New Goodies, Pt.1 : BUST CRAFTACULAR

Nearly a year later and we are back on the blog with a catchup of what’s going on over at Merry Happy Studios. This is going to be another super visual post. 🙂

Does this picture look familiar? It should because the previous blog post also started out with a pic similar to this. Once again Merry Happy Studios was showcasing our goods at the Bust Craftacular @ Maker Faire this year. We didn’t have any rain but it was a big dusty weekend. Either way it was fun and great seeing the reactions to our new products; especially from kids who are unrestricted with their emotions.

First in the new products list, which is not for kids but that didn’t stop them from exclaiming “We should get that for Daddy!”

Adding to the line of Grandma tote bags, I debuted 2 new grandpa “drinks” totes. COFFEE + BEER. Yum.

I created a bunch of tiny gift-able items that kids could afford. Things like postcards, pin back buttons and stickers. ^_^

These were eaten up! So happy about that.

More pictures to come in a follow up post… Going to force myself to get back on track with this blog.

And finally wanted to mention that I launched a brand new web shop 1-2 months ago. Other than my etsy, you can now buy directly from http://merryhappystudios.com/

Thanks for stopping by and being patient with my post!

Sunday Night. 5.19.13

The last time I paid attention to this blog was September 2012. I don’t mean to neglect it. Here’s my attempt to revitalize my blog with a long post about what’s happened since then.

A few days after that last blog post, I had a table at my first major craft show. The BUST Craftacular at Maker Faire.

This was how my table was set up. I had tons of goodies for sale and did fairly well. It helped me realize what attracted people and what didn’t. A few weeks after the show I received a email from FAB.com. They had checked out my stuff at the fair and was hoping to collaborate together for a flash sale. Of course I said yes!

The best selling item was my I LIKE PICKLES tote bags. I had a great time designing the packaging for them.

In addition to selling items I had on hand, I had also created exclusive holiday cards to be sold. They are still available for super cheap at my etsy!

I distinctly remember this time of the year I was super stressed out. Following the FAB sale I had a art gallery show at work that I had to create 3 pieces of work for. I originally wanted to work with felt but opted for digital paintings since that was all I had time for. Here’s a look at one of the paintings in postcard form.

Jump into 2013 and I got busy creating graphics for Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the snake and it took me months of planning to make the perfect snake character. I actually even had time to create traditional red envelopes.

And finally these past few weeks I’ve been playing around with some mediums other than paper. Rubber stamps, acrylic and wood galore!

The rubber stamps are currently available in my etsy shop. The panda charms and earrings are being perfected and will be updated soon. Keep an eye out for them! As always, you can connect with me on

my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MerryHappyStudios

my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/merryhappystudios

Thanks for stopping by! I love to hear your thoughts. ^_^

Xiao Fu in the Summer.

Guess what this lady has been up to?

Woot! Wearable art! I’ve been developing my brand and characters these past 6 months and I’m super excited to reveal this. This is the first new product of mine in a while and I am so happy with the results. It is also a new medium of mine to play with so look out for more in the future. Also notice the new logo. A website is in the works as well as possibly some PVC figures. Crossing my fingers that the brain juice will continue to work and get inspired. ^-^

The design on this shirt was based off of a tiger plushie I made 2 years ago for a art gallery show. It was inspired by my first trip to China with my family and I saw all these amazing folk art. Xiao Fu is in the same set of designs as Boba pig below. They will be an entire line of animal people as well. 😀

Here is a picture of me after I ripped apart the box and immediately put on the shirt in it’s instagrammed glory.

Also would appreciate some love on my facebook page. It’s lonely.

https://www.facebook.com/MerryHappyStudios

A photography post

I took advantage of the sunlight this weekend and played around with my camera more. I took these shots of these two new toys in my collection. The craftsmenship of these figures are crazy good. They’re Bishoujo manga-fied renditions of DC Comics female characters. The price is a bit hefty but they’re worth it.

First up is Batgirl.

 

The details are so gorgeous it’s sick. Look at the lashes.

Next up is poison ivy. This one was just released last week and the price tag has increased by $10. Sad face.

Look at her nails…

I’m quite pleased with the quality of the camera in daylight. It’s crisp and the colors are amazing.

Hello Again. Goodbye Summer

Pages of my sketchbook

“Little Riding Hood All in Black” Pen Sketch

“Sexy Nerd Squid is Fine & Dandy” Sharpie Sketch

“I’m King for a Day…at Medieval Times” Pen on paper, colored in Illustrator

And now to the new stuff I’ve been making!

I know some of you have seen the Bread and Olives bag already and I would like to introduce you all to the I like Saltines bag. Yum! Loved saltines with milk as a kid. You can get these lovely little items at my etsy or bigcartel.

NEW ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/merryhappystudios

BIGCARTEL: http://www.merryhappystudios.bigcartel.com

New

Why hello there. It’s the dessert midgets re-imagined into a much cuter look.

And in charm form. I’m planning on making these into cell phone straps and necklaces. It’s going to be a busy busy summer! Thank god for summer fridays.

Except for the fact that I end up going shopping every week. Whether for art supplies, books or clothes I waste those fridays.

More eye candy. These earring are handmade from start to finish.

Who wants to be my test subject and test these out? heheh

New Character post

I’ve always strayed from drawing and creating animal characters because I have a bias towards drawing cute fuzzy animals. Secretly I was also scared that what I created would be so influenced by other graphics I see out there that it would become a blur, unrecognizable and another character we can throw upon a pile. Ex) Monkeys. Tons out there. Most memorable one would be Paul Frank/Tony Millionaire but then there are companies likes Aeropostale and billions of other tween companies that have monkey’s.

My usual dose of characters all have a food obsession and wear it for fashion. So after doing some paintings for the gallery project back in February I realized how animals and my human characters can go hand in hand. Half of the characters created for that show were influenced by Chinese Folk Art. (Piggie painting and tiger felt plush) So I took my paintings and decided to digitally illustrate them. First in the series is the piggie and I’ve been playing with her for a few weeks now. It would be great if I can somehow incorporate my original plans to make the colorful lines in the black costume fluorescent. I dropped a teaser on my flickr of her last week to compare it to the painting but here I am formally introducing my newest character…

There’s a back story to her. For now it might not be visible only for copyright/tracing reasons. But I’m planning on illustrating a little picture book with her in it and I have some vinyl stickers in the works. I already have some glossy note cards printed and in the mail coming to me so I can upload some pictures this weekend. Yay! I’m so excited my head might explode. I just want some personal time to push out all the ideas in my head onto paper.

Old Lady Cards

I just got my order of professionally printed Olive Cards in the mail.

And now you can own a set!

Check my etsy or click the picture.

Gallery Project

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to participate in a little meeting of creative minds. For 6 months my coworkers and I have been thinking and actively creating art just for the sake of art. No clients, no pressure, just a return to our roots back in our college days. For me, just like the college days I procrastinated till the last minute. I panicked in December and brought massive amounts of supplies. My mind was all over the place. Some ideas were too big to be completed by the February deadline so I focused on painting. I actually did 2 paintings midway and then abandoned it and started new. In the end I had 3 completed paintings and 1 sewn felted plushie. And I’m in the midst of starting another painting and have a idea to felt another creature as well. Thanks to my art director Kirk Benshoff for coming up with the idea and setting it all up. If not I would’ve never picked up a paintbrush again. All in all, it was a great night and I was dead tired by 10.

Here are some pictures I managed to take

Typography paintings by Ben

Aprons sewn by Tracy

Paintings by Maria

Lego Buildings x Works by Jonathan

Paintings by Alison

Paintings x Feltie by Yours Truly

 

More pics to come!

 

FEBRUARY Wallpaper

Hello Folks!

Happy Chinese New Year!

To celebrate the year of the rabbit and the month of February, here’s a brand spankin new wallpaper for your desktop this month.

SWEEETTT!!!