Marvin the Sock Monkey

Meet Marvin the Sock Monkey! You will probably already know that I have been making cuddly toys for years (take a look at my Monster Magic page if you didn't already know) but I have never ventured into the world of sock creations. There are two reasons for this, firstly that I much prefer the idea of using plain fabric, I think I decided it was less restrictive. Secondly, and more importantly, I have a good friend who makes sock creatures and is much better at it than I will ever be. She does make them to sell so if you are interested in purchasing a sock creature, or just want to have a nose at her brilliant work check out her Socksy Beasts page on Facebook.

 
Anyway, back to Marvin, why did I made a sock monkey? well because I was gifted a sock monkey kit of course! A great excuse to take a sneak peak into the world of sock creations. The kit is from www.sockcreatures.co.uk and contains everything you need to make your very own sock monkey. Of course they don't just do monkeys. there is a huge range of sock creature kits from a sock fox to a sockasaurus, you really need to take a look to really appreciate how many different kits there are.

So, what do you get in the kit? Well, the bag contained a pair of socks (doh!), I have to admit the colour put me off making this for a while but never mind. You also get some printed instructions on how to make the sock creature, stuffing, thread, needle, accessories to decorate your creature and some sweeties (which really do help the creative process!).

The instructions were very easy to follow and the kit was a doddle to use so I would recommend this. It would be a brilliant gift for a young child to help them learn to sew, but is also a bit of fun for adults too. There are however a couple of comments I would like to make about this particular kit. Firstly, why they sent neon orange/black socks with lilac thread I will never know, the stitching is really obvious. Secondly the pattern shows the arm being cut the wrong way round. The diagram implies you cut the arms with the ribbing close to the body, I did this and it looked really daft as the ribbing on the legs and tail are all at the opposite end to the body. So I had to chop the end open and re-sew to make it look less daft. Apart from that a very lovely kit.

After following the instructions to make the sock monkey you are then left with the option of customising your creation. Now as he is a very dapper monkey, and orange and pink are one of my favourite colour combos I made him this lovely giant pink felt bow tie <3. I think it makes him look very sophisticated!


So what do you think to Marvin? I hope you like him, even if hes not the most perfectly sewn.

If anyone would like to adopt him he is free to a good home, I will happily cover postage, just leave me a comment at the end of the post expressing an interest. If I get more than one response we will do a random number generator by the following week. Please don't post your address details in the comments I will get in touch with you for more details. I should point out though he is not brilliantly sewn so should not be given as a toy to very small children as he is not CE tested for safety.

Ice Cream Brooch Kit by Tugba Pop and Giveaway

What better than ice cream on a Bank Holiday? Well its not actually been that great here, so instead of enjoying a cool lolly to keep the heat off, I delved in the these beauties instead! They are much cuter and definitely better on the hips don't you think (though of course this doesn't stop us have real ice cream as well!).

Anyone who has been following my Pinterest will know that I have been eyeing up this brooch kit since before Christmas. You can get your very own from Tugba Pop Illustration and I purchased mine from their Not on the Highstreet shop for a mere £5! I mean, why wouldn't you? Honestly, go do it now (well after you have finished here of course).

So what do you get for your money? Quiet a lot actually. There are detailed instructions on how to make your brooch, templates, tracing paper, leather to use as the backing, 5 fabric samples to make the pretty designs and a brooch back. The only things you will need to add are a sewing machine, thread and some glue (and more brooch backs if you are like me and were savvy enough to get a couple of brooches out of this one kit).

As you can see I opted for some sweet treats and choose a traditional ice cream and the fab style lollypop. The instructions in this were really easy to follow and the whole process was a delight. My favorite bit was deciding which fabrics to use, it took me so long there were so many variations! All in all it probably took me about 30 minutes per brooch, which is no time at all. This is a great little thing to make for some instant gratification. I didn't even use my leather machine needle, nope, you just need a normal sewing needle and some normal thread.

So, because I managed to get more than one treat out of this kit I thought I would take this opportunity to offer up a little giveaway for you to win the fab style lollypop brooch I have made using this kit. All I want you to do is write a comment below and let me know what your favourite thing to do on a summer day is. I will then pick a winner at random. I will leave the competition open until Midnight Sunday 01st June and will announce the winner on Monday 02nd.  Good luck everyboby and I really hope you enjoyed your bank holiday weekend.

Some Midweek Inspiration: DIY Craft Kits

Naturally, being a crafty person myself, I have a lot of friends who enjoy making things themselves in one form or another. There are knitters, sewers, professional jewellery makers to name a few. Because of this I always try to find gifts for them which are either handmade or kits for them to make things for themselves. I really like to do my bit to support UK hand crafters/artists, especially at this time of year.

There are so many good quality kits out there, and I had a wonderful time over the weekend scouring Folksy and Not on the High Street for Christmas gifts for them. Because of my obsession with Pinterest I obviously made a board of them so I could gather ideas and then go back to it later to make my purchasing decisions. 

Some of my favourites however can be found directly linked from here:

Home Sweet Home Knitting Kit on Folksy - knit your own tiny little house keyring
Screenprinted Fabric Pouch Kit on Folksy - sew a little bag with hand screen printed fabric
Leather Keyring Design Kit on Not on the High Street - sew your own little leather keyring (bird/cupcake)
Triangle hat knitting kit on Not on the High Street - hat knitting kit, the colour scheme on this is great
And Finally
Animal Hats on Amazon - I purchased this for a friend, and its so good its gone straight on my own Christmas list!

There are so many good kits to be found as you will see, these were just ones of my personal taste. I really would advise, if you are stuck for present ideas, to check out these two sites and support UK made craft because there really is some incredible talent out there. As mentioned above, there are a couple of these which made it on to my Christmas list, and some which I will probably purchase afterwards.

Please do feel free to share any craft kits you have found and fallen in love with, or ones which you sell yourself. I would love to see them.