Gertrude and Clementine

A little while ago, Gertrude read a book about marsupials and decided that she wanted to be one - so now she carries her sister Clementine (the runt of the litter) around in her pocket.

(Fleece stuffies with felt faces and cotton clothing. The pants are actually pinstriped, but I can't seem to catch that with my camera. By the way, this is another one of the stuffies we made years and years ago that I mentioned in the previous post.)

Bailey Monster

A long, long time ago, Misha and I saw the Uglydolls for the first time and, smitten, decided to make some of our own out of fleece. The ideas were good, but without too much follow-through. Case in point: I've had the shape of this stuffie hanging out around the house for probably... oh, let's say five years. Seriously. Talk about a work-in-progress. But with some eyes, freckles, and a little shoes and skirt combo, she's Bailey, the monster who'd love to be a dancer. She is somewhat concerned, however, that her natural plumpness puts her at a disadvantage. Bailey is going to be a present for a good friend. Shh, don't tell.

A Year Wiser

Happy Birthday, my love!

Here is the mixed media card I made for Misha. Another chubby sleeping face, but this time in a ribbon and paper landscape. Maybe a set of these would be nice? Hmmm.

Published!

Oh, cool! Remember this mathtastic shirt? Plenty magazine has featured in a DIY article here. The article photo is of the shirt; scroll down for the project description (it's after the glass-etching instructions). Yay, I'm a published crafter - I'm so excited!

Secret Cuteness

Misha has been saying for a while that he needs a camera case for work - otherwise, his camera just mashes around in his coat pocket and gets scratched. So for Valentine's day/his birthday (they are three days apart! every year there is present stress!), I decided to make him a lined camera cozy. Then it occured to me that it couldn't really be a cutesy thing, since he's a serious doctor with serious patients who trust him with their serious skin issues. So, you know, it might send the wrong message for him to suddenly pull his camera out of a furry monster or something.

Instead I made a serious case, with secret cuteness. We are the bunny family, so I made embroidered a tiny bunny family. From a distance it looks like nothing more than a serious monogram.

(For the "Project" category.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ah, the official day of love. We spent it fending off the weather to get the mall to have lunch while fending off the toddler terror. I made this tall card for Misha - it might say a sweet thing or two on the back (no, you can't read it!). Paper, felt, cardstock, and glassine hearts strung on embroidery floss and glued to hand-torn pieces of construction paper. Don't you just love the layered way construction paper tears? It really makes those perfect ragged edges instantly.

Household Waste

This month's Whiplash competition is to creatively recycle "normal" household waste - but of course, what constitutes normal waste must change dramatically from home to home. Since Lara was born we've become accustomed to two kinds of now-normal waste - the adorable clothes she grows out of almost on a weekly basis and the seemingly non-disposable objects she unwittingly destroys.

I've recycled a few of these into this Robot Girl stuffie. The only non-reused material is the thread that holds her together - otherwise she is made of baby clothes, stuffed with cut up baby blankets; her (fully pressable) buttons are the insides of a now deceased calculator, and her (turnable) dial is a piece of a chewed up ruler.

Currently Robot Girl is a little more than half full. She has decorated her living space with a sketch portrait of her grandfather.

(Submitted to the 1st category of the contest.)