Handmade Christmas 2011!

I never officially signed the Handmade Holiday Pledge (which is "at least half of the holiday gifts I give will be handmade! *by me, a friend, or a super-cool artist), but I do believe that at least half of my gifts I gave this year were handmade.  This month, I was working on top-secret handmade Christmas gifts for my nieces.  I had to wait until after Christmas to post pictures, since I wasn't sure if they check my blog at all and didn't want to inadvertently spoil the surprise.  But now I can finally share!

Pieces cut out before sewing.

First up was an "Invader Zim" hat for my oldest niece.  (she is one of those teens who are borderline obsessed with the cancelled Nickelodeon show). I was originally going to make her a Cheshire Cat purse to match the plush I gave her two years ago, but my sister-in-law had asked about an "Invader Zim" hat, so I made that instead!

And the finished product!

 (modeling it myself in my bathroom mirror)

Next is a Monster Purse for my middle niece (the oldest's younger sister).  I made a monster purse last year that she really liked, but I ended up selling it at a show.  So this was the perfect opportunity for me to make her one of her own.

Last is an Owl Purse for my youngest niece.  She's REALLY into owls (of course, who ISN'T into owls nowadays?) and my mother-in-law had suggested that I make her an owl purse. (I know there are feet shown in the cut-out-pieces photo...but I forgot about them when I sewed the purse up!  I don't think it mattered much to anyone though.)

And now the big reveal!...

(I wasn't at a good angle to get a good picture of her reaction...but she was VERY excited)

She was so excited that she couldn't stand still enough for me to get a good picture!

I made all 3 girls line up so I could get good pictures. 

I also have a nephew (the youngest niece's brother), but I was at a loss at what to make for him.  He's 17, and teenage boys are so difficult to hand make gifts for!  But we got a tip from my mother-in-law that he wanted a set of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" books, so we got him a boxed set, which he was very happy with!  And I an get behind that.  If you can't hand-make something, books are a good way to go!  I fully endorse the activity of reading! (I was quite the book-worm when I was a teen)

They were all thrilled with their gifts, which made me very happy!  I think I am officially the "cool aunt"! ;)

I have a feeling I am going to start getting lots of requests for purses now!  I've already gotten a few after I posted the pictures on Facebook! 

I wasn't very confident in making purses before.  I had only made one before as an experiment. But I thought they would look unfinished if I didn't line them, and the idea of lining them was daunting to me.  But I find that if I make the purses out of sweaters, the "raw" seams on the inside of the bag look okay.  So I may be adding purses to my line of products pretty soon!

Monster Ear Hat Color Choices...

I am trying to come up with a fixed set of color combinations for the Monster-Ear Hats. I've just made the combinations willy-nilly before, but I want a fixed set of colors to make the process of making them smoother. Don't worry, I WILL still accept special orders for custom hats, but I need a set that I will have ready-made for craft shows and the Etsy shop. It's so hard to try and anticipate what colors people will want to buy. I'm always aware of the idea that just because I like a certain color combination, that doesn't mean anyone else will! So I need your help for some market research!

Go to my KiraArts fanpage on Facebook, go to the "Hats!" photo album, and click "like" on the picture of the color set you like best! (there are 3 sets to vote for).

I am personally favoring Set 1...but I want to know what my customers will like the best!

This 4th graphic is of some ideas for specific "Special Edition" hats. (I need to make more of the "Yoda" hats in adult sizes! I had at least 2 requests for them at my last craft show, and all I had were 2 kid sizes!)

Monster-Ear Hats are in the Shop!

I've finally made some listings for the monster-ear hats in my Etsy shop!


The photos for the child size listing are by my friend Ashley Clark (and that adorable kid in the picture is her son). She's the one that I've modeled for in the past. Check out her photography blog here. If you're in the Rochester, NY area and need a good photographer, drop her a line! She does amazing work!

Lil Monster Debut!

Remember a few weeks ago when I made this hat? Well, the baby boy it was meant for came into the world this week! (and he looks so much better in it than the semi-creepy baby doll I originally modeled it on!) Congratulations Amy!

However...

"after his debut in it, Oliver decided that he has a big head and that the hat donning process was a bit too much for his liking since his 13 1/2 inch head barely fit!"

To be fair, Oliver is the first real baby to try on the newborn-sized hat, and I was aware that even newborns are all different sizes when they're born. So I was prepared for the possiblility of the hat being too small...so when Amy bought the hat from me, I had offered to make a bigger one if it didn't fit. So I'm going to make good on my offer now.

Yup...sizing is still a slow learning process. Even with help from Martha. ;)
I don't have any kids/babies of my own, so I can't just go grab one to measure their head...I have to borrow my friends' kids!

More Monster Ear Hats in Infant & Kid Sizes!

I got some infant size hats now!

And more kid-size hats...

These are some of the kids at church on Sunday...

Kid Size Monster-Ear Hats

These hats were a hit with the kids at church on Sunday. I'm going to have to start making a lot more kid sized ones! (these two are the only kid size ones I have so far)


I'm still learning a lot about sizing these hats. Trial and error I guess. A big thank you to all my friends with kids who let me use their kids as sizing guinia pigs!

This blue one can fit an adult as well. (so either I have a small head or Matt has a big head!)

Emily's birthday was this week. I want to make her her own hat. She'd look so cute in a pink & brown one.

I also keep getting requests from Facebook friends for a green "Yoda" hat. I've been busy, and then sick this week, so I need to crawl out of my sickness-induced lethargy and MAKE stuff!

Custom Newborn Monster-Ear Hat

I posted pics of the previous newborn hat on my Facebook and now all my friends want one! Below is my first custom hat for my friend Amy. And these newborn hats are listed in my Etsy shop now. (need a baby shower gift?)

Yay for making fun, yet practical fuzzy things!

(BTW: I'm hoping to maybe use one of my friends' babies as models soon so I won't have to use the baby doll. It's pretty life-like, but not enough to fool one into thinking it's actually a real baby...so it just ends up being a bit creepy.)

Newborn Monster-Ear Hat

After seeing my last post, my friend Amy emailed me saying that she'd love to buy one for her new baby that is on the way. She also gave me a very helpful link to a project for making fleece hats that has some sizing information on the Martha Stewart website. (Oh....Martha is sucking me in!)
So, eager to try my hand at making a smaller sized hat, I made a newborn Monster-Ear hat...

I made the pattern myself based on the sizing chart on the Martha website and the hat pattern I'd used for the adult sized hat (traced from a pattern for a recycled sweater hat project in the book Last Minute Fabric Gifts)

My model is a baby doll that Aunt Grandma actually gave me years ago...a childhood toy that I keep for my friends' kids to enjoy when they come over. It is supposed to be the size of an actual newborn. It fits the doll, so I hope it fits an actual baby! (this is based on the smallest size on the chart...14 inch circumference and 8 inch crown)

Average Head Sizes:
Newborn (6 months and younger)
Circumference: 14 to 17 inches
Crown: 8 to 10 inches

Infant (6 to 12 months)
Circumference: 16 to 19 inches
Crown: 11 to 12 inches

Monster-Ear Hats!

My recent love of making monsters with pointy little gremlin ears has now branched off into making monster-ear hats!

The great thing about these is that even after winter is over, and you don't need to keep your head warm anymore, you can stash these in with your own little monsters' dress-up clothes!

I'd like to list these in the Etsy shop, but need to figure out sizing, and I need to photograph them in front of a more proffessional looking background (I need to hang a sheet up or something).