my current wishlist...

a circus monkey by Dingogirl - she does them in lots of different colours but I'd like a pink one just like this.



a bag of licorice allsorts by ScrumptiousDelight



a plush brontosaurus by LEFTZ



and a travel card holder by Felt Mistress. (I wouldn't mind Tippy as well but he's probably well out of my price range for now!)

can you guess what it is yet?

In my last blog post I said I was about to start working on something for my swap partner for the Strumpetscrumpets Valentines Swap - well I've just finished it! I want it to be a surprise for my partner when she gets it, so rather than show you the final thing I thought I'd show you a work in progress photo I took this afternoon.

Valentines Swap

I was reading the itsy bitsy spider's blog a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that she was taking part in the Valentines swap over on the strumpets crumpets blog. Having just recieved my Russian Christmas swap I was feeling quite in the mood for another swap so I signed up too! My swap partner is Annie from Wattlebird - you can check out her Etsy shop here and her blog here. I'm just about to start making something for her...

The Cupcake Bunny

If you're feeling hungry and in need of something sweet, call the Cupcake Bunny and she'll bring you something to eat. She works at the bakery not far from here and her cupcakes are famous for bringing good cheer.

The Cupcake Bunny is available in my Etsy Shop.

photos from CandyLand

Thanks to FuzFrenzy for taking these photos :)

Sugar Plum, Flossie and Bronwyn hanging out in CandyLand

and here's my Cherry Lolly Tree in the distiguished company of plush made by Zfla, Plushroom Soup, and PterodactylPants.

Business cards on the table...

Spot my 'Lifesavers' Letter O in the Bonbon banner.

My little Cherry Lolly Tree again and look at that massive Pez elephant made by zfla!

Sugar Plum, Flossie and Bronwyn and a huge ice cream made by Diane Koss of Cutesy but not Cutesy

outoftheframe in Stuffed Magazine

Another one of my exciting parcels that arrived the other day was my copy of Stuffed Magazine. And why was it so exciting? Well.... here it is - outoftheframe in print for the first time!

I sew cute :)

If you read my blog yesterday you will know that I got loads of exciting parcels all in one day. Well here is the contents of one of them! An awesome Christmas present from my sister - the I sew cute sewing kit from Fantastic Toys. I love it!

My Russian Christmas Gift

I have been expecting quite a few parcels for a couple of weeks now and have been wondering where they've all got to. Well today I found out! I went to collect the post from the PO Box for the church and found all our mail had been put in there too! So today has been like Christmas.

One of the parcels I was excitedly waiting for was my Russian Christmas Plush Swap from someone in the plush team. Well here it is! Thanks to Heather from Needlings for my awesome new plushies.


First - an awesome Needlings Christmas card and a cute little business card...


And then - 3 awesome plushies, some pins - and is that some werthers originals I see down there?

And here they all are - the complete contents of my parcel!

Thanks again Needlings :)

And keep checking my blog over the next few days to see what other awesome things I got in the post today!

CandyLand

The Plush Team Show 'CANDYLAND' opens on Friday at the Hot*Pop Gallery in Milwaukee. There will be some amazing plush art on show. If you live in the area make sure you visit and for those of you who don't (like me) let's hope someone takes lots of good photos!

Check out this article in OnMilwaukee.com about the show and see if you can spot the reference to outoftheframe :)

Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Krista for winning the giveaway - and for everyone else there's always next time :)

Below is the randomized list of all the entries and above is the winning entry number.

Giveaway Time!

this little DJ could be dropping some old skool beats at a party at your place soon...

You have 5 chances to win him. Here's what you have to do to enter:

1. leave a comment here on my blog telling me which is your favourite item in my etsy shop.

2. share the link to that item on facebook.

3. tweet the link to that item.

4. share the link to this giveaway on facebook.

5. tweet the link to this giveaway.

don't forget to let me know which of these things you have done and make sure I have a way to contact you in case you are the winner :)

The winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator.

The giveaway will close at midnight GMT+1 on Friday 14th January and the winner will be announced soon afterwards.

Buckle

My Mum sent me a text saying that my Grandma - who we called Buckle, would have been 100 today. She actually died almost 20 years ago but I still remember so much about her. She had a very big influence on my life and is probably the reason I love making amigurumis as she was the first person to teach me things like knitting and crocheting when I was little. She was an artist and was always making things. This picture was taken in Devon ages ago by me so I'm not in it which means you don't get to see me looking like a funny little girl :) The little girl in the front is my sister and then there's Buckle, my Mum and Dad and my Uncle. She was an awesome Grandma. The best you could ask for :)

What do you think?

I've been adding new items to my shop the last couple of days. Here are some of them and there's more to come! What do you think? Which is your favourite?

SALE

All my Christmas amigurumis have been reduced by 25% for one week only! Sale ends on Monday 10th January. Click here to go to the Christmas amigurumis section of my shop.

Making a good start to the year

I've been properly selling on Etsy for a year now. Last year was ok, I made sales but I also learned how hard you have to work to get sales! This year I want to do better so I guess that means even more hard work. I've been busy these last few days making new amigurumi for my shop so it's full of new exciting things at the start of the year. It's looking quite empty at the moment and when I take the Christmas stuff out it will be really empty! So keep an eye out over the next week or so and you'll see lots of new things appearing in my shop :) Here's a sneak preview of some of what I've been making.

Amigurumi movies - Part 3

Our main character is now very upset :( She tried to get a present by stealing and it didn't work and now she feels bad cos she knows she did something bad. She decides there is no way she'll get a present this year. She is really tired from all this thinking and from being upset so she puts her hat on, goes to sleep and the video starts...

Here is the translation:

It looks like there isn’t a way...

New girl: Hi

girl: hello

New girl: why are you so sad?

girl: it’s better if you don’t ask

New girl: come on – I’m sure it can’t be anything so bad – and if it is it has passed. It’s a new year – smile a little.

girl: How can I smile? – I don’t have anything to smile about

New girl: Ahh you are one of those people that needs a reason to smile. I know what you need. Here you go

girl: What?

New girl: It’s ice cream – for you. Take it.

girl: but I don’t have anything to give you in return for it.

New girl: you are silly! it’s a present. You don’t need to give me anything. I simply thought that it would make you happy. that’s why I bought it for you.

girl: wow. I can’t believe it. thank you so much. it’s so good!

And so the message of the show - a present is a present, you can't earn it, you can't steal it, you can only recieve and accept it :)

Amigurumi movies Part 2

so at the end of the last video the little girl doesn't get an ice cream - even though she was really nice and gave the Eskimo a cup of tea.

Our main character takes off her hat. Now she is worried - she thinks there isn't enough time left to do enough good things to earn a present and so she needs to come up with another way of getting a present. She puts her hat back on and the video begins...

Here is the translation for those that need it:

or maybe in a not so nice way..

boy: there you go – you didn’t get any ice cream.

girl: it still isn’t over – I’m changing tactics.

boy: what are you talking about?

girl: I have another plan, but this time you need to help me.

boy: ok let me hear your plan.

girl: We’ll do it like this. When the Eskimo comes you will get him into a conversation and I will steal an ice cream from his basket.

boy: please – how do you think you can be good by stealing an ice cream?

girl: you are so slow. When you steal you don’t need to be good anymore to get anything – do you understand now?

boy: ok – but on one condition – that you take one for me too.

girl: ok

boy: Hello, it’s you again with your ice cream. Tell me – how is it in the North Pole? It seems to me that it must be very cold. It’s not surprising that you came to Jajce (the town where we live) – it’s better than the North pole. and how on earth do you heat your houses there? It really isn’t clear to me! There everything is ice – I have to say - I couldn’t live there.

girl: whoops – did you see how that ice cream fell out of the basket? just like it had legs! We need to go now bye

boy: you are so clumsy.

And....the final episode will be up tomorrow!

Amigurumis in the movies Part 1

This is the first video of three that were part of the children's show we put on last week. The videos are a glimpse into the imagination of the main character. Each time she needed to think she would put on a big black and red hat and then the videos would start as if we were seeing into her mind.

Before this video the main character says that she's heard that you have to be really, really good to get a present and she is worried that she hasn't been very good this year. She decides she will have to think of something good to do quickly if she has any chance of getting a present. Then she puts on her thinking hat and this video plays.

Here's a translation of the video for those of you who don't understand!

We try in a nice way to get a present:

girl: Hey look. that Eskimo has lots of ice cream. He could give me one...

boy: listen to you – he certainly won’t give you an ice cream just like that. Look how he likes to eat them.

girl: you are silly – I didn’t think he’d give me one just like that.

boy: Then what did you think. Why would he give you his ice cream?

girl: I know what I’m going to do. Look how cold it is today. I’m sure he’s freezing just like his ice cream so I will be really nice and bring him a cup of tea. You will see that he will be really grateful and I’m sure he will give me an ice cream to say thank you.

boy: pull, pull, pull

girl: Hi – your basket of ice cream is so cool.

Eskimo: Thank you

girl: I really like your hat – it must keep your ears really warm.

Eskimo: thank you

girl: You know what – I thought that today must be really cold for you and your ice cream so I’ve brought you a cup of tea.

Eskimo: thank you very much. I must go now. thanks once again. bye

boy: ha ha ha – your plan was so good...

And now I'll leave you in suspense as to what happens next - you'll have to check the blog again tomorrow:)

Enjoy and Happy New Year!