[www.flickr.com]

There are at least 2 pages of new stuff here by now, the kids and I have been going crazy with the new ideas. Little man has me knee deep in monster drawings and the small girl is not shy with her requests either! There are even more things that didn't make it into the photo pool. I'd say my finger is feeling much, Much better.

coco,

I was watching "Stephen and Chris" on CBC a few weeks ago and they were insisting that the latest trend in interior design calls for including some whimsy, like folk art or childrens toys, somewhere in the decor to "fun it up." Your stuff is just too perfect for that! Have I already asked whether you have worked with one of those homespun tots' toys shops in the TO, because your designs, um, your children's designs would be a hit.

Coco, WOW! What fun! Lots of cute ideas. I looked at all of the pages. The bugs and tin are my fav.


My favorite raw vegan

Thanks guys! Glad you like.

Hey Tam, not a fan of the zombie bunny eh? Heh.

Yay Trive! So glad someone else likes those bugs-in-bug-tin too! I loved that project.
Can't beleive you looked through all the pages, wow.

I'm wrapping up a total 70's latch hook pillow right now and starting on some more sock creatures this coming week. Friends are starting to have babies, yay! Many kiddie gifts are in the works, check back in a week or two to see some more stuff if you like.

The latch hook has taken over 10 hours so far and that's pretty typical of what I do. The purple monkey was two days, the monsters take a day, sometimes more. Each sock creation is 3 or so hours depending on detail and the teeny beaded creatures are countless hours each. Newman the dog was about 13 hours in total including his removable outfit, shoulder bag and ducky. At that rate I don't sell my work or I'd be labouring for about $2-$5/hr most of the time. It's not that I'm slow either, I'm pretty fast, it's just tons of detail and handstitching. I prefer to give things as gifts to those I am sure appreciate the time and love involved, that's priceless to me (not to mention I save a lot of money on gifts and have broken away from the consumer cycle a bit). The only way I can see of selling my work commercially would be to simplify it (a LOT!) and put it up on Etsy so there is no mark up increasing the price and I get paid a fair amount. That or have it manufactured in China for cheap which is the antithesis of hand made crafts so... it's one of a kind creations for the lucky few for now. I don't mind, it's pretty fab as far as hobbies go

Those are fabulous, Coco! I especially love the little guy with his tongue out-- cute-cute-cute! You are amazing.

Sharrhan:


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but coco[whimpering pathetically] I myself and people I know would gladly pay you whatever you wished for one of your unique creations! [gaspingly sobbing now]It's just . . . so . . . unfair we . . . can't go . . . into a . . . shop on . . .on . . Dundas or someplace . . . and get one, whaaaaa!

[sniffing dejectedly]Well, at least your kiddies get tons of mommet's pretty things to enjoy . . . lucky coco's kiddies, lucky, lucky . . .

I guess I'll have to hone my own plush-toy-making skills[sniff sniff] . . .

Those are so cute! I love the prison love monkey.

i like the angel with the purple hair that is beaded

also the vegan carrot cake ( what's the recipe?) a friend has some carrot fibers leftover cuz we juiced some a while back

the raspberry torte of course

the pretty tea cosies that you can put tea in

the elephant

carved punkins

and especially " cloudy with a chance of rain" cuz you can use the spout thing to make rain .. LOL

wow
i'm jealous

but in a super good way

so freakin talentedddddddd!!!!!!!! COCO!!!!


my gawwwwwwwdddddd!

oh yeah and i got a kick out of the hairy netbook thing

HAHA!!!

exceeeellent!

Ver, I think I posted that recipe in the recipe thread on here, take a look. I know I put up some of the more successful raw dishes we made last summer. (You know that Joylet is still up for grabs any time you want it...)

Guys, I saw sock monkeys going for $90 on one site. NINETY dollars for a monkey make out of a pair of socks, 2 buttons and some fabric scraps. WTF?! For real. Maybe I CAN sell my stuff, hmmm.

Ok, there is a bunch of new stuff up if you want to take another look. i'm in major stash busting mode, I moved things out of the studio so I'd have some room to work and now there's only half a living room left out there to live in so I gotta WORK! It's been amazing though, I'm feeling really creative and productive. It's sunny here though so that might be helping...

Tamukha, I sent you a PM. You be silly girl.

hey coco

can you make a crafty raw vegan carrot cake with orange and cinnamon and mint colored craft items? just curious

that would be cool
because then the cake could last forever

kinda like a mickee dees hamburger LOL

Pretty sure I can do darlin' but it won't be very tasty...

well some food i just look at and say "geeeez the food looks so pretty.. i shouldn't eat it and mess it up"

anyhow

I've told you before & I'll tell you again - you got skillz!

Thanks darlin'! I put up some new stuff today, the kids and I had at 'er with the plastercine this morning, ha ha. And I did some freezer paper stencils for a friend's kids, they turn out so great that it's hard to believe how easy they are! I'm working on some patchwork cushion covers made out of old sweaters right now and some Alice in Wonderland themed stuff. Man, I'm addicted to crafting.

what is freezer paper stencil

is that the shrinky dink thing where u put it in the oven and u get this 81/2 by 12 size mega plastic thing shrink up to the size of a thumbnail then you poke a hole at the top and string a silver line and wear it as a necklace?

what is plastercine?

well... i must be the worst at crafting

i get so impatient

funny how i actually did enjoy it quite a bit though when i was a kid at elementary school

i ESPECIALLY LOOOVVVVVVVEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD making those valentine hearts


so we would cut up some construction paper

pink and red and whatnot and then cut it into a heart

then we would cut little incisions down the length of it etc.

then we would weave pink and red and probably white vertical construction paper slips

and it was REALLY nice

too bad that my glory days of crafting was over by third grade


LOL

well, we can't all be blessed with your kinds of skillz, i suppose

so fun to look at the things you make though

thanks for showing them

VER! Get Crafty! I know you've got it in ya.

Plastercine is like playdoh but it is more of a clay and it doesn't dry out, you can model it again and again. It's super fun, we have a great time with it.
Here's little man's wonderful fishy
[www.flickr.com]

Freezer paper stencilling is dead easy, anyone can do it. You can get it in a grocery store, draw any kind of design on it, cut it out with a little exacto knife, iron it onto fabric and add some paint. The results are marvelous and can be as professional as anything. I totally love it, I make a lot of personalized gifts this way.
Here's a tutorial I made, you don't have to be particularly crafty to do it.
[www.craftster.org]

Here's what I've made so far using this technique
[www.flickr.com]

I'm working on a large and somewhat complex one at the moment but even so, it's still been fairly easy so far. Just a bit time consuming.

coco,

I can totally see Mary Alice from "Ace of Cakes" wearing(and loving) that "MEH" t-shirt!

What is that Tam? I googled and came up with a tv show about making designer cakes...

Ok, I finished this latest stencil and I think you will agree that it turned out GR8! I am telling you, anyone can do this craft, it's dead easy. This one took a bit of time to draft and then to cut, and to lay it out to be honest, the stencil kept flipping all over the place! But then I just painted the layers letting it dry between each one and voila! Nifty crafty pillow case for a friend's 16 year old who is into stuff I know nothing about

coco,

That's the show--the receptionist at the bakery, Mary Alice, is rather famous for saying, "meh . . . " when she is less than excited about something.

That pillowcase is AWE-some! If it were a t-shirt, every DJ in the Netherlands would want one! Don't you see what a goldmine you are sitting on with your talent, kid? You could be Lady Gaga's next costumer and then you'd be able to buy all the coconuts for crafting things out of that you could possibly want!!!

Sorry to sound like a pushy boxing manager. I am still thinking about the PM you sent me.

Heh heh heh, nice to have such strong support in my corner.
As usual that stencil took a ridiculous amount of time. I'd have to sell it for an exhorbitant sum to make it worth the while but I LOVE giving it away as a gift, it totally makes me happy so it was well worth the hours.

I'm working on some nifty sh!t right now boy, Hoo! I'm having some fun. I like Alice in Wonderland, crafting that theme is so easy, I've got inspiration falling out of my ears over here!

Tam, isn't there anything over there that you like more than the other things? No creature mash up springs to mind? I'm making a monkey/elephant/frog for my friend's little boy, just in the sketchy phase so far but it's coming along.

coco,

I like everything over there--that's the problem: everything you make is equally wunnerful : )

Still thinking . . .

I love the ninja t-shirt that you created! That looks really professional! Great design!


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soap making supplies

Coco, those are amazing. Do your kids get in on the crafting too?

Totally. If you look around on that flickr link one of the sets is called "Crafting with kids". Today the little man was scrounging the house for parts to make some kind of toy at school as a class project. Don't know how it's gonna turn out but the sketch he brought home sure looks neat! And the small girl is only 2.5 but nearly every day she says to me "My want cay'ns, my want sissoh mama." (crayons and scissors). They got the crafty bug from me for sure.

i have some cay'ns and sissohs but ... uh... yeah... nothing has been made except umm using sthe sissoh's to snip off the sides of letters and the cay'ns... ummm... to write emphatic reminder notes to myself ( go figure

well... hey Tamukha... "pushing boxing managers" are RAWckkkin rawesome ( heeeeh)

but coco will probably say " meeeeehhhhhh" ( HA HA!)

Hey coco.. thanks for explaining plastercine and stencil

u say "anyone" can do it

i doubt it

I just saw the pics of the stuff the kids are making. Very cute. It's so nice to be able to share something like crafting with the kids.

It totally rocks. My little dude is making something at school right now, he raided our "parts box" for some interesting building items. I don't know what he's making but he told me today that his friends in class said it was going to turn out "sick" which means cool. Can't wait to see what he's doing...

I put up pics of dozens of new things today, more recycled tshirt bibs and flannel taggy blankets. Lots of friends are having babies so I've been stash busting to make baby crafts. I've got a bunch of other stuff on the go but it's for swaps so I can't post pics until after my partners have received it. I'm finishing a sock monkey tonight and have a couple more of them to make this week. Such a cute craft, I just love them so much!

Ok, I am so totally and complete pleased with this. It's a surprise gift for a mama of three with another on the way. It goes along with some other little stuffies for her other kids but this one is based on a show that her oldest son likes (Imagination Movers). There are all sorts of stencilled details on the outfit (stripes on sleeve, gear on other sleeve, name patch). I think it turned out just great.

AWEssoooooome!