Bearling Keychain!

So my mom bought this HUGE bag of felt, and when I say huge I mean it. There is probably more than 100 sheets in every color imaginable!! Some of it is even glittery(not that I'm into glitter), and most of it is REALLY soft (the expensive stuff!)

and this isn't even all of it!!

 I am going to have to seriously polish my sewing skills and make some cute felt plushies!! For starters I made a sweet little bearling keychain! (can you tell how much I LOVE the bearlings?)

 I want to make more in lots of different colors!Who knows if that will ever get done, but I certainly have the resources!

I also made this sweet crocheted kitty! I used the same baby yarn I used on Minako, and I still have way to much of it left!

 Her name is Sherbet! XD I'm trying to get on the ball, I've only been making about two projects a week, which isn't meeting my crochet quota....I have to get motivated and work harder! (man this is gonna be hard when I get a job...)
Anyhoo, I have a purple blob waiting in the project bag for some eyes (plastic or buttons, felt or cloth???)
I thiiink it's going to be a teddy.....but that is for the future to decide!! Well, until next time!!!

Another Awesome Blog Feature, And Some New Bearlings!

A few days ago, I won a contest hosted by Buttercrumble.com! The prizes were:
-3 months of free advertising on their website
-1 free digital drawing
-and a blog post featuring yours truly! (wink,wink)

Ok, you HAVE to look at their website, the artwork is absolutely adorable!! Look at the custom bearling they drew for me!! I absolutely love him!!! >.<

                                                           Isn't he just AMAZING!!??

                                   Be sure to check out the website (and my feature!!) HERE!

                                        In other news, I made a giant bearling!! Cool huh?
He's about three times the size of my original bearlings. His eyes were a bit different because I drew them completely black, instead of giving him an eye color. I used the wrong side again, I think it's growing on me....

                                            Sorry for the bad picture quality on this one! >.<

    My mom has been urging me to make a giant ninja, so maybe that will come next! ;)
                                                                           See ya soon!

Cattitude Kitties!

So I came up with the idea of making a basic body shape for an Ami, and then going crazy with details, and this is what came of it: Cattitude Kitties! It took me a while to figure out what kind of animal I wanted them to be, but in the end cats one over bears (teddies are so done) and dogs (I am NOT a dog person). The first one I made, I wanted the theme to be blue, so I used blue yarn for the hair, blue felt for the apron, and blue striped material for her turtleneck. She ended up as  "The Busy Mom Kitty" which was the best theme I could think of.

Her shirt is not very intricate, but I hope with practice, I will get better at making clothing for my dolls!

Making the hair took FOREVER. I peeled apart yarn for a very long time, until each ply was separate, then I laid it across the head and needle-felted it into place. It took a really long time, but It turned out looking nice! :)

          My Grandma got me a big Ol' bucket of buttons, so I used them too accessorize my kitties.

                  I found a blue heart button which went just perfectly with busy mom kitties blouse!



 The next kitty I made was way more fun! I've been watching The Pirates Of The Caribbean movies lately, and have been in a pirate-y mood. So Vengeful Pirate Kitty was born!!

I used another button for his belt buckle!

 I really love how his eye turned out! It's really fun experimenting with drawing different kinds of eyes for my Amigurumis!

I had kind of a hard time making his hat (I'm not much of a seamstress lol) But In the end, after much frustration, I turned it sideways, and It looked more like a pirate hat than it did from the front....
I'm really happy with how these guys turned out, and hope to make more soon!

                                            Both of these guys are in my Etsy store!

                                                                     -Brea <3

Custom Orders!

I've gotten several custom requests recently! Nothing makes me happier than creating a special toy for someone!! :D I made a custom goat baby for a customer, my little mint green goat was also purchased! :)

I was thinking about writing up the pattern for these little guys and putting it up for sale...anyway, that may come in the near future! 

I was also asked to make two ninja amigurumis for a baby shower! :D I wonder if the baby is getting them, or the grown-ups...maybe I should have asked... :o

                    I've also been trying out different ideas for small toys, here is one...

I'm not entirely sure what it is though...a zombie kitty??? I've got some great ideas for a new type of plushie! Stay tuned!! :D

                                                                                -Brea <3

Knit And Crochet Design Week: Day Six, Finishing Up, And Pattern Design!!

 This is the last day of design week! It was really fun, and I actually like blogging every day. :)  I finished panda today, and now it's time to show him off! But first, I'll show you the pics leading up to his creation.

 Here are panda's various disembodied parts. >
 His arms at the top.
His ears in the middle.
His legs at the bottom.

















                              

                        <  Here are pics of panda being assembled.                              I've learned that it is not only helpful, but almost necessary to have work-in-progress pics if you are going to write a pattern to sell.Before I learned to write my own,  I used to buy patterns, and print them off of the internet. The patterns that were all text were at best O.K. But patterns with pictures to illustrate the idea or technique were much easier to follow.

                                                                         

Here he is all sewn up! >

 And here he is with his little shoes!! They turned out a little different then I expected, more like sneakers than rainboots.

Aren't they cute though? :)

I think I may write this pattern up to sell. Usually if I write the pattern down for myself, it turns out sloppy. However, If I have intentions of selling the pattern, I'm more careful (counting stitches, writing out complete sentences and not just scribbles...etc.) I have been trying to train myself to write ALL my patterns down carefully.If I write a pattern down hap-hazardly, and I want to try and sell it, I have to re-make the item, making sure to write down any details I may have missed, and to count my stitches. After I write them out, I have to type them into the computer, add pictures, and double check my design. It takes a lot more patience then I used to think, but filling my little notebook up with my own original patterns, makes me feel happy! I love writing my own patterns. It's a great feeling when I see pictures of sweet little plushies somebody made with my Designs!

                     Panda turned out pretty cute, so maybe I'll make some more! ^-^
                             I'll probably put panda in my Etsy store soon.

                             Be sure to check out everyone's final design posts, here.

Knit And Crochet Design Week: Day Five, Mess-Ups

Ok, So this is gonna be a fairly short post, because I haven't really made very many mistakes with lil panda so far (I'm happy about that lol). Anyhoo, the biggest problem I had was picking the yarn to go with my white. I delayed starting because I couldn't find a yarn that I liked. I ended up using Caron's Simply soft, in light country blue. It matched my felt, and it's, well...soft.

It's a tiny bit thick for the yarn I'm using for the head, but with a tiny (and I mean tiny) crochet hook, and tight stitching, it's working out alright.


The biggest mess-up I've had so far is panda's nose. I must have stitched it up and pulled it out three times! Here is a slightly disturbing picture of panda as i ripped out his nose for the second ( or third, I kinda lost count) time.

                                   It kinda looks like he's being eaten alive by blue worms (shiver)
Thankfully, that problem was resolved. I have finished panda's body and ears, I should have more pics tomorrow!

       Be sure to check out Stacey's post, and see what my fellow designers are up to HERE!!

Knit And Crochet Design Week: Day Four, Progress Pics!!

Unfortunately, These aren't the best quality photos. My camera's batteries died on me, and I was barely able to upload these few pictures! Well here they are anyway. I haven't progressed farther than the head...hehe

                                                I decided Panda is definitely a boy.....
I used green plastic safety eyes and light blue felt. The first pic is before the felt was secured.

I needle felted his nose and mouth, and secured the circles around his eyes by needle felting them down.

                  Then I added his eyebrows. So worried! So cute <3 I can't wait till he's done!!

                            Check out other day four posts, and Stacey's post, by clicking here!!

Knit And Crochet Design Week: Day One Sketches!!

I was on twitter, when I stumbled upon a tweet about "knit and crochet design week" , That caught my attention, I clicked the link. Stacey Trock(the awesome designer behind Fresh Stitches) is hosting a week long blog extravaganza (sorry couldn't think of a better word) all about the process of designing a knit or crochet object( I think that was a run on sentence...)! It sounded super fun, so now I'm in! Check out the rules and technical stuff here.Also be sure to browse the comments to see what all the other designers are making!! There's some pretty cute stuff in there! :)

Day one is all about starting out, sketching! I <3 sketching, especially when I have an idea I just can't visualize. When you have it right in front of you on paper, it's so much easier to create!A panda popped into my head when I pulled out one of my many sketchbooks, so that's what I started drawing.

The first couple looked more like mice then pandas! But I kept working at it and finally came up with something I liked. :)

Since I have a scanner now, my pictures and sketches look 100% nicer!

I liked the style of this one:short body, long limbs. Long limbed plushies strike me as "trendy" for some reason, and I like that ;)

But this isn't really a finished product...I needed to elaborate. I jotted down another sketch and scanned it into photoshop. This baby needs some color (cracks knuckles).

When I was drawing, I thought this would be a classic black-and-white panda bear. But that's just boring right? How bout' blue for a change? I dropped the eyebrows in the first sketch. They make panda look a little bit like an old fashioned thread crochet bear. Not saying that's a bad thing...without the eyebrows he looks a little blank...eyebrows or no eyebrows...what do you think?

And what's trendier than a pair of cute shoes? I wonder if it's possible to give panda heels?...That's an idea.....

 

 One thing I love about Photoshop is the ability to easily modify colors. This first sketch is the original, a rough pencil, and colored pencil over it. These next two are simply altered by adjusting the colors on photoshop. Simple, right? I'm still not entirely sure what color I want, (Oh the agony of difficult decisions!!!) I'm also not sure whether it should be a boy or a girl.......

I added the eyebrows to these.

      If I make panda a girl, I can give her a cute dress, and maybe use the high-heels idea! :D
I like the way this one looks, maybe I could use varying shades of pink and purple. In fact, I think I know just the yarn for this job!

                                           Hopefully I'll post more tomorrow! See ya soon!!

                                                             hugs n' kisses -Brea