And the winner is...

Commenter #13, 8 Skeins of Danger!
There were so many amazing comments! Thank you everyone!

And, just a quick announcement:
Absolutely Small is having a sale!
FREE SHIPPING on almost everything* in the shop.
HEAVILY DISCOUNTED international shipping.
BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE Poppets & Wee Goats!

Sale starts Thursday night, and ends Monday night. (26th-30th)

*the wee print on that is: free shipping in the US & Canada on everything except the poppets & wee goats, and those random few things which are both cheap and heavy (i.e. vintage paper goods).

Chickenpants in Wonderland

I was invited to participate in the Go Ask Alice plush art show in Santa Barbara. I had really grand plans of making a whole cast of characters...but, um, life kind of got in the way.
Anyway, here's what I did make.
Of course, I had to make an Alice:


All that time spent making Blythe clothes has not been a waste! Turns out, it's very useful to know how to make tiny dresses after all.
In the Disney version, the Queen of Hearts always freaked me out. She was so angry! I was inspired by the John Tenniel illustrations of the Queen for my version.


I was a little nervous to make a Mad Hatter, namely because of the hat. How does one make a plush hat?

I'm glad I did it anyway, though. Turns out it is really not that difficult. Yay! Perhaps I'll be making more Chickenpants hats in the future...
(and yes, that is a Re-Ment cup in his hand. Turns out collecting Re-Ment is useful, too.)

So, that's that. If you're in the area, please stop by! I hear they're having a tea party to celebrate the show opening. It's on December 5th, and you can find all the details on their site.



*also: psst! i'm picking the winner for the chickenpants baby contest this evening! i think there's still room for a few more comments...*

Bring it? Oh, it's been brought.

Things are heating up on the Chickenpants Baby contest. Photos are being posted. Links are being tweeted. Chickens are being photoshopped:

And this is just ONE of the photos. Check it out! Well done, 8 Skeins of Danger, well done.
Shana Astrachan is bringing it, too with awesome handmade CP costumes:

The contest ends tomorrow, but there's still time to enter! Go to the original post to do it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go paint stars on the BATHROOM OF NATURAL HISTORY's ceiling. And also change some stuff around in the shop. Let's just say there will be some nigh-impossible to resist incentives coming soon. Stay tuned...I'll hopefully be sharing that news and photos of the BATHROOM OF NATURAL HISTORY soon!

Inspiration Friday

I'm typiingthis with a pug who insists on resting his chin either on my hand or my keyboard. SO in other words, HTML just got really hard. If there are broken links, you can just yell "BUSTER!!!1" because that's what I do.
Annnd onto the awesome:
Loving this week:

archibald
Originally uploaded by timssally

♡ Really cute paintings from Timsally on Flickr.

♣ Here's a cool tutorial on how to make landscape photos look like train sets:
http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
SO cool!

♤ Loving Angry Chicken lately. It is not alas, about angry chickens.
http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2009/10/penmanship.html
Very cool article with a link for making those cursive writing practice sheets. Remember those, from school? Turns out you could choose to have fun with them.


♠ Hats for Ruby! Ruby is a very sweet pug with a very expensive eye condition. Her human is making these awesome Blythe hats to help defray the cost. Hop on over there! Get an awesome hat, support an awesome pug.
http://cruelsound.blogspot.com/
(photo by Cruelsound, of course!)

♦ Little Brass Bird is an animated internet tv series that features handmade plushies. So cute!

♥ The lovely Beeper Bebe has downloadable vintage french paper dolls.

Two very funny posts over on Fussy:
♧ One about her tortoise, Peanut
and
♠ and one about bunnies!

(and don't forget to enter the chickenpants baby contest!)

New Absolutely Small Goodies

I've got a few new things to share with you this week. For starters, I've got a new blog address: http://chickenpants.net
(the old one still works, of course! but isn't this shorter one spiffier?)
Second, I am very happy to have a bunch of new hats & scarves for Chickenpants in the shop!
Oh, the cuteness.



And third, another thing I am quite excited about: Absolutely Small Gift Certificates.
Give the gift of Small! These are brand new for me. They're available in any amount from $5-$100. And you can choose to have one mailed to you, or to print it out yourself. (Talk about last minute gifts!)


(and don't forget to enter the contest!)

250 Chickenpants is a lot of Chickenpants (plus, there's a contest!)

On July 9th, 2007 I made a creature that cracked me up. I had no idea he'd crack so many of you up, too. Not to mention become my own personal creative obsession.

A little over two years later, I find that I've made 250 Chickenpants. 250? 250! 250.
This is a really big deal for me. I never thought I would make so many of anything. When I first started making plush, I was also painting. Mostly foxes. I'd never been able to stick with any one subject matter long enough to make a series. I had done literally every art/craft from writing to glass fusing and back again. Nothing stuck, and I thought nothing ever would. Then suddenly, Chickenpants took over my life.
So, without any further ado, let me present to you Herb Chickenpants, Number 250:



(You can say hello to him in the shop, if you're so inclined. ^-^)
So how are we going to celebrate this? The only way the internet knows how...with a contest!
Here's the scoop. Up for the winning is one super cute Chickenpants Baby.

Here's how to do the winning:
1. Comment below! (Make sure I have your email so I can contact you.)

And then, here are some optional ways to secure your place at the top:
2. Twitter about the contest! Link back to the blog...and then comment AGAIN so it counts!
3. Blog about the contest!
4. Join the CP fanpage!
5. Sign up for the mailing list! (top middle of the blog)
6. Post about the contest on Facebook
7. Surprise me!
And for each thing that you do, come back and comment AGAIN so I can tally these up right. The main thing is to link back to the blog, and to let me know that you did it. Creativity will be rewarded! Let's crash some servers, people!

A winner will be chosen next Tuesday, Nov. 24th, and announced here on the blog.


There's so much else I want to share with you. New blog address. New gift certificates. New tiny hats. But this blog post has dragged on long enough.
See you tomorrow!
Remember to follow those insane creative hares...you never know where they might lead!

Slight Change of Plans

Warning: this post may be sort of a downer. Here's a nice photo of a snuggling bunny and pug to soften it.

Awwww.
So. Was it really Wednesday that I last updated? The plan was to have a celebratory post about the 250th Chickenpants. 250 Chickenpants, yeah!
But. Then. My grandfather died. It wasn't totally unexpected. He was sick for a long time, and went off the medication that was making him feel even sicker about six weeks ago. We knew this was coming, and he's been in the middle of a nonstop parade of family and friends ever since. That's a pretty great way to go: at home, surrounded by people who love you.
My mom was in town Thursday, and came over to visit for awhile. We talked about grandpa, of course. He was winding down. The hospice people said he could have a few more weeks, or he could go tonight. Hard to tell. The plan was to go visit him that evening, but when the evening rolled around we were both tired, and decided to go see him tomorrow.
The next morning, there was a text message. I had slept horribly the night before, and figured I could just ignore it. Then, a few minutes later, a phone call from my mom.
He was gone. We had officially waited too long. Oops doesn't begin to cover it.
Oops.
He died on Friday the 13th, which I think is sort of hilarious, especially considering that he was not even a little superstitious.
I'm trying to segue gracefully back into my work, but that isn't really happening. I'm trying to think of this post as a sort of buffer. Tomorrow the blog will be back to smiles and rainbows and Chickenpants 250. But today, we're sad & sappy. Now go hug someone you love.

Quiet Wednesday

Things I can hear right now:
Buster wheezing in his sleep

Finnegan clicking his teeth together
The occasional happy snort from Topanga

I'm working on new creatures (and gasp! some new patterns) for the Go Ask Alice show right now. Which means I'm getting really quiet and words are starting to fail me. This is good.

If I could send you a mug of hot tea through the interwebs, I would. It's the perfect thing today.
Back to the sewing table! (with tea!)

Random Thoughts Tuesday!

No, this will not be a weekly thing. (I hope.) I just find myself for the first time in a long time...done! with a big project. I had completely forgotten how it feels to get something really an truly finished. (Answer: it feels good.)
And apparently, it has side effects. Today, I can't quite seem to string an entire blog post together. I keep getting distracted.
Part of this may be due to My Ladyhood. And part of it may be due to the woodpecker who keeps attacking my studio wall. BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG. Open the door, run out there, he flies away...and 15 seconds later BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG. It's hard to keep a stream of consciousness...
In lieu of coherent thought, here are some things I considered blogging about today:

♕ Shotguns or slingshots? Which one is better for teaching destructacon birds?

♚ Hey, drawing! Drawing is so great. You know what, we should all form a drawing club!

♛ When he was little, my brother used to call Alice in Wonderland "Alison Wonderland". Isn't that cute? And possibly useful? He also stuck beans up his nose, this one time...

♕ Heyo! November sure is busy. And fall-like, in it's fallness.

♚ Hats & scarves for Chickenpants! Let me show you them!

♛ Dan broke a toilet this weekend in a humorous fashion. Hee hee hee.

♕ It is colder inside the house than outside. Also, there appear to be multiple appliances leaking at the same time. The house is rebelling against me!

♚ Maybe I need to improve my thinking. Like...positive thinking, or something.

This is why blogging experts tell you for the love of Jack Kerouac, please store up some blog posts in advance so you don't make your reader's eyes glaze over permanently.
I have not done that yet.

What have you been working on?

Most of last week was taken up by getting creatures ready for Craftland, and by having a cold. (Now there's a fun combination.)
But I still have a few new creations to show!
There's the new little red riding hood for the Blythes:


and a new Chickenpants baby named Starry Eyed Slim:

(so tall & skinny!)

and although most of these guys are heading to Craftland, I managed to save one or two for the shop:


But one of my very favorite things to happen this week wasn't my creation at all:

It was some very thoughtful fan mail! I was sent all these tiny chickens by a very thoughtful girl. I am so bowled over by this that it's still really hard to find words. How does thank you, thank you, thank you sound? I have decided that fan mail is my new favorite thing.

Stay tuned...I have a feeling there will be some really wonderful new creatures to share with you soon. (And, if you're not already on the mailing list, you *might* want to get on there...I have another feeling, which is that I'll be sending a message out soon with a very nice exclusive code indeed.)

Inspiration Friday

It's really fall!

The Return of Fall Maul
Originally uploaded by 8 Skeins of Danger

Photo by the ever entertaining 8 Skeins of Danger. That fella has a way with toys.

☆ Over on 43 Folders, Merlin Mann posted some useful advice about writing.

I've really been enjoying Summer Pierre's comics-y, journal-y drawings:

Algebra
Originally uploaded by summerpierre

Never before has algebra seemed even remotely interesting. I really like her style!

✧ Natalie Portman's Shaved Head: Beard Lust - This song has been in my Blip.fm playlist nonstop lately: http://blip.fm/~ftw5r

I've been neck deep in getting everything ready for Craftland (and I'm only two days past my deadline! Yeah!), so I haven't had much time to spend online. And although this is completely old news, Dan and I picked up a copy of Firefly last weekend. We'd never seen it before, but had heard good things. And
HOLY COW!
It's really good.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you haven't had tv in years. And if there are spoilers, puhleaaase keep them to yourself. Only two more episodes to go!

Now on to this week's Follow Fridays:

@Jennisg Creator of plushies, and all around cool person.
@IndiebizchicksCrissy is a sweetheart, and generous with sharing her business knowledge.
@PhilBarbato Funny AND crafty guy. And growing one mean beard.
@Nonesuchgarden Fellow Plush Team member and awesome draw-er.
@trinlayk Very fun, very talented, cute avatar, nice person. The whole package!

If you're on Twitter too, feel free to leave your name in the comments. I have a (bad?) habit of following pretty much everyone. Or if you've got a good link for next week's IF, share away!

The Etsy Marketing Tracker

Okay. So you've read countless articles on online marketing, and spent countless hours doing it. And maybe you feel like you're being swallowed alive by it.
I know that's how I felt. I was having a horrible time keeping it all together. What had I already done? Was it working? I felt like I was going around and around in circles, and never doing enough. So I did what I always do: I made a list. I wrote down what I did every day, and what my results were at the end of each day.
Is it anal retentive? You bet! But it also helped keep me sane, and definitely helps to cut down on the amount of time spent/wasted on marketing.

Click here to download the form.

Using the form is very simple.

To start out a month, save a copy of the file with the name of the month written in the top.
Daily, type out what you've done for marketing in the "Marketing I Did" column. If you've been mentioned on a blog, or received any sort of marketing boost from someone else, write that into the "Mentions, etc." column. At the end of the day, type in how many sales you've had, how many hearts you have, etc. I added a follower spot as well for you to track whatever sort of followers are important to you. Feel free to add to this or take away as you see fit. Make it relevant for you.
How this helps:
At the end of the month, you can compare what you've been doing and what's happened with your Google Analytics report. How much traffic are you getting from relisting/twitter/blogging/whatever? Are your efforts syncing up with your results? Adjust as necessary.

That's all there is to it. Happy marketing!

*Downloading notes: When the new window opens, click on File, then Download, which will give you options for how you want to download it. I exported the file as a Word document. Feel free to share & change this willy nilly, but please let people know you found it here: http://absolutelysmall.blogspot.com Thanks!

The Etsy Marketing Tracker

Okay. So you've read countless articles on online marketing, and spent countless hours doing it. And maybe you feel like you're being swallowed alive by it.
I know that's how I felt. I was having a horrible time keeping it all together. What had I already done? Was it working? I felt like I was going around and around in circles, and never doing enough. So I did what I always do: I made a list. I wrote down what I did every day, and what my results were at the end of each day.
Is it anal retentive? You bet! But it also helped keep me sane, and definitely helps to cut down on the amount of time spent/wasted on marketing.

Click here to download the form.

Using the form is very simple.

To start out a month, save a copy of the file with the name of the month written in the top.
Daily, type out what you've done for marketing in the "Marketing I Did" column. If you've been mentioned on a blog, or received any sort of marketing boost from someone else, write that into the "Mentions, etc." column. At the end of the day, type in how many sales you've had, how many hearts you have, etc. I added a follower spot as well for you to track whatever sort of followers are important to you. Feel free to add to this or take away as you see fit. Make it relevant for you.
How this helps:
At the end of the month, you can compare what you've been doing and what's happened with your Google Analytics report. How much traffic are you getting from relisting/twitter/blogging/whatever? Are your efforts syncing up with your results? Adjust as necessary.

That's all there is to it. Happy marketing!

*Downloading notes: When the new window opens, click on File, then Download, which will give you options for how you want to download it. I exported the file as a Word document. Feel free to share & change this willy nilly, but please let people know you found it here: http://absolutelysmall.blogspot.com Thanks!

Recycling!

Lemon Juice
Originally uploaded by absolutely small

When I was a little kid, I saw my dad's habit of hoarding bottles and cans for months as smart, and earth friendly. I was especially in it's favor when he offered to split the proceeds with me if I would help him crush the aluminum cans and take them to the recycling place with him. Ways for an 8 year old to make money tend to be limited. Stomp, stomp, stomp.
We'd hop in the truck and drive for miles in the heat to some horrifying smelling place in the middle of nowhere, loud with the sounds of hundreds of pounds of beer bottles being transferred from one container to another. After all the sorting and weighing, I'd be presented with $4.87. Wow! $4.87! I can buy SO MUCH STUFF with this! Like...candy!
My dad still hoards bottles and cans, taking them to the recyclers every so often. He stores them in 5 gallon paint buckets and trash cans. They are delightful to look at.
"Don't toss those bottles out!" He'd say whenever visiting.
"We're not throwing them out, Dad, they'll be picked up by the garbage guys to be recycled."
"Don't you want the money?"
"Uh...I don't really want to go to the recyclers."
"Well then, save them for me."
Being a good daughter, I did. I wound up with bags of recycling in my pantry after all.
When we moved into the new coop, the old lady had left behind years worth of recycling. Maybe there was something to be said about this recycling after all. Score! I thought. We'll make some money off of this house yet! I too began to hoard the bottles and cans, for months. Delightfully overflowing garbage bags adorned our back porch, until I couldn't take it anymore and took them to the recyclers.
45 minutes of feeding bottle after bottle after bottle into an automated machine while talking to the guy who worked there about his son's art education later, I had made...$8.05!
$8.05? I kept bags of garbage on my porch for months for $8.05? I made a special trip and wasted a bunch of time to shoot the breeze with a guy for $8.05? We looked like alcoholics with a hoarding problem for $8.05?
All the cans are gone now, and our porch has never looked better. We'll by all means keep recycling...but no more hoarding cans for cash, thank you.

New Things

Here's a few new goodies from the Absolutely Small studios this week.
There are some new Chickenpants who are ready to fly the coop:
Willy:


Chickenpants Slim:


Marzipan:


Lil' Orphan Chickenpants:

And I think a few others. I'm trying to list one a day (M-F anyway). Craftland preparations and the general busyness of living get in the way sometimes.

A new stop motion short short, made from the crumbs of Let Them Eat Cake:


One more little critter:

He's only 1" tall! I just started making these. I wanted to see just how small I could make my pompom headed dogs...turns out the answer is "very".