The Fairy is Finished!

Yay! The fairy has wings now and she'll be off to her new home shortly. I crocheted the wings and tied a loop on every stitch to get the puffiness of the feathery wings. Besides being a time consuming process, August was a busy month and she took a bit to complete. I really like the way she turned out. She's quite a bit taller than my other doll creations coming in at 12 inches instead of 9. Of course her clothing is removable. I find it hard not to make even an art doll that is not interactive.

My next project I plan to complete next week. It includes marbled fabric from Etsy seller Vansant Designs . She has really gorgeous fabric that you must check out!

I have to confess, that while I have purchased Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, I haven't yet finished it. I shall remedy that within the week and give a non-spoiling review. I also got Sapphique by Catherine Fisher as an advanced reader copy and am reading that, too.

The Plush Team Does Vegas!

The Plush Team's July/August challenge was Plush Vegas and team members have been busily preparing pieces to compete in the following three categories:

• Show Biz - Entertainers, showgirls, magicians, animal acts etc.
• Gaming - Slots, blackjack, poker, roulette etc.
• Neon - Signage in all its gaudy glory

The entries are in and now it's your turn to tell us which Plush Teamers know how to "do Vegas" right. Check out the entries below and vote for your favorite entry in each category. And don't forget -- many of the Plush Vegas entries are still available in the team shop, so we invite you to stop by and check 'em out once you've cast your vote!

Show Biz
The entries for the Show Biz category are:

Elvis by ThEm DoLLz

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine by Moon's Creations

Las Vegas Showgirl Miss Toastee by Yummy Pancake

Flowers Lion by Raggy Rat

Cristal Bazoom, The Vegas Owl Showgirl by Hibou Cards

Vegas Showgirl Chickenpants by Absolutely Small

Blue Monkey by Siansburys

Lil Zombie Elvis by Kittypinkstars

Gaming
And the entries for the Gaming category are...

Dice Head Croupier by Out of the Frame

FOUND ON THE STRIP: Circus Circus Matchbook Pillow by APlushPlush

The Lobster-Eating Lobster at a fancy Vegas Buffet by PterodactylPants

Neon
Last, but definitely not least, the entries for the Neon category are...

The 24/7 Vegas Wedding Chapel! by Abbydid

Huge Plush Team Billboard Neon Sign by Fluffy Flowers

So, are you ready to vote? Then let's do this thing! Just click here to take the survey!

Fairy in Progress

I am working on a custom fairy based on a painting. She's crocheted and supposed to have wings, so I'll be finishing those shortly. The wings are light green on the outside and yellow on the inside.



Well, got to go work on this week's Minionitis comic, sew a skirt and I've got a pork roast in the crock pot!

Plush Team Prizes and Minion Fabric

Look at what I got in the mail! A package from Denise of Yummy Pancake with the winnings from the Plush Team Call of Duty Challenge.


Great sausage tape!


A cute note.


Shiny tissue paper.


Neato! A magnet from Yummy Pancake aptly shaped like a bullet. Custom dog tags. A kidrobot Things That Hurt zipper pull. And cute little flowers!


The blind box zipper pull is a gun of all things!!

The winnings with the piece.


And here is the fabric I got for the first minion bags. It's a light blue leopard print furry fabric and a canvasy light blue for the liner and the minion face and appendages. I'll keep you posted as I get cutting and stitching.

Get Stuffed Blog Bomb!

Today the Plush Team is doing a Blog Bomb to share the love that is our book.

Thanks for taking a moment to check it out!

The Plush Team is ecstatic to present to you our first ever Team Annual, containing 120 pages of plushy goodness!

What is in store for you upon opening this marvelous book:

• An opening by our team founder, Megan Green, describing how our team came to be.


• An insightful, informative, and all-around fascinating account of the history of plush craft by our team co-founder Christina Ward.


• 42 two-page, full color features of our Plush Team members. Each includes photos of the artist's work, and text written by the artist explaining motivation, process, and inspiration.


• A time line of Plush Team activities through over the years.Profile pages providing a comprehensive list of Plush Team artists, including artist head shots and Etsy shop addresses.


• Photos of PT Stitchy, the team mascot, scattered throughout the book in his various incarnations as interpreted by our team members.

The book is full color, professionally printed, and soft cover. It measures 6.75"x6.75" (or 17 centimeters square). This is volume 1 of our Team Annual, featuring the artists from 2009. Our intent is to make this a yearly publication, updating it each year with our newest members and their incredible work.

Visit the Team Shop today for your copy!

Minion Code now up

Minionitis number 5 is up. It's nice to hit a round number like 5. The fact that I've been publishing a comic for 5 weeks is pretty cool. What's even cooler is that while I've just been through the set up phase for the school for gifted minions, I still have ideas about where to go next.

I'll be making minion trading cards to give the little minions some background. They're all really interesting and it will help with giving a foundation to the comic and the characters as it goes forward. I am contemplating doing 2 minion classes per year with 26 comics each. It would make a nice little book, especially with the trading cards.

We saw Despicable Me this weekend and we both give it 2 thumbs up. The audience was great with a mixture of kids and adults. People clapped at the end. I like that. It was pleasant to laugh so much. I also like the minions. Minions are very in right now.

Fuz Pistol Wins the Challenge!

The Plush Team challenge for May and June was a weapons challenge. You can check out the entries on the Plush Team site here. There were three categories - Long Range, Short Range and Special Weapons.

Here's my Long Range Fuz Pistol.


Congrats to the other winners!!

Leanna of Plush Goodness with Short Range Chain Saw.


Amy of Squirrel Momma with her Special band of Ninja Bunnies.


When I get the winnings I'll take pictures and post them here! It was also kind of fun that the winners announcement was made on my birthday :)

Hunger Games and a New Comic :)

In light of the third book of the Hunger Games Trilogy coming out this August, I am leading a book club to discuss the first book tonight and the second book at the end of July.

There's a count down on Scholastic's site for the release of Mockingjay, so I thought I would add it here.



And since it's Wednesday, there's a new Minionitis available for your reading pleasure. Go check out Baxter's Secret Minion Classroom!

Enjoy your day!

Serenity, Cookies & Cats

Meet Serenity! She's a Rooz put out by Kidrobot's Munny World. Her head and arms are still removable. She was crocheted with acrylic yarn. Everyone needs a cyclops in their life!




It's been a while since I baked anything, but here's some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies I baked up yesterday.


I've also got some cute cat pics today. First there is Kitty enjoying the open door with a chair in front of it.

And we've recently discovered that Jasper likes to ride around in the laundry basket. He kind of has this "king of the world" look on his face, doesn't he?

Oh, and the second comic for Minionitis is up so feel free to hop on over to see it. :)

Minionitis Progress

Well, I've got the first comic done and up on my new wordpress site I set up because I am using HostMonster for hosting the site where I will have all my stuff accessible. I am still figuring things out, but you can certainly check it out here.

Further reasonings for going with wordpress include the ability to use plugins to set up a library of the comics. But I haven't really figures out why I don't have a plugin tab to go forward with my plans of minion subservience. I'll just keep playing until I figure it out. I found that's what I had to do for coloring my comics, too. I'm learning a lot and having fun at the same time. The victories out weigh the frustrations.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

P.S. Did you notice my new banner? What do you think?

Fuz Pistol

Yo! Check it! It's my first plush gun! I made it for the Plush Team Call of Duty Weapons Challenge going on now. You can see other entries at the Plush Team site when they are all posted. The deadline is June 23rd, so I am a bit ahead in my completion.



So, here we have a loadable pistol crocheted in acrylic yarn and stuffed with polyfil.


It was tough to choose what weapon to make. I played around with the idea of doing Dr. Horrible's Freeze Ray, but opted for a smaller pistol instead. It feels nice to hold for some reason...

Minion Update and another Octopus

I've been doing a lot of drawing for Minionitis and it's really coming along. I have two comics drawn and one inked at this point. I have two more ready to jump into the process, too. I don't think I've used my sketchbook to sketch this much before. I like it.

I will color them digitally in Photoshop. I realize that my skills in Photoshop and drawing are a little rusty, so I do expect things to improve and evolve as I go.

Here's a sneak peek at the first comic with Baxter and Chopstick...


I am also working on a Fuzfrenzy banner as well as a Minionitis banner. I haven't worked with ink in a while so I am honing my inking skills. I've got a lot of honing to do :)


Another octopus. I just can't get away from these things. I seem to make them when I don't have any other clear heading on what to crochet. I like her, though. She's different from the rest.

You'll notice that I included an octopus in the Fuzfrenzy banner... I have no further comment.



And then there's Kitty. Always the helper and as cute as ever.

New and Improved!

Hey fans! I'm working on a few new and different things to spice things up a bit. I am going to design my own website in the near future with a little shop in it where you can get my creations. Another fun addition to this site will be a weekly (hopefully) webcomic staring Baxter the minion.

I'll give you teasers for the webcomic and offer up the crochet patterns and completed plush for the characters in the shop as they develop. The premise for the comic is a school for gifted minions called Minionitis. I will probably publish the comic here until I get the site up and running.

Have a great day!

The Minions are Coming!

Well, there's one minion so far. His name is Baxter and he'll do just about anything for you. He just prefers things to be a little on the bad side.

Also, sometimes he likes to run around in his underwear. Minions are fun and you need one :)

Ichabod the Raffy Dragon and an Octopus Pen Costume

Meet Icky aka Ichabod the Dragon. This little guy is always looking for a good time. He loves to be the center of attention and he's just the right kind of cute that makes it hard to look away.


Icky was made by crocheting around the form of a Raffy, one of Kidrobot's Munny mutations. The additional horns and tail were stuffed with polyfil. He was crocheted with wool and acrylic yarns.


And it's been a while, but I made another pen costume. And probably not surprisingly, it's an octopus. These guys are super comfy and fun to write with. I am going to make some more. They're such practical plush.