What I've Been Up To

I think I may have mentioned that I was in a bit of a crafting slump about a week ago. I had so many projects to do, but just no motivation to make anything. Not being able to create led me to become very depressed and I just didn't see an end in sight. I'm happy to report that the slump is over, and I'm crafting again! I'm not working at the furious pace I had been for several months, and that's probably a good thing because I believe that's what led to my burnout. Emotionally, I feel happy lately and I'm very optimistic about life. I've not felt this way for . . . well I really can't remember feeling this way. I've made some positive changes in my personal life and I'm moving forward. I also have a second job interview for a position with a company that I really really want. I'm very hopeful about my prospects as I have many years of experience doing this type of work. On to what I've been making recently.

I procured several rolls of fleece remnants from the remnant basket at Hobby Lobby recently. I'd never really worked with fleece before, but enjoyed making plushies out of it simply because it's so soft and snuggly. I ran across a tutorial on deviantART the other day about how to make fleece hats. It looked simple enough, so I drew a similar pattern to the one the artist used (I don't have easy access to a printer so I just drew the pattern free hand). Due to my hands-on learning style, it's difficult for me to follow written tutorials. I just really have to do the whole trial and error method when creating. So I did what I thought would work, and hand sewed my first felt hat! It came out a little wonky because my pattern wasn't accurate. I decided to add bunny ears and a kawaii face to it. Here is the finished product.

I did a little more research on the pattern because I wanted to make one for my friend, Ruby, to send her as a part of the Kawaii Swap we're participating in on Cut Out + Keep.  I found a pattern somewhere on the web that was made by using all these metric measurements.  Since I'm horrible at following directions and doing Math, it took me a little while to draw up the pattern, but I finally did it!  This time the hat came out more uniform.  I made a duck because that's Ruby's favorite animal.

I wasn't lazy this go around, so I added a brim to make it look finished.  It took me all day because again I only sew by hand, but I'm very pleased with the results.  I've still got one or two more projects to do for this swap, but I've not settled on an idea or ideas yet.

I have so much more on my list of things to do!  Since I lost about a week and a half due to my slump; I'm behind.  I have two t-shirts to stencil, an ornament swap to work on (I have one of six completed), a pair of earrings to make, and a blog feature to write.  I'm trying my best not to become overwhelmed, especially with the job interview coming up tomorrow.  I guess it's off to work on my list now!

It Was A Happy Halloween!

I'm the third zombie from the left.

Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday, but unfortunately the past few years have been pretty lackluster because I didn't really have anyone to celebrate it with. This year was the best Halloween I've had in a long time! First, I got out of my creative slump and made a pumpkin plushie for my niece (see previous post) which she loved. While playing JMKit's Halloween game, which was released yesterday, I noticed that I make a cameo as a zombie at the end (see picture above). How awesome is that? To be featured in a game made by your favorite artist is really an honor, and as a zombie nonetheless! Finally, I spent the evening making cute little Halloween treat bags with my friend Jason. I hadn't seen Jason in several years and we had tons of laughs while catching up. He just bought a new home and this was his first year handing out treats to the neighborhood kids and I was glad to help out. I didn't wear a costume, but wore a $5 tee I bought at Walmart that had a rib cage and a stitched up heart on it. My monster hoodie came in handy as the night got colder. I did get a little freaked out at one point during the night. The street was free of trick or treaters and I looked up and saw Michael Myers lumbering down the street. He stopped in the middle of the street and turned around and stared at us for a few seconds. The costume was really good, so I was a bit uneasy for a few minutes. lol Even though I didn't get all dressed up and attend any parties, I still had a great time! Thanks to my great friends and Michael Myers for making this a very memorable Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin plushie I made for my niece, Allie, for Halloween this year.

Here's wishing all of you a very happy and safe Halloween!

The Shark Hoodie

I'm super stoked about this creation! I received a request in my House of Plush Etsy shop the other day from a customer who wanted a shark hoodie as a Halloween costume similar to the monster hoodie I currently have listed. At first, I wasn't going to take the order because of my lack of confidence in my abilities, especially when it came to making the fin. While mulling it over, I googled "shark hoodie" to kind of get an idea of how this thing was supposed to look and I found a tutorial for a children's shark hoodie by Martha Stewart. Her instructions on how to attach the fin made of "industrial felt" (which I had never heard of) did not help me in the least, but I found her templates for the eyes and fin to be quite useful (I referenced it while making the eyes and fin for this hoodie).  

After discussing it with the customer, I finally committed to making it, but let her know that if I encountered any problems with the fin; I'd let her know immediately so she could make other arrangements for Halloween.  I went shopping for supplies the following day and was thrilled to find the illusive industrial felt that Ms. Stewart had mentioned in her tutorial.  It was a different color grey than the hoodie, so I sewed regular charcoal colored felt on each side of the industrial felt to make sure the fin had a more uniform look when attached to the hoodie.

I wanted to find a way for the customer to be able to attach and remove the fin easily.  Velcro seemed to be the easiest answer, but would be really noticeable if the customer wasn't wearing the fin.  I opted for sew on metal snaps instead and they worked really well!

I shipped the shark hoodie off yesterday and I can't wait to hear back from my customer!  I've already gotten a lot of positive feedback on this project from friends and family.  I hope my customer is as thrilled with the results as I am!

If you'd like me to make you a custom shark, monster, or creature hoodie, feel free to contact me and we'll work it out!

So Busy!

I'm so busy today, but I'm excited about it! I have lots of commissions to do in addition to a swap for Cut Out + Keep. I got an early start this morning and I'm halfway done with a commission/art trade with my good friend Sugarlishes. I asked her to make an Emmers the bunny plushie for me and in return I am making Adventure Time plushies for her. Here is Finn, a work in progress, and Jake, completed.

Next I'll be working on three plush Christmas ornaments for my dA pal, Ruthie. I also have two stenciled t-shirt commissions to complete on top of that! It really feels good to have people think so much of my crafts that they have commissioned me!

I'm Stoked!

As many of you know, I've been severely depressed for almost a year now. I've been spending a lot of time on deviantART lately and just a couple of days ago I came across the most amazing artist: this_is_nati. Natalia is from Puerto Rico and is beaming with talent! The art pictured above really caught my eye, not only for the colorful random goodness exploding from the girl's head, but because the title of it is "Happy Thoughts." I've not been having too many of those lately, but this picture made me smile.

One of my fellow dA friends decided that I had to have this piece of art, so he purchased it for me. I was so happy, I about cried! But that's not all of it! Natalia was giving away a drawing to her 2000th viewer, which just happened to be me! She asked what I would like incorporated into my drawing and I said, "bunnies, robots, and rockets." (She also has an affinity for robots.)

So needless to say, I'm very happy with these recent fortunate events! I will cherish Natalia's art forever and be ever so grateful to my friend for buying me the print that I coveted.

EDIT: I didn't expect to receive Natalia's kiriban drawing so soon, but I just got it a couple of hours ago! It's titled "And Away We Go." Here it is, and it's fabulous!




Much love,