Shared: Wedding - Invitations

Just 75 days until the wedding... it's coming up so fast!  Fortunately, I don't have much left to do, especially since I finally finished my invitations.

Yep, our invitation is a taco!  LOL  If you take a peek back at our Save the Date card, there was a taco hint there, too. :)

I designed/drew these myself, had the pieces professionally printed on cardstock, then cut out all the moving parts.  That last part was kind of a bitch but thankfully we are only inviting about 40 people and only needed 19 invitations total.

I am so, so, so happy with the way the pieces fit together!  I was so scared that they wouldn't once they were printed.

The RSVP card is separate and we included the stamp separately with the words "Want a free stamp?" because we also have an online RSVP form as well.  Here's a screenshot of the RSVP card:

It's hard to to tell in the pics but the RSVP card is actually the same color and textured-design as the the "taco shell" of the invitation.  The "wild bears" are also an in-joke because we are using my Bearly Dreadfuls as centerpieces. :)  I doubt anyone will get it but it made me giggle.

The seals for the envelopes have the same textured-design as well.

I can't/shouldn't mail these out until the end of the month but I'm just happy that they are finally finished!

A very flattering shot  LOL

As you may have guessed, we are having tacos for our wedding dinner.  :)  We are having them catered by one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Cielo Blue.

Made: First Day of School - updated

While I loved how the conjoined twins themselves turned out, the drawing just felt unfinished so I added a background.  What do you think?

Made: First Day of School

I stayed up too late last night because I had a doodle in my head that I needed to get out.

I call this "First Day of School. "  :)

If anyone is interested in a free print, just let me know and I'll get some made up. :)

Craft Along with GIY: Things with Wings (Wing Bats)

Every month, Bane at Goth It Yourself hosts a fun craft-along. This month, the theme is Things with Wings. The very night before, I got to watch a handful of bats playing at dusk which is a rare treat where I live so I knew right away that I wanted to draw a bat picture with my own silly twist. :)

I made the wings on the bucket purple in honor of Bane.

I actually drew this the weekend before last and decided that I needed to use it to send Halloween cards to family this year with the words "This Halloween, Eat, Drink, and Be a little batty!"

Also, in honor of the fact that I have 10 followers now - yayayayay! - I also had some 5x7s printed.  So if you'd like a print, just let me know and I'll send you one! I'll even mail it internationally.  Just send me an email at happyartistgirl @ gmail.com with your address. I promise to not send spam or share your info. :)

7 of 10 prints left

Made: Safety pinned drag t-shirt bag

I have always loved drag queens and drag kings and anyone else who fabulously blends genders for either entertainment, an expression of themselves, or lifestyle choices.  I love the fact that RuPaul's Drag Race has made queens even more mainstream and, it seems, accepted.  Other than the first season, I have seen every season multiple times and I can get lost for hours watching the YouTubes for anything drag (queen or king) related.  I think my spirit animal is a drag queen

I would be hard-pressed to pick just one favorite but Jinks Monsoon, Sharon Needles, Alaska, Latrice Royale and Katya Zamolodchikova are always at the top of my top 10.

I was SO happy when Hot Topic started carrying plus-sized t-shirts with drag queens on them!  Most drag merch stops at a 3X which is too small for this celestial body.

Source: Hot Topic

Sadly, even their largest shirt was too small for me. :(

Actually, it was a blessing in disguise since I don't really wear graphic Ts so I just cut it apart and did the easiest DIY: I just safety pinned it to a black tote bag I got free from an event.  Not original or overly creative but at least I will get more use out of it.  This is also where I got the t-shirt hem I've been wearing wrapped around my wrist lately. :)

Front

Back

Close up of pins in her crown

Made: Bearly Dreadfuls for the wedding

For Halloween 2016, I dressed up as a dolly that I named Little Sally Smiles-A-Lot and carried around a frankenbear that I made named Mortimer.

People thought I was creepy (which is what I was going for) but Mortimer got all sorts of attention!  After that, Andy asked me to make him a bear which he brought to work and several of our coworkers have since purchased others from me.  I decided to call them Bearly Dreadfuls and will be opening up an Etsy shop in about 6 months at the latest.

The reason I am waiting to open up a shop is because I have been busy making a bunch of them for the wedding.

Wait... what?  Making creepy bears for a wedding?!?

Yep!  They are acting as our centerpieces, complete with paper roses that I also made.  Each one for the wedding is also decked out in a rainbow bow tie or hair bow since rainbows are an underlying theme for our shindig.  One,  I love all the colors and B) gay marriage rights are very important to us even though we, technically, are a hetero couple.

Here's a little sneak peak of a few that I finished over the weekend.

I have so much fun making these!  There's just something cathartic about cutting apart stuffed animals and sewing them back together again.

I never use brand new bears when making my Bearly Dreadfuls.  I either thrift them or take donations from people.  Even the yarn I used is reused/recycled.  I'm currently using strands from a grey sweater I picked up in a thrift shop quite a while ago.  I usually end up buying 20-30 at a time so I often wonder what the cashiers think when I come up to the counter.  In my mind, they are thinking that I am making some kids really, really happy.  Little do they know!  <insert evil laughter here>

The buttons I use for their eyes are new, though.  Mainly because it's impossible to find cheap bulk buttons in the thrift shops around me.  But I think the bears deserve something new and shiny before kiss them on the nose when they are done.

Yep, I kiss each and everyone on the nose when I am finished.  That's the magic that brings them back to life.  ;)

I only name the ones I am going to keep.  It's easier for me to let them go that way because I get way too attached.  LOL

In the Midwest where I grew up, it's common for people to take wedding centerpieces home at the end of the reception.  Apparently, that's not a thing here in Georgia so we're going to make sure we let people know that they can adopt one of the 16 wedding bears that will be there.

Made: past Christmas/Yule gifts

I have always been my most happy when I am doing something creative, whether it's drawing, doodling, sewing, painting, cutting shapes out of bits of paper, cooking, or arranging Skittles into patterns or pictures.  When I am making something, all is right with the world and my heart.

A bonus to this innate need I have, it's a great way to save money on gifts for people!  I love receiving homemade gifts (though it rarely happens) as much as I love creating something for the people I love.  I did that way back in college and got out of the practice once I was working and had more liquid finances.  After getting divorced a couple of years ago, it was the perfect opportunity to get into that practice.

In 2015, my obsession was drawing on my tablet so I drew things for my family, printed them out and framed the pictures.  People seemed to like them or were at least good at hiding their disappointment if they didn't!  Ha ha!

Here are my favorites!

Sister: she had posted a selfie of her and my 2 nephews on Facebook so I used that to create this:

Oldest Nephew: his birthday is 2 days after Christmas so I drew him 2 things and wrapped them separately so he could open one each day.  At the time, his favorite video game was Fallout 4 and his favorite TV show was The Regular Show so I did a mash up of those 2 things:

Younger Nephew: he was really into superheroes so I drew him as one!

Mom:  She was remodelling her kitchen with a Tuscan theme so I thought this was fitting.

Dad: Being from Minnesota and a football fan, this only made sense. :)

Andy (my fiance): He is a geek of all kinds (books, movies, comic books, music, etc.) so I did my version of Star Wars characters. :)

I'm sure yet what I'm going to make for gifts this year... hmm....