Showing posts with label elephants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elephants. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2012

the words and stories



Here are the two "about stories" I wrote to accompany my plushes in Stuffed Magazine's Summer 2012 issue.  


Eben and Ella (Ellie Friends)

(Picture from our trip to Acadia National Park at our cabin in the woods)

Eben and Ella are husband and wife.  They live in a small and secluded valley where no other elephants live for miles around. This is okay with them because they prefer to be by themselves.  Their house is a lovely, cozy, stone structure that is in a small grove of sycamore trees. 

Ella enjoys tending her extensive flower garden behind their home.  She spends her winters studying new plant species and in the spring, she’s always trying new varieties. She loves plants that can grow tall and are very colorful.  Her perfect way to spend a day is with a nice pot of Oolong tea, a good gardening book, and her planting trowel within reach.  She is also an avid quilter and creates her own flower motifs for her pieced designs.

Eben spends his days making furniture from trees in the nearby forest.  This forest is one that was planted by his great grandfather and Eben plants three trees for the one he cuts down.  He has a small mill not too far away from Ella’s flower garden, so they can talk and break for tea together in the afternoons.  Eben has quite a collection of beautifully made furniture and every so often, he opens the mill for a special sale, which brings in animals from all over the valley.

Olive and Ethan (Twin Boys)

(Picture from our trip to Acadia National Park on Sand Beach)

Olive and Ethan are twins that live in a small coastal village on a small island in Maine.  They come from a long line of lobstermen, starting back with their great-great-great-great grandfather. The brothers have a lot of similar interests, like the sea, flying kites, and watching seabirds.  They often spend time together exploring the island, but also like to pursue their own hobbies. 

Olive never goes outside without his lucky orange scarf, even in the summer.  He can usually be found down at the harbor watching boats sail by.  He hopes to one day have a small boat of his own and already has the perfect orange and blue paint picked out for it.  Olive often thinks of sailing around the neighboring islands and looking at all the sea life beneath the surface. His current under the sea fascination are jellyfish and he’s keeping a log of all the different species he finds.  When not dreaming of sailing, Olive can be found playing in the village park or enjoying some honey brioche doughnuts from his favorite bakery. 

Ethan’s favorite color is blue.  He can usually be found, like Olive, down at the harbor.  Ethan usually stays along the quiet side and combs the shore for beach rocks and small pieces of driftwood.  He has quite a collection and hopes to one day display his findings in the small village historical museum run by his grandfather.  Ethan makes sculptures from the broken pieces of rocks he finds and sells them at the old general store. When not at the beach, Ethan can be found at the library, reading about his favorite animal, puffins.


Hope you like them!


Thursday, June 28, 2012

published in stuffed magazine summer 2012!

Back in this post in February, I talked about sending my box of plush toys to Stuffed Magazine to be considered for an issue.  Well, the Summer 2012 issue is finally out!    

Near the beginning of the magazine (pages 14 and 15 to be exact) are Olive and Ethan.  These two were my first ever "good" attempts at making plush people.  I literally made these two days before I sent off my package.  I wanted to try out a doll, but was having a hard time getting it perfect and finding a good fabric for the faces.  I hand embroidered the facial features and need a fabric that can handle being poked with a needle and doesn't show through.  I actually have since making these two, changed to a different face fabric.  Very similar in color, but the new fabric is much softer and easier to work with.  (FYI: All the plush people in my shop are made with the newer fabric.)

When your work is chosen for publication in Stuffed, you are responsible for writing everything in your article.  This was really fun and gave me a chance to really personalize Olive and Ethan.  My article about them was centered around the coast of Maine (surprise, surprise) and even mentioned one of Kinsey's favorite treats we had in Maine: honey brioche doughnuts! (We get them at the best bakery in the entire world, Morning Glory Bakery in Bar Harbor. )  


A little further back in the magazine, are my plush elephants.  This story was about Eben and Ella (husband and wife, of course) and included all kinds of things I like: a house in the woods, gardening, drinking tea, reading, making furniture, and drinking lemonade with your husband.
I love how they posed Eben and Ella in this shot! 


Here's Ella (very similiar to the one featured in Stuffed- same name but slightly different clothes) checking out her relatives in the magazine.


I'm thrilled to be included (twice!) in this issue and am looking forward to submitting again!  If you have any interest in soft toys or plush sculpture, this is a wonderful magazine to check out!  
(I'll be posting the small stories for each I wrote in the next few days.)



Friday, May 11, 2012

that's a lot of boys....and elephants



I spent the better part of last week working on filling some orders for a few new stores.  I sold almost all of the boys, elephants, and rockets at my last craft show, so I needed to make more.  A lot more.
These pictures are just a small fraction of what all I made (and don't even show many elephants or the new rocket ships!), but it gets the idea across.
Luckily, I made some extras for my shop which I started to list new things in yesterday and today.  


Yesterday,  Kinsey and I dropped off some of my plushes at a shop in Reading, PA called Hello Bluebird.  I had known about the store for some time, but never was in it before.  I would highly recommend stopping in if you're ever in the area.  They have some really beautiful and fun things for sale.  I think we could have bought half the shop if we were able to afford it!  Also, some of my plushes will be for sale at the Hello Bluebird table at this weekend's Art Star Craft Bazaar.  This is a wonderful show and I hope to someday be a vendor here.  We're planning on stopping by one of the days and are looking forward to all the awesome things we'll see!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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.



Thursday, November 24, 2011

early christmas softie sale


In the spirit of the crazy Black Friday/Cyber Monday/ beginning of Christmas shopping craze.....


Plush Sale!  Now through Friday, December 9th:  All owl and elephant plush are on sale!  Owls are $17.50 and elephants are $21.50!  

New owls and elephants to be listing throughout this sale.


The owl above, Owen, is one of my newest owls I made.  I've had this fabric for about a year, but never knew what to use it for.  It's pretty busy as a whole, but broken into smaller sections, it's really quite eye catching and playful.  


This owl, Denise, is from the other batch of Denyse Schmidt fabric I got from Jo-Ann. Here's the other fabric.


And don't forgot about the elephants!  This take longer for me to make, so I can't make as many as the owls.  But I love their movable arms and trunks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Owls and Elephants and Animals....Oh my!

 

If you've checked out my shop recently, you've no doubt noticed I've been making some plush toys.  A LOT of plush toys.  I'm currently featuring plush owls and plush elephants, but am currently working on more or less  3 other designs of animals.  I really like the idea of making functional art and craft that can be played with, used, or just displayed.  (Not that the clutches I make can't be used, but they will never be as fun to play with as a plush animal.)


Each animal is listed in the shop with a name and a little bit about him or her.  


Above is Oliver.  He is now in California where his new owner is feeding his hot cocoa addiction.  


This is Elise.  Her hobbies include painting, drinking jasmine green tea, an finding vintage jewelry at thrift shops.



This is Olivia.  I found her belly fabric at Jo-Anns and it belongs to the Densye Schmidt line.  I used this fabric as soon as I got home, which is saying quite a bit.  I have a ton of fabric and find that I usually "reserve" my really great fabric for certain well planned out projects that may or may not ever happen.  I'm hoping to use some of this fabric for a quilt (the same quilt I've been saying I'm making for over a  year now), but couldn't resist making a few owls with this pattern.

Oh, and I'll be announcing my Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Two Week Special sale on Thanksgiving.   Get ready.