Etsy

April 4, 2014

Practicing Plush: Hello Dolly!

After I have made around 50 or so plush mushrooms, I decided that maybe I should branch out and make something new to add to my Etsy shop. I have worked on different plush in the past, but never really stuck with it. I made a few pancake-style nesting dolls which I really love! But I wasn’t really challenging myself.

brunette_doll_23_doll_options1454969_10202395136657368_1845818386_n

They are cute though!

Recently, I rediscovered my love for designing and creating plush. My first new project would be to make a new doll. I thought about what kind of doll I would like to make and how I would like to make it. I bought books and patterns and searched all over the internet for inspiration. I decided to just go for it and whatever I made would be tweaked along the way. I knew what kind of doll I wanted, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it on the first try. Well, here she is!

snow_white_inspired_1_3 snow_white_inspired_1_2 snow_white_inspired_1_1

 

Her clothes were inspired by one of my favorite Disney Princesses, Snow White. She has an adorable yellow dress with blue flower accents on the trim of her dress and neckline. The sweet little scalloped caplet matches those accents perfectly. Her shoes are ballet inspired with the little bows. And match the ribbon on the caplet. All of her clothing is removable. And she will have some yellow undergarments on to match her dress. Oh and she looks great standing or sitting next to one of my plushrooms too!

Check out some close-ups of the details:

snow_white_inspired_1_closeup copy snow_white_inspired_1_closeup_2

Her hair is all machine stitched to show texture. And I mentioned the little flowery-star accents on the dress earlier, but here you can see it a little bit clearer. Her eyes are green buttons and her pink smile was hand stitched on. She also has her ears poking through her hair, still not sure if I want to “pierce” them or not. I am thinking about adding that feature to some of the future dolls. The picture on the right, and the 3 above actually show the truest colors of the doll and her clothing.

I am hoping to continue making more dolls soon. I already have a few planned out. And I added this one to my Etsy already! Shop doll. Hopefully blogging about them will keep me accountable. It is a little late into the year already, since it is already April, but one of my goals this year would be to work on new plush. So I will type this out now: I will try to put out a new plush once a month, at least. Cyber-space promise!

What are some ways that you like to challenge yourself? It can be with a new project or by changing the way that you normally do something. Let me know!

Until next project,

-Jackie

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 25, 2014

Practicing Plush: Mushrooms of all colors and sizes

Hello Everyone!

Today I want to talk about my plush work. I have been working on plush since I was a young girl. I liked to play with my toys until I was older than the recommended age on the box, but that didn’t stop me. Occasionally I would try to build or sew something for my dolls. I started with clothing and then made a pillow and a little plush baby. These were all cut from the same fabric and sewn on the outside, I still have them and will have to post a picture of them soon.

In the past 3 years I have gone back to working on plush of my own. After visiting Sweden for the first time for my honeymoon, I became fascinated with mushrooms. They blanket the floor, trees, rocks, these mushrooms grow everywhere. Some of the clusters look like tiny apartments for little creatures.

IMG_0398IMG_0253

IMG_0272IMG_0390

Can you see what I mean?

The forests of Sweden are so whimsical and beautiful. The people of Southern Sweden seem to have a great view of living along side nature. They build AROUND the trees and forests, instead of through them like we do in the US.

While I was there, I couldn’t help but be inspired. Once we returned from our lovely trip, I started to sew.

Here are my first mushrooms.

plenty_of_plush_mushrooms first_attempt_mushrooms

After I made many mushrooms, I started to try something different. I wanted to try to do different colors and sizes, but I think I needed to work on the shape of the top a little more. And the design needed to be a bit more natural and random.

I worked on making a larger mushroom too. I think that I have got the technique down now after working on the most recent design for 2 years.

Here are a few:

XL_brown_Orange_red_yellowMultiple_mushrooms_plush_1

These are my XL sized mushrooms and the variety of sizes as well.

M_mushrooms_variations L_mushroom_variations

And these are the smaller mushrooms, sizes Medium and Large. You can check out which mushrooms I have available for purchase on my etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Squawberry I am always available to chat if you send me a message with any questions you may have.

As a designer and an artist I know that these plush mushrooms will continue to evolve, as they have already. I am excited to see what I will be working on next.

What are some projects that you have worked on and have noticed significant changes after working on it for some time? Any tips on how to keep the project exciting and new? Leave me a comment!

See you later,

Jackie

April 21, 2012

Working on some baby onesies for the Unique La show!

Yellow caterpillar baby onesie

New Squawberry baby onesie

I wanted to share a new batch of baby onesies that I have started working on yesterday. It’s not a new design, but one that I have not used in a long time. This design will be available in yellow baby onesies (sizes 3-6 mons. – 24-36 mons.), white baby onesies (sizes 3-6 mons. – 12-24 mons.), and kid’s tee shirts (6-8).

Hopefully I will have more available soon. I guess it just depends on when I can get more t-shirts and onesies. I also have more designs here.

 

Caterpillars & nesting dolls

Caterpillars & nesting dolls- a winning combination

 

*Onesies: one piece for baby, like a leotard or body suit.

April 11, 2012

Unique LA

Hello!

AWESOME NEWS!

I found out on Friday, April 6th that I will be showing at the Unique LA handcrafted in USA event!!!! This event will be in LA on May 12th & 13th (Saturday & Sunday) from 11am – 6pm both days.

If you are in the area you should definitely try to make it to the show. Here’s some more info: http://stateofunique.com/unique-la/ 

I will be doing the show with my cousin, http://www.etsy.com/shop/prettycave She has some awesome stuff! Check out her Etsy.

For the next couple of weeks leading to the show I will be taking pictures of the process of working on different things. I have to add to my inventory and work on my display.

Until then!

 

-Jackie

March 31, 2012

Hello world!

Hello everyone out there!

I was inspired by all the Etsy labs that were online today, so I decided to create a blog.

I recently worked on the photos for my Etsy and am very excited to share how they came out:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/86963653/strawberry-iced-cupcake-love-polymer

I would love some comments or feedback on how the photos came out. I am all about improvement, whenever I have the time I think of new ways to photograph and display my products.

I hope to post some behind the scenes shots and shots of my work in progress in the future.

-Squawberry