A Very Merry Twistmas with Handmade Moshlings

I repeated my homade holiday plan from last year, which is to only make my gifts for the daughter from what I had around in my craft stash. It wasn't too difficult to decided what to make. She and her cousin are heavily into Moshi Monsters these days. I thought I'd attempt some of their favorite Moshlings. I made the daughter an Oddie and a Squidge. Then, I made her cousin a Liberty.



Oddie was the easiest of the three. I used polar fleece remnants for most of it except the black of the eye and the feet, which are both felt. The sprinkles are cheap plastic beads.



I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, even if the eyes are a wee bit crooked. He turned out to be her favorite of the two.



Squidge was made like the Pygmy Puffs on my knitting loom with the same yarn as the Puffskein. He has shank button eyes and nose. I used my dremel to grind the nose closer to shape. The feet, ears and wings are remnant polar fleece. I didn't have any of the orangy gold-ish yellow that her feet are, so I cut portions out of a printed scrap piece. :)



Squidge was a tough one. I had the most concern getting her paired parts (eyes, ears, feet and wings) to all align properly. I was glad to see that I succeeded pretty well when finished. I did fail to add the eyelashes, but I wasn't sure they would show up anyway on the furry yarn.



The most complex one was the Liberty that I made her cousin. She is also made mostly of polar fleece, except for the black of the eyes and the dress. Oh, and her nose is a tiny brown shank button. The dress was made out of a striped shirt. You may recognize this fabric from the legs of our rag doll witch from a long while back. The crown and dress are both removable. I put it on an elastic band. I wasn't sure if she'd like it to come off, but she really likes to dress/redress her dolls, so I thought it would be fun for her.



Her body is an alteration of the pattern I used for the polar fleece monster dolls. But, I changed the shape of the body making it smaller. I attached the arms right out of the head, which was actually a little easier, but made the head flop back and forth a bit being so big and with the added weight of the crown. I kinda wish I had done this for the Pet Society Zombie Bunny. It is more closer to what it should look like.

I ran out of time to make the ice cream and wish list. I will be making them and sending them on when I get a chance to. However, all in all, the three moshlings were a success. They both loved them. If it hadn't been for the Moshling Collector's Guide she received from Santa, these would have been the daughter absolute #1 gift this year. Curse you, Santa! :)

Have a Happy and Crafty New Year! I'll be back next year with some more Steampunk projects, including a few more hats!

Daughter's Many Litters of Super Cute Felt Critters

Daughter turned her interests to some hand sewing just before Christmas when she found a book entitled "Super Cute" by Parragon. The owl was her first project. In no time, she was trying different techniques and making all kinds of felt characters for our enjoyment. A few lucky friends and relatives got one for Christmas. Her cousin got the bunny in the lower right. She made the little bear on the top left just for me. Ahh, I feel so special. My bear was the first one she attempted to turn inside out to hide the seam. She figured out how to put the ears inside correctly all by herself! I was very impressed.



Grandma got the dark green one in the bottom right of the pic above.



Aren't they the most adorable things you ever saw?! Okay, I may be a tad biased being her mom. But I still think you have to agree that she's quite a talented and creative 9 year old. :)



Some even have removable clothing. I'm loving the "Madeye Moody" eye patch!



She was thrilled to receive a new sewing kit Santa. I hope to see many more of her creations this coming year. I'm trying to get her to make me some Potter Pal Puppets. Haven't convinced her to give it a try. . . yet. ;)

Next up, I'll be posting what I made the daughter and her cousin for Christmas. I kept to last years homemade holiday plan of only using what I had around. Stay tuned to see the results!

New set of Pistachio Hair Falls

Finally posting a new pair of super long pistachio hair falls. From loop to the tip of the tassels they're at 30" long. The shells on these were an experiment in transitions with the Kool-aid and food coloring dye used in my previous falls.



I soaked the shells half immersed in the dye. The red color separated and bled up the shell giving a three-toned transition from purple to red to natural. I strung them so that the shells also transition from heavily purple to natural with green shells at the top to resemble leaves. It created a lovely flower-like effect. I also strung small clusters of green and purple above to look like buds and a small green and natural bud at the tassels on the bottom.



I sealed these shells with satin acrylic spray paint, so they have a little shine to the shells. I used some scrap yarns to fill in the tassels. Though not pictured, I also created some green feather dangles that can be clipped into the tassels.



Because they were part of an experiment, I absolutely have nothing in my wardrobe that goes with these falls. So, I'll either need to start a new outfit around them (woohoo!) or I'm pondering offering these on Etsy.com if anyone is interested in owning them. After the Holidays I hoped to get started making a few pair in a sorta snaky scaly pattern.

Not sure if I'll be posting any more projects before Christmas. Though, we do have a hat in the works that I'd like to show the WIP on. Until next time, have a Crafty Holiday!

Sew many have slipped by...

...without mention. Even a couple Harry Potter themed projects. I feel really bad about that, because some really do need to be shown off. So, I thought I'd share some my mom had made this past year that didn't get the praise they deserve.

Back in August she decided to try my cushion critter (pillow pet clone) pattern available on the post here to make the kids some smaller cushion critter bunnies.



My daughter received this red/tan/black polar fleece one printed with Scotty dogs. Grandma also made her matching pants and red shirt. I failed to get pics of the set, as well as the set she sent to my niece. It was pink with flower print.



I think they turned out adorable at only 6x8" in size. It's a great pillow for car rides.





Back in early October, the daughter had talked Grandma into attempting to recreate a "Skelanimal" bat from an image that she had on a pair of gloves.



He's so cute! And, also made from the remnant polar fleece. I was so impressed that she made the pattern all by herself. She usually has low confidence on that type of thing. But, she did a fantastic job! Way to go mom!



And lastly, I haven't posted these items we sent my sis and her daughter back in a Harry Potter personal swap we arranged like two years ago! Yikes, has it really been that long!? I spaced and forgot to get pics, so waited for them to finally send over a few.



They each got a Cornish Pixie with a large cage to keep them both in (not pictured). They are like the ones we made here. But, each was an experiment in using a different fabric. As you can see, the polar fleece stretches making the pixie much larger and thicker than the ones made with less stretchy fabric like the velour.



And a "Ginny Weasley" rag doll with cloak ready for her trip to Hogwart's. I helped make the cloak and dress, but mom made the doll. She is based off the pattern we used on these that I posted about a LONG while back.

Next up I'll be posting about some more pistachio falls I finally got around to finishing. And, after the new year, I'll share some homemade Christmas gifts and more custom hats.