Getting ready for Finch's Holiday Boutique 2009!

Busy! Successfully got through Thanksgiving, which means NEXT weekend = Finch's Holiday Time Boutique 2009! And there's so much to do!
- Cleaning my house
- recieveing drop-offs of 38 designers items
- put up my Christmas tree
- bath for Finch
- Get MY inventory list in order...
- merchandise everyone's lovely items
- open up shop 11am Sat. Dec. 5th. Hooray!

What I've made for the Boutique this year list:
- Stuffed Friends; Jimmy's, Robit Robots, Tooth Fairy Nuggets, Reg. Nuggets in Cartons, XL Pocket Nuggets and Owl
- Squeaky Bones for pups, and Jingle Nugget Toy for kitties
- Ornaments: felt heart, bird, and nugget ornaments + these cool new little laterns too!
- Coffee Cup Coozies
- Pot Holders
- Pet Beds
- Cards
- Frames Prints
- probably missing something....

then there's a "To Do before Christmas" list too....

Hope to see you at the boutique!

Pet Toys

  I have developed some fun toys for pups and kitties - expect to see these at the boutique!

 - for pups: Squeaky Bones - Stuffed Bones with little heart or paw applique and squeaker inside. Thank you Finch for helping with displaying.

- for kitties: Jingle Nuggets! These are little stuffed fabric friends hang from a long piece of yarn and have a little jingle bell in their buns. They come in the classic nugget shape, + bird and bunny.

  

New Ornaments

I've been working on cute felt ornaments for the sale. I attached little felt details with a cute button, did a cute blanket-stitch around the perimeter, and added batting for dimension. I think they turned out pretty fun - hearts, nuggets and a few birds (not pictured) 

 

New Items...

     So I've been working on a bunch of new items for Finch's Holiday Time Boutique: some of my usual stuff and a lot of new stuff - including cool pieced pot holders (that reverse to terry), felt coasters (sets of 4) and felt trivets. Plus my eco-friendly-reusable coffee-cup coozies have become pretty popular too! and I'm working on more for December.

 Here's some of what I've finished...

      

...pieced pot holders...

         

                          ...Felt Coaster Sets...

                         

  ...Felt Trivets...

                          

                                      

       

...Little coffee-cup coozies to keep your hands from getting too hot and without using new cardboard sleeves every time you go to the coffee shop...

Illustration Action - Flash Back

      In Tom Garrett's class at MCAD (2002 - fall semester of senior year) I did this illustration about transportation in the month of November - it was one of my first digital pieces ever. And the super exciting part was that it was accepted into Society of Illustrators East in NYC and was even in a gallery in Brooklyn for a few months. It was pretty cool for me :) and really helped give me the confidence boost to "run with it"...

    And here is my Lil' Finch illustration - one of my next digital pieces (all adobe illustrator) - it's one of my favorites...

...and then there were nuggets...

At a coffee shop one evening I doodled these little guys - later named "Nuggets" - one little sketch of the 3 nuggets in a little carton I scanned and colored up in photoshop as an experiment (I don't do a ton of illustration in photoshop you see). And me being me, I began making little stuffed nuggets - all different colors and combinations of fabrics - and they are sold 2-to-a-carton. you can pick out which ones suit you, or someone you know, best. I imagine treating these little guys like produce in the grocery store: pick 'em up, give a little squeeze and a good look-over before purchasing...

Nuggets in a Carton illustration

the remaining nuggets after everyones' favorite colors were picked over at the 2006 Finch's Holiday Boutique.

Nuggets have grown in scale, some have pockets on their belly's, some even looks like owls, bunnies, and birds...

Tooth Fairy nuggets for Finch's Holiday Time Boutique!

Bunny, "Classic", Bird + Owl Nugget Styles

Jimmy gets Friends...

Once I had started, I just had to add on...so eventually Jimmy made some friends including Calla, the know-it-all blue bird, Oscar the turtle (although never stuffed), and Robit Robot.

They each got Stationery Sets complete with envelopes, stickers, and special pens. They also appeared in little enclosure card packs.

...and Jimmy even went to space...

Jimmy in Space Stationery Pages

Extra fuzzy stuffed Calla that went to Corinna Quist because she unloaded lots and lots of great fabric to me AND because she's like my big sister.

Oscar Stationery Pages