Main image

Tuesday, April 27

TRIBAL VACATION



I will be on vacation until May 9th. If you fall in love and adopt one of my plush while I am away, they will be shipped out on May 10th. I will still be able to receive and answer conversations/e-mails if you have any questions.


Also, my tribals will be out of stock unfortunately until I can return. The Plush Team will be attending the Maker Faire on May 22nd and 23rd in San Mateo, CA and I'm sending the last of my stock to them! But don't worry, during my "vacation" I will be create more tribals to take their spot and will be listing them starting May 10th.

See you soon!

Thursday, April 22

TUTORIAL: MINI FLOWER GARDEN



Here is a simple and fun spring project that can bring a little brightness to any space while reusing leftover materials.

You will need:

Styrofoam
Wire Cutters
Scissors Or Table Knife
Double Sticky Tape
Buttons of varying size and color
22 or 24 gage Wire
A mini vase, empty coffee can, mug, or container that needs a new use.



First, start by choosing an item that will hold your mini flower garden. I chose this adorable whale from Fruit Fly Pie originally it was meant to hold toothpicks, but I think its the perfect size for this project.

Cut a piece of Styrofoam that will lay in the bottom of your vase. If your piece is a little too small or moves around too much, place a piece of double sticky tape on the bottom.



For my vase, I cut my wire into 6" and 8" pieces. Depending on the height of your vase, you might want to cut your wire longer or shorter, remembering that the shorter your stem, the better chance it has of standing up on its own.

Thread your wire through your largest button first, then choosing contrasting colors, thread up to 3 more buttons.

Take the wire and thread it back down through the other holes, creating a loop at the top. Pull the wire snuggly, until the loop is tight against the button. Twist the shorter end of the wire underneath the buttons to secure them.

Repeat these steps and create as many flowers as you want! Once you have filled your work space with flower buttons, take each one and stick them into your Styrofoam mount. Arrange them so that they are different heights and matching colors aren't next to each other. Place your mounted flowers into your vase and enjoy your creation.

Tuesday, April 20

DALE




Dale was a previous design of mine, which I hadn't made in a long time. Now he is back and ready for a new home. I created him with lots of fun textures and colors, including repurposed fleece blankets and knit shirts.

Dale's mini bio:
"Dale's nervous attitude keeps him from enjoying even the simplest things. He barely made it away from a shark and has the scars to prove it."

Sunday, April 18

SEA CREATURES



As I sat at my sewing table today, I was thinking about my fish, Henry. I don't often ponder about my fish but today was an exception. We bought Henry for 25 cents at a pet store. He was meant to be a feeder fish but I rescued him and today he has grown into something of a monster. But poor henry is alone and needs a friend. Thinking about the friends I could get for him brought me to the subject of Hermit Crabs. When I was little they scared me, I'm not really sure why. So I decided that I would make a plush version and I think Hector has done his job and cured me of my fear of crabs.


Today I was given a bag of clothes and directly went into sewing mode. Out popped Chip. He will be the last of his kind for awhile, as I think I am now addicted to Hermit Crabs.

CLOUD, CHARLIE, & ALBERT



Just a quick note about what's going on in my shop and around the house. First of all meet Cloud, Charlie, and Albert. I had a lot of fun working with these guys and picking out different materials.

Ingredients for a plush sparrow are as follows:
repurposed fleece blankets
sweaters
knit pants
scrap cotton

Combine ingredients into large bowl and add magic plush dust. Hug plush for 1 hour until their eye pops and their cuteness factor rises. Let cool and list.


--
Things around the house have been crazy! I've been working on many projects and have completed many projects. Everyday I become more excited for our trip to MI and don't forget, one day closer to STUFFED Magazine coming out!

Friday, April 16

PLUSH SPARROW GIVEAWAY

Plush Sparrow Prizes Worth: $25.50 each(USD)
Giveaway will have 3 Winners!







This time I thought I would do a different type of giveaway. For the months of April & May there will be 3 winners If you have felt discouraged not winning my previous giveaways, you will now have a better odds. Good luck!!

These Plush Sparrows are made from reclaimed fleece blankets, jackets, and sweaters. They range in size from 6" to 7" tall and is 10" to 11 1/2" wide. They're good eye is created with layered vintage buttons and they stuffed with recycled plastic shopping bags.
A total of 72 recycled plastic shopping bags were used in the creation of these plush.


Due to the materials used in these creations, these plushies could be a CHOKING HAZARD and are NOT intened for children.

International friendly :) Ships anywhere!


HOW TO ENTER:


There are a few ways you can get entries into this giveaway, I'll list them all below along with how many entries doing each thing is going to earn you... Note: You DO NOT need to do all of these things to enter. Doing just one will suffice, however doing more things will equate to more entries! :)

1. Follow my blog, comment that you have done this (1 Entry).

2. Go to my shop (http://www.arttales.etsy.com/) and find your favorite item, then come back here, and post the link to the item in another comment (1 Entry).

3. Heart my shop on Etsy, post in a separate comment that you have done this (1 Entry).

4. Blog about my giveaway, "Tweet" about it on Twitter, talk about it on your Facebook or Myspace, whichever suits you best. Come back here and tell me about how you helped promote my giveaway by posting a link to it in another separate comment (1 Entry for each promotion done, please post each one in a separate comment)

5. Buy something from my Etsy shop, come back to this blog post and post the link to the transaction in yet another comment (5 entries).



*** This month's bonus entry (while available)
Peewee the Plush Octopus has been nominated for Etsy's & The Daily Green's Trash to Treasure Celebration! Vote for him -- If you have already voted thanks! Leave a separate comment saying you did so. (Voting will be open until April 20th)





Please be sure to include your contact information in each comment you post (email, link to your Etsy shop, just somewhere that I can contact you to inform you that you've won). Also please PLEASE be sure to post separate comments for each thing you have done to enter yourself into this giveaway.


Each comment will be numbered, and this is how the winner will be chosen through a random number generator. :) If you have any questions feel free to contact me through my Etsy shop. Good luck! Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on May 20th 2010. Winners will be announced May 21st 2010

Wednesday, April 14

PEEWEE HAS BEEN NOMINATED!


Etsy and The Daily Green have teamed up to celebrate trash to treasure artists, and Peewee the plush octopus has been nominated! I'm so excited and honored!

Please take a moment to vote for Peewee through the Etsy Voter

If Peewee wins all my plush will be marked down 10-15% for the next month!

Thanks to everyone that nominated my shop, it has put a huge smile on my face :))

Monday, April 12

SCRAP & TRIPS




Meet Scrap the sparrow. She was made with fleece blankets and is stuffed with recycled plastic shopping bags. Until she finds a new home, she will adorn my bookcase.

Today has been a long day and the fact that I woke up with a stiff neck isn't helping. Things will continue to be pretty busy around here until mid summer. I have a trip planned to help a friend design and organize her studio. She loves all things crafts but would love a serene space to do them in. I love to clean and I get to spend someone else's money in the process ;)


In a few short weeks I will be traveling to Michigan. The ladies in our family get together every year. The space is amazing, formally a church, it has recently been turned into a craft retreat.


There is tons of space to spread out and relax. There is a huge kitchen with everything you need, lots of couches with flat screen tvs, and the best part of all: a hot tub!

I plan on taking the time to work on new designs before Stuffed Magazine comes out and to spend some time with my Aunts.

Sunday, April 11

PEEWEE


I must admit, when I finished Peewee I giggled. He is ready to hit the open sea with his ribbon-trimmed sailor hat.

Hope he makes you smile :)

DOC OCTOPUS




During a spring cleaning session in my closet, I came upon some great material. The fuzzy part of Doc is made from fleece jacket and his bottom is from a skirt. I absolutely love the design on the bottom.


Also Lil Hoot is back in the shop.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

MARCH/APRIL GIVEAWAY WINNER



Congratulations "Kate and Oil" you have won the March/April Giveaway! Kate has won a plush LEFTZ armadillo.

Since it is spring and everyone is busy, Kate will have 5 days to respond to my e-mail before I will have to choose the next winner.

I will be posting the April/May Giveaway within a few days, so keep an eye out! Thanks to everyone that entered!


Winner was chosen by Random.org

Friday, April 9

PENNY





Along with fleece blankets and scrap cotton fabric, this sparrow comes with the ability to make you smile :) Penny was made from the same scrap fabric as Lizzy the owl. Don't worry, they don't go to the same parties, so they don't have to worry about matching.

Thursday, April 8

CUSTOM OCTOPUS




This cute fellow was a custom order for my friend Beca (becasbeadedjewelry) I'm so glad she requested it, he became a learning experience and I'm really happy with how he turned out! Thanks Beca o.X

Wednesday, April 7

LIFE IS A (SHOPPING) TRIP


Today was probably one of the longest days of my life. It wasn't planned that way at all. My husband and I were supposed to go his Aunt's house to work on her computer, no big deal. Her house is 2.5 hours from here, but the weather was nice. We didn't leave early as planned, we actually left around noon.

I hate being late anywhere so that was the first problem. Secondly, I didn't eat anything so I started getting.. rude.. after a ride that seemed to take forever, we reached her home. Amazingly enough my husband forgot the disks he needed so the trip became annoying quickly. To save my sanity we stopped in at a vintage store that we passed on the way there.

The place was amazing! I instantly wanted everything. It felt like I fell into an Etsy shop. Her prices were unbeatable! The red case was only $5 and of course I snatched up the buttons as soon as I saw them. We spent a lot of time in there talking with the owner and shopping.



Also, I grabbed a quick photo of my favorite church in the whole entire world. This church sits next to a huge mountain. I always stop there to rest, when I'm on my scooter, before making the trek up the mountain. It's really breathtaking.


After the long ride home, I was finally able to get something to eat (around 6pm) I am now exhausted. The vintage store really saved the day.

PERCY





This is a recreation of my original design. The previous pelican was mounted on a natural wood mount and able to be hung on the wall. But I decided that he needed to come in a more huggable size :)

I absolutely loved making Percy and I hope he makes you smile :)

Tuesday, April 6

GIVEAWAY REMINDER



There are still a few days left to enter my Plush Armadillo Giveaway There are several ways to enter and it's an international friendly giveaway :) Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on April 10th 2010. Winner will be announced April 11th 2010

-- Please make sure you do -not- post your entries here but under the giveaway post :) Good luck!

Monday, April 5

RECREATED & NEW


For those of you who hated me over the sale of the original Dew Drop, you can now smile once more ;) I have recreated Dew Drop and she is available in my Etsy shop!

Unless I can find more green fleece, I will only be able to make one more after this one. I'm trying my best to keep the sparrows stocked, so other colors will be available.


Meet Bud the newest Sparrow in the flock. I was given a huge bag of scrap fabric and am really enjoying the bounty!

Sunday, April 4

EASTER TRIP




We decided to take a short drive on this lovely day. I saw some really pretty wildflowers that I wanted to photograph and the only place to pull off was this old lane. The huge tree made my car look like a toy and I imagined building a tree house in it.



The lane seemed to stretch on forever, over the rolling hillside. There is a smell that PA has in the spring, it's called cow poop ;) Only those living in the country can truly appreciate it.



I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter and spending time with family! (Also, if anyone knows what kind of flowers these are please let me know! They sort of look like daisies, but I would love to know their name.)

Friday, April 2

FRESH FISH



There's nothing I enjoy more then finding the unexpected, twice. Apparently I bought some really nice upholstery fabric awhile back and forgot about it. While going through my stash today I found it! It's nice and thick with a lovely pattern. What else could I possibly make with it then a Trout :) Along with my husband's blue jeans (yes I had permission to use them!) and a couple massive buttons, I think he looks pretty cute :) Well as much as a trout can be cute!

NEXT



Above is what I made yesterday and plan on submitting to STUFFED Magazine
I almost forgot about the next deadline with everything going on!



Also meet my newest Tribal I think I enjoy making these guys a little too much ;)



Finally Scooter the Secret Ninja Cat is also back.
RSS Feed