Tagged: Narwhals

why, hello there!

I hope your 2011 has been going along nicely. Mine, so far, has started slowly. This January, for me, has been a month of observing.

I’m typically a do-er, a producer. I sew and photograph and blog. But in these last couple weeks, I’ve been listening, reading, and observing instead; I’ve been quieting myself down a bit so I can hear what’s going on in the outside world. All of it has been a nice respite from the pre-Christmas narwhal frenzy… even though I’m still making plenty.

But I don’t want to sit in my quiet little world forever. And now that Christmas gift-time is over, I can share some pictures of the custom narwhals that were requested over the holidays.

giant stuffed narwhal
A double-size narwhal! These were requested by multiple separate people, which I found interesting… maybe they should become a permanent Fluffyland fixture? They were definitely fun to make… it felt awesome to be making such large plush.

blue stuffed narwhal
A blue narwhal! I’ve considered adding an option to choose narwhals in other colors, but for now it’s by request only. It would make inventory considerably more difficult with a rainbow palette… so we’ll see how that looks in the future.

stuffed narwhal with a purple heart
And a stuffed narwhal with a little purple heart! I much prefer applique to embroidery. I didn’t have time to do any name embroideries this Christmas, plus they’re really not something I like to do. But every once in awhile, a narwhal just needs a little extra something and I understand that.

That certainly wasn’t all the special Christmas sewing I did… there were also the more exciting, out-of-the-box, completely narwhal-unrelated projects that I took on. I’ll post pictures of those tomorrow!


p.s.
I’m currently wearing this woot shirt. It was a Christmas gift from my brother, and it matches this post quite well. ;)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

greetings from narwhal-land!

velour plush whalesI have begun to refer to my room as the Narwhal Factory (others may argue for One-Woman-Sweatshop), considering that besides homework, eating, and sleeping (in that order), narwhals are basically what I do. I’m not complaining. I’m almost complaining. It’s stressful at times. But this is an awesome college job.

My craft show Saturday went well, for my first one. It was a slow day for all of us, but I got to make friends with some Cleveland crafters and learn tips from people who have done far more customer interaction than I have. It was wonderful to get real-life opinions from people… online, there are plenty of people who stop through the site without buying anything. Do they like, dislike, hate my products? But in real life, nobody can walk by a whale without commenting on its cuteness. Which always helps the ego get a little boost.

I also had lots of fun brainstorming. First of all, I would love to do more craft shows. It’s hard to find shows in Virginia that aren’t super-folky, but I’ll be on the lookout this summer. And I want to build a nifty display setup; you guys don’t get any pictures because the room was dimly lit and, while I had a decent setup for my means (ie Dorm Room and dishracks), it wasn’t picture perfect. Next time, promise. And I realized that I don’t have anything that boys, especially boys in the “can still get dragged to crafts shows age”, can buy. First order of business once school’s out: boy ipod cases. That’ll be fun.

I did sell something. Two somethings, actually. And since there weren’t too many people coming through, I was happy. And I made friends, so you should check out their stuff:

Judy of Modern Pixie
Stephanie of Stephie Lou
Jessica of Jewelry by J
Jen of Jeneration Design
and Nelleeta, but she doesn’t have a website…

Today I was thinking about going for a walk through Little Italy and exploring the little art galleries… but the skies are alternating between bright blue and drippy gray. A good day for staying in and sewing, which is just what I’ll do – once I get my room to be less of a mess.

narwhals and news

narwhals in bulk

lotsa boxesOn Monday, I sent off a total of six narwhals for one group of people… that’s a record! It was a bit stressful to do so many at once while keeping up with work and such, but knowing that there are six more people in the world who have something I made in their house? That’s an awesome feeling. It’s so worth it.

It’s that feeling, the feeling of being appreciated, that makes crafting worthwhile. I can’t encourage it enough – buy handmade. When you buy handmade, you are paying people to do what they love. And people who do what they love are happy, and happy people tend to spread happy. So spread the happy, my friends.

Okay, enough of my sappiness. In other news, I’m heading to a craft show! It’s not a huge ordeal, just a little show with an indie boutique (salty not sweet) that opened a few miles away. It’s my first show ever, so I’m glad that it’s small, especially since I’m working out of my dorm room at the moment…

It’s tomorrow, 12-8pm, so if you happen to be in the Cleveland area you should stop by and say hello!

i can't say they're not cute