Christmas with Krampus and rats, of course

Chuckle... well, it's true... or a good dose of Krampus!  Thank you, Rose, for Krampus-ing my Yule, your friendship is a true gift! 

Rose visits all the most interesting places in the United States and spots Krampus everywhere!    At a paper show, she found this die cut "scrap".... 

At a gingerbread competition she caught Krampus terrorizing two kiddies!  That's so unbelievably cute! 
 

 

And in a shop selling glass ornaments!

 

And now he hangs out in my tree, thank you Rose! 

Happy Holidays!

 

Rats are also everywhere in the house this Season, and I have to thank Cathy who adopted Gryphon the Rat a few years ago for not only sending an adorable rodent card but taking the time to affix a rat stamp!!!  Wow.  That's so thoughtful, I love it!

 

I am blessed.

In the beginning...

We were at Michaels on the weekend, with our trusty coupons.  Did you see us?  We were the ones buying everything NOT Christmas, all the orange paper, orange ribbon, Monarchs, etc... and the huge 2 x 3 foot frame for my Trick 'r Treat poster.  It now is framed, hung and gorgeous!  

This poster is an inspiration, we're already planning what we'll do for Hallowe'en 2014!

 

 
Well, our entire Los Angeles trip was an inspiration and I've started working on three bears that will be Day of the Dead bears.  The male will be black, the female white (oh so soft!) and traditionally decorated/dressed.  The third will be orange, a Hallowe'en/Day of the Dead mixture.  All will have removable paper maché masks. 

Perhaps a little too ambitious but it's brewing:  how about a creepy caged rat?  I'm drawn to this creature made by etsy artist YoltansArt and since I already make rats this could be a very cool new extension of my critters to make a Hallowe'en prop for my haunt in 2014.  We'll see...      

Spreading the Contagion

So I'm reading Pinterest Power and I'm starting a chapter called "Strategies for Social Contagion".  Sounds scary.  I think I have more chance getting a zombie apocalypse started or spreading the plague...  After all, I don't even seem to be able to motivate my too-busy friends to comment on this blog (nudge, nudge).

  And then there's this quote:  "At the most basic level, we are wired to be social and to express ourselves.  Along with this is a core drive to contribute to the world and our community -- and then, in return, to be acknowledged for this contribution.  It's literally in our DNA." -- p.55

Social like a rat?  I'm finding the online social network hard to get a handle on.

Oh, and by the way:  Happy Valentine's Day!  My friend and colleague commented that this should be a day when we remember to love better, forgetting the negative flaws and faux pas of the people we care about.  Wise words, thank you Trish.

And thank you for the dinosaurs!

This is the Valentine button I wore on my t-shirt at work today:  yup, Valentine's Day is not a favorite!  Nevertheless, staff and patrons got a laugh at my "Eat your Heart Out"! 

This awesome image is by Carl Chalupa who is a photographic wiz and I'm especially fond of his Hallowe'en material. I mean, who else could offer up such a great Valentine sentiment?  Enjoy seeing more at Room 57. 

reaching Port

I finished the mini Emily Farmer bear!  After about 15 years, "Port" was finally born! 

He doesn't look so much like Emily's version but he sure is cute.  I'm pretty sure the bear in the photo has longer fur for starters and try as I might my bear insisted on being unique...

I also added a tail with scraps of left-over fabric.  Finally, my Port is jointed on all 5 points, I just couldn't make him in a fixed position or use ordinary string jointing so I used washers and strong plastic beads to devise a very sturdy and more mobile string joint in his arms and neck.  The legs got full screw-and-nut-joints.

 

He's named Port because I was listening to The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf while making him.  Boy, did it ever make the hours pass quickly!  An incredibly well-read book with multiple readers, this new version of the Titanic's only voyage is told by about 17 characters in the first person, very personal and touching.  The author was as historically accurate as possible, keeping to the facts while fleshing out the lives of his chosen voices.  The most unusual character is one of the ship's rats and the most beautifully and imaginatively wrought is the iceberg!  Yes, the ice is given a voice and it's incredible the beauty and calm relentless poetry it weaves with its words.  The entire book is like a poem but the ice is perfection!  I highly recommend this book on CD. 

 So Port is named so because finally the survivors reach their port in New York, their journey is completed.  And so is Port! 

arrrggghhhh!!

Sometimes, sometimes, it just doesn't go very well.... I spent 2 hours trying to get Belle the Rat's hind feet to look like each other. Man, she's already a stubborn little thing!

In the end, I think they look pretty similar.

In other news, try a visit to http://www.freekibble.com/ to donate 10 pieces of doggy kibble to an animal shelter with every click! Then visit
http://halopets.com/store-locator.php to find a store and print a coupon to try Halo for yourself (well, your pet anyway!). For helping homeless critters, don't you think they deserve a try?

Happy Birthday Cere!

Two days ago, this was Cere... Lots of poky wires, sometimes I wonder how I manage without impaling an eye!








But yesterday he was born!!


Yippy! Yes, about 30 hours in the making, Cere, who likes to have his name pronounced "Sir-ah", is now enjoying his freedom as a typical rat, investigating his surroundings and eating everything in reach!











Here are his incisors, my first rat with true ratty teeth, and I think they're nicer than the fangs... what do you think? (Lovely claws too!) One more step towards realism. Also, his ears are a bit smaller and set farther back on his head. He is definitely listening to his surroundings, you can almost imagine them pivoting about!


Hmm... it's going to be hard to part with this handsome bugger!