puppet play: diana schoenbrun guest post!

If you're anything like me, you have any number of stray socks and mittens lying around the house that have sadly lost their mates. In the new book Puppet Play: 20 Puppet Projects Made with Recycled Mittens, Towels, Socks, and More, author Diana Schoenbrun shows her readers how to make super cute and easy puppets from these and other recycled materials.

Since many crafters are interested in the creative process behind a craft book like this, Diana is here at the honeybee blog today to tell us how she came up with the inspiration for her book.

PS--if you'd like to try out a couple of sample projects from Puppet Play, including the quirky striped elephant puppet on the book cover, please visit the links below!

Crazy Cat Puppet
Betty the Elephant Puppet

From Diana Schoenbrun:

I came up with the idea for Puppet Play a few years ago.

I had taught a puppet and playwriting classes for children ages five to seven. They wrote a short play with characters and created puppets from materials found around the house. I enjoyed making puppets with the children and wanted to take this idea further. Why not use gloves, mittens, scarves, towels and other materials to build toy puppets for playtime? I wanted the materials to be easily accessible and found at home. I tried to incorporate found objects and repurpose other materials. Of course, it helps if you are a pack rat and save things for a rainy day.

Here’s some fun background information about the book. I used a green bandana from hiking trips for the frog puppet. Some cans from my leftover meals were used for a Robot puppet. The Roslyn Raccoon puppet is based on my sister. The original book title was “Take Those Stinky Socks Off!”

Check out the past blog tour stops below. Learn about how I store my supplies at Whip Up, check out how I came up with ideas at SewMamaSew, and how my mom influenced me at Oh My Handmade. Leave a message on my blog and Puppet Play Facebook page and I will choose one winner on May 27th to receive a free book.

Diana Schoenbrun is the author of Beasties: How to Make 22 Mischievous Monsters That Go Bump in the Night and Puppet Play: 20 Puppet Projects Made with Recycled Mittens, Towels, Socks, and More. Visit her online on her website, blog, and Facebook page.

Other stops on Diana's blog tour:

Luvinthemommyhood
Oh My! Handmade

Craft Sanity
Sew Mama Sew
Little Birdie Secrets
This Mama Makes Stuff
Roots and Wings
Whip UP
Fiskateers
Zakkalife
Prudent Baby
Make + Do 

Craft Test Dummies
Cute Everything
Schmancy
Progressive Pioneer
Pink and Green Mama
Craft Gossip

Photographs courtesy of Diana Schoenbrun and Andrews McMeel Publishing.

velveteen rabbit adoption

Well, there was more drama on Swap-Bot over people not sending swaps they were supposed to. Fortunately this was caught in time for me to re-route the Adopt a Book Pet swap I was to send to my flaky partner, however, so I was able to scramble and make something different for Moineau in France with a few days' notice.

Her profile talks about how much she likes books featuring animals as heroes (!), so I wanted to make her something featuring one of my favorite books, Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit. My favorite version of this book features illustrations by David Jorgensen, so I did a little embroidered wall hanging based on one of the drawings.  I used thin corduroy and wool blend felt for the body and sewed it onto grey cotton cloth (which used to be one of my husband's nice dress shirts). I used masking tape to tape down the embroidery to cardboard backing and slid everything into a thrifted frame, and it's on its way to France now along with official adoption papers.  This isn't the first time I've made rabbits into wall hangings, but I think it's my favorite.

If you've never seen the beautiful film version of this book, by the way, you really should check it out. It uses the Jorgensen illustrations, is perfectly narrated by Meryl Streep, and also includes gorgeous music by George Winston. You can watch the first part of the movie here...but the film is so wonderful, it's really worth adding to your collection or perhaps even tucking into an Easter basket. I just love that it was done by Rabbit Ears Productions! At the 5 minute, 30 second mark in the clip, there is a brief flash of the drawing upon which this embroidery was based.

worried bunny

Here is the last holiday photo for the year, I promise. My friend Holly and I decided to do a Christmas swap together, but the normally trustworthy postal service has been very slow since mid-December. My package to the UK took 3.5 weeks to get there, and after nearly six weeks I still don't have mine from her yet! But I know it will be worth waiting for.

Anyway, I sent Holly a bunch of things, including various books, peanut butter chocolates, bunny slippers, and a holly brooch sewn from felt and needle-felted berries.

I also made her a tiny felt bunny wearing a hat and coat made from a recycled cashmere sweater. (The same sweater I used for those arm warmers awhile back...it's the gift that keeps on giving!) Holly is just crazy over rabbits so hopefully she'll enjoy having one for her tree. I like that she looks a little worried, since I've always thought that most buns usually are. Lots of Mr. McGregors around, you know.

red riding hood ornament

Last year, I made a lot ornaments as gifts. I'd hoped to participate in some Christmas ornament swaps this year, but many of the ones I saw I was sort of leery about joining or the timing just wasn't quite right. I did join one swap from another blog, though, and I hosted one on Swap-Bot as well, in which you were to make a lovely fairy tale ornament for your partner.

Though the swap was sender's choice, I always try to tailor to my partner's tastes if I can, so I was pleased to see that one of weeatcrayons' favorite stories was Little Red Riding Hood. There's something about that story about a girl walking in the lonely woods and danger in disguise that's always been so appealing to me--and of course, the drama of the scarlet cloak can't be beaten!

I decided to sew a little Red Riding Hood out of wool felt, and used a vintage button and lace to accessorize. I cut everything freehand (I know it would be so much easier if I spent time on a pattern first, but sometimes I just think more intuitively with scissors) so it took a little while to figure out how to make the cloak nice and flowing, but I think it turned out all right. I had plans to weave the little basket with fabric strips as well, but working on that small a scale it was impossible, so I just created some detail work with embroidery instead. The little flowers inside her basket are also vintage, acquired from Dozing Dormouse's Etsy sale a few months back. I just clipped the flowers down and made a tiny bouquet with floral tape. Everything was hand-stitched, which took longer, but when things are this small I think it's just easier.

I thought it'd also be fun to make a second companion ornament, so I used shrink film and a vintage illustration to make another storybook page. I glued silvery tinsel around the edges (my first time using E-6000--it's kind of evil, no?) and tied a pretty ribbon at the top. I quite like the way the sun looks shining through it, so I think it should look pretty good on a lit tree as well. Hooray--the first ornaments of the season are complete!

matryoshka plush

Departing this week: two plush matryoshka dolls made for a pair of little girls in Texas.

This pair of dolls was sewn from wool felt and are huggably-sized, with one sister a little bigger than the other. Lulu has a wee bit of a wave in her hair and both girls have their names embroidered on little patches on their tummies. Their mom asked me to make these for her daughters because they are a Muslim family, and nesting dolls wear a similar head scarf to the ones worn by Muslim women. As such, I just made sure that there weren't ties beneath the chins, which reads a little bit more "Russian peasant." I quite like their rosy cheeks and their red, red mouths!

I'm pleased with how they turned out...and now I may have to do another one for myself at some point. Did you know that the word "matryoshka" is derived from the word "mother?" Very sweet! More information on the history of nesting dolls here.

fairy tale sewing kit

I sent a second present to Candy as part of a separate fairy tale exchange, in which participants were supposed to serve as a Lost and Found service and return an item to their partner that might have belonged to a fairy tale character.

Another favorite fairy tale of mine is The Wild Swans, in which a young princess is tasked with the job of knitting shirts in order to break the spell that has turned  her six brothers into swans. The shirts were made of sharp nettles that cut her hands as she made them, and because she becomes mute as part of the bargain, she cannot defend herself against the charges laid against her by her scheming mother-in-law. This particular story stuck with me because, although it does have a happy ending, it seemed fraught with trials and tribulations, and the poor princess had to sacrifice quite a lot in order to save her brothers and to save herself.

For this swap, I thought it would be interesting to create a little sewing kit that the princess might have used for the finishing work on these shirts. I first created six little swan pins to represent the brothers, using Shrinky Dink film and a vintage swan illustration. I roughly followed this tutorial from Wee Wonderfuls to create the pins, although I used a heating tool on the pins instead of baking them in the oven. This was the first time I'd used shrink film since I was little, and it was great fun and so easy to do!

Next, I cut a pattern free-hand and sewed a wool felt pincushion, incorporating a swan image as well as nettles and leaves around the edges. The pink and pale green felt was hand-dyed, and embroidered with floss. Lastly, I enclosed a pair of golden scissors with a bird on the handle, along with a letter written to the rightful owner from the Lost & Found delivery service.

The best thing about this is that Candy actually does a lot of sewing herself, so the sewing kit was both appropriate for the princess, as well as appropriate for my partner! This was a really fun swap to create, and I'm really glad I had a chance to do it.

studious cupcake

I held a swap recently in which participants were invited to Make Food with a Face. I sew a lot of veggie plushies, of course, though I've never made anything in the bakery category...but since my partner has a sweet tooth, I thought this would be a good time to experiment!

I made a funny little plush cupcake out of wool felt, and  decided to give him a pair of glasses as well. Being that my partner also collects yellow hardback Nancy Drew books, I had to enclose a note written on my spiffy stationery from Fred Flare, too. If I'd thought ahead I would have gone out to get a bakery box to pack him in, but instead I just wrapped him in soft tissue with a tag and sent him on his merry way. I've been sidetracked for over a week now with a minor wrist injury, so it was nice to ease back into the crafting with this project.

In other news, I can't tell you how excited I am by our little children's lit swap group. I just posted A Little House Christmas swap, in which participants send stockings filled with Laura-inspired gifts to their partners. You've probably noticed that I'm crazy about Laura Ingalls Wilder, so I can't wait to get started on this one. Sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that I might have started this group just so I could get *exactly* the kind of present I really wanted for myself.

don't look if the holidays stress you out...

...because I'm sorry, I just love them. Love them! I'm ridiculously happy pretty much from Halloween through New Year's because I'm busily plotting away how to spread Christmas cheer. And yes, I know it's still only August.

I've talked about how much I love Christmas before, and it's a sad fact that it's never too early for me to start thinking about it. It's nice to find like-minded people out there who are as crazy as I am, though, so I had great fun putting together a Pick Two Paper Christmas Items package for my swap-bot partner Lisa.

Being me, I couldn't just pick two items of course, so I included:

* a packet of several different holiday cards
* a recipe card with my favorite recipe for Royal Icing for sugar cookies
* two cozy knitting project cards, since Lisa enjoys knitting
* a packet of hand-stamped holiday tags with cheery striped yarn ribbons
* personalized shipping labels with vintage Santa image and "Merry Christmas!"
* personalized address labels with vintage Santa image and "Happy Holidays!"

I attempted to send the envelope with leftover Christmas stamps I had, thinking I'd weighed it properly, but was mortified to have it returned to me with postage due a few days later. Fortunately I'd made everything and sent it out on the first day, so the parcel made it safely with time to spare. Phew! Lisa wrote me a note to say how much she loved her "AWESOME" package, which I very much appreciate.

Here are a few other exchanges that also went out recently as well--three postcard swaps, for which I couldn't resist altering cards with images specifically for my partners, though it wasn't a requirement.

One partner said she likes gnomes, another partner said likes lighthouses (I sneaked in a little bit of my taste with the Rilla of Ingleside image there, too), and one partner made me really happy because she likes woodland animals such as hedgehogs. So of course I had to make her a sewn one using fabric left over from the baby quilt! All great fun to do. I can't believe I've never altered postcards until now, but I think many of the cards I send will be personalized from now on.

the lady who lunches

A friend asked me if I would sew a doll for her niece recently, and I was glad to accept, especially since she left the style up to me. I decided to make a smaller soft doll than I'd ever made before, using pale blue felt for her hair and giving her a modern 'do. She's dressed in a pink hand-dyed wool suit trimmed with vintage lace and buttons, and she's accessorized with a crystal necklace and lace scarf.

I'll tell you a secret, though. I really like how the sunglasses came out, but she's only wearing them because there was a terrible, terrible accident with her eyes when a big, evil piece of fuzz got in the way of the paintbrush. You can still see the remnants in her one wonky eyelash, but overall I think it turned out all right. I figure we've all had our bad moments with mascara.

After all that, I decided she wasn't quite right for a little girl, though, and will be making something else for my friend's niece. Not quite sure what to do with this lady, however, who looks like she's ready to go out to lunch. Trade her? Put her on the shelf? Either way, I'm thinking about giving her a beauty mark on one cheek. She seems like the kind of  lady who would have one.

vella the sea monster

On her way to Finland tomorrow: a rare specimen descended from the octopodidae family. Named Vella after the goddess Vellamo, the mythical goddess of the sea in Finnish folklore, this small sea creature has been chosen to co-habitate with her new host family as part of a study by the Deep Sea Creature Recovery Institute.

I made her for the Adopt a Monster Plush swap for my partner Taija because she enjoys squid, octopi, and other creatures of the deep. Vella's friendly fanged face is embroidered by hand, and I used wool felt hand-dyed a soft purple with Kool-Aid--which is especially appropriate since her new mama likes to use drink packets to dye knitting yarn and expressed a desire for some. I put together a little packet of drink mixes for her, along with an official adoption certificate and welcome letter (whose shield is a real Finnish one depicting Vellamo). The letter is a little cheeky, but I think the recipient will enjoy.

Here's hoping mother and sea-child bond quickly and will have a long and happy life together!

 

hedgehog baby quilt

When our friends told us they were expecting their first child, I knew we wanted to do something a little more special than the usual shower gift. I'd always wanted to try making a quilt, and a baby one was just the right size to try. If it was baby-sized, after all, how scary could it be?

My husband and I went downtown to the fabulous Michael Levine store to pick out fabric, and we spent a good hour looking over the many choices. Our friends are artistic and retro and cool, so anything too babyish or saccharine pink wasn't going to swing it.

We were excited to find a darling woodland print in Robert Kaufman's Hedgehog Meadow--bright and cheerful and just sweet enough without being too cutesy. We also liked Hoffman Fabric's snuggly flannel stripe, as well as Michael Miller Meadowsweet for the other patch. I also fell crazy in love with the aqua and brown woodgrain print from Joel Dewberry, which made for fantastic bias tape. (Incidentally, I'd forgotten the name for Meadowsweet when I was writing this up, and couldn't find it even after searching pages and pages of images online. But as soon as I used this online Etsy fabric color sorter I previously blogged about, it came up instantaneously! Highly recommended.)

I consulted lots of books and online tutorials while I was doing this project, but in the end I mostly just compiled the knowledge and figured out how to do the quilt by trial and error. I'd hate for it to be examined too closely (ah, the joys of learning how to deal with bunchy fabric and a walker foot!), but in the end I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

The baby's name will be Abigail Byrd, so of course the finishing touch had to be a pretty blanket-stitched "A" applique monogram with a bird perched on top. All ready and waiting to cuddle the little miss when she finally arrives.

a very small present for a very brave girl

We sent off the little care package for our niece last week. In it were a few things to keep her occupied after she comes home from the hospital: two Peter Rabbit board books, a coloring-in butterfly ornament and mini markers, the Peter Rabbit matching + memory game, silly putty, animal crackers, the felt spring chicken, and a small badge of valor. It's made of felt, embroidery thread, and satin ribbon fastened with a pinback, all packaged up in a little stitched bag.

The "brave" badge makes me think of Ramona Quimby, who tackled all the joys and worries of her childhood with intense enthusiasm. Ramona never had to have surgery, but I like to think that if she had, her father might have made her something similar, perhaps with construction paper, crayon, and Scotch tape. 

Fingers crossed that all goes well with our niece's surgery at the end of the month.

spring chicken

A little girl we know is having surgery soon, so I've started gathering a few things to send her. First up, a pretty spring chicken using this pattern from Martha Stewart.

Instead of using a felted sweater, I used wool felt I'd hand-dyed to a soft tangerine orange color, as well as some contrasting fabric in a cheery print. It's such a quick and easy project that I may sew some more, 'cause really, who doesn't love a small chicken?

I'd also like to do the pig pattern featured on the MS site sometime, too.

felt flower hair pins

I made a set of felt flower bobby pins for my friend recently. These pictures were taken in a hurry under dim lighting, so it's a bit difficult to see that they're actually a soft tangerine-y orange sort of color, which I got from hand-dying wool felt with Kool-Aid.

I used silver beads for the centers and stitched up a little tomato-red case with her initial. There's a vintage button closure, and the outside of the case has similar flowers with a purple bead in the center.

Quick and easy project, with satisfying results. I liked the way the flowers turned out so much that I made a bunch more, although I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them. Will they be made into more hair pretties? Fabric jewels? We'll have to see.

recycled cashmere arm warmers

It's been so c-c-c-cold in Los Angeles this week. Yesterday it got down to a rainy 45 degrees, with 45 mph winds on the coast. We battled the weather in the best way we knew how: with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and Bailey's in our hot chocolate.

I've also been wearing layers like crazy, especially the arm warmers I made last year from a thrifted sweater, so I decided it was time to make another pair. There's so much Christmas crafting to do, but I just couldn't resist the urge to make these on such a wintery day.

I had a pretty oatmeal-colored cashmere sweater with unsightly stains on the cuff that I'd never gotten rid of, so I thought this would be a great project to recycle them into.  After some quick reconstruction and sewing, I added some vintage buttons and voilà! Cozy arm warmers. 

Now I'm thinking about the other unworn sweaters and tops in my closet...

christmas bear dilemma

I'm making about 3/4 of our Christmas gifts this year. When you consider that, aside from friends and adult family, there are 14 nieces and nephews plus 7 siblings between Mr. Honeybee and myself, it gets to be a fairly massive undertaking. I'm doing pretty well with staying on schedule, but this year I keep finding myself sidetracked with projects as I'm crafting. (Last night the sidetrack consisted of an urge to bake walnut rum cookies from the December issue of Martha Stewart Living.)

One trip off the beaten path was this Christmas bear. A number of crafts I've made recently have been inspired by Kata Golda, whose charming book Hand-Stitched Felt I reviewed earlier this year and loved. This particular bear I cut freehand and embellished, using wool felt and sparkly red pom poms for the holly. I'm not sure yet whether she's staying with me, or going off to a friend.

Decisions, decisions...

make a babushka plushie

I love browsing craft projects online. With the two Twitter accounts I keep, one for crafting and one that's a mix of crafts, film and writing, it's pretty hard to keep up with all the great stuff I see. There are literally dozens of projects I come across every day that sound interesting. So when there's a how-to I actually remember to look up, read through, and then DO, well...that's quite something.

This cute little babushka plushie tutorial from Cut Out and Keep tickled my fancy, and I decided to make a similar plushie and turn her into an ornament. I didn't really use the tute, but just sort of eyeballed the image for inspiration. 

I used wool felt, vintage lace and vintage button for her head covering, and added the sequin loop so she could hang from a tree. I liked her so much I decided she'll stay in the honeybee household...along with the felt snail beside her.

holiday craft swap

I was invited to be part of a craft swap recently--I'd done an impromptu one earlier this summer and really enjoyed it, so jumped at the opportunity when I saw it on Twitter. 

"Craft swap" is probably a misleading term, since it's really more of a chain letter, except with more crafty goodness. Basically, you make one item and invite six other arty people to join, who invite six more crafty people, and in the end you (hopefully) end up with 36 handmade presents.

I wasn't really sure what to make since I didn't know the recipient, so as with many projects I just sat down with a pile of fabric and thread and waited to see what would happen.

I decided to make an ornament using the wool felt I'd hand-dyed awhile back, along with a little soft pouch. All hand-sewn--all the better to craft with in front of the television.

The finished product: a winter bear! Hand-sewn, crocheted loop, and outfitted with a candy cane.

I hope the recipient, who is a graphic designer, likes him.  I went on her blog after I sent it off and discovered that some of her favorite colors are lime green and orange--a happy coincidence! Waiting and hoping she'll let me know that she gets it. Can't wait to start receiving goodies in the mail too.