Duda Daze - silly little works of art

Pfatt DAy!

2008-05-10T07:54:00.002-04:00

Go here for all of the details.
I think I did not mention that the doll is 8" tall and made of painted muslin.

In the Pink

2008-05-09T10:01:00.004-04:00

Well yesterday was kind of a bummer. I planned on sitting down and painting all day. Instead I spent the morning dealing with an "unauthorized use of my artwork" issue. That and the dreary weather gave me a ginormous (sp?) headache.
The headache and rain are still lingering, but I'm pretty sure the other issue is resolved...so I won't mention any names.

Anyway, I did get some painting in and finally finished up my June calendar frog this morning. I guess I'm feeling the pink this week.

Anyone tired of this picture taking backdrop yet? I should probably think about mixing it up a bit.

So, as with all my Calendar Frogs, she is over on ebay
with a reasonable starting bid of $24.99.
I'll be seeing a lot of girls in pretty gowns tonight. It's prom night here in the Mon VAlley. I promised my nephew, Shane, that his "Aunt Mommy" would come up to the high school for the Grand March. Hopefully the rain will stop and I'll get a few good pictures.

Have a great weekend. Check back here bright and early tomorrow for more pictures of my Pfatt items and the link in case you are interested in taking one home. :)
I've also listed a few little card sets in my etsy shop if you'd like to take a gander.

Far Away

2008-05-07T14:30:00.004-04:00

No time to talk/type.
Just wanted to show you my new painting.
You can read about her over at Ebay.

What a doll!

2008-05-06T16:43:00.007-04:00

Winona has flown right off of the canvas! I really enjoyed creating her and hope she does well over at the Pfatt Marketplace. She'll be there on the 10th...along with her "flat" version.

She's about 8" tall and has a button and hemp loop on her back for hanging. I'll need to take a picture of that too. I think her back is nearly as pretty as her front.

Speaking of pretty. Look at my wisteria!
This is the first year that it has put on such a lovely display for us.

Basking in the glow

2008-05-05T17:57:00.003-04:00

of another Penguins win. :) We're 1/2 way there!
I guess I'm going to have to accept Hossa as one of our own now considering his stellar performance. But Colby and Eric will always have a place in my heart. :(

I've also been finishing up my Pfatt pieces for May. Here's my chubby little Wish FAiry. I'm not sure if I'll give her a name or not.

Perhaps Winona suits her.
My 2nd piece is also finished, but I still have to take photos. You'll have to stop back by for that.

See you then.

IF - Seed

2008-05-02T09:17:00.005-04:00

"Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower."

And 3 months later...

2008-04-30T09:08:00.008-04:00

...my second little apron bunny is finally finished!

I snuck her into my Etsy Shop yesterday.

She has a fluffy little tail and ribbon loop for hanging.

Like so. I hope to make more soon. Ha, we'll see.

It's grocery day...AGAIN. I think I'll stop in at JoAnn fabric and see what's new so that the day's not a total blah. And considering that the Penguins won again last night, even Walmart can't dampen my spirits. Did anyone else see George Laroque kiss DAn Potash on the cheek after his interview. :) The look on his face was priceless!

If you have time head on over to Tina's blog and see the lovely pictures she took of "Going to the Chapel". I wish she could take all of my photos! Also, Ellia has posted some pictures of the ABC book project that I contributed to. It looks like she did a wonderful job of putting it all together. Thanks Ellia!

Happy surfing!

IF - Wrinkles

2008-04-29T10:34:00.001-04:00

Mom's have a special way of helping you iron out all of life's little wrinkles.

First Love

2008-04-28T14:20:00.004-04:00

Just dropping in quickly to say I added a new painting in my Etsy Shop.
The kids will be walking through the door any minute so that's all I have time for before they take over the computer.

I also have another Apron Bunny doll completed that I'll probably be listing tomorrow.

Hope you are all having a lovely day!

Mini Update on Etsy

2008-04-25T08:32:00.012-04:00

"She Believed in Make-Believe"

Phase 2 of my "She Believed" series. I think I'll do them in sets of 3. I'm not tired of making them yet, so we'll see how it goes. The touch of glitter looks better in real life than it does in the scan. You'll have to trust me on that one.

After getting my beautiful pendant from LeAnne, I knew I had try something similar. Mine are just charms...no chain. You can add a chain, or a pin to the back, or a hook or a length of ribbon to make a mini ornament or dangle. I think they're kinda cute. Hard to get a good scan of them. Here's the close-ups from the original paintings.

I tried so hard to wait until I had more things so that I could do a real honest-to-goodness Etsy update like everyone else. I just don't have it in me. No patience. At least I know Jennifer appreciates the way I do things. ;)

Okay, so that's it. I'll be heading over to Etsy in a bit to add these 3 girls.

All have sold (thanks so much).

No takers on my sweet little clown yet. She's listed on ebay now as well as etsy.

Don't forget...IT'S A HOCKEY NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH!!!

Eli has been waiting patiently for all of you other teams to stop goofing around so we can get down to some serious Stanley Cup hockey. :)

It's a Tattoo

2008-04-22T21:41:00.002-04:00

Just posting this here for Jennifer to critique.

Tears Slideshow

2008-04-22T15:34:00.001-04:00

The tears of a clown

2008-04-22T08:31:00.006-04:00

I was inspired last week by some clown dolls that I saw on ebay. I wasn't sad when I started her, but this is how she turned out nevertheless.
I love her little bows. I wonder how long it will take me to get rid of my fabric scraps at this rate. :)
Anywho, I'll be putting her in my etsy shop in about an hour...around 9:45.

I got my second batch of aceo prints to add to my store. But, once again the backs are printed upside down. I don't know, maybe no one cares but me. If you flip them over from top to bottom then it's right side up, but I think the back should have the same orientation as the front, right? That's how all the horizontal ones work, why not the vertical.

Tell me, would this bother you?

Front

Back
I could just leave the backs blank and not have to worry about it, but I kinda like having the title on the back.

Maybe I'm just crabby from burning all of my fingers last night. Well, 4 of them anyway. I thought I had turned the burner off under the chicken and gravy, but I must have just turned it down. Then I set the cookie sheet on top of the burner. Then I ran to the drug store. Then I came home and picked up the cookie sheet to wash it. So yeah, it had been heating for about an hour when I so gingerly laid my hands on it. Ouch, that hurt for quite some time. But it's fine now. Just some blisters.

Okay. It's grocery day so I must get a move on.
Can't get these Sweeney Todd songs out of my head. We must have watched it 5 times this weekend. I close my eyes during the bloody parts, but love the catchy tunes. :)

In search of Jean...

2008-04-21T09:21:00.003-04:00

I'm looking for Jean who sent me an email about doing a painting of her Scottie Dogs.
It seems her email address was lost in "THE GREAT EMAIL CRISIS OF APRIL '08".

As you can see I'm in the very early stages of planning here...what I like to call scrap paper sketching. :) Doodling really. As you can see the doodles often run off the edge of the paper.
I don't want to go any further because I can't remember if your dogs are boys or girls or one of each. I may be way off base with the dresses here.

Anyway, if you read this Jean, send me an email.
Sorry for the confusion. :(

Yesterday was that day.

2008-04-19T07:25:00.003-04:00

That day when you know spring has finally arrived. You throw open the windows...and then realize how dirty they are. So down come all of the curtains. Throw them in the wash. Clean the windows.

That makes today the day when you have to iron all of those curtains.

But still, that's okay. It's too nice outside to care.

And while those curtains were washing, and with all of that sunlight streaming in, I got to work on this. For a beautiful couple who will start their life together this summer. As usual, I was not liking it at first and thought it would never come together...that I would never get the colors right...that I would never fill all of those 11 x 14 inches! But now I'm rather fond of it. I hope they'll feel the same.

So I better get moving on that ironing until it's time to get ready for Aaron's show.
I'm also Featured Artist at Zazzle next week, so I probably should add some more items over there in case of extra traffic.
I did add "Just Like You" as a print for those of you who asked about it. I set it up as 8 1/2" x 11", but you can customize to poster size if you like.

Have a happy springtime SAturday!

IF - Primitive

2008-04-18T10:16:00.005-04:00

I think my Primitive mom's and their offspring are a good fit for this week's IF topic.

They were out to meet the boys in the band.

2008-04-17T11:08:00.011-04:00

I'm going to be busy working on a commissioned painting for the next day or two.
So....I thought I'd share some pictures we just got back from Flyght's last show.
If you don't visit my blog often, Flyght is a band from Monongahela, PA that my son just happens to sing lead vocals for.
They have a show coming up this Saturday at The Hot House if any one is in the area...

This handsome lad is my favorite band member, well, cause I birthed him. :)
He's 16, a sophomore in high school, and oh-so talented. Plus he said this the other day: "You know what I hate, Mom?" "Kids who are embarrassed by their parents." And he didn't ask for money right after that or anything.

This is Jeremy. He's a junior. Being the drummer and all, practice always takes place at his house. His dad also carts all the equipment from show to show. So, thank goodness for the Menzer's! And, oh yeah, he's crazy good!

This is Jesse. As talented as he is handsome. He's a senior this year. I'm unsure about his college plans, hopefully he won't go far away.

And this is Allen (Alan?). He's the newest member, and don't worry he's not a high school student. He was without a band at the same time Flyght was without a bass player and so they got lucky.

Well, that's Flyght.
You can hear a few of their originals on their Myspace. I'd click on "She Glistens". It's always a crowd favorite.
They cover artists such as: The Beatles, Tom Petty, The Clarks, Elvis, Jet, CCR, The EAgles, Steve Miller, Bad Co., Johnny CAsh, Matchbox 20, Violent Femmes... the list goes on forever.
And they've been ending each show with "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.

We love going to see them, although they keep us up way past our bedtimes. It's hard for them right now, because most of their fans are too young to be in the bars that they are playing in. Still, they do okay.

If you want to hear some of Aaron's original songs, you can go to www.myspace.com/aarondudamusic .

Thanks for listening/reading.

OOO, oooo, groWING UP.

2008-04-16T09:10:00.008-04:00

Twelve today! JOshua Clyde Duda.
Old enough to wait until Daddy comes home tonight at 7:00 to open his presents.
I know, he needs a hair cut. But I'm pretty sure it will be almost impossible to talk him into it now that the girls he went to the movies with told him it was "bangin' hot".

So we all sat down and watched Juno last night. I still love it.
Tonight will be cake and presents and Penguin's hockey. HOpefully we'll sweep the series tonight and be done with those stinkin' Senators once and for all. ;)
Eli's team was eliminated in the first round of the play-off's the other night. But not without battling it out clear into a 2nd overtime. So small break and then roller season starts.

Speaking of growing up, I finally got this finished. Turns out it scanned just fine with the buttons on after all.

I love this goofy little face.

And the polka dot sides.

I'm heading on over to My Etsy Shop to list it. You can follow me over if you are interested in getting a better look. ~SOLD~
Happy JOsh's birthday, everybody!

Happy Birthday MOm!

2008-04-14T12:50:00.005-04:00

Eli, JOsh, and I went and delivered my mom's birthday presents to her yesterday. I framed up two of my ACEO prints for her. I think she liked them.
My dad is taking her out to dinner tonight, so we may celebrate her birthday and JOsh's before Aaron's show on SAturday. Josh wants strawberry cake with funfetti icing. :) Doesn't really sound like the cake of choice for a ladies' man, does it?

Here's what I'm working on today. It's not done yet, but I stopped at this point to scan it for a greeting card at Zazzle. I'm going to add some button flowers and that makes it hard to scan. I added the words "I want to grow up..." (front) "...just like you." (inside). I'll probably add those same words to the original.

Uh-oh! It's 1:00 and I still need to go to the post office, grocery store, make the beds, do some laundry...
Then tonight we have Eli hockey and Penguin hockey.
I'm saving Wal-mart until tomorrow though so I can pick up a copy of JUNO!!! I love that movie!

Just popping in...

2008-04-13T11:35:00.005-04:00

...on this fine Sunday morning, to say that I've added this sweet little original to my Etsy Shop. ---------SOLD---------
I've also added this image to a greeting card over in my Zazzle Shop. Several of my cards have been picked as "Hottest Card of the DAy" over the last week or so. Which means people can buy them at a discounted rate.

I'm still having email issues. Mike's going to take a look at that today.
I'm packing up orders, and will probably head out to my mom's later to deliver her birthday gifts. Her birthday is tomorrow, but Eli has a hockey game so we probably won't get out there.
Spent yesterday birthday shopping for my little Joshua who turns 12(!) on Wednesday. And, as if I wasn't feeling bad enough about him turning 12 and his voice changing and all, he had his first "date" yesterday. He went to the movies with his girlfriend (who is a year older than him) and her friend (who also used to like him). Who knew he was going to be the ladies' man in the family.

Okay, enjoy your day!

IF - Fail

2008-04-11T09:31:00.002-04:00

Fail! What's that?
If at first you don't succeed...just try a new approach.
"Shaken, not kissed"

Pfatt Thursday!

2008-04-10T09:04:00.005-04:00

Mother and Son is already sold, but this one is still available.
I am having a VERY frustrating morning. WE have been unable to send email since April 2nd. All the "one click fixes" Comcast subsribes lead to a dead end. So if you've purchase something from me and I haven't thanked you or let you know it's on it's way...well, that's why.
I've been using Etsy conversations when possible.
So instead of being out walking my dog on this beautiful spring morning, I've been sitting here fighting with my computer. The heavy sighs from Penny are telling me that I should probably give up for now.
You, on the other hand, should head on over to the Marketplace and see all the new stuff!

It's that time again!

2008-04-09T16:07:00.006-04:00

Time for another Calendar Frog.

Here is a scan before I added the buttons to the bouquet.

Buttons added. Sitting on the mantle in my bedroom.

And a close-up of the bouquet.

Don't forget about the Pfatt update tomorrow. I always love popping over to see what everyone has to offer.

GO PENS!!!

Mother's Day Cards

2008-04-08T23:32:00.002-04:00

I've been working on my May Calendar Frog. She should be ready tomorrow.
In the meantime, I've added a few Mother's Day cards over at Zazzle.

She Could Fly! - Mother's Day CardbyDudaDaze
Get this custom card at Zazzle

Upside Down - Mother's Day CArd
by

DudaDaze

Get this custom card
at Zazzle

Childhood - Mother's DAy CArdbyDudaDaze
Get this custom card at Zazzle

There are a few more, but these are my favorites.

Not much new here. We are looking forward to the Penguins first play-off game tomorrow. We will be missing some of it since Eli has a hockey game of his own, but we'll see most of it.
Wow, that is really all that is going on. How sad is that.
Oh yeah. Mike did get a speeding ticket last night on his way home from work. 49 in a 35 = $108. Argh! That's even sadder.

Mmmmmm. Jason was my favorite "Idol-er" tonight and I usually don't care that much for him. Brook was good too, but then again, I love Carol King.

I'm off to bed before I bore you to death.
Good night.

Finally!

2008-04-07T10:06:00.005-04:00

A new painting on ebay.
It seems I'm always in a hurry these days. Always racing to add a quick post here on my way to running out the door. Today it's off to the grocery store. It's getting nice outside so I'm hoping I can squeeze in some quality walking time with Penny too.
Hope you are having a nice slow-paced day. :)