Wooden Gradient Blocks

Let the wood painting continue with this fabulous DIY from handmade charlotte (link)! I can think of one kiddo who is sorely in need of some of her own colourful gradient painted blocks and if shipping was less ridiculous in Canada I'm sure she'd already have some by now! Check them out:

(source)

Now there is one simple, quick, and wonderfully delightful project that is right up my alley! Just grab some blocks, make some muted tones (with different amounts of white stirred in) and get painting! Repeat on each side of the cubes and voila! Instant awesomeness! Okay...so it isn't that instant, but it does look like fun! I'm sure you could turn this into some level of educational game but come on - they're blocks! Let's play! What do you think? Anyone want to make some with me?

Oh oh it's magic!

Between craft shows this week I decided to make a few more magic wands.  I originally made them on a whim last year and although the little kids of Kamloops seemed to love their colours and little smiles, the kiddos of Victoria don't seem too interested. Okay, that isn't quite true - the children may adore them but their parents (and the all important money holders) don't seem very stoked on my carefully crafted creations. I also realized that almost the star shaped wands were the first snapped up last summer followed by the flowers. Apparently pink and purple hearts (my personal fave as a kid) aren't a big draw these days so stars and flowers it is! Check out the newbies:

Yay! Aren't they a happy bunch? Let's see a close up:

Aww - what a sweetie! Oh! And gender neutral to boot! Let's hope next time a bunch of kids lay their eyes on my mason jar of wands are especially good at convincing their parents to buy them things! Haha! What do you think?

Crafty Outbreak

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been crafting up a storm over here preparing for my first craft show this Sunday! One of the items on my "to craft" list was restocking some of my booth basics I was running low on, so it was time to whip out the sewing machine, fleece, and stuffing and make some massive cultures of Pseudomonas and Chlamydia:

Ahha! These little dudes always make me feel so awesome (unlike their pathogenic counterparts) and all those little smiles are just asking for new homes right?

 

Aww! It feels great to have these guys back in stock and here's to hoping they're a hit this weekend!

Although (as usual these days) my lack of awesome light source doesn't do wonders for their cuteness, I assure you they are lovely muted tones of minty green (for Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and teal (for Chlamydia trachomatis)! Now to print out some extra fact cards and add them to the crafty totes for the sale! Yay!

Corduroy Ewoks

One unfortunate side effect of going on vacation is all the fun blog posts I miss out on! Sure it is great to unplug and get away for a while, but when I get back home there are so many unread posts in my bloglovin' account that I inevitably skim and hit the "mark all as read" (a.k.a. kate's sanity) button! Shucks! Luckily I did manage to read a few posts that happened during the first week of May and this tutorial from Molly at Wild Olive was one of them! Who could pass up DIY corduroy ewok plushies! Take a peek!

 

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Ack! So much nerdy cuteness! I totally need to get a hold of some fabric scraps for and make a pile of these babies to hide out in my planters on the patio! Wouldn't they be just perfect? Okay...so once I water them and it rains they might be a little on the moldy side...but minor details. Cute Star Wars crafts totally make a little microbe growth worth it right? I thought so. What do you think?

Friday Find: Goose Grease

I'm always on the lookout for fun, quirky, handmade gift ideas and this pirates vs. ninjas wooden checkers set from Etsy's Goose Grease fits the bill perfectly! Just check out those wide set eyes and hand painted details:


Isn't it perfect? Checkers not your thing? Well they have a great selection of customized families of dolls, wedding cake toppers, or do it yourself kits! What fun! But it does leave me with one question in mind - which side would you chose, pirates or ninjas?

Friday Find: The Pills

Today's find "The Pills" is quite possibly the cutest crocheted pill shaped thing to ever come out of Montreal. Just check out the adorableness of this cactus amigurimi pill:

Not sure if it my love for wide set eye smiles or cacti that made me fall for this guy but
isn't he cute? That little flower and those spikes are just perfect! Plants not your thing? How about pill shaped Mr. T, cupcake, or hamburgers then:


Hehe - yup. Super awesome. Which one is your fav?

Friday Find: Sleepy King

I'm not sure why I've never done a post about the adorable wide-set eye cuteness that is sleepy king - but no time like the present! I've seen these cute plush over etsy before and thanks to that wonderful "suggested shops" tab they have I quickly realized that sleepy king never got its way into my favourite listings! Ack! What a mistake - I mean look how darling they are:


The colours are wonderful and their mash of wool felt, fleece, heavy suiting, and safety eyes (some of my favourite media) just call to me! I think the cute simple offset images add to their appeal and really inspire me to get sewing! What do you think? Will my niece jean's life not be complete until she has a gimpy wide set eye cute forest creature to snuggle with? Well..more like chew on...seems to be quite the trend of hers:


Yeah - not too sure if sleepy king's cute plush are ready to be drooled on quite yet. But just in case you can't live without one either you can take 10% off your order by entering "poppytalk10" at the checkout until the end of the month! Hooray!

Surprise Balls!

Here is one DIY I am dying to try out! They are called "surprise balls" and are basically a whole bunch of little presents wrapped into a giant ball with crepe paper! Seems simple enough right?


Not Martha has a lovely tutorial explaining how to whip them up too! And they link to a whole bunch of other surprise ball sites for even more ideas - and educational info! Did you know that they date back to early Native American culture and were re-popularized in the 1950's being marketed as "they toy you destroy to enjoy"? Cool!

I think I need to start collecting little trinket-y items so I can make some of these! Actually - I'd really like to get a bunch of interested friends together and have a surprise ball exchange! Say we all spend $8 or so on them and pass them out? Sounds like a great summer bbq party idea! Potentially involving dressing up and delicious vegetable protein! Any takers?

Adorable Plush Microbe Goodness!

After many months of being sold out of two of my most popular plush microbes (anthrax and chlamydia) my shop is finally restocked! I couldn't find the same light orange and blue fleece that I had for my first round of microbe friends so they're now in gold and teal! I love how they turned out and I think the group bacillus shots are super adorable! So many little cute smiles!


I've even found a new source for their 12mm black safety eyes which has fantastic selection and prices on plush supplies (and it is on etsy - extra bonus)! I must say re-doing my microbe plush pictures was pretty tricky, hence putting off updating them for so long! I'm still not totally sold on how the lighting looks. Hopefully I'll get around to making a light box one of these days and be able to redo them. In the mean time these will have to do until I get through more of my crafty to-do list items. But they are awfully cute don't you think?

In other news - Happy 57th birthday mom! (That's right - I just told the world how old you are) Love you!

All the features

Another early morning and another early morning email informing me one of my products was featured on someone's site! This time the credit goes to those sweet craft lovers at Craft Candy, proving yet again how cool Sheffield is (I mean the Full Monty and a neat craft site?)

Indulge a little and check it out when you've got some time to spare...or even if you don't really have time to spare... that seems to be what I did...