A little sparse on the posts recently, I've been busy making socklings as they have now been officially named. They are for sale in MonkeyHouse toys in Silverlake find them online at  http://monkeyhousetoys.com/ or in the real live store at 2874 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Otherwise I have found these by Michelle Made Me ( although I suspect they are all over the internet they are so cute ! ) :

Aren't they lovely ? and green ... recycled junkmail, although I have recycled most of mine already. I haven't wished for junkmail before !

 

Her how to is here:

http://www.michelemademe.com/2011/11/reader-question-how-do-you-cut-your.html

good luck!

I did these a while ago for my friend Kim Walls, founder CEO etc of Episencial.  I worked on the packaging design for some of her products, anyway, for a while I was coming up with ways to re-use the packaging for her products. So I though being that this is the season of wasteful packaging I'd share some of these designs with you:

These were the boxes I used - from the Eric Carle Hungry Caterpiller line

Firstly cut then  apples, plums caterpillars etc out ..

If you look at the top right pear above and the , that was the reverse side of the box - plain off white, so I coloured in the image of the pear and caterpillar so when the mobile hangs there are images on both sides ... 

 ... and make a little "slice" in the card - only the thickness of the card, if you just cut one snip with scissors it won't sit right - trust me on this ....

 

... slide them together ...

Then all you need to do is string them up, I've used some of the cotton crochet yarn I use for my acorn cozies ..

 

The tricky part is balancing them so the mobile really works, I can't help with this bit ! its going to be purely trial and error on your part. 

What I did do was hang two loosely on the stick and then adjust them and only then tighten the knots ... 

 And there you have it - your very own Eric Carle mobile .... have fun.

Make ... Create ....

Happy Thanksgiving !

I thought I'd add a few little bean bag guys to my shop.

I'm not sure how to categorize these, juggling balls ? desk friends ? paperweights ? or just little cuties ? Although there isn't a category for cutie in the etsy menus.

Poppytalk look book

I'm in here !

http://issuu.com/poppytalk/docs/preholiday_lookbook/61

The green minty cozy .....

The poppytalk holiday look book is up and I'm there too ! page 55 ... alongside some very talented artists and beautiful pieces, I feel inspired to make and create more pieces .. now only if the rest of the household would let me !

I caught sight of this idea:

Using a hula hoop as a "loom" for weaving a rug .. so of course I had to have a go. So far I have this :

Although having said all that in the text below - I like this part .. maybe its the Oreo colour combination ...

Looking a little wonky in this one !

I wanted to use wool asI really like these knitted poufs from CB2 and felt that the wool would give a similar feel.

or I now see that World Market have a version ...

Anyway .... I got this cream and brown combo in the Jo-Ann sale ... I'm not sure about it at all, I think the problem is that I have two sofas .. orange and burgandy .. yes I know its a weird mixture and as an ex-colour designer I hate to admit it ... but the burgandy sofa is really white and was left for me by the lovely Clive who returned to England and swapped it for a lunch at the Hunters Hall, Kingscote. but, I digress, he left it with a burgandy throw which is protecting it from children and dogs ... so now with this public confession I must add " buy new throw" to the ever  expanding do-do list.

.. what I meant to say was .. Jo-Ann's didn't have any greens or oranges so I chose the brown and cream, and now I'm not in love with them as I have no place for brown and cream rugs in my house .... give away ? Christmas gift ? suggestions ?

Hello lovely shoppers, look forward to a 10% discount and free shipping during black Friday weekend ( Nov 26 - 29th )

Phew,  resized and revamped photos for Poppytalk and uploaded them ... if I ever sell anything I need to start a fund for a faster computer - so buy buy buy !