New Project - kitties (with fur, even!)

Howdy there gang!  While I constantly insist that I blog without obligation, I thought I'd apologize for being AWOL recently just the same.

Along with the usual flurry of activity that comes with the month of October -my wedding anniversary, frenzied outings before the weather turns, not to mention Halloween & Day of the Dead- I've been down and out with an ear infection that was more persistent that my Jack Russell Terrier after a ground squirrel.

The last couple of weeks have been spent sleeping, reading trashy novels and sketching for practice, so I don't have a lot to show you, but yesterday I got back to work on a commissioned piece for fellow artist Jen X of her kitties, Neptune (who has gone to The Great Kitty Beyond) and Stardust.


I had done a sketch of Stardust back at the end of August, then got focused on other projects.



Finally, yesterday I got inspired on the colors and layout of the piece for Jen, and started sketching the second kitty, Neppie.




And now, to the actual canvas I go to start the layout and sketching of the actual piece!

Oh, and by the way, Skelekitty is annoyed that I'm drawing cats with fur - as you might suspect, she prefers a little more bone showing.

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New 2 U #3 - Moon Landing Patches

TRIBUTE, FLASHBACK & MINI-TUTORIAL

This really IS a blast from the past - it's even a post on a sewing project (I suppose I need to change the blog's name from "stitchery" to something more all-encompassing soon).

Art toilet seat by Christian Cinder, encircled by my
custom patches of his design

Custom Rocketship Patches for C!nder
Originally uploaded by Skelekitty (Krissi Sandvik)

Anyway, since today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I thought I'd bring out the custom ROCKET SHIP PATCHES I did for my friend and fellow Scary-Art Collective member, C!nder a couple of years back.

I saw C!nder's painted toilet seats at the September 2007 "Functional Art" themed show at Body Tribe Fitness here in Midtown Sacramento. I really wanted one, but didn't have the scratch for it. I approached him with the idea of trading the seat for some custom-made iron on patches (he'd been nagging me to make some for ages) and he agreed! Oddly enough, he wanted patches of the rocket ship on the very toilet seat I'd chosen.

I gleefully scampered home with my new customized bathroom art and set about working on the patches. Once again using my favorite raw-edge applique method (which you'll want to refer to), I traced the outline of his art onto to some extra fusible medium backing paper I'd saved. Then I created some colorform-esque pieces out of some hand-dyed fabrics. I put the pieces onto a light box and drew on the details using fabric markers and a silver permanent marker (Sharpie or a similar brand of solvent-based ink or even a paint pen). When everything looked good, I assembled the pieces (including a backing piece of muslin to add some heft to the patch) onto a non-stick silicone craft sheet and tacked them in place with a hot iron.

Tracing of Cinder's rocketship on left; "coloform" version on right

patch on hooped water-soluble
stabilizer with stitched outline

Using a piece of extra heavy water soluble embroidery stabilizer (my brand of choice is Sulky Ultra Solvy), I stuck the patch down with just a little spritz of water. After everything dried, I put a narrow satin stitch around the edges.

The pen lines were traced over with some free-motion straight line stitching and some good ol' fashioned hand-embroidered french knots for the bolts.

I then went over the silver pen marks using a free-motion satin stitch with some high sheen light gray rayon thread (optional).

Final patch - BLAST OFF!

Finally, I finished up each patch by adding a layer of heavy fusible medium (for these I used Pellon's Wonder Under Heavy Duty) to the back since he wanted the patches to be iron-on. I saved this step for last so I didn't gum up my needle, than I just trimmed off the excess with a pair of scissors.

Voilá! A patch for him, a patch for his wife and two to give away to friends or whatever (if his kids didn't snatch 'em up first).

I hope you have fun with this little mini-tute and, as always, if you make a project of this, let me know and I'll post your photos on an upcoming blog. AND REMEMBER KIDS, ONLY MAKE PATCHES OF YOUR OWN ART! Never swipe someone else's images (unless, like me, you were asked to do so by the artist).

OK, end of lesson.

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Have a Nice Swap!

So there are a few artists (not very many, mind you) with whom I actually trade art, and Kit Cameo of Kit's Glass Etchings is one of those artists.  Her work is unique, edgy and funny and the quality of her etched pieces really cannot be beaten.  Her creations range from a custom Absinthe bottle (green, of course, complete with fairy), to lightening bolt stemmed wine glasses that just screamed for various Harry Potter designs, to tiny pirate rum bottles.

Kit and I have been kinda sorta talking about doing a swap for what seems like eons, but when I saw her Have A Nice Night etched mirror necklace, I knew I'd finally found "my" piece.

The hand molded polymer clay bat wings that seem to "fly" when you move just right are incredibly crafted.  I especially love the subtle but effective classic smiley with fangs!  I haven't tried it yet, but I understand that if you reflect light off the mirror face, you can project the fangy smiley onto the wall (note to self - torture dog and cats with this trick later).  To me though, the best part of this piece is that it makes me giggle a little bit every single time I look at it.

In exchange, Kit asked for one of my 7x7" plaques (but I worked on an 8x10" anyway - shhhhhh!  don't tell) with a traditional skull like the one I put on Grinding To A Hault (now at Hyaena Gallery in Burbank), kitties like the ones in Love Cats and a background like the one in A Brand New Sky.  I never formally gave this one a title, but I think of it as Kitties for Kit.

To see more of Kit's creations, visit her website or check out her blog!

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Free Cupcake-o-Guadalupe pattern on PimpStitch!

At long last (well, a week, but it feels longer the way I blog), I can unveil the FREE embroidery pattern I designed for PimpStitch! 

The lucky recipient of the original in the photo is Artsy Gringa, Michele ('cause she was my partner in the "...of Guadalupe" swap on swap-bot).

For those of you who haven't yet discovered PimpStitch, it is the indie embroidery brainchild of well-known artisans, Tamie Snow (Roxycraft) and Missy Balance (Mohair Circus), with the added talent of designers Amy Cluck (Peptogirl Industries) and Lauren Brandy (Goody-Goody).  PimpStitch has been featured quite a bit lately on CRAFT's blog and why not?  They regularly offer tips, tutorials and free patterns along with the awesome and VERY affordable unique (and did I mention downloadable for your instant gratification?) designs they create.

To celebrate the obscene number of hits I've been getting from being their guest designer, I'm going to extend the time to get a  FREE SKELEKITTY POSTCARD until I run out or until the end of the week!  Just click over and follow the directions!

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The Problem with Swap-Bot

. . . is that I never want to give away what I make. Of course, if not for the swaps, I'd never even bother to make this stuff in the first place.

I got SOOOOO behind when I was sick for the month of July, and my gym schedule, administering Scary CRAFT and being in Suzi Blu's mixed-media class ain't helping with the ol' time management. I really AM catching up on my backlog of swaps though (and if you're owed one from me, feel free to nag, contact, whine and/or plead). This one here got shoved to the front of the line 'cause it doubles as a homework assignment and as my "Frida-licious Mixed-Media Canvasboard" for a private group swap on the Bot. As soon as partners are assigned, it's GAWN (I wonder who the lucky recipient will be).

I also finished one last week for my "...of Guadalupe" themed swap (create a work entitled [whatever] of Guadalupe), but have been holding back with the photos 'cause it's going to be featured as a free pattern on a popular crafting blog/shop on Tuesday. I don't want to ruin the surprise for that one, but I think Artsy Gringa Michele will be happy when she sees it and finds out she's the recipient of this particular Guadalupe silliness (and may even forgive my tardiness).

Speaking of Guadalupe, check out this awesome "iPhone of Guadalupe" that I received from Selena, my rockin' swap partner (kylieNhavannahsMom)! I need to keep an eye on it whenever Kathy's in town, of course! Between the PBRs (please will someone tell me where to find these cheaply??) and the iPhone, Crystal Case may come a knockin' as well.

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Holy Recycled Junk!

My pal, cohort in Scary CRAFT crime and sometimes psychiatric counselor Sacred Snatch comes up with a great ideas for swaps on Swap-Bot (oh, if you're not over there yet, you should be).

"Recycle Yo Junk!" was a group swap she created for some of the crazy-ass girlies who were on the Crafty Chica Cruise this past March. As you would suppose, the challenge of this particular swap was to utilize recycled materials to create art (2 pieces) for a randomly assigned partner.

Because I sorta lost the month of July, I haven't gotten my pieces done (or even started) yet, but here's what I received in the mail today from my pal Michele!


nicho/shrine made from a tin and featuring the FABULOUS Crafty Chica (Duncan) glitters!


seriously, this started as bottlecaps and a jar lid...


ephemera from another's stash (always my favorite)

I just wanted to give a shout-out for Ms. Parlee and let y'all know how much she rocks.

p.s. I still owe a blog on my other uber-swap-score of the millenium: the Frida/Birthday Swap Haul from La Snatchita herself!

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My Very First ATCs

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards or Altered Trading Cards) have become unbelievably popular! I love them, as I do all things collage but hadn't tried to make ACEOs or ATCs because I fear them (as I do all things collage).

Here's my very first attempt - I did a pair for a swap challenge on Swap-Bot called "Modesty Is Overrated." We were to use lyrics from any Modest Mouse song and go to town. I used "Long Distance Drunk."



lyrics are:
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
(Hang it up now or never)
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
Hang it up now or never
Hang it up again
Doesn't seem like anything you're saying or doing or doing
Is making any sense
Long distance drunk
Long distance drunk
Long distance drunk
Oh yeah oh yeah
(8 AM and someone calls you on the telephone)
Long distance drunk
(You want to be by yourself and all alone)
Long distance drunk


Here's the detail on the first one:


And the second:


So now I've finally made matchbox shrines AND ATCs. What's next? Who knows?

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Swapping again & another login....

Last October I joined Swap-Bot (a trading site, for those of you unfamiliar) so that I'd have something to do with my crafts -- as many of you know, I don't rely on selling those like I do my quilts, but love to craft like a madwoman.

Anyway, one of my pals (Jo of Vidriosa Designs) started a swap I just couldn't resist - a skull for your muertos shrine! I did two of my calavera plaques for my partners - carefully choosing their favorite colors (and avoiding the ones they didn't like). I got an awesome hand-sculpted skele-Frida shrine from one of my partners (kateyb), and from the other, I got what looked like a used paddleball paddle someone had taken a highlighter to. This put me off the Bot for a little bit... However, I remembered that I joined because I'm already crafting for fun, so I'm back on now. This time though, I'm trading with folks I met on the Crafty Chica cruise and a few others. I could get a bad swap when I go outside my groups, but hey..... That's life for you.

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of MY package to my pal Alisa or the one I got from "Mamita" Virginia in the "Mi Casa - Su Casa" swap that our cruise group did. Oops. Both packages ROCKED, though! I did take photos of the two matchboxes for an "opposite" swap and an 8"x8" wall hanging I've sent out this week:

First, the Good Girl/Bad Girl pulp fiction matchbox (made using images from a book Mamita gave me in the Mi Casa swap):



here's the "book" fully assembled:


and my very first altered matchbox EVER, the sweets/diet // virgin/devil matchbox:


and an 8 inch mini-quilt for some lucky (at least I hope that's what she thinks) chica:


===========================

And finally, thanks to the Sacredest of Snatches, I'm on Twitter. She must have known that I NEEDED another page to log into, yes? No wonder I forget logins and passwords!

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