my soft toys are going to be published!

Remember not too long ago when I talked about sending my box of soft toys off to Stuffed magazine?

I just found out today that my elephants and twin boys will be published in the upcoming issue!  The elephants will featured in one article and the boys in a second article!  I'm so excited about seeing them in print!  It will be a little while though...the next issue won't be out until July 1st.

Can't wait!

In the meantime, I've been working on getting my craft room in order and finally had time to make a few new elephants.  Here's the first one that I just listed in the shop.

the picture ledge is up....

The other weekend, Kinsey and I finally got around to putting something on the space above our bed.  We have two fabric panels on each side of our bed for a few reasons.  The previous owners' had a floor to ceiling curtain along this entire wall and they left that massive curtain hook in place.   I didn't like the whole wall being covered, but it did bring a major focus of the otherwise large and long room to the bed wall.  We also have a built in air conditioner unit to the right hand side of the bed.  We both hate how this looks and haven't used it in the 2.5 years we've been here.  I suppose we have either a high tolerance for heat or it hasn't really been super hot.  Or we might be crazy.  (It has gotten rather uncomfortable upstairs a few nights a year and we opted instead to set up camp downstairs in the living room.  This might seem crazy to some, but it's actually a fun change.  And our cooling bill in the summer is quite low.  We aren't full on crazy though, we do have a portable tower fan and a ceiling fan in the living room.)

Anyhow, the curtain panels serve mainly to block the unsightly air conditioner unit.  The large empty space in the middle has always bothered me a little.  

We purchased two of the Ribba picture ledges probably over 6 months ago or longer.  They just sat to the side of the bedroom waiting to be used.  We initially wanted to have them stacked two high behind our bed, but realized that we didn't have enough room to do that.  So we opted for just one.  (The second Ribba ledge still sits, waiting for its turn.)

This took all of about three minutes to hang.  Of course, it made us wonder why we've waited so long.

I just randomly threw some objects up on the ledge for now and will probably frequently change things out.  I was thrilled to finally have somewhere to properly display my fabric plush trees I got for Christmas a few years back from Kinsey.  The print beside the trees, is of Maymont Park in Richmond (one of our favorite places!)  by Art Shark.  

The lion/man/eskimo type print is from the wonderful company, Sukie.  The little bear card is from laura george.

off they go to stuffed!

I don't think I've ever mentioned before on the blog about Stuffed Magazine.  If you're not familiar with Stuffed and you're a fan of soft toys, you really should check it out.  

I found it (well, actually Kinsey found it) at my local Jo-Anns in the late summer of 2011.  I was just getting into making more soft toys and it seemed interesting, although I wasn't sure at first.  It was $14.99 which I usually feel is a little high for a magazine and I wasn't a fan of everything featured, but Kinsey persuaded me to get it anyway.   It wasn't a cheaply, thin made magazine, but had some volume to its size.  Once getting the issue home and looking through it, I immediately was very inspired to try all kinds of soft toys.  The photography in the magazine is wonderful and they list websites for the artists included in the magazine.  I spent a lot of time looking at the work of new plush artists I discovered through Stuffed.  

This past week, I did two major things revolving around this magazine.  The first thing was I purchased the last remaining issue I didn't own through Ebay.  So in just about 6 months since discovering it, I own all 7 issues of Stuffed (they publish twice a year).  

The second thing was I submitted some of my own plush toys for possible publication in the next issue! They take open submissions and the deadline for the summer 2012 was just a few days ago.  I have no idea if my plush toys will get chosen to be in the magazine, but I'm so excited to see what happens!  It will be while until I know anything, but I'm happy I gave it a shot.  This was my box of plush I sent:

As you can see, I sent 2 elephants, 1 rocket ship, and 2 boys.  The boy plush are my newest design and I'm really excited about how they turned out.  The only bad part was that these were my first two I made and I had to ship them out right after I finished making them!  Here's a closer shot of them:

The good news is, I just listed a new plush boy in my shop!  Meet Ethan here!

you + me...things for valentine's day

Here's a quick sampling of a few things in my shop and Kinsey's that would be perfect gifts for Valentine's Day (if you're into giving gifts on that day and everything).

#1: Jellys in Love Embroidered Wall Art Hoop

They're holding tentacles and seem to like each other quite a bit!

#2- My Wife is the Best Giclee Print

What more can you say?

#3- We Are Better Together Giclee Print

Great colors and very fun.

coming soon....

Hard at work finishing up the final version of these boy plushes.  They are the very first "human" plush I've done and so far I'm pleased with the results.  Here's a quick peek at how they are shaping up.

Look for them soon!  

new clutches....

I recently took a little break from making plush toys and went back to sewing clutches.  I used to make almost solely clutches, which usually included trees and grassy hills.  I still make them, but not as much.   However, once I made one of these, I knew I had to make more.

The fabric that lines the clutches is one that I've had for quite a while.  Kinsey saw it at our local fabric outlet and thought we should get at least 2 yards (I think it was really cheaply priced...maybe $1.98 a yard?).  I wasn't quite into the colors and wasn't sure, but I went ahead and got a few yards.  It sat untouched for some time.  Then I found it again.  And loved it.  Moral: Always listen to your husband in the fabric store even if you think his selection is a little off.  (Kinsey always picks out great prints, even if I don't think much of them at the time.)

I really like the off center jellyfish next to the small fabric circles and french knots.  These clutches just came together really fast and quite beautifully.  I'll be keeping one for myself.

I've done jellyfish clutches before, but these really stand out to me.  These are currently available in the shop.

good reads continue

Last year, I decided to keep track of what books I read for the entire year.  This was for no real reason other than to see what types of books I typically read.  I included only novels/"book" books.  I read a number of guides, cookbooks, travel things, etc over the year, but did not include them in my count.  Overall, I made out at 32.  I had no idea what number to expect to read, but I think this is a pretty level number.

I've decided to try the same thing for 2012.  I'm already at 3 (in the second week!), mainly because I really liked these books and read them rather fast.

1-Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned From Eric Walton - Mary McDonough

2- Start Something That Matters - Blake Mycoskie

3- Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor- Jana Riess

I'll be listing them as I read them under the "book" tab.