Owl Coloring Book in Progress

Here is a preview of my latest digital design project: an owl themed coloring book. Titled, "Owls All Around," it is an alphabet book with owls doing silly things for each letter. The book features these characters, which are still a bit rough. Stay tuned for more sneak previews!

Hoot! at FoundHandmade & A Valentine Treasury

Oh, to be featured in a treasury! It always makes my day. Always!! On top of that, a feature on the FoundHandmade Blog featuring owls. Hoot!


There we are in the top left corner... among a dazzling array of so cool owl goodies. I currently have about 12 tabs of etsy owl goodies open right now so that I can take a closer look at these beauties.

FoundHandmade is a fun way to quickly shop for a ton of fun goodies all at once. All you have to do is scroll over the little boxes to see larger photos of the items. It's like playing Minesweeper but shopping for handmade goodies instead of trying not to get blown up. Go here to see what I mean.

This fun heart-themed treasury has my stickers in it but look at those cookies!! I love to see something of mine featured among such talented handmade artists. Visit this treasury's designer trecivettesulcomo 's Etsy shop to see an impressive assortment of vintage and new buttons (my weakness).

Thank you FoundHandmade and trecivettesulcomo for taking the time to include my products on your websites.

My One Hundred and Eleventyith Sale!

I've always wanted a reason to say "hundred and eleventyith." And now I have one! Today my etsy sales number reached 111.

In celebration, a prize must be awarded.

Up for grabs is one of the 4 hand cut owl collages seen below. Each is 8 inches x 10 inches with about 1/4" of dimensionality.





How to enter:

1) Choose your favorite of the 4 and comment on this post telling me which one is your favorite.
2) Share a link to a favorite crafty blog of yours and you will be entered to win your favorite owl!
3) If you get a friend to enter, your name will go into the "bag" for each friend you refer. Make sure your friend says that you sent them my way so's you can get credit for the referral.

4) HERE's THE HITCH/FINE PRINT/CATCH: In order for this contest to be "ON," there must be a minimum of 11 unique/different entries. In other words, a minimum of 11 different people need to enter the contest by the deadline in order for this contest to be ON. So get going, people!!

On January 1, 2010, I will select the winner. The winning entry will receive the owl collage she chose as her favorite. Yahoo!

Christmas Owls for Postcards

Hello friends and owl-lovers,
This year, I plan to make Christmas cards using 4 owl collage images. My plan is to make postcards and sell them in packages of 4 or more. Postcards in bulk are relatively inexpensive, and therefore I can pass the savings on to you! If interest is high, I will consider doing 6 images rather than 4.

Below is image number one. My plan is to do 2 with red and green as the predominant colors, one with blue and white with some green, and one multicolor (that is the one below).

If you think you might be interested in purchasing sets of these postcards as your holiday/new year's cards, leave me a comment with the number of cards you would consider purchasing. This will give me an idea of how many to have printed. The more cards that are printed, the cheaper they are! And the better bargain YOU will get, so if you like these images, tell your friends!

More owl collage images for you...

Pirate Owl

AARRRGGGHHHH.

An Etsy Treasury with my Sleepy Owl

Thank you to Dylan's Homemade Goods for her yummy orangey-aqua-ey treasury that includes a bunch of very fun goodies!

Print Your Own Valentines

I'm pleased to announce that my print your own owl valentines are selling nicely in my etsy shop. Hooray! One mom told me today that her child plans to use them to make valentines for their class party. What a cool idea! For only $4.00, you can make as many valentines as you like. Neat!

A Free Gift for You!

I am developing a series of download-able stationery sets. Hooray! Currently, the theme is owls but I have a ton of ideas for other themes.

The download set will include 4 different designs of cards and stationery sheets, a sheet of stickers, and an envelope design. Once these designs are downloaded, you can print them out to use or to give as a gift set.

The actual downloads will be in the form of high-quality pdf files. Below they are jpeg files since Blogger won't let me upload pdfs for some reason. Still working on that kink.

Right now, here is what is available for download in the shop: stationery, doodles, and color-your-own goodies, which are blackline drawings that require no color ink and are begging to be painted or colored with crayons, glitter, pastels - endless possibilities!

Here are a few of the "Rainbow" printables for you, my precious reader. If you do download and print them, I would love to know if you find that the colors are true, margins are appropriate, etc. I'll be testing them myself once I'm reunited with my printer.

Here they are:

Hello, World.

It's been weeks since my last post and so many exciting things have happened:

1) BlueCakeAndButtercup.etsy.com is doing very well, thank you etsy shoppers everywhere!

2) My first show was a success and I am very thankful to Sweetwolf and the folks at UBC Austin for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to lots more in 2009.

3) Working at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar in Austin, Texas is fun for so many reasons. Although I don't work there as a vendor (but rather as production staff) it is a wonderful place to network and just meet great people. This year, the owner of Crystal Works in Austin noticed me making cards during a slow period at the "back desk" and bought them right on the spot. She reports that her customers are enjoying and buying my cards, which is totally thrilling.

Owls are getting lots of attention in the way of custom orders and retail interests. So that's what I'm doing in all my spare time: paper owls, stuffed owls, big owls, small owls, sleepy owls.....

xo melissa