Handmade Holiday 2013 in the Softie Sweat Shop

Handmade Holiday 2013 is well underway, and an impulsive decision to take part in a vendor market a week in advance has me churning out the softies and Xmas tree ornaments in what I’m now calling my Softie Sweat Shop. The Softie Sweat Shop offers workers comfortable working conditions and many benefits, such as dry fingertips and tiny stab wounds.

I’ve been working in a lot of multiples, as well as working on many softies at once so I’m never bored with my projects. If I’m over owls, I set them aside and work on sugar skulls. If I don’t feel like coming up with creative details, I can cut out a bunch of starter softies to decorate later. It’s a perfect system! Never mind the haphazard chaos of my crafting room, where various piles of in-progress projects sit in random areas, sometimes under books, craft supplies or a cat.

Here are some of the fruits of that labor--things that will be available for sale tomorrow, Saturday Dec. 14 at the 12th Avenue Patio Sale at 12th Avenue and Desoto (unless it rains, then here is a sneak preview of my soon-to-be-awesome etsy shop)!

If you're a devoted fan who has followed this amazingly consistent blog for several years, you might remember these little pencil/makeup/change bags from the time I failed to sell them at the Port City Market circa 2009. They're still available, but demand is obviously high!

 These are larger sugar skull softies but for all you know they're microscopic because this photo has no scale. They have a little bean bagginess to weigh them down and help them stand upright. They're probably 6 or 7 inches high and they have little "fug" tags on them.

 I really like this angry looking cat. I'm hoping a lot of other people also really like it and that this shared interest will translate into cash in my unsold felted money bag.

 Please tell me owls are still a thing. I made a whole bunch of them.

Whoa. Do you even understand how serious this is? I had BUSINESS CARDS made, because when it comes to felt, I mean BUSINESS. Special thanks to Sam with knitting company Meat Warmer for designing these cards!

More sugar skulls. Come buy them!

Excuses, Excuses & a Unicorn!

I'm even further behind on my November softie ornament-a-day challenge than ever right now, though I have a plethora of excuses and other things I've been doing over the last few weeks, some of which I will now list off: exercising (did I mention I ran a half marathon earlier this month? I did.), acute softie burnout, Thanksgiving cooking/eating/recuperating, watching Boardwalk Empire and The Mindy Project (because I am clearly gangster while remaining witty and feminine, duh), and um, other things, like...oh yeah, working a full time job and maintaining successful personal relationships with friends and family. There is just so much on my plate, both metaphorically and right next to my week-old pumpkin cheesecake. Yum! Life! 

However, you know what they say: "if you aim for the moon," blah blah blah. I'm commending myself for even coming this far. I mean, I've made 19 softie ornaments in 28 days. That's still pretty good, and if I don't praise myself for my many minuscule achievements, then who will (other than the people from whom I fish for compliments)?

 This is our Thanksgiving meal, just to prove to you how immersed I was in eating and recovering from the holiday. It's hard to get back on the crafting wagon after the gluttonous food orgy that was this T-giving, but I managed. I think I took this photo in the aperture setting instead of auto setting. Brilliant! 

 This is a poor photo of the most recent sugar skull ornament. I like it OK. 

I made these snowflake ornaments because they're so easy peasy that I can stitch them in the car. Once again, multiples! It's the best way to get several done in a row. I have big plans to make another one, as you can see by this loose flake. 

 This is my proudest and happiest softie achievement of late. I started this project over a week ago on a whim as a gift for my friend Justin, but I screwed up and sewed across its face, so another friend Kate helped me by cutting out the bad seam last night. I mess up all the time, yet don't own a seam ripper, for anyone looking for an inexpensive gift. 

A few words about this unicorn: I cut out the head shape and then stitched the eyes first, and they were just perfect. I used my narwhal technique for the horn, and I blanket stitched the bottom piece on to make it truly 3D. I'm just having a love affair with this unicornament (I just now thought of that. Wow. Again--just brilliant.) I mean, look at that rainbow mane! And it's perfect for my friend. I can't wait to give it to him! 

Do you watch that show Adventure Time? Me either! That show is totally for stoners! This ornament was loosely inspired by my favorite character, Lady Rainicorn. One critique I'll say is that I could've added a blue piece in the mane, to pick up the blue in the eye, but I didn't think I'd have the neck space. All in all though, super softie success!   

Behind Schedule!

 I got behind on my Softie-a-Day November Challenge. In my defense, it's because I was busy preparing for and running a half marathon on Sunday! WOW. I am amazing! Then I had to recover from it by sleeping a whole bunch. Don't worry. I'm sort of back on track. Sort of.  

 Ugh, THIS owl! This owl is my punishment for having a life outside of crafting. I broke a sewing machine needle on it. I'm down to my last machine needle! Furthermore, I don't like the design. Why didn't I give it little felted rosy cheeks instead of that dumb heart belly? One of its little heartstrings came out! I can't even look at it. What a redheaded stepchild of a softie. I'm sorry, owl. It doesn't even have a name. 

Made another one of these and took a weird, blurry photo of it (thanks for nothing, moon mountain setting?). Love the colors, design. Hate my complicated camera. I'm sorry, continuing education digital photography class! 

 

Desperate to have at least two ornaments to show for last night's Goodie Club meeting, I churned out this little guy for Tobs, who very much enjoyed an onion ornament I made a few years ago, and wanted some accompanying produce.   

I hope to close the now three softie gap between my track to my goal and my current batch of softie ornaments. Also, working on an Etsy, and several specific requests. Will advise, followers! 

The Softie Challenge Continues

Just to update you, I have been keeping up with my self-imposed softie ornament-a-day treadmill with great aplomb, especially considering this week's momentous election and a trip to Cirque du Soleil, which both cut into my crafting time. 

Here are the finished sugar skull ornaments from November 6 and 7. I decided to switch back to some owls after completion. 

Again, I worked in multiples to knock out a few owls for November 8 and 9. I finished them this afternoon. 

 

I love these kind of muted, rustic colored felts, but I think I'm boxing myself in with the owls, and just doing the same sorts of designs and color schemes over and over. I wanted to bust out and do some more bright and/or zany-looking ones. 

Did I succeed? I like this little guy so far. I did it so fast, it was like doing a quick doodle, but with felt. The weekend should give me some good long swathes of time to really work on some details and more time-consuming projects. Will advise! 

Handmade Holiday 2012 Kickoff Craft Challenge!

This year, I was even more pumped about the holidays than ever! I had vowed to put off my excitement until October 31 had come and gone, and on November 1, I had my first Holiday Craft Night for the impending Handmade Holiday 2012. Yay! I started out with holiday ornaments, and after nearly a week of daily crafting, I decided to challenge myself to create a softie ornament for each day of November.  

Day 1: This is Jimmy the Fox. I found a great piece of very thin, rust colored corduroy in the remnants bin at JoAnn's. I love the texture and look of the fabric, but I've found it frays and tears easily. Oh well. This fox was inspired by a locket my friend Bekah gave me. Bekah says, "Foxes are the new owls."

Day 2: But owl ornaments are in my Handmade Holiday roots, man! I wanted to make an owl from the corduroy as well. This one is called Hoo-boo, and I tried to make him look more expressive with eye brows. Success level: modicum. 

Day 3: Perhaps because I started my holiday crafting so close to Halloween, I started working on a sugar skull design. I don't particularly love sugar skulls, but what I do enjoy about them is that the design possibilities are pretty endless. They're colorful and they can incorporate needlework and wool felting. Also, if I was to make an attempt to sell something, I think a lot of people would buy these, just judging by how many chicks I know that dressed up and painted their faces dia de las muertos-style for Halloween.

Day 4: I think people like to be reminded of Halloween during Christmastime, also, like in The Nightmare Before Christmas. I loved embroidering the flaming diamond on this one's forehead. This is the one I'll probably keep for our own tree. 

Day 5: I decided to make another fox. This one is called Winky, because she's winking. I think she turned out superior to Jimmy, but it's still very difficult to have decent craftsmanship with that delicate fabric, dang it. 

 Day 6: A good way to churn out several softies in a row is to work in multiples. My least favorite part of making these skulls is cutting out the skulls, shaping the lower jaws and cutting out eye holes, so sitting down and doing those jobs on two ornaments was very satisfying. It freed me up to then focus on just the colorful design elements once I completed the grunt work, which makes working on them much more fun. Just a little ways away from having these two complete, and if I do it today I'll be one up on my month-long challenge!

The first six days of this grueling challenge beg many questions. Will I be able to keep up this breakneck pace of crafting? Will I crumble under the weighty pressure of the looming holidays? What further demented designs will spring forth from this maniacal mind?? Stay tuned to this enthralling blog to find out!