My life in a hamster wheel

Ever feel like this? I do.

This weekend, I took a much needed break to attend the Fort Point Open Studios. Fort Point is a community of live-in studio spaces for artists. My friend Jen was one of the artists who opened their home/studio up for people to view and purchase her work. My husband and I couldn't stay very long (he had to work later that afternoon), but it was nice to stroll around and see what other artists are working on. Plus, I bought this awesome print from Jen. I love her work.

It made me really miss illustration life and creating my own paintings (in fact, I have 3 mail art pieces that have been sitting in my studio for over a week, waiting to be finished up and mailed out. Sorry MAA. I'll get on it, I promise!). School has absorbed every ounce of free time I have. In fact, spending that single day on something other than homework threw my entire weekend into turmoil. Now, I'm really far behind on the huge list of things I need to get done for classes Wed/Thurs. I somehow have to find time to do all of them in the little time I have after work. This is why having a life is absolutely not an option while I'm in school. I should've known I'd pay dearly for a second of down-time.

To compound my troubles, I have officially upgraded my old PC with clunky 100 year old design programs to a new Mac with new programs. Sounds fantastic, right? Not so much. My new Mac can't read any of the homework I previously created on my PC. That typography project I've been working on for the past 3 weeks? Yeah. I had to re-do that last night. And...come to find out, my scanner is not compatible with my new Mac. The scanner company has zero drives available for it. I have to get a new scanner. Of course, I find this out by trying to use my scanner for homework. I can always order a new one, but in the meantime what the heck am I supposed to do this week? Looks like I'll either have to head over to my mother's house or try to sneak a scan at work.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac. It's a beautiful piece of equipment. I just wish I'd been able to afford it this summer when I could've a) had time to figure out how to work the thing b) had time to update my scanner and other equipment and c) had not started massive projects on my PC then had to switch over. I could continue to complain about how busy/miserable I am, but I think I should wrap it up now.

Hedgehog Update:

I got so many wonderful caring e-mails on my last post regarding our beloved hedgehog's terminal cancer...so I thought I should keep all of you updated on his health. Baxter has been accepting his pain medicine. Or...he did for the first couple days. The vet flavored it with honey and he was really enthusiastic about lapping it up (he even tried biting the dropper!). This Saturday was a different story. He wouldn't take any of it. His swollen foot is still awkwardly rolling under him, and he just seemed like he couldn't get comfortable on my lap. He kept poking his head out of his little sleeping bag and looking at me confusedly, then going back in to sniff and circle around like a dog trying to find a good spot to lie down. Poor baby. I think this week, we'll switch over to his winter fleece-lined sleeping bag since it's been getting cold here already. Maybe I'll buy more crickets, drip the medicine on them, and see if Baxter will accept it that way.

Hedgie Hospice

We found out from our vet tonight that our beloved 3 year old hedgehog, Baxter McPrickles has bone cancer. I saw the x-rays and it was devastating. The doc gave us the animal equivalent of ibuprofen for him and sent him on home with us. There's nothing we can do about it except keep an eye on him and make sure he's comfortable.

He's been his usual hedgie self - running in his wheel and eating like a pig. The only things that tipped us off were some skin issues...and last night we noticed his left front leg was very swollen and he was limping. I was hoping it was nothing more than a minor injury and that we could put some sort of tiny cast on him for a while (maybe give him a teeny crutch? Haha). Come to find out, that's where the cancer is.

As much as I tried to keep a stiff upper lip in the vet's office, I have to admit I wasn't successful. My heart is broken.

Since Baxter is Honeydew Studio's mascot, I thought I should let you guys know. Keep my little friend in your thoughts. This is going to be rough going for a while.

Mail Artists Association

The Mail Artists Association is getting along swimmingly! We even have new mail art posted on our brand-new Flickr group. Here are some pieces that I've sent out recently. You might recognize a few of the images. I've been using my 21 Day Challenge doodles to spin off into tiny paintings. See, that challenge was good for something! (Don't worry, I'm only posting artwork that has already reached its destination. I won't ruin the surprise!) This one went to sparklerama:


This one went to AlwaysAmy:

This one went to LaMiaDesigns:

In return, sparklerama sent me this:

I thought it was rather ingenious that she sent me mail art in a cd case. She just put the mailing label on the inside, taped it shut and away it went! Inside the cd case were to little envelopes full of goodies (also pictured above). The next thing I received was this lovely fabric brooch from LaMiaDesigns:
Little did she know that one of my favorite fall outfits involves a t-shirt and jeans with a blazer over the top. I usually pin a fun brooch to the lapel of the blazer. What fun! (And perfect timing!)

And last but not least was this adorable fairy bookmark from Tamarasherbes. Now I don't have to dog-ear my Typography text book!

I'm working on three new pieces to send out this week. I wish I had more time to work on this group than I do. (Too bad I have to work full-time and am attending night classes...darn homework. Haha!) I have so many ideas. Including how I can recruit a few new members. And I still have to create an avatar for our group. Anyway, I hope everyone is having fun. And if you're not yet involved in the group (but want to be) just send me an e-mail at honeydewstudio@gmail.com

As soon as we have enough newbies, I'll send out an updated member address list to our group.

Hi, my name is Honeydew...

...and I'm an Etsy addict.

It's no secret that I tend to buy more things from Etsy than I sell. It feels like the ratio is 10:1 most of the time, and that especially goes for this month! I've been on a handmade-item shopping spree, no doubt. Most of it is valid (I had a baby shower gifts to buy! etc) But some of it was simply my own "must-haves". I figured I share my purchases with you today.

My slew of recent Etsy purchases started off innocently enough. My sister and brother-in-law are already planning out their giant Halloween bash. Halloween is my most favorite holiday. There's no pressure to buy anyone gifts, you get to dress up funny, and there's excessive amounts of candy involved. Really, what's there not to love? Their party theme this year is "'80s Prom". Since you can never be too prepared, I've already found (and nabbed) my ensemble - all thanks to Etsy Vintage. Take a look at this purple dress from Iron Horse Vintage and tell me it doesn't take you back to the days of big hair and Pretty In Pink:
I am going to rock that dress. Eat your heart out, Molly Ringwald. If anyone has a suggestion for '80s outfits for my husband, please send me a link or leave me a comment! As a funny aside - I actually saw this exact dress in an '80s flashback moment during the movie Bam Bam and Celeste. I had just received the dress in the mail, and it was sitting on the couch next to me during the movie. Freaky!

Moving on...

The next Etsy purchase was entirely necessary. I had a baby shower to attend this past Saturday. I'm friends with both the mommy and daddy-to-be. They have decided not to find out what the sex of the baby is until the day Baby M actually arrives in this world. This lead me on a quest for unisex onesies. Daddy-to-be is the lead singer in a local cover band...how perfect is this little onesie from Fun 2 Wear 2 ? Entirely appropriate and way too cute:

I also found this onesie in Fun 2 Wear 2's shop. It cracked me up, so of course I had to buy it too:This month I've been on a mission to have my house absolutely perfect before I start night classes again on September 4. I don't want the stress of working full time, homework, school, and my commute to be added to the stress of an unorganized, unfinished home. This has meant fixing things we've been putting off fixing, patching things that need patching, painting things that need painting, and generally a whole lotta extreme cleaning. (I got down with a toothbrush to clean, folks. I honestly did.) Anyway, one of the things I'm doing is painting and decorating my living room. We had plans to do this when we moved in three years ago. It just never happened. I was browsing through Etsy for decor items I could add to the soon-to-be-newly-painted walls when I came across this gorgeousness from Copper Leaf Studios:

They are even more lovely in person, let me tell you! I can't wait to hang them. I just need to get the walls finished first.

And last but not least, there's the much-needed purchases I made for Baxter McPrickles, my hedgehog. It was Baxter's birthday this month on the 20th. He turned 3 years old. The poor little guy has not been having an easy time, however. Even though we are very attentive hedgie parents, he somehow managed to get his first (and hopefully only) case of mites. I suspect it may have been from when we left on vacation, and he stayed with a friend who has two little dogs. Either that or they came in from outside since we sometimes leave the door open near his cage when it's warm. In any case, his skin is flaking off and (much to my absolute horror) his quills have been falling out. He has an appointment with the vet today, which I'm sure he won't be happy about. I'm going to toss out many of the items from his cage, including the felt blanket he likes to sleep underneath. Instead, I bought him two new sleeping bags from ellencho. He won't get to use them until he is all medicated and healing, but they've arrived and are waiting for him. Here's the winter sleeping bag:

And here's the summer one. (I picked the pattern purely because I knew my husband would love it, and it would get a laugh.)

Ellen is the only person I've been able to find who makes these. Our breeder gave us a critter sleeping bag when she sent baby Baxter home with us, but that one has been loved to bits. I was so happy to find Ellen's shop on Etsy. There's nothing a hedgehog loves more than snuggling under cozy layers in his house. Happy birthday, Baxter!

Hopefully that'll be the end of my crazy Etsy shopping for a while...at least until Christmas! (o;

21 Day Challenge: Day 2

I did this quick little sketch last night. I was trying to capture a little gesture from memory that my hedgehog makes when he's running about sniffing things. I used a teeny bit of color in this one. A while back, a friend of mine gave me a set of what looks like crayons or oil pastels. It comes with this paintbrush looking thing that has a hollow interior so you can fill it up with water. Once you "color" with the crayon/pastels, you can run the brush over your marks to wet it and it turns into a sort of watercolor. Pretty cool.

Before I forget, I wanted to update all of you on the Case of The Missing Class Work. My teacher from this past semester wrote me back regarding the failure to find any of my projects in the Continuing Ed office (which is where he promised they would be a week or two after the semester ended) when I went to Boston this weekend. Apparently he's off on a trip somewhere, and hasn't even dropped them off yet. It's a little frustrating that I didn't know that before I took a day off of work to pick everything up. But thanks to our trip to Blue Ginger, the day was not a complete wash. I'm just glad that my 15 weeks of work isn't lost in some sort of office abyss.

Happy Friday!

Treasury

I wasn't quick enough posting this, but I was in yet another treasury over the weekend. This one featured my newest hedgehog illustration:

That treasury has since expired, so unfortunately I can't link you to it. But that's the third treasury in 2 days that I was featured in! None of them made it to Etsy's front page, but I'm hoping someday one will.
I do have lots to blog about - the gallery exhibit this past Friday, my final project, and tomorrow's last class (for this semester, anyway), etc. However, I can't seem to find the time to create a lengthy post at the moment. I am sooo busy! I promise a more in-depth blog a bit later...possibly on Wednesday. For now, it's back to work! /o:

Baxter Blog

Since the only big thing going on in my art-life right now is my typography homework (and I'd rather not think about it at the moment), I'd figure I'd distract all of you with a cute post until something more exciting happens. So...look at the cute hedgie!
This is the hedgehog love of my life, Baxter McPrickles. Most of you have already seen his baby picture in a previous blog post I posted a while back. This is Baxter today - he's a big boy (and middle-aged, actually). But still a scaredy cat and as grumpy as ever. Unless, of course, you come bearing meal worms or other hedgie-friendly food items. (o:
If you hadn't already figured it out, Baxter was the inspiration and model for my avitar and banner. (Though in real life, he wouldn't be caught dead munching on a bit of melon.) Has anyone else created artwork inspired by their pets? Or am I just obsessive hedgie mom? Lol.