The Little Octopus... and he was yellow.

Spoonflower does these great contest every week. We design a fabric based on the theme they give and then that fabric becomes an entry. If it's in the top 10 it goes live for sale in the shop without ordering a sample (before an item is listed, the artist has to order a swatch of it, to make sure it's what they were aiming for. Much like real fabric production).

The contest this week is:

Cephalopods

In honor of Cephalopod Awareness Days (Oct. 8th- 12th) we decided it was about time again to pay homage to our favorite inky sea creatures. Although, it's a fact that not all species of cephalopods produce ink. With more than 800 species of cephalopods, that's a lot of inspiration to draw from! Show us your best Cephalopod themed design! Previews will be sized as a fat quarter (21" x 18") Deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 29th, 2015. Voting will open Thursday, October 1st, 2015.

Which usually people think of Squid and such, but I wanted to do an octopus, and because I'm on a pillow doll kick I made him into a cut & sew pillow doll.

As you can see, my ideas start as really crude sketches. You get the idea, and can see how that went into my design. I sketch on paper, take a photo with my phone, send it to myself, and then create in Illustrator click by click. Someday I will get myself a drawing tablet, but for now... and for years, I've done it this way.

He will be published in October if he doesn't rank in the contest, in both fat quarter size and a giant yard sized doll, and also a pattern print (links to follow once it's live).

You can get him now on t-shirt at TeePublic!

Sugar Skull Monkey - Cut & Sew DIY Doll

This week I have been shaping up my fabric monkey dolls and getting my spoonflower shop in tip top shape! I have been wanting to fix it up and I guess inspiration just hit me right in the middle of September. I've been up late, tired, running on coffee.

 However, while I was updating the Sugar Skull Doll, I remembered that a customer had tried posting images that didn't upload. So I reached out to her, and I'm glad I did, she sent me the most adorable photos of her little sugar skull doll. She even made her a scarf, AND she salvaged the tiny sample doll and made herself a needle case. Thanks so much bindeej!! ADORABLE!

   

My Spoonflower shop got a a makeover and I have a Santa Skeleton and VooDoo Reindeer in process. Once the samples arrive, they will go live. 

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/staceyjean

You can get a peek at what's coming in the designs that are not for sale yet, here.

DIY Cut & Sew Monkeys!

I have wanted to create an updated version of my cut and sew dolls for quite some time. As I began to work on the new design for my stickers, I found myself knee deep in the inspiration to recreate the fabric dolls... I'm so happy to announce that they are up in my Spoonflower Shop and ready for purchase!

Today I received a sample of the Zombie Monkey.




The body is 8" on it's own, which means, this bad boy is going to be about 15-16" or so tall head to toe! I'm so excited to put it together.

There's also a version of my Skeleton Monkey, Voodoo Monkey, Sugar Skull Monkey, and my newest character... a CLOWN MONKEY!

You can see them all and order them here: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/staceyjean

you asked for it...!

Over the last couple years, I have gotten quite a few requests for a Macabre Kit. I always turned them down, but thought about it quite a bit. This year, as Halloween nears, and my Christmas list of custom orders grows, I realize that I may not have time for a bunch of Macabre making... and I'd like to make other ghouls, too.

SOOOOOO, I have decided to release 20 of each of the main sized Macabres, as a kit. That's 40, 20 12" and 20 14" total.

Macabre was born in 2008. He was inspired by a shirt my 1 year old was wearing at the time. I had been wanting to make more monkeys that I could repeat, like characters. Macabre just came together really fast... and was a hit right away.

I have made him in 4 sizes. 10, 12, 14 and 24 inches. There is only one 24" Macabre in existence.

Which brings us to the kits... want to make your very own Macabre, the Skeleton Sock Monkey? 40, total kits, ever. I promise, there will be other spooky kits, for sure. But this guy, this is it. He goes back to being sold as a completed monkey, when the kits run out.

These kits have stuffing included, will send using Priority Mail, and will ship by October 1, 2010.

CLICK HERE to see what skeleton kits I have in stock right now.