A Blogger Award

Thanks Mitsy for this award.  With it, I need to list 6 things that make me happy:

-coffee

-really good movies in the theater with popcorn in hand.

-people who master obscure things like the accordion or washboard   instrument.

-volunteers

-my walks with Joseph and Albert early in the mornings

-snail mail

Professor Giraffe (update)

I wanted to quickly post this giraffe.  He is for an english professor at Indiana University.  The woman who requested him found me through Boing Boing which is where I was featured awhile ago because the judge that chose Frank Porter for the Handmade Kids challenge created Boing Boing.  So of course I have not written his story yet because of intimidation reasons (what if I misplace a comma!).   I am off now to Pottery Class with my Peanut Gallery friend erin, whose ceramic octopus bowl that she is making I am secretly jealous of. 

***  I finished his story, here it goes!

Professor Girard Gustav III grew up with a love of grammar.  Throughout most of Girard's life, he considered himself a romantic.  In middle-school he would write haikus to the girls he fancied on the lined paper of his notebooks and then he would slip them into their lockers.  He even enjoyed the art of origami-note folding because of how exact it was, and how it reminded him of the rules of grammar.  When the ladies he fancied would correspond back to him, Girard would find it hard to resist taking out a red pen and correcting their message.  One note that he received actually gave him an upset stomach due to the extreme overuse of the exclamation mark!  But, Girard was chivalrous and not rude, like his grandmother taught him.  Instead, he took out his frustration in grammatically correct journal form.

Soooo Lovely

I had a very nice Sunday----warm, started with Huevos Rancheros, and involved listening to the Talking Heads with the windows down in the car.  Joseph and I went into a book store while we were waiting for the free book store (library) to open and I found the most amazing book.  It's by Chris Sickles and the illustrations are photographs of these elaborate set-ups he designs that involve found-objects, puppetry and paintings and all sorts of other whatnot.  I loved it so much, I looked at it for a very long time----how I felt when I was looking at it reminded me of how I felt when I watched Triplets of Bellville for the first time on the big screen, it's hard to describe the feeling, but it's a hodge-podge of happy, excited, nostalgic and slightly artistically frustrated because I want to make great things too.    Anyway, then I looked him up online and discovered that he has a blog (!) AND he lives in Indianapolis (I live in a town just an hour south from there).  See, there IS more than corn in Indiana!  

She's pink and she's fabulous....

Born out of a pink petunia, on a sunny day full of rainbows, but minus the rain, came Kitty Pink Stars.  When she hopped out of the petunia, she discovered that it was more comfortable for her to skip rather than walk, like others she observed.  Meanwhile, in the depths of the deepest, darkest caves, while Kitty Pink Stars was in the sun, frolicking around---her curly locks bopping in the breeze, there began to awaken a species that had been in hibernation for centuries.  This colorful, striped species one-by-one fell into a slumber due to the boredom and monotones of the dark ages, but when Kitty Pink Stars pink-chucked toe touched the ground, their hearts began to flutter, their eyes began to open and in unison they began to summersault their way towards her.  When united with Kitty, they joined hands, formed a circle and skipped around in song, delighting all who crossed their path.

Kitty Pink Stars is finished!  I love her, and I hope she goes over well with the real and true Kitty Pink Stars, who is fascinating.  Funny too, because today is a beautiful day---sunny, warm, perfect and a bit of a surprise for fall, so I think it is a gift from the plush-ized Kitty Pink Stars.    

A Grand Opening and Grand Closing Sale

In an effort to get a fresh start with my Pink Cheeks Etsy store, I am going to transfer my Pillow Monsters over there and offer my blog readers a 20% discount.  So, when you purchase one, let me know you are a blog reader by adding a note to your order that says "Viva La Pink Cheeks!" and I will refund your money to you via paypal.  I'll do an official sales time---let's say Friday, October 10th at 4:00 eastern time, that's when the Pillow Monsters will start popping up here with Frederick. 

In other news---I am going to be working on 3 special requests next----the first one has me so excited that my face hurts a little from the smiling.  Kitty Pink Stars has asked me to do a Plushized version of herself "Victor-sized". Victor is shown above.  If you don't know Kitty Pink Stars, you need to go over to her Flickr and let your universe be altered.  She is amazing!  She makes these whimsical knitted  sock creatures and lives this very pink life.  She reminds me of a character from the board game Candy Land, but I am not sure which one, one of the sweeter more delightful ones, that is for sure.  Not even the grumpiest old man could help but smile when browsing her photos.  I'm very excited about this request and I just bought some pink polka dotted fabric and will begin tomorrow----hurray!

Welcome to Pink Cheeks!

So here it is, my new identity.  Well, sort of.  I am still Nichol, but my studio is now called Pink Cheeks.  Fare thee well, Pillow Monsters and Viva La "Pink Cheeks".  I don't even want to get into the process of choosing a new name----it was very head-ache inducing.  I like "Pink Cheeks" though.  I think it has just the right mix of whimsy, quirky and nostalgia that I am going for.  With the Pink Cheeks I am going to focus on more one-of-a-kinds, and get back to the story writing which I love so much.  Without much further ado, here is Frederick: 

Frederick has an absurd obsession with time.  He will never be late for any date, and it makes him feel especially pleased if he is at least an hour ahead of time.  He doesn't like to rush because he likes for his heart to beat regularly---one beat per second, like clock work.  He keeps it that way by staying calm and always being prepared.  He has a koo-koo clock in his kitchen and he has rigged it so the birds koo-koo every 15 minutes, just to be safe, he also has a pet parakeet, Pete, whose cage he set by the koo-koo clock, so that if the koo-koo clock were to run out of batteries, Pete could keep him in check.  Frederick enjoys his quiet, orderly life.  The only thing he enjoys more is his neighbor, Polly, who sometimes drops by to give Frederick some home-made cookies.  Those are the rare times when his heart beats slightly faster than one beat per second.  

Frederick will be the very first item in my new shop