Apples Of My EyesAll the things that make me happy

Sketchy Aro

My lovely Etsy customer from France was inquiring if I, by any chance, had a “companion” print for the Heidi of the Volturi that she has purchased. I decided that it was nice to keep poor Heidi so lonely and started drawing a matching portrait of Aro. It is certainly inspired by Martin Sheen’s Aro from the movie, but I am looking more for scary/beautiful look than exact likeness. This is a first sketch that I did.

Opinions? Oh, and I’m still looking for the meanings of the round pieces on top of Volturi thrones. Anybody read anything about them? Help!

Tags: aro, drawing, twilight, volturi

Etsy Wednesday Finds – CarmelaJay

Artists Carmela Chase and Tara Ray celebrate all things dead. From their breakfast meat to their favorite relatives past:

I mean seriously, how do you expect me to pass on the black and white doodled skulls residing on wild colorful backgrounds!!! They’re awesome in their bizarreness Enjoy!

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Shop • Website

Tags: doodle, doodling, ETSY finds, skull

Tales and Tails

Having a little girl named Ariel (no relation to Disney in origins of this one), mermaids do pop in and out of our sub- and conscious once in a while. So, here’s an obvious manifestation of this slight obsession with girls with long squishy tails Introducing – Dreaming Mermaid:

It’s a hand-colored print mounted on a black paper with hand-drawn “continuation” of the main picture. It’s very pretty and easy to frame. Totally one-of-a-kind, because of the doodles on the “margins” Let me know if you like it!

Tags: doodle, doodling, drawing, etsy, mermaid, print, underwater

…And The Winner Is…

According to totally indifferent random.org, the winner of my 50th post Giveaway is… comment #18 aka Beverly.

If she will kindly contact me with the mailing address, I will be sending her the prizes right away .

Congratulations Beverly and thank you for playing, everybody. I am planning to run at least one Giveaway per month, so please follow this blog and check back for more announcements!

And now we return to our regular scheduled programming!

Whenever Inspiration Strikes…

Oh, the Inspiration. I really like this word, and use it a lot (in case you haven’t noticed). To me, it means this tingly feeling, those vague but already forming images in my head that are just begging to be explored, put on paper or typed into the computer. It’s the anticipation of a creative breakthrough, which as we all surely know, can sometimes be slightly better than the actual result
There’s always the proverbial apple that fell on Newton’s head… but for me, it can be literally anything. Anywhere. Good example: Every Sunday morning, I get up before 8am to go to the Step class. It’s great exercise, I am done by 9:30, so, sleep deprivation aside, it’s definitely a “good thing”. I don’t think any of us is quite awake at this G-d forsaken hour on a weekend, but lately, I find myself getting myself strangely inspired, right there, in the gym, while jumping and sweating. A few weeks ago it was my friend’s jacket lining that was quite abstract, but all of a sudden looked to me like a round drawing of a tree with it’s branches and roots forming a nice lacy circle. I wish I could show you the “original” but unfortunately I’m afraid people might frown upon me bringing a camera into the gym So, here’s a result of my inspiration, a Spirit Tree (I still feel that the name is not quite right… Anybody inspired to come up with a better one? )

Last week, I was way in the back, next to the punching bag, and when I glanced over at it, I distinctly saw a perfect shape for an air balloon in it! Just up side down I immediately started imagining these colorful flotation devices, their bulbous shapes overlapping and creating magical patterns.

Not to mention that for years, I’ve been staring at this spot on the bathroom door at work and every time I see something else in it (paging Dr. Freud!).
So, I wanna hear your inspiration stories. What was the strangest place you got “struck” with it and more importantly, what came out of it? Share, please!

Tags: air baloon, creativity, drawing, inspiration, Tree

Wednesday Etsy Finds – A Leg UP

Sooner than you think, the Spring will be here, and it will be time to finally “show some leg” I will bet my crazy socks, no matter who you are, you’ll be inclined to “play footsie” with this new generation of hosiery:
From cute and elegant to outright creepy, Les Queues De Sardines have got them all:


Gorgeous Tattoo Socks and Tights from Post:

And just because it’s so adorable and legwear-related – Crazy Socks Card from Studio3Ten:

Tags: etsy, hosiery, leg wear, socks, tights, wednesday etsy finds

Haiti Relief Fundraiser Auction

I’m proud to be a little part of this wonderful effort by the handmade community to raise money for Haiti Earthquake Relief. Silent auction held by Jen over at IndieFixx is a very easy way to help out! You bid on the items (which change every day) in the comments and if you’re a winner, you pay through paypal and get the item in the mail without paying for shipping. 100% of the proceeds to go to the Red Cross International Response.
So, today is the day that my Knowledge Tree print with a 3D cutout is up for grabs, so I thought maybe you’d like to help out, at least by spreading the word!
Click on the image below to visit today’s auction:

Please, help me promote this worthy effort! Any and all emails, Twitts and “words of mouth” are greatly appreciated!

Tags: auction, charity, doodlage, fundraiser, haiti, handmade, indiefixx, red cross, tree of knowledge

Shrinky Doodle Dinks

So, this is how it works in my house… I take out my “craft” thingies, and 3 seconds I’m getting mobbed by my girl squad, asking “Can I do that too? Can I have this paper? Can I use your markers?..” Which is pretty cool, and I hope they will share my “oh, I can make anything, if I feel like it” attitude But, they are also like a hurricane (or rather, 2 hurricanes) leaving path of distraction in their paths, which is the main reason I do most of my ‘crafting’ when they’re already in bed
Among the debris left after my daughters’ creative endeavors, was this pile of shrinky dink plastic, from which they carefully cut out their pieces and left big chunks unused.

So, one quiet winter evening, I set up on a mission to make something out of nothing, so to speak. Here is how it went. I cut the leftovers into random shapes, smoothing sharp edges (or sometimes making them) and punching holes as I went. Then I proceeded with doodling on these shapes (some are kinda matching, but mostly it’s as random as the shapes themselves)

After all pieces were cut, punched and drawn upon, I colored them with bright pencils and metallic pens before laying them all out on a lined pan, just so:

The results are very cute, I think. They are rather small (see them next to a quarter), but bright and funky. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of them (I’m not meticulous enough to be a good jewelry maker, unfortunately)… we’ll see. Maybe they will magically appear in the Wearable Doodles section of my Doodlage Shop with hand painted wooded beads.


I am quite happy with how these little gems came out and that I saved from being wasted some of the expensive shrinking plastic. How do you make good use of your crafting leftovers? Share, please

Tags: bead, doodlage, doodle, doodling, etsy, jewelry, pendant, shrinky dink

Post #50 Giveaway!

It turns out I’ve been more productive with this blog, than even I myself anticipated. The Wordpress counter tells me that this is a post #50, so what’s a better way to celebrate than with a good old giveaway?! And I have just the right stuff to give!

I have an interesting pair of things that are as different as it gets but also as matching as I could make them Intrigued? No need to be. I have a curious “His and Hers” combination, that consists of Doodled Aliens rock and a hand-painted Tshirt (women’s L) with similar design. Intricate little doodles in Black, Gold and Silver markers. I used special Fabric Markers on the tee and permanent black and metallic ones on the rock.


Interested? Here’s what you can do to get both, just for participating:

*note* Each step will earn you an entry point. Winner will be chosen randomly from all the entries received.

• Leave a comment in this blog, linking to your favorite item in either of my Etsy shops (TwiMom and Doodlage)

• Twitt about this Giveaway and post a link to your Twitter page (I’ll be sure to follow you too, btw) in a comment here.

• Blog about this Giveaway or post about it on any relevant forum/site and show me a link to it.

• Put a link to my Blog on your site/blog and tell me about it.

• Stumble, Digg or save to Del.icio.us MY ENTIRE BLOG (not just this entry) and let me know in a separate comment.

So, all in all you can get up to 5 entries. The more you get, the more chances that you will be the lucky winner of my handmade goodies The last comment can be added by the end of the month. So at 11:59pm January 31st your carriage will turn back into a pumpkin will be your last chance to enter. I will contact the winner personally for the shipping address, so make sure when you leave your comments, I can see your email somewhere in there THANKS and GOOD LUCK!

Tags: blog, doodle, doodling, giveaway, handmade, rock, tshirt

Pimp My Etsy

I can swear there was a group on Flickr on which you could ‘pimp’ your Etsy purchases. I can’t find it (anybody?) right now, but hey, what’s my blog for pimping? Chopped liver? To tell you the truth, I’m always curious how my artwork ends up looking in somebody else’s houses. Some wonderful buyers even indulged me on occasion with photos, but not nearly often enough… Oh, speaking of which, one of my favorite Twi-bloggers/ficsters Betti Gefecht, wrote about some little thingies I sent her. She’s a an very talented woman from Germany,  who sings, writes in a very distinct style, and is a hardcore TwiFan. Click the photo on the left here to visit her blog!

So, let me do my part. I have gotten several pieces of Melissa Nucera’s artwork. Her style is seriously hard to describe… It’s a mix of beautiful photography, sharp photoshop skill, dash of wild imagination and a sprinkle of fairy dust.

Tasteful, pretty and truly magical, each one is a masterpiece that I’ll treasure. My 9yo daughter really liked them too and hand-selected 3 pieces (one of them happens to be a business card, but who cares? ) which I framed for her. You can look at each one of them and find new little clever details hidden at every glance. It certainly doesn’t need any enhancements, but since I will me putting it in her bedroom, I thought I’d add some tiny-tiny details of my own, just to sneak a bit of myself into it Ta-dah…

Tags: art, etsy, januarywish, melissa nucera, photography, photoshop, thisyearsgirl