Woodland Creatures Series: Mika the Raccoon

Here's the second in my new Woodland Creatures series....Mika the Raccoon.

You can read more and see more pictures on my blog.

Knox the Fox

I've made a second recycled sweater fox! (the smaller one) You can read more and see some more pictures at my blog.

Autumn Owl Nubbins

All the owl Nubbins I had made before were sold at the craft show last weekend, so I made some more in some cozy fall colors.

Foxy Moxy

Meet my newest creation, Foxy Moxy ("Moxy" for short). I saw a fox doll in my new "Sew Me, Love Me" book and decided I wanted to try my hand at making a fox...


You can read more and see more pictures at my blog.

Back to my roots...

I noticed that I've been using store-bought fleece a lot to make my monsters (although I usually try to only buy the remnant pieces in the 50% off bin at Joann's). But I have bins and bins of socks and clothes that I've saved to make monsters with...so I've been trying to get back to my original plush-making roots lately by repurposing those socks & clothing to make my monsters...

This guy is from an old fleece I had lying around. One of my favorite things is making pocket mouths...especially with zippers!



This gal is a pretty simple monster. My favorite part about her is her long hair. I envision her as an eccentric, hippie art teacher. All she's missing is a long funky necklace and tie-dye.

(Sorry if the pictures are a little blurry. I was trying to snap some quick pictures of these two monsters before the craft show tomorrow in case they sell. I need to set up a photo shoot area again in my craft room with decent lighting and a tripod for the camera. )

Big-Mouthed Gremlin Sweater Monster

Maybe it's because it's winter, and sweaters bring on thoughts of warm coziness, but I've been on a sweater monster making streak lately...

The mouth is the collar of the sweater.

His mouth has a pocket too.

Hey! My cell phone and iPod! I need those! Don't eat them!

I'm trying a new look...

I dedicate most of my T&A Friendly efforts to my guys, the Stuft Acquaintances. I truly have a superbly fun time making these guys and I'm always trying to keep them fresh and exciting for all those who enjoy them. A big thing I'm always aware of is of not being wasteful and making any and all attempts to keep T&A Friendly "green." Some of the methods I use are repurposing the materials from old/about-to-be-discarded plush toys, cushions, and garments and incorporating them into any new items by T&A Friendly. I'm taking this approach a step further by introducing a new option for my mounted guys. You can now find my guys mounted onto found/vintage plaques and frames. Here are some images below:

The designs and craftsmanship of many discarded items always surprises me...


I was able to get my hands on 8 of these awesome plaques featuring this beautiful floral carving by picking up a worn headboard someone had thrown out alongside the street.

Gggrantler & duck fox

A while ago I picked up some soft woollen blankets from the thrift store, and I have made them into some soft woollen plushies. I like the soft warmth from the slightly worn pile and they're lovely to work with. Above is grrantler, another go at antlers,

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and this duck fox (because he kinda looks like a duck, and kinda like a fox) also with vintage upholstery body.

They're both in my shop now, and you can see a few more on my blog.

Pink & Navy Blue Sweater Monster

Another sweater monster out of that bag of sweater scraps!...

I think I've found a new favorite monster design! The ears make them look like little gremlins.

Orange Sweater Monster (with Yoda ears!)

I got a bag of sweater scraps last week from a good friend. They were scraps left over from her endeavors in making wool soakers out of recycled felted sweaters. In the bag were some lovely remnants of an orange sweater. I have a love affair with making orange monsters. I particularly love the color combination of orange and blue (I love it even more when the blue is more of a turquoise). Yay for complimentary colors!

Don't you just love his Yoda-ears? If I made him in green with a brown robe... hmmmm... I smell a Star Wars homage coming soon.

I liked doing his mouth differently too...not my usual white felt teeth or fuzzy lips (although I am quite overdue for making some fuzzy-lipped monsters!). I'm getting much more into doing simple embroidery on my monsters' faces lately.

Bruno's looking to be adopted...

This is one of my latest creations, using a recycled scarf kindly donated by a work colleague. His name is Bruno and is now waiting to be adopted by a kind person, who will look after him and cuddle him.

 

Hope you'll like him. 

Recycled Earth Day Nubbins

So...here's some Earth Day Nubbins that are made out of some more appropriate, repurposed materials, rather than store-bought fleece.

If you like them, let me know and I can make some more, but these particular Nubbins are already spoken for.

This green Nubbin is made out of inside-out sweatshirt material, with denim and green khaki material for the earth. I think the nubby green material makes it look like he's mossy.

Zippers & Tongues

I'm sitting at Spot Coffee at First & Last: Arts & Crafts...hoping for a sale by the end of the night (it's been pretty slow so far).

I finished up a new monster while I was here...



SURPRISE! He has a tongue!
The tongue was actually an afterthought. I'd set him out on my table after I was finished with him, and later, after I'd finished up another monster and was putting it out on the table, I looked at my zippermouth guy and thought "He needs a tongue!"

"Say Ahhhhh!"...I felt like I was giving him oral surgery!

If no one buys him tonight, I'll be listing him in my Etsy Shop.

More Recycled Monsters

New sweater monster. The heart is from sweatshirt material. The mouth is a pocket!

And new corduroy scrap patchwork monster. The heart is cut from a sock.

Sweater Monster Parade!

Here come the sweater monsters! It must be the winter weather making me want to make cuddley, huggable monsters out of old sweaters.

This huggable guy went home with a fellow artist/vendor at an art show I did last weekend. He was definitely one of my favorites and was hard to part with. But I'm glad he's making someone so happy!

This monster is from the arm of the sweater the previous monster was made of. I just made her today.

I made this zipper-mouthed monster yesterday. He's the first monster I've done this with! The zipper goes to a little pocket on his front.

I made these two lover monsters (Valeria & Viktor Valentine) yesterday from a sweater my mom contributed.

This monster came from the same sweater as the above two. (one sweater goes a long way!) I finished up this one today at an art show I did tonight.

Eek! A Recycled Hat Vampire Monster!

I made this monster out of a hat that came with the DVD for the movie "30 Days of Night". The hat was too small for my husband to wear, so I made him a monster out of it! I've never seen the movie (it looks a little scary for me!), but I do know it's about vampires. So it's a vampire monster (notice the little blood drop dripping from his teeth).

Dancy, a friend made from socks

“I AM THE ATOMIC POWERED ROBOT. PLEASE GIVE MY BEST WISHES TO EVERYBODY.”

There’s Dancy, stomping around with his ears in front of his face. He does this all the time. He flips his long, long ears over the front of his face, until they hit the ground. He can’t even see. Then he brings his curly red tail around the top of his head too, and pretends it’s a laser beam or something. Then he walks all over the room, proclaiming loudly who he is and what he wants to do. Today he is apparently a robot. He’s now repeated that line six times in the time it’s taken me to write this. Yesterday he was “THE LILY OF NEW PHILLY.” I don’t have any idea what that meant. But he wanted everyone to “TAKE A NUMBER, TAKE A SEAT.” Tomorrow he’ll probably be some sort of dinosaur or astronaut. Maybe a dinosaur astronaut.

Hey, Dancy, anything to say your new friends? “YES. TELL THEM I AM THE ATOMIC POWERED ROBOT.” Great. Well, dear friend, here’s the (ahem) atomic…powered…robot.