The Strawberry Bunch and the Long Lost Minis

First off, I want to say a big thank you to everyone for their kind words and congratulations on the upcoming baby. I appreciate your good wishes so much! As the due date draws nearer and nearer, things have been getting ever more hectic. From running around and buying baby supplies and furniture to staying goodbye to our truck and searching for a "family car -- there never seems to be enough minutes in the day.

Somehow in between all the busy-ness, I'm still managing to get in some crafting time, though sparingly. Here's what I've been up to:

I really enjoyed making those aviator hats, ski caps, and scarves for the boy amigurumi last time, and so this time around I wanted to make a feminine version. Originally, I intended to make a variety of "fruity" outfits for these gals, but I just enjoyed making the strawberry caps so much that I decided to stick with it all the way.

Here's some close-ups:





I just love the long, leafy stems and the yellow seeds on real strawberries. They translate nicely on these sweet caps, I think. I also made matching dual colored scarves in a diamond pattern to match.


Now here was an exciting find in my craft room. I found these four mini bunnies and bears in a box, all dressed up with nowhere to go. They were completely done, but for their origami gift bags. I must have gotten distracted and forgot about them. Poor things! Well, I'm glad they have been rediscovered.




I worked on their packages this weekend and now they are all ready to go to their new homes. Yayy! :)


Thank you again for dropping by! I hope to have all of these amigurumi in my etsy shop shortly. :)

Oh, Boy!

Lately, I've been itching to create new things. I can't seem to make myself crochet/ sew my old standards. I love them -- the cupcakes, and cacti, and owls, and such -- but at the moment I just feel the need to make something surprising and unexpected. Or at least to refresh and redesign my usual softie repertoire.

These little guys are pretty novel. I've never made a boy amigurumi before. I've just always loved the floral and frills of outfitting little girls. This time around, however, I wanted to make something a little less frou-frou . . . a lot more casual. Rough and tumble little boys seemed to be the logical answer.

I opted to outfit this bunny and the bear in aviator hats and scarves.

Here's a close-up of the aviator hat.

With chilly weather just around the corner, I decided to dress this bunny boy in a winter earflap hat and matching scarf.

And what has inspired me to create little amigurumi boys? Well, it may have something to do with the little man above :) Yep, this is the Big Project I've been working on and why I haven't been as quick and crafty as I normally am. I've been quite preoccupied preparing for his arrival. I'm so excited!

Well, if you are interested in any of the softies above, I should have them listed in my shop by this weekend.

Thank you for visiting and happy crafting! :)

Sparkly Ballerina Amigurumi Bunnies and Bears

Hello all! It's been quite awhile, I know. I've just been extremely preoccupied since we last spoke. I don't want to give away the details just yet, but let's just say that I've been working on a massive project . . . my magnum opus, if you will. It's been exhausting, but exciting work and I cannot wait until the big reveal, which will be sooner rather than later. I'm sorry for being so cryptic, but I'm not ready to let the cat out of the bag just yet :)

Despite being so busy, I haven't stopped making softies at all. It's just that with less crafting time on my hands, it takes me a lot longer to finish a project. To make up for my snail's pace I've made a concerted effort to try new things and change up my old designs. I've been finding it difficult to work on the same sort of thing over and over. It gets quite monotonous.

Time for something fresh . . .

Enter these three little ladies:




I've never been a fan of novelty yarn for making my amigurumi, but then I came across several skeins of super soft, fuzzy chenille buried at the bottom of my stash. I was intrigued by that yarn's subtle sparkle. It has a soft twinkle, without being overly brilliant or glittery. And it worked up even better than I imagined -- the stitches are well hidden by the chenille's loft and overall I thought the amigurumi turned out reminiscent of puffy cotton candy or whipped marshmallow fluff. Scrumptious!

Lately, I've been feeling an aversion to my sewing machine so I decided to completely crochet the outfits this time. For the dress design I wanted to move away from the smocks and come up with something more frilly and playful. In the end I decided on ballerina tutu styled dresses. And because I didn't want to overdo it with the flower motifs, I nixed the usual floral ear decor and adorned their heads with large satin bows instead.

Here's a close-up shot of all the little details. I also tried to capture that lovely iridescent sparkle I spoke about earlier:


I enjoyed making this set of amigurumi and it has inspired me to think outside the box -- with my materials as well as with new design ideas. This project makes me want to dig deeper into my yarn stash to see what other possibilities may exist.

Anyway, thank you again for visiting and if you are interested in any of these sweet girls, I will be listing them in my shop shortly.

March of the Amigurumi . . . and July's Reader Appreciation Giveaway!

I've been in a major amigurumi zone lately. For whatever reason I have it in my mind to make them in pairs . . . like some sort of amigurumi version of Noah's Ark.

Here are a pair of Bashful Blooming Cacti.

And a plush Apple Cheek Ami Bear and Bunny duo.

Finally, I made this sweet Itty Bitty Ami Bear twosome.

I thought I'd throw in a random shot of the big ami bear next to the mini one. I just wanted to take a photo for comparison, but it gave me the idea of doing a set -- like a little bear holding her little toy bear. Maybe that will be my next project! :)

Now before I leave . . . this month's Reader Appreciation Giveway are these two adorable Japanese fabric iron-ons. Isn't that blue elephant sweet? Apply them to your tote bag or backpack for instant cuteness! As always I will pick someone at random from the comment pool of this post.

Thank you for coming by!

Back in the Zone

Since the vog (a.k.a The Vile Cloud of Crafting Doom) lifted, I've finally got myself into a nice crafting schedule again. This week it's been nothing but Itty Bitty Amigurumis. Between the crocheting and the origami, I find it a nice all around soothing craft.

As you can see, I've added some bears to my Itty Bitty repertoire. I experimented a bit with the muzzle -- I did an embroidered nose much like my bigger bears, but then I also tried out a black bead nose. I'm not sure which one I like better. What do you all think? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a better look of them all decked out in their crochet dresses.

I've been on a desperate hunt to find more colors of this fingering weight mohair yarn. As you can see all I have at the moment are white and yellow. The manufacturer doesn't make any other suitable colors. The problem with Hawaii is that yarn shops are so scarce so I almost always have to mail order in. It's a bit of a guessing game since you can't see and feel the yarn for yourself. So far I've purchased some mohair yarn from Canada hoping that it would be a good weight/ gauge match with the yarn I'm presently using. No such luck. It was way too thin. I've just ordered some yarn from New York and I'm crossing my eyes and fingers that they're a good match.


I haven't done an "In Other Cuteness" feature in awhile, but I've discovered something so absolutely, irresistibly cute that I simply must share it --

Please meet Pecan! How adorable is he sitting on a stump with his little elephant push toy?

"Pecan is the oldest and wisest of the Pecanpals. He is a master storyteller, often spending entire afternoons sitting under a tall palm tree, reading. He insists that all the knowledge you ever need to know is found in stories. Pecan likes to be aware of things that are happening on the island, making sure to visit each and every person on his daily rounds." -- Noferin

The PecanPals are a group of whimsical characters created by the Australian artists of Noferin. They do paintings based on their characters and recently they branched out into making wooden figures of them. I just had to snatch one up right away! If you would like to purchase one, too, I wouldn't wait very long. These little guys have been going fast!

Before I leave I have to annouce the winner of June's Reader Appreciation Giveway! Thank you to Andrea Rooks of Rooks Paper Scissors for all your support! I will contact you soon!

Happy crafting everyone! :)

Something Special : Star and Scout

Do you you know what I love? I love it when you don't really have an idea at all of what you're going to make, but you keep fiddling with the materials you have on hand, and slowly, surely something starts to come to life right before your eyes. When that happens it's a fun little journey with unforeseen twists and turns and what you end up with is just a pleasant surprise.

And that's what happened with these little gals. Please meet Star and Scout.

"Star"

"Scout"

It all started with a little dilemma -- I wanted to whip up some of my usual Apple Cheek Ami Bunnies, but the mohair yarn I normally use was still en route from New York. Instead of waiting, I decided to dig around in my yarn stash, where I found some soft, fuzzy, loopy chenille yarn and I just started crocheting away. I absolutely loved how it turned out -- the loopy chenille hid the stitches so well and gave the bunny a wonderful plush look to it.

As I stared at the finished bunnies lying naked on my craft table, they just screamed for me to do something extra special with them. I wanted to do more and give more with them, and basically make them truly one of a kind.

So first, I named them. The buttermilk colored bunny I called Star and the cocoa bunny I christened Scout, both after real pet bunnies of mine.

Then I turned it up as far as their outfits go by giving their dresses details like vintage ric-rac and hand embroidery. I crocheted little bags for them to match their outfits. The flowers by their ears were reworked completely with stitch pleated petals and Japanese ume (plum blossom) centers.

I solidified their uniqueness by doing a little mixed media (watercolor, colored pencil, ink) painting of them with their names written on it. Sort of like a trading card.

Finally, I stitched up matching fully lined drawstring bags to tuck them away in.

I love how everything came out. I feel like these bunnies have their own little personalities. A pleasant surprise, indeed.

These two little gals will be in my shop in the next day or so if anyone is interested.

Oh, before I forget -- the winner of this Month's Reader Appreciation Giveaway is . . . KELLY MEDINA! Thank you for all your support Kelly! I'll get in touch with you soon!

Aloha for now! :)