Saturday, June 25, 2011

What's a Ninni??

Over at Craftster.org, my friend Susan and I just hosted a swap of Monster Ninnis.  They are simple little stuffies, and the pattern is free at http://www.revoluzzza.com/ .  Here are the three I made for my partners:

Photographer Ninni (my partner loves photography)

Avatar Ninni (he looks like the avatar my partner uses on Craftster)

Kangaroo Ninni (just because I thought a baby Ninni would be cute!)

You can see the whole Ninni gallery here:  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=381142.0 .  You will be amazed at the wide variety of colors, styles, and themes the creative swappers came up with.  Some are so elaborate, it's unbelievable!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Pin Cushion with something EXTRA!

This is a pin cushion I design I came up with quite a while ago; I've made and sold tons of them, they are fun and easy--you can see that it's just a four-patch square, surrounded by a narrow muslin boarder, with the main fabric around the outside:

I usually write a scripture quote on the muslin (I print it from the computer, then trace it using a light box); recently I found a couple of good sewing-related quotes to use in the future.  The tassels are from the upholstery department of the fabric store, they come sewn onto a flat braided cord-type thing.  I just cut them apart and place them in the seam when sewing.  Here's the back:
I love the button fabric!  And there is a real button sewn in the middle, anchoring the bead on the front.
This time there is something NEW that goes with the pin cushion--BEHOLD!
CLAY BIRDS AND A MUSHROOM!  I love these so much!  I first made them for a recent swap (on Craftster.org ), in fact, I made this pin cushion at the same time I made one for my swap partner.  She had these little birds on her wist, so I gave it a try and they came out great! I just formed the Sculpey clay around extra-long straight pins (with regular flat heads), baked for 15 minutes, and after they were cool, I coated them with Varithane varnish.  The pins really add something special to the pin cushion, so I've put this one in my Etsy store (http://www.leslieshappyheart.etsy.com/ ) .  First come, first served!