The love of painting .

First new post here in years!
I've decided to give blogging another go . I can make no promises that I will be successful but I can promise I'll try :)
Ive been really obsessed with painting again. I had been so focused on my stitching the past few years that I was neglecting my painting and it feels so great to be back in the game! Nothing clears my over active brain better than immersing in a project and watching how it all comes together .
Here's a painting set I made inspired by Tori Amos's song 'Mr.Zebra'. I had been doodling this idea for YEARS and *finally* got them done ! I am currently working on corresponding pieces inspired by other Tori songs that I grew up on , I'm very excited! I fell in love with her as an angsty teen and Ive seen her perform upwards of 20x by now and still get giddy as christmas morning when its tour season! I may not love every new album like I loved some of the oldies but Im pretty sure I'll generally love her forever :) so here's my little tribute !

a little sewing music

Theses are a few of my current springtime favorites :)

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

XoXo, Sara

Art You Can Hug

Art You Can Hug is currently on display at Howley's in West Palm Beach and I was lucky enough to have some of my dolls and plushie birds included. Me and the girls headed to opening night to show our support and eat delicious bacon and mac n cheese treats! We had a great time. Four of my dolls are currently dangling over the adorable felt forest creatures made by Amanda Linton (the master mind behind the Howley's art shows as well as Stitch Rock and many many more!) and an adorable bunny drawing I didn't get the artists name of :(

There are also a pair of my Love Birds cozily nestled in a basket on a different wall.

I had to give special thanks to Amanda for all she does , as i mentioned before she does ALOT for the Palm Beach art scene . To give you an idea here are a few links

With a Side of Art

With Sugar on Top

Stitch Rock

Art Rock

Sugar House Holiday Bazaar

House of Sweets Bakery

I don't know there are probably more projects she's into ! All I know is I've participated in many of her events and loved every one of them so I made Amanda a 'Me' doll and gave it to her at Howley's.

I had so much fun making her ! She seems very loved and even got a little shout out HERE on City Link's ArtMurmur blog. You may notice Amanda's 'Me' has pink & blue hair in one pic and red in another wellllll, I made Amanda's doll a few weeks before Art You Can Hug when her hair really was pink and blue then the week before I saw her she dyed her hair red ! With a little brainstorming help I improvised a red velcro hair piece, I am still shocked it came out so well ! All and all the Howley's night was fun especially with the company of some of my nearest and dearest .

(left to right: Miranda, Chrissy, Beckie, Nicole and my 'other mother' Janet)

XoXo, Sara

Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar

So I recently participated in the first annual Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar in Davie, Fl and had such a great time I thought i post a little about the day. I wish I would have taken more photos of vendors there but I suck! You can find info on the event and all its vendors at www.oddduckbazaar.com. I recommend checking it out and hope to participate in more of their events! I always love doing these South Florida shows because first of all~ I have a Super Helper named Beckie who always comes with me and all we do is laugh all day no matter what we do . It sometimes gets out of control! hehehe. The morning we left for Odd Duck I gave her a 'Me' doll that i made to look like Beckie. It looks like love to me! :)

The real question is can we really handle another Beckie ? ;)

So then there's the fun part of these crafty gatherings that's getting to meet and revisit some amazing, talented and inspirational new friends. Every year it gets better and better. I like to wonder how many years we'll all be doing these shows together. I've seen many a crafter's work evolve so much (including mine!) It's always exciting to see what new things they've come up with. In some cases I find myself stalking booths to get first dibs on they new goodies like with Brenda (and Josh) Burton of Humble Bumble B. Beckie and I have an increasingly large collection of hats and headbands made by Brenda which I will have to photograph and post about, in short we are super fans! On top of being talented Brenda and her family are so sweet and lovely I HAD to snap a pic at Odd Duck .

awwwww :)

The next pic is of some happy Whimsy shoppers and was sent to me (and possibly taken by?) a new friend Rachel DeJohn of Peace Owls and Other Lovely Things . We affectionately refer to each other as 'Forest Friend' cause we have so many things in common !

This next photo is of Renda Writer getting dolled up with my hair flowers to attempt to interview me (the WORSE interviewee ever in my opinion) for his magazine WEMERGE's youtube channel. Renda is an ambitious and funny guy with a little goal to be on the Ellen Show. Let's help support him the way he supports our local art scene by going to www.RendaWriter.com and www.theywanttoseerendawriteronellen.com ! Also you can find my interview with Renda on Wemerge Magazines Youtube Channel by clicking here.

There were so many people I encountered I wish I had photographed! Hopefully i learned my lesson. Here's a close up of our Stitch of Whimsy table...

And then things started getting wild !

XoXo, Sara

Feathers and Flowers

So thanks to my helpful and wonderful friends helping me stuff arms and legs a few weeks back I was able to make a heap of new dollies for spring and thanks to my sweet new purple camera I even shot them and successfully began updating my online shop ! Sometimes trying to be a one-woman craft machine gets overwhelming for me so getting things complete is super satisfying ! I cant even imagine how some of you out there with children make it all happen. So heres a few pics for you:D

I made this collage with me favorite photo editing site Picnik. I am certainly not the most computer-technically savvy person , more of a hands-on cut-n-paster type, but Picnik is GLORIOUS! Thats it for now~

xoxo, Sara

the goings on

First of all I am thrilled to announce that I have finally purchased a new digital camera- HOORAY ! Mine has been on the fritz for quite some time now making it very difficult for me to take nice shots of my creations therefore leaving my etsy shop empty and lonely. I got a great deal on WOOT.com , you should check out that site. Hopefully it arrives soon !
Next order of business, I'll be participating in a few events this month , one being a group art show featuring plush creatures and such. If anyone actually reads this blog and are in the West Palm Beach , Florida area you should surely attend ! I will be displaying some hand-stitched and painted dollies :)

Also, I'll be selling my goodies here

I think its gonna be a great month! I'll have lots of new projects to share with you like

Tiny gnome finger puppets and toadstool gnome homes !

that's it for now. XoXo, Sara

I heart Etsy!

here are some Etsy pretties I think I need!

Etsy Buy Handmade stitchofwhimsy

XoXo, Sara