experiment #3

An attempt at making a dragon-ish creature. I cut out some shapes and sewed up the belly (which looks pretty Frankenstein-ish on the inside because I don't really know how to make this kind of softie), and then realized I hadn't thought of how to attach any arms or legs.



I made the little heart out of some scrap fleece and added just a bit of tacky glue, then used embroidery floss for a contrasting color.

I like how it came out, I just wish I could figure out a way to attach arms and legs. I suppose I could make more seams (one on either side) but then it starts to get super fancy and I'm the sewer who wants quick, easy, and instant. Hee.

Gifts

I made another robot and an armless stuffie in a more defined shape for a gift. A friend is about to have a baby any day now, and I really need to wrap and send the gifts out ASAP. The armless/legless stuffie was a design I had late at night. A more defined shape is new for me, and I like it. I wish I had made the "ears" smaller so I could fit three on top, but didn't think of that until the thing was all sewn up.

new cards

New Valentine's Day cards in the shop!

so lovely

I'm really impressed with this Etsy seller, Yaelfran. Super neat little things. :) Check out the Yaelfran shop.

Per request

The red stuffie was a specific request by N. He wanted one about the same size as the orange one, whose name is Little Kid Pumpkin stuffie. The orange one was going to be part of the autumn stuffies, but I goofed on one of the arms and had to sew it to the body rather than the arm being a part of the side seam. The small size also made it difficult to get the arms and legs stuffed and sewn to the body without a lot of hassel.

I have a lot of scraps that are too small to make pocket stuffies and too large to discard. This is mostly because I don't measure anything and just eyeball it; then I trim away excess and am left with a pile of usable scraps. But I'm drowning in them. What to do? I stuffed N's red guy with some scraps and it works fairly well as stuffing, although a bit lumpy. I might end up just slicing and cutting the weird sized pieces down so the stuffing is less lumpy. This way I can save the polyfill for stuffies I sell or gift. N doesn't care either way.



This is N's photo of his favorite toys--Rabbit is a Gund toy given to me by my sister when I was a freshman in college. It's become N's favorite toy, which isn't a surprise since I tucked it in his crib with him as soon as he was old enough to sleep with stuffed toys. And N, like a lot of people today, loves the digital camera. He just loves the instant view of the picture he's just taken--and he doesn't really care that it's blurry. :)

thank yous

HIPPO HOPPYDAYS!

This was the primary card sent to friends and family for the holidays. The thing around the hippo's neck was some sparkly ribbon/fiber thing I picked up at Pier 1 of all places. My husband came up with the grinnable greeting, and I just happened to have the Rubber Soul hippo and other stamps... and I just really like the periwinkle color for hippos.

My sister bought me these sign language stamps for xmas, and I came up with these "thanks" cards using scraps in my scrap bin.


Then I used my circle "thank you" stamp and some other dots.


And then I got a little tired of using the pale blue base cardstock.


I like this sheep, part of the Rubber Soul self-adhesive clear stamps. I have the giraffe and the chameleon, but wanted the sheep and aligator and lion, so thought this set was the way to go.



I'm still not out of my cardmaking slump. Everything I make feels really really simple. Using 3-D embellishments on the cards makes it difficult to send through the mail--I'd recommend using a small padded envelope, which adds to overall cost. So, dunno. I love all the scrapbooking doodads and embellishments and printed papers, but don't really have any use for them. and I'm always thinking of designs for stamps I don't own.

And then my large 1.25" square punch broke. And I use that thing a lot!