I just finished ( in the nick of time) my entry for the Recycled Inspiration contest for the deviantART Artisan Craft community. I like the way he turned out, I worked on him semi-frantically because I am starting my new job today and I wanted to get him done before that. He is inspired by Russian Folk Art and his recycled bits are his face and arm bands that I got from a thrifted pillow case.

Loookie what I found in the remnants basket at JoAnns! Isn’t it precious? I think I got about 1/2 a yard, not exactly sure. I have no idea what I am going to use it for yet, but damn, if it isn’t adorable! I think I might cut the little individual candies and snacks out and sew them onto a bag or something. Or make mini plushes out of them… Ahh that would be so cute! Anyway.

Another sweet find at JoAnns… this pack of I guess quilting fabric.. but such great patterns and all five for four bucks! It was 75% off.. :D I love sales! Again, I have no idea what I am going to do with them, but it is good to have options! <3

Lastly, the best find YET! I have be searching HIGH and LOW, both in person and online for these eyes. I can only buy black, brown and sometimes green cat eyes at JoAnns. I happened upon a little fabric store near my new place of employment the other day called Buttons and Bolts. Here I discovered all these different types of eyes! They were more expensive than I expected ( $1.99 for one set + a nose ) but these colors are SO hard to find. I have been craving those pink and red ones for SO LONG.. I bought two sets of them (which was all they had). I’m really excited. I’ve already reserved the big yellow cat-eyed ones for a commission I am getting ready to start soonish, but I cannot wait to use the pink ones. Those ones came with pink noses too. So cute.

All and all, much goodness from last week.

I just finished my first commission, for my friend Fred… who is actually having it sent to a friend of his for her birthday. He wanted it in the style of my Baby Monsters and blue. This is what I came up with:

I’m also working on another commission right now that I got through deviantART, from a picture that the girl drew. It should be interesting and challenging and I hope it comes out well. I also sold another plush on Etsy last night, so I’m in an overall good mood. Plush business is going well and I am having such a good time making them. I really want to go to a craft fair and have a booth, but Ravi pointed out that I really don’t have a big enough stock pile of plushies to do that yet. And if and when that happens I want to develop a few other items to sell along with the plushies so my wares are more rounded and have a wider appeal.

No word yet from Plush You. But do check out the blog there, because she posts incoming applicants now and then and they are always awesome. Also, another place to enjoy random plushies is Softies Central. Her themed posts are really fun. It keeps me plush-sated at any rate.

Now for the Sadness… I miss my dogs soooooooooooo much! In case you didn’t know, which is likely, I’m in the process of getting a divorce. One of our dogs, Tofu, is like mine and my husbands child. I had him with me for some time, but now my husband has him. We are taking turns, usually several months at a time, keeping him. He is my little heart and soul. He is the best dog I have ever had, and I just ache with how much I miss him. I also have another dog, Dingo (who was sort of my graduation present to myself). Unfortunately, he has potty training problems, so I can’t have him with me where I am living right now. He is staying with my mom, who has a chihuahua named Osito and my brothers pitbull, Sydnie and a huge backyard. So I don’t feel so bad, because I know he is happy there… but well… he is pretty bonded to me. I was unemployed when I got him, so from the time he was 5-weeks up until he was several months

he spent nearly all day with me. In any case, they are my babies and I miss them dearly. I was in Phoenix on Wednesday and I spent the day with them.. I took them to the dog park and they romped about and had a good time. On to the peektures!

SO.

I got a Daily Deviation on deviantART last Thursday and as a result I sold three of my plushies, which was super exciting and I really really needed the money so that was super helpful. The DD was on my Baby Tripod Monster, which I sold already, but he was definitely one of my favorite ones.

I really wish I knew how to knit. Namely because I want to buy this kit and make the scarf:

Isn’t that awesome??! Someone teach me how to knit!

Here is my latest plush! This one was made partially using the sewing machine, granted a lot of hand stitching did go into it, but at least I am starting to get the hang of the damn machine. I have actually had this one part-way done for a week or two and like usual, it just took me ages to finish it. I have been messing around with the sewing machine for the last week or so, too… which is why I didn’t really work on this one. Anyway, she’ll be in my etsy shop shortly.

I thought it would be fun to have an “in progress” photo of one of my plushies, so here is the latest guy. This one is completely sewn by machine thus far. The bobbin ran out of thread, which is why I didn’t finish it yet. I am too lazy to wind a new bobbin right now, but this one should be done some time tomorrow.

And omgwtf… check out Pookie&Fig on flickr, who is making the cutest birds known to man:

I love love love this one. I want it so bad, isn’t it adorable?! So inspiring. I have been wanting to do some birds for a while now, and this just makes me want to do them more.

omfg. a blog all about cupcakes. wtf. so awesome.

And it makes me sad at the same time because I am currently on a cupcake making and eating restriction ( :sniff: ) because I have started to get round around the middle again.. and I am trying not to eat so many sweet, delicious, scrumptious, wonderful, heart-lifting, happy things so that I don’t gain all the weight I lost back. But damn! I love cupcakes! I love cupcakes. I love cupcakes.

:(

On a cuter note:
Isnt Mishri a doll? He is such a sweetie-pot-pie.

Oh, oh.. so.. I have a flickr account, but I have like no friends on it. Sooo.. add me and I will add you back! Wheee, let be flickry pals, yes?

I finished the big plush monster! This was actually about a week ago… he is so very cuddly. Coincidently, he is available for sale in my etsy shop.

In other news, I read through the last few posts I made and noticed several silly typos here and there. I really do need to read this shit more throughly before I hit the “publish” button. Oh well.

Me and the sewing machine are slowly (very, very slowly) learning to become friends. Ravi just decided he’d try to figure it out one day and started messing with it ( :| <- angry face ) and so then I decided I would try my hand at it too. We've gotten it to sew... sort of. I wish I had someone to teach me because the stuff I have tried to sew with it thus far has looked rather shitty. But I guess these kinds of things require practice. It really would speed up my projects though. Not that I don't love hand stitching, because I totally do, but if I want to get my stuff out more readily and have a nice selection on my shop I really ought to learn to use this thing. And besides, what sort of crafter doesn't know how to use a sewing machine, hmmm? Oh... and if you haven't already seen this, you must check it out:

Wheeeeee! Sunday, I got my birdie! He is a Fisher’s Lovebird and his name is Mishri Javi! Isn’t he sweet? He is about three months old and he is going to be my new inspiration. I have been thinking about doing a bird plushie series, so that is in the near future…

A few more photos:

In other news, I have RSS feed to lots of plushie blogs and yet I can still clear my google reader out every night. I need more blogs! If anyone has a plush or crafting blog or knows a good one please comment with the address so I can read it. Me + blogs = luuurrvve… Damn you Ravi for getting me addicted.

Oh oh, and check out Rare Bird Finds for some really adorable stuff for super cheap! I really want the Frog Coin Purse. So cute.