She Sells Sea Shells down by the Seashore

On Sunday I went to down the shore like every good Philadelphian does. One of my favorite things to do while I'm there, besides winning cheap toys from crane machines and eating ice cream, is collecting shells. The only problem with collecting shells is that then you have to do something with them. Usually I would just abandon my pile of my shells somewhere on the beach and do it all over again the next day, but not this year.  This year I decided, after seeing so much beached themed decor that I would make something from them. I haven't started yet but here is what I have to work with.

Well categorized shells.

Spirals! 

Little babies. 

Tiny house.

Shells are just so pretty, I want to see if I can't keep some around. I'm just wary of making something tacky. Speaking of tacky: 

Speaks for itself. 

Excuses!

The funny thing about depression, if there is a truly "funny" thing about it, is that you know there are a million things you could be doing to feel less down in the dumps and yet you prefer to sit on the couch watching Adventure Time thinking "Princess Bubble Gum is kind of a bitch!" Any way, over the last week I felt sorta blue, not for any real reason,  but just because I was due for a bout of pouty grumpiness. Because of this period of the mopes I hadn't had the mental energy to make anything and so this blog suffered. I apologize and as an "I'm sorry" here is a picture of a small needle work pig.

If you can't tell I think pigs are really cute.

I've improved upon whatever technique I had used to make the Jelly Fish piece I made. I was able to do this fairly quickly, say within the span of an hour. So naturally I made another one.

Blub blub, I'm happy to be alive. 

Making these makes me feel like a printer. Line by line, tiny little X by X the picture went together. I really liked doing these. They were simple and fun, so naturally I then made one that made me not want to make anymore.

"Blargh I have nothing to do with the previous cute animals" 

Those snakes were a real pain.

As soon as a buy more thread, as all of these were made from the colors I left over, and pick up more fabric I'll probably do some more animals. Maybe a hippo. A hippo would be cute. Hope you enjoyed these little babies.

Ogre Anthony

The very first plush I made was inspired by something fairly important to me, artist Anthony Briglia (who happens to be my boyfriend, but whatever.) Mr. Briglia has a very distinct look about him, in some ways he's already a cartoon version of himself, so it was easy to make a plush based off his lovely mug. And as a bonus, he didn't think it was creepy that I made a large doll version of him.

The Handsome Devil sitting on my messy bed.

Ogre Belly Button! 

He gives great hugs.

Ogre Anthony, as I call him, was such  a fun learning experience. For awhile I was constantly adding to him to make him look more and more like the original Anthony. I gave him big cheeks, two rows of yarn hair and perfected his nose. He's a perfect pillow to cuddle with and his arms are floppy enough to throw over your shoulders. Granted real Anthony has legs and a natural skin tone, but here. You tell me you don't see a resemblance!