New fluffy things on Etsy!

Well, the monsters and I had a great time at Reet Sweet‘s fabulous Christmas Fair on Sunday, and it was only then I realised how few monsters I have actually put up for sale on my online shop.  So today I’ve been posing and snapping, and cropping and pasting, and generally making my Picky Miss Etsy shop a much more fun place to hang out.

Thinking ‘What the heck can I buy [insert name here] for Christmas?’  Why not go take a look?  I’m sure you’ll find something. And yes, you really are allowed to buy *yourself* presents at this time of year

Dumbledore, now with added flamingoes

 

Everybody, needs somebody…

All quiet on the creative front.  I’ve been a busy bee with Other Things, as expounded on my Disobedient Child blog, but I have finally gotten round to tidying up my storage area.  One day I’ll have a proper studio, or at least a workroom, and then I can pretend to be a Proper Artist, but until then I’ll just shuffle boxes around in the corner of my bedroom, and tell myself that putting labels on them is just as professionally fulfilling. Anyhoo, I found an awesome sock lurking in my Crate of Sockness (a bit like a Heart of Darkness.  But not very.), and after some Picky Miss Jiggery Pokery (and yes that is a technical term) it became…. this!

He so happy!  He can make you so happy, too.  I have no idea what his name is; he won’t tell me.  But anyway, I can’t keep him here, I don’t even have a proper studio, so I’ve put his lovely cuddly self up for adoption.  He’s not on Etsy or Folksy yet, because of camera problems, but he really wants a new home by Christmas.  Studio not a requirement.  UPDATE: He is! He is on Etsy! Still The Nameless One, though.

 

Swings and Roundabouts.

Yes, I’ve been swapping again! I have been a quiet Picky Miss over the summer – on the blogging front, anyway; everywhere else it’s been chaos. But now school’s back, holidays are over, and it’s time to get back to work. Or play. Call it what you will (and I’m very lucky that those two words are interchangeable).

Mmm, yum. Can you tell what it is yet?

So, my first fun of the new academic year has been swapping stuff. I loves craft swaps, they are so much fun. You make something for someone, they make something for someone else, they make for someone else, and so on, until it comes round and someone makes something for you. I’m a member of the Phat Quarter Flickr group, and they run a themed swap every time there’s a fifth Friday in the month. In July, the theme was “food”. My swap giver contacted me and asked if I liked Mexican food, whereas I took the more indirect (and possibly sinister) route of looking through my swap receiver’s Flickr pics to guage what kind of thing she liked. It looked to me like she was a Doctor Who fan (all the best people are), so I set my geek brain to maximum and came up with this cross stitch sampler

And after several scintillating emails about Salvaged Mutiny‘s attempts to find a post office whilst cruise-ship-working her way around the Baltic (‘I went to the post office in Helsinki but it was closed; I’ll try again in Copenhagen’?!), I received this piece of Mexican craziness

I'm Nacho Mama!

I *LOVE* it! I confess I was a bit thick, and didn’t get the joke until my brother said it out loud, but it makes me smile every time I see it

And because I can’t get enough swappety fun, I signed up for a Facebook-based ‘handmade’ swap at the beginning of the year. I have to make five things, and completed numero dos last week: a Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) quote worked in cross-stitch. I think it’s a sentiment we can all relate to at some stage

Phantoms Siren has said she’ll hang it so it’s the last thing people see as they leave her house. Awesome.

Numero uno can be found on Flickr, but it’s a bit naughty, so I won’t display it here. I love the surprise element of swapping – you never know what you’re going to receive in return. I also love the challenge of being given a broad theme and just running with it (I made this for the last Phat Quarter swap – the theme was music

based on a bluegrass tune and my swap partner’s crows-in-flight tattoo). I especially love using the medium of a traditional cross stitch sampler to create something personal and (preferably) geeky I do them to order, so get in touch if you’d like to commission a bespoke, unique gift – for someone else, or for yourself! I’m currently working on a C’thulhu quote sampler; I’ll let you all know when it’s done.

In the meantime, it looks like September has a fifth Friday! I’d better keep an eye on my Flickr and see what comes up

 

Tinker – a sock monster

Such a wee cutie! Well, so you’d think.
Doesn’t like raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, or bright copper kettles, or warm woollen mittens. Does like sharp objects and the colour black. You win some you lose some, eh?

Now available in my Etsy shop, along with a host of other cuddlies. Go on, go take a peek! They all need homes you know.

 

How to make a sock monster

It has been brought to my attention that a fair few visitors to this site are looking not for quirky cross stitch, cuddly monsters, or how to season crocodile soup, but are in fact thirsting for the knowledge that will enable them to go away and make *their own* sock monster. Well hey, as an obsessive trawler of internet crafty how-to’s myself, let me see what I can do to help.

Without further ado, I give you:

How to make a sock monster

Warning: I am much better at showing than explaining. You may need to stretch your imagination to get much sense out of these instructions (or better still, book me to do a workshop party See what I did there?).

OK, let’s start with this little lady, Princess Katoosh. Ain’t she a dainty?

You will need:
*Two socks - one for the body, one for arms
*Needle and thread (contrasting thread is better for seeing where you’ve stitched. Matching thread is for confident sewers and crazy people)
*Pen or chalk – for drawing where to stitch.
*Buttons, stuffing, and embroidery silk/cotton
*Imagination

 

Craft Candy Mini Fair!

Just to let everyone know, at very short notice (oops), that Picky Miss will be at the Craft Candy mini this Saturday (9th). 1-5pm at Bungalows and Bears, Division Street, Sheffield.

There will be monsters and stitchings and the chance to create your own stitched bunting carriage for the Fair Fares Now craftivist action.

See you there!

 

Pssst – want a cross stitch?

I’ve been stitching for a while now, just for fun, but recently people have been asking me if I do, or am willing to do, more custom stuff.  Well, you’ll be pleased to know, the answer is yes!

It’s easy enough to find a cute kitten or country cottage cross stitch, and if you look long and hard enough you may well stumble upon just the right ‘inspirational quote’ for that hard-to-buy-for relative.  But what if you want a present that’s just a bit unusual, for someone who likes… Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Super Mario, or antique typewriters?  Well, your troubles are over, because I *love*  what is affectionately known as “Geek Craft”.   I love it!

There are some stitchings already available in my Etsy shop, but if you’re after something more personalised, please get in touch.  I can do pictures

Ryu: always my favourite Streetfighter champion

 

or quotes

(From Firefly)

 

The thing I love most is

 

Monster of the Month : February goes exploring

Welcome, welcome, one and all, to the new “Monster of the Month” featurette!

It’s February, home of gales, rain, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, and more rain. Monster of the Month this month goes to Nameless. Who has no name. Hence the, er, name.

Nameless is new to this house, and asked if she could go exploring, and blog about what she found. Who am I to argue with such cuteness? I’ll hand you over right now:

*********

hello. i don’t hav a name yet becos no one has give me one. i want to see wat is in this house so i did go explorng and i found things that are a bit weerd. fust i found a land of pinknes, inhabyted by GIANT BEARS.

me and the GIANT BEARS

they wurnt scary after a bit but they wus at fust becos they were so very extremly big. they talked about me but not too me, wich was not nice so i left them and went elsware. i traveled far, throu many hard ships and then i came to the land of teeny tiny dinosawrs.

me and the tiny dinosawrs

they wer very curius and sweet, but this one in the pictur bit me, wich was not nice. i think it wus probaly just grumpy thou becos it was scared. it’s ok to be scared, but i was only stroking it so it shoold not hav been scared.

i hear that febuary is when valentins day is, wich is wen you show someone you love them. i think this is very sweet. i love hug. hug is a monkey i met when i was explorng and he is the most lovely monkey i ever did meet.

me and hug

i love hug very much and hug loves me too. i think i will give hug some choclates for a valentin present, but don’t tell him it’s a suprise.

*******

(Because I am heartless and mercenary, Nameless will be appearing in my Etsy shop very soon. If you buy her, you can give her a real name. She’d like that. Maybe you could teach her to spell, while you’re at it.) *UPDATE* Nameless has now been rehomed, hooray! And a very good home it is too.

 

Share and share alike

I’ve been doing some swapping lately.  Very ‘economically inactive’ of me, I know.  I’m sure George Osbourne is very sad.  I can’t tell you about the excitingness that is the Flickr craft swap yet, because my swapee hasn’t received the thingamajig I made her, and neither have I received whatever my designated swapper has made for me.  So it’s all a bit hush-hush, but I’m hoping I can brag about it soon But I am at liberty to share this, because it really made my day.

I noticed a call-out on Twitter last week, from SnapdragonJane in Scotland, saying she was running short of ‘tiny floral print’ fabrics – if anyone could send her some, she’d send some goodies in return.  Of course I was like, heck yes!  I mean, who couldn’t do with these guys to sort out their day?

I gathered later she meant ‘things she’d made’, which was disappointing, but only for a few milliseconds. I remember seeing some of her stuff at Eco Eco in Hope, and loving it. So I thought yes, lady you have pleased me by the lovely things you make, I’m sure I can have a rummage in my fabric stash for something in return. And if I get a cute button badge out of it, well that’s just a bonus.

So turns out I did have some fabric of that ilk, and got in touch, and sent it off. And did I get a wee button badge? Not even close. I got the most awesome parcel of loveliness ever, and it even came in a bright green envelope! How stunning!

Squeee!

I mean, just lookee! A big sheet of giftwrap, a packet of funky stickers (my daughter has already appropriated one sheet), and some amazingly groovy postcards (also with bright green envelopes – I’m so happy). Wow. So, just to get this straight, this blog post is one big plug for the superbly talented and very generous Snapdragon Garden. Go buy her stuff, now, and lots of it. And get me one of those darn tootin tea cosies while you’re about it; ain’t they the cutest?

 

Left on the shelf

I had to reassure these huddled monsters today, that just because nobody bought them at the Christmas craft fair, it doesn’t mean they are destined for a life unloved. Poor things, they do worry.

L-R: Slightly, Tiny Tim, Daisy, Bridale

If you wish to adopt one of these cuddlies, you’ll find them, and others, in my Etsy shop. Or I can make a special monster just for you (or someone else), just ask. Go on, have pity on their small and troubled minds.