Best Buds- custom CARS inspired sock monkeys!

I  love  custom orders that challenge me to create something I've never done before. I have made all sorts of sock monkeys, but I've never had to use a car as inspiration! These monkeys are for a little boy turning two. He really likes the movie Cars, and his momma wanted sock monkeys styled after the two main characters, Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater!

 See the resemblance?

 Besides making their faces look like the characters, I wanted to add a fun patch on each one, just to add some more detail! Lightening got a lightening bolt and his number 95, and Mater got his towing logo.

 Best buds forever! I think they turned out really cute. I hope the birthday boy loves his cuddly new one-of-a-kind sock monkeys! 

Kade and the Sock Monkey Factory

I have been super busy the past couple weeks in my one-person sock monkey factory. It is a happy, magical place, mostly, except when something (i.e. tripping over remote controlled R2D2) unexpected happens and arms, tails, ears, and bodies go flying everywhere. Luckily no important body parts (are there any unimportant ones??) were lost, and all the sock monkeys were able to be put together without any missing pieces. Here are a few of them:





Those were all custom orders! I am almost done with two more, that I haven't taken photos of yet- one for my nephew's baby shower this weekend, and one to (finally!) put in the shop. Besides that, there are quite a few more in the beginning stages, waiting to be stuffed and sewn!

Sock monkeys take a lot of work to make, at least the way I make them (I am very focused on little details, and somewhat of a perfectionist...). It's been a little non-stop over here for a while, and I began to realize that when Kade started giving me advice the other day...

Kade- "Lets buy that wooden mailbox toy with all the letters, the same one that my teacher has!"

Me- "Sorry honey, we don't have any extra money in the budget right now for toys."

Kade- "Hmm. Well, maybe you just need to make more sock monkeys then, huh!"

then yesterday:

Me- "Holy cow, that fifteen minute doctor appointment cost five hundred and seventy five dollars!!!"

Kade- "Just make some more sock monkeys, mom! Sheesh! Learn your lesson yet?"

Apparently, sock monkeys are the answer to all my problems. Who knew?! We have been talking to Kade a lot recently about how mommy and daddy have to work so that we can have a place to live, have a car, have food to eat, etc. and it suddenly clicked with Kade that you need money to buy things. Now he isn't quite as upset that daddy can't get home until close to bedtime, because he understands that daddy is working so hard every day for our benefit.

Kade is trying to think of ways to earn money himself, so he can buy that toy he wants. Yesterday when I was using hand sanitizer + magic eraser (hey, it works!) to get rid of dry erase marker stains on the whiteboard, Kade said, "hey... I bet Grandma doesn't know that trick. I bet I can sell it to her!" and then he wiggled his eyebrows and tapped his fingertips together with a very sly giggle. He wants to sell cleaning tips! So funny.

He also made me a video. It's one of his favorite things to do lately. You can tell by watching this that our house really has been a sock monkey factory, at least in his eyes. (Oh, and I don't know why the video looks so strange... I think he was using the Eiffel Tower background effect, which doesn't work too well unless you are in front of a plain wall or sheet or something.)

Anyways, here is a prime example of Kade sweetness:





Now, it's back to the factory for me! I can't wait! :)

The One and Only TMNT Leonardo Sock Creature!

In the past, I have created a Spider Man Sock Monkey, a Star Wars Sock Monkey, and many other unique sock creatures. Last month, I received a request for one that I was really excited to create. Remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? I used to watch that all the time at my friend Rae's house, when we were about 10 years old. The TMNT I made is Leonardo. He's the one with the blue bandanna, and the swords. I did some research, to make sure he was detailed exactly after the 80's/90's cartoon, and went to work. Here is the result:



The best part- the swords can either be attached (by an elastic band) to the hands, or slid into the belt on the back of the shell!!


I hope the recipient enjoys his custom Leonardo Sock Creature! I'm considering making another TMNT... it was really fun... we'll see!

Why I have been so busy!

Here is the answer: Lots and Lots of custom orders! I currently caught up and just waiting for more. I'm sharing a few pictures with you today, but this isn't even all!








(This was a gift for a friend of mine. I don't know if it will fit her baby all at the same time, because I guessed on the sizes for everything, but I think it's cute! Love sock monkeys!)





Next, I'll be sharing pictures of the second ever Sock Chicken, a Sock Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and an adorable plush horsie!

Open Heart Surgery

Performed by... ME!!! The patient came through just fine :) Here are a couple pics. I have to warn you though... if you're squeamish, look away!

Pre-Surgery:
Looks pretty good! But, the customer wanted the heart to say something different. I love to personalize things, and I can do so to pretty much any of my items for sale. So if you ever see anything in my shop but you wish it had a patch or said something else, don't hesitate to ask! Most of the time I even make little changes like these free of charge. If it takes longer than 20 minutes or so, I do charge a small fee of about $5.


(Hey- I just noticed in this picture that miss sock monkey here has a wild crazy pink string coming out of her ear! She should get something done about that.... not normal!)

Mid-Surgery:
The patient is comfortable and asleep and I begin the heart surgery. I have tiny little scissors especially for jobs like these! I go very gently and slowly... a mistake would be bad at this point!


Post-Surgery:
The heart is all sewn up! The stitches will never come out. Sock monkey now has a brand new pink heart for Leila. I hope she will be happy with it!

The one and only Spider-Man sock monkey!

Or maybe it's just a spider-monkey?
This guy was a custom order from Jer's friend. It took hours and hours of work to complete that webbing! I'm so proud of how it turned out, I hope B likes it :)

**Edited to add: Geek Crafts just blogged about Spider-Monkey!! Check it out here!!

Play on Words

Literally! :)
This is something new I'm working on.
Here is the tag that will be tied on to the drawstring bag
(This one is for Banden, the son of a good friend of mine):

Comes with it's own carrying case to keep things organized and easily transportable. The little one also fits into the large bag.

Inside is a stack of hand cut, double layered felt letters, and a rolled up mat.

Unroll the mat, and now you can see that it is a matching game!


Now Banden has a fun new way to learn how to spell his name!

*These are not yet available in the shop. However, if any of you want one of these for a child in your life, I am offering them at a discounted rate, while I make more practice ones to figure out the best way to do things! Just let me know :)

Sonic the Hedgehog

Last Christmas, when we drew names within my family for gift giving, I drew my sister's name. Surprise! I have made her so many things, why not one more :) I wanted to make her something one of a kind, and I searched the internet for a long time looking for just the right pattern. I finally found it here: Silver Seams- That link takes you to a free plush hedgehog pattern! Looked easy enough, but I had never made a stuffed animal before, so I started with some muslin. It was a good thing I did, because it turned out absolutely horrible! It took me forever to figure out how to sew the pattern pieces together. Sewing 3-D creatures is a lot harder than it looks! After fiddling with the pattern and making three more deformed muslin hedge-things, I was brave enough to start on the real thing. I used some white faux fur fabric that I had gotten off Freecycle (I have received lots of great fabric from Freecycle!) for the tummy, arms, legs, and face.
I used neon green fleece for the back.
I hand cut little felt hands and feet:

I used felt for the nose, embroidered the mouth, and used safety eyes for the first time!
I trimmed the fur around the face to make it a more defined area.


Now for the hard part. Little did I know that they actually HAVE long, bright blue fun fur fabric. I almost died in the store when I saw it a week after Sonic was finished. I have a knack for always choosing the hard way, though! Instead, I went to Ben Franklin and found some bundles of bright blue eyelash yarn with specks of pink and neon green. Perfect! I bought three. They were normally $10 apiece, but I found them on sale for $2 on clearance.

I made the furry back by wrapping the yarn around 2 fingers about 10 times, cutting, tying the center, and sewing onto the hedgehog.
Repeat hundreds of times. Run to the store to buy SIX more bundles of the yarn.
Get cramps in your hands.
Slowly grow to hate the hedgehog, as you work on it for hours and hours and only seem to get an inch of work done.

And then one day, he was done! I used the *very last inch* of all that yarn I bought to cover the last bald spot on the hedgehogs butt. I was tricking myself thinking he was done, however. Next, I had to cut all the loops so the yarn would stick up like soft spikes. There were lots of loops. After that, I had to give him a haircut so he could see. That created a pile of blue fur on the carpet about 5 inches high, which got the attention of K's potential mess radar. He ran through the pile before I could stop him and now, months later, I am still finding blue fur in weird places.

I am just glad I got him done before Christmas (barely). Sis gave him the name Sonic, since he's blue, and he has had a happy life ever since.

Say Chicken!

I just completed a custom order for one of my awesome customers. When she asked for a sock chicken, I was a bit worried... I've made monkeys, frogs, zebras, elephants, turtles, cats, and dogs, but never a chicken! It all started out with a little sketch (I do realize that I can't draw...) and after much trial and error, 4 wings, 4 feet, and 2 beaks, I am finally done with it and am SO HAPPY with how it turned out. Sock Chicken actually looks like a chicken, woohoo! This might be the world's first ever sock chicken, but I know for sure it won't be the last! I really enjoy a challenge. Making things out of socks and felt just makes me happy. I love experimenting, designing patterns, and figuring out how to put things together.

I have little bits of socks, felt, and embroidery thread from this project all over my kitchen floor. It was all in a pile under the sewing machine, but K thinks it's a riot to run through the pile like a football player runs through the huge paper banner held up by 10 cheerleaders... he makes as big of mess as possible and is so proud of himself when he sees the mass destruction behind him! Doesn't help that my kitchen is carpeted. So I'm off to vacuum and then package Mr. Chicken up so I can send him to his new home tomorrow!