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!

Watch Out, It's Poisonous

As you may know, I have an affinity for plants. I mentioned previously that I have a small garden in the yard that I obsessively tend to. In it are tomatoes, string beans and other not so exciting (but none the less tasty) vegetables. Some more exotic plants look sexy and dangerous, that's what inspired this next piece. This figurine was once holding a very boring and awkwardly placed vase. I mean really, who just holds a vase. So, I've replaced it with something a little more little shop of horrors. 

What's wonderful about this fop is that he looks like he's holding the plant so naturally. He's a rather fancy character and so I hoped that the vines would look like more adornment to his already gauche outfit. The plant would most likely feed on evil human blood as large plants are wont to do and the vines, were they real, would most likely end up choking this dashing fellow. 

Treasure Hunting

A lot of the stuff I end up re-vamping or crafting with I find at my local Goodwill.  I live right around the corner from one so I spend a nice chunk of my time picking through other people's stuff/ treasure hunting. There's usually a lot of great stuff to be found as well as a lot of weird things. One summer when I was a cashier at Goodwill, someone donated a prosthetic leg. Raises a few questions doesn't it? 

Anyway, I've found a plethora of great materials in thrift stores including the figurine from my mutant army. Here's some other things I've made using second hand shop finds.

A wreath made from a plain straw circle wreath.

The base of this wreath I found at goodwill. I wrapped the wreath with ribbon, fired up the hot glue gun and stuck on a bunch of fake flowers on to make this. 

Another thing I made from a goodwill find is my earring holder: 

I also have some pretty sweet earring.

Screen staple gunned to a frame. 

For this all I needed to do was staple gun on a metal grate I got at the Home Depot to a nice frame I found. There are always old wreaths and frames at thrift stores just ripe for messin' with. Or Figurines of furniture that just needs a new coat of paint. Some see junk, I see potential. So yeah, maybe one day my house will be so stuffed with crafts and stuff that I can't get out of bed but until that day I'm going to be under the impression I'm being productive.

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! 

Thread and Jellyfish

In my first post in this blog I talked about how I hoped that blogging about certain things I was making would   act as an incentive to finish old projects. One craft I had long abandoned after finishing a substantial piece was my embroidering of a jellyfish on a bread cloth. After finishing the first and largest jelly fish I didn't know where to take the piece. I tried adding seaweed but they looked more like undersea boogers. Well a week and a half ago I picked up the project again and am happy to say that now it feels finished.

I'm not the best at embroidery, things don't look as clean as they could but making a picture of of colorful thread was something I wanted to try. I love when I see masterful embroidery on vintage clothing and after doing this I have even more appreciation for it. 

So there you have it. My first embroidery project completed, though I'm not sure I'll do another one. Do you know how many times I pricked my fingers making this? Let's just say I wouldn't rule out there being any blood somewhere absorbed into the cloth. 

After our bathroom is being done redecorated I'll probably frame these guys and hang them out and look at them every time I take a bath or brush my teeth.