Sasha and My Favorite Trade

This is Sasha.  Sasha was raised by penguins in Antarctica.  She finds the penguins to be quite friendly.  She also believes they are persistent and nurturing parents.  In Antarctica, Sasha doesn't see many colors, but she sees about a million versions of white and on a rare occasion a rainbow created by the sun.  She loves the snow and how it looks different throughout the day.  She draws in the snow using an icicle as a pencil.  She loves incorporating snow angels into her drawings.  The penguins are in awe of her talent.

Here is my favorite trade ever with blogger extraordinaire, Kuky (her blog features drawings, sewings, and her adorable, adorable family).  Kuky wrote some nice things about my pillow monsters and drew this picture one day.  When I stumbled upon it I had a warm fuzzy eruption happen inside of me...  My eyes got all teary and I sat, staring at the monitor, with this goofy smile upon my face!  I wanted a print so so badly, so we traded---Bonnie for print.  Now I get to look at this drawing every time I enter my studio *insert satisfied sigh here*.  

It serves as a  good reminder for me.  My challenge to make a pillow monster a day has turned into a business, but "my business" and "my craft" is a real fragile relationship.  It's a wonderful concept to not work for the man, but the danger with that is becoming the man.  My online shop host, Etsy, is this virtual playground of handmade goods, and there are all these fun features.  One of the features is "hearts".  You can "heart" certain items, and as a seller, you can then keep track of what people love the most.  That can do weird things to me, for example, when Simon the Frog made it to the front page of Etsy it was like he went to Woodstock or something because everyone was just throwing around the love---he got a bajillion hearts.   As a result, the man inside of me took over and demanded I make 2 frogs that day instead of being inventive or else I would be fired from my own pillow monster industry.  It's ridiculous how submissive I can be, even to the man inside of myself!  So, anyway, Kuky's wonderfully executed drawing serves as a daily reminder to follow my OWN heart, not the clickety-clack-mouse-clicking Etsy hearts.