MADE: Baby Jacket with Monkey Applique

I recently made this sweet little flannel jacket for the newborn of my friend & biz partner, Beth A. I just hope the tiny little guy grows into it before the weather warms up!

The jacket pattern is from an awesome book that I got for Christmas, One Yard Wonders. I highly recommend it - tons of great patterns! And the monkey applique is from a template of my own design.

Like to applique? Never tried it but want to? You can get your own PDF copy of my monkey template in my Etsy shop. Comes with detailed instructions to walk you through the process. It's fun & easy!

Bits & Pieces

a box of colorful ears...

stuffed & waiting by my machine to be spiral-stitched for that adorable quilted effect! This is perhaps my favorite step of elephant-making.

and a stack of embroidered faces on what will become the elephants' bodies.

I love seeing the pieces at different stages & watching a batch of toys come together from a stack of parts. These polka-dotty elephants will soon be getting some national attention! Can't wait until I can tell you all about it!

Someday Projects are now Sunday Projects

I've started a new thing in my work room that I'm calling my "Sunday basket." The idea is that I will keep an ongoing project in this basket: sewing, painting, a photo album - anything that I am working on purely for myself. Or it could be a gift for someone else, but it is most definitely just for fun & not for my business. The projects that are stowed in the basket will be my Sunday projects. I can spend all day on Sundays working on them if I want to - I'm giving myself permission to do that, and promising myself that I will refrain from doing anything work-related on Sundays. I can work on them whenever I feel like it of course, but knowing how busy my weeks are, I probably won't. But at least by saving Sundays for these personal projects I can realize some of those projects I keep telling myself I'll get around to "someday." Someday is today!!!!!!!

There are tons of things I've wanted to sew for myself (I envision a whole new wardrobe of skirts, tops & dresses) & I'll even go so far as to buy the patterns & fabric, but then I have a really hard time completing them. And then there all of those cute little one-day projects I always see in my Craft newsletter, like making bags from vintage pillowcases. I have a beautiful vintage pillowcase I thrifted about a year ago for just such a project waiting patiently on the shelf of my linen closet. Lots of other stuff I've been wanting to do just for fun, too, like collage a wall of my work room or go to more art galleries & museums, but I always seem to find myself swamped with work for my various small businesses. But I'm learning lately that in order to stay happy & inspired I really need to make an effort to carve out time for these things that I want to do, even though I always have a list a mile long of the things I "should" do. So here it is, typed out & posted to the interwebs for all the world to see: I'm taking back my Sundays!

More about what's currently in my basket in a future post...

MADE: Cheshire Cat applique & fabric bird sculpture

This crazy cat was made for my friend who's having a baby girl. They're doing the nursery in an Alice in Wonderland theme. I was quite happy with how it turned out, this being the most ambitious applique project I've done to date!

And below is my most recently completed fabric sculpture. You may recall my post about the beginnings of this piece called, "Art Waiting to Happen." Well this is what happened:

Bunnies.

It's really feeling like Spring around here, so it's high time to get some bunny things out into the world! I first mentioned my new Betsy Bunny design back in December, and I was all excited about being "ahead of the game."

yeah... and now it's March and I'm sitting here with a huge pile of half-finished bunny clothing in my work room! I did have a few bunny shirts & onesies in the tote full of stuff I took to The Oasis gift shop last Friday, so there's that to feel good about. At least I haven't been totally unproductive!

My brain just keeps spinning around with thoughts like, "oh my gosh; it's already March! I've got to get the bunny stuff listed in my Etsy shop & out to the boutiques I consign at right away!" Like I won't sell any of them otherwise & then I'll be left with a huge pile of bunny stuff nobody wants come May. Is this crazy of me? Do you other crafters out there suffer from this same kind of self-inflicted hysteria? Do people buy bunny-themed stuff after April? Someone reassure me that the world won't end if I don't get these bunny things done today. Please. Because I really don't feel like finishing them today...

But, lest you all think I'm a lazy good-for-nothing, I have also done a cute little bunnies coloring sheet for the activity book I'm (still) working on. You can download & print it for your favorite little artist!

And I've been meaning to put that image on some coloring cards as well... geez! So much to do, so many distractions!

Introducing Betsy Bunny

Tah-dah! It's still December & I've already got a product for Spring! So excited about this - I'm actually ahead of the seasons for once! Earlier this week I decided to schedule a block of time every Wednesday to work on a new product idea for The Snuggle Herd. I have sooo many ideas in my sketchbook just waiting to come to life that I really want to get moving on, but I never seem to progress beyond the initial sketch or idea. I'm so proud of myself that I stuck with my goal & actually made something new this week!

So how did I manage to accomplish this in the middle of what is perhaps the busiest week of the year, you ask? Simple: My internet has been down for 2 days. It's been really frustrating because I usually spend most of my mornings sending & replying to emails, reading my favorite blogs, skimming Facebook & scheduling things on my beloved Google calendar - and of course, checking back in on all 4 throughout the day. So it has been quite difficult to deal with this technical blip, but it has allowed me to be way more productive than usual, seeing as how I usually spend my mornings sending & replying to emails, reading my favorite blogs, skimming Facebook... you get the idea.

Here's my original sketch. The applique turned out a little differently, with the nose/mouth area much smaller in relation to the head than it is in the sketch. I can't decide which I like better - the smaller nose, mouth & teeth of the embroidered design, or the larger face that takes up more of the head, as it is in my sketch.

What do you think? Please let me know in the comments; I'd love to ge
t some feedback!

Halloween Costume '09: Details

I finished my costume today! Whew! I can't show you yet, because I wanna debut my look at the Mixx & Make Pre-Halloween Craftacular tomorrow night! But here's a little peek at some of the details.



I felt like a contestant on Project Runway, but without Tim Gunn around to provide me with his words of wisdom. And no shopping spree at Mood, sadly. I was definitely just trying to "make it work" and I think I did!


It turned out pretty fabulous & I'm super-excited to wear it to the party. I will post pics afterwards - promise! Have a great weekend!

Halloween Costume '09: Rippin' Seams & Takin' Names

Last night I cut out the lining of my dress & today I set to rippin' seams!



The dress, before:
It will soon be transformed into my Roaring Twenties costume! Let's hope I can pull off this spectacular feat by Saturday so that I can wear it to the Mixx & Make Pre-Halloween Craftacular!

Progress in My Work Room

Gettin' stuff ready to take to the lovely Sanctuary boutique in West Austin. Back to work - most of these little animals still need faces! Plus, I just found out I've been accepted to the Cherrywood Art Fair, so that means I really need to get busy!