Minako Pattern Giveaway!!!

Well, She's finally done! A big thank you shout out to my pattern testers! Minako the Amigurumi Manga Bunny is now up for sale on Ravelry! To celebrate the occasion, I'm going to give away 1 free copy of her crochet pattern! You must follow my blog, and leave a comment with your e-mail address and name to enter!!

                                           Here is a link to the pattern page on Ravelry: HERE


                             The contest will end nest Sunday, May 13th. Look out for the results! :D

                                                                                 -Brea ;)

What I've been working on!

Hi all, I'm back again! I have been working like crazy the past two weeks! There is a craft fair called Old Fashioned Day Every Year in Benton, Arkansas. I have bought a booth the past two years, and plan to do so again this year! Last year, I ran out of owl babies, and people kept coming up and asking if I had any more!!! So this year I'm going to be prepared!! One thing I have learned from doing this craft fair the past two years is that you can never have to much stuff!! So I'm going to try and have a ton of stuff to sell this year!! That means a lot of owl babies! Here are some I have recently finished.

A blue one

A green one

And both together!!

Here is a picture I took of some of my anime pets together! I hope to have a lot more of these little guys for the craft sale as well! I'll show you  more pics of what I have been working on soon, stay tuned!!

                                                                            -Brea  :D

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 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

New Yarn + Logo Idea!

Hi Everyone! I went to Big Lots a few days ago, and they were having a 20% off sale on everything in the store! You know what that means? 80 cent yarn! Nothings better than brand new yarn at bargain prices!

I especially like the blue :)

It's pretty yarn too! I wonder what cuties will be created from these? I usually don't buy fancy yarns unless it's on sale. The main reason I refrain from buying is because I have a ton of yarn already (bins and bins full). The second reason is because I'm cheap lol (I'm not ashamed, it's a fact).  I did buy quite a bit yesterday though. in addition to the yarn, I bought beads, an 8 gb sd card (for my new nextbook tablet!),some tissue paper, and a pack of mechanical pencils (one can never have too many pencils).Now I have to force myself not to spend money for a while!

                I made another custom ninja! These babies are selling like hotcakes!! Here he is! :)

A tiny warrior with a blue suit and blue eyes! He will be shipped off to his new home soon! :D

I also said farewell to Isabel! It's sad...I really liked her...."sniff"....Oh well no need to get teary eyed, I'll just have to make her sister or brother to keep me company! ;}

My parents gave me their old scanner, so I have been messing around, trying to make a good logo for my shop, here is one picture I scanned in, and colored on photoshop. It's a bearling, I really like it! I'm hoping to make a recognizable logo for my store, maybe this will be it! I am hoping to design some business cards soon as well! What do you think? Is this good enough to be a logo?

Isn't he a sweety?!

                  I'm working on a blue something, not sure what it is yet, but it's something!

A blue something...?

                                                             Will post more soon!

                                                                 xoxoxo -Brea

Custom Amigurumi + Pattern Trade Results

Ok, after the huge fuss I put up in my last post, I FOUND MY FLASHDRIVE!!! So I'm pretty happy about that! So Here are some pics of the Just Plush Team Pattern trade. This is a design by Stephanie of the Etsy shop cvonslittleangel . She designed the head, body legs,and tail, and I added the ears, muzzle and facial detail. He is a little puppy :)

A wip pic :)

I gave him a little bag, and I teeny tiny owl friend. This is also the first time I've ever made crocheted (as opposed to embroidered) eyelids on an amigurumi. I slip stitched into the puppy dog's face, over the eyes, and then worked into my slip stitches with single crochets. Also, instead of safety eyes, I used large black buttons. I think they look nice. :)

Here are the pics of Veera's tail that I lost. You can see, using this new technique, She can actually Sit down!!

I was asked to make some custom amigurumi toys the other day! One custom Girl Mini Bat, and A custom made Toki Mini Capsule Pet.This customer also wants to buy the original Toki, So I will be saying goodbye to her soon. Here is the custom mini bat:

 And here is the custom Toki Capsule pet. (I have yet to receive conformation on this little one yet, so think of it as a first draft in, case I have to make any changes.)

And here they are together!

 Here is a girl bearling, pixie! I have to make her a best friend before she gets put into the store, however.

About a year ago, I was given a large stack (by large I mean about one-hundred) of old crafting magazines, by a very kind woman(she also gave me three or four garbage bags full of yarn!!) Amongst those magazines I found this. I believe it is a 1986 Annie's Crochet Newsletter.

In that newsletter I found this pattern, for teeny tiny pixie people! I'll admit, their eyes weird me out a bit, but I think with a few alterations, these could be super adorable, mini capsule people!!

I have so many ideas! I can't wait to get to work!!

A Tragedy + Cute New Amigurumi

I'm sorry everyone ^_^;  I would have posted sooner, but a horrible tragedy has befallen me ( ok maybe that's a little dramatic..). Bet you can't guess....I LOST MY FLASH DRIVE!!! How am I supposed to upload pictures without the use of a flash drive!! But oh well....my dad said he'd give me a new one ;) Until then however, You will just have to do with these pics I pulled off of my Etsy listings. I had wip pics and more (I was gearing up for a long post) But for now this is it.

Here is the finished blue anime doll.She is a mermaid named Veera. I made her differently than I usually make mermaids. I added the tail after making the body instead of working it in. I slip stitched into the bottom half, and worked on both sides to make the opening,then I gradually decreased and added the fin. The difference is that now she can bend at the waist! I had some wip pics of the tails workings, but I don't have them anymore... :(

I sorta got the name from the designer Veera Wang lol XD I love her shoes :)

 Also, I made some new capsule pets! Chipper the bird, and Toki the cat!As you can see, I've been putting those beads to good use. :)

 Oh did I tell you about the Etsy team? No? Well there is a team on Etsy called Just Plush, and I was made first, an admin to the facebook page, and then a leader of the etsy team!! I know It's probably a little silly to be excited about it, but it makes me happy anyway. >v<   The team is doing a pattern trade soon, and I will probably be trading one of my amigurumi patterns with another members. Then we will compare work! Sounds fun right? If you are a plush maker on Etsy, you should apply for the team! here is a link : right here!


I said goodbye to Mimi and Sweeta today, they are off to a loving new home! I also made a custom order ninja, for another wonderful customer!

Bye-bye Mimi

You too Sweeta! I'll miss you!

I am working on a new bearling right now! I'm also thinking about making a mini capsule pet ninja, that would be neat....