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!

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:

Milk & Cookies appliqued art for Miss Salty Oat

Just made this for my pal, Caitlin, who is moving away to Washington, D.C. this week. She's an amazingly prolific stitcher, sewer & all-around crafty gal who makes the cutest things! Her blog, Salty Oat, offers tons of inspiring photos & crafty tips. The name was also the inspiration for my art piece; the salty oat at Quack's is her favorite cookie. I hope this sewn version (along with a chocolate chip, just for good measure) will bring her sweet memories of Austin!

For the past few months, we at The WonderCraft have been lucky enough to have Caitlin as our intern, and we sure will miss her! She's been a big help to us and it will be sad to not see her smiling face around the shop anymore. We'll still be carrying some of her adorable work at Stella's though, such as handmade napkins and cross-stitched buttons & wall hangings like little Clarence. That will be nice. Wishing you all the best in DC, Caitlin!

Appliqued Kitchen Towels - Christmas in May!

Yesterday we had a WonderCraft meeting & I finally gave my biz partners
their Christmas gifts! Geez. It's May.

 

I made a seahorse towel for Beth A, lover of island vacations & scuba-diving explorer of the sea.

For Kim, a true Parisienne at heart,
an Eiffel Tower in the clouds.

And I designed this Robot Chef character especially for Jen, lover of robots & all things sci-fi.

I had every intention of giving these handmade goodies out during the actual holidays, but... I didn't get them finished until February or so, then I wanted to wait until we were all together & our schedules were crazy (although there were several times we were all 4 together when I just forgot them). But anyhoo, I finally gifted them & they were a hit. Better late than never! : )

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!

New Item: Sweet Little Baby Hats!

Just a sneak-peek at a new item I'm making now - sorry for the less than stellar photo. It was taken last weekend at the Hill Country Arts & Crafts Fair, about a half hour before it started pouring down raining, unfortunately. All in all, the show was fun, but not a great one for me. But at least I got a lot of things made! I've been wanting to do these baby hats for a while now - they are so cute! The little appliqued stars are made of cute prints that coordinate with the onesies. And the great thing is that they are adjustable up to a toddler size because of the knot on top.

I'll have them up in my Etsy shop soon, but if you're a local, you can find them in the WonderCraft's Airstream boutique on the East Austin Studio Tour! The tour starts this weekend and runs through 11/22. We'll be out at stop #45 as guests of Courtney Gray/Creative Side Jewelry Academy. Hope to see you!

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!