beetlegrass

Freaky Every Day

In greeting cards, "every day" cards are the ones that say "Hello", "Congratulations", "Thank You", "Best Wishes", "Get Well Soon", "Keep in Touch", etc.

It's for this very reason that I'm calling the every day line of the side show cards "Freaky Every Day".
It was a natural.
Here are just two:

The birthday card above with Ping & Pong has a back story to it.

Back in 1973 (I'm guessing), my sister gave my brother a book called Very Special People by Frederick Drimmer.

The book had a whole host of human marvels in it, including the famous Siamese twins, Chang & Eng, but the best part about this oddball gift was that she inscribed it, "Happy Birthday to a Very Special Person".

It's one of those things that became a family joke, so I had to pay tribute to that.

The concept & design of these puppets and their stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Press Packets

Here is one of the 20 press packets that I've made for the upcoming SURTEX -- 15 will go on the Press table; 5 will stay in the booth, as was recommended.

The cover has my company's name, the name of the show, and my booth #401.
Inside is the Press Release, which took me a while to write, because I had to get all the "alternate" headlines out of my system first. There's also a Fact Sheet about my co., and an About the Artist sheet in the right pocket. I AM my company, so needless to say: some of this information overlaps.

We were also asked to include photos, so I did 4 (printed on my brand new replacement printer), because I do a variety of things and wanted to represent, Yo.
Didn't want the photos sliding around inside the pocket or getting scratched, so I cut some clear page protectors (the 3-ring binder kind) to size. Cheap & gets the job done.

Have included 3 promo postcards: the Little Red Riding Hood one shown, and Hansel (to show my 2-D illustration side of things) and the Queen of Hearts,
Completing the packet: a business card and a bookmark, as you can see.
I'd staple cotton candy to the cover as extra incentive for publicity, but that hardly seems feasible.
Plus: sticky.

These images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Freaky Love

So here was the challenge that I posed to myself:

Make a simple-pimple backdrop, and have each of the Freaky Fingers Side Show performers stand in front of it. (Kinda like getting your photo taken at JCPenney's in front of the sunset or the autumnal scene.)

The fun part: coming up with Valentine's card sayings for each of them.

Why am I making Valentine's Day cards in May?
SURTEX.

You may notice one character that I've not shown heretofore:
He's Aloisius Bumen the Albino. Or: AL BUMEN for short.
He's something of a lady's man, but we'll chat about that at another time.

The concept & design of these puppets and their stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Flea Market Round-Up -- Yee-Haw! (Bullwhip Snap.)

There was no flea market today -- outdoor flea markets don't do too well in the rain. Go figure.
But that doesn't matter to us, does it, because I still have purchases from the past few weeks to show you.
Here they are, being demo'd by Witchoo, Zapp the Robot, Shocky the Monkey, Li'lvinia, Cowboy Cooper, and Bossie the Cow.
This week's batch-o-stuff is fairly weapon-heavy, as you'll see.



A buck a bike. These things really work, with the pedals making the back tire rotate.
Who's more excited about that than me?
Also exciting: the fact that my robot's "hands" fit the handlebars perfectly!



Here's some more of the G.I.Joe stuff that I was telling you about last week. The mess kit (with knife and spoon), the canteen, the grenades, each at 50¢, so $2 for what you see here. The pineapple and the bananas are from a Hello Kitty drinks bar that I have.



You've heard of a Shotgun Wedding, yes?
Well this is a High-Powered Rifle with a Telescopic Lens Wedding.
Gotta keep up with the times.
This cost 50¢, another G.I. Joe item.



A quote from the movie "The Untouchables", 1987.
Machine guns: 50¢ each.



This cap gun cost a whopping $4, but I think it's worth it. Toy guns seem to fetch fairly high prices at the flea market, in my limited experience.



This mounted head came from the same dealer that I got the bikes from, and this cost $1 as well.
So excited to find this, cuz it really fleshes out the Cowboy Cooper scenario. He's been getting a lot of stuff recently. He'd better watch it or the other puppets will get jealous and throw him in a pit.



Lyrics: Metallica.
This play gun holster cost 50¢, and, while it's plastic, it's a fairly convincing leather look-alike.
I think people should wear holsters for their cellphones.
It's my turn to start a new trend.
(The toy guns were purchased last summer.)

OK, so, for all the stuff purchased since this flea season started shown above: $11.50.
Not so bad, eh?

The concept & design of these puppets and their stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Hooray, Hooray, It's the 1st of May ...

... you know the rest of the rhyme. There's a punishment waiting for those who say it out loud.
Here's Poppy the Pug in a silent contemplative moment. You know that mere seconds from now she'll have that butterfly on the ground (you know she will), giving it the thrashing of its life. Oh, yeah, and there WILL be barking. Lots of it.

But for now: Peace & Quiet. It's kinda like a Mary Cassatt painting in that regard. A still moment captured in time.

What I like about Spring...

• Fewer oil deliveries = Less $ spent
• Pretty things blooming
• Pleasant to take walks -- neither too hot nor too cold

What I don't like about Spring...

• Once again, have to become my alter persona "The Landscaping Bandito" as I mow the lawn with a kerchief over my nose & mouth.
  
• Allergy eyeballs, itchy & red, wish I could claw them right out of my head. (Sung to the tune of "Blessed Assurance")
  
• The hatching of flies inside the house begins again in earnest.

This illustration is © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Making Things

Coming up with various ways to use my Couched Cushion print-outs for the upcoming SURTEX show.

Followed up on my sister's suggestion to make bookmarks as a giveaway... here's just a sampling; the rest are in the press packets.

"Faked out" several gift bags using bias tape, ball fringe, trim, and handles from other bags that I painted.
These bags aren't 3-dimensional; they're just to give potential buyers an idea of what can be done with the surface design of the Couched Cushions.

The name, concept, design, and images of "Couched Cushions" are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are copyrighted and may not be used for any purpose.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Flea Market Stove & Coat Rack

Here to show you this installment of flea market finds are: The Lobster Theodore, Cowboy Cooper, Winnie the Palomino and Hitchcock the Hitching Post.

BEEF.
It WASN'T what was for dinner.

Get it... mount?

The beginnings of this feud: "Chapter 1"  "Chapter 2"

I got both the stove & the coat rack last week from the same dealer at the Seekonk (MA) Speedway Flea Market, for a combined price of $5.
The stove is really cast iron, and the door really opens.
Can you say "miniature fire" and "tiny logs"?
I didn't think so.
Was happy to find one of these stoves in this smaller scale, cuz it "fits" my finger puppets better than the larger models we had growing up.

The concept & design of these puppets and their stories are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Flea Market Finds

The Seekonk (MA) Speedway Flea Market has been back in session since April 6th, so now that my camera et al are back & functioning once again, I kin shows ya what I've been gittin'!

Here are just a few of the things that I've bought in the past few weeks -- will show you the rest (I promise!) another day v. v. soon.

Got this thimble and another one for 50¢. I got it because it seems I'm all about the thimbles these days, PLUS the added bonus of the words "PROV., R.I."
(I like Providence... have I mentioned that once or a billion times before?)

Got this key today for 1 slim dollah for my wee pal NayNay, who collects them.
Don't know if he'll like this one or not, but I dug it, so he's getting it. (Nah nah, NayNay.)

This G.I. Joe stuff is just a drop in the bucket of what I got. They were selling stuff for 50¢ a piece, and I bought $8 worth of stuff from them. So, if Megan buys $8 worth of G.I. Joe stuff, and each item costs 50¢, how many pieces of G.I. Joe stuff did Megan purchase?
(Included in this purchase: some karate outfits and weaponry!!! Yay!)

Got all these doll clothes for a mere dollar. The light blue dress still smells like gasoline, even after a bath.
Err... its bath. Not mine.
There's gotta be a story behind a gasoline-soaked doll dress.
I suspect a mean older brother.

All images are © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Couched Patterns

Why it never occurred to me to play around with Photoshop's Pattern Maker UNTIL TODAY is another mystery for the ages. I didn't even know it existed! Which may be a good thing, because now I'll have to experiment with it morning, noon, and night.

All the pattern swatches above came from this Couched Cushion:

The name, concept, design, and images of "Couched Cushions" are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
These images are copyrighted and may not be used for any purpose.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Hooray for Office Equipment!

I've been without my printer/scanner for a month now. While I've been making do (or making doo -- see post below) by printing off important e-mails @ the library, not being able to scan artwork and not having a port to stick my camera's memory card into has been a serious drag, man.

All that changed TODAY (that is: like an hour ago), when my replacement all-in-one printer (they couldn't fix my old one, sad face) arrived via FedEx. I have quick-like-a-bunny hooked it up, and now we are cooking with the proverbial gas.

SO NICE to be able to print something off at will and get stuff done here at home! Hurrah & Hooray!

The crocuses (croci?) above were right outside my back door; took the photo a couple weeks ago, so these guys are now a thing of the past. But the dandelions are out in full force now, so take comfort in that.

This image © Megan E. Jeffery. All Rights Reserved.