Monster Making At Cheltenham Art Gallery...

Yesterday we packed our monster making supplies and headed on down to the Art Gallery in Cheltenham. There were 15 expectant kiddos waiting for us to divulge to them the secrets of how to make a monster StuffedNonsense style.

We set up and enjoyed a cuppa and five minutes peace before we began...(That's right dear readers....contrary to popular belief we stuff our creations with clouds not stuffing...or so this picture suggests.)(El got her tea in the most awesome dinosaur mug...but perhaps I'm biased as the Stegosaurus is my favorite dinosaur)
The talented young pipsqueaks arrived and set to cutting, stuffing and sewing with great gusto. It was great to see them all going for it and enjoying sewing. The results were fabulous!...

(I loved this little girls guinea pig, she made another one in blue as well, i think she might go home and make lots more! she seemed to enjoy herself loads!)

(The blue one had tap shoes on!)

(The kids that made these four paid so much attention to detail it was fascinating! check out the wings on the one on the far right!)

(These two guys kind of stole the show though....please may i introduce you to...'Super Bat' & 'Bug Boy', the little guy that made these two had such fun playing with them after, it was seriously cute.)

(I love this ones accessories...an apron, a scarf AND a bow in her hair!)

(A super talented mother and daughter sewing team made these two guys.)

Hope they weren't too scary for you!

We will be back soon with some new creations.

xxx

More Snaps and Tidbits for You.

Hello dearies,

Hope your feeling fine and dandy. The shop has been a rather pleasant place to be of late. Our day jobs are rather busy at the moment so the calm of our handmade haven is very welcome!

We spent the most of today working on some fleece creations, there's a chance we might be able to have a stall at a craft fair specifically for kids so we wanted to explore some 'child friendly' fabrics. The fleece we brought is soooo soft, i had to resist stroking it! we used some old 'Misc Monsters' templates, and think we are pretty happy with there look. We are just going to make sure that all of them have felt face panels as the fleece is super fluffy, so if we sew straight onto the fleece you cant see it! I think my favorite is the purple Kangaroo, it looks like hes being held up for his money or something.

(sorry for the fuzzy pictures...the camera was not playing ball...as is the way with technology.)

Its El's nephews first birthday soon so she spent some of her day working on this little beauty for a birthday present...You cant tell in the picture that well, but his body is a big 3d ball made from beige cord (a bit like the pipsqueaks but a lot bigger) There's a chance we might make a few more for the shop, what'cha think??
We also took delivery of some amasing jewellery by the talented Bijoux Des Fauves. For those of you who love rather 'quirky' jewellery i think your going to like what this lady does. I'm rather taken with the big grizzly bear necklace myself...i think there may be a genuine need for on in my life!

The tags which she uses are simply amazing, i do believe there will send an email to her shortly asking if she would be interested in making up some prints of them to sell at the shop.

On that zoological note I'm going to sign off, but not before bestowing my words of gratitude to all of ya'll that listen to our sporadic ramblings here...we truly wish we were better at this blogging malarkey but sometimes it is hard to find the time between running the shop and going to work, so if your there....THANK YOU. the support you provide is immense and we would be lost without.

XXX

Save Me....!!!!

For i am drowning in a see of buttons!!That's right dear readers, its jewellery making time at StuffedNonsense which means that the jars of two, three and four holed delights are out in full swing!! On the menu today we have Chunky Buttons Necklaces and Extra Long Strand Necklaces.StuffedNonsense fact for you....

Did you know the ideal length for an extra long strand necklace is precisely the same length as Bex, which is around about 5.3!! Save that little nugget for a rainy day i guarantee it will come in handy!

As is usual, lots of comings and goings have been going on in our little old world. We had a manic weekend last week and did 2 craft fairs in as many days, we had a great time at both and met some really lovely people, so if you are one of those lovely people 'hello! and thank you!'.

Then we had orders to meet for the wonderful Sheena and Louise of M.A.D.E, as well as all the usual hubbub associated with keeping shop (said hubbub includes...not dusting, not hoovering the rug and not putting fabric away once your finished with it!)

We also had a day of coping with around about 2 hours sleep (house parties always seem like such a good idea at the time don't they?) whilst finishing Pigeons and Warm Thoughts (ohhh fiddly hand sewing we do love you soo!)

That pretty much brings us up to date.

All that's left to say is starting from 12.30pm tomorrow we are on holiday until we re-open on Wednesday 20th.

Both of us are soo ridiculously excited to be packing our tents and wellies and heading off to the 2000 Trees festival, which is just down the road. its a bit of a tradition now, every year we have soo much fun and this is just what we need to re-charge our brain boxes. Bands we cant wait to see include 65 Days of Static (again), Johnny Flynn (sigh....of course that sigh and dreamy look in my eye is regarding the lovely songs he sings...definitely not his handsome face) Bombay Bicycle Club and Jim Lockey to name a few!! We don't consider ourselves experts or anything but we reckon you might like some of these guys, why not click and have a look???

Ohhhh, and did we mention the open air silent disco? (hazy memories of me jumping around like a crazy person to rage against the machine, Rich singing his heart out to the lion king and all of us performing a perfectly in tune rendition of the Kings of Leon.)

I do apologise for the rather long post....but I'm excited! if there are any half decent photos will pop them up here....perhaps you'll see my new super short hair and glasses??

Stay Safe Lovely StuffedNonsense Followers

xxx

Familiar Faces...

Hello out there? How are you all...not too burnt we hope?(i grew these in my garden dont'cha know?...)

We have been preparing for two craft fairs we are doing this week...one after the other...this could prove to be a bit crazy...in fact we are fairly sure that we could eliminate the 'could' from that sentence and replace it with a 'will'.

The manic levels of making which always accompany StuffedNonsense whenever we prepare for craft fairs resulted in the production of some lovely dustbunnies, which are like old friends now. They were one of the first things El and I made together as StuffedNonsense. The first one we made was huge (we remember him fondly!). The design has changed a little bit since then, they are now fairly small and cuter for it we think.

Some of the dustbunnies have taken it up a level and now come equipped with key rings...ohh yes they are definitely living it up in the 21st century!

The fair which we are at on Saturday is at a school so we thought we might come up with some bits that kids would like, which is why we made these sweet little flowery headbands...

We thought that the girlie's would like them and perhaps some trendy mums maybe?
Well, that's it for today. will try and take some more snaps of bits and pieces for you later on in the week!
xxx

Eye Candy Anyone??

Fellow bloggers and fans...

we feel that it is essential that we let you know about something wonderful, and we are ashamed to say that we have known about it for a while but have been selfish and not told you about it for some time. please please please forgive us, we have come to our sense and now realise that it is only fair that we let you in on it.

We are, of course, talking about the INSANE skills of Abigail Brown. we're sure that some of you all ready know about this very talented lady but for those of you who don't she makes wonderful fabric bird sculptures that look like this...

I can only marvel about the level of skill required to make these beauties. it is now one of ambitions to own one of her feathered creations.
As is usual with us creative types Abigail also makes other delights...
Which means that i now need this little fella as well as a bird, they are both a necessity!!

So ladies and gentlemen we can now leave the laptop with a clear conscious because we have let you in on our feathered discovery...what do you think??

In other news....

We are busy trying to prepare for a craft fair filled weekend on July the 4th and 5th...except we took dear old Nina in to be serviced so that she would be in tip top condition for the flurry of activity we predicted but there's a chance she wont be with us in time!!! eeeekkkkk!! I'm sure all will be fine and she will be with us safe and sound before too long.

I've been giving myself a hernia over a dentist phobia which is going to have to be confronted sooner rather than later...i took a positive step today though and registered with an NHS one (which specialises in anxious customers!)

We have been preparing for a Ma and Pa Smith visit (and apparently they come laden with wonderful vintage gifts...i have heard rumours of hand embroidered aprons, scrabble sets, children's books and china! phew...like mother like daughter hey?!)

We will hopefully be welcoming two new sellers to our lovely little shop, we will let you know a little bit more on that when we can take some snaps of the wondrous items!!

Anyway! I'm going to go apply a splash of after sun to my right shoulder, the only part of me that caught the sun today!!!

Have a lovely evening!

xx

Jewellery Jewellery Every Where!!

We have just returned from a marathon folksy listing session. whilst browsing through the shop we realised that it was in dire need of some jewellery which was a kind of pleasant coincidence as we have been tinkering away upstairs coming up with some new jewellery designs. So up for sale on the folksy shop you can now find....

Scrabble Necklaces and Earrings...

Domino brooches and necklaces...

And we've saved the best till last ladies and gentlemen....

yes...that's right people we are working on a range of embroidered pictures of world famous moustaches!! being firm fans of facial hair we thought it was about time we stitched a few. what do you think? we love them but are worried they are a bit to specific...and perhaps a bit strange!Right....time to head off, looking forward to your feedback on the new items....if your happy to leave it!!
xxx

Do You Know About...

The rather talented and lovely artist/illustrator Amanda Visell?

We didn't until yesterday when i came across her book on a birthday trip to Bristol, i very nearly brought one of her books but opted out (and brought a wind up tin robot instead...as you do). Luckily i jotted down her name so i could do a bit of research later...would you like to see??? i think her stuff is rather good....This one is called Carniverous Giraffe.
I'm not sure what is about her work that i like so much, i think some of it is the simplicity of it all, her work reminds me of Richard Scarry in some ways, but i think that's down to the colours used.

This one is called Evil Poopicorn.
I'm quite taken with the eyes that the creatures have on some of her work...you've got to love the sleepy eye.

This one is called Birthday Dragon.
I had to put this one in because a) it is amazing and i would like it very much and b) i like dragons a lot...but only nice ones...not the nasty dragon war ones (this probably has something to do with the fact that at least once a year i re-read some fantasy books i first read when i was around 14...I'm now 24 and should probably consider growing up some time.....or not!)

Anyway, that's Amanda Visell, i hope you like!
Lots going on around here...
A little move around in the shop
The beginnings of a new embroidered moustache picture range (ohhhh that sounds exciting doesn't it)
Lots of felt buying for the Wychwood Festival (if your going please come and say hello...we will show you how to make a real cool monster we will!)
Ohhhh yeah...and freaking out about the whole weekend and the fact that the two of us are responsible for bunches of people, felt, needles, thread, buttons etc etc for ten whole hours!!!

Until next time lovelies

xx

P.S. we found the pictures on BamPop's Flickr and also PrettyinPlastic