Matchbox Dolls on ABM

I have a fun little DIY over on A Beautiful Mess right now!  I made this matchbox bunny as a little Easter giftie, but created the pattern so you can sew this as a doll or any animal you'd like.  Save your old (large) matchboxes and make something darling for a kiddo you know!  You can find the full tutorial right here!

I hope your week is lovely so far!  xo.

Snapshots

December has been a whirlwind of a month.  I've been working, working at getting all my ornament orders sewn up and getting everything shipped out (and they are and it's a huge relief), we traveled last weekend for Hope's first gymnastics competition of the season, our band has still been playing most weekends, and I've been squeezing in Christmas shopping when I can.   All good things, right?  I can't believe Christmas will be here next week.  How is that possible?  I'm going to take a little time to myself over Christmas break and read a book (WHAT?) and make something for fun.  It's good to reenergize when you can.

**Hope loves to read in her tree and Poesy wanted to be just like sis.
**Sometimes in life you steal your kid's Kin Ship Goods (we love them!) sweatshirt and wear it because it's cute and you can.
**Driving past KC, MO
**Hope on the balance beam
**Hope on the floor (I'm not super at action shots, but I love to have these to look back on)
**Cutest little spectator
**Narwhals
**A little batch of guys going to their new homes.  I wish I had an entire group shot.  Maybe next year.
**Hope at her piano recital.  She's got nerves of steal, I tell ya.  With all of this competing and performing, I just grow prouder and prouder.  That stuff isn't easy!

I hope your week is off to a great start!  I'll be in the studio sewing all day-- I'll be sharing more about that soon!  xo.

Snapshots

In the spirit of keeping things real, I'll just be honest and say- a good bit of our life has been really tough for the last month or so.  These snapshots of shiny moments truly were happy bits, but Hope has been going through some anxiety issues lately and it has been very hard on everyone.  I don't want to go in to too much because it isn't really my story to tell, but it's nice to just say, "Hey, life is good AND life is hard, blog friends."  BUT, if life didn't have the hard stuff, we'd never grow as people.  I try to constantly remind myself of that whenever I'm feeling more than spent.  Here are some of the happy things from the past few weeks:

*I made these cats for a sweet couple a month or two ago.  Wedding cake toppers are some of my favorite things to make.
*Since it's gotten really cold here Google has kinda sorta become an indoor cat.  You can't leave a sweet cat outside to freeze, right???
*Poesy is 100% personality.  Have you heard the term "threenager"?  I'm pretty sure someone saw into the future and coined that after experiencing all that is Poe.
*Okay, this may sound like the most boring thing ever, but in times where I feel overwhelmed by life, I take a breath, fill my water can, and just enjoy the moment.  I mean, of course I water my plants when I don't feel overwhelmed as well, but it's seriously calming for me.
*I helped a sweet friend paint her outdoor furniture THE DAY before Missouri decided it loved winterish weather more than fallish weather.  We scored at the buzzer or some sort of sporty analogy I have no business using.  ;)
*Our house is always overrun with music gear in inappropriate places right now, but I swiped the rug from the dining room and put it in the living room.  I'm loving the color it brings to the space.

Anyway, I hope you all have a super duper weekend!  Many of you have emailed me asking about ornaments this year, and I AM going to be selling them.  There won't be as many as last year, but I would be too sad to skip making them this year.  It's something I always look forward to!

Happy Friday, friends.  xo.

New Work: Skunk Cake Toppers

What's funny about being a plush artist that goes by the name "Skunkboy" is that I never make skunks. NEVER.  The only skunk I've ever made was in the very very beginning, and I gave that to my best friend who was moving away at the time.  She named him Skunk Boy (you know, like Golden the Pony Boy from "Science of Sleep") and I liked it so I kept it for my brand new artistic adventure-- sewing softies.

Fast forward a good handful of years and I get my first request for skunk toppers.  Well, I'm sure I COULD make skunks... but I haven't in years and now there is this weird pressure that's been building up because it's something I have kind of avoided.  That was silly.  All silly.  I made some skunks, I like them, and I plan to do it again.  Whew.

What's funny about these "first" skunks is that I made these little guys twice.  The first set got lost in the mail, so I'm pretty much an old pro at this point.  Look out world, I'm totally unstoppable now.  ;)

Happy Monday, friends!

Ornaments Are In The Shop

All of the ornaments are now in the shop!  The narwhals are sold out, but if I get all of these orders packed up with time to spare, I might make another batch.  Thank you so much to everyone who has bought one already-- you guys are amazing!

Flamingos!

I haven't shown a "real" picture of the finished flamingos yet, because I wanted to give the first one to Elsie for her birthday.  I make her an ornament every year (I guess it's sorta become a tradition) and I didn't want to spoil any surprises.  The flamingos are one of my favorites this year-- the velvety bodies and soft feathers are what my vintage ornament dreams are made of.  Plus, that picture of their feathery bottoms kills me.  (They will all have crowns, FYI.  These just hadn't gotten them yet!)

As I was putting ornaments on my own Christmas tree the other day, I realized I have a real thing for birds on my Christmas tree.  I have so many different kinds and I'm sure that's why I'm extra excited about the flamingos (AND SWANS!) this year.  If you follow me on IG, you've probably already seen a peek at the swan, but they will be available for purchase on Tuesday.  I'm thinking 11am CST, so you can check the shop around that time if you are looking to snag something.  :)

I hope you are having a great weekend!  Johnny and I just realized that our anniversary is coming up here in about a week, so we've started planning a special little getaway.  I'm so ready!

Practice Makes Perfect or Something Like That

As I make and remake these little animals, I'm constantly reminded that being "good" at something is maybe a little bit of talent, but it's a lot of practice.  I spent a couple of hours last night tweaking a bunny pattern and in the end it was just kind of a flop (har har).  But it's okay!  Not everything I dream up in my head translates the way I expect it to, and the more I do this thing I'm doing, the more I learn and the better I become.  I wrote this post a long time ago about how I used to just think certain people got to be "good" at things and for some reason, I didn't feel like I was good at anything... until I figured out that the world isn't chock-full of lucky ducks.  It's lots of people who work hard at what they love.  And I like that.

So, here's a "real" glimpse of what my studio looks like right now.  A friend came over last week and said, "So your studio just kinda stays like this until after the rush, huh?"  That is exactly right.  If you were to come over from October-mid December, this is pretty much what it would look like.  :)

I'm tentatively planning my shop update for Tuesday (11/26) and more will be added Wednesday (11/27).  I decided this year it would be nice to give as many people a chance of snagging an ornament as possible, so breaking it up into 2 days will hopefully help that!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far!

Birthday Birdie

Here's a peek at a little birthday cake topper I made for one of my very sweetest customers.  I've almost made it through my entire customs list, and once I do it will be ornaments for the rest of the year!

I finally came up with a final version of the flamingo.  I'll shows peeks of it very soon-- it might just be my favorite ornament to date.  Who knows?  I guess I say that a lot (the whole "favorite" thing), but sometimes when an animal gives me a little bit of a challenge and I overcome it, it feels like something to be proud of.  I'm really digging the flamingo at the moment.

I hope you all are having a great week so far!

New Ornaments

These are a few of the ornament shapes I've been working on recently.  I'm not sure what the entire collection will look like when it's released, but it's been fun developing new animals.  I'm happy to report that I have a flamingo body that I am satisfied with-- that one took me a few tries!  The deer, horses, and narwhals will definitely be returning, as well as one or two more new things.  I'm thinking a velvet penguin might be next on the list, or maybe even a swan...

Any time I finish an animal Poesy will come over and say, "Did you make this for meeee??  Awww, I love him so much!  He's sooooo cuuuute!  Can you make me sumthing, mama??"  *melt*  She gets to keep that bear... obviously.  ;)

On Being A Maker

Being a maker means being one step ahead.  You always need to be plotting for the next season and planning for the next holiday, well before anyone else even has to consider it.  Right now I'm chugging away on my Christmas ornaments as I'm simultaneously prepping every little thing for the girls' Halloween costumes.  It's a strange world to live in and I know many of you can relate.  Whether you offer a product or are a blogging extraordinaire, being one step ahead is an important thing.

I'm extremely excited to have an extra set of hands helping me with my ornaments this year.  I've done every season of everything by myself ALWAYS, so the thought of someone alongside me, stitching up animals twice as fast, is something my brain hasn't totally been able to wrap itself around!  It's going to be wonderful!!

I've also been knocking out my custom orders along with planning the new holiday collection.  These koalas traveled all the way to Australia.  I love that!

For all of you makers and bloggers out there, do you enjoy the planning ahead, or do you wish you could just be "in" the season?  I used to have a hard time with it, but now it's become my version of normal and I quite enjoy it.

Snapshots

Floral boots // Dinner pals // Custom cake owls I dropped off for some friends earlier this week // Early morning park with Poesy // Skirt blowing in the wind

I hope your week is lovely so far!