Recreating an old sketch to use on my Cricut!

I've kept sketchbooks off and on for years... simple, inexpensive notebooks I'd pick up either on sale or at the dollar store. While looking through some of my older sketches, I found several I'd like to make into stickers. I started with this strange little critter that seems somewhat frog-like.

My original drawing was fairly messy, but still fun.

He needed a LOT of work! The original photo of my sketch wasn't all that great, and he very much needed to be cleaned up and sharpened up. Because of this I brought the image into Photoshop and basically redrew the entire image.

Once I was finished, I saved him as a basic PNG image, then brought him into Illustrator to save him as an SVG. Then I had an idea...

I love the rough quality of the lines, almost like the tool marks from a chisel!

I recently saw a post on Reddit that linked to a really fun website called CuteCutter that helps you create simple SVGs of your images so that you can print them and/or cut them out on your cutting machine. I've done several images and I love how they come out... I'll be sharing more of those in the coming days, believe me. :D

I have to say I loved the way my original drawing came out using CuteCutter! It has an interesting, organic feel to it... almost like a linoleum print! It will definitely make an interesting sticker!

Also, once I finished cleaning up my drawing I decided to share an animated gif to show the difference between the two images. It's always good to start with the highest quality image you can, so that you can wind up with better end products.

Hopefully I'll be showing you some lovely stickers soon, including this chunky boy. I also have several other things to share coming up, so keep an eye on this space!

Til next time!

EEEEK, it's a MONSTER!

I swear, I am SO TIRED of fibromyalgia. Since I'm in one of those weird head spaces where I'm not sure if anything I write is going to make sense, or be rude or weird or boring or... whatever, I'm just going to show you one of the projects I'm working on to distract myself from the fun that is my life at the moment. (Gee, does that come across as sarcasm? I hope it does. I should start adding in tags or something that say, "Hey, read this in a sarcastic voice and realize I'm saying the exact opposite of what's going on here.")

So... monsters. I've been wanting to try my hand at making stuffed animals for ages, and so a couple of weeks back I went to the dollar store and got some adorable socks. $4 got me 8 pairs of socks- two sets of knee socks and 6 sets of anklets in coordinating colors. I like having potions, and making what looks like patchwork fabrics.  (Oooh, another good idea... might have to get out the sewing machine for that one, though...)


I've been handsewing all of this, so it's a V-E-R-Y   S-L-O-W   P-R-O-C-E-S-S. That's a good thing, because it becomes a sort of zen-like process in which I lose track of my body and just become this stitching process. It's very enjoyable, unless I sit for too long and end up hurting MORE because I haven't moved in 3 hours. Yea, no one ever said I was brilliant. :D

Now I'm at a point where I'll need to get some eyes for my critter, and start deciding where I want the various bits and bobs attached. It'll work though... this is what I've sewn so far.

NOTE: I have not yet attached eyes, nose, or horns to the face. These are Photoshop mockups of what could be. I love exploring like this, because it doesn't cost money and it doesn't make me swear like a sailor because I have to go back and rip out stitches when I change my mind about something.

The photo to the right is ... clearly only halfway cleaned up. I thought I'd removed all the loose threads in Photoshop, but clearly they're hanging right over the legs. Ah well... be aware that they were all across the head too, so... whatever.

This is one mockup I did, looking at where I could place things. The ears/horns can be flipped over to show a light blue back, and the curve can go either way(out or in). I stuck them on top to see what sort of long tall critter I could come up with. This guy would remind me of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh if he were all pink.

The green stripe at the bottom of the head is the upper lip, and the big pink thing is a tongue. I may go back and make it smaller, or I might just sew a seam down the middle to thin it out some. It's... large.

I've also got the legs there, but I haven't stuffed them. They are long and super-skinny, so that should be lots of fun! Thank goodness I have chopsticks on hand!

After I made this one, I decided to fiddle around and try and come up with another facial layout. I like this one lots more...

I may end up doing a seam along the center of the head so that it's not so long and skinny. The point here is that I've got all sorts of options, and nothing but time to explore them in. It's a very fun process, if I do say so myself.

I've got several other projects going right now, and I photographed them tonight. I figure I can share them with you guys bit by bit, and not feel so overwhelmed by looking at over 100 photos and thinking "OMG WHAT DID I DO HERE???"

So what do you guys think? Would you want to try making a monster of your own? It seems lots more intimidating than it really is. I waited for weeks, then finally said to heck with it and jumped in, and I'm loving it!!

Monstah feets, I like those monstah feets!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

It's a monster flashback!

Here's another flashback, this time one of my favorite manicures of all time! I still get tempted to do another manicure like this, although I get sidetracked with all the other designs I want to do. Sometimes it's frustrating being creative!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these monsters, because I know I did!

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I have just finished the silliest set of nail tips that I think have ever existed. Rhinestones? Heck no, that's too elegant! Roses? BORING. (Not really, but go with me on this!) I wanted something different, something that really expressed my inner self. I wanted monsters! But not just any monsters. No... I wanted monsters with WIGGLY EYES!

That's right. These nail tips have monsters on them, and those monsters have 3D wiggly eyes that actually move! Some of them look excited, some of them look menacing, but most of them look kind of confused, and I really like that! They're silly, and they're weird, and they're in halloween colors to boot! Purple, green, and orange combine on a stark black background to make these monsters really pop.

Now, I started these ages ago. I got the test one finished way back on August 6, believe it or not! They clearly didn't take that much time to complete. But I got the bases painted and then had a huge moment of fear: could I finish them? Could I make them as cute as I hoped they would be? And those nails sat, and waited, taunting me simply by being unfinished. It was almost depressing!

Then one night I realized that hey, it doesn't matter if they're perfect. They don't have to be perfect because they're monsters! That moment freed me from the fear I was fighting with, and I was able to dive in and get back to work on them. The more I worked, the happier I got, until finally I was giggling as I painted on the goofy details, the pink hair bow, or the goofy teeth on the orange guy with eye stalks. They're not perfect, but they're cute, and that's enough for me. Anyone who wants perfect monsters can paint their own!

By the way, I think you should enlarge the image above, even if you don't click any other images on this blog. It's silly, and you can see all the little guys in their full glory. They're pretty nutty, really, and I love them all! I may have to make my own set of these, especially if someone buys them.

Wait, buy them? That's right, this set of nails is also up on Etsy for $24.95. They'll come nicely and safely packaged so that you don't have to worry about them being squished by the post office, and then you'll get to love the little guys while I miss them.  These guys found their new home ages ago.

It's ok. I can make more. Already, my mind is filled with googly-eyed critters, and I'm wondering what to make next...

So, what do you think? Any other critters you'd like to see?