For Swaps: Patch and an Art Doll

Damn, I meant to post this sooner but all the sudden I have to WORK at my job (what?!) so I have next to no goof off time.  I decided to just make posting this one of my "to do" items so I'd get it done.

OK, here we go.

First up, a patch (for the monthly swap I do all the time)

Super simple.  My partner likes skeletons and all that, so I just trotted out some of my favorite fabric and added a tiny bit of embellishment.  The fabric is so cool I wanted to just let it speak for itself.

The back:

That was just a scrap from my scrap bin but it really works with the front fabric.  I swear, sometimes I spend more time figuring out the backing fabric than making the front!

Next up is the art doll I made for the HallowMuertes Art Doll swap.  For that swap you could make it halloween or dios de los muertos themed.

Hello Mr. Skeleton man!

He's mostly a Dios de los Muertos skeleton guy but he's not a mariachi or anything special like that.  Just a guy in a suit.  Kind of Jack Skellington but not.

I used a pattern someone sent me in a swap from years ago.  I've used this pattern before to make an art doll but I never painted a doll.  This guy is totally painted.

I made the body in scraps of cotton and muslin (which is technically cotton) and then gave them all a base coat with white paint mixed with fabric medium.  Then I put on the top coat of black (with no medium) then added the embellishments using paint pens.

Smile for the camera!

He has a cute face that's very simple in design.  I didn't want to mess it up so I kept it simple.

The black paint pen is just shiny enough that it stands out against the more matte acrylic black paint.  So I could use it to make the shaping of the coat.  I debated giving him lapels but there wasn't really enough room on the body to make them turn out well, so I decided against it.

His limbs are button joints and do move.  They also scrape against the body a bit so over time there should be some nice wear as the limbs rub the paint along the body.  I didn't seal the whole doll for two reasons.  One, I wasn't sure exactly the best product to use and I didn't want to mess up the doll after I had him all finished (sewing the limbs on was literally painful--my fingers were sore jabbing the needle through the painted fabric).  Second reason not to seal was I wanted the doll to show wear as it happened.  I could have distressed it before hand but I'm lazy and (well, that's mostly the reason) I like the idea of the doll showing natural wear, just like an olden days doll!

I LOVED making this dolls (except attaching the limbs, I put that step off for ever because I knew it would be boring and annoying--it wasn't as bad as I thought but it was boring as hell).

I love how he turned out and after working with this pattern again I think I could edit this pattern a bit to make different body shapes (I'd start by trimming those feet down a bit--this pattern was for an "acrobat" doll so I get why the feet are super huge and it's not bad for this dolls but smaller would be better).

Both of these are off to their new homes Friday.

What else am I up to?  I need to get my latest round of Disney patches done (they are going to turn out very nice) and get my Fluff sewing done (have a bunch of stuff started, very little finished. . .story of my life) and then some other swaps.

For a Swap: RICKY SPANISH!

BAM, I just put the pic right there with no intro or anything.  Why?  Because that's how Ricky Spanish would do it, y'all.

My task for this swap was to use the Ninni pattern and do a design of my partner's choice.  My partner is super fun and all about American Dad (as am I) and she threw down the gauntlet to make Roger Smith as his alter ego, Ricky Spanish.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED AND MET!

Down to the creepy bad teenage facial hair mustache.

Transferring Roger's unique physique to the ninni shape wasn't hard but it was awkward.  Roger is rarely (meaning never) shown face on.  You always see him in at least 3/4 profile because he really has no lips or facial features (no nose at all unless he's wearing his Kevin Bacon nose).  Kind of like how you never see a Simpson's character face on due to their odd proportions and all that.  But this works even though it looks really odd.

Gave him his full outfit of shirt, vest, pants, and belt.  Even worked a wee belly button in there, too.  The shirt is cut down from one of my undershirts.  The vest is felt.  The pants are a repurposed head band (so not denim, but still works) and the belt is ribbon with a paper clip bent for the buckle (compliments of my sister).  Belt loops are just embroidery floss.

And, of course, there's a full wig including the little shaved part on the side.

Yarn for the wig, which is attached. I need to work on making removable wigs for toys but. . .yeah, I have a lot going on and that's really not high on my list right now.

I'm super happy with how this doll turned out.  There's a new ninni swap up now, where you make it in the animal of your partner's choice.  It'll be fun to see what things folks want.

Happy mail for a friend

So, in case you weren't aware, I'm lazy.  Like REALLY lazy.

My bestest friend had a second child about two years ago (I think that's accurate--I'm bad with little kid ages) and I never made her a "welcome to the world" gift.  See, it's easy with the first kid because it's a big ole deal.  First baby and baby shower and the whole works.  For the second kid, well, I'm lazy so I just plain out forgot.

But I have remedied that situation.  This weekend I finished a happy mail gift for not only the younger child but the older child, too.  I don't have kids but I do remember being one and it always chapped when a sibling got a random gift and you didn't so I made a small item for each of them (as a kind of Halloween treat) so the older child doesn't get miffed that little sister gets a random gift out of the blue.

Blah blah, PICTURES or it didn't happen!

First, credit where credit is due.  I made the monkey doll from a free pattern I got HERE.  I've had the pattern FOREVER but just didn't have a reason to make it.  I thought about making it for the Fluff Project but it seemed too fussy for that.  Really, it's not.  I've made fussier things for the Fluff Project.  I also worried it would take too much fabric but it's not a fabric hog, either.  Especially if you don't use directional prints.  Using corduroy for the body does mean you have to keep the wale going the right way but that's not a big deal, either.  And as for fussy details, the face isn't any fussier than the damn guinea pigs I made for the Fluff Project.  The only down side I can find to making these for the Fluff Project is they're kind of large.  So mailing them would be bothersome.  But making a few to add to a big box of stuff wouldn't be a big deal.

How damn cute is this monkey?  Yes, that damn cute!

I had to make a monkey.  See, I made a sock monkey for the older child but I just didn't feel like making a sock monkey.  I love them and all but making them can be dull.  I needed to try this pattern out since I've had it forever.

Cheeky monkey is cheeky!  It's a bit of hand stitching but not that bad at all.  I thought the ears would be super fussy but they were really simple and turned out better than I thought they would.

The body is cotton.  Sock monkey print for the win.  It really worked so well.

If you checked out the pattern link you'll see that my laziness did rear its ugly head.  I didn't make the skirt, hat, and shoes.  I really didn't want this monkey to be a lot fancier than the sock monkey I made for the older child.  If memory serves, that monkey might have had a diaper and that's it.  If it was dressed, it was probably wearing actual baby clothes which I assume would have been used on the baby (but what do I know).

This monkey does have the socks.  The other pics don't show the color well.  It's light blue with white bubble looking dots.  I had it in my scraps.  So this pattern can be a scrap buster, too.

Ok, I have to review the pattern a bit now.  Overall it's an easy pattern BUT. . .there is one issue I have with it.

The tail.  Specifically, how you attach the tail to the body.  They have you stuff the tail then attach it which is a dumb way to do it.  Especially considering the arms and legs are attached un-stuffed.  The pattern has you attach all limbs before you sew the front and back together, so you get a nice smooth attachment, which is good.  But getting the tail onto the back was a pain in the ass (hah! pun intended).  It would have been a ton easier to attach an unstuffed tail to the back seam and then stuff it after you turn the body right side out.  No different than how the limbs are done.  I'm making a note of that for future uses.

The pattern also wants you to put the face and ear details on after you assemble the doll (but has a note you can do it before) which I think is backwards, too.  Attaching before you assemble makes it easier in general.  You just have to be a little careful to get the pieces properly centered so you don't end up with a crooked face.  I just find it easier to embroider on a flat surface then trying to embroidery on a rounded (stuffed) surface.  I always get nicer result embroidery on a flat surface.

So, that's the monkey.

Next. . .

EEEEEE!!!!

So g-darn cute I wanted to keep them for myself.  No joke.

Mice finger puppets!

Yes, one is a little bit bigger but not as bad as this picture makes it look.  They are a little big for a child's finger but a child should be able to put two fingers in them to make up for the extra room.  I just couldn't make them any smaller since the faux fur I was using was super plush.

These finger puppets brought back crazy happy memories for me, too.  I had a white mouse finger puppet as a kid.  I got it from a school craft fair and I loved that thing nearly to death.  It had a faux fur tail (unlike mine with bright pink ribbon tails) but I was afraid the fur would just fall apart if I cut a small strip of it and that would just be sad.  The ears are felt and the eyes are tiny pom poms all lovingly STITCHED to the puppets.  NO GLUE HERE!  (though you could probably glue the eyes on without issue--the ears not as much since you need to get that curl and you need to stitch them to get that).

I debated putting noses and whiskers on them but I decided not to.  Adding noses would be easy if the kiddos wanted it.  Just a few stitches of embroidery floss and bob's your uncle.  Whiskers would be easy, too.  Just knot off some embroidery floss (leaving a decent tail after the knot) and, viola, whiskers.  Or if you wanted to get super fancy, use filament thread to get a more stiff, whiskery look.  But filament thread is a pain in the butt to work with, even if it does make for nice hidden stitches (I love it and I hate it all a the same time).

I hope the kidlets like the swag.  I had a blast making it all.  Especially the finger puppets.  (no pattern for them, it was just a rectangle of fabric and then I stitched a curve over one open end and then straight down the bottom and left the other end open--super simple but my machine was hating on me for wedging all that fake fur into it--I seriously thought it might not fit under the presser foot!).

Swaps completed: Dotee and Art Doll

I got two swap things done last night.

First up, the quicker of the two (did it all in an hour or so last night).

Flower Dotee:

Just a simple dotee.

The theme was "flower" so it had to have at least one flower on the body somewhere.  Either made from flower print fabric or adorned in some way.

I got that pretty flannel in another swap (earlier in the day) and I just liked it so much I had to use it right away.  It's really soft which I thought was nice for a flower theme.

Kawaii style face (which is kind of my thing).  Just a simple flower shape with some embroidery.

Bead flower details.

The stem is just embroidery (I just randomly stitched).  Then I put the beads on based on where I stopped with the stems.

It just kind of randomly worked out that I went large to small going down the stem.  I think it looks cute.

Super simple but very classic in style (with a little kawaii twist).

Next up, the art doll I've been working on for a few days now.

"Love" art doll:

The theme was "love".  So you could go with classic valentines/romantic love (reds/pinks/hearts/cupid) or any route you wanted as long as you could tie it to "love" in some way.

I didn't want to do another valentines themed doll (been there, done that with the zombie cupid) but I did want to have hearts.  Then I found this fabric in my stash (I think I just got this from one of my swaps) and it was perfect.  Printed with sparkly hearts (and "love") but not in the classic colors.

So I decided to go with a generic "love" theme and make a pattern I had been wanting to try (a pattern I got from another swap) and have the doll be a theme of "what I love" which is trying new patterns and sewing.

I knew what fabric I wanted and the pattern but the rest was just up in the air.  What was I going to embellish the doll with?

At first I was toying with cats (since I do love them) but the cats I usually make were too kawaii/cutesy for this more artsy doll.

Then I found some new ribbon at Target and one of them was just begging to be made into a crown.  So now I was heading in a fairy/pixie direction.  I was ok with that (but didn't want to do wings).  I was also fretting because the head was just plain UGLY.  I knew I needed a wig but was hemming and hawing about it (because the head is an odd shape).

So I went and checked out my yarn and low and behold I had the perfect yarn for a simple wig.  Frizzy yarns hide a multitude of sins when making wigs.

I just wrapped the yarn around my forearm (like you would wrap a cord up) and then tied it off in the center.  I stitched the "part" down to the head and then randomly stitched it to the head making sure it was spread out nicely to hide the scalp.

I had already decided to use the ribbons (trailing off the crown) before I made the wig so I decided to keep them but just put them randomly into the wig instead of as a train from the crown (since it was getting bulky at that spot on the head).

So now it was looking like a decent doll but there was something missing.

The legs are SO long and they just needed something.  Stitches or beads or something.

YES, beads.  Flower beads!

I thought about running them down each leg but then the anklet idea came up and it was definitely the right choice (wave to the cat hair there on the foot--that's a hair from my Olive, she's a devon rex so her hairs are little and bristly).

All said and done, I really like this doll.  I'm glad she doesn't have a face, too.  I think it adds to her "muse" feel.  That's what I'm calling her, a Muse Doll.  Very appropriate to have her posed near my sewing machine and crafting stuff.

I hope she's well received.

For a swap: Zombie Cupid

This is another item I made for a swap.

The swap was to make a Valentine themed softie/stuffed toy.

My swap partner likes zombies so this happened.

Zombie Cupid!

His front view and. . .

Back view.

Aww, he's a happy fella!

I wanted to make it icky but not disgusting.  My original thought was to make a zombie like the ones on Bob's Burgers (since my swap partner loves that too--can you blame them, it's a great show).  The zombies Tina dreams about are definitely zombies but they aren't super disgusting and are very cartoony.

So I needed to show some "blood and guts" but not very graphic or realistic.

I was going to have an eyeball hanging out but it seemed a little over the top.  That and working with such a small space it would have looked more like a bead on a string than an eyeball on a nerve.  So I opted for a missing eye with a little scar (under the bangs).  Ric Rac mouth to keep it silly and because I love ric rac.

Some of the "gore".

Exposed leg bone with some rotting flesh and a bit of red "blood".  (the bloody fluff was actually the bits of trimmed off ric rac just torn apart)

Exposed flesh on the arm (there's a spot on the other arm, too).

Exposed body cavity with ribs, bloody gut fluff, and a big ole heart.  Hey, it's valentines day so you need a classic heart on there.

Let me pause to mention how much I love those hearts.  I found some v-day themed ribbon in the dollar zone at Target (I think I mentioned this already now that I'm thinking about it) and one of the strips was felted cut out hearts.  They cut apart so neatly and are just fabulous for crafting (yes, I did mention this before when I showed off the v-day patches).

Exposed brain.

Ok, for all you anatomy buffs out there I know that's not exactly the proper placement for the brain. The back wouldn't show so much of the swirly brain matter (but would be more stem--right?) but this is a cartoony zombie so we can just go with it.  I really just wanted an excuse to use stem stitch to make brain swirls.  This is now the second time I've embroidered brain swirls (the first was on the scarecrow dotee that I'm sure terrified the person I sent it to--it was freaky).

Quiver with arrows.

I'm particularly proud of the quiver, arrows and bow (which I just realized I forgot to get a stand alone picture of, but you can see it in the top pic).  I had to freehand them all and they turned out really nice.

The bow was just three strips of felt glued together then trimmed down to the curved shape.  I wrapped pink embroidery thread around the middle for the grip and then strung it with three strands of embroidery floss.  It ended up a little droopy so I had to loop it over one end again and then glue it down (then it was nice and taut).

The quiver is just a tube.  Nothing that special, really.  The pizzaz is in the stripe (which was more of that Target ribbon) and the strap holding it over the body.  Have I mentioned I love baker's twine and use it for sewing?  It's a pain in the butt sometimes (I had to enlarge the hole I wanted to sew through so the eye of the bigger needle crammed with twine could go through) but I always get nice results.

The arrows are toothpicks with hearts glued/sewed on the top.

Originally I wanted to get those frilly toothpicks (like you get in a club sandwich) but I couldn't find any (at two different stores--and then I gave up looking).  I needed toothpicks anyway so I grabbed the round ones and that was that.

The whole doll was hand sewn using embroidery floss and I used some glue (ok, quite a bit of glue--I'm really becoming a convert to using glue--it's a very helpful tool).

I LOVE how this turned out and can't wait for my partner to get it.

Oh, the body pattern is from Nuno Life (really, she has great free patterns, such a generous and creative person!).

It Came from the Scrap Bag

What's this?  OH, be very careful.  We have stumbled upon a very rare creature indeed.

It's an elusive scrap monster.  Legend has it that if you befriend one, you will have great creativity.

Legend also holds that scrap monsters love sweets, especially sweets purchased on deep clearance.

"Hey little guy.  Want a piece of this Christmas Kit Kat I got for 50% off at Target's after Christmas sale?"

CHOMP!

BURP!!!!

Well, guess the legends are right.  But it is hard to resist a cheap Christmas Kit Kat, right buddy?

Oh, don't run away!  I thought we were friends.  I don't share discount chocolate with just anyone.

Darn, he's gone.  But I think I saw him smiling, so maybe we are friends.  Time will tell.

---------------------

Ok, so the story behind this fella is. . .I was setting out to make a dotee doll and got completely side tracked and he just happened.  Yup, just like that.  The dotee was a "your favorite color" themed one and I was going to go more with my favorite texture/fabric (since I don't really have one top color I love more than others) so I got digging through my felted sweater scraps and fiddling about and low and behold when I spied the button holes on one of the scrap pieces they just had to be eyes (using some beads I bought a month or so ago and have been drooling to use).  I was going to make him into a dotee but he's just a bit too demonic for that.  I thought my swap partner might not appreciate that about him (even though he's a very lovely monster--no religious affiliation at all, really) and I just loved him so much I couldn't give him away.  Ever.

He's made from the bottom bit of a felted sweater, the waist area that included two button holes.  His arms are seams and I just used six strand embroidery floss for all the sewing.  Two bead eyes and a bit of poly fil and the cutest little demonic scrap monster EVER was born.

His eyes remind me of The Predator.  I kind of want to make him a dread lock wig now.

Hello Tokyo Panel Dolls (for the Fluff Project)

I got a surprise in the mail about a week ago.

Kristy (from Hopeful Threads) sent me a fabric gift.  Inside was the Hello Tokyo doll panel (and two cuts of fabric, one from the line and one from another line).

I was THRILLED.

Not only have I been wanting to get and make these dolls for the Fluff Project but this month has really had its way with me so I hadn't even thought about what I was going to make (if anything) for the Fluff project this month and this fixed that problem.

I got sewed them up immediately but didn't finish them up until a day or so ago.  Then I had to wait a day or so to get some half way decent pics (natural light is so fleeting this time of year!).

SUPER CUTE!!

I backed two with the ballerina fabric (which is really a light yellow/beige--this pic doesn't do it justice) and two with the blue fabric from the Hello Tokyo line.

I think the gal in the green is my favorite.

There are also cats on the panel (one is just a face, the other is a full body doll) but those are for ME.  I haven't sewn them up or anything yet.

I'm so dropping the ball on this month's sewing challenge.  It was blankets/quilts for kids and I just ran out of time.  Really, it's been a long time since I've had a month just whip by like this but November just disappeared in front of my eyes.  I do have a quilt I can donate (I won it and it's fabulous but I have never used it and it seems wasteful to keep it when I can give it to someone who will use it) so I don't feel super bad about crapping out on the quilt challenge.  I'm sure it will come up again.  NICUs will always need blankets for the bitty sproggen, so. . .

These cuties (along with the quilt) will go off in the mail (hopefully) next week.  I should have boxed them up last night to join the pile of stuff I'm mailing out this morning but I just didn't do it.  I was lazy last night and just had pizza and watched t.v. (and my cats chasing each other, they're so cute!).

Just in Time for Dios de los Muertos: Skeleton Kitty!

I'm just so happy to have this one done.  I don't mean that in a "damn, this project sucked so hard I'm so glad that's over, let us never speak of it again" kind of way but in a "I set a goal and I met it" kind of way.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about this adorable kitty.

So freaking happy that I got it done and it looks really good (if I may say so myself).  I'm particularly pleased with the face.  The chain stitching on the mouth came out really well and I love how well the fangs ended up.  I had to free hand the mouth bits so I was kind of nervous it would end up wonky.  It didn't and now I'm all smiley like my cute skeleton kitty.

There he is in all his glory (and a little bit over exposed, no photographer am I).

As you can see, it's a kind of futzy pattern but not a HARD pattern.  Just a lot of hand stitching to get all the cute bones properly placed.

And in some spots (like the fish) you have to put layers of felt details on.  You have to stitch the eye details onto the black eye dot then put the dot onto the body piece then put the rib pieces over the body piece, then add the mouth and fin details.  All by hand.  Yes, I'm sure you could do it with a machine if you had a free motion quilty (whatever it's called) foot and a bit of skill, but I don't.  It's not hard to hand stitch it, though when I was turning the pieces right side out I was worried my hand stitching wouldn't hold.  It did just fine (and I was gentle with my turning) but it still gave me a fright.

I didn't have any issues with this pattern, either.  It was very straight forward.  That's not to say my item is perfect.  You can see in the fish bone pic that I have an ugly dip on the side where I stitched the stuffing hold closed.  And the cat's right arm (one on the side with his tail) isn't caught completely in the seam.  I *just* missed it.  It's not a big deal since this will just be a display item for me (no one will be dragging this kitty around by his weak arm or anything) but it's still a flaw.  I know what I did wrong, too.  I needed to pin the limbs in deeper and that wouldn't have happened.  Life and learn.

I'm just so happy to have him done so now I can add him to the Dios de los Muertos shrine I'm making for my deceased cats.  That's the whole reason I bought the pattern (well, that and I've always wanted to try out a pattern from Dolls and Daydreams).

Would I make this pattern again?  Yes.  I've already thought about ways to use it to make non-skeleton cats, which would make the process a lot faster.  I think I saw someone use this pattern to make a grumpy cat and I might have to steal that idea.  Would I make another skeleton version?  Only if someone wanted one as a gift and/or was paying me to sew it.  I don't really NEED more than one skeleton version for myself.  A non-skeleton version would be cute for the Fluff Project (so I might look into that).

Curious about where to get the pattern?

Dolls and Daydreams  There are so many cute patterns there, all loosely based on the basic body shape of the cat (there's even a dog skeleton with homework in the belly!).

For a swap: Halloween Cutie

Time to show off another item for a swap.

This swap was to make a Halloween themed art doll.  The only "rule" was it had to be at least 5 inches tall (and be Halloween themed, duh!).

SO. . .let me preface with this.  I had sketched up a really cool idea that I was convinced would work.  I wanted to take a styrofoam ball and the bottom from one of those little containers you get toys in from the gum machine and make an Audrey II style plant doll.  Kind of gross between Audrey II and El Seed (from The Tick).  But that didn't pan out.  The styrofoam and plastic part just didn't work together the way I had planned (and, quite frankly, the plastic part insisted it be a hat, it just fit on the ball better as a hat).  Then I tried to make the plant doll just using felt but it wasn't turning out right.  I did make a full head/face but it was just way too cutesy and I had no way to make the body (I hadn't planned it out well enough, that's the problem).  So I still have the flower head.  I can always pull it apart and/or use it for something else (it could easily become a dotee doll).

OK, now that I've aired out my "failure", time to show off my success.

I think the runner up idea came out darn cute.  What do you think?

The biggest deal was using the styrofoam ball and that plastic piece.  I was OBSESSED with using them (and using them together somehow).  And see, it does work perfectly as a hat.

A removable hat!

I was tempted to glue it down but I have this hella hot glue gun and I got the sinking feeling it would melt the styrofoam (it melted some other foam I used in a dotee, so my worries weren't unfounded).  And I kind of like the hat being removable.  It also proved a smart move for packing.  The boxes I found for mailing were all very snug and the doll wouldn't have fit if the hat was attached (I packed him with his hat in his hand!).

The head is a styrofoam ball with the features cut out using an exacto knife.  Then some plain old acrylic paint then sealed with modge podge (for the win!).

The hat is the bottom from one of those bubbles you get toys in out of the gum machine.  The dome part was used to make the UFO dotee I made many months back (yes, I kept the bottom part that long, that's why it was making me crazy. . .I had to use it to justify having held on to it.

The leaf is just a bit of felt and the vine is yarn coated with Stiffy (fabric stiffener stuff) and then wrapped around a pen until it dried.  It's still really pliable, not brittle (I didn't super coat it in stiffy, I used just enough to get it damp then squeeze out the excess. . .stiffy is awesome).

The body is felt stuffed and polyfil over a full armature made from floral wire.  It's not a one piece skeleton, though.  It's a body curve (with extra long ends to jam up into the head) and then curves for each limb (cut even to the end of the fabric).  You can pose the doll but do so gently.  This is definitely an art doll and not a play thing.

The front and back leaves are also felt with embroidered veining.

The curly vines are wrappings from the floral wire.  I was going to make all the vines like I made the vine on the hat but when I was trimming the wire for the body parts I noticed how it curled up and it was PERFECT.  There is one long continuous piece (pulled from a full wire).  It's wrapped around the neck and over the arms kind of like a scarf.  Then there's one smaller piece (from a smaller bit of wire) that I slipped over the end of one of the body wires (that went up into the head) and it hangs down the back of the neck in just one strip.

The head design is my own.  The body is based on doll patterns found at Nuno Life (best patterns for small felt stuff!) and the leaves are from images found by searching for "pumpkin leaves" (I honestly don't remember exactly where they came from, I think it was a cake making site--I had to shrink them down to make them the right size for this project).

This fabulous pumpkin fella is headed off to his new home today.  I'm very happy with how he turned out pleased to see I was able to do the wiring without much drama (though I really need to get wire cutters, I about killed my craft scissors trying to score the wire so I could bend it until it broke--this is why I have craft scissors and fabric scissors!).

What's next up on my crafty list?  Well, I'm hip deep in Day of the Dead stuff right now.  The paper mache skull is ready to be sealed and I'm getting ready to sew up the skeleton bunting (I need to make a test piece first before I start working on the real item).  Then I just need to make a place mat (using some cute Day of the Dead themed fabric) and get a few small toys to add to the package.  THEN, I need to work on DotD stuff for my shrine for my cats.

Oh, and I still haven't made anything for the Fluff Project this month so I need to get on that, too.  And some Teesha patches (orange themed and a cool comic strip one).  Busy, busy, busy.