Inspire, Inspire, Inspire!

Let's see... what's inspiring me right now...

COLORS!

I have been scouring wedding planning websites to see if there are color schemes I haven't used yet.

Here's a few that I'd like to dabble with in the near future...

And MOHAIR!

Mohair is so super soft and would definitely add some texture to my plushies. I've been asked to attempt a llama and I was thinking of buying mohair to make the body!
And I've also been considering getting a little bit to test it out for the manes of my ponies! :)

ATTENTION!!!!: I also want to let you all know that there's a Love & a Sandwich giveaway for a custom newborn monstroctopus! Here's the link to enter: Click here to get your grubby hands on some plush goodness!

Chelsea at Love & a Sandwich is one of my idols and one of the few plush artists that inspired me to even start making my own plush! I want to win this so badddddddd!

Been too long!

I have got to get back in to blogging. I have been so obsessed with just making more items that I've neglected so many things...including Bloggetha here (my nickname I made for my blog lol).

So I'm trying to reorganize and I'm going to make sure there is one day a week where I do not sew for an entire day and focus on other things. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? Seems so impossible now. I've pretty much sewn most of the day, every day, since the end of June of this year except for one week when we were moving into our apartment here in NY.

But ANYHOO, today I'd like to showcase where 'the magic happens'...you know, my work room lol.

My things spread out into 3 rooms...sometimes 4, depending on if I pull out my sewing machine. I don't know why I bother pulling out my sewing machine anymore though, I always opt for hand sewing. Well, I know why, it's because I love my sewing machine. It's still pretty much brand new and has so many options, but in the end, I prefer the satisfaction of seeing what I can do all by myself with my hands :)

I house my supplies in the hallway closet that's allllllll mine.

On the top, I keep a basket of yarn and extra stock of stuffing, bean bag filling, etc...
Then the next shelf has my scrap fabric that I use to practice new patterns and there's also a basket of items that I made, but the freaking moving company pretty much demolished it all. And I just don't have the heart to throw them away.
Then my favorite shelf is where I have my fat quarters of fabric! Ohhhh how my heart skips a beat just thinking of them.
Then the next shelf has miscellaneous supplies. Like my backup thread/floss, canvas bags that I plan to decorate, bag of scraps, and my sewing machine supplies box.
And underneath it all is where I keep my yardage of fabric and felt. And I have a few embroidery hoops underneath that I plan to make plush wall art with :)

Seriously, I have a TON of fabric! My addiction <3

And when I first moved in, this was my work table looking very empty, but full of promise in the laundry room.

And this is my work table now...Well, I took this pic just before I tidied up. I reorganize it every morning religiously. I love my bobbin box and button box that I had customized by Angela's Embellished Boxes! You should definitely order from her. She's great! :)

I haven't had the funds yet to add shelves and other things I have planned to make it more organized and aesthetically appealing. But whew, HUGE plans! It's going to look amazing.

(And underneath the table is where I keep my packaging and shipping supplies)

And beside my computer armoire in the den area, I have a plastic dresser that I use to house all my inventory. To keep them safe, dust-free, and away from my daughter who gets attached too easily, until they find a new home!

And that's pretty much it...Besides my family, you've seen everything that makes me happy!

I'll leave you today with an Owenism.

I was telling my daughter the other day...I don't remember how the conversation started, but I had said that I knew I was a good wife and mom, but I wish I was better.

Her reply: "There's no 'better' in this house. You're already the best!" Yeah, my 6 year old came up with that wisdom all by herself! <3 <3

Happy Umbilical Cord Separation Day....TO ME!

So yesterday was my birthday...I am now 25 years YOUNG. (Right? Yes, please agree!)

We're still in a hotel and our money situation isn't the greatest. but we shall prevail! My husband and daughter spoiled me well! Thru all that we've been thru with this move, home really is where the heart is. I don't think we could have spent my birthday any other way.

We started off the morning, bright and early with Dunkin Donuts!!

A Dunkin Donuts is pretty much on every corner here in NY and I had never really experienced one before and OMG....

Delicious, delicious, delicious!

We got a dozen donuts ranging from Glazed to French Cruller to Vanilla with Sprinkles to Bavarian Creme...oh the list goes on and on!
And I had a delicious Chicken Salad on a Croissant that was IMPECCABLE!
Darn now I'm hungry for another one of those again.
Stupid only having one vehicle!

Then I got to go and spend $100 at Joann's Craft Store! Oh it was the most fun to just pick and grab and buy so much for 100 smackeroos!

I definitely took advantage of all the deals.

I scored fabric, felt, thread, buttons (that are to die for!), chalk, more hand sewing needles 

and a thread organizer...

It doesn't sound like much but wow if you could see the amount of stuff I walked out with! My whole crate was full when I went to the cash register and the lady in front of us had overheard it was my birthday and gave me a 40% off coupon that she had! So freakin nice and wonderful! I would have done the same thing. It's nice to know that are world isn't so cruel all the time. All the bad things that can happen in life get surpassed by these moments of genuine niceness!

Then I got to pick where we ate lunch
and enjoyed my favorite: Chinese!
I'm half Filipino and also enjoyed my first 6 years of life in Okinawa, Japan (that's probably why I heart kawaii so much!!).

So I'm all about the Asian persuasion! :)

Here's my lil Owie Pie behind the glass over our booth. It was so cool.
We used to have these cork artwork all around our house in Japan!

My delicious first plate! Oh my gosh, soooo goood!
And someone had told Drew this place was terrible. It was amazing!

Owie took a picture of Drew and I :)
Love my lil family!

The china buffet was the perfect way to end my birthday festivities!






And this morning, I got to finally check facebook and saw my doodle from Kitty from Kittypinkstars!

Instead of an Owenism, I'll leave you to bask in the glory that is this doodle!

I want to blow it up poster size and hang it up in our future apartment!

She even added my highlights in my hair and some of my plushies!
Isn't this just amazing!?

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

<3 Jess

xoxo



Unexpected Treasure Hunting...

Sometimes adventures just jump into our paths. Like mine did last night. And most of my adventures happen via the lovely interweb, but they're still exciting to me!

So, here I am...in this relatively decent hotel whose floors are for some odd reason always damp...and I'm just itching to create but I'm running out of materials...
I have been thinking and dreaming and sketching and more thinking and just a touch more dreaming of what I can do to entertain my creativity addiction.
My husband's Army gear overflows the trunk area of our SUV and we decided to reorganize it yesterday evening. And YO HO!!! TREASURE!! My art bag of acrylic paints was buried underneath his Army stuff. Apparently, moving companies can't move paint of any kind and I had forgotten that we had to travel with it.
And I have heard of it before, so I thought this was a sign to look into the crafting technique of...

FABRIC PAINTING!!

Sure, I have done it before but terribly failed. I was young and just messing with whatever I could find to make T-shirts. But I'm more skilled now and have a better sense of neatness and visual appeal.

I now have tons of links saved to look into more thoroughly later.

But here my friends are the gems I found...the possibilities are endless with fabric painting! As I perused the Internet for images of this art form, I have stumbled across pages of artists that made me squeal with glee out of sheer amazement and awe they brought to me.

And let me take a moment to further explain something about myself and my appreciation for art. Art can literally bring me to tears or give me chills or make me laugh or make me angry or make me completely stunned...If it doesn't do that for you, I don't think you are properly taking the time to truly appreciate what's before you. It's not your fault though. It may even be an unofficial 7th sense a person can have.
But I just wanted to include that art is emotional for me and the artwork I'm about to showcase to you from brilliant talent may bring you to tears or make you jump into the air with your fist raised high like the end of most 80s movies. So maybe you should stretch first and limber up before you proceed...

I first came across this wonderful artistic duo, Cart Before The Horse. Read their info, read their individual blogs, and go to their website...They're just interesting people and their art is very interesting. I love art that can make you uncontrollably come up with stories for the characters they create.

Here's a few of their pieces I love and they're fabric painters:

And then there's another fabric painter, who's stuff I just love. I'm a huge skeleton fan and of De Los Muertos art! So Kat Brunnegraff has become one of my loves! I actually didn't find her last night. I have been a fan for awhile, but when I thought of trying out fabric painting, I immediately thought of her work!
Here's just a few of her Sugar Skellies that will surely delight your imagination!

One bad thing about finding this sort of amazing talent is that I second guess myself. I tell myself these people obviously have this field covered. There's no way I could match or even top their talent! But I refuse to not at least give myself the opportunity to amaze myself. Sometimes that happens and makes me all warm & fuzzy inside. Kind of like this whole plushie experience I've had...

I had no idea I'd grow up to be a toy maker.

AND LOOK AT ME NOW!

Wish me luck on my fabric painting mission. It will definitely be messy. I better fashion a trash bag poncho for this voyage!

*********************************************************************

And lastly, a very fun Owenism!

My daughter and I going to the restroom at a restaurant....

Our conversation from separate stalls:

Owen: "I stole a french fry."

Me: "You carried a fry with you to the bathroom?"

Owen: "AW, C'MON! I get hungry on adventures."

My daughter is a comedic, witty 5-year-old genius!

xoxo

<3 Jess