Ann Wood and Dean Lucker

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Dean Lucker and Ann Woods private studio during a St. Paul open studio tour. I have been an admirer for a couple of years now and it was a thrill to view their new work of mechanical sculptures, pictures and dexterity games. Both artists use a complimentary soft color palette and visit themes of nature and whimsy. Their work is truly a marriage of art. I'm hoping they start a new collection of work and have it available on Etsy. I'm sure the Etsy crowd will love their work as much as the fine art world!

www.woodlucker.com

Bill Baird Marionettes

"High on a hill lived a lonely goatherd, Lay-ee ode lay-ee ode lay-hee hoo." Whenever the Sound of Music was on TV when I was a kid I had to sit through all that singing just to watch the best part of the movie ... the marionette show. The actual puppets made by Bill Baird are on exhibit at the Charles H. Macnider Museum in Mason City Iowa. The museum has an awesome collection of his work including Winne the Pooh and the Wizard of Oz. This is just a small sample of his work. If you're in the area its a must see just so you can say, "I saw those!" when the Sound of Music comes on during the holidays.

Christopher Robin and friends.

Follow the yellow brick road.

My DREAM job!

Every year during the holidays Macy's Mpls. puts on a spectacular Christmas show. Its the closest thing our city has to a Disneyland attraction. Many artists and designers combine their talents creating an animated walk through depicting illustrations from classic children's stories. This years show was an original story, "A Day in the Life of an Elf". My favorite scene was the toyshop and candy factory. Some day I hope to work with this group of people. Macys if your reading this I'm available!

New look finished!

I'm so happy with the new look of my website. I think it really reflects the Fantastic Toys style so much better now. The pastels, scalIoped trim, ric-rac are all elements I use in my creations. The page literally looks "handmade" now. I just about gave up but I pushed on. I swear I think I have a blood clot in my leg because I've been sitting in front of the computer so long. I need to finish some of the remaining pages, the shop in particular. You should see my cart icon.. its a little wheel barrow. :) Anyways it should be live by the end of the week, wheather or not I finish the shop page.

Website Redesign

After making some new logos for my blog I thought I should tackle the website again. As much as I love, LOVE my current website splash page its almost impossible to make changes being that it's essentially an illustration. Ideally I would like something that would have a blog, gallery and shop with cart. But since I'm doing everything from scratch its an endless task. I thought my blog would be a good place to get some feedback. If you any ideas please share. Do you like the current website or do you like the new direction I'm going in?


Current website is an illustration with animation. Roll over the flowers and they move. B-fly boy flutters wings. Impossible to move elements around. I can only add text in text box. I like the illustration style but have pretty much abandoned it in favor of faster vector graphics.




New direction I'm going in. I have kept most of the elements from the original but have gone with a handmade look. I like that it looks like cut paper illustration and there are elements of sewing in it. I think it reflects my style more and the direction I'm going with as far as what my store will carry... i.e. dyi kits and paper crafts. It is however missing any visual reference to softies. Even though it still needs works I like the user friendly menu on top. I'm thinking the rollover flowers on the bottom is too cluttered and might remove it entirely but will miss the animation. Maybe some photos to replace it?

So what do you think? I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. Thanks

Little Red Dot - Super Plush

Super Plush is one show I wish I could have gone to this year. I've done four plush shows this year mailing my softies around the country unable to attend. I was lucky enough to exhibit with 20 of the most talented plush artists around. My Paper Crane and Chikagraphy to name a few. Thanks to Princess Meech and Effunia Flickr sets I was able to attend vicariously through their photos. Seeing a little red dot is always nice too!