Greeting October with a Friendly ROAR! ~ My New Zipper Mouth Lion Bag

Happy Monday everyone!

Wow!

Where did September go? :)

R-Chee and I have been having so much FUN drawing, making batiks, collaging, sewing and crocheting Mother Bears, dolls and New Sweaters that we blinked and September was over already!

R-Chee & I had so much FUN this month with both sewing and crocheting things that we thought it would be neat to Greet October with one more "Zipper Pouch Creature" to add to the Two Bears & Monster that we made in August.

We used yarn to crochet the head, body, mane and arms, sewed on a felted wool sweater piece onto the face to make him soft & liony.

We also sewed in a zipper mouth and pom pom teeth!

To decorate him, I used wool felted flower embellishments that I got at Hobby Lobby for his tail and pom poms for his hands!

I love his Smile and his ROAR!

What a FUN way to Greet the Fall Season!

I cannot wait to fill him with all of the projects that we are working on that we carry with us to make every chance we get!

R-Chee & I are still sewing wool houses for our village we are building so I will keep you posted on our progress as we sew together little scraps of wool into a whole new neighborhood!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Fall Foliage FUN for Archie & Gilbert!

Hi everyone!

Happy Friday!

It is me...

Gilbert!

Archie and I are so exicted!

Our parents are packing us up and taking us with them up into the Colorado Mountains this weekend!

We will get to see all the pretty leaves change while visiting Vail and Aspen!

I will be safe and sound in my trusty bird cage while Archie will walk around on a leash.

Ha Ha!  

From the looks of it... I think he wants to have his own travel cage too stocked with all my yummy food & water 24/7!

Dream on little brother!

We know who is getting the special pampered treatment!

It helps that I am only two inches tall and weigh about 32g, but don't tell Archie that!

I like to see his puggy face pout!. :)

We will take lots of photos for you to see!

What are you up to this weekend?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about it!

xoxoxo

Gilbert & R-Chee

Create a Collage with Catalogs ~ Blue & Green Parakeets

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Oh my gosh!  

This collaged art project was so much FUN & Easy to do that I had to show you as soon as I finished!

Can you believe this neat parakeet collage was done in a few hours from start to finish with a quick sketch, some glue & little torn scraps from a CB2 catalog? :)

The first thing I did was to grab a pen and sketch these two parakeets on two separate 5 x 7 pieces of paper.

The size of your drawing is not important, but I wanted to make the point here that you do not have to create an overwhelmingly detailed drawing or large image to fill in with the colored paper if you do not want to. :)

If you do not like to draw, you could trace an image or photograph or even glue right ontop of the printed image.

This is your project and you can do whatever you want! :)

I chose to scan my drawings to preserve the originals and to create a blank copy of sorts that I could print in any size and anytime I wanted to make another one!

I printed my drawings on a card stock weight paper so that it would not curl too much from the moisture of the paste.

The next thing I did was open my colorful catalog that I just got in the mail. :)

You can use any catalog or magazine that you like!

I made a point to shop for color, textures and elements on the page when choosing which ones to tear out.

I also limited myself to 3 pages for each bird so that I would not get overwhelmed. :)

Remember though... this is just what I did.

Everyone is different!

Please tear out as many as you would like!

Then all I did was tear some scraps of colors, grab my paste and little paint brush and started gluing the torn pieces onto my printed drawing, layering at random as I went.  

I like the look of the soft torn edges so I made an effort to not leave any hard edges on my scraps.

It was so FUN and relaxing to do!

I did not think about placing them in any which way.

I just layered the colors and textures I liked into the spaces.

To create the final image, I scanned my 2 parakeet collages and created the effect of them sitting together by using Photoshop Elements to place them over a background of leaves that I created from passing some filters and changing the opacity levels of a photo of one my plastic place mats that I have on my kitchen table. :)

Ta Da!

That was soooo FUN that I cannot wait to make another one!

I think I will tear up pages from my IKEA catalog next! :)

I love this collage so much that I have made it available as a set of 10 note cards for you to enjoy too in my Etsy Shop.

Have a super day everyone!

xoxoxo

Melissa

Our New Mother Bear ~ Good Morning & Good Night

Happy Monday everyone!

R-Chee & I had so much FUN making our newest bear for The Mother Bear Project!

It is a new design we just dreamed about while we slept and then thought about how to make him when we got up!

He is our Good Morning & Good Night Bear!

We made him to help celebrate two very special people's birthdays!

Amy Berman, The founder for the Mother Bear Project , and Wendy Gardner , the creative genius behind all of the Scary Stories characters, art, dolls books, cartoons and more!

The inspire us every day and celebrating both of their birthdays inspired us to make this special bear!

He is two bears in one!

One side is for the children to hug before they go to sleep...

...and the other side is for them to hug when they wake up!

The front and back sides are reversed in color which also gives him a neat checkered effect when seeing him on a side view.

Here is the Good Morning Bear asking R-Chee to make him scrambled eggs for breakfast!

... and the Good Night Bear is singing him lullabys for tonight 

How FUN!

We sent our new creation filled with love off to Africa this morning!

What FUN things are you doing today?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Friday Funnies ~ Protein vs Fiber

Happy Friday Everyone!

It is me...

R-Chee!

Do you know what sets me apart from my momma's pug art collection?

I am 100% protein and they are all 100% fiber!

Ha!

Funny! :)

This is a tiny crocheted Pug Doll my momma made years ago and just changed the whole look by updating the eyes.

These funny faces are actually pug slippers that she just got at Kohl's and made them into crochet and sewing tool bags by sewing pom pom trim and hook closures to the tops!

... and these two colorful wool creations are gifts both she has received from Melanie and Fred that they got for her on Etsy!

The orange striped pug pillow is from Germany and the well dressed pug doll is made by Mimi Kirchner. :)

Shopping is always FUN & easy when you can see each others' favorites lists!

What FUN things do you have planned this weekend?

I heard my mom and dad say that I might get to go to a pug party if the weather holds up!

I will let you know and please let me know what you are doing!

I cannot wait to hear all about it!

xoxoxo

R-Chee

My New Tunisian Crochet Doll ~ Little Lamb

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am so excited to introduce you to my new Tunisian Crochet Lamb Doll that I just made!

Just like the Pug, Lion, Parrotlet, and Bunny Dolls, I made him up as I went. :)

I love making free form dolls without knowing what they are going to look like in the end!

It is exciting to see who shows up!

Here he is!

I cracked up when I put in the final stitch and took a step back to look at him.

It looks like he has alot to say ~ doesn't it?!

Although I do not have a pattern, I can share that I used a G size Boye tunisian and a size G crochet hook for the arms, legs, tail & fleecy bobbles.

The whole doll is made with my favorite yarns from Lion Brand.

His face is the Fisherman's Wool

His bobble fleece is Wool Ease Thick & Quick

and his body is Amazing Yarn!

I took lots of photos for you to see him pop to life!

Ta Da!

Here is the whole family of tunisian crochet dolls that I made this year with the pug doll living in a different room and the parrotlet doll at Melanie's house! :)

R-Chee was an excellent helper through the whole project!

I think he was listening to bedtime stories from the lamby even before he was complete!

How FUN!

What FUN things are you up to today?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee