Sweater Brobee

For those of you who have young children, the name "Yo Gabba Gabba" may be a common part of your household vocabulary. I know it is with my brother-in-law and his wife. Their son LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba. His favorite character is Brobee. Brobee is this green striped creature that reminds me a lot of that old McDonald's character Grimace (old skool). For Christmas, I decided to make him a handmade Brobee toy of some type.

My original plan was to make him a Brobee sock toy, since Brobee could easily be made in the same fashion as a sock monkey. But it was virtually impossible to find green/lime green striped socks! I looked online, at Walmart, and Target! No luck. Then I tried to find striped fabric at JoAnns... no such luck (out of the thousands of patterns they have there). So finally I tried Ross, thinking maybe there was something I could use from the kids section. Again no luck.

So I gave up and decided to go shopping for myself. I went to the Juniors section to find a sweater for myself, and lo an behold, what did I find? THIS SWEATER!

It was PERFECT! The right color, and it came with a scarf!! All for $6.99! There were only two on the rack and I bought both of them up. I used one sweater for Brobee's body, and the sleeves from the second sweater for the legs. I also got a green microfiber towel to make his head.

Here are the pictures I took throughout the process:

Being that I'm not the best at sewing, I learned a few things along the way and had to redo the stitching of the arms and legs to the body, but it looked pretty good in the end.

On Christmas, my nephew was one happy boy. His first remarks about his gift were, "Brobee is BIG!"

All the time and hard work I put into it definitely paid off!

Pipe Cleaner Riley - The Golden Retriever

My buddy Chris has made it into my blog again!! I just finished a custom order for him that is going to be a Christmas present for his sister, and I think it's one of the sweetest presents ever! He asked me to create a Fuzzy of the family's dog, Riley (who, btw, is a girl dog-- apparently "Riley" is a unisex name... kind of like "Taylor," I guess). Anyhow, here are the pictures of Riley that he sent me:

Isn't she the cutest Retriever you've ever seen??

Oh and then there's this one... EEK!

Don't worry folks-- she's just catching a snowball mid-air!

Chris also requested that the Fuzzy have a pink leash or collar, but given winter is pretty darn cold in Boston, I gave the Fuzzy a pink scarf instead. Here is Fuzzified Riley:

I really love how she came out! She looks like Baby Riley!! Chris also pointed out that the keychain looks like a leash, which I hadn't thought of. I hope his sister likes it! I almost wanted to keep it for myself!! :)

Merry Christmas, Chris' sister!

Teach Me... PLEASE!!!

I went to a friend's house over the weekend and spent the evening with his wife and kids. Since they were cooking, I thought it would be a nice gesture to bring their kids a little something in as a token of thanks. So I made each of them a Fuzzy dog and they loved them when I brought them out. Success!

But that's not it. It turns out his 9-yr old daughter and I both share a passion for crafts, and this little girl is VERY CREATIVE. Well, today, I got the following email from my friend:

"Be prepared that you will receive email from my daughter from now on. She has been hooked into your little gift. She spent most of her time trying to make the same figure that you gave to her. She was frustrated and even cried because she couldn’t make it. She asked me to invite you to our house again (very soon, like next weekend) in order to teach her how to do it."

I was flattered that I could make a little girl cry (in a good way). I told my friend that I could offer her some hints and thanked him again for the wonderful evening and dinner.

A couple hours later, I received this email from guess who:

"Hi Ms.Sharon,

Can you please stop by my house for 30 minutes to teach me how to make a dog out of pipe cleaners before CHRISTMAS ?

I have about 150 pipe cleaners.

I was planning to make dogs for my relatives for christmas present. Can you e-mail me back? Please tell me what date and what time you are available."

Wow, this little girl is HARDCORE! How could I say no to that?? So this weekend, I'll be going to their house to spend a couple hours teaching her the tricks of the trade, and some of my "secrets." I should have her sign a non-disclosure agreement so she doesn't take that knowledge and outsell me in the market! =P