A very fun Christmas commission

One of my tasks this December was to create 3 specific types of plush for Christmas gifts. The commission was from one of my best customers, and it was a really nice creative challenge making them for her.

The first one I was asked to make was a Nutcracker, and after doing a bunch of research and drawing up lots of variations on the idea, I settled on this design. Meet Hans the Nutcracker:

Hans patrols the town, making sure that everyone is in the Christmas spirit. In his spare time he cultivates both holly and mistletoe. He's made of flannel, with fleece for his face and hands, and faux fur for his hair and mustache. His teeth and facial features are made from felt.

My next objective was creating Eve, the Christmas Fairy- this one also went through a bunch of sketches before I settled on the final design idea:

I took my inspiration from a Christmas tree- and created my own fabric for her dress from two variations on a green dot cotton fabric, cutting them out and then sewing them together to create a tree-ish design. I added candy cane striped tights, with snowflake shoes, and sparkly felt buckles, and topped it off with a sparkly white felt pointsettia flower in her hair.

Her wings are created from the same candy cane striped cotton, with bright pink flannel centers.

And lastly, and MOST challenging was this guy, Optimus Prime:

In case any of you don't know, Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. He's made of mostly fleece, with felt accent pieces. I hand sewed on his helmet antennae, exhaust pipes on his shoulders, and the tires and gas tanks on the sides of his legs. I had to somewhat simplify his design to be able to make him in my style, but overall I'm pretty happy with the way that he turned out.

These were a TON of fun to make, and I enjoyed this commission a lot. It was really great to make Optimus, since I was/am a big fan of the Transformers. My sister and I had quite a few of the original toys when we were kids- and I kick myself for getting rid of them when we "grew up."

Anyway, I hope that these were a big hit in the home where they landed for Christmas- I know that they almost weren't allowed to leave my house when my family saw how they turned out. ;D

Well, that's it for 2011- I'll be back in 2012 with new creations. I'm off to spend some time relaxing, re-charging the creative juices, catching up on my reading, and viewing all the content on my DVR that I missed while I was sewing away the past month. :)
Here's to a great year in 2012 to you all!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday season! 

Another of my commissions this month was this guy, Keyrock, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Based on a character created by the late, great,  Phil Hartman on Saturday Night Live.

He's made from actual wool suiting in a black pin-stripe, with a white cotton shirt and red tie, and his face/hands are fleece. His facial elements are made from felt, as is his huge and cumbersome 80s cell phone. His hair is this crazy black faux-fur, that I knew would be perfect for caveman hair when I saw it in the fabric store.

New plush for the holidays

I didn't have as much time to make all the plush ideas I wanted to make for the holidays this year, but I managed to create a few fun pieces, like these Snowman Head Pillows,

 and these 2 sets of holiday Bears, of which only the set of the Green Bear and mini Red Bear are left in the shop.

 I added the Gingerbread Circus Clown to the shop- he was in the Plush Team's Group show at the HotPop Gallery in Milwaukee earlier this year,

and of course you can find the Mini-Yetis hanging out, enjoying the wintry weather and looking for new homes and new friends to have adventures with,

and there's always the group of Holiday Rabbits that would be happy to be sent off to explore new places this winter, as well.

I'm working madly on new things for a great cause and some items for a great customer at the moment, and when I am done, I'll be sure to post the results of all my sewing frenzy right here, so stay tuned! :D

Langdon Family Plushcatures

Wondering what I have been up to lately? ;D I was commissioned to make these plush for my good friend Abby's birthday last week, and it was a total blast transforming her family into their plush selves. Here are the real Langdons:

And here are their plush counterparts, starting with the birthday girl:

Abby loves purple and turquoise, and wears tunics and leggings most of the time. I chose this starry fabric to represent her sparkling personality as well as her love of all kinds of purple. She wears her Uggs a lot as well, so I made some in a purple corduroy. I hand embroidered the eye details on all of the family, it seemed to fit them better than felt ones.

Next we have her husband, Jason:

He wanted me to make him in a blazer and t-shirt, with the t-shirt having the bunny logo of Abby's plush company as the graphic element, and the t-shirt is made from an up-cycled t-shirt. He wears his Chucks a lot, so I added those as his shoes. His blazer is made out of wool.

Their son, Brody:

I was asked to create a Lego t-shirt for Brody, and to put him in jeans and black shoes. Both Brody and Jason have two functional pockets on the back of their jeans, too.  Teeny tiny pockets, but still pockets. ;D

Last but not least, we have their daughter, Kalli:

Kalli loves the color pink, so I chose a fun graphic pink printed cotton for her t-shirt, a pink and green polka dot for her leggings, and a light pink for her crocs. She likes to wear tutus, so I made my very first one (and did it right the first try- woohoo!) out of a bright sparkly chiffon-type fabric. She also always wears a barrette or pin to hold back her hair, so I created one out of a couple of pink flower shaped buttons and some green felt leaves to bring in the green from her shirt and leggings. She also has sparkly green rick-rack trim around her sleeves. Can't get enough sparkle at her age. ;D

Here they are as a family:

Happy Birthday to you, Abby! It was wonderful to be a part of your birthday celebration this year. :D

Holiday Shopping stress reliever.

Looking for something unusual and cool to give as a gift this Christmas? Want to avoid any more mall shopping? The Plush Team is offering a solution to the holiday shopping blues. Starting Monday November 28th, the Plush Team blog and etsy shop will be featuring great plush items from different Team members each day for 12 days, as a sort of handmade 12 Days of Christmas. Some of the artists involved are:

Scrumptious Delight
Deadly Sweet
Yummy Pancake
Moons Creations
Yermit
the Pixels
Lowell and Son
HappyCloud Thunderhead
zfla
yours truly, and many more! Head on over to the Plush Team blog tomorrow morning and see what cool item Yermit is offering for sale to kick off the event. If you are a fan of the color pink, you won't want to miss it. :D

"Last Tree on the Lot" ornament by Lowell and Son

Ornament Show!

Just in time for the holidays, Schmancy Toys in Seattle is having a holiday Ornament show, and I was happy to send my group of 10 ornaments on a trip to the lovely Pacific Northwest. There are some really fantastic artists making pieces for this show, so if you are in the area, go check it out!

As promised here are photos of the pieces I sent to the show:
Bring on Santa Claus. Ho ho ho!

I was brainstorming ideas and finally sketched up some Santa heads, which I thought would make festive ornaments. Each one is unique, since their eye color, mouth and cheek color varies, and there are Santas with green hats, and Santas with red hats. Some Santas have cream colored beards and mustaches, others have white. I hand embroidered each set of eyes and their mouths.
These are sold individually, but I think it would be fun to have one green, and one red, don't you? ;D

Hope that you all are starting to feel the holiday spirit- making these ornaments definitely got me in the Christmas mood! Well, I'm off to go decorate the house and put up the tree, while listening to my favorite Christmas music. :D

More plush creations will be coming soon! Until then, check out the holiday rabbits already in my etsy shop. 
Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Coming Soon!

Available only at Schmancy Toys in Seattle, I wonder what these could be? Find out this Friday, and if you are in the Seattle area, why not head on over to Schmancy and get some Christmas cheer for your tree, and cool gifts for your loved ones? Shop local, handmade, and small businesses this weekend and call yourself a hero. :D

Tall, Blonde, and Handsome

Guess who's got themselves a new Boyfriend? ;D

This handsome fella is a new addition to my collection, I just couldn't resist him when I saw him on the Schmancy Toys website. He was part of this year's Plush You! art show, which is ongoing.

If you are wondering who is the plush genius behind the Boyfriend, her name is Jenny, and she is responsible for making all sorts of wonderful creations that she calls Yermits, including the ultra-cool Boyfriends. You can find her etsy shop here.

 As soon as I saw this blonde and scruffy dude, I knew he had to be mine. He's even more perfect for me since his tote bag is made with images of Decepticons on it, (I had a ton of Transformer toys when I was a kid) and if that wasn't cool enough, he's also got an X-men comic book in there- (my favorite) and as a bonus he has an old edition of a Superman comic. His toque (or knit-hat, for you Americans out there) comes off, revealing a nice and bright mane of artfully messed up hair.

Whether you are in need of a Boyfriend, or just a delightfully quirky plush creation that will make you smile, go and check out the Yermits! There are even Santa ones for the holidays. :D

Cordoroy Creations

The Corduroy Appreciation Club's annual meeting this past Friday was a rip-roaring success, and if you couldn't make it to the actual Club meeting, here are some samples of the awesome plush made for the event:

11l11l11 by Raggy Rat

                                                            Cordelia by ThEm Dollz

 
                                 "Grow A Pair" Corduroy vending machine by Scrumptious Delight

 
                                                   A Pinwale Pin Whale by Squirrel Momma

The Squid and the Wale by Lana "Plushinator" Crooks

Waling Banshee by Plushroom Soup

                                        and the ultra-groovy Wavy Wade by Patti Haskins

You can find all these lovelies for sale in the Plush Team's etsy shop, so why not get your favorite while you can? :)

Corduroy lovers unite!

This Friday is 11l11l11, which if you are a member of the Corduroy Appreciation Club (or simply a devotee to corduroy) is known as the date most resembling corduroy. In honor of the big day, the NYC chapter of the Club is having a HUGE sold-out event, and the Plush Team was asked to make 11 pieces of corduroy plush to be included in the festivities. If you've been following the Plush Team's blog this month you know all about it and the 11 days of corduroy; each day featuring one of the awesome corduroy-inspired pieces created for the event. I am a big fan of corduroy myself, so it was no problem to be inspired to create a plush using the "everyman's" fabric. :D
Here it is:

"Woody Allen, Corduroy Enthusiast"

I chose to make Mr. Allen because he is a lifelong ambassador for corduroy wearers everywhere. It is rare to see photos of him not wearing at least one item of corduroy. (Although I think he's probably more famous for the almost 70 films that he's written, directed and/or starred in. :D) For my piece, I wanted to keep in mind the Club's rules: each member has to wear at least 2 items of corduroy to the meetings. So, my version of Woody Allen has on a corduroy blazer as well as pinwale (baby corduroy) trousers.

 He is also wearing a oh-so-soft flannel sweater, with cotton collared shirt. I wanted to make sure to add the elbow pads on the back of his blazer, and his oxford-inspired shoes are made with ultrasuede and faux-leather soles.

If you are interested in giving Mr. Allen a new home, my piece will be available for sale in the Plush Team's etsy shop  starting Thursday November 10th, along with all the other cordurrific plush made for the CAC event.