Artist Feature: Annya Kai's Colourful Owls & More

Hello! Today I want to do an artist feature of a new artist I found while browsing through the blogs that I follow. Her name is Annya Kai, and she does these really cute original paintings of elephants, kitties, but mostly of owls which are just too adorable.

She has a sale right now on Annya Kai's Etsy shop page of buy 2 prints, get the 3rd free. That's not bad. So now, without further ado, here's Annya's work!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AnnyaKaiArt

How awesome is it to see a kitty sitting on a cute narwhal whale in the sky? Pretty awesome!

A kitty enjoying a latte, so adorable!

I really love this elephant painting. But my favorite is the little pink one at the top. :)

Alright, who doesn't love adorable sloths? And in hot pink? :)

I think what I like best about Annya's work is that she's an owl fanatic. She has tons of cute owls in all different scenarios. The one on the left is drinking coffee, and the right one has a star map on its belly!

Last but not least is the adorable owl Geisha. I love it. :)

If you enjoyed a sample of Annya's work, you can see the rest here: SHOP • RED BUBBLE 

If you Google her, you'll find all sorts of links to her stuff. :)

Have a great day!!

Puces Pop & Curious Little Bird!

Photo : Jean-Michael Seminaro
http://baronmag.com/2013/06/retour-sur-puces-pop-du-printemps-2013/ — at Eglise St-Michel. 

 Last weekend was the famous Puces Pop craft fair in Montreal, in the funky neighborhood Mile-End. The location was in this dome-shaped church basement, famous for hosting craft fairs, and down the street is the equally famous St. Viateur bagels! Mmm.

I didn't have time to walk around and take photos cause I was manning the table all by myself, but here are some great shots taken from the Puces Pop intern, as well as Jean-Michael Seminaro who works at Baron Magazine.

Photo by Puces Pop

Photo : Jean-Michael Seminaro
http://baronmag.com/2013/06/retour-sur-puces-pop-du-printemps-2013/ — at Eglise St-Michel. 

Photo by Puces Pop

Photo by Puces Pop

Photo by Puces Pop

This here is the best lemonade I've ever tasted. It's 2 generations old, meaning the couple who were selling it said it was their great grandmother's recipe. A little grapefruit and orange in the mixture makes it a perfect accompaniment on a hot day.

Photo by Puces Pop

This is Crown Flora Studio, a Toronto based company selling these awesome terrariums in glass balls. I very much wanted one, but just couldn't buy one.

Photo by Puces Pop

I just love these sumo dolls!

Photo by Puces Pop

And my neighbor (and friend's) table! She does jewelry, as well as these very awesome, and delicate embroidery hoops.

Photo by Puces Pop

I just heart this so very much.  - Made by neawear  Photo by Janick Gravel

So that's it. The next event Curious Little Bird will be attending will be Montreal's Comiccon. The date for this is September 13th until the 15th.

See you there!!

Embroidery hoop art... MONSTERS!!!

It's Wednesday and it's rainy in Montreal, and today I want to share with you a fun, new project that I finally finished. I had started these hoops a few months ago, and thought I'd never get over my procrastination and finish them, but then the acceptance of Curious Little Bird into Puces Pop (an awesome craft fair held several times a year, and super popular), had me inspired to finish them.

I will be selling each individual hoop at $68 retail, a very reasonable price considering I've put several hours into each and every one of them. They're all one of a kind, so if there is one in particular that you really love, don't wait until Sunday to come by Puces Pop to buy it, because it may be sold by then.

Any hoops I don't sell this weekend will be listed in my Big Cartel shop on Monday! :)

So without further ado, here are my hoops!

Sad, Rainy Day Monster - ©Curious Little Bird

Happy Monster - ©Curious Little Bird

Reindeer Monster - ©Curious Little Bird

I love you - ©Curious Little Bird

Thanks, and until our next post meet! :)

La Mistinguette: Eco-Responsible Boutique in Verdun, Quebec

So I'm starting to realize that 2013 is not the year that I post a lot of blogs. I'm still working away, doing my thing, but social media has become something I rarely think about these days. I mean, what do I post when I do repeat monsters all the time, and almost never anything new?? It's really hard to come up with things to talk about on Facebook (although that's the site I update the most), and my blog is suffering. To all my followers, I'm so sorry! :)

Thankfully today I have something great to talk about! There's this shop in Verdun (a suburb of Montreal, Quebec) called La Mistinguette, that focuses and sells only items that have been recycled from other items. It's only a year old, and it's worth checking out. The owner, Catherine Audet (same last name as me, no relation!), is very sweet and if you're fluent in French will talk to you about her products. The store is located 1 long block west of Verdun metro, or 4 short blocks south of de l'Église metro on the green line, at 4537 Rue Wellington, just after rue Willibrord.

What I really like about this store, besides the great authentic ceiling and the awesome things she sells, is how she displays her work. If you do visit her store, check out the wooden boxes up against the walls. They're all old dresser drawers! If you look on the bottoms of them, you can see the knobs. That's some great recycling right there! What she also has for sale, which I forgot to photograph, is a hand painted coffee table with orange fishies all over it. It's very cute, and kitsch. :) It might still be there, that is if someone didn't already buy it.

So without further ado, here are some great shots of what's available at La Mistinguette!

La Mistinguette: Eco-Responsible Boutique

They've kept the original ceiling that was used almost 100 years ago. Isn't it beautiful?

The owner, Catherine Audet, posing for the camera. Behind her are cleaning supplies from the company Bio Nature

Handmade bags and monsters by Curious Little Bird! For a time, my foxes are on sale for 20% off the regular price!

New monsters, sold exclusively at La Mistinguette, made out of plaid shirts that I buy from the local church store on my street.  Aren't they just the cutest?? They're the same size as my furry monsters, and selling for  $36.

Soaps!! I really love the illustrated scents. :)

Here's a closeup of the company Odeur des lengendes.

A small section devoted to body stuff, and there are even eco-friendly diapers, feminine products etc. Best to stop by and check it out for yourself. :)

Because everyone needs earrings made out of zippers, right? Unfortunately I do not know their website info. 

Earrings made out of old records by Les creations d'Ana

Otra makes these and other items in the store too. 

Hanging flower pots. Sadly the website does not say what material these are made out of. 

Ada-jito jewelry

ÖOM - They make clothing and bags

So seriously, if you're really into eco-responsible gift items, La Mistinguette is the place to be!

Have a good one!

New blog series idea

Hey everyone! I know I've not been blogging much these past few months, and I'm sorry you're not getting any fun photos, or stories from me. But I have a really good explanation!! :)  My business is all about repeating the same patterns over, and over again, and almost never do I create one of a kind monsters anymore or really limited editions. Why, I hear you asking to yourself. Well for one, one of a kind dolls and toys take FOREVER to make! Those of you who do this will know. One might take a minimum of 3 hours. For someone like me, 3 hours on one thing is a killer, especially since I'm trying to make a living on my craft. :)

Anyway.... I'm totally getting sidetracked here. I put a post on my Facebook this morning asking people to give me suggestions of what they'd like to read in my blog, because honestly, after doing the same monsters day in and day out, there isn't much to talk about. 

I did have one idea, however, and that's the reason for today's blog post. I want to run it by you first. It had me thinking about a few of my fans who love my stuff. The ones who REALLY love my stuff really love the stories I make up to go with each monster. And then it hit me! I thought it'd be really cool to do a weekly post where I take one monster, draw up a few illustrations (which would be a nice change of pace), and really expand that particular monster's story into a short story. What do you all think of this idea? I, personally, love this idea, and it will at least give me something to blog about, and you, my lovely fans, will have something to look forward to! Thankfully I love to write and draw, so this should be a fun challenge.

What do you think? Should I do it? If so, I'll have to decide which day it will be published on, and to make it special, the monsters may or may not be blogged in the order that they appear on my web store. :)

I look forward to hearing your comments regarding this great idea!

Massive monster skull face

Good morning! it's Tuesday, and I want to share with you a custom order I did for someone. You all know and love my skull faced monster series... There's the regular monsters, and then the Skullians, guardians of the Skully underworld. Well, this big guy is a blown up version of my Skullian (same body as the yeti, minus the horns). He's so rad and huge! So big in fact, that my arm wasn't long enough to get his whole body in the shot! haha

This special pillow monster is going to a guy named Marc who's really big into heavy & death metal! Who says that my monsters are just for girls? Haha

I can't wait until he comes to pick him up! I hope he loves him. :) 

I hope you all have a great Tuesday, and it seems that spring's on its way. :)