Gato Noir: Kitsch

Showing posts with label Kitsch. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

More Etsy Goodies

I have still been so busy sorting through all of my stuff (my house will soon be half empty.) I can't believe it's February already. The quicker this year goes the better, and we will be even closer to our move to England.

Even though I have been clearing out very large amounts I haven't stopped buying completely. Etsy continues to tempt me!

Of course I continue to add to my Miss Bumbles collection (I now have over 90!)

Another shop I love is Boopsie Daisy. And I thought I would share with you the four dolls I have from this shop.

My very first doll was a custom made black cat called Pawlie.

Next I was luck enough to grab Gimmick from the 2012 Halloween range.

This custom made doll is based on my cat, Ruby and her love of Malteser sweets.

I snapped up Drippy the gingerbread girl at the same time as Ruby.

I have yet to take pictures of all my dolls. All pictures belong to Boopsie Daisy, find her Etsy shop here.

Although I can't start another large collection, I do have a few more dolls on my wishlist. I'd love a Marie Antoinette doll, an all white witch like a previous Halloween doll and a little French girl. I'm sure there will be more to come this year!

Monday, 31 December 2012

12 Days Of Etsy: Boopsie Daisy

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Missy and I'm a happy-go-lucky misfit living in British Columbia Canada alongside my merry little family of 4.

2. How did you choose your shop name?

It's a play on the old phrase 'oopsy daisy' tied in with a tribute to the First Lady of Kitsch, Miss Betty Boop. As a youngster I got hooked on a VHS compilations of old black & white Betty Boop cartoons and a love of Betty's big eyed beauty and sweet persona have stayed with me ever since.

My entire body of work is heavily influenced by cherubc dolls and charming toys from back when Betty first became a world sensation. I should also mention a nod to the stirring ee cummings poem 'a winter afternoon'. The last line of this poem in particular, "I thank heaven somebody's crazy enough to give me a daisy" encapsulates all that I aspire to put out into the ether with my wacky unsual images and whimsical dolls.

3. What is your favourite item to make?

Print work is the most rewarding for me. When my daughter was born there was a particular type of decor I yearned to decorate her room with, but it just did not exist. I set about bringing the things I saw in my mind's eye to reality and it all took off from there. Being surrounded by a large arsenal of junk food and bright kooky play things all day tricks me into thinking I never grew up! :)

4. What is the best seller in your shop?

The dolls sell the quickest and I can't re-stock them fast enough. 'Oh Deer' and 'What the Frank' are the prints purchased most often.

5. Your work sells all over the world, in which parts of the world is your work most popular?

I'm sure there is more boopsiedaisy stuff in the United Kingdom than anywhere else on the planet. For whatever reason, my work really seems to resonate with the wonderful people there.

6. What inspires you?

Big eyed dolls, colorful food and candy, words, dreams, fairytales, holidays, different eras of the past.

7. How long have you been crafting?

Crafting is big in my clan. In the 80's we had a Saturday morning tradition of making breakfast people out of whatever was in the fridge & cupboards. There was always an abundance of crafting materials at the ready, handmade Christmas ornaments would be added each year to the tree, etc. My sister & I made our own 20 page magazine 'The Cheeseball Update' when we were pre-teens that always kept our friends & family in stitches. The women in our family all just seem to exit the womb with a pencil
or paint brush in hand. Crafting is in our very blood.

8. What are your other hobbies?

Thrifting almost daily, reading, writing, drawing, baking, collecting, and I can never watch enough horror.

9. Do you collect anything?

Dolls, cameras, books, magazine clippings, Pez, vintage squeak toys and salt & pepper shakers, vintage Halloween & Christmas decorations, Snow White or Frankenstein related items. Things too numerous to mention. My husband likes to say I "collect collections".

10. What is your favourite Christmas tradition?
Wearing pajamas all day while basking in the ambient light of the tree as carols play on the turn table and the kids try out their new toys.

11. Do you have a favourite Christmas song or carol?
I like the really fun ones like "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas' and 'Baby it's Cold Outside'. I feel like I instantly officially catch the Christmas spirit though when I hear 'O Holy Night' for the first time each December.

12. What is the funniest Christmas present you have ever been given?

When I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York a couple years ago my Mum snapped a shot of me with my eyes closed dreamily, puckering up to Boris Karloff's 'The Monster' for a long deep kiss and for Christmas that year she presented me with a hard bound journal with that picture as it's cover. It always makes me snort so I suppose that is the funniest holiday gift I ever got.

Many thanks to Missy from Boopsie Daisy for taking part in this feature. Click here to visit her Etsy shop.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

12 Days Of Etsy: Giraffes Kiss

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a Mum and a step mum. I work full time and the miniature food jewellery is more of a hobby, but I put a lot of time and effort into my shop, whenever I have a spare moment really, mainly because I absolutely love doing it.

2. How did you choose your shop name?

I wanted a name that included a giraffe reference, and giraffes kisses sound lovely.

3. What is your favourite item to make?

I like making the pie jewellery, because I make it up like a real pie, but in miniature. It's like baking for really tiny people, and when I get compliments on how realistic it is, that makes it all worthwhile.

4. What is the best seller in your shop?

Recently, my cookie drawing pins have sold very well, and lemon meringue pie earrings seem popular too. I don't always remake a sold item straight away because my brain is so full of new ideas that I get frustrated if I can't get to work on them.

5. Your work sells all over the world, in which parts of the world is your work most popular?

I sell mainly to the UK and the USA but I have had orders go all over the place...I think it is really exciting to know that something you created is being worn hundreds of miles away.

6. What inspires you?

Food of course! I try to keep my shop fresh by looking for new ideas all the time, and I love creating something no one else makes. I often have a good look online before I make something new to see if it is already being done...and if it isn't ...I'm off and running.

7. How long have you been crafting?

I've always been arty and I did a BTech in art and design when I was 17.
So I've always made things and I played around with polymer clay several times over the years then put it down again for various reasons. I've only been making miniature food for a couple of years after I saw some earrings on line and figured that I could make them rather than buy them.

8. What are your other hobbies?

I don't have time for any other hobbies. If I could have a couple of extra hours a week, I have played with needle felting and a friend of mine who started with me at the same time now has a successful shop on Etsy too, selling gorgeous needle felted miniature animals.

9. Do you collect anything?

Giraffes! All variants from cuddly toys to toothbrushes. Our house looks a bit like a wildlife reserve.

10. What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

Definitely the family Christmas dinner!

11. Do you have a favourite Christmas song or carol?

No, I love all the Christmas songs, old and new...it wouldn't be Christmas without them. There are memories in every song, of my Dad, my childhood, Christmas parties.....and as soon as the music starts, you really feel Christmassy.

12. What is the funniest Christmas present you have ever been given?

A giraffe shaped toilet brush. I've never used it..its too cute, so it is an ornament to be admired... lol. Oh and I have a quacking duck hand puppet that I saw in a shop a couple of years ago and was playing around with, so my lovely other half went back and bought it for me.

Many thanks to Giraffes Kiss for taking part in this feature. Click here to visit her Etsy shop.