I love craft books...especially ones about making stuffed toys! (Gee, I wonder why?)
I never exactly copy any of the projects, but I love learning new techniques and gaining inspiration from the toys they picture!
I recently bought 2 books with my Christmas money from my mother-in-law (thanks Momma Linda!)... Return of the Stupid Sock Creatures (the sequel to the book that inspired me to make plush in the first place) and Palm-Size Softies. Even though the books are around $20 each, I was able to get both of them for just under $20 because I got them at Joann Fabrics and had two 50% coupons that I used on both of them! Score! Yay for coupons!) I ordered the Sew Kawaii book from the library. The fourth book, Sew Me, Love Me, I bought last year. That book is what inspired the style of my "Woodland Creatures" (like my ever-popular Fox)
This is an example of how plush-making books inspire me. I flipped through "Sew Kawaii" when I was out to lunch with my husband after picking it up from the library... and was inspired by the octopus and jellyfish projects. And I thought...Octopus and Jellyfish Nubbins!
I did this sketch on a Post-It and posted this Instagram picture to my KiraArts Facebook page, and asked my fans what it looked like...an octopus or a jellyfish? The general consensus was "jellyfish". So I made these...
Before I made them, I did some searching on Etsy to gain additional inspiration for my design and saw a jellyfish hair clip that used rickrack for the tentacles. I thought that would be a great addition for some extra contrast of color and texture with the tentacles I was already planning on doing with the strips of fleece. Plus, if you've ever seen pictures of jellyfish (I did a Google image search as well for my "research") they have those long tentacles that extend beyond the shorter jumble. Plus the zig-zagginess kind of reminds me of how those tentacles of the real-life creature can sting/zap. Ah, the art of plush...making deadly things cute!
The Magenta Pink one is my favorite, since the fleece seems to curl up better than the other ones (I just pull down the length of the strip of fleece to get it to curl like that). Plus it reminds me of Finding Nemo..."I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy!" LOL!
The Purple Jellyfish Nubbin and the Magenta Pink Jellyfish Nubbin are still available as of now!
I made a blue one as well, but it sold less than 15 minutes after I announced the listings on my Facebook page! That is a new record. I have never had an item sell so fast! It was the same lady who bought my Gandalf Wizard Nubbin less than an hour after I posted about the listing on Facebook. Don't underestimate the marketing power of utilizing your Facebook page!
I'll be making another blue Jellyfish Nubbin soon, since I found a pearlescant/ metallic rickrack I think would be perfect for the tentacles! I think I will also be sewing little loop of ribbon to the top so people can hang them. I used some thread to display them in the Etsy listing photos, but wasn't thinking to make them with the intent of hanging them. Well, that's why the first batch are prototypes.
I made a blue one as well, but it sold less than 15 minutes after I announced the listings on my Facebook page! That is a new record. I have never had an item sell so fast! It was the same lady who bought my Gandalf Wizard Nubbin less than an hour after I posted about the listing on Facebook. Don't underestimate the marketing power of utilizing your Facebook page!
I'll be making another blue Jellyfish Nubbin soon, since I found a pearlescant/ metallic rickrack I think would be perfect for the tentacles! I think I will also be sewing little loop of ribbon to the top so people can hang them. I used some thread to display them in the Etsy listing photos, but wasn't thinking to make them with the intent of hanging them. Well, that's why the first batch are prototypes.
And for the octopus lovers, don't worry, I will be making Octopus Nubbins soon!
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