Peg People: Scuba Diver and kokeshi style Mermaid

check out Ironman/Thing here.

So for my other swap partner, I decided to make a Scuba Diver and a Mermaid.

As with Thing, I couldn't find a lot of scuba divers around, so I decided to accept the challenge and try to create my own!

This little guy has twin tanks on his back.  Handcrafted from rolled up cardstock filled with hot glue then covered (one could say decoupaged) with newspaper and painted yellow :)  Classy, I know.

Originally, the tanks were going to be removable, so attached is a small hair elastic.  But when I finally settled the tanks on the diver's back, they stuck out a little wonky and looked silly...so they got super glued to the peg.

This guy also has some cardstock fins, covered in clear packing tape to make them a little more durable.  If this peg is to be played with by a child, the fins would need to come off as they are not very durable.

I wanted his mask to be a little cloudy so that it would look like plastic...so I mixed some of my high gloss sealer with a touch of white paint.  I think it's a little more cloudy than I wanted, but we'll just say he's a heavy nose breather and keeps fogging up his mask :)

I got lazy and didn't put "weights" on his weight belt, they are just black dots.  But I'm really liking the yellow buckles for everything...added a nice bit of color.

I love this mermaid. 

 I really like the kokeshi pegs you can find on etsy, but the blank dolls are $$$, in my opinion.  So, I made my own.  

It's an egg shaped wooden piece and a sphere.  I drilled holes in both and used a dowel and wood glue to attach them.  My head is a little crooked, but whatever.  Turned out pretty good for my first Kokeshi attempt.  And only cost me $0.25.  Way better then the $4+ going on etsy.  

Her buns are wood buttons also found in the wood section at the craft store.  I drilled holes to fit and glued them in :)

I LOVE these eyes.  Copied them from abbyjac on etsy (she has some GREAT pegs :)

These guys went off to their forever home and I hope they will be happy there!

Peg People: Tony Stark as Ironman and Thing from Fantastic Four

Do a search on etsy for peg people and you'll find over 2,000 items!  They are quite popular considering how simple they are.  I'm a little obsessed - just check out my pinterest page if you think I'm kidding...

I joined a Peg People swap on swap-bot (it's an on-going series) and one of my partners indicated that her son would like Ironman and Thing.

I had to be a little different and I painted Ironman with his helmet off.  During the last movie (Avengers, I think) it seemed like he spent an awful lot of time in his suit w/o a helmet :)

I found very few Thing listings around, so I thought this would be a good choice for the little boy.

My daughter enjoyed playing with the Tony Stark peg, but I hear they've found a good home :)

Valentine's Shirt for a Boy

 This is from last year...I just found pictures of it on my hard drive.  And since it's the day BEFORE Valentine's Day, I thought I would post it!

Of course I got the idea for this from pinterest.  A Pretty Cool Life has a little description of how she made it, if you need assistance!

It was pretty easy.  My applique skills have improved greatly over this last year.  That heart fin would be pretty easy for me this year (i think).  

I should make one for me!

Valentine Cards - Love Monster with Googly Eyes!

It's almost Valentine's Day!  I'm getting these cards out just in time...even though they won't get to their destination until a day or two after the holiday.  Oh well!

Eye, Heart, You!

The heart is a 3D sticker I picked up from Wal-mart when I ran in to grab some milk.  I had every intention of making glitter hearts, but I couldn't find my glitter card stock and these stickers were so much easier than cutting and mounting hearts :) 

I love the googly eyes!

This Love Monster is soo stinkin' cute!  The google image I copied him from looks like it was a stamp, so whoever designed you, thanks!  Because you are ADORABLE!

get the pdf from google docs here. 

Happy Creating!

DIY Christmas: Felt Food - Packaging

I have a friend that says "Presentation is Everything."  She's usually talking about dinner, but I felt the same way about packaging up my felt food!  

Each item got packaged by itself, with a cute label saying what was in it (just in case you can't figure out that those yellow things are suppose to be ears of corn!)

I then wrapped all of these individually, because what 3.5 year old doesn't LOVE ripping open presents?