New Ideas I’ve Been Working On and What’s Next

I’ve been watching clay crafting videos and wanting to get into sculpting. I get so giddy when I start a new craft! I just adore crafting and finding different mediums that I can use to bring my illustrations to life.

So, as you may already know, I started making some clay magnets and desk pets using air-dry clay, then sanding, hand-painting, and sealing them with UV Resin. I decided, I would open the desk pet kitties up to offer custom designs whereby you can send me a photo of your favorite feline and I will paint a desk pet kitty in their likeness. Pretty cool, right?

I took three different cats photos off the web-verse and made desk pets to match. I am pretty darn pleased with how they turned out! These are available now in the shop! If you want a custom desk pet, the listing is here, and all you need to do is send me a picture of your kitty cat so I can get to work.

What Else I’ve been up to with Whimsy…

I am about halfway through writing the first draft of the third book in my TALES OF WHIMSY series. I have found that having an outline has been very helpful in knowing where I want to take the story next. I feel like I may have a lot of editing to do later to paint the scenes in more detail so you can really envision them, but getting the bones of the story down, are essential. The rest is icing on the cake… what takes a story and makes it magic!

Click the image below for a fun video on the 5 Things I Learned Illustrating my Own Books.

What Other Writing Projects I am Working On…

After taking a course in the Children’s Book Academy with Dr. Mira Reisberg, I received a Golden Ticket for my picture book, BIG YELLOW. This means that I have the opportunity to pitch my book along with sharing the full book dummy (a mockup of the story with illustrations and text, done in black and white) with the editor who gave me my Golden Ticket.

This is a huge opportunity, and one I don’t take lightly. I am polishing my illustrations and getting everything as perfect as I can possibly make it before I submit, and fingers crossed, you’ll be seeing BIG YELLOW hit the shelves in the next year or two!

What’s Next for the Shop?

I have been really itching to get back to crocheting. It has been on my mind for some time, but I have a lot of writing and other projects taking up my time at the moment. When that settles down a bit, my plan is to create more patterns to offer in the shop for amigurumis and I would love to design another graphghan.

I am entirely open to ideas for what you’d like to see next! Below are a few of my ideas, but I’d love for you to put in the comments below what amigurumis or graphghans you’d like me to make!

Graphghan Ideas:

Underwater Oceanic Life
Tropical Birds
Dogghan Part 2
Corgis (What? Who doesn’t like a corgi butt?… and don’t get me started on those ears!)
Other Ideas?? Let me know!

Amigurumi Ideas:

Bee Present (Create a Pattern with Photo Tutorial for that little guy down there!)
Couple other cat designs for varying body shapes different than the Floppy Cat already in the shop.
Peachy (my little vinyl sticker character)
Adeline Doll from my unpublished middle grade story, ADELINE AND THE MYSTIC BERRIES, along with Timothy who is also from that story.
BIG YELLOW my school bus character
Sen the Sea Dragon
Other Ideas?? Jot them down in the comments below! I’ll add them to my list.

What other creative things have you all been up to lately? Have you found a new hobby that you love? I’d love to hear from you! Shares and comments are the absolute best!