(Inside A Black Apple)

Plaidish + Tired

Good grief, it is Thursday already! I am currently so tired (I keep having bad dreams, which leave me feeling rather zombie-like) and I'm in the midst of getting an enormous amount of orders out to the P.O. later on this afternoon. I'm not sure exactly how many yet, but I think it's verging on triple digits, and it is just exhausting. I've been watching season 2 of the American version of The Office  (which I have resisted out of love + respect for the original) whilst packaging madly and holy smokes! Has anyone seen the "Holiday Party" episode?! It is brilliant.
Also, last night after my lovely gaggle of dinner guests left (I ended up going with the Pizza Rustica from How to Be a Domestic Goddess, by the way, which is very easy but seems accomplished) I listened to some more from the NPR archives and I found this wonderful interview with J.P. Jeunet. He is just the loveliest of the lovelies. If you are a fan, go listen. It will make you happy. Or make you happy AND make your eyes teary like mine...

I'm sorry that there are no dolls for today, and likely won't be until after the weekend. I have to concern myself with much less fun things for the moment... Also, I expect the pendants soon, and will let you know the moment they are posted in the shop. I feel like a dissapointer, but I'm just trying to keep from getting overwhelmed with the burgeoning Christmas orders and such. I'm easily overwhelmed. Well, that's not always true. Yes, it is. Back to work for this elf!

Cheer Up, Sleepy Jean

This drowsy, wintery little sweetie is the first of my new dolls...a small batch of dunce girls is coming up for Thursday or Friday! They're all cut out...and now need to be stitched up.
Sleepy Jean is available in the shop as of a few minutes ago. (She was also snapped up just a few minutes ago! Thank you, Kim!)

I might be back later on, but for now I've got to go about the business of straightening the house, investigating Nigella for dinner & working on orders.
xoxo

My Winter Fairies

So, how did I get to be so lucky a girl?

A girl who goes out to check her mailbox in the afternoon, to find presents from faraway places and people she has never met. Friends-through-the-wires-of-the-Internet that care about her. It's so amazing. Just amazing. And I feel self conscious...I don't want to brag about my lovely presents too much. I will say that this beautiful fairy-girl came today from a faraway girl, and I'm totally enchanted with her. That face!

Another winter girl:

She and another original are up in the shop as of a few minutes ago. There will be dollies soon, too. I promise. I've got a few that I'm going to be spending the evening with, so they should be ready to meet you tomorrow-ish!

More winter fairies from the new issue of Selvedge:
I think they are collaged fabrics/paintings on linen?

It is so expensive, but I swear that every time I open their new magazine, it takes my breath away. I know that sounds so lame...but it really does. Each one always seems more beautiful than the last...  Now that I finally got a subscription to Milk, maybe I should make like my favorite bird and shell out the big bucks for a Selvedge subscription!

Happy Tuesday, sweet peas. You are so appreciated!

Just a few nice things...

I fell in love with this little pin so hard it hurt me. It is another genius product from the elusive designer Princess Tina, and is to be found (along with other fiendishly lovely things) at Chocosho.  The Tree Bed is the most perfect bed for me that the dear Janelle emailed the other day, and I am currently incorporating it into a painting. I figure that's the only way that it'll ever be even a little bit mine.

Another nice thing is My sweet friend Sara's post about her childhood "loves". Seriously, it's the best post. Ever. It's totally hilarious and made me so happy. Hopefully there will be more nice things of the black apple-ish variety to show tomorrow!

Originals Ahoy!

Finally, I get my ol' paint-covered hands back! Just in time for Christmasy-type presents, I'm listing a new batch of paintings in the shop tonight (hopefully it won't be the last round of originals before Christmas, though!)
 

I've been watching loads of movies...I Shot Andy Warhol, The Notorious Bettie Page (both by the same lady director..."I.S.A.W." is better than "N.B.P", by the by) and also Overnight. In the theater, Josiah and I saw The Fountain, which I found really boring. Really boring. And pretentious. Not in an I'm-genuinely-too-stupid-to-understand way, in a some-idiot-pothead-dreamed-up-this-crazy-Idea-man way.
I again saw the trailer for  The Pursuit of Happyness, which makes me cry every time I've seen it. And I've seen that trailer maybe 5 times. Ooooh I blame Will Smith and that cute kid's awesome 70's hair.

All in a row

Did everyone (who celebrates it, of course) have wonderful Thanksgivings? It seems from the hurried glances I've been giving to all of my favorite blogs that things were pretty lovely, all told.  Here are the felted stockings (well, most are made from felted sweaters...there are two that aren't wool and are therefore just sweatery). The wee apartment was decorated yesterday afternoon, and I was finally "allowed" to hang up the cuties!

When I say "allowed", I don't actually mean that any higher power finally condoned my Holiday decorating binge...it's more that when I was a little girl we would always pick out our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, so that is what I like to do. It seems not too terribly early, but still more than enough time to be around that wonderful, sweet pine-y smell and the coziness of the lights before January comes and spoils the fun. I think I'll show off my cute but wonky tree sometime in the next few days!

I'm having a wonderful time doing loads of Christmas shopping online + in person (handmade and otherwise) and finally have the time to make a few presents myself. Also will be stocking the shop early this week with some new originals (finally! hooray!) and dolls. I've been getting alot of emails about the dollies lately, it seems, and I really do hope to get a small batch finished soon. Maybe dunces AND some painted-face-dolls?  And the pendants will be in this week, as well (hopefully). Don't forget that there are more Card Sets in the shop...and...I'm off for some movie watching and some painting, loves.

Thankful

I'm thankful for the shop. My work. My beautiful and unsinkable mom. The people that love me (they make life so much better, even when they are making it harder). You guys. The understanding and idea-sharing and stranger-love that is given so generously. My new studio (a first for me). Striped socks. Flocked rabbits. Real rabbits. Apples. Hot Chocolate. Magazines (good ones, obviously). Films (again, obviously). Books (ditto). Spindly trees.

I feel so very full of love at this moment....Happy Thanksgiving, my little turkeys.

Tiny Sweaters = Tiny Buttons

Do you remember last year when Anthropologie had those teeny, tiny sweaters at Christmastime?
I do, and I've been thinking of them ever since. They were so very cute, with tiny buttons and all... So this year, with the leftovers from my felted stocking garland (which I'll show off by the way after Thanksgiving, which is when I'm allowed to start decorating for Christmas) I made these six littles.
I went off in search of tiny hangers for them today, but they were nowhere to be found! There should be tiny hangers about. I say there should. Here's a few more images:

How I do love those teensy buttons.

In shop news, I've restocked the Holiday Cards already! My printer is amazing (so is Paper Source) so there are lots up. Also, I have more of those lovely pendants coming up! There a few new designs this time, too! They should arrive in the next week or so, and I'll list them straight away for holiday delivery. 
And I'm hoping to get some originals done, and maybe a dollie or two. I'm getting to that point when I really need to, rather than just wanting to. It feels...wrong...to not have painted any new little girls or bunnies or foxes or stitched any little doll-sized maryjanes in so many days! But also, the shop is keeping me super busy, and I've got alot of things I need to wrap up tonight and tomorrow that that I can spend time with some Emily-loves later this week.  

Some things I am delighted with:

1.) That I will have a big, new batch of these babies:

in my little mitts hopefully sometime late next week. I just couldn't stand how few sets I had initially, and I wanted to make sure that there were enough for me and my mom to send out. I mean, should my mom choose to endorse The Black Apple this Christmas season.
I'll let you know when they're back in stock and ready to be dispersed to all the people you are fond of.

2.) (Relatively) "late-night" (8:00 pm) rendezvous with my not-so-secret love, the Automated Postal Center at the post office. Since people are deemed trustworthy in our little college town/suburbia, they keep the A.P.C. open alllllllll night. It's really quite sad what a little kick I get out of doing my mailing at 8:00 pm. All. By. My. Self. No lines. Nobody yelling at me for having 35 packages to mail. Nope. Just me. And the A.P.C.

3.) The new storybook by my beloved Camille Rose Garcia:                            

 

It can be acquired (quite inexpensively, might I add) here. If you follow her whole world/mythology at all, it's kind of the continued story of The Peppermint Man and alot of her usuals.

4.) Libravox audio books. Wow. That cutie Heidi turned me on to these recordings, and they are absolutely so fun to listen to while working in the studio/packing, packing, packing things up. They are a little hilarious (unintentionally) many times, because every chapter is read by a different person, and some people have funny reading voices. I downloaded all of "Through the Looking Glass" yesterday, and chapter 6 was read by a woman who sounded as if she had only recently  learned to speak english and might be a little hard of hearing. There is something so comforting, though, (in most cases) about being read to. I wish I could just pay someone with a marvelous voice...maybe...Kevin Spacey to read to me all day long. I would say Clive, but then you know I'd never get any work done.

5.) My studio. Which is shaping up so well. And I can't wait to show off next week sometime :)

6.) ****EDIT**** I just found these here and they delighted the pants off of me:

And I must apologize for the word-to-picture ratio in this post. It should be against the law!
Happy Weekends, dears! And thank you again for all of the orders, the sweet comments about my new home, etc. Thank you.

If my Etsy shop gets you down...

Please feel free to email me at curiousebluedress@yahoo.com to place an order. Feel free to brave the regular Etsy shop as well. But if it gives you any trouble, or you don't see the image you'd like, just zip me your order directly, and I'll make up a paypal invoice for you.

PS: All of the comments on the new place have meant so very much to me over the past few days...Even if I haven't had a chance to respond to yours, know that it really means something to me. I've been feeling terribly lonely settling in, and all of my blog-friends chiming in with sweet words has been so helpful in making me feel, well, less alone. So thank you, my friends!
And Happy Wednesday! I've got Alicia's fabled green apple pie in oven once again, and the whole apartment smells so wonderful...