Goodness me. I haven't been here is sooo long.  (I'd forgotten about it if truth be told)

Well, since my last entry was about the 52 projects in 52 weeks idea, I'll start by letting you know how that went.  

I started it halfway through the year so it was very hard to keep track of where I was.  So I scrubbed it and started all over again on January 1st 2010.  This time I have a secret weapon; a chart that tells me how I'm doing.  I think it's a pretty clever idea.   the items on my chart may be knitted, crocheted or sewn and are for swaps or my shops; all projects count.  Big ones do not count more than small ones but I try to do only a few little ones.

I have a 21" tall pony and dragon, Two little piggy banks (that really work even though they are knitted), a sheep teacosy, a tiny firebird, a snowflake hat, a snow angel and a baby blanket

That's 9 items in 4 weeks; I'm doing well.  I'll show you the february one when it is finished.

Well I have been really into my knitting and crocheting lately.  I set myself a challenge at the new year to make one item every week for all 52 weeks of the year.  I've been doing quite well - in fact, I'm ahead of my schedule!

You can read about my knitting challenge so far at http://eddyG-theplacetobe.blogspot.com It's not all knitting.  There are some things that make me laugh, and some shopping info on there too.

I've also been able to put some of my knitted items up for sale on my Artfire and dawanda shops.  They are all very new so lots more goodies to come.

Who's the new guy?  It's Elvis the red parrot!

Oh yes, he's a non-stop talker.  But I think his cage was kept too close to the TV and the radio as all his answers are songs or TV adverts.  See his interview at  my Blogger page

He is also for sale at Eddy's Pressies So come and have fun.

Whilst I was working on my Eddy's mad mugs  (the crazy vehicles with the wraparound design that have all four wheels and look great from any angle)  I asked for help.

What a result!  It was so worth it.  It led to many sales!

I took this firetruck mug to a firefighter friend and asked him what other vehicles they thought I could do.  Not only did he help me with several great selling ideas, but he also asked to buy the mug.  He then took it to work and got several other orders - yippee!

Fire truck by Eddys_Mad_Mugs

Ambulance UK by Eddys_Mad_Mugs

To everyone from Misty Blue

When you join Red Bubble you upload lots of designs which they then make into t-shirts, greetings cards and posters up as large as A1 in size - that's huge!  You can also put in your writing so that others can read and comment on it.  Very handy if you want to get a few opinions on a new idea. 

Rather than just wait for sales, red bubble has this great idea where you join groups to show your work off to each other and to make it easier for customers to find various kinds of pictures. 

These groups also have contests from time to time to get you thinking in different directions.  I have made several pictures for contests that I would not have thought of otherwise.  Like this crazy Goth Christmas card made for the "Monster's Ink" group.  Called simply "Santa Claws is coming!"  (What is it with Santa and snowglobes? Why is he called Claws? and why must your eyes be closed when he comes into your room? Moo-ha-ah -evil laugh)

Or like this poster and poem I made for a red bubble contest                               

Want to see more then follow the link either above or here; My red Bubble Gallery

Oh yes, despite a few false starts, I now sell knitted and plush goodies on Artfire

I have a new character called a "Mumble".  Read a story about them at my Red Bubble page or by clicking this link Children's story; "The Mumbles"

I'm also selling my puppets Spot and George who appear on so many of my Zazzle products..

Usually, my work tends to stick to the usual categories that all card designers do; birthdays, Christmas, Easter etc. 

But Greeting Card Universe pulls me away from all that!  They have the wackiest collection of categories ever!

Yes, they have the usual, but how about Merry Christmas to my soccer coach?  I sold 6 of these!

I also have Coach Christmas cards for football/rugby, baseball and basketball

or Thank you petsitter?

or Belated Merry Christmas?

They also have categories like, "Vietnamese New Year"  "Happy Hanukkah to my Christian Friend", pumkin carving party invitations, lobster feed party invitations      Earning Your wings/ pilot licence    Happy Easter for young twins

Find many more crazy categories like these at Greeting Card Universe

"Ok Eddy, so you design t-shirts and cards, you make puppets, you work with little kids in school and bigger kids after school.  Is there anything you can't do?"

Well, yes.  I can't cook to save my life.  If it doesn't come in a frozen packet that goes into the microwave or a boil-in-the-baggy, then it doesn't get cooked!  That is why my local Chinese take-away are like family to me. 

This new year, 2009, is the "year of the ox" so I have designed a Happy new year card for them (which I am also selling on Zazzle)

2009 - year of the Ox by Eddy_G

                              this one?                      or this one?    

Eddy's Mad Mugs  is a simple idea that I had for a mug design that just took on a life of it's own!

I thought  to myself;  "Why have a picture of a fire truck on a mug, when I could use a wraparound design; effectively turning the whole mug into a fire truck?"  So I made a set of four for my gallery.  Then a few more.  Before long, I was getting requests for other vehicles.  It grew and grew and threatened to take over the gallery so I started a new gallery just for them. 

Now I have a selection of Public service vehicles, family transport, fantasy homes,  Emergency services and Construction/maintainance vehicles.  All copyright protected!

 I have some obvious ones like an American school bus for giving to a driver or teacher at the end of term and Police cars both UK and American varieties for thank you's or congrats on getting into the force. 

 But I also have some very odd ones too (well, wouldn't be me otherwise would it?)  Like a red submarine for travel into your imagination,  or a lovely Santa Claws in his sleigh complete with reindeer!  Even a Monster truck where you can change the color of the vehicle yourself!

At this point you are asking, "what is she on about?  How can a simple design turn a whole mug into something special?"  Well especially for you, I made this little gif to show how it works...

     Isn't that just great fun?  Go visit!   To find more click here.

Mr. Wolf is my avatar.  He is on the backs of all my cards.   I made him for a competition at "project puppet.com"  

.  He is a New York Kindergarten teacher and loves to tell the little ones fairy stories and does lots of lessons on co-operation and caring for each other.

The children get away with a lot since his ears are “not so good to hear you with, my dear”

He tries to tell them that back in the day, he was known as the “Big Bad”; his tag was all over the hood, and he could eat three little pigs, a grandma and still have room left for a picnic basket before lunch.  I don’t think they believe him though; he’s such a sweet and toothless old dear now and a bit of a hippy.  He’s more likely to be found eating celery and humus, or gingerbread cookies (not the talking kind) dipped in tea in the teacher’s lounge.

 You can check out some of the more recent wonderful puppets that people have made there at  the Project Puppet Gallery

We didn't win, but Mr wolf and his friends (other puppets I made since,) have been making money for me down at my Zazzle site; Draw Upon Your Dreams   There are now 10 different products with the puppets on and they sell quite well 

We'rewolves, Are You? by Eddy_G
card At Zazzle

older than before by Eddy_G
cards made by Zazzle.com

Spot's Christmas sweater by Eddy_G

I love all my sites and galleries.  Each one has it's own special features that make it special. 

Zazzle greetings cards

The one thing about Zazzle greetings cards is that you can design on all four sides of the card.  (Most sites only allow a picture on the front and text inside)  This makes it perfect for two part jokes which I do love so much. 

Isn't this fun?   I have lots more like this at my "zazzle draw upon your dreams" site.

Well, here I am, 

What a lovely friendly place.  I hadn't even finnished putting my profile together when "Whoosh"  I have 2 friends on my friends list!   I've joined a Zazzle group and we'll see what else I can join.   Ooh! Make that 3 friends! 

I'm not much of a blogger.  I tend to do alot then leave it forever.  My poor Yahoo 360^o  page hasn't seen me for months.

I do love a quiz or two though and do two every day on dogster.com  That's my dog's blog!  Misty Blue has far more entries than me.  I guess she has a busier life.  She's a Service dog (even though she hasn't passed her exams)  She takes excellent care of my Autistic boy when we are out.  She keeps him calm and moves him away from crowds if she can feel him getting anxious.  She's such a busy wooffit.  We are going to have her trained for agility contests too.  Such a friendly dog should never be in.

Ahhh! four friends!

I know, I know, I should be talking about designing and selling.  But we'll leave that for another entry.  Just wanted to say hi first and show my face (well, Mr Wolf's face really)  More on him later too.

Six friends!  I'd better get off and go see them all.  I feel so loved!