes my pumpkin heads and the Mad Hatter so it seemed appropriate.

So to sum things up I got two awesome yetis in return for these little guys and now tomorrow I get to see my long-awaited movie, and I am sooooooooooo excited! I also got another yeti in the mail today along with a fan letter! Oh my gosh! My first real fan mail and fan art! Yay! What an awesome week!