‘avin’ a giraffe! Folksy Friday

This week I tried to design a Sock Giraffe – hence the title ‘avin’ a giraffe! It looks nothing like a giraffe, although it does have a quirky charm with it’s grumpy face and droopy eyelinered lids. So after my hilarious attempt let’s have a look at some ‘proper’ giraffes made by some of the talented shopkeepers at Folksy…

Little Giraffe on Vintage Meccano Wheels – Northfield Primitives ‘Little giraffe is so quiet you wouldn’t know she was there. She tells me that she feels rather awkward most of the time, which is unfortunate as she is by far the tallest animal in the Nursery (25cm on her little red wheels) and is difficult not to notice….’

Giraffe in Stripes Print - ialbert  ‘The design is an original illustration created digitally.This print is the perfect a gift for family or friends’

Flower Giraffe Brooch - iloveyou  ‘The original giraffe Flower brooch decorated with flowers with Swarovski crystals.
You can not be overlooked.’

5 Scoops High Card – Lisa Hunt Illustration Doodle Shop  ‘Although perfect for a birthday, this card can be used for any occassion or just to say hello! All cards are printed on quality silky finish card with a white envelope and Left blank inside for your own message.’

Giraffe Print Coasters – Melting Point  ‘A set of 4 fused glass coasters with a Giraffe print pattern, each completely unique in gold/black and French vanilla glass’

Knitted Giraffe – Kent Crafts – ‘Giraffe toy, hand knitted in Stylecraft 100% acrylic yarn with soft polyester filling. Colours dark brown, light brown and camel. ‘

Just click on the pic or shop name to find out more about these long necked lovelies. Happy weekend from me and the creature!

Sock Bunny Making Birthday Party

BUNNY KIT BAGS

My god daughter Lucy turned 8 just before Christmas and today was her ‘official’ birthday party. She invited four special friends to her house for a Sock Bunny making party. I had the pleasure of being Chief Bunny Maker and Lucy’s Mum was Assistant Bunny Maker.

DEMO BUNNY & KITS READY TO START

All the girls had a bag of bunny body bits, stuffing, a needle and a ‘made by’ badge. They listened very carefully and soon got stuck into to pushing the stuffing into bunny legs, ears, bottoms, bodies and faces – we used chopsticks to help get into the little nooks and crannies. It’s quite a fiddly process and the girls made excellent jobs of creating their bunny bodies.

BUNNY BODY STUFFING

Next we were ready to start sewing.  The task was to attach bunny head to bunny body. I gave a short demo of how to do this part and again they were all very attentive and keen to get going. They did brilliantly with their sewing and we had a lovely set of bunnies all ready to have their faces put on.

BUNNIES WAITING FOR FACES

After all that busy activity it was time for a lunch break. Chicken nuggets, sausages, crispy items, lots of lovely triangle sandwiches – we had to fight for the egg ones as young Paige was a bit of an egg sandwich fiend! We got away with only one drink being knocked over, fortunately just missing the bunnies in the corner – I think I soaked up most of it! Lunch over – time to choose faces & chop up some socks to make hats and clothes.

BUTTONS, BEADS, POMPOMS & FELT

And here are the results of the girls’ hard work. Aren’t they good – each one completely different with its own little character. Great bunnies and a really lovely group of girls – very polite, well behaved and of course talented…

STARGAZER made by ELEANOR

FLOPSY made by ELLA

BUTTERCUP made by LOUISE

DAISY made by PAIGE

CHLOE made by Birthday Girl LUCY (with demo bunny Katie)

I think Willow the family dog was feeling a little bit left out as she brought her own soft toy along for a photograph!

WILLOW with her own bunny!

A big thank you to Lucy for letting me be Chief Bunny Maker, thank you to the Assistant Bunny Maker for being a brilliant helper and lunch maker and an equally big thank you to Eleanor, Ella, Paige and Louise for being such delightful young Bunny Makers. I hope you all had a good time.

For more bunnies and other cute creatures take a trip to my Folksy OddSox shop.

Chartreuse Celebration – Folksy Friday

CHARTREUSE, probably my top favourite colour for fabrics and jewellery although I’m not sure whether I’ve ever tasted the liqueur that gives it’s name to the colour. Cribbed from Wikipedia – ‘Chartreuse is a French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks in the 1740s. There are two varierties: Green Chartreuse is a naturally green liqueur flavored with extracts from 132 plants with its coloring coming from chlorophyll; Yellow Chartreuse which has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma.’

I’ve found some rather lovely Folksy items to celebrate this delicious colour…

Moka Express silkscreen print – Mengsel - ‘Great gift for a “coffee” person – in a very retro-ish chartreuse colour. Hand pulled silkscreen print of my original hand drawn illustration. Printed with a water based ink in chartreuse on 300g snow white Snowdon paper. Signed and numbered limited edition of 50 prints.’

Porcelain Dot Pin - Seaurchin Porcelain  - ‘I make these porcelain pieces at my home studio, meticulously texturing each one by hand (no stamps or texture sheets), sanding and glazing them. As they are fired at a high temperature, they are very strong and durable and easy to clean’

Green Ombre Kanzashi Flower Corsage – Cuttlefishlove Kanzashi - ‘This many-layered kanzashi flower brooch uses the layering of the coloured petals to create a fresh green ombre effect. Perfect for a subtle green corsage!’

Chartreuse Crushed Velvet – Violette & Rose Fabrics – ‘There are two pieces of this delightful fabric available’

Beaded Cuff with Antique Gold Toggle Clasp – Bloomin Gorgeous  - ‘I designed this cuff to show off the lovely green tone knitted wire background, having fewer beads and making it a light and airy style.’

Opaque Chartreuse, Blown Glass Bauble, Light Catcher – Corrina Field Handmade  - ‘Bright and colourful glass ornaments handmade for you. Each one is unique! The very best quality glass colour is used, this is combined with clear furnace glass, blown and then shaped by hand’

Just click the pic or shop name to find out more. And if anyone reading has tasted the Chartreuse liqueur I’d love to know what you think. Happy weekend.

Amigurumi Animal Cuteness

Here’s my latest batch of Amigurumi creatures. If anyone is planning on giving a home to something cute I’ve just listed them over at my Folksy OddSox shop! My favourite is the little grey one with skinny legs.

The brown one is definitely a dog, the orange one is certainly a fox – the other two I’m really not sure – mouse? bear? lemur? …

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Painless Tattoos – Folksy Friday

We don’t go to the cinema very often, mostly because it’s way too expensive but we went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last Sunday as part of Mr. Sock’s birthday treats. We’d listened to all three Stieg Larsson books last year and thoroughly enjoyed them so didn’t want to miss the film. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea as there are one or two ‘nasty’ scenes, but we were totally engrossed and thought the main character casting was perfect – sometimes it can be disappointing when you’ve already got an image in your head. Anyway, enough babble, getting to the point I decided my Folksy Friday this week would be based around what I could find by searching for ‘TATTOO’ – and here are some of the amazing results!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Handpainted Canvas – Ghettogran Stencil Art ‘Original stenciled artwork on canvas’

Applique Skull, Rose & Heart Tattoo Cushion - Dollydrip ‘Handmade Cushion with tattoo style embroidery.’

Safety Tattoo Cat Collar – Mog’s Togs ‘This cat safety collar is perfect for the hard man kitty in your life who still loves his mama!’

Tattoo Woman Digital Print – Emilythepemily ‘Rockabilly Gals….This is what you’ll look like in 50 years time. I think she looks great!’

Swallow Tattoo Felt Brooch – Summer of Dub ‘An extremley cute rockabilly tattoo style swallow brooch/badge. The blues, reds, yellows and greens mixed with white makes this felt brooch adorable! ‘

‘Tattoo Ink’ Messenger Bag – Divinearts ‘Handmade from excellent quality black waterproof cotton canvas and 100% cotton fabric.’

Just click the pic or shop name to check out the details. Happy weekend.

Violet & Rose Spotted Hungry Hippo

This was one of the ‘silly-but-fun’ Christmas pressies I gave to my sister this year. I saw this idea on Pinterest and fancied giving it a go. I bought a bag of cheap plastic zoo animals (the plantage was included in the pack) and used rose & violet acrylic paints for the lid and hippo and then superglued the bits to the lid. The jar (which used to have Tesco’s peanut butter in it) was filled with one of my sister’s favourite sweeties of choice – violet and rose cremes. RAAAR!

Fancy Fimo Buttons & Animals

Hello, just a quick post today. I wanted to show you one of my best Christmas presents. These lovely rainbow coloured Fimo buttons were handmade for me by my clever 8 year old god-daughter Lucy. Aren’t they fabulous!

And these brilliant little creatures are on display in our living room. You can see by my finger in the picture how small they are – I’m amazed at how much detail she’s managed. Mine is the lovely green frog with his own little present and Mr Sock is the the owner of the terrific tiger – who came with his own fimo cake!

Folksy Friday Tidy Up

After taking the Christmas tree down yesterday it prompted a bit of a ‘tidy up & chuck out’ – alongside the ‘tidy up & eat it’ of course! I thought ‘tidy’ would be a good word to search to start off my Folksy Fridays for 2012 – here are a few of my finds to help you keep on the right track…

Desk Tidy – Record Time

‘A very useful notepad and pencils carefully positioned on a shaped 45 single record. Handy for shopping lists, reminders and “your dinner’s in the dog” type messages!’

Toy & Book Tidy – Cherry Picked by Mimi Handmade

‘This is an item intended for a small child’s room. The pockets are big enough to hold an average sized book. The bag is fully lined and large enough to hold the average sized magazine. This is also suitable for holding soft toys, jigsaws or other child paraphernalia.’

Letter & Business Card Holder – MijMoj Contemporary Furniture Design

‘Oak business card holder and letter rack. Store all those letters and business cards tidily on your desk. Made from solid oak with red perspex inlay detailing.’

Wrapping Paper Storage Bag – Maggie B Crafts

‘Handmade wrapping paper storage bag to keep your rolls of gift wrap or brown paper tidy and clean. Two handy storage pockets on the front for scissors and tape.’

Papier Mache Pyjama Pant Pot – Imperfections

‘A ‘Pant Pot’ created around one balloon and two polystyrene cups, papermached and painted.  Fleece and bow slippers, a belt tie have been added and then spray varnished for extra strength. Can be used for parties, or just for everyday items, such a mobile phone, wallet and keys.’

Clutter Bucket - The Patchwork Dress

‘Clutterbuckets’ are designed as loose bucket bags to have around the house. This version is a lovely soft reclaimed charcoal wool outer, and reclaimed flannel stripe inner – with added detail of braid to handles and side tab detail.’

Just click on the pic or shop name to find out more.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Ronald the Robin

We still haven’t put our tree up… there just seems to have been too many things to do, especially lots of craft fairs which take time to prepare for. They’re all over now though so maybe we’ll get round to tree stuff at the weekend! Anyway, when we do this lovely little crochet robin will be sitting in it. It was made for me by Emma from Lemons for Lemonade as part of a Christmas tree decoration swap run by Craft Tonic.

I especially like the way his little wings curl up at the ends. At the moment he’s hanging in my work area just waiting for tree day.

 Tog the cat was rather interested too!

Thank you Emma

Which monster would you choose? Please vote

After a super weekend craft fair I have to stock up on Sock Cats, Sock Bunnies and Sock Monster Aliens ready for another fair on Sunday 11th at Penta Hotel in Reading. As I’ve got limited time I’d be interested to know which of the Monster Alien designs in the two pics below you would choose as your favourite.

Thank you to everyone who takes part and please feel free to leave any new suggestions in the comments

Sock Monster Alien - Pic 1

Sock Monster Alien - Pic 2