Happy St. Urho's Day!!

Every year, my good friend Big John throws a St. Urho's Day celebration, with an abundance of make-your-own-pizzas and Grasshoppers-- mainly in the form of a minty, blended, alcoholic drink (although one year someone actually brought little lime and chili sauteed grasshoppers-- which actually didn't taste half bad).

For those of you who are wondering who St Urho is, legend states that "St. Urho drove away grasshoppers (rather than frogs) from Finland using the incantation "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!" ("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to Hell!"), thus saving the Finnish grape crops." (Wikipedia)

Well, Big John seemed to have all sorts of St. Urhos decorations, like St. Urho's cocktail napkins, but his decor was missing one crucial thing: a Fuzzy Grasshopper!! So during the two-and-a-half-hour car ride to Big Joh's party, well-equipped with green pipe cleaners, beads, and wire wrapping tools, I made this little present for him.

Even St. Urho himself would have a hard time shooing such a cute grasshopper out!!

Another Matchbox - Good Luck Charm for the Hubby!!

My poor hubby has been studying his butt off for the last 6 weeks, holed up in his home-office, for the California BAR exam. For those of you who aren't aware of this, the California State BAR is notorious for being among the hardest BAR exams in the country. I guess a lot of people want to be lawyers in California, though I'm not exactly sure why.

At any rate, with all the studying, the hubby was getting stir-crazy and was looking forward to getting the exam over-with, but also dreaded it at the same time. As a pick-me-up gesture, I made him a little good luck gift and gave it to him the weekend before the test (he took the test last week, and is now a much happier camper!) :)

I made a little green matchbox and affixed stickers with some words of encouragement.

Inside I put a little Fuzzy 4-leaf clover to bring him a little luck. How could you not smile with this little guy around?

The hubby brought it with him and while he claims that the exam was as tough as he had anticipated, he hopes this little guy brought him a little luck during the three-day test. Coincidentally, the results will be available on my birthday, so I'm hoping for a good present from the BAR Association for the both of us!! Keep your fingers crossed!!

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!

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

I pity the fool who don't think pipe cleaners are cool! - Mr. T

One of my guy friends at work, Chris, is into quirky things. I usually get a good Internet link at least once a week from him that would be categorized as "interesting." He's been a real supporter of my Fuzzington efforts, and he was the one who recommended that I make some mainstream characters, like the mini-Yoda.

He's also a real Mr. T fan. A couple of weeks ago, he found a scanned Mr. T cereal box from the 80s. Do you all remember this?

He downloaded the high-res file (it was like 50 MB), printed it out, assembled it, and had an exact replica of the cereal box in his cubicle!! I was so envious, I practically begged him to make me a mini one. A week a later, he stopped by my desk while I was on a conference call, and dropped a mini cereal box off at my desk! I was so stoked!! You too can have this awesome box by going to this site: http://tinyurl.com/yj5g8o3

At any rate, to return the favor, I thought I'd make him a little present. He'd asked me in the past if I could make a Fuzzy Mr. T. So last weekend, I gave it a try, and while it's not my best work, I found the end really made me smile!

Have you bought tickets for the Gun Show?
Look at the guns on this little guy!!

"I pity the fool..."

I got the gold chain from a quarter machine at Frys. Mini Mr. T was able to stand on his own until I put the gold chains on him. Then he kept toppling over because the chains were too heavy. So I had to glue him to a little wooden disc to stabilize him. I now realize why Mr. T was so buff in his heyday-- so he could support all those gold chains on him and not fall over!!

So Mini Mr. T is now sitting in Chris' cube next to the Mr. T cereal box! :)

Fuzzy Butterfly Garden

One of my friends at work was recently let go, and we were all very sad about it. This lady loves anything crafty, and loves all things Victorian. Think roses, tea parties, paper dolls... So on her last day, I gave her something that I thought would make her smile: a Fuzzy Butterfly Garden.

In the garden are three butterflies, a caterpillar, and a moth. The three butterflies can be hung like ornaments, and the caterpillar and moth are refrigerator magnets.

I didn't get to see her open it, but she did send me this thank you note:

"Let me just say that your gift was sublime. From the very get go of the creative gift wrapping, to the lovely note and to crescendo with the opening of the tissue to find my very own butterfly garden, hand made by you! It made me laugh and grin and cheer you on mightily! Well done Sharon! I love their size, colors and bright cheer they exude."

I'm so glad I was able to make her smile!!

I Have the Best Husband in the World

A few weeks ago, I was tasked with creating favors for my best friend's bridal shower, and since the theme of the shower was Hello Kitty, I decided to make some cute beaded Hello Kitty bracelets. They're made of glass beads and Swarovski crystals, with a little Hello Kitty charm. I bought the charms on Etsy. Here's mine.. isn't it cute?
However, I only had two evenings to put together TWENTY of these babies and I had no idea how I was going to crimp, tread, and bead all twenty in time for the shower. Luckily for me, I have the best husband in the world!! Now let me preempt this by saying that my husband is definitely NOT INTO CRAFTS. He thinks it's cool that I like them, but his idea of fun is sitting on the couch watching sports all day with a few beers. This same guy offered to help me bead the bracelets, so all I had to do was start them off, and he beaded more than half of the bracelets!! So sweet!!

Here's my cute husband in action.

I think it's so cute how he laid out all the beads before stringing them. I should have gotten him a beading board. =)

He was a real trooper and we finished all of them in one night (even if it took us until 1am)!! He even admitted that he had fun doing it!! What a great guy!!

HOBBY LOBBY

We are very blessed here in Southern California to have a lot of things that many people in the rest of the country wish they had: palm trees, beaches, beautiful weather all year round... but there is one thing that we do not have: Hobby Lobby.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was in Schaumburg this week for meetings, but in a perceived
act of divine intervention, my meetings for Thursday were canceled, and since I had a late flight and a rental car, I had the perfect opportunity to pursue what I consider to be a crafter's paradise. Oh, how happy I was to be in this store!!! I memorialized the visit with pics on my cell phone.

Why do I love Hobby Lobby so much? Well right off the bat, the sheer size of the place is astounding to me. Just look at it! It's huge! If you took a Michaels, JoAnns, and Aaron Brothers, and mashed them all together into the same store, you'd get Hobby Lobby!


And the selection-- Oh, the selection!! And the great prices!! Imagine a Wal-Mart that only sold crafts!

There is a whole half of an aisle dedicated to PIPE CLEANERS! Folks, I present to you the birthplace of Fuzzington:

There are thin pipe cleaners, thick ones, feathery, striped... even JUMBO sized pipe cleaners (in the left portion of the picture above). I didn't get those jumbo ones because I wasn't sure what I could make with them. Needless to say, I stocked up...


On top of that, I got some great deals on postage stamp collecting supplies, as well as animal eyes for my sock monkeys, and some great jewelry findings. Somehow I was able to stash it all in my suitcase, and airport security did not give me any trouble for bringing a bunch of craft supplies home.

When I got back to San Diego in the evening, my husband and I went to Trader Joes to stock up on groceries. As we were checking out, I joked about how the many items we were ringing up at Trader's reminded me of my purchase that morning at Hobby Lobby. The cashier overheard me and asked excitedly, "They opened a Hobby Lobby here in San Diego??" Unfortunately I had to break the news to her that this wasn't the case, and she looked disappointed. She had moved out here from Tennessee and said she really missed the store.

So for those of you who are fortunate enough to have this great store in your community, and are amused by how I revere this store-- I think you're really taking Hobby Lobby for granted!! Please, let this be a reminder to not take Hobby Lobby for granted! Perhaps one day, I can "lobby" to bring Hobby Lobby to the west coast. Until then, I'll just have to wait for my business trips to Schaumburg and hope for canceled meetings...

Why Dog Grooming is a Profession

There is a reason that people are employed to groom dogs, and I'm about to tell you why.

Here's our cute, sweet, adorable little dog Maggie at the height of her cuteness:
Doesn't she look so cute an fluffy that you just want to hug her? Yeah, well the cute fluffiness comes at a price. It has to be constantly combed to reduce tangling, and she is a woodchip magnet when she goes outside.

A few days ago, my hubby had the bright idea of giving her a quick haircut. My parents had given us pet clippers from a while back, and we thought it would be quick if we used the clippers with cutting guides. Well it turned out that Maggie's hair is very deceiving, and wouldn't cut very easily. Plus she squirms a lot and won't hold still when you try to cut her hair. She thinks you're playing a game.

Thirty minutes and a few frustrated sighs later, we gave up, and poor Maggie looked like a total hackjob.
We didn't even try trimming her head. Her body was so uneven!

You can imagine our utter embarrassment when we brought Hackjob Maggie into the Grooming Department at Petco with our tails between our legs. The groomer was really nice though. She laughed at our horrible grooming job because Maggie looked so silly, and reassured us that she had seen way worse, like people hurting their dogs in grooming accidents. We told the groomer to do whatever she could.

She called us an hour later and told us Maggie was done, and commented that Maggie's a "real bullet." We found out later that they had to take a few breaks because Maggie was so squirmy.

The groomer did a great job, but it is so funny how skinny Maggie's body is now. She's like an owl... under all that plumage is a little itty bitty dog. Her face looks better though. Neater. We bought Maggie a few shirts to keep her warm at night, and she doesn't seem to mind.



We're getting used to how she looks, and we've learned our lesson. With Maggie, grooming is not a luxury, it's a necessity for keeping her happy and clean, and reducing the number of woodchips on our carpet. $30 every 4-5 months is totally worth it! I totally understand now why there are "professional" groomers out there!!

Something tells me we're not going to hear the end of this for a long time...

Welcome to My Studio!

Some of you have been wondering where all the Fuzzington magic happens. Well, here are pics of me in my "studio." My studio is really also my office where my computer is. The pictures on the wall are some photos that I took at Big Sur. I have Ikea to thank for making them look professional with the frames! I love those pics because they're so relaxing. And naturally, I have a Fuzzington pic on my desktop!


When I sit down to creat Fuzzies, the first thing I do is take out all my existing Fuzzies, including the imperfect ones (hey I still love them) and line them up on my desk so I can be inspired by them! They usually come through.


So yeah, my workspace isn't all that fancy, but it's cozy and simple, a perfect environment to create my Fuzzies!!

Goodbye to a Wonderful Dog

Our family dog, Hachiko, died this morning. He was 16 yrs old according to the animal services department. He was a super sweet dog and we will definitely miss him. He seemed to be suffering in his last hours, and I'm glad his death came swiftly and quietly. He looked so peaceful this morning. Have fun in heaven old boy!

Uncle Fuzzy

On New Year's Eve, I was sitting at the coffee table in my parents' living room working on my Fuzzies in an effort to pass time until the countdown at midnight. My uncle, with whom I enjoy frequent witty exchanges, came by and began to tease me about my craft. He made some smart-alec remark about how I only new how to make cute little animals and asked me if I could do anything else. I told him, "Don't you worry, I'll make you something you'll LOVE."

So I went into my old bedroom and closed the door with a bag of pipe cleaners in my hand. Ten minutes and six pipe cleaners later, I emerged with my creation just for him, Uncle Fuzzy! My uncle loves gags, and as you can see, he got a real kick out of it!



I especially love how I captured the balding aspect of his likeness. This was certainly a conversational piece for the rest of the evening!

Good Fuzzies Gone Bad!!

My dear, sweet, adorable little dog Maggie committed a heinous crime last night!! Maggie has a liking for picking up socks and tank tops from the laundry pile and carrying them around in her mouth. Usually it's just socks.

I put a lot of things on the floor: books, headsets, clothes, papers, etc...I had my box of Fuzzies on the office floor, not thinking much of it. Five minutes later, I heard my husband cry out, "Oh-no! Maggie," and then to me, "I have some bad news for you." He brought over something in his closed hand. He opened it to reveal, to my horror, my Blue Bear Fuzzy (see last post) all chewed and mangled up!! ARGH!!!

I took the posting off of Etsy until I make a new one. So sad. RIP Blue-Bear-E #1.

The lesson of the day: Do not put Fuzzies on Floor, and don't be fooled by Maggie's innocent, adorable, lovable face!!!

A Fuzzington Comes to Life!!

We adopted a little dog last week. She is so sweet and adorable! We decided to name her Maggie. My nephew came by the other day, and said, "Look! One of your Fuzzingtons has come to life!!" She is my new muse. =)