This week on Spoonflower, the contest involves original designs for mythical creature plushies, and when I saw Gila’s UniPug design I knew I had to share it on Geek Crafts. You can purchase your own DIY UniPug Plushy Pattern on a variety of fabrics (I recommend Spoonflower’s new Minky fabric for this one because it’s super soft and cuddly, like the ever elusive UniPug himself) in Cross The Lime’s Spoonflower shop. The design fits on a fat quarter and costs about $17 with shipping.
If you’re more of a cat person, you might enjoy making your very own Grumpy Cat with this Instructable by username elewis03, complete with step-by-step instructions and pictures, as well as a rudimentary pattern you can download for free. This little guy would make an excellent cubicle pal at the office, don’t you think?
Just this weekend my younger brother tagged me on FB with an article about the children’s book series Bunnicula, including the news that a new cartoon is coming out. Since the Bunnicula series was one of my favorite books as a kid, I wondered if there were any crafters out there that had shared their love of the vegetable sucking vampire bunny. I found this cute little plushie by username road_baby on Craftgrrl – Where Crafters Unite! Adorable.
There’s no tutorial that goes along with this photo, but on Urban Threads I did find a bunny plushie pattern that could be adapted (or made as is, it’s delightfully cute and evil) to more resemble Bunnicula.
A Monster to Love is this great online shop where, for every cute little monster doll you buy, Sam, Ben, and their dad Ray, donate a monster doll to a kid in need. They partner up with children’s hospitals and even the World Relief Refugee program out of Atlanta.
I ran across their awesome work about a year ago on Craftsy, including a pattern to make your own monsters to donate to local kids in need, or send off to Ray and his boys in Colorado so they can donate the cuddly little monsters to kids in need.
I try to organize a Monster Making Party at least once or twice a year–they’re fun, and pretty easy to do. Here’s how:
1. I buy a couple yards of fun colored fleece fabric when it’s on sale (usually in the summer). You can get quite a lot of monsters out of a yard of fleece, or even half a yard. Just be sure to shop when it’s on sale! Along with fabric, I’ll pick up a box of stuffing when it’s on sale too (or with a coupon). One box can last a long while and stuff a lot of monsters (probably around 30). I’ll also purchase Safety Eyes for the dolls, which can be attached before sewing, and don’t require any sewing knowledge to install. I purchased my Safety Eyes here, but there are tons of vendors and craft stores out there that sell them. The 18mm sized ones are what I used, and I liked to mix and match colors too. 15 pairs of eyes cost about $15. You can also use buttons for the eyes, but make sure they are SEWN on really well. If the eyes are not sewn on securely, Ray and his boys can’t use them. Do not glue on eyes. Ray and his boys can’t use the monster dolls if the eyes have only been glued on (hello choking hazards!).
All in all, I spent about $40 on supplies for making the monsters, but I did it over the course of a couple of months.
Angie brought her own sewing machine and helped build a couple monsters. That’s my mom in the background stitching away madly.
2. I set up a FB event and ask folks to bring their own sewing machines if they’ve got them, but I also tell folks that there’s plenty of other ways to help too: attaching eyes, stuffing, cuddle testing, and hand stitching are great ways to get even the most novice of crafters involved in a Monster Making Party. Along with the fabric, stuffing, and safety eyes, I also bring along thread, scissors, and hand sewing needles for people to use. If you’re worried about materials cost, you can always ask people to pitch in a couple bucks to help out.
3. I cut out at least some monsters before the party so there are dolls ready to be sewn. I also set up stations for people to work at installing eyes, stuffing the monsters, and hand sewing the monsters closed after stuffing, and even cutting out more monsters if necessary.
Here, my friend Chrystal is stuffing a monster.
Eunice is hand sewing the monster closed.
4. We have music playing, and I ask folks to help out with some food (like chips and dip, cupcakes, and frosty beverages). And I invite folks to come when they can and stay as long as they’d like to. It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon or evening.
5. I’ve found three hours to be a great length of time for a Monster Making Party. You can get a lot done, have time to chat, and still steal a cupcake too. Once the party’s over, you’ll want to box up your magnificent creations and mail them off to A Monster to Love! Their address is on the last page of the PDF.
All our Monsters boxed up and ready to go!
If you have your own Monster Making Party, be sure to take pictures and share!!!
More Links of Interest
A Monster to Love: check out this great online shop and see where they’ll be selling their cute little monster dolls next!
Check out the story about A Monster to Love on Craftsy
As we reach the dog days of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you are getting a chance to get outside and enjoy the summer nights. If you are a star-gazer like myself, you might enjoy these plushy little planets. They have a few advantages over real planets such as: great visibility from your sleeping bag and a lack of toxic gases and or deadly temperatures. In fact, they seem downright friendly! Even our buddy Pluto made it in!
I’m Tonya, a high school foreign language teacher who has a serious love for all things geeky! I spend my day working with teenagers so when I come home in the afternoon, my absolute favorite thing to do to relax is kick back with my crafts in front of the TV watching sci fi or fantasy movies. I have a wonderful, crazy smart, computer programmer husband and two children who are being raised in true geek fashion who can already quote Harry Potter movies and identify mythological creatures.
I started crafting at the age of five when my grandmother taught me to embroider. (She was a firm believer in Idle hands being the Devil’s work and I was always into mischief!) Now, I also crochet, sew, stencil and cook as well as dabble in other mediums.
My nickname is Trouble (and rightfully so!) because I’m a high energy, creative and spontaneous sort of person. My students always stay awake in my classroom because they have no idea what I will do next. Being quirky and unpredictable is sort of a thrill for me.
As for my geeky side, I’m a big fan of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Mythbusters, Lord of the Rings and old school 80s video games. I’ve only just recently started playing current video games as an adult. I LOVE Kirby’s Epic Yarn and all of the Mario games. I”m an avid reader and can read a series of books with great speed. I’ve read McAffrey, MZBradley, Tolkein, Rowling and T. Hatchett. I’m currently rereading the On a Pale Horse series by P. Anthony.
If the San Diego Comic-Con is the arena rock star of the convention world, then San Francisco’s WonderCon is the concert-hall favorite. It’s not nearly as big, but much more manageable, and (in my humble opinion) just as much fun.
I attended two days of this year’s Con, where I met numerous writers, artists, and geek icons. My favorite folks to talk to, though, were the hard-working crafters tabling throughout the Con.
Some had made items to promote books and webcomics, others were devoted to selling thier handmade crafts. No matter the reason, though, they were always happy to stop and share a little about their creations.
