Mistletoe 3D

While searching the net I came across this design for a 3D Mistletoe and loved it so much I had to try it myself. Unfortunately I can not remember where I found this or who originally made up this design, but regardless it makes a beautiful decorative piece to hang for this time of year.

This piece is made up of two separate pieces that interlock, sliding together at the stem of the mistletoe. Iron beads such as perler, hama or pyssla were used to make this along with two large peg boards for each piece. To the top of the mistletoe I added two jump rings to thread a ribbon through for hanging.

Mistletoe is not something I have ever seen in real life, but I have always loved the look of it as a Christmas ornament, the simple look of green and white is so pretty. So with this mistletoe measuring 18cm tall, without the ribbon, and 20cm wide, it seemed the ideal size to round out my Christmas decorations.

Mooncalf (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

Sometime ago I became the adopted mother of a Baby Mooncalf that had been separated from its herd after dancing under a full moon. I had fully intended to insure that this shy little creature was restored to its proper home amongst its own kind on the next full moon. Months later this still had not happened, until finally one night I was able to coax him out into the night. The last thing I expected was to adopt yet another mooncalf. But this is exactly what happened and I couldn't be more happy about it.

At the time of making my first baby mooncalf, over a year ago now, there were surprisingly no patterns available to make this sweet fantastic beast. Even more surprising is that in doing a more recent search, there are still no sewing patterns available to make a mooncalf. So I returned to my original pattern I designed myself. I do think that the first small version I made using this pattern turned out quite well actually.

Back then I designed the pattern by starting with a basic body shape I was happy with, adding to that an extended neck and slightly rounded larger head. The feet were a bit more tricky, in order to get a more webbed like look I used the Cornish Pixies feet as a guide. The shapes for the ears, tail and eyes were easy enough to draw and my pattern was complete. Only for my baby mooncalf I used buttions for the eyes which was a simple alternative for a plush that size.

This larger mooncalf was made in the exact same way and with the exact same materials as my first. The only exception to this is that for this larger mooncalf I instead sewed the eyes on using needle turned appliqué, the eyes were then also stuffed a little to give them a more round shape and a black safety eye was added to the centre of each for the pupil. This larger mooncalf was also given a mouth, something I did not do for the smaller version as it would have been too fiddly.

The baby mooncalf I made previously was only 4.5 inches tall, but this larger version is exactly double this size measuring 9 inches in height. This larger sized mooncalf made the job of turning out the feet so much easier then it was with the baby mooncalf, as seen by comparing the feet of each below. I also really like the wide eyed look of the larger mooncalf as it stares of into the distance in search of moonlight.

While I am very pleased with the pattern I created and the two mooncalf creatures made from this pattern, I am a little sad that there is not a bit more love in the world for this adorable yet shy creature. Newt Scamander's text Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them does not do these majestic creatures justice, however their appearance in his suitcase has seemed to create greater appreciation for these lovely, shy beasts.

Cuddle Pillow Toy - Kitty #2

This fat cat pillow toy is another gift I have made. I loved this purple fabric I had and just had to use it paired with the same pink accent fabric I used for the first Kitty Pillow Toy I made. As with my first kitty, this kitty also has eyes that are pink coloured safety eyes, the whiskers and mouth  embroidered in black using backstitching and a pink nose, blanket stitched in white, that is also the same pink fabric as its ears.

This cuddly Kitty Pillow Toy is the perfect size standing at roughly 9.5 inches tall, not including the ears, and about 8.5 inches wide, not including the paws, making this colourful kitty the ideal size to cuddle up with, or fall asleep on if desired. This kitty also has a long tail measuring just under 12 inches long. The pattern for this, along with many other toys can be found HERE in the Shiny Happy World shop.

Plush Rodent

This cheeky little critter was made from another vintage pattern I happened across. He stands about an inch taller then the Beanie Rodent I made and as you will see he is also a lot wider, so I decided to instead stuff this fella in order to accentuate his shape, instead of using plastic pellets like I did for the Beanie Rodent and My Beanie Mouse.

The pattern for this actually recommends using fur fabric which I think would have looked great, however as I use only recycled materials and I had no fur fabric this is what I came up with. I used the white on the belly and in the ears to contrast with the darker maroon colour of the body and tail, black was used for the paws, embroidered nose and safety eyes and a pink tongue completes this plush.

The total height, including the ears, is about 13.5cm, so he is quite a comfortable hand held size, and with a tail 19cm long, he is also quite comfortably swung about, not that I'm actually in the habit of swinging him by his tail. Front on this critter is about 6.5cm wide, however as seen in the picture below, he is much wider side on measuring closer to 10cm.

I love finding old vintage patterns that are not commonly used any more but are still cute and unique, like this little critter. I think a larger more cuddle friendly version of this would make such a great gift for little ones. In the meantime this little fella will join the Beanie Rodent and My Beanie Mouse on my increasingly crowded bookshelf.

Supergirl Key Chain + Necklace + Hairband

This is an iron bead gift set I created for a special someone who is a fan of the cartoon series DC Superhero Girls. Supergirl is a specific favourite of her's, and so I thought this a fun accompaniment to go along with her Supergirl & Wonder Woman topsy turvy doll I had previously made her, seen here. The Supergirl symbol was one I found online, but the rest of the pieces were designed by me.

All the pieces making up this set, except for the last piece, were created using a square peg board and iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. The key chain of Supergirl was designed by me. She is small, about 6.5 cm tall, which is a cute size for a keyring. Once she was designed and ironed together I added a jump ring and a cord that I made myself from a waxed blue cord, cord ends, smaller jump rings and a lobster clasp.

The necklace was designed to resemble this version of Supergirl outfit, namely her collar and Super symbol. I used my Sailor Moon Fuku Necklace for reference when designing this. After the pieces were ironed I connected them with jump rings and then made the chain from a silk blue cord, cord ends, smaller jump rings, a lobster clasp and added a few chain links to make the necklace size adjustable if needed.

This last piece is Supergirl's crystal pendant, a gift from her mother, that I decided I liked better as a headband. This was so simple to design, for this one piece I used a star peg board to create the diamond shape and after ironing this was hot glued to a plain black head band that I bought from ebay. Overall I was very pleased with how this Supergirl gift set turned out, I especially liked the necklace which is definitely a statement piece.

Fantastic Beasts Wand Wallpapers set3 - Frenemies

I have previously made wand wallpapers for both Gellert Grindelward and Albus Dumbledore but as these two character possessed more then one wand within their lifetimes I decided they needed more then one wallpaper. Gindelward's previous wallpaper was for his original wand, but here he is master of The Elder Wand. Dumbledore's previous wallpaper was for The Elder Wand, but here he is still using his original wand.

These wallpapers are for Gellert Grindelward with The Elder Wand and Albus Dumbledore with his original wand. To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

View all the wallpapers in the Fantastic Beasts Wand Wallpaper Collection HERE.

This last bonus wand wallpaper is for the Albus Dumbledore wand that could have been. This wand was to be used during the Fantastic Beasts series by Dumbledore as his original wand, it was even seen in the first promotion image, however it was later replaced by the one above J. K Rowling felt it was too similar in appearance to The Elder Wand.

Dress Pillows #3

This is another Dress Pillow I made as part of a set that I gifted to my niece. The first two I made can be seen HERE and HERE. However this dress pillow is a little different from my first two as this did not start out as a dress at all but was in fact a baby sleepsuit. In order to make this into a pillow I remove the legs that made up the bottom half of this suit and also trimmed the sleeves from its original long sleeves to the caped sleeves seen here.

The cute butterfly design, along with the embroidery on the bib of this sleepsuit, makes for such a sweet pillow for a little girls room. This pillow is also a nice little keepsake for a favoured piece of baby clothing that my sister don't want to just store away in a box somewhere, but wanted to be able to display and use. I found it was nice to be able to come up with the idea, as simple as it is, to turn these precious baby mementos into something new and useful.