Succulent Plush

Making a giant plushie seemed like a fun idea during this shelter in place time. I have this large piece of green-ish fabric leftover from the Charizard onesie I made. (I overestimated how much I thought I'd need...by a lot) I had been wondering what to do with it and thought of a bunch of green things like Bulbasaur, Oddish, Chicorita, Metapod.....(I guess I only think in Pokemon) but they were either the wrong shade of green or required a lot more colors. Also, I wasn't completely in love with the idea of any of them. The idea of a plant felt more homey and they're generally one shade of green so I didn't feel an extreme need to be accurate.

I started with a square sheet of paper that was around 20x20 inches.

Packing paper works great for drawing out patterns.

(semi-pro tip: take them for free from Ikea when you check out)

Fold the paper into quarters and draw out a shape of a leaf.

(I attempted a 5 petaled piece, but it gave me a headache trying to get them all even x_x)

I created 3 sizes of leaves. Use the same pattern and cut each tier about 1-2 inches smaller.

Sew each piece together all the way around with a sewing machine.

Cut a slit, as big as you need it to be, in the middle on one layer of the fabric (do not cut through both layers!) to pull the piece through to the right side.

Stuff with stuffing through the slit, leave the centers of each piece empty (this creates less bulk when the pieces are stacked together), hand stitch the slit closed.

Stack the pieces to your liking and sew through the middle while pulling tightly so the center dips in and the leaves pouf up.

(semi-pro tip: I folded my thread over 3 times before threading through a large eyed needle. It holds up better when you pull tightly through the pieces of the succulent)

For the center piece, I made a small 3 leaf piece.

It's a cute little plant on its own :)

Sew the final middle piece through the entire succulent.

I have a button on the very bottom that I sewed through. I thought it would help keep things taut and prevent the thread from ripping through the fleece. (It was the most challenging thing ever trying to find the buttonholes without stabbing myself...) I would recommend using a button with larger holes.

I shaped the succulent by overlapping some of the pieces and hand stitched them to keep them in place.

After doing some Googling, the closest succulent that this one resembles is an "Echeveria Chinensis"........ kinda?

It's a great cushion to sit on and I can easily reshape it so it looks pretty again :)

<3

Drawing Joy

The last time I really drew and posted something was when I drew Sadness. It's funny how the next one is Joy. My dear friend, Tracy is leaving to embark on a new adventure in Singapore and asked if she could commission me to draw her Joy from Inside Out. I was happy to do it, but only if it can be my gift to her :)

Tracy wanted the drawing to be a surprise so I browsed through different Joy images online until I came across one I liked. I chose this image, because of Joy's expression. She looks happy and hopeful and that was how I was feeling about her new journey. 

Some shots of my process!

I had the most relaxing time working on this :)
It brought me Joy ;)

I need to do this more often.

Excited, hopeful and joyful for this next step in your journey!

All the best to you, Tracy <3

Drawing Sadness

In times when I feel the need for some distraction and relaxation, I usually pick up some kind of craft to do to keep my mind busy. I haven't drawn anything for myself in awhile so with some sadness, I chose to draw Sadness from the movie Inside Out. Her blueness is very calming :)

Here is the reference photo. It's a little more sad than I had wanted, but I loved that there was a lot of hair to work with.

Here are some pictures of the process.

I forgot to take a picture of my initial sketch.

The sweater was the more challenging part of the drawing.

I like her little knob-like feet.

I was probably done a couple weeks ago, but I wasn't completely satisfied with it. I can keep picking at it, but it's time to just move on!

Hello, Sadness.

Liz and Kev Wed

For Liz and Kevin's wedding card I wanted to be a little creative and make my own card. I was inspired by the art of Chinese paper cutting, but I knew I wouldn't have time to cut a design for an entire card, so I designed something that would have some part cut out while the rest of the card would have some sort of intricate drawing.

The Chinese character for double happiness is a symbol of marriage so I chose to make that the cut out portion of the card. I knew phoenixes were common symbols for marriage in the Chinese culture, so I googled images of phoenixes, and designed a scene with paper lanterns. I thought I was set with just a phoenix, but then I read more into the traditions and found that a phoenix was always paired with a dragon as feng shui symbols to represent harmony in marriage. 

I don't know why I always make small sketches in my sketchbook. I have the entire page!

After sketching, I drew it out on a sheet of paper as an actual sized card and used a pen to trace it firmly onto my red cardstock paper.

I watched a lot of Ally McBeal to keep me company.

I used my craft knives to carefully cut out the character for double happiness.

By following the drawing I traced onto the paper earlier, I used a gold paint marker to draw out my design.

It's not super intricate, but it looks pretty cool.

I didn't have gold paper to use as the backing of the cut out of "double happiness," but I noticed the money envelope I was going to use for their gift was gold. It needed to be placed inside the card anyway so I used some washi tape and taped it behind "double happiness." 

Because my card was huge, I had to make my own envelope. I ended up designing it wrong, and it didn't cover the card entirely. I didn't have time to remake it, so I left it. Oops.

I'm naming them Fawkes and Fang after Dumbledore's phoenix and Roku's dragon.

Happy wedding, Liz and Kevin <3

Doge

I've been meaning to draw Jackie something ever since she (along with Sunny and JJ) got me a massive set of colored pencils (200+!). I did start a picture of Penny awhile ago, but I didn't like where it was going so I stopped. Now for her 26th birthday, I decided to make another attempt to draw her furbabies for her :)

Searching through Jackie's instagram (@pennyandkeebz), I found two pictures I liked:

But the one of them sitting and looking up was too cute to pass up. Look at how attentive they are!

I started with a rough sketch to get an idea of the proportions. Looks promising....

Then I went in and outlined some of the details.

I started with Kiba first, mostly because I'm right-handed and didn't want to smudge Penny when she was all colored in. Also, Kiba has more color and details and looked more fun to draw first.

Kiba done :) Penny was a little more difficult, because her coat is a lot lighter and was less defined.

While I was working on it, I thought of also making a shiba doge meme birthday card, to go with the drawing, but then I just decided to combine the two ideas.

I was aiming to have this done by her birthday (2/3), but it turned out to be a little too ambitious for that since I started late in January. So I said, I'll just mail it for Valentine's day! But life happened.

I finished the drawing the weekend we celebrated Lunar new year, so I was able to give Jackie her gift in person.

Happy birthday, Jackie! Ruv you <3

Single Life is Sweet

On Valentine's day, as a treat for myself, I really wanted to make a chocolate lava cake. However, all the recipes I searched for made more than one serving. Could I really eat that many lava cakes? Actually, it's more like, "should I?" Because I definitely can. And you know what? I'm not really watching my weight, so I will. The recipe I ended up choosing was from Taste of Home, and it yielded 4 servings. I cut the recipe in half to make 2 servings which I guess meant 1 serving for Christine ;)

This was my first time making a lava cake, so I didn't know what to expect with the process.

I was so excited to use the skills I learned from playing Cooking Mama in separating the egg yolk from the egg white. Cooking Mama would be proud.

I LOVE my heart ramekins.

There's a little tumor looking bit in one cake, because I poked it while it was baking.

I turned it out onto a plate

And dusted with powdered sugar and the leftover chocolate from what I used in the cake.

And oh my goodness, it was good. I am so glad I made two.

Happy Valentine's day!