Heading to the Second Storie

My mom and I are going to second storie indie market today.
I found out about second storie by finding a postcard-sized advertisment for their "I Heart Handmade" show in February 2007 in the ladies restroom of Joanne Fabrics. Unfortunately, I found the ad one day too late and had missed the show! They've had other shows since then that I've missed due to prior commitments on the days the shows were on. So this will be my first time attending one of their events. I'm really goig to check it out to see if I'd like to apply to be a part of their next show. Here's hoping!

Check out their blog and Facebook page.!

My Early Christmas Gift...

So, my mom is awesome....but also kind of crazy!
She went shopping today (on Black Friday...~shudder~. I refused to go shopping today!). But she only went to JoAnne Fabrics and Michael's and said that it wasn't all that crazy. But she also got an awesome deal on a Cricut Personal Cutter at JoAnne's. The regular price is $199.99 (eek!), but today it was on sale for $74.88 (squeal!). So Mom bought me one as my Christmas gift, and not only could she not keep it a secret, she couldn't wait for me to open it! I don't even know why she bothered to wrap it!

So we had fun tonight playing with my new toy. (and for the scrapbooker, cardmaker, or papercrafter...it's a really fun toy!)

One of the cartridges has a special card-making feature on it.

Mom did say that if I was going to be in town for Christmas instead of in Ohio with my husband's family, she would have waited until Christmas to give it to me. (My husband and I alternate years that we spend the holidays with our families...if we spend Thanksgiving with my family, we'll spend Christmas with his. Next year we will do Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine. It's a good system.) But on the other hand, it's not uncommon for my Mom to buy me something as a gift for Christmas or my birthday and not be able to wait to give it to me.

Gobble Gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving! And here, for your enjoyment, is the obligitory Thanksgiving Nubbin....are you ready?....the Turkey Nubbin!

Ironically enough...I did not have turkey today for Thanksgiving Dinner. My grandma made ham...which I realize is not traditional, but I actually think I liked it better than turkey (way less bones!).

And the back view...

I think if I do another one, I'll do pointier tail feathers.

Photo Shoot: Snow White

I spent this afternoon being a model! My friend Ashley is an aspiring photographer (I believe I've mentioned her before). She is taking a digital photography class and has an assignment to pick a famous photographer and shoot a photo in their style. She chose Annie Leibovitz...who has done a lot of dramatic/elaborate fairy tale/fantasy themed photos (some examples can be found here, here, and here). So Ashley asked if I would be her model and if I would be in costume for the shoot. And anyone who knows me knows I never pass up a chance to wear my corset! (as well as my wedding dress...what other bride gets this much milage out of her dress? I get to wear it to the Renaissance Faire every year AND do photo shoots!)

We did a kind of Snow White kind of thing (hence the apple and me lying on the ground). If only we'd had some dwarves! (...er, um...little people).

I laid on the ground for quite a while while she took shots from some different angles. But I was comfortable...I was lying on a blanket and had a jacket rolled up propping up my head. It was chilly today though...my apple hand got pretty cold when I was lying there. The funny thing is whenever people walked by. They probably thought "who's the crazy girl in the medieval dress lying on the ground?"...at least until they saw Ashley with her camera.

Be sure to go check out her photography blog for more pictures !

I was featured on the RNEST Blog!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out today that I was featured on Rochester NY Etsy Street Team's blog as "Jack"s Pick". Each Friday he selects an item created by a member of the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST). He said it was hard to pick a favorite, but he picked Saundur as his favorite "for two main reasons, he was green, and he had a beard. My favorite color is green, and I have a beard...".

Yay! Thanks Jack for featuring me!

My "Studio"

Here's a glimpse into the evolution of my workspace.
Here's what it looked like during our "walk-through" of the house before we bought it. It was the smallest bedroom upstairs, and I immediately said "This will be my craft room!"

Here it is shortly after we first moved in (but weren't completely moved in. I should have taken a picture of it on our "big" moving day! There were so masny boxes that I never thought I'd get everything organized!)

And here it is now!

Don't let the mess fool you! I actually have things pretty organized! But tell me that the rest of you don't have craft rooms that are as messy as this (or worse!). Those shelves are reused/repurposed bi-fold closet doors from my parent's house. I originally took them because I thought I would use them to make big paintings...but I think they're serving me better as shelves!

And this is where the magic happens! My sewing station!

The table my sewing machine resides on is an old school desk I picked up from the curb outside the house of a local Amish family who were moving. The top was really dirty, after some scrubbing and magic eraser, it was as good as new!

And here is my newly installed monster clothesline!

I LOVE my monster clothesline! Whenever I do another craft show (or if I ever have my own shop) this is how I want to display my monsters!

Snowy Plush

Well, we're not getting snow quite yet here in western New York, but I got inspiration for a snowman Nubbin.

I made the red heart kind of asymmetrical for a reason. It's kind of an homage to one of my favorite children's books called "The Mystery of the Missing Red Mitten" by Steven Kellogg. After making a snowman, a little girl finds that she has lost one of her red mittens. She looks for it and imagines what could have happened to it and at the end of the story she ends up going back to the snowman and finding that he's melted a little and that he has a red heart...and that it's her missing red mitten!

And going along with the snow theme, I thought I'd also share pictures of my Abominable Snowman sock monster.

I love his little blue claws!

Sweater Scrap Cats!

I've been into making cats this week for some reason.
I made this sweater scrap Cheshire Cat throw pillow because I was inspired by the shape of the scraps that were left of this purple striped sweater.

This black cat pillow came from a pretty random inspiration...I kept seeing my purse on the arm of our Lazyboy chair and thinking it was a fat black cat plush for some reason. So I decided to make one!

Crazy Orange and Green Galliwumpf

I haven't made many sock monsters lately. I'm just getting inspiration again for some. Here's my latest...




Not sure what I'll name her yet. I'll have to look at my file I keep of Captchas I find that make good monster names. Here's a list of the ones I have so far.

• Hagnizi
• Bylserst
• Trali
• Cinti
• Grack
• Calaspec
• Chipsin
• Matom
• Oustr
• Baskafel
• Yedless
• Nostlea
• Nomonor
• Squarc
• Fingspar
• Eybolo
• Somoeso
• Sputio
• Skisia
• Gedicent
• Mrs. Bruising
• Weadevol
• Nesso
• Ingessi
• Thinkming
• Foonedo
  

If you feel so inclined, leave a comment to this post with the captcha it gives you. (you don't win anything except brownie points, but it's still fun!)

Friend's Dog needs a home!

I'm on a misson today.
I have a friend in the Rochester, NY area who is looking for a good home for her dog..."a two year old coonhoud/husky mix medium size dog named, "Smoochie"...very loving, good with children, great with other animals." (you can't see it in the picture, but she has two different colored eyes in true husky fashion!)

My poor friend is going to have to take the Smoochie to Lollypop Farm (the local animal shelter) on Wednesday if she can't find a home for her by then. And I know she'd much rather know that Smoochie has a good home than take a chance that she might get put to sleep if she can't find a home at Lollypop. My friend is a big animal lover and is really torn up that she has to do this (I'm not sure about exactly why she has to get rid of Smoochie, but I think it has to do with her living situation).
I know I'd be devestated if I had to get rid of Luna (I'm kind of tearing up right now!) I know there are tons of animals who need homes, and I'm not usually a crazy animal adoption advocate or anything, but this is for someone I know and love who I know is really hurt that she has to give away her beloved furry friend anyway.

So PLEASE...if you live in the Rochester area (or even Buffalo!) and want a dog, or know someone who has been looking for a dog, let me know!!!

Custom Green Panther Nubbin

My friend Melissa (that I mentioned in the last post) also asked me for a Green Panther Nubbin. She's a schoolteacher and her school's mascot is...you guessed it... a green panther.

Custom Princess/Ballerina Nubbin

My friend Melissa in Pensacola asked me for a Princess/Ballerina Nubbin (I'm guessing it's for her granddaughter). I wasn't sure if she meant either/or or both...so I made it both. Princess hat/crown and ballerina slippers & tutu!

Those little purple toeshoes were a pain to make, but they're so cute, so it was worth it! (I had to handstitch the tutu as well).

Finished Mini-Nubbin Keychain Set

I will be making a listing for custom Mini-Nubbin keychains in the shop soon! I will probably be making a listing for some Mini-Nubbin pins in the same style as well!

Stay tuned!

More Mini-Nubbin Keychains (Flat Versions)

I'm almost done with the Mini-Nubbin keychain order! I just have to sew the eyes onto the rest of the Mini-Nubbins. I found that I had some little black beads I can use for the eyes instead of the little buttons. I also found that the little buttons I have aren't in colors that match the bright felt colors...plus, the black beads make them look more like my regular black eyed Nubbins.

Nubbin Keychain (Design #2)

Told you I would keep you posted! Here is the second Mini-Nubbin keychain design! This one is flat and unstuffed with a grommit to put the keyring through.

I borrowed my mother's grommit/eyelet kit (the grommit/eyelet is that little metal piece around the hole). She usually uses her grommits for papercrafting and cardmaking, but she says the stuff she has works on fabric too.

Both designs are okay. They each have their own certain charm, but I think I prefer the first one (the blue one). A third option is to do a stuffed version with the grommit instead of the ribbon. We'll see how that works.

Nubbin Keychain (Design #1)

Did I show you my new Nubbin keychain yet? I didn't? How careless of me!

A fellow Etsy user sent me a convo (an Etsy private message) about commissioning some "Mini-Nubbins" that she could include in her packages to customers as a free gift. She said it'd be nice if it was something people could put "on bags/clothes/etc." So I thought of doing a keychain. The "Mini-Nubbin" is approximately 1.5 x 2 inches.

This is my first design. I have another design planned that is a bit of a flatter, unstuffed Nubbin made of felt with a grommit/eyelet in the corner instead of the ribbon. I'll be sure to include a picture when I finish the design's prototype.

I will be making a listing for custom Mini-Nubbin keychains in my shop when I am finished with this order.

Happy Halloween!

These are some Nubbins I've had planned out, but have put on the back burner to work on other projects. Too bad I didn't have them done and listed in my Etsy shop before Halloween! Oh well. The funny thing is that I had two unofficial requests for a bat Nubbin before I even had this one done!

I made this one a vampire bat (the blood droplet is very reminiscent of this monster I made for my husband awhile back). Don't worry, Nubbin Vampire Bats are "vegetarian vampires" (sorry, Twilight reference!)...they don't drink human blood, only the blood of animals!...stuffed animals!...and even then it's only red felt they prefer to snack on! Okay I'm being really silly now!...moving on...

This Pumpkin Nubbin (aka: the "Jack-O-Nubbin"...or would it be "Nub-O Lantern"?) I originally wasn't going to have the stripes on when I was planning it out. I decided to do it last minute before sewing it up...and I'm glad I did it. It wouldn't look as pumpkin-y without them.