Name the Kitten Giveaway Part 2... Time To Vote

Garden Fairy Ellette's head is spinning! There were so many wonderful names suggested for her new kitten-- she found she couldn't possibly narrow it down to just five. So she chose TEN of her favorites, which you will see at the top of the right-hand column in an official poll. Please vote for your favorite name, then leave a comment saying "I voted!" in the comments section of this post.

Everyone who suggested a name in last week's post is already entered and everyone who votes on the final 10 names will also be entered into a random drawing. If you have done both, your name will be entered twice! The voting will end on the evening of March 16 and there will be two announcements: the name of the giveaway winner and the name of Allette's new kitten.

What is the giveaway prize, you may ask? A special 10-inch Ellette Garden Fairy doll (as seen in my Etsy shop) that includes her tiny book, a bouquet, and BOTH the bunny and the kitten! The prize includes free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you in case you are the lucky winner, such as a link to your blog or e-mail address included in your comment.

Also, if you encounter trouble with the Comments feature, please contact me by e-mail --you'll find a link under my Profile.

Thanks for participating!

March is National Craft Month

How are YOU celebrating National Craft Month? This special observation was created by the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) in 1994, and according to CHA, "has grown into an international celebration of creativity and innovation" with millions of participants starting special craft projects during the month.

So it is no surprise that Rhonda Rabbit has chosen March to pursue a new hobby. It all started on March 1st, when she visited Lilly Cat and fell in love with her sweater-- hand-knitted in Rhonda's favorite shade of PINK!

ONE WEEK LATER...

What is YOUR favorite craft or hobby supply? Glitter, glass, clay, glue, YARN, cat fur? Let us know in the comments section of this post.

RHONDA RABBIT KNITS! I've just added these brand new lavender-scented items to my Etsy shop including a bookmark, magnet, sachet, and dream pillow. Great gift ideas for your favorite knitter (or to tuck into an Easter basket). Click image to see my entire selection for Spring:

Buttonwillow gets a Little Brother

Buttonwillow has been asking for a little brother for a long time.So look what the stork dropped off in my P.O. box on Friday: A Little Brother! (okay, it didn't quite fit into the P.O box and they had it waiting for me behind the counter...)

I saw it on the internet, and the box said ADVANCED and COMPUTERIZED and AFFORDABLE, so how could I resist? After a little research, I found the best price on Amazon of all places-- it was orig. $449, now $169 with free shipping. I clicked a few buttons and in two days (can you believe it--TWO DAYS) it was at the post office waiting for me. What a world!

Now the hard part: teaching an old dog new tricks.

For someone who learned to sew Barbie clothes on an old treadle sewing machine with 3 stitches (forward, backward, and zigzag), this new-fangled-highfalutin machine--with its led display, the large instruction book with endless overly-simplified diagrams, and the alien hieroglyphics on its side-- was a bit daunting.

But like a bulldog I persisted, and after an exhausting hour or so got the bobbin filled, threaded the machine, and worked my way through some of the buttons and gizmos. Ta-DA!

Just look at these FANCY stitches that my new COMPUTERIZED Brother CS 6000-i (sounds a lot like a robot, doesn't it? ) can do!! I feel just like Jane Jetson.

Buttonwillow is not impressed or amused . She's going to take her request to Santa and ask for a real little brother next time she gets a chance.

Lucky Boys

Meet Ernie, man of leisure. At 17 pounds, it's a tight squeeze into his Harry and David pear box, but don't try to pry him out of his favorite place to lounge. It's there that he enjoys his delusion that he is one of the few humans in a house filled with felines...

You'd never know that this handsome boy had a bit of a rough start in life. Cat Lady Charlene remembers the day that her family visited a Mennonite farm to look at quilts: "As we were saying our goodbyes, the farmer drop-kicked this tiny black kitten out the door and past us about 6 feet. The kitten came screaming up to my daughter, and all I could think is, 'no more cats.' But better judgment prevailed and my daughter reasoned at least the kitten would have a chance with us trying to find him a home.

"Little did we know his condition...he was so dehydrated that he lapped up quite a bit of water we poured into our hands for him to drink. He was anemic from fleas, dehydrated and dying but had the strength to make it known he needed us. We stayed with him round the clock for three weeks until he finally made a turn for the better. And what can I say.... from 8 ounces to 17 pounds, he is now spoiled rotten, babied, and thinks he is human....Somehow he discovered the pear boxes years back. At Christmas, when they arrived, he was known to dig the pears out of the box so he could get in !"

Ernie's housemate Clarence can tell the tale of an equally dramatic rescue. Cat Lady Charlene was visiting an animal rescue in Waimanalo, Oahu on Christmas vacation. Charlene says," We went to find a cat to 'replace' the one we had rescued two years prior from a beach near the shelter, but whose illness finally killed him.

"Two days earlier a disastrous flood broke a dam above the shelter and killed all of the dogs, but the cats were able to all climb on things to escape. Clarence came running up to us, soft as a little bunny, and we adopted him on the spot. He flew from Oahu to Pittsburgh like a real trooper.

"He is always intrigued with the workers that we hire for different jobs. He will watch for hours, and I take him out on a leash to look over the equipment and tools which he seems fascinated with. He is quite the watch-cat, and takes his role as overseer very seriously. "What a gift they both are."

Charlene is affiliated with an award-winning cat clinic in Pennsylvania and maintains their Facebook page. You can visit their website www.catclinic.net

Pet Nicknames...What Are Your Favorites?

Thank you to Cat Lady Laura of Creativity Unmasked for featuring my Flower Garden Cat print on her blog today! Even more exciting was hearing the news that I won a month of free advertising on this lovely new blog. She will be having another giveaway beginning on March 15, so if you have a business to advertise, be sure to check it out.

Cat Lady Laura also happens to be a talented jewelry (or should I say "jewellery"--she's from Australia!) designer. To see her gorgeous work, be sure to visit her other blog, Moags and Smeet. Laura explains how her business got its name: "Laura (Moags) is supported by her partner Dan (Smeet) and our much loved pets Oli and Tig, our dalmatian and our mixed-breed rescue cat. Moags and Smeet are, in reality, Tig (Moags, Moagie, Mr Moagie Moags...) and Oli (Peety, Smeety, Mr Smeet...) but we have stolen their fun nicknames as our namesakes."

Do you have unusual or funny nicknames for your pets? Please share them in the comments section of this post!

Garden Fairy Story Time: The Foundling

Words and images copyright 2011 Susan Faye. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in ANY form, including electronically, without express written permission of the artist. Thank you for respecting this policy with regards to ALL artists--it's good karma!!

Hi! My name is Ellette.
One of my favorite things about being a garden fairy is having antennae.

My "feelers" help me with balance and direction, especially when I am flitting and flying about the woodlands and my posy patch. AND, just like my butterfly friends, my antennae have very special scent receptors that help me sniff out my favorite beverage: nectar.

I've made a little book showing some of my best nectar posies. Pink roses, candytuft and zinnias are my very favorites. Don't they sound delicious and fun? Here is a link to a list of the best nectar flowers for butterflies (and garden fairies too!)

Sometimes my antennae will detect smells other than nectar. Just yesterday when I was showing my posy book to a friendly white garden bunny, my antennae detected something new in the garden: the subtle scent of tuna mixed with traces of curiosity, plus a hint of irrepressible mischief.

I peeked under my garden bench, and just look at what I found:

A sweet little kitten in need of a home! My garden bunnies and I agreed that she should come live in our posy patch. She jumped up into my arms and purred loudly. I'm pretty sure that means she's staying...

Now my little foundling needs a name. Can you help me?

Help Ellette find a name for her new friend. Leave your suggestion in the comments section of this post.

Update: Giveaway entries are now closed. Thanks for participating! See all of the great suggestions in the comments section below.

Garden Fairy Ellette is so pleased! Thanks to your wonderful suggestions and your votes, her new kitten now has a name: Faerydae.

Ellette is a fabric art doll that I have hand-crafted with quilted butterfly wings. Her copper wire antennae feature crystal beads. She comes in two sizes and her arms can hold any of her three favorite things in a warm embrace: a little black and white cat (smaller doll holds a white rabbit) , a paper book called "My Garden" (it features 8 of my mini garden illustrations), and a bouquet of silk flowers.

Ellette is made from 100 percent cotton fabric that has been professionally printed with my watercolor artwork. She is filled with eco-friendly bamboo fiberfill. Surface washable only, if done gently.

To learn more about my dolls, visit this link to my Etsy Shop:
My Fairy Dolls

Bitten By a Bug

If I seem to be a bit preoccupied and unattentive lately (ask Buttonwillow--she's threatening to turn me in to the ASPCA for wrongful neglect) , it is because I've been bitten by a bug.

The dreaded Doll Bug.

Actually, I was first bit by the bug decades ago, when I received a Tiny Tears doll at birth. Her rubber body and chippable hard plastic head with molded hair did not survive the hundreds of "feedings" (she could drink real water from her little bottle), baths (the perfect bubble bath companion), diaper changes (she could "wet") and squeezings (if you squeezed her hard enough, she was supposed to cry real tears, but this feature never seemed to work... who wants a crybaby anyway?). By the time I was 5, Tiny Tears was de-tear-iorating.

Lucky for me, when I was 5, Santa brought me my new love, a Sweet Sue doll; then an auburn-haired Swirl Ponytail Barbie doll would follow several years later.

In the fifth grade I graduated to Dam Troll Dolls, Wish-niks, and Little Kiddles--I was totally enthralled by their imaginative wardrobes and detailed miniature accessories. My brother and sister and I created "Troll Town" in the dirt section of our backyard, and the Southern California adobe made fantastic mud homes, complete with mountains, rivers, streets and swimming pools where our troll dolls and Kiddles could enjoy "the good life".

I could go on. But let's fast forward to the recent "bug bite". When I started selling my art on Etsy.com, I began to drool over the many art dolls I was seeing, including those of Snippet Girl/Cat Lady Carrie. Here is the fantastic art doll sculpture that I commissioned from her as a remembrance of my dear departed Melissa Mittens (Melissa was a champion mouser). It is a treasure!

So one thing led to another, and once I discovered that I could have my watercolor artwork printed onto fabric, the cogs and wheels began to turn and the doll bug bit once again.

Most of the beautiful art dolls I had seen were either painted fabric or painted paperclay, and decorated with opaque acrylic paints. I wanted to make dolls that looked more like my watercolor artwork, with light and airy translucent colors. Digitally printing my artwork onto fabric was the answer!

After months of tinkering, here is a prototype doll that I came up with (you will notice that she is also a Cat Lady):

And -TA-DA -here is the finished product-- my very first dolly in a line of Garden Fairy dolls that I am working on:

Watch for my next post where I will give her a proper introduction. In the mean time, please excuse me-- I'm off to go play with my dollies! Just try and stop me.