progress and working...

I've been pretty busy working on a variety of different projects as well as restocking more of my plush designs for online and craft shows coming up.  Our soonest craft show will be SummerFair in Carlisle, PA.  We've never been to this show before, but have heard from other people it's worth it.  It will be the largest space we've ever had...20'x20'!  Kinsey and I will be sharing a space, so we'll each have plenty of room for our things.  If you're local to Carlisle, please come out and say hello!  The show is Saturday, July 7th!

Below are some partially finished boy heads (sounds rather disturbing, don't you think?).  After I embroider the facial features, sew everything up, and right before I turn them right side out, I always like to stop and take a look.  I really like how the embroidery looks from the backside with the faces.  You can clearly see the facial details, but it's kind of in a skewed way.  It reminds me a lot of vintage embroidered dolls and how the stitches have begun to fade and warp slightly.  

The next picture (sorry it's a little fuzzy) is of a massive pile of half finished pieces and well, body parts of dolls and animals.  (See the random arms?)  I have a lot of pieces like this around my work space.  I'm starting to try to get it a little more under control and have cleared this pile down significantly.  

This last picture I wanted to share, does NOT include random arms or heads removed from their body.   This is Thomas the Sailor.  He's the newest plush doll in my shop.  I finished him today and not to play favorites, but I like him a lot!   Instead of my usual felt buttons I sew on the shirts, I opted for a hand embroidered anchor emblem.  The colors really pop beautifully!  I actually have done this anchor emblem before on a handful of plushes, but have only sold those at craft shows or at brick and mortar shops.  

What kinds of projects have you been up to lately?

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.)

quick flower tutorial project

I recently made these lovely flowers for my sister in law's birthday.  They are super easy to do, fairly quick, and involve supplies you most likely already have.  

You will need:

*yarn of any color you want for your flowers

*scissors

*glue gun and glue sticks

*small twigs, dowel rods, or other type of "stem" for your flowers

Choose your yarn and wrap the strand around two of your fingers as shown.  You can use three fingers if you'd like - this will make the flower head bigger.  I used two fingers for all of mine.  

Continue wrapping the yarn around your fingers, but not too tightly!  You don't want to lose feeling in your fingers.  I wrapped the yarn about 50 to 75 times around.  Experiment with what outcome you like best.

After wrapping the yarn around your fingers the number of times you want, slide the whole thing off.

Cut off a piece of yarn from the skein that is somewhere between 5 to 8 inches long.  Place the piece of yarn directly under the wrapped yarn pile.  Try to center it the best you can.

Next, tie the piece of yarn tightly around the wrapped yarn pile.  I double knotted it.  

This will pull the yarn together and you will see all these little loops.  Take your scissors and cut through all the loops.

Cut, cut, cut.

You will be left with this crazy looking pom pom.  Take your scissors and keep trimming off pieces of the yarn, making it even all the way around.  You can make it as long or short as you want.  Although, you won't want to cut too much off because you might show the center piece of yarn you knotted. 

Here's a finished example.  

Now you're ready to attach the flower head to the stem.  Twigs, dowel rods, whatever you want.  I used twigs for mine because that's what I had and I liked the idea of mixing the soft yarn with the rustic sticks from nature.  

Here's the finished set.  I displayed them in a glass Ball jar with pieces of brown felt for "dirt".  I wanted the arrangement to look like it was still growing in the ground, although the flowers would look just as good without the felt base.  I just tossed scraps in the bottom and arranged the flowers.  Finally, I  found two vintage buttons and tied a piece of ribbon around the top.  

Perfect, easy, and looks great!  

Now of course, I need to make some for me!

boy meet girl

So it was only a matter of time.  Everyone has been asking and telling me I really need to make one.  And here she is:

Get ready plush boys.  Look for the first girl in the next day!  Available exclusively in the shop.

the ultimate woodsman...

Meet the latest plush fellow in the shop.  

The Lumberjack! 

Likes: flannel shirts, sharp axes, hot (very hot) coffee, watching the sun come up, and the smell of wood

Dislikes: rusty axes, cold coffee, uncomfortable shoes, soggy sandwiches, and hornets

I've been playing with the idea for this plush for a while and recently came across some sketches I made earlier in the year for this outdoors man.  I discovered the red/black plaid fabric in a mystery box of fabric I have in my closet that still has not been probably unpacked from our move almost 3 years ago.  The box mainly contains plaids and thicker fabrics I often don't work with much.  Needless to say, when I came across this swatch of fabric I knew it was time to finally make the lumberjack a reality.  

Now all he needs is a plush axe!

what sound do giraffes make?

I have no idea what the answer to that is.  However, I know I've been working on this giraffe design off and on for a few months.  And here one is...hiding in my sedum.  

And here's another one.  This might be my current favorite fabric I have recently "rediscovered".  I have quite a bit of it as well.  I'm considering maybe using it to craft myself a garment.  We'll see.

Overall, I'm really happy with the final design of these giraffes.  I initially had planned on making them more "giraffe" like - out of yellow fleece with brown spots.  They looked good like that but...one of the main things I like about creating softies is playing with fabric designs.  I love brightly colored and fun printed fabric and these giraffes are a perfect way to show off some great patterns.  Will I ever make a yellow fleece giraffe like I initially envisioned?   I probably will sometime.  But I'm really enjoying using some of my bolder fabrics right now.  

Each giraffe has a few ribbon tabs for their mane and one for their tail.  These mark my first softies that are free standing on their own.  I really wanted the legs to be sturdy and smooth and able to support the body.   And they do.

These will start to be available in my shop this Friday (tomorrow!).  

if you're in Virginia...

Chester, Va to be exact- stop by Handmade Happiness Boutique!  It's a brand new store filled with all kinds of handmade jewelry, art, plush, paper goods, and more.

And it's the new (temporary until they meet a good family!) home of some of my plush elephants, boys, and rocket ships!

I unfortunately have not yet been able to go myself to check out the goodies.  They just opened a few weeks ago.  This store is run by the amazing jewelry designer MaryEllen from Twist Style. 

(Photos by TwistStyle)