Photo Shoot at the Park

Went to the park last week.

It was a beautiful day!

And I could not help but to take photos of my children.  I'm so blessed!

These little monkeys are so adorable (at times)!

Not to bore you with photos of my family.... I'll share some of my creations with you, too!  (I'm opening up my online shop next month, so keep your eyes peeled for a spectacular giveaway soon!)

Kitty Peanut (14" soft doll) with hand-embroidered face.  I love the butterfly print!

Pirate Peanut (with the same butterfly print fabric).

 And here's another Pirate Peanut, being modeled by my chubby 17 month old Sprout!

 Nana Peanut out for a stroll in the woods.

 Another Nana Peanut - with green hair! (Yes, my Sunshine is saying "Cheese!")

 This one has minky hair - and a tiny stowaway! 

Do you see the three blind mice?  How about baa baa black sheep?  

This one was finished AT the park!

Here's one of my favorites - me, sewing, Sunshine talking my ear off (trying to climb on me), Spunky being noisy and very active in the background, and off to the side (off-camera) being his typical quiet autonomous self, is my Sprout.  This is how I spend my days (though not always at the park).

Pocket Peanuts (3" pocket dolls / finger puppets)

 All of my kiddos LOVE the "peanut people"!!! 

 Pocket Peanuts come in a Kitty Edition, too!

Easy on, easy off - even for toddlers!  

Meow!

Did I mention I've got pirates, too?!!

I'm wondering how many of you got to this far in my post. 

Sometimes I have a difficult time knowing what to leave out.  

So if you've gotten this far, thank you.  

I appreciate you very much.  

Peek-a-boo!

May the peace of God, which passes understanding, be with you this week!

:) Caren

Pirate Peanut

Ahoy, mateys!  Anyone out there a pirate lover?  I've been working on my Peanut People, and here is the third in the series, Pirate Peanut!

I was debating on this particular Pirate whether to give him green or blue eyes, but my resident creative consultant/product tester (5 year old Spunky) decided for me, so blue it is!

Pirate Peanuts are approximately 13" tall (8" wide).  They are made from quilting cotton, fleece hair, and a jersey pocket.  Each face is hand-embroidered, so they are all unique (and well done, because I believe in working with excellence!).  As I mentioned before, the pocket is perfectly stretchy, just right for stuffing with tiny friends.  And friends we have. Lots of friends.

...but more on those friends later....

Have a great day!
:) Caren

Brick & Mortar Here I Come!

Hi again!  Hope your day is going well.  I just got word that HomeTown Toys is having their Grand Opening this Friday and Saturday!  I totally appreciate this shop - they have unique and made-in-the-USA toys.  You know - the kind of toys you can't find in Walmart.

Why am I telling you about this?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  I'm getting ready to send them samples of my creations.  Seriously, in a few weeks some of my creations may be lining the shelves of a special "Made in America" section.  Maybe somewhere by these fabulous hand-made rocking horses!

It is exciting for me, because it will be my first foray into selling in an actual shop, and not just on-line or word of mouth.  Squeal-able, super-duper exciting!  

Anyway, here's the details on the Grand Opening, in case you are going to be in northern Ohio this weekend:

HomeTown Toys 202 W. Third St., Dover OH 44622 (330) 343-8699

Grand Opening Friday 11am - 5pm and Saturday 10am - 2pm

Have a great week!

:) Caren

Kitty Peanut

In my last post I introduced you to Nana Peanut.  Well, here's her friend Kitty.

My philosophy in making toys is simple - I make what makes me happy, and pray that God uses it to make someone else happy, too.  That way I am, in effect, "creating smiles".

I do have design priorities, though.  Here is my short list:
#1. It's look must drive me to immediately say "oh, that is SO cute - I want one!"
#2. It must be so soft that I immediately say "oh, that is SO smooshable - I want one!"

How's that for priorities?

She is shaped somewhat like a Russian stacking doll (matryoshka), just like Nana.  And her pocket is just right for tiny friends, too!  (More about her tiny friends in a later post.)

I added my label inside her pocket.  Did I share my label with you yet?  I designed it from one of my sketches - it's ironed and sewed on - no rough edges!  (Some day I'll figure out how to customize my blog, and I'll incorporate this into my header.  But thinking about HTML gives me a headache.  I'd rather be sewing :)

And what kitty would be complete without a tail?  I have a couple more kitties in the works, and I'm thinking of adding an embroidered mouse to her pocket.  What do you think?

Sunshine & Nana Peanut 

I'll leave you with a funny (true) story to lighten your day:

My 2-yr-old Sunshine, upon seeing Kitty Peanut for the first time, exuberantly announced:

              "I love my Kitty!"

             "I love her panties!"

From my home to yours - have a very blessed week!

:) Caren

Nana Peanut

Hi friends!  I had a full and exhausting (in a good way) holiday weekend.  Finished moving MOST of my studio upstairs (still need my cutting table moved, but it's really heavy so I have to wait for help). Participated in my very first ever garage sale (it was 100 degrees out - it was not very pleasant).  And I did some sewing (I know, you're shocked, right?!)


Here's Nana Peanut - I made her over the weekend.  She's perfect for holding my studio supplies, but I'm pretty sure this little cutie pie would rather hold little kiddie toys instead!  I'm thinking she needs a hair bow or flower or something.  But my little "product testers" really like her.

How 'bout you?  How was your weekend?  Get anything productive done, or did you lay around and do nothing?  (Ooooh, doing nothing sounds like great fun!)

Cheers to a great week,
:) Caren

There Was an Old Lady....

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

I finally finished the old lady!  This is a big mouthed puppet-y doll that I have been making for my son's kindergarten teacher.  Apparently she swallows more than a fly (the old lady, not the teacher!).  The teacher lets the old lady swallow all kinds of things - as a teaching tool!

If you saw my giveaway winner announcement (this post), you know that the old lady was a guest judge for picking the winner.  Well, she has since put on clothes!

I had thought about giving her horn-rimmed glasses, but that didn't quite work out - she looked too much like Woody Hayes (former Ohio State coach), so I scratched the idea.  Her guts are made out of the canister for a sugar/flour bag.  It worked out quite nicely.

I wanted to make it so the mouth would open but the head wouldn't come off (hate to cause future psychiatric bills for those kiddos), so I used suspender clips for the hinges.  Worked like a charm!

Spunky really likes her.  And the teacher was so excited she is planning to use her in her lesson today!

Wonder what kind of things she'll be eating today?

Cheerio! :) Caren

Sock Friends

Hi.  This is Stinky V (left) and his pal...what's his name.  Or her name.  I'm not sure yet.  Stinky V was so named because he was my first sock friend, and his blue button eye says "Valentino" (love those thrift store finds!).  So he became Stinky V and the second creature doesn't really have a name yet.

The faded green sock is a lizard.  A kind of funny one, because the arms, legs, and tail are all black because there was only one green sock to be found.  (Spunky says the orphan socks go through a hole and are shot into outer space.  Who am I to argue?!!)

I've been reading books on doll-making techniques and have seen a bunch of lessons on soft doll face sculpturing, where you use your needle and thread to "sculpt" the faces, then color them (or paint them or whatever).  Not that I am interested in doing that, but I used that kind of technique to "pull" the sock fabric up on the top of the head and down the tail for the spines/ridge/crest (or whatever you call it).  It was fun to figure that out.  Another tool in the ol' toolbox!

Sunshine got to take them on a walk (they were in the stroller - she walked).  The more I look at the lizard the more it looks to me like a girl.  Maybe I should dress them?  Overalls for blue Stinky V and a frilly dress for the lizard?  Oh, but we really need to name that one.  She'll probably end up as Lola. Or Lizzy.

Yep, Spunky likes them, too!  (See?  Not all soft toys are for girls...)

Have a happy weekend,
:) Caren

Fleecie Doll

I found this book and decided to make this lovely doll out of fleece.

Fleecie Dolls by Fiona Goble can be purchased at Amazon.com

The book has some really cute ides for dollies, but I am so short on time that I have to be really really picky about which projects I start.  Oh, and the down side to the book was that the patterns (included) had to be enlarged, which was really tricky since I had to go to the office supply store to use their machine (I had to do a bunch of taping because I couldn't figure out their machine - grrrr!)

The dress on this doll is way too big - on purpose.  I figure if my toddler is going to try to dress and undress her she might as well have a big dress on.  So far she hasn't tried to get the dress off.  I think that is because she's been too distracted with getting her socks on the doll (she's getting pretty good at that!).

I learned something from this book - did you know that if you cut fleece in skinny strips and pull it (in the direction it stretches) that it actually curls?  Oh yes!  

(And it's very much like real hair - it "uncurls" fairly quickly so some of it is curly, some of it is wavy, some is straight - just like my Sunshine's hair!)

One more thing - the fleece is stuffed just perfectly for Sprout to chew on while he's teething (sorry, I don't have any pictures of that).  Hope this little doll doesn't mind!

You all have a wonderful day!  :) Caren