IF: Opinion

In your opinion, am I fat or phat?

Wow, can you say MIA?

But alas I'm back. Norm is going to spend a little time at "camp" - like a whole month. We just need to get away from each other for a while. And lets just say Norm needs to learn something new. You know how it is when 2 people spend 24/7 together... eventually you just have to split up and do your own thing. Norm is going to what I call "book camp". Hopefully he will read all sorts of books that we don't already have in the house (knowing him, he'll stick to the familiar initally, but I'm sure something new will catch his fancy and he will run with it). Anyway, "book camp" is at Fremont Place Book Co. He will be there for the whole month of Oct. He will be the only "camper" (eg paintings) there, so do stop by and say Hi to him - and make sure he is reading something I would approve of - the last thing I need is for him to start reading trashy romance novels!

Fremont Place Book Co. is in the heart of Fremont (Seattle) by Jai Thai, Simply Desserts, Blue C Sushi, PCC, Peets Coffee (need I say more) - oh yea, and Frank & Dunya.

IF: Sail

My ship has sailed...

IF: Enough

A girl can never have enough ... retail therapy!

Tante Heidi's Art School

As part of Camp Oma every year, Tante Heidi teaches a day of Art School. This year we set up the easels in the back yard, broke out the acrylic paints and got to paint on REAL canvas. The kids each chose a subject to paint - a Princess, a Knight, and of course Norm. Do you think my niece was trying to get on the teacher's good side? Or is she a real Norm fan? I happen to know that she is one of my biggest fans - she even has Norm buttons on her bookbag for school.

And, as a bonus this year, we will have Tante Heidi's Art School part deux this year. Today we are going to cast our hands, similar to this: I will post photos when the hands are

done.

Etsy Front Page!

One of the most exciting things about selling on etsy is making it to the "front page" - i.e. the home page, or 1st page that everyone sees when they go to http://www.etsy.com/.

My friend Kelly at TomatoTomato saved the screen shot of Norm's 5 minutes of fame yesterday. I snooped around a bit to find out who put the collection together that go showcased ont he front page - it was leavesofglass- and the treasury was titled "Big Balls" - I'm honored that Norm fell into that category!

And one more shout-out - ok, two. Artsy was also on the front page - love her sculptures, in fact I traded her an old brownie camera for an 8x10 of the "Espresso Family". And I just discovered LemonBall - he handmakes baseballs - how cool is that!

Who wants a peak at the Trunkt book?

Check it out - here's Norm! And the book's only $30 online - or if you are lucky enough to be in NYC you might find it at a coffee shop or independent book store!

Norm's in a book!

Check it out (page 9 if you scavenger hunt your way through the preview pages on Blurb)

It is published by Trunkt! and will be sold on-line and in coffee shops & independent bookstores in NY.

Woo-hoo!

Ok, I will take pity on you - here is the link directly to the preview of the book - but you are going to have to scroll down to page 9 by yourself.

Talk about leaps...

So I finally did it - I took the leap and hired a rep to help me with wholesale and other sales. Bonnie at Lady Nin seemed to be a great fit. It was a lot like finding a nanny for my baby. I was a little skeptical about letting just anyone spend time with Norm, but Bonnie is great. She bonded with Norm right away. She understood his personality and was able to deal with all of his "quirks" right off tht bat.

Bonnie sells artwork from many Northwest artists - you should check out her website. I am honored to be in such company.

click here to go to Lady Nin's Art Festival

Norm Nesting Dolls?

So it seemed a natural fit, once I looked at the silhouette of Norm and the silhouette of the nesting dolls. I found out it's really difficult translating something I see as 2D into a 3D object. For example, in my mind, Norm has a front and a back - but I have no idea what his sides look like... not to mention, I had to follow someone else's template for a shape (I think his shoes are a little skimpy, I would prefer my boy to wear sensible shoes).

All in all I am happy with the way the first "Team Norm" turned out. I learned a lot on the prototype - like sealing the wood 1st makes more work (go figure) and tube acrylics are more transparent than those little plastic bottles. So, the next Team will go much faster, with fewer problems, and hopefully turn-out exactly as I originally visualized (one can always dream)! There are more photos on my FlickR page

buddies in Rhode Island

so we (as in EtsyRain, the Seattle group of Etsy sellers) teamed up with Rhode Island Arts Street team to help promote each other. Funny that we are at the far reaches of the continent - you don't get much further east or west - and yet we are all very similar in our talent for creating new and wonderful treasures! Here are a few artists that caught my eye (it's kinda making me want to go to RI to one of their craft fairs...)

electronrings makes wonrderful felted goodies including rings, lariats, and this bellydancing belt!

spiderbite makes that rockin' cool journals -

julibcreative painted these wonderful "lollipop" trees - I LOVE lollipop trees. My art teacher in the 3rd grade was so impressed by my ability to draw trees with the V branches that she told me only little kids drew lollipop trees. Well here's to all the little kids at heart! (you'll note that I've reverted back to my little kidness too!)

and lastly, but definitely not leastly, a woman who takes skelton keys (another thing near and dear to my heart) and creates beautiful glass beads right onto the key! How cool is that? Oh her shop name is The Venerable Bead

Moo Mini Cards part deux!

They just arrived, the 1st re-order... gotta love these little business cards!

IF: Tales and Legends

So what if Little Red Riding Hood & the Wolf were one in the same?

IF: somewhere in the world...

as the sun is just coming up from the horizon, there is a very small egg ready to hatch - and a little boy named Norm is born...

Trick or Treat

Boo! Inspired by the play "Harriet's Halloween Candy" - and Trick or Treating the old-fashioned way (where you had to wait until after dinner to go out, wear a coat over your costume, and it was only neighborhood kids going through your neighborhood!) Oh, and you cut up the apple before you ate it, because...well you know, just to be safe...but you actually ate the apple. Happy Halloween everyone!