Teresa, a.k.a. T. Dawg Monsterface

Teresa has been using her creative mind since she could crawl, mastering the art of retrieving a snack high up on the fridge as a two year old before anyone else was awake. Around the age of 8, she began making lean-tos and sling shots without the Scout training her peers recieved. If it was something she wanted, she made it. That imagination still reigns today, as she sees something she desires, her mind is working overtime to create a prototype of how to make it happen. Over the years, she has evolved with skills, knowledge, talent and tools to do what she does today.

Forever nostalgic and eccentric, Teresa uses a myriad of materials and techniques to make her creations. Polymer clay is her favorite media and her forte. She began working with clay over a decade ago, starting by buying a box of white Sculpy and wondering what to do next. She began by referencing a retired sculpture she had wanted from a catalog. It was a reef scene, and fish by fish, coral by coral and integrating several made-up techniques and materials, she replicated the sculpture with amazing accuracy...her first and proudest piece. From there, she couldn't get enough of polymer clay, acquiring every color and brand she could find, researching how to do a variety of techniques and creating her own. Today she makes virtually anything with it, from earrings, to covered pens, to dragon figurines and miniatures of every type.

She works as a veterinary technician, although her full-time job is taking care of the creature menagerie at home. The menagerie includes, cats, dog, rabbits, turtles, chinchillas, ball python, and various rodents (not food for the snake).

Animals and art are her passions and hopes that you enjoy her works. Her love of retro-80's and early 90's, as well as geekery(because she is one), is where many of her ideas come from. If you want a 1" toilet or a glittered unicorn with mohair, you can count on T! She is eccentric, eclectic and creative and is proud to be one of the Creative Monsters.

Kate Monster

Kate is the original Monster, being dubbed so several years ago while working at Mystickal Voyage with fellow Monster Christine. She is pleased as punch to share her coveted nickname with her friends. Kate has always suffered from an overflow of interests and hobbies. She had dabbled in many eclectic things including drawing, painting, wood carving, candle making, flower pressing, model rocket building, stunt kite flying, doll house building, miniature painting, knitting, cross stitch and all kind of other ridiculous stuff. Out of this mile long buffet of interests crochet and photography have been a constant. Kate makes crocheted oddities like the ubiquitous chicken leg and bunnies with 'staches. She learned to crochet from her Nana and is proud to carry on the tradition, but she definitely marches to her own drummer! Photography is a passion that her Dad shared with her and throughout her childhood he taught her more about cameras and picture taking that she could have learned in any school. She was fortunate to have parents who love to travel. Many times they piled into the "big van" together and took off for weeks, driving across the country. On these extended adventures they visited all kinds of places, from Yellowstone to San Francisco to Disney World to Tombstone. The outcomes of these trips amounted to some 700 images (per trip) shot by Kate and her Dad. Remember, this was before digital cameras. Nowadays Kate is known to shoot 500 images in 60 minutes, especially when she and her husband are on an adventure like their recent trip to London!

Kate lives in a funny little house with her husband Bill and a menagerie of animals. Here is a list:

Cinderella the beagle

Hollyberry the Pit Bull

Mr. Pants the Doxiepoo

Yuki, Cleo, Caesar, Pandora and Jake the ferrets

Rocket and Stormy the Cockatiels

Jeremy, Richard and James the rats

Wendy, Potato, Slimy, Long Brown and Short White the mice

Penguin and Kiwi the foster cats (Please adopt them!)

Kate loves her babies and loves every one else's. As a veterinary technician Kate is glad to be able to help owners understand their pets' needs and assist them in empathizing with them. She also volunteers for Luna's House (lunashouse.org), a beautiful rescue helmed by two amazing and dedicated people. 

When you look at the things that Kate makes, think about the part of herself that she puts into every one of them. Each item, no matter how big or small she makes in hopes that it will bring joy to someone in some way. Her hope is to inspire her customers to appreciate hand made goods in a world dominated by mass production, because there is something that comes with every piece that The Creative Monsters make, lots of love. It sounds cliche, but it's true. 

Thanks for reading, and please check out our Etsy store at thecreativemonsters.etsy.com.

This is the new Creative Monsters blog! Here we will talk about stuff. We will post bios of our members, stories about how and why we make things and generally a little bit about who we are and why we do what we do. We hope that you will enjoy getting to know us and enjoy the crafts that we make for you!