Venture Brothers - The Monarch dot painting

He, who only joined the Guild for the full health and partial dental insurance, is the Mighty Monarch! The sworn enemy of Dr. Venture (or at least the other way around), the Monarch is one of the most beloved characters of the Venture Brothers series and I have finally captured his likeness in dot painting form! He is hand-painted on an 8x10" canvas board in the Monarch's captivating colors.

He will be available first at the Long Beach Comic Convention (Oct 2-4) at my table (#44) in Artist Alley! Stop by, say hi, and take him home to rule YOUR cocoon!


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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .

The Venture Brothers - Hank & Dean!

This is my first time painting the Venture Brothers and it was a lot of fun! These are being offered as a set and each painting is on a 4x6" canvas board.

These will be for sale at the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend -- I have a table in Artist Alley: #44! Stop by and say hello!




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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .

Rod Serling embroidery

Now that it's totally done, shipped, and received I miss dear little Rod Serling. This piece was inspired by Scott Campbell's drawing of Rod Serling which immediately set my imagination in motion. I love the scribbles and multiple line weights on the original, so I sent off an email to Mr. Campbell, asking permission to stitch it and fortunately he said yes!

When it was done, I sent it to him as a keepsake and a reminder of why being nice to someone at Comic Con never pays off*! ;-)

This was stitched (and framed) in an 8" hoop on white fabric that has a white geometric print on it. Most of the stitches were seed stitches, made with 2 strands of embroidery thread, although some of the delicate lines are a single line of thread, made with a beading needle. The typewriter keys were my first attempt at french knots, so they're a teensy bit uneven but the best that I could do. The original image had circle lines for the keys, but because of the small scale (most of my stitches span 4-5 weaves in the fabric), I physically couldn't fit them in the space, so I opted for knots.

There are some small things that I had to change and some that I changed by mistake. I think I have spent entirely too much time staring at the original, that now I know it by heart. So now when I look at my work, I only see where I didn't 'shade' enough or where the spacing is different. *serenity now!*



*We met him at San Diego Comic Con this year and he was so nice and friendly and let me totally nerd out and have an OMGIloveyourworkandyouaresoawesomeandIamhyperventilating moment. Which was, really, too kind.

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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .

Bender dot painting

I like how his eyes looking to the side make him seem extra mischevious! He'll be for sale at the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend -- I have a table in Artist Alley: #44! Stop by and say hello!




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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .

Long Beach Comic Con Oct 2-4

Ryan and I signed up for the Long Beach Comic Con a while back, when it was still "months and months from now" and suddenly - whoa! It's almost here! I am very excited and am working like mad to have some fun stuff to sell at the show! Ryan and I will be sharing a table and we'd love to see YOU! If you're at the show, please stop by and say 'hi!'

Ryan will have original artwork, sketch cards, plus be doing sketches and autograph signings and such during the show. For my part, I'll be bringing some of my little 'gidgets' and dot paintings. I even have some show exclusives! Like these little movie monsters in a coffin - first available at LBCC! Stop by and get yours AND take advantage of special show pricing on everything I sell!


See us at Table 44! Buy your tickets online! Ryan is listed on the Guests page! Floor map [PDF]! Programming Schedule!

Haunted Mansion mouse ears - with extra glowing power!

In case you can't tell, I am a BIG fan of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and so I was very excited to get one of these HM mouse eared hats a couple of years ago. But it was just so plain! I bought a few extras, thinking that I would find a crafty purpose for them but they've been languishing in the craft closet until now!

The grey hat comes with an applique of the Mansion and it's three famous inhabitants: Phineas, Ezra, & Gus. The ears also have detailed 'randy spooks' who are rising up and floating away. The hitchhikers are made from a glow-in-the-dark material already, which inspired me to add MORE g.i.d. features!

First up: my name! Since the parks no longer hand-embroider the hats (it's a computerized embroidery machine now) and they only have a few font options, none of which tickled my fancy, so I decided to try a different path to get my name on my hat. Paint it myself, using g.i.d. paints!

This is only one layer of the g.i.d. paint, so it's not completely smooth and even (this was my first attempt!) but it came out pretty good. The g.i.d. paint that I use is very photosensitive, so it glows strong and bright and lasts for quite a while, too.

I decided to use the "Haunted Mansion font" for my name outline, then fill in with g.i.d. paint. I also touched up around the Mansion on the front of the hat and also added a touch of g.i.d. to the spooks on the ears.

My camera doesn't do well in low-light, but I think these pictures give the gist of how well the g.i.d. paint works (even if the photo itself isn't great).

I've decided to post the rest of my surplus to my etsy shop, so if you're interested in ordering some customized g.i.d. Haunted Mansion mouse ears, act fast! These are no longer available in the parks and are hard to find! Plus, these are way cooler than machine embroidered, if I do say so myself! ;-)

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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .

Craft BoingBoing Birthday Week!

What is the best thing to get for your birthday week? ATTENTION. And boy howdy, have I got it in spades!

It started off like this:
Sunday night, Ryan and I are laying in bed giggling like a couple of girls at a slumber party because we're going to Disneyland in the morning with Bliss and Kate and everything is right with the world. So I'm busting at the seams with giddiness and he falls asleep, so I decide to check my old friend The Internet. Over on my Flickr page, Beefranck had left a comment that my hitchhiking ghost embroidery was featured on Craft Magazine! So I get very excited and wake Ryan up (note the screenshot: 2:54am) and shove the iphone in his face "look! look!" and did a little jig. He was very happy for me and so I was wiggling around and decided to Twitter about it (because I am a braggart at heart).

So I'm scrolling through Twitter (which I had neglected all day) and my friend Mark had tweeted that his friend Mia is a rockstar. He works for Fender, so I'm thinking it's an actual rockstar and decide to click the link, which goes to BoingBoing and hey! I am the Mia that he's talking about!

At this point, Ryan and I both get out of bed (much to the annoyance of the cat, who had just gotten comfortable and you know how he never gets to sleep) and dance around and smile a lot and then look at the clock and say "ok, now we REALLY have to go to sleep" and so we did, with gigantic grins.

So in the morning, we jump right up at the sound the alarm, happy as can be and I check my email and see that I have sold all of my hitchhiking ghost commission orders on etsy! Which is SUPER exciting! (thanks craft & BoingBoing!) and I decide that I can take on 2 more orders in the next week or so, so I post 2 more listings and bam! they sell right away! In between, I've also received numerous more requests for commissions (which have to wait because I am full-up at the moment!) and even just nice notes to say "congrats on being featured" which is SUPER nice. Man, sometimes internet people are the best, aren't they?

And THEN on top of that, I got to spend the day at Disneyland with some of my most favorite people and chit chat and go on the Haunted Mansion ride and eat pancakes! It was fabulous.

I could not have asked for a better start to my birthday week and, really, it's thanks to YOU! The people who have encouraged and enjoyed my art. I wouldn't be here without you. YOU are the ones who make me so giddy. xoxoxo

Hitchhiking Ghosts - wooden peg people

These spirited spooks are everyone's favorite hitchhikers (L-R): Phineas, Ezra, & Gus! These fun little wooden peg people are 1-11/16th" tall, which makes them adorably dainty. Currently for sale in my etsy shop. I've also made a second set, using the taller sized pegs (also in my shop) if these are just too cute in this teeny size!

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Interested in owning a piece like this? Check out my Etsy shopor email me for a custom order!. : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : . _ . : * ~ * : .