Make It Monday: Recycled Coffee Cup Post-It Notepads

I did a "guest post" over at my mom's blog for a tutorial for making her Post-It notepads using recycled coffee cups.

She has so many cool, crafty ideas, but she "hates blogging" because she never knows how to format the posts... so she gave me posting access to her blog...so I kind of act as her "personal blogger" sometimes! (and write the posts as if I'm her) But even though I wrote the post, the work, directions, and most of the photos are all hers. I just tweak the wording a bit, take a couple extra photos, and edit it all together into a comprehensive blog post!

Anyway...please go check it out and leave her some nice comments! And if you make your own coffee cup Post-It notepad, be sure to take some pictures and blog about it, or put them in your Flickr, and post a link in your comment!

Hervish & Mims

I find myself preferring using sweaters over socks lately, but I still do make sock monsters...

This is Hervish. He's (obviously) made from a toesock.

And this is Mims. I can't remember if Mims is made from the same sock as Hervish or the mate (probably a bit of both).

My First T-Shirt Dress!

I got the book "Generation T: Beyond Fashion" from the library last week. It's a "sequel" to the original "Generation T" book. I love the idea of refashioning clothes into new ones, and actually own another book on the subject, "99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt Into Something Special", but have always been too intimidated by the idea of making clothes. (Of course, I also owned "Stupid Sock Creatures" for almost a year before I overcame my intimidation and made my first sock monster.)

I've had people call me a "seamstress" after they see my plushies, and I am always quick to correct them and say that I am NOT a seamstress. I don't make clothes. I enjoy the margin of error that plush-making affords that I think making clothing doesn't. If I mess up on a plushie (especially if it's a monster), it just adds to the charm. And I don't believe it's the same way with clothing. I don't know if it's because I tend to be a perfectionist, or because I'm a plus-sized woman and feel like I can't put on just any piece of clothing and make it look good.

Anyway...with that all said, I've been flipping through the book and gaining inspiration, and the day before yesterday, I finally took the plunge and decided to make myself something!

I love this style of empire-waisted dress. I have a few that I wear all the time in the summer. I bought 4 T-shirts at the thrift store on Monday specifically in order to make this dress. I was inspired by the Project # 20 "Fun In The Sun" sundress in the book. I made a few alterations and deviations from the original pattern (don't I always?). The black band was an addition to hide a mistake I had made. Plus I think it adds something to the overall look of the dress. I am considering adding some straps to the back, since the back part of the bodice tends to droop and I don't want to be showing flashes of my strapless bra. (I made sure it wasn't showing for the picture below!)

This is the first piece of clothing I've ever made for myself. It took a lot of time, but it was satisfying. And it actually looks good! (if I do say so myself!). It's not "perfect", but it's wearable! It's obviously a warm-weather piece of clothing, but I was so excited to wear it, that I wore a black, long-sleeved shirt underneath it yesterday...and it still looked good!

Thank you Generation T for helping me overcome my clothing-making phobia and insecurities! I CAN make my own clothes! I can't wait to cut up more old T-shirts now! I'll have to dig out the stash I've been saving. And maybe I will actually use my other T-shirt transformation book after I have to take this book back to the library.

Knox the Fox

I've finally finished my second fox! (Well, I finished him on Saturday, but have finally gotten around to doing a photo shoot). I promise that, unlike the first fox, I will not be keeping this one for myself. It will be available in my Etsy shop.

After looking at a few pictures of actual foxes, I decided to give this fox some black "socks" like real foxes do. Although I think to be completely accurate, I would have needed to make his ears black too. But that's okay...I have creative license...foxes don't stand upright either.

I'm wanting to start a "Woodland Creatures" series. I currently have a raccoon in the works (he's just waiting for his arms and tail). After the raccoon, I'd like to do a badger. And after the badger...I'm not sure. I have lots of ideas and have gotten some good ideas and suggestions from friends and Facebook fans though...hedgehog, groundhog, squirrel, bird, deer, beaver, rabbit...the list can go on and on!

Ethan's Rocket Ship

I found out that my friend's son had his 4th birthday today (I always forget that his birthday is January 1st). I also found out that he was sick today and they weren't going to be able to really celebrate his birthday today. Feeling bad for the little guy, I decided that I wanted to make something to cheer him up. He's all about rocket ships (any toy that remotely resembles a rocket is a "rocket ship!" to him), so I whipped up this little rocket ship for him this morning out of sweater scraps and felt.

He was too grumpy to be really excited about it when I stopped over to give it to him, but his mom reassured me by letting me know he'd be snuggling with it and playing with it later.

* (Oh yeah...Happy New Year!)

Back to my plush-making roots...

I noticed that I've been using store-bought fleece a lot to make my monsters (although I usually try to only buy the remnant pieces in the 50% off bin at Joann's). But I have bins and bins of socks and clothes that I've saved to make monsters with...so I've been trying to get back to my original plush-making roots lately by repurposing those socks & clothing to make my monsters...

This guy is from an old fleece I had lying around. One of my favorite things is making pocket mouths...especially with zippers!



This gal is a pretty simple monster. My favorite part about her is her long hair. I envision her as an eccentric, hippie art teacher. All she's missing is a long funky necklace and tie-dye.

(Sorry if the pictures are a little blurry. I was trying to snap some quick pictures of these two monsters before the craft show tomorrow in case they sell. I need to set up a photo shoot area again in my craft room with decent lighting and a tripod for the camera. )

Orange Seam Mouth Monster

We inturrupt your regularly scheduled pocket-mouth monsters for this seam-mouth monster...

He kind of looks a little grumpy to me, but in that cute kind of way. Or maybe it's a neutral face, but I'm just thinking he's grumpy? Does that mean that I'm grumpy? I don't think I'm grumpy...
Maybe he's like those people whose neutral face looks like they're grumpy (you know the kind of people I mean!)

(That seam was the existing shoulder seam of a sweater.)

Yet Another Big Mouthed Gremlin Sweater Monster

I told you I was on a sweater monster making streak! After the last one, I just had to do another big-mouthed monster...

And yes...once again, his mouth is a pocket. (I have a thing for making pocket mouths lately).

Big Mouthed Gremlin Sweater Monster

Maybe it's because it's winter, and sweaters bring on thoughts of warm coziness, but I've been on a sweater monster making streak lately...

The mouth is the collar of the sweater.

His mouth has a pocket too.

Hey! My cell phone and iPod! I need those! Don't eat them!

Terra was curious what I was doing.

Hide-Away Pocket Mouth Sweater Monster

Made this litte guy yesterday...

I sometimes get inspired when I'm trying to organize my materials...

I saw the collar of this sweater and was inspired to make a monster with a hide-away pocket mouth.

I almost made him into a puppet, but decided against it. Maybe another time.

He could work in the monster circus as a sword (or scissor) swallower!

Orange & Blue Sweater Monsters

I love using the orange,navy blue, and grey color combination! This first guy got a mustache because I saw that orange scrap and decided it looked like a mustache!

He looks Scottish to me (I think it's the big orange/red mustache). I can imagine him having a Scottish accent. I wish I had some appropriately plaid fabric so I could make him a kilt!

I've had the pieces cut out for this guy for awhile, but only recently sewed him up. He found a home quick...I sold him at the Presence on the Patio show.

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!

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!

Pink & Navy Blue Sweater Monster

Another sweater monster out of that bag of sweater scraps!...


I think I've found a new favorite monster design! The ears make them look like little gremlins.

In a conversation with my husband and parents while at dinner the other night, someone mentioned something about "the Shirt Trolls must have stolen" a particular shirt my dad was looking for. And it gave me this crazy idea for a story of an epic battle between the Shirt Trolls and the Sock Gremlins for possession of the laundry room. (Then my mom said I should add underwear sprites into the mix!) What a fun children's book that would make!