Snowbound in Carolina

"Winter Friends"

Late last week, we had a winter storm blow through my home state of North Carolina. It's not so unusual for us to get a really good snow sometime during the wintertime... but I think this storm surprised even the meteorologists with the amount of snow it left behind! We had about six inches of snow... but with ice on the roads and our house perched on a hill, we were snowbound for several days 'til the temperatures rose.

So, while I was inside, enjoying the snowy view out my window and giving thanks for a warm house and a full fridge, I spent some very happy hours in my studio, creating this happy snowman! I did some experimenting with 'floating color' (read here... lots of trial & error!) to give the snowman and cardinal a bit of shading and depth. This is a growing edge for me. I had watched some YouTube videos that made the floating technique look so easy... but I'm going to need to keep practicing, that's for sure! 

I hope that"Winter Friends" brightens your day today!  :)

Simply Cozy In Carolina

Photo Credit: Big Stock

Much to my surprise... I opened a second Etsy shop this fall. After much debate, I decided to call it SimplyCozyInCarolina. Somehow, the name just seemed to fit.

Now, I've been an Etsy fan & seller for many years. My original shop is PholkartStudio... my little 'home' for the silly drawings I love to create.

But over this past summer, I caught the Crochet Bug. I became interested in creating kids' hats for World Vision's Knit For Kids program which "unites thousands of volunteer knitters to fight poverty with our knitting needles." (or in my case, a crochet hook!). I love their mission to care for children in need, and I wanted to be part of it in some small way.

After inventing a basic hat pattern, I headed to my favorite local craft store and bought lots and lots of brightly colored acrylic yarn. In the evenings, I crocheted away... and in no time at all, my studio was overflowing with colorful hand-crocheted kids' hats in all different sizes... Yes, it was time to send off my very first box of hats.

Pretty soon, I received a thank you email from Knit For Kids... all the goodies that they'd received in October were headed to children in Uganda, Romania, Costa Rica, and Rwanda. I hope some cute little heads & ears will be warmer this winter.

In between hats, I started to make coffee cup cozies with the leftover yarn from my creative stash. I'd admired some cozies with felt applique designs on Etsy, and I thought they looked like fun little projects to make. One thing led to another... and pretty soon I'd crocheted a rainbow of cozies, just waiting like little canvases for me to add my own designs. This was a lot like illustrating with a needle and thread!... and I fell in love with my new-found hobby.

And, that's how SimplyCozyInCarolina was 'born'... totally spontaneously one Saturday morning. Just for the fun of it... I wonder where this latest creative venture will take me next.  :)


May 15th, 2015... A follow up to this post...

I wrote this post last December... and about 6 months later, I've decided that creating appliqued 'cozies' is lots of fun, but not my creative 'calling.' I suspect this is because I have such a short attention span! *wink!* Much as I love the colors & textures of applique & crochet... my creative 'heart' really belongs to illustration. Put simply... I found I missed my Prismacolor pencils & markers and those itty-bitty doodles on Bristol paper that magically become little pieces of art!

So... I've closed my SimplyCozyInCarolina shop & returned to my 'first love'... creating tiny illustrations for my (now reopened) shop, PholkartStudio. I hope you love my silly doodles as much as I love creating the!  :)