DIY Toys

I posted some toy stuff on my other blog an thought the DIY toys were craftacular (yes, I said craftacular…).  If you’ve never heard of them they’re toys that come blank, which allowed you to customize them in whichever way you want.  Two of the more famous DIY vinyl’s are Kidrobot’s Munny and Dunny.They usually come with an accessory, like an ax, banana, car, and just something that’s seemingly all around random, which makes it all the more fun to do something with.  They also come different sizes ranging from 4", around $7-$10 for blanks, and all the way up to 18’’, around $200 for blanks.  Of course when you buy custom ones by artists, and depending on the artist, you can buy some with prices going up to several thousand dollars.

At first you have these two figurines that are exactly the same, give them to two different artists and you get two things that look absolutely nothing alike.  It’s in essence just another canvas, although an oddly shaped one, and its fun to browse the Munny and Dunny galleries to see the things people come up with.  You can do anything you like with them, use markers, paints, chop something of, sew clothes, turn them on their side, cut them, whatever.  It’s pretty much what you see in your imagination goes, which is what makes these things so awesome.

If vinyl toys aren’t really your thing there's always the plush DIY’s like Shawnimals Plushform (around $20).  They’re pretty much a blank plush, um, thing :p.  Just like with its vinyl counterpart you can pretty much do anything you like with them.

There’s even a plush that looks remarkably like Ravelry’s very own Bob, too cute!  One of the more interesting ones I saw were the ones where people pretty much cut them open and patch them up to look like a big mouth or a gaping hole in their tummy, but maybe I’m just sick like that :D.

I think I might get the Plushform eventually since its closer to my comfort zone, not to mention being a little more to my budget with the perfect size.  I still want a vinyl DIY though, maybe someday, and when I’m more confident about my art skills.

Because I'm Lazy :<

So I missed a couple of days in my NaBloPoMo quest, the first day I excuse myself because I made a post on my personal blog :p *points to post title* but yesterday I just wasn't feeling so well and totally forgot NaBloPoMo :/ ... and because I'm lazy.

So now onto some of my WIP's. For some reason I tend to start and finish crochet projects more easily. Maybe its because its what I started out with and what comes more naturally to me, but there you have it. It tends to be a lot easier with me to finish, even if its making me grow grumpy-angry-person-beware horns on my head I'm more inclined to finish it, no matter what. It might also be because if I'm having a problem with a pattern its easier for me to fix on the fly then with knitting, I have to think more when I knit and I don't think that's good for my brain :( poor brain. Plus in keeping with this posts theme, because I tend to be lazier with knitting then with crochet.

So its no surprise the that an easy project like the Cozy Doctor's Mask one from Pearl of Civilization is taking me forever and a day to make. It's not that I'm having any real problems with it, its just that I tend to be really lazy and neglectful with my knitting o_o;; I also modified it just a tweak, nothing big (because of my poor brain) just used a different yarn and needles so I had to adjust it since the gauge was off, I'm also doing it with moss stitch :3 because I thought it was prettier lol.

And tada~, will post photos once I start along with the project more. I decided not to use any of the three scarflette pattern I was going to use for my new project :D I'm such a flip flopper. I'm going with this one (ravelry). Only problem is I was too lazy to go back to Jo-Ann's or my LYS to get some size 8 circular needles so I just barely managed with 9" straight needles o_o and I do mean barely.

Why go through all the trouble you ask? Because I'm lazy... :<

The Background

Since I already have a WordPress
blog I decided to use this one as a crafty blog, and the WordPress one as a personal blog.
Lately I've been really into making crochet items, and since I just started sewing I've been looking at things to sew XD A several weeks ago I decided to make a hat from a pattern I found on craftypants' blog site. Since this would be my first hat I decided to use some extra acrylic I had lying around, if the hat came out really bad, its just acrylic. I did make a couple modifications though, since I have REALLY thick unruly hair and a big head (o_o) I had to enlarge the pattern a bit, I also added three rows of basket weave stitch (front post back post).

This is what I ended up with :3

Yesterday I just received my invitation to Ravelry, which I was really excited about. I didn't realize they had like an organization area for your account with a database of patterns, which is great for me since I had pdf and notepad files scattered throughout a couple CD's and over my hard drive, now all my patterns are in one place <3 They also have a current projects area where you can post what project you're doing and how far along you are, which would come in handy when you get stuck at a certain point and aren't sure what to do. And the patterns are awesome, I found a couple that are already on my to do list and some new ones that made the list longer then it already is.

One of my favorite categories is the naughty one XD mainly because the typical picture you get of a crafter is like granny types. Then people realize there are patterns for anatomically correct genitalia, unconventional cozies (for... yeah), and amigurumi sex toys with faces and all. Which reminded me of the uterus plushies on etsy.com, I actually thought the idea for the healing uterus might be something lighthearted to give to someone (with a twisted sense of humor) who had/has a gynecologic cancer like ovarian or cervical cancer, it even comes with its own band-aid :D the idea for the happy uterus is kind of weird though o_o I'm not really sure I'd have wanted one of those when I was younger.

Technorati Tags: Ravelry,corhet,hat,plushies,unconventional,patterns,WordPress

The things I Like

This post is actually from a post on my WordPress blog that I decided to repost here ^_^

I'm on a total plushie binge right now :3 sewingstars' makes the CUTEST things! I LOVE her crying eggboy and some of her newer stuff are the pumpkins to celebrate Halloween I guess.
One of my other fave softie makers is ElizabethD from Gourmet Amigurumi. She has a book out if anyone is interested. She insane with attention to detail. You can pretty much figure out her aesthetic since everything she does is really distinctive. I'd have to say the eyes are signature though, lots of detail around the eyes that just makes it pop. The fawn at the bottom is patterned in her book, only its just all brown, cute no?

And as long as were talking about plushies, combining food and craft just seems genius to me :D although that might just be because I'm super hungry right now and lack fiber in my diet... Here's some food related softies, starting from the left, some spoiled boneless chicken by Robyn D: poor thing is totally aware of his demise, next is some dim sum by .lani, and because I love anything having to do with Mexican folk art I added the Small Cat Club's softies of calaveras de dulces D: haven't had one of those since I was like 8 x_x

Of course the classic plushie is from an animal, though an octopus isn't really the normal creation :D

This one's another creation of the Small Cat Club's and its been painted. I love her expression and the two front teeth just makes it super cute D:

DeviantArt is also a nice place to see plushies~ (I'm starting to sound really obbossesd ._.) anyway, I like this one of matches

Summary of Life by ~FrealaF on deviantART makes you kinda look at matches in a new light XD

And last but not least there's a fiber artist named Patricia Waller. XD I like, but then again I have a bit of a sick sense of humor.

A crochet collection of S+M gear lol

Technorati Tags: amigurumi,softie,plushie,sewingstars,Gourmet Amigurumi,ElizabethD,Patricia Waller