A Forest Oracle...

Hello everyone! Long time no see.... As you might understand I am super busy being a new mom and everything. My little baby Nova turned three months yesterday! Can't believe how fast time moves. The only spare time I've got these days I tend to spend on making and shipping the orders I get during the months and not much time is left to create new things. However, I wanted to make something very special for my mom on her birthday. So I set a few days aside and made her this Forest Oracle. It is a sculpture mixed with Sculpey and Needle felting. I love mixing the two mediums and I will definitely make more to sell. I am in love with the process and I love working with the sheep's wool. It even smells like sheep. Amazing! Anyway, hope you like it and I hope there wont be three months to my next blogentry. I really miss you guys! 

Lotus and Markers...

 Yesterday I decided, after finishing all my orders for the week, to spend some time drawing. Haven't really had the time lately so it was nice to take a break from the computer and let my mind free on the white paper.

 I decided to use the drawings from the Lotus flower study I did a few weeks ago and it came out as a lovely drawing. At first I planned to do this in Illustrator. It's been so long since I used markers though, so I decided to use them instead.

 I can still make a cool Illustrator pattern out of them later on. And also the Cat face I did the other day for the phone case, really inspired me to use more markers in my work. I think this will look real pretty on a phone case as it is and will probably upload one once I've had it scanned in.

I really need an A3 scanner. I hate working in A4 format, there just aint enough space on the paper. On an A3 on the other hand, you can go wild and work much better with details and such. So I think an A3 scanner will be next on the shopping list. Now I have to wait for my other half to bring this to Uni and scan it there...
Anyways, hope you like it and I will see you again tomorrow! With some updates on the Moon Flower Buck :D

Website is LIVE!!!

My new Website is now live! I finished it last week and I am so excited about it. It is my very first proper website and it feels like I have a proper place to promote myself as an artist and graphic designer now. Something I always wanted.

 I'm really happy with the about page, but it is hard to stay professional when you talk about yourself and your life. I think I managed to keep it short and to the point. I would love to hear what you think? Does it need more, or maybe less?

I think I am most proud of the portfolio setup. You get a good overview without clicking on anything of what I can do and of what I can offer my clients. What do you think?

I've also designed myself a new business card which has the same theme as the website. I will have these printed at the end of the month I think and then start promoting my graphic design business for real. I can't wait. It will be great to start working in another area of the art market.

There is still a few sections to sort out on the website, like the "services" section for example. I want this page to be very swish and professional looking so I am working hard on getting that bit sorted at the moment. I have a busy week ahead of me though so I can't really say when I will find the opportunity to sort it out. However I would greatly appreciate your opinions and tips on how to make my website as good as possible. Would you be happy to hire me after what you have seen? Thank you all for your support!!!! You can visit the website >HERE<

More Zodiacs Finished...

I am 1/4 through the cute Zodiacs so far. 3 down, 9 to go. It is a long process but I have noticed how it is quicker and quicker for each one I complete. Since Illustrator still is quite new to me, I am learning as I go along. And every time I use it I find quicker ways of doing things and I am finally starting to feel quite confident in the software. I can't believe I have worked for so long without it. Using Illustrator and Photoshop together is absolutely amazing.

These are the three finished Zodiacs anyway, and I am super happy with all of them. I can't wait to print them on my phone cases and also make art prints out of them. They're just so colourful and full och life.

Trikky and Munny...

What are you lot up to today? I got a day full of work but have made some plans for tomorrow. It is Friday after all and I am working at my part-time job all weekend. So I decided that tomorrow is me time....

I got these Trikky and Munny DIY dolls for Christmas and they've been sitting around for long enough now I think. I've had my mind set on the designs for them for quite a while, but I like to make my ideas stew for a bit if there is anything I might want to change.

After doing all the reading on Etsy the other day I've decided to make weekly set goals and this is part of my first week. As I am a working artist I do take my "personal" projects in to mind when it comes to work as well. It is important to me as an artist to feel that I have a free mind and a choice. When I don't variate my work I tend to go in to "robot" mode and I slowly head down a steep hill when I do this. There is a fine line between work and free-time when you spend most of your time working with what would be your spare time if that makes any sense at all. I'm sure most of you know what I mean. Anyway, Friday is creative day. No computers, just clay my models and myself in mah bubble! lol 

Today I got a load of cases to finish off and I've also noticed and decided something very important in my work from home life. I suck at taking breaks. I get up, have my breakfast in front of the computer, where I read all my blogs and sort my own blog out as well as all the social media. After that I get stuck in my slackies working all day. I do take a break when I am so hungry that my tummy hurts, but that is it. Not a great way to work I think. So today at around 13.00 I am taking my man for a coffee and a stroll around the neighborhood. And this is going to be a daily routine for me. I live in the middle of a beautiful town center which I never seem to take advantage of, so now I'm going to and I am going to feel great about it. 

Oh and I have to tell you about my new best friend. My NOTE BOOK! I always envied people with note books, however silly that may sound. But I was always useless at taking notes. Maybe because I never found anything interesting enough to take notes of and rather scribbled little funny characters in them than anything else. But now that I have found a path, a calling, I tend to write every single little quote or good point on how to make a good business, down. It is always next to me now when I surf the internet for information, or just for fun, it seems to come in handy everywhere. Maybe I'll start carrying it in my hand bag as well.

Lesson for today: NOTE BOOKS ROCK!

Datchi???......

Here is a little taster of what I am working on at the moment. It is a pretty big project that I hope will be a success. I am not ready to tell you just yet what it is all about and the completion is quite far off as I still need to get some tools to complete it. But I suck at being secretive and just had to show you a little something...

mobiLOVE...

I am sooooo fed up of waiting! I thought ordering the cases from a UK based company would speed things up but apparently not. Think I will be ordering else where the next time. I really don't understand how people run businesses sometimes. Ah well, enough ranting. Since I just can't wait any longer I thought I'd show you what I am working on at the moment. I think the cases look really cute and I am super happy with how they are coming out. I can tell you now that I am opening a second store on Etsy where you will be able to find more "conventional" cases such as these two. Tomodachi Island is a yeti and monster continent and will stay that way as it is my biggest project at the moment. As you know I am building a whole story around Tomodachi Island and I don't want things in the shop to stray to far away from it. So the new store is called mobiLOVE. It is not running yet, but as soon as I get my cases it will be open. I will share the address with you when it is all sorted. Till then I would  love to hear you opinions on these two.

A New Year...

So 2014 is here and we're a week in to it. 2013 was a hard year for me. I struggled allot but I feel that 2014 is going to be much better. There is many things I want to do and HAVE to do in order to get my life back on track. There is just so many things I want to achieve this year and I feel that I have to motivation to pull it all through.

I will tell you more about it during the week. As for now I am waiting for a shipment of phone cases so that I can start selling the cases I showed you before Christmas and New Years. They should be here any day now and I am super excited about it.

Here is a little painting I did for my mom as a Christmas present. I had it printed to canvas and it is now decorating her bedroom wall. I hope you like it!

Hard Covers YEY!

Hello peeps! It has been a while again. Trying to get out of the heap of Christmas orders here and not much time is left for anything else I'm afraid.
I have big news for 2014 though! I told you a little while ago that I had an ongoing project, and I have now made my first big investment for Tomodachi Island! We've got a mobile phone case printer and from January 2014 there will be a wave of cute and quirky hard phone cases appearing in the Tomodachi shop. They will be available for iPhone 4/4S. iPhone 5/5S, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy S4 to begin with, but we hope to be able to widen the range as we go along. Later on in 2014 there will be leather wallets available for these as well. I can't wait to get this started. Until then, here are some tasters!

Also, many things will be changing in the shop in 2014. The fur sleeves will not be made to order anymore but will be re-stocked at a regular basis. However the availability may become smaller. There are many things changing in my life at the moment that will mean less time on my hands to do the fur sleeves. But they will still be there! I will tell you more about why my life is changing in January. Also, I want to focus more on my art, like my sculptures and custom toys. This new printer will let me print my artwork on to these cases and share my art with you guys that way. I am looking forward to 2014 and think it will be a productive year and yet another stepping stone for Tomodachi Island!

***I will be closing the Etsy shop on the 18th of December as I am going home to Sweden to celebrate Christmas this year. I will take the last orders on the 17th and they will be sent on the 19th***

CandyFloss

Here's another timelapse for you lot. I did this quite a while back now but I forgot to share it with you.
I started this picture from scratch in Photoshop. As I rarely sketch in Photoshop, and you don't get to see how I really start a picture, I thought it was time for me to sort that out.
So here it is, my little candy floss haired lady.
Hope you like it!

Table art...

The drawing to go inside the table I am restoring is done. I don't know if you remember, but I bought this second hand table that I wanted to restore. Anyway, I need to give it one more coat of white but the weather is not allowing me. I think I just have to do it inside. Don't want to though as the paint is really smelly, however the summer seem to have given up finally and now I'm looking at several months of rain. Seems I don't have any other choice. I will show you some photos of it when it is done anyway. It will definitely be a one of a kind item anyway. Can't wait to finish it off.

New Package...

Morning Everyone! Over the past few days I've been working on the new packaging for Tomodachi Island. I've been wanting to do this for a while but haven't had the time. I ran out of packaging a while ago and didn't want to order more as the old packaging quite simply is old and Tomodachi Island has changed so much since then. So I have sent orders out in clear bags which I hate. I have felt really bad about this and I just had to take the time to make new packaging. So next week at some point it will be here. This is what it looks like and I would love to know what you think.
Full view if you want to read the text.

Also I am so sorry that I have been more or less absent for a good while now. I am working allot and when I'm not in work I work here to get orders done. I don't have much free time to make new things in, which sucks. I do hope that this will change in not too long though as I have some plans. More about that when I know whats happening hehe.

Oh, and Christmas. Yeah, it's close now and that will mean even more work for me. I love Christmas as it opens up so many doors for me and Tomodachi Island. This year will be my second Christmas with Tomodachi Island and I am better prepared this year. However this means that new creatures will be short on the ground. But if I hit my target this year, then next year will be filled of new creatures, items and surprises. So fingers crossed that Christmas will help me to hit my target.

I also want to ask everyone to make sure that you order in time as Christmas is crazy for everyone. Especially customs and post offices so there will be major delays. <3

The Snow Colossus: Making of pt. 1

 Yesterday I finally made a start on the Snow Colossus. I've been looking forward to this so much. This sculpture will be quite big and I am using techniques I have only read about. So this is a massive challenge. This is how far I've come and this is how far it will be done for a while now. I need to get sand to go inside him as he will be too top heavy when I attach his face and antlers. I also need to find good antlers still, which has proven quite hard. There is plenty of them out there but none of them have the perfect shape. Maybe I will just have to settle with something "less" perfect. I am just so picky!

 Anyway, here is the making of the Snow Colossus part one! Hope you'll enjoy even though he looks more like something a little bit naughty at the moment ;) lol

New Logo and the Snow Colossus

Ello peeps! I've been working a bit on the re-branding of Tomo. Here is the new logo that I hope all of you will like. I've put allot more effort in to this than I usually do and I really struggled to sort it out. I am very happy with the final result though and hope that you are too. I've spent the last four days in bed as I went through an operation on Wednesday. I have been bored stupid and it's given me a creative boost now that I have moved myself from the bed to my chair. So, not only am I trying to finish this re-branding off but I've got tuns of ideas for new sculptures as well...

This is a sketch of my next sculpture, the Snow Colossus (whenever I can afford to start it I don't know). This is be a big one! I plan to make him really big so I need to save up allot of money. I've got the wire to start the base with, but it will take allot of sculpey so have to wait on that part. I'm also trying to find a matching pair of antlers which is very hard. I want them to be naturally shed so if you come by any please give me a shout. It is so hard to find since the roe-deer normally only sheds one antler at a time.

Anyway, I'm back to the drawing board. Got tuns more stuff for you in a few days time! OH! And also, we only have to wait for the internet for one week at our new place, not one MONTH as we originally thought! YEEEY!

My first Sculpture - The Turnip Thief

 This is my first EVER sculpture and I finished it two days ago. I am so happy with it and it has pushed me and an tested me on all levels. Not only that but it has given me a creative spark that is hard to describe. I think this is what I was always meant to do. It took me about a week to complete and I've been working on it more or less every day. I'm looking forward to making more of these in the future indeed, however it is very time consuming and not cheap but I don't care. I need to do more!

We decided to take him out for a photo shoot yesterday as I feel that this little creature is something special and need a special environment. The photos came out great and the Turnip Thief came alive in its forest surrounding. He also caught allot of peoples attention. One man came running up to my boyfriend with his camera ready shouting "Is it an OWL!" hahaha... I would love to hide in the forest and put this little fella down and watch peoples reactions for a day lol!

Here are the rest of the photos:

The Turnip Thief can be bought from our Etsy shop :) with FREE SHIPPING WORLD WIDE!