Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Tale of Schwabbie!


Schwabbie is a pillow monster I made in the summer, with long floppy arms and sweet green ears. Schwabbie went for sale online with no luck, and traveled with me to some craft shows to see many smiles. But he got his biggest smile this week!

A few weeks ago I had plush work accepted to a Christmas show at the Tampa Artist Emporium, a local indie gallery. I dropped off some holiday inspired plushies as well as ornaments. The week after, for Thanksgiving, my parents flew in so I took them to the gallery to see my work. While there the owner remembered my work and asked me to bring in more plushies, some un-holiday inspired and more weird designs. I decided to take my big pillow monsters since at craft shows they gain attention, but didn't ever sell.

This week Jay and I went to the gallery to drop off Schwabbie and some friends of his. Shelby, the gallery owner, loved him and his friends. They were setting up for an event this Friday, the Winter Wonderland, and one of the volunteers that was helping setup saw Schwabbie and fell in love! She put him aside immediately and bought him for her niece. So after all this time Schwabbie found a home! And I may have found a new niche to sell! :) If you're in the area, the Winter Wonderland event is this Friday evening, but the show is going on all month.

I told a friend this story and he suggested that I post some of my progress work of my plushies. So as a treat, I have below some skecthes I came up with when I originally created Schwabbie. In the sketches you can also see Huggie the Hippie, who sold online a long time ago!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Black Friday to Cyber Monday!

With Thanksgiving this week, and Christmas around the corner, it's time to shop! Handmade3D will be having Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales!

From 11/27 to end of day 11/30 all orders will receive free worldwide shipping!

Please note this offer does not include "Penny Eye Pillow Monsters." However if you purchase a Penny Eye Monster, I will cut the priority shipping in half, having it be $5.15 to ship a Penny Monster. If you purchase anything else with your Penny Monster, they will be shipped free.

Keep in mind those silly little PJ's are also on sale! Buy a PJ with any other item and the PJ is reduced to $5 each!

All shipping charges and PJ discounts in those dates will be refunded through Paypal. Happy Shopping!

Holizaar Deux!

This past weekend flew by with fabric, festive music, and sales! Holizaar Deux was a good/bad show relationship. Here are some images of my space!The show was well promoted by Coralette, aka The Crafty Hag. We had some very nice traffic for day 1, not as much for day 2. Some errors that were probably unforseen and unavoidable was a fancy-schmancy white tent craft fair outside, a block away. With all those white tents, probably lost some views. Day 2 their was a charity walk going on, which closed some of the streets for an hour.

As far as sales go, I made enough to get back the booth fee and to pay for lunch. But that's it. No actual profit. The show was fun and I met a lot of great people, but I don't plan on doing it next year. I didn't hit my target audience and the space was too expensive. But it was still a great experience and hopeuflly will bring people back to my shop!

I'm worried about a similar occurence at my next show in two weeks. But hopefully with that being in Decemeber, more people will be thinking of Christmas gifts for kids and will buy, buy, buy!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Mildred Helms 10th Annual Fall Festival

It was a hit! A success! Smashing! I exceeded my own expectations. I originally signed up for this event knowing it was at an elementary school function. I had a few reservations about it, but thought it would be geared towards my prime audience. And boy was I right! The event started at 10 am, and I literally sold my first plush at 10:01 am! There was a steady stream of viewers and sales the entire day. Thank you everyone that helped make it a success! Here are some pictures from today's festival:

See that frog and bird there? Sold! You can also see the tip of the bear's ear. He was the first sold!This time I tried a different price point and tactic for the little PJ's and boy did it work! Overall I sold 19 plush items! That included 3 turkeys! Fantastic day and hope the luck continues! Most of the new guys will be in the shop soon.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Gobble Gobble Gobble!


It's almost turkey time! Which means all of us crafters need to get our butt in gear! The turkey's are done, so now on to some more festive plushies for the season! These turkey's can be seen this weekend at the 10th Annual Fall Festival at Mildred Helms Elementary school in Largo. Come for games, rides, and plushies! After this weekend, any turkey's not sold will be put up in my etsy shop.

p.s. I made my first international sale this week! Australia!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

My Creative Space . . .

Has moved! Woo hoo! When my husband and I first moved into our house last year we put a pool table in the loft and took the second bedroom as our office. In the past year we had a sun room put on the back of the house and the pool table finally moved out there! This week I took everything from the office and rearranged it into the empty loft space. Here are the before pictures:
The office worked, but it was tight. You can see my fabric stash on the floor next to my desk! And the loft finally empty! The pool table belongs down stairs. You could play up here, but there were tight corners.Woo! Organization! Space! It's almost finished. Where the ironing board currently is, I want to get a hutch of some sort to store fabric so it can get off the floor of the old office! Have you seen the creative space of Jenny's at All Sorts? That's what I dream of and hope to find at the flea market this weekend.

May I add my husband is on vacation and doesn't know about this yet! :)

Like creative spaces? Check out Kootoyoo's site for tons of inspiration!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Art-Oberfest!

Today was my first craft show! It went very well and was located in St. Pete. It was incredibly hot, but we had enough shade for most of the day. We did have to keep moving with the shade though! We ended up sitting on three different sides at different times!

First the setup, tons of energy and excited!
Up front we have the Halloween corner! So many people loved the mini mummies!

Next came the newest item, giraffes! Lots of people loved these, their necks are positionable so they can look anywhere!
In the corner we have the pillow monster and the another new item. Thinking about calling them hooded plushies, but not certain yet.

And on the right corner we had the pink collection. Be sure to look up! Those ninjas are sneaky hiding in the corners!
And here is the final result! In the pink closet organizer are more plush. Some small pjs and some belly plush monsters. The overall day was a lot of fun. I made back the booth fee and then some! Can't wait for the next show, but boy do I need a break!P.s. We were right in front of the food, great traffic!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Status Update and Inspiration

I have been sewing like crazy! I think I will be able to make my goal of 100 for next Sunday, the 11th at Art-Oberfest. I have 34 left to make in 7 days, I think it can be done. See my work this week below!
There are a couple duplicates, but not that many. I love making originals! I used all of my small printed fabric eyes up. I still have a few larger eyes left over from my Gotcha's which I may or may not use. I have two black belly monsters sitting next to me waiting to be stuffed.

After sewing straight for a few days, well almost straight. Had to finish off a syllabi and work a little on a 3D project, but sure felt like sewing straight. Anyways, today my husband and I went out to an art festival for creative inspiration. He's trying to finish up his first level of his ipod game and I needed some inspiration to finish the last 40 plush. We went to an art festival and saw mostly the same type of 'florida' art we see at all art shows. But a few booths stood out, and one in particular. Please check out Ed King's work on his site! His work stood out from the croud, just like I hope to next weekend. He has some great, fun designs and I just love the line work. Fun bright colors have always appealed to me and now I'm inspired to make more plush! Creativity is striking again, time to get out my sketch book.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

September number crunching

I feel very fortunate to say that my sales again have increased 100%! I had two sales in August and four sales in September. Now I could be greedy and say one of those sales was an order of 3 plushies, but let's look at sales itself instead.

Now with the etsy sales, I made a high profit on ebay which was very needed for all the supplies I had to buy for my upcoming shows!

October's goal is to continue the 100% increase each month. Should hopefully not be a problem since I have a show on October 11th. I have 55 more plushies to make for a goal of 100 at the show. I think this will give me a good variety of plush to sell, but means I have to get sewing! I need to make 6 a day, back to work!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Frankenstein has been featured!

Frankenstein has been featured on Myshoppingconnection.com Woo! So excited for the publicity, I still love this guy! Thanks Erika from MyShoppingConnection!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Banner Complete!

I am one step closer to my first craft show on Oct. 11th at St. Anthony's Park in St. Pete. I completed my banner over the weekend! I initially was going to have it made, but my motives with the business is to create plush designs by hand. So I made it myself!

The overall banner is quilted together, pink letters appliqued, and purple letters embroidered. Hopefully people will see it from afar and go "Let's look over there!" "Buy me a monster, Mommy!"

Thursday, September 17, 2009

My Creative Space . . .


This week I have been making miniature versions of Frankenstein! He is so wonderfully plush, but I received an etsy convo last week about someone wondering if I would have sales. Unfortunately he took to long to put on sale!

So I decided to make miniature versions and she bought both! Thanks Stefanie! So this week I am trying to create more mini Franks, in case the price point is the issue on big Frank not selling.


My first craft show is October 11th, that I need to prepare for. I'm wondering how many plush to bring, 100? Any ideas anyone? Also wondering if I should make more pumpkins. They're cute, but don't necessarily stand out. Hmm . . .

P.S. This was my first creative space post! See more creative spaces at kootoyoo!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Accepted to The Needle!

Hello everyone, I have exciting news! I have been accepted to The Needle blog! Click side bar image or click here. The Needle is a great blog I have been following for months for inspiration on plush artists. Plush artists from around the world post their creative works to this blog to share their designs and talents. I am so happy and honored to be selected to post their as well! Now have to come up with a great 'first' post, perhaps Frankenstein?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Halloween Items

I can't wait for Halloween! But at the same time, I hope it takes a long time to get here! I just posted to my etsy shop a new Halloween monster. This monster can get unraveled if he doesn't stay happy!

While making him I came up with a brilliant idea! Hope to create his brilliant idea by the weekend. Stay tuned . . .

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Updating the site - Updated

Please pardon the constant change of appearance! I am currently updating my blog so it is more customized by me!I think this will be the design for now! I am using my favorite fabric as background, it matches my avatar and my appearance in etsy.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Craft Show Table Cover

This has been a very productive weekend! I have gotten a lot of work done. Two plush monsters added to my shop and finished the covers for my craft show tables! Last weekend Jay and I went to the local Flea Market looking for tables for the craft shows. I found one online that I absolutely loved. It was 6 ft long, and folded in half with a handle to make it easier to carry. We both have short cars so thought this would be perfect. However, cheapest we could find online was $80 a piece! And we would need two! That's a bit expensive for the tables. So we went to the flea market thinking we could find some of the old 4 ft card tables to use instead. But low and behold we found the exact table I was looking at online! And there were two of them! A total steal, because they both still have great condition. $25 each! We were amazed and got bought instantly. Quickest trip ever to the flea market, loved it.

So this weekend went to Bed Bath and Beyond looking for a sheet to convert into a table cover. Sheets are so expensive! And who cares how soft it is for covering a table? So instead we went to JoAnn's and bought fabric to make my own. Now I didn't save any money, probably spent more than would have at Bed Bath. But I love them! They turned out perfect and will coordinate with my sign.
As soon as I put the cover over the table, Thirteen ran under. She just loves pretending to live in forts! You can see her in the back left, contemplating her next adventure.

I have a matching one in pink which will be the main table when I do 1-table shows. Still working on my sign, have to learn a bit more about my new machine and wait for a hoop to come in.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Book Review: Crafting a Business

This past week I have been reading Crafting a Business. I must say this is one of my favorite books so far. It is very inspirational, and it is one of the newest books I got from the library. The book goes through almost 30 different women artists in all different craft fields. Amy Butler is mentioned, as well as Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes! From jewelry to antiques, to running a business online from home or a brick and mortar shop. Each woman(or small group) gets roughly 4 pages to show fantastic pictures of their spaces and crafts and to tell their story. They each give tips on what they have learned to do and what not to do. There is a small inspirational section, look at designs for business identity's, as well as a business section in the back to starting your own business.

Other books I have read have far more business topics in running a business. But this book is far more inspiring. In some margins there are quotes from the women which are inspiring as well. My favorite quote is from Te Junk Gypsy Company: "If you want to start your own business, don't copy everybody else. You can really sell it better if it comes from what you believe in." I thought this was a perfect statement for my mind set. I am reading all of these business craft books to try and break into the business. But you have to keep in mind your own opinions at all times. don't do something you are not comfortable with!

I really like this book, and once I have a higher profit than loss, I might buy this book for my own library.

Support Local!

So the past few months my sewing machine has been driving me crazy. The buttons on the screen kept going in reverse. As in I select a stitch, it goes to the previous menu! Then whenever I finally got the stitch, and set my knot settings, to click OK I would have to click three inches above the button! Needless to say it was in dire need of service. Then it started switching stitches in the middle of sewing. That was the last straw! I took it into my local dealer to get serviced. Found out she was having a fantastic sale. Turn in your old embroidery machine, get the new machine at 1/2 price!
Luckily Sewing Santa found out (i.e. Mom) and bought me a new sewing machine! Oh how wonderful it is. The deal for the machine was Pfaff just released Creative Vision 5.5. The store had V.5 to sell and I was one of the few lucky ones to get it!
During my lessons to learn the new machine, which by the way is absolutely fantastic, I found out I am able to post my business cards there and a plush monster! Below is the monster I decided to show at the store. I got the front blue fabric and the yellow laurel burch fabric from the store, so thought it would be fitting! The monster also has a laurel burch pocket in the back to hold sewing supplies, ipods, whatever. He turned out really nice, and I really like the colors. Am working on a similar color scheme to sell.
The plush will be sitting in Scrap and Sew in Lutz, FL starting next week. Let's hope it brings business! Buy Handmade, support the local arts!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Book Review: Crafts and Craft Shows

Well this week I have been having major problems with my sewing machine and had to take it in for repair. Sniff! So in turn I was able to finish a book this week with all the time left over where I usually would be sewing!

I read "Crafts and Craft Shows" this week to hopefully find ideas on what to do for my upcoming first craft show on December 5th at the Handmade Holiday Bazaar in St. Pete. This book was pretty decent, I didn't learn anything new. But it did help come up with a lot of ideas on how I want to setup my booth. The author writes about crafts shows with a lot of detail in producing the craft, setting up the booth, pricing your work, and dealing with customers. I found it interesting to read, but a little dated. The author did craft shows for roughly 15 years as his sole income. The book is design specifically on what to do and what not to do to make a profit. The book has a few images on examples of craft booths they found selling well. Some of the images I though looked a little tacky, but that could just be my style choice.

If anything, the book made me aware of how much more work there is to craft shows then I thought. And for that I am glad I read it. My list of things I need for the show has gone up, but I think it will make me better prepared. I am glad my first show will be an 8' x 5' space and not a 10' x 10' space. After my first show I can decide if I want to invest in the equipment that is needed for a larger space. I do think I will only be doing shows near holidays, as in I believe that's when my craft will sell the best.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Craft Apron!


I have been reading and talking to a lot of people about what they do with their cash at craft shows. Many say they wear an apron to put the money in so they don't have to worry about watching a cash box. I thought this was a great idea and scoured the internet for a free apron tutorial. Found lots of tutorials, and this one is my favorite! Just what I wanted, small and lots of pockets.

Apron Pattern

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Book Review: How to Run Your Business Like a Girl

The past few days I started reading "How to Run Your Business Like a Girl." From the title I thought it would be a fun, inspirational book about women in business and how they run their businesses. I was mostly right. The book is broken into sections about starting a business, guides, being a boss, where you work, and so forth. However, the book does not 'teach' anything. I learned absolutely nothing from the book. For each section/chapter there are a few pages on the actual topic. Then there are three examples from women who run their own businesses describing how they reached the current chapter's topic. Then there is so anywhere from 2 to 6 examples of a questionnaire of other real life women who started their own businesses.

When I started the book I liked the format. I liked reading in depth how these three companies started. And then the individual start up questions and answers. But it go boring and repetitive fast. I found myself reading about these other women, who were inspiring, but not learning anything. The first few chapters were actually inspirational. But after that it seemed like the questions and answers just repeated themselves. And I got bored with the three life story sections. There is no actually 'running your business' information, just ideas from others.

The book itself is a very easy read. Under 200 pages, when I would say 50 or so of those pages are questions and answers. I wouldn't recommend it for learning about how to run a business. But it was a little bit inspirational for a while until I got bored.

Only good thing I got out of this book was two sales on etsy during the time I was reading! At least my shop is still going while I learn how to make it better!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Book Review: The Boss of You

This past week I have been reading "The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business." This book is by far better than the "Anti 9-5 Guide."

First off, this book is more business minded, but still craft/handmade inspired. The book goes into a lot of sections of starting a business, opening it, and keeping it going. My favorite section was the beginning, where they have you list your goals and you skills. Then they continue on to help creating a mission statement and how to apply it to your goals and overall business plan.

They do not go through the detail of creating a business plan, but do highly suggest you create your own. There is a lot of discussion on budgeting for your business, and they leave it open to an online business or a brick and mortar business.

There is a large section on marketing and advertising which I skimmed through. Most of it read like common sense, but for those with little marketing skills there is good information. They even go into the importance of networking, which should be a no brainer for a start-up business.

The fourth and final section of the book is more around business that are already started. It talks about keeping your business going and how to expand. I figure when I get to that point in my business, I'll recheck out the book and read it.

Overall I really liked this book. It is written with great information, but light-hearted adding in a bit of comedic writing along the way. There are nice examples that help explain what they are discussing, and the authors go into a lot of possible scenarios. This book I would recommend!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Book Review: The Anti 9-5 Guide

This week I have been reading "The Anti 9-5 Guide: practical career advice for women who think outside the cube."

Overall I would call this book decent, for someone else. I did not receive any help from the book. I like how it is written and structured. Light hearted with many stories of other women who quit their long time careers to do what they truly wanted. Each section is inspirational, if you are still in the mindset of not liking your current job and needing the push to break out.

I am not in that position. I love my current job and its current hours. I hoped this book would be more about business advice on what to do with your career and company such as marketing and branding. There is a nice appendix to other resources of books the author recommends, one of which I am getting out from the library. But as far as business advice their is a lot of information on ideas on how to get information for your intended new career. And lots of advice of "out of the cube" working styles.

Maybe the reason this book does not work for me is I am not in a cube to begin with.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Going Batty!

I started working on my Fall line this weekend, and went a little batty! I love the design I came up with and made multiples of each. I have two - three more color combinations that I'm going to try as well!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Moving right along!

I got a lot of important stuff done this week!

1. Accepted into Handmade Holiday Bazaar. My first craft show, very excited. It will be with a lot of ETSY FESTers (The Florida Etsy Street Team) Bought two cheap folding chairs today in fact. Next is the search for the best table.

2. Officially opened my business! I have "Handmade3D" registered with the state and IRS. I have a tax ID. I also opened my Small Business checking account. I'm really doing it! Very excited and a bit nervous. Main goal for Year 1 of Official Business = Break Even!!

3. To accomplish main goal #1, I want to get into more of a business mindset. I'm not jumping into this completely blind. I have base ideas and markets to start with. But to further my chances I ordered about 8 craft business books from the library to help guide my craft research! I will post reviews to them as I complete them. I want all the help I can get to make this not necessarily profitable, although that is a long term goal, but as a successful business.

4. Updated main shipping options for ETSY shop. Sadly my Pillow Monsters will have to stay at priority shipping due to their size, but I was able to switch to first class shipping for the rest of my items and in turn was able to cut shipping in half for those items. I hope this will boost my sales.

5. Since the summer months are slow online sales, finding this myself and through many other sties, I have decided to start working on my fall line. Need to get it done early so I can move on to my holiday line for the craft fair!

6. And finally, today I sent off my submission for STUFFED magazine. I had made a couple fun plushies this week but didn't think they were over the top! So I decided to send "Ulla." I think she encompasses my current style and passion for plush.


Lots of great things happening and can't wait to keep going!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Handmade Holiday Bazaar!

My luck is on a roll it seems! I was accepted as a vendor at the Handmade Holiday Bazaar in St. Pete! Mark your calendars for December 5th to come and see my display along with many other local artists!

In front of Fiberolgie
411 15th Ave N
St. Petersburg

Time to get sewing!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Mortal Plush Show pictures!

Here are some pictures from the show!The Art Whino Gallery! My very first plush show!

Having a Blueberry Vodka cocktail before the show! Talking to Jay, wishing me luck. :)

Me in front of my Gotcha family!


Of course my mom and I took many more, but don't need to show all our photo craziness! Three of the Gotcha's are now on sale at Art Whino's online store. In the store section go to the Mortal Plush tab and then go down to the third grouping to find them! Only three are there so I am curious to find out if Bobby was sold!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Update: Craft Hope Dolls


On the Craft Hope website is an update to the dolls sent to Nicaragua. There are some adorable pictures of girls with their new dolls. And this picture shows one of the suitcases stuffed with dolls, and one of mine is right on top! Look for the doll in the orange polka dot shirt and black skirt with flowers. I hope she is making someone very happy!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Update: Hope Pillow Monster

Hope has been saved! After discussing her plight with my husband, he said why don't I give her a shirt! Brilliant idea! The rough patch is now hidden and she has been posted to ETSY. Now she can spread her love and courage to others!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hope Pillow Monster

I had the noblest of intentions for this monster! I made her to sell on Etsy to give a portion of the profit to my husband's cousin who currently is fighting breast cancer.

Everything was going great. I loved how her hair turned out as spikes, it follows along the back. The seaming around her mouth and eyes never came out so perfect before! The pleats on her skirt were nice and even. I sewed the skirt on and decided to iron the pleats to make sure they would stay straight. And wham, disaster! The iron slips and hits the fleece.

Of course this happens right before I am about to sew her up and there is not enough fleece to fix it. I moved the arms, they were originally supposed to be on the sides like my T-Shirt Producers monster, to try and help cover the mess. I put her in the pillow and stitched her up. From afar you can see nothing wrong! But if you go to pick her up she has a rough patch right under her arm. I can't sell her like this. If I was buying something like this to help cheer someones day and found a rough patch, I would would be disappointed and want my money back.

So instead of giving my cousin-in-law part of the profit, she will get the first Hope Pillow Monster. I hope it cheers her days and gives her something to hug when needed. And hopefully in the times to come I will be able to make more of these to cheer other women's days.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

ETSY shop open!

I am excited to announce my ETSY shop is open! Please let me know what you think!

Handmade3D.etsy.com

I had a great trip to Scotland, even supported some local plush artists there! Am full of ideas and can't wait to get started! But this weekend am going to DC for the Mortal Plush show, can't wait!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Ladybug Fly Away Home!

I was out in my yard this afternoon and found the biggest ladybug I have ever seen! I thought she was so pretty, climbing around my ivy fence.
I went to pick her up, and low and behold! She's a very angry male ladybug! He's upset he keeps getting mistaken for his wife. Silly Ladybug, er . . . Sirbug!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Business Sewing

I have been very busy with work the past few weeks. Finished final grading yesterday and have to finish a class outline by next Friday for our big trip. But I did manage to get a few things made! I call them "Business Sewing" due to not a monster, but a necessity. Both patterns by Amy Butler. The business card holder was real quick and easy, but does not hold many cards! I was going to bring it with me to Scotland but I want to take more than 6 cards!

The ipod cover was difficult, many layers of stabilizer hidden inside, and then the bending of fabric to close it off. Never again! But it's done and matches my laptop cover.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Gotcha Family is going on summer vacation!

To Washington, DC! I have been accepted to the Mortal Plush show! I am so excited! This is my first show, and they will be making a book of the show as well. First show and published work!!

I am so excited!! To learn more about the show, please see Mortal Plush's website.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Studeny Body 2009!

Presenting the Student Body Class of 2009! These students are going right to the top!

At our school we have a faculty show each summer. Last summer I showed a mixed media cross stitch I made. This summer I wanted to show my new craft, plush. The idea came from my students. As an instructor, we here all sorts of excuses and comments by students! We get to know them and even when they don't mention something, we can understand what they are thinking. Two of my students in the Student Body of 2009 are actual comments I have heard. The other two I refer to as studentisms. They don't say it, but I'm sure they are thinking of it sometime!

Here are some closeups of the girl student, since she got pushed to the back a little.


Monday, June 1, 2009

Challenge #1 - T-Shirt

As part of the Crafty Summer Series, here is my piece for the first challenge: T-Shirts!

For this challenge we had to take a T-Shirt and re-purpose it somehow! I found this old T-Shirt of mine I got in NYC when I went to see The Producers on Broadway. I love the shirt, but it wore out and doesn't fit anymore. So I knew it was the shirt I wanted to use!
So the first step was to trim out the front. I had an idea to take the text and apply it on a monster. Once I had it cut, I decided to turn it into either a belt or a head band for the monster. Headband it is!
Next was to pick fabric and layout the eyes and mouth to get the right proportion. I knew this monster was going to be bigger than I usually do, so I went and bought a Soft-N-Crafty pillow at 12"x16". This helped build it's form so I wouldn't have to use up my stuffing! Luckily it was on sale at Jo-Ann's that weekend too! Once I had the pillow I took a little stuffing out and sewed it creating the legs, removing the excess material.Once I had the pieces, it was time sew! I appliqued the eyes and arms on first, then sew over top to make sure they would stick to the form. Next arms sewn and stuff, then the body making sure to add felt for his spikes and my tag on the leg. I even appliqued the Producers logo on the back to keep with the shirt! Once all parts were sewn, I stuffed the pillow form in, with help from my husband! Word to the wise make your seam larger than three inches! I closed the seam and hand sewn the headband to the monster so it would be sure to stay on. I am very happy with this monster, and am definitely Flaunting My Stuff!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Sneak Peek on next project!

So I have made a few plushy items this past few weeks, but I cannot post them yet. They are a secret! so until then I thought I would show a sneak peek of my next project: The Student Body!
Our school is having a faculty show this summer, with no theme. For some reason I came up with this idea, and of course inspired from my students!
More to come . . .