Going Buggy!

Ah!  This post is so late overdue, that the children have already received their stuffed animals made for them and really liked them! Except the child who got the puppysaur; apparently he played with it for a minute and then could not care any less about it. I guess a little boy of three cannot be blamed for his attention span, but still I have the urge to find him, take back the toy and then stick my tongue out at him. Oh well!

This post is for the stuffed animal I made for a two year old girl. I finished it two days before Christmas because, as I've previously mentioned, I waited too long and have only myself to blame. Somewhere I thought in the back of my head that a shorter deadline would make me work faster. It did not.

So for the two year old I made her her very own lady bug. Can you dig it?

I did the belly first by sewing two pieces together and stuffing them just a little so when I made the lines on the abdomen it looked like a bug belly. I'm sure the little girl appreciated the realism. I used paint on the eyes so there were no choking hazards and glued the mouth on since it was too thin to sew and like I said I only had two days. 

This project's done but lord help me there will be more to come! 

Mew Mew the Blue Winged Kitty Cat

The title of this blog is supposed to be a play on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The fact that I'm explaining that to you readers is testimonial to how threadbare the reference is. THEY CAN'T ALL BE WINNERS!

This is the third plush I made for my aunt's order for Christmas and it's another hybrid animal. This one is for a little girl and luckily for her, I didn't prick my fingers while making it so there's no blood on it! yay! Blood free toys.

I'm a little off today. Can you tell? Oh well.

Meow meow, I can fly.

One of the limitations I had on making these toys is that there couldn't be any buttons in case one of the kids gnawed it off and tried to eat it. So for the eyes I used fabric paint and for the nose and cheeks I used fabric glue. Using new materials was fun especially since they made things go by a little faster. 

Okay well just finished the other toy as well so keep your eyes peeled! 

A Monster Undertaking

I mentioned a while back (in this post) that my aunt had asked me to make her four plushes. At the time I was working as a part time secretary with ample time on my hands to do whatever. That lucky, lazy, in the past me. I now have a full time job at a school so I've really let this project drag on. To date I have three finished and with only a week left to finish the last one. Damn it, even typing that is making me panic. ANYWAY the second one I did was also for a little boy, though a bit older than the child getting the Puppy-saur.

Who wants a hug? 

Bring it in, bro. 

This is the hug monster. He's shaped like a pillow and a darn soft. His big arms are great for giving a monster hug or for smacking around any bad monsters you might have lurking under your bed. Once again, I hope this kid likes this. It's hard to make things for children I've only met once before. The next set is for two girls as soon as the fabric paint dries on the one I'll have it up. 

Why did I take on this many projects? I still have two other gifts to make for people. Am I insane? I'm insane. I'm tired and insane! 

Puppysaurus Rex!

At some point this year my Aunt Linda asked me to make her 4 stuffed animals for her 4 young great nephews and nieces. Having a recipient in mind always helps inspire what I make. Nothing can help you get your ideas off the ground than imaging how to make someone else love your product. So what could I make to make these little kids squeal with joy?

Like my Snail Pig I started this project with another animal mash-up. For the first little boy I combined the cute fuzziness of a puppy with the terrifying awesomeness of a T-Rex. Meet the puppysaur!

He's a little top heavy.

Razor sharp plushy fangs

I hope when the time comes, this kid loves Puppysaur and that all my stitching can survive a 3 year old dragging it around by one of his little ineffectual arms. Eventually I would like to get a small dog tag saying "rex" to go on the his collar but one of the hindrances in this project has been not adding any elements a child could potentially kill itself with so no metal tag or choke-able button eyes. But that doesn't mean this hybrid won't be able to chase away a bad dream or a ...man, I don't even know what other toys kids play with anymore!

Creatures for sale!

I've lived in my suburban neighborhood for close to, god, 4 years now? I used to have no urge to explore the center of town or check out any of the stores there mostly because I missed the city. So it stands to reason why in all this time I've never been inside Hobbs. Hobbs is a coffee/cafe type of place. Aside from being freaking adorable inside it had a shelf of locally made items. This was my chance. I talked to the very excitable man behind the counter named Salvatore and a week later I was lugging a suit case filled with three of my plush creatures to Hobbs to be sold. Woo!

The awesome sign that I wish I could take credit for made by Salvatore. 

YAY! 

Salvatore working behind the counter.

So if you're just dying for one of these cuties they're on sale at Hobbs Cafe in Swarthmore next to the train station. While you're there you can get some coffee, eat a sandwich, ya' know chill out.  You can also buy what looks to be home made hot sauce and jams there as well, I mean, if you're into that type of thing.

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!

Snail Pig Update!

A while back I posted the picture of an amorphous blog that I said I would turn into a creature that would be part pig part snail. You can look at snail-pig's start here. Today I finally sewed on it's little button eyes bringing the project to an end. A freaking adorable end. I intend to sell my creations but I'm certainly going to have a hard time letting this one go (to some kid who will never love it like I do...) 

Hello cutie 

Snail pig is not only freaking cute but it's really soft making my attachement to it even more pronounced. I'd like to make more animal combinations, next on my agenda is a Puppy/Dinosaur. Puppysaur... dino puppy whichever you prefer really! 

Shapes and Mis-Shapes

Plushes are always a challenge. I love to make different creatures, most of which are inspired by illustrations by Anthony Briglia, but my hate for measuring and taking my time is directly in conflict with having them turn out "perfect." So through trial and error I'm able to find out how to make certain shapes by cutting out different shapes and sewing them together. The first creature I made is comprised of four main shapes and was a great learning experience. Meet the Ele-fly:

His little tongue and smile. 

I like fluffy butts and I cannot lie! 

Slightly risque pose. 

If look closely you can see all the seams on this one so it took a lot of shapes to make uh... more shapes. Now granted this is the first one I made with so many parts put together so it's head is a wee bit off center and maybe one foot is bigger than the other but all in all I'm proud of what I was able to make by just eyeballin' it like the professionals. Measure never and cut as many times as it takes you!

My Very Own Brain slug

My most recently finished Plush started as most of my plushes do; a blob of a shape. I then decide whether or not I'm inspired by what I've begun to make or if I need to rip it apart and mutter swear words under my breath. After finishing this lil' one I stood back, tilted my head and thought "It looks like a brain slug." Like those pictured here:

As seen on Futrama

But I thought I'd add some details and make it my own also I'm not confident enough on how copyright laws  work.

"Gauurrhh I'm kind of adorable!" 

He's teething

I spend a lot of my time with my plushes. Because I hand stitch them it takes me a couple of afternoons before I finish them. I also have a hard time ending the project. I'll be done, look at them and think "Holy crap! He needs horns, HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO BLIND!" This way, every plush I make looks how I want it to, a little something extra added to them. For not this little guy's gonna be sitting up here, 

That is until I start an Etsy account where I will be selling this lil' dude along with some of his friends! So sit down with your partner and start thinking about adopting a Plush. 

SNAIL PIG!

I briefly mentioned in my last post that from time to time I like to make plush monsters. I've made three now and today I started on my fourth. Like the other's this one's imagining was helped in part by illustrator Anthony Briglia, who is also my boyfriend but whatever.

Here is the shape I made today:

It looks like ...nothing really other than a big blob. But! After tossing it back and forth and saying things like "it looks like a pig" or " which end is supposed to be the front?" Monsieur Briglia has the great idea of combining my two favorite animals; pigs and snails. Pigsnail. Snailpig. Pnail. Snig....? Yeah, okay, I'm done sorry. Here's the sketches he did for me: 

I use Anthony's sketches as a jumping off point so that I make things as they come. I know the snail pig looks like nothing, and a not very impressive nothing but that's how they all start and then they turn into something cool. I'll keep you posted on snail pig as well as show you some more finished projects. Ta ta for now!