I need another vacation!

Hey guys

Just came back from my whirlwind tour of the west coast. What an adventure! I need another vacation just to recover from that vacation. We drove up from Tucson up to Newberg, Oregon for a wedding with a stop overnight in Stockton, California. We spent the weekend in Oregon at a wonderful wedding and visiting museums. Then it was back down to San Diego, with another stop to sleep in Stockton. We visited with family, went to the beach and visited more museums. Along the trip I sold almost all of my dolls! YAY, but now I need to restock.

As you know, I had intended to spend the 5 days we were driving making more dolls. Well you know the proverb about best intentions. We left Tucson at 3:30 am. Before we got to the freeway I remembered that I had left my box of dolls I was going to show off and some custom orders for family back at home. We turned around and ran back for them. So at 3:45 we were finally on the freeway and on our way!

I went to grab the yarn to start creating some new dolls. I reached behind me only to find that since my work yarn was the first thing loaded into the van so I wouldn't forget it, it was now buried under the luggage! Oh well, I could reach a bag of yarn I had been using to make a granny afghan. I could work on that until we stopped to get breakfast.

Well, things never work out the way you want them to. At 6:30 we stop on the far side of Phoenix for breakfast and I realize I have left my box of buttons, beads and other random small crafty things back at home!!!! Well crud! I figured I would continue to work on my afghan and when we got to San Diego I could spend a couple days making all the pieces of dolls to be assembled when we got home.


In Oregon I got to deliver these two super cute turtles I made custom for my Aunt. She is married to a Naval Officer so when she saw my Military turtle she wanted to know if I could make her a Naval Officer turtle too. She wanted one in Dress White and one in Dress Blue. She was very pleased with these little guys!

When we got to San Diego I sold half of my stock in one evening! I needed to make more dolls. I sat down with all the supplies I had with me and began to create. We weren't the only family members staying with her, so after a few minutes I had an audience of teenagers watching. They wanted to learn how to crochet too, so I passed out all my hooks and some balls of yarn I had been using for my afghan and spent the afternoon teaching them how to use them. I figured I would have the rest of the vacation time to work on the dolls.

In the evenings there was too little light to work with, and we were busy all the other days. So I ended up spending more time thinking of new ideas than working on the old ideas. I have come up with a new type of baby for my shop. It will be introduced as soon as I can recover and get my head on straight. It will be quilted instead of crochet. I am so excited about them, that it is hard to do my chores around the house! I want to sit down at my machine and start sewing right now!! I will have to restrain myself for now, but come back and see what I come up with!

Bust's Girl Wide Web

My Blog has just been added to Bust's Girl Wide Web! Give the button a click and check them out! Very cool articles!

Vacation time

Hey guys

I wanted to let you know what is coming up in the future here on my blog. I will be going on vacation July 12th and I won't be back until July 22nd. But in this time I will be creating like a mad woman! I have a notebooks that I keep with me at all times. One at my creation station (in front of the computer) and another in my purse (in case inspiration hits away from home). I have pages of notes, scribbles and sketches. My goal is to get as many done on my trip as possible.

On my list I have:
-Edward Scisorhands Doll
-A Geisha Doll
-Mrs Weasley, Hagrid and Snape
-Some Lord of the Rings dolls
-Willy Wonka Doll
-Barbosa Doll
-A Murloc
-A Cactaur and a Moogle
-Dr Who, K-9 and a Dalek
-Japanese Horror Long Haired Maiden
- A child from the Village of the Damned
-Zhan from Farscape
-Shadow Turtles
-Jade Turtle and Elephant
-more turtles to be determined later

Holy cow, that is a long list! I won't get to all of it before I get back, but I will be focusing on the full sized dolls first. I will be trying to make turtle versions of quite a few of the larger dolls too. We will be taking the laptop with us, so if something comes out particularly good, I will upload it and let you guys see!

Featured Item

Hey Everybody!

I wanted to share my excitement with you! I went to festivities over at my parents house yesterday, great bbq and the best fireworks show in years. When I came home, I found that Jack had been featured on the front page of http://craftster.org ! I was so excited I could hardly sleep last night. There he was with so many other super cool crafts. Check out the craft diagonal from Jack, it is a Van Gogh recreated in melted beads! And the one right under him is a super cool afghan with a wonderful tree pattern on it.

Well, I didn't think it could get any cooler than that! Until I woke up this morning. I started up al the various windows I have open durring the night and noticed I had 3 emails notifying me of conversations waiting for me on http://etsy.com , so I headed over there to see what was up. I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the front page! I had to call my husband right then and tell him to go to the front page himself! I think I will have to be scraped off the ceiling today! He is on the Top 100 Items list too!

Thanks Everybody!!!

P.S. He has found a home! He will be going to live in New York City

Captain Jack Amigurumi

Captain Jack is off on another adventure! This 12" doll is ready to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer his weasely black guts out. So if you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death then you have just one question to ask yourself. Can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not?

This pattern has been renamed Pirate Sam and will be available September 12th at the Interweave Crochet Magazine website

http://www.interweavecrochet.com/projects/paid/pirate.asp

Contest over at Fearless Fibers

Just wanted to let you guys know about a contest over at http://fearlessfibers.blogspot.com

The prize is some of her beautiful hand-painted yarn! I love this yarn! There are so many great colorway options. Check out her blog and her etsy shop http://fearlessfibers.etsy.com

Custom order elephant

This little elephant was requested last Friday by Sweets4ever over at the Craftster.org forum. She said she would really love to have an elephant and gave me this little graphic she created using some of my other items for texture and colors!

So, as you can see, He was made with That Grey, That red, has green eyes and is indeed 3" tall. I am currently waiting to hear from her what his name is.

Then I will be buckling down to create the ultimate swashbuckler! In honor of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie opening next week, I will be attempting to create an 11-12" Capitan Jack Sparrow doll! I have been running through the yarn physics in my head for about a week now? Which yarns will be the best colors and textures? Which ones will need to be split into 2 ply instead of the heavier 4 ply to get the right movement from the fabric? Where will I forego yarn and use thread for the lighter weight materials? Where am I going to get the right hair beads? Gathering pictures from different angles so that I can see everything I need to.

I think I have it all worked out and I will be putting him on the blog by July 6th, because he will need to be done by then if he is going with me to the midnight premiere ; )

Need a Tropical Vacation?

Are you sitting at work right now? In a cube where the only light comes from the buzzing fluorescent lights above you and the computer monitor in front of you. Do you wish you could be on a white beach somewhere? Under an umbrella. Drinking a drink with an umbrella in it. Well, I can't help you with that, but I can give you a little piece of the tropics with this little turtle!

Margarita has a mottled green and yellow shell. Wearing a straw hat under her umbrella she will bring a little color of the tropics to your grey little life! She stands about 3" tall and is about 2.5" long. She will be sent with a brand new unopened parasol.

Baby Squidydiddy Octupus

This cute little guy was a custom order in my Etsy shop. I was asked if I could make an octopus in the same style as my turtles, but with no costume. So he is all naked! His little legs are wired so he is poseable. Right now he is holding a parasol to keep off the sun. His new mommy says that he will have his own fish tank when he gets home!

Katamari As Seen on Kotaku and BoingBoing

I just got a new shipment of magnets for my Custom Katamaris! If you have been wanting to get a Katamari, now is the time. These go fast! They are about the size of a softball and fit nicely in your hand. They have super strong magnets for hours of rolling fun! I have heard of them rolling things like scissors, paperclips, staples, pins, needles, batteries, even some silverwear! What kinds of things can you roll up? Try this and see.

Let me know what colors you want this wonderful ball to be, or type SURPRISE ME in the message to seller box and I will send you a beautiful Katamari surprise

New Blog Rings

Hey Guys!

I have no new items to show you because I have been busy with brithdays! We have one birthday a week in the month of June (I will be happy to see July!) I have been crocheting a shawl for my mother. I will post pictures of her with it when it is done.

I have joined a BUNCH of new blog rings. They are not quite functional yet, but when they are they will be fun to look through!

The next doll will be a Captain Jack doll in honor of the opening of the new Pirates movie. Not sure yet if it will be a turtle or a full sized doll, that will be the surprise!

"Cry Baby" Walker Turtle Amigurumi

By request of the ladys at Crafster I bring you the second Turtle in the Johnny Depp series, Wade 'Cry Baby' Walker. Good girls want him bad. Bad girls want him worse. He's the kind of guy that every girl wants but should't marry!! Too young to be square... Too tough to be shocked... Too late to be saved. He's a doll. He's a dreamboat. He's a delinquent.

Keep watching this space for more turtles!

Random Act of Art: Lobster Amigurumi

I was a participant this week in a Random Act of Art! This little lobster amigurumi was commissioned for a lobster lover.

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a customer who wanted a lobster, but it had to be kept secret. After several attempts to get the claws just right, I made this little cutie.

I set photos to the customer and waited in anticipation for the approval all artists seek from patrons of their art. She loved it and sent me the address of the recipient. I read the name and address and laughed out loud!! Turns out it was for one of my cousins! I called my husband over to see the address. I gleefully packed the little guy in his shipping container and sent him on his cross country journey. I heard today that he had been happily received!

So now that he has arrived in his new home, I can share him with all of you. He was a lot of fun to make and has been sent to a wonderful person.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this Random Act of Art!

Turtles of the Week: Sgt Peppers Turtles amigurumi

The turtles of the week are: Sgt Pepper Turtles!

These Turtles are all dressed up for the Turtle Ball. They are ready to have a blast! What Beatles collection would be complete without these little guys entertaining the crowd. Get them for Fathers day or for the Beatles fan in your life. I spent the weekend with my husband and best friend creating these cute turtles. They are great for bouncing ideas off of and I always know they will give an honest opinion.

Introduction to My Amigurumi Dolls

Hey Everybody

This is my first post on my new blog. My name is Amy and I am a crochet doll maker. Romero here is one of my first dolls. He is the doll that started it all!

He is a Zombie Amigurumi and HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!!! I have made him and several other dolls and toys. I have them all for sale at http://amysbabies.etsy.com

I have a variety of dolls for sale now and several more in production. The toys I sell the most of are my Magnetic Amigurumi Katamari. I can hardly keep them in stock. I have one available in my shop right now if anybody wants one. These go fast!

They can be made in custom colors. They are about the size of a softball and fit nicely in your hand. They have super strong magnets for hours of rolling fun! What kinds of things can you roll up? Try this and see.

I have recently started a "Turtle of the Day" promo in my shop. I think it is going to be stretched out to the "Turtle of the Week".

I listed quite a few turtles last week. The first one was inspired by the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. There is a poem in the books about a Turtle who is a protector of the world. The poem starts "See the turtle of enormous girth. On his back he holds the earth". This poem has always been one of my favorites and I think I might embroider it one day to hang on my wall. But for now I have created this little turtle. I hope to send him to a good home some day.

I also have a Military Turtle, a Winter Turtle and a Zombie Turtle. They can all be seen at http://amysbabies.etsy.com .

But the turtle that I was most happy with was the Willy Wonka Turtle. He has actually inspired requests for a series of Johnny Depp turtles. Including a Cry Baby turtle, a Captain Jack Turtle and an Edward Scissorhands Turtle. Those turtles will be added in the next few weeks. And there is a possibility of them becoming full sized dolls too.

Well, That and more is all available in my shop right now. If there is something you don't see in my shop, but you absolutely HAVE to have there is a link in my shop to contact me. I am happy to do custom orders.

Watch this space for more updates on my experiments with yarn!