In the creative world, we can give ourselves permission to be any kind of creative thing we want to be; or do amazing things that rock the creative hearts and minds of all.  In real life, summer may be upon us, but we allow ourselves to imagine that rain does away with creative blocks we artisans we may face.

Especially when it is raining cats and dogs.

Thankfully, at ARTE May markets, we report that it rained stuffed cats, dogs and more. Here is a sample of handcrafted, stuffed and glorious depictions from the animal world.

 Eva’s cats

Eva’s cats are magical. They elicit a smile from even the moodiest mall visitor!

Visit Eva’s cats website

Visit Eva’s cats facebook page

Namali Weerasinghe

When Namali first took part at ARTE markets, she was heavily into embroidery. Needle Craft Heaven was born.   Over the next few years, we were lucky to see her kiddie collection with the ballet tutu line, called the Little Princess Collection.

Dulani Lakmali

Her sock monkeys under the brand name of Sandustar Socks Toys created a rage the first time they were displayed at ARTE.  To this day, they continue to cause the usual furor so often seen in the monkey world, with the sock monkeys sitting coyly in the trees, or swinging about aimlessly.  The main ingredient of the Sandustar sock monkeys is, as the name depicts, socks!

Other sock toys are available like this sock elephant.

Jolly Good Products by Jo Catton

We have seen Jo Catton dogs at ARTE. Sadly, we can’t locate them. Can anyone help? Thanks!