Softiemaker

I've Moved!

2012-01-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

This is the last post on this blog. I have a new website/blog at www.childsown.com

Come on over and check out my new site!

A Couple of Cats

2012-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

I'm Only A Cat

by Eva, age 10

I'm only a cat,

and I stay in my place...

Up there on your chair,

on your bed or your face!

I'm only a cat,

and I don't finick much...

I'm happy with cream

and anchovies and such!

by Lizzy, age 6

I'm only a cat,

and we'll get along fine...

As long as you know

I'm not yours... you're all mine!

poem by unknown author

Runa's elephant

2012-01-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

by Runa, age 5

Once there was an elephant,

Who tried to use the telephant—

No! no! I mean an elephone

Who tried to use the telephone—

(Dear me! I am not certain quite

That even now I've got it right.)

Howe'er it was, he got his trunk

Entangled in the telephunk;

The more he tried to get it free,

The louder buzzed the telephee—

(I fear I'd better drop the song

Of elephop and telephong!)

Poem Eletelephony by Laura Elizabeth Richards

Tidings

2011-12-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:

an orange owl

by Hanna, age 7

and a fruit tree

by Piero, age 7

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

a friendly zebra

by Hannah, age 5

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:

three fair-haired dolls

by Nicky, age 7

   by Riley, age 10

   by Evelyn, age 9

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:

four fantastic figures

by Jess, age 6

    by Brendan, age 9

by Aiko, age 8

  by Jenny, age 14

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

A FIVE GREEN-EYED BUNNY!!!

    by Avery, age 8


Whoa!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND HAPPINESS IN 2012!!!

The Unseen Playmate

2011-12-18T23:47:00.000-08:00

When children are playing alone on the green,

In comes the playmate that never was seen.

When children are happy and lonely and good,

The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

by Wyatt, age 5

Nobody heard him and nobody saw,

His is a picture you never could draw,

but he's sure to be present, abroad or at home,

When children are happy and playing alone.

by Dante, age 6

He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass,

He sings when you tinkle the musical glass;

Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why,

The Friend of the Children is sure to be by!

by Olivia, age 8

He loves to be little, he hates to be big,

'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig;

'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin

That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win.

by Eloise, age 4

'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed,

Bids you to your sleep and not trouble your head;

For whever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf,

'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself!

by Anna, age 6

(poem by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Rebeca the Mermaid

2011-12-14T23:21:00.000-08:00

by Paige, age 7

I think this is definitely the most popular subject for a Child's Own softie - having made close to twenty, and all of them unique. I found a wonderful green silk with mystical colour gradations from green to yellow. And I (accidentally) found a way to curl her yarn hair. In her drawing, Paige inscribed her mermaid's name on the abdomen, but I decided to put the name on a little apron, her one piece of wardrobe. And in my head, I began to craft a story of a princess mermaid who after losing her parents and home to a submarine missile test, must learn to survive on her own. For a while, she works as a waitress in an underwater cafe called The Reef, until one night, the manager, a sea bass, hears her singing, and comes up with the idea of a dinner and show with her as the star. The mermaid draws the customers, and crowds and attracts the attention of all sorts of characters, like the soft-spoken Mr. Sting Ray and the notorious Mr. Shark...

Superfish

2011-12-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

by Leo, age 9

Leo draws a lot, and like many children, has quite the imagination. Superfish is his own creation. For Christmas, he had this drawing turned into a softie for his 5 year-old cousin, Ben. Ben's blankie is Superfish's cape and the letters B.G. are young Ben's initials.

I like this Superfish. Really, children are the best at thinking outside the box. I'd never in a million years think of a fish as a superhero. But, now I sit here, imagining Superfish saving sea life from untimely deaths due to predators, oil spills, toxic garbage and all kinds of catastrophes caused by nature and humans.

girl with sweater

2011-12-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is a very sweet drawing by a seven year old boy from Germany, of his mother when she was a little girl. The sweater with a blooming flower beneath a sun and the girl's happy expression signified that winter was ending and spring was arriving.

The package took a long time to deliver, as is sometimes the case for international orders, but I was getting worried, when the boy's father still hadn't received it after a month's time. Finally, a couple of days ago, the customer received news that it was being held at customs, and he was very relieved to be able to go get it. As was I. Phew.

What a nice gift for the mother!

The final lap

2011-11-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

by Anna, 4

Guess what? I'm in the final week of softiemaking. The home stretch! And my little sewing machine that I bought at London Drugs four years ago, is now sick! I've cleaned it, oiled it, replaced the needle and re-threaded it, and finally took it to a sewing repair shop only to find that the cost of servicing it would be more than what I paid for it. The same model is still available at LD, but I really don't like the idea of disposable sewing machines.

Luckily I have a spare, an old Beaumark that I bought off a friend for $40 a few years ago. This one will hopefully see me through the last few orders.

Today, a seventy-nine year old grandmother came to help me with some hand-stitching. We sat on my sofa in the afternoon sun, sewing together little red and yellow felt fruits, and we chatted and she shared news and highlights from her recent trip to her village in the Italian alps.

by Jayden, age 5

Unfortunately, I don't get many social opportunities like this in my softiemaking. It's usually just me, a radio and a chugging sewing machine. It's been a couple of months of feeling like I've been pedalling my sewing machine non-stop (inside a pressure cooker), and although I love this work, I am looking forward to the last order on the list. When this last order is done, wrapped up and shipped out, there will be a small exhalation before I turn my attention to all the things that have been calling for my attention: the clutter in our house, the garden, cobwebs on my ceiling, winterizing our car, a haircut, and holiday preparations with my family.

Aren't these cars cute? The yellow one went to Kiev, Ukraine, and I'm hoping it's made it there safely. Jayden's vibrant car has tiny rear tires beneath the enormous purple striped spoiler. Maybe by the time Jayden is old enough to drive, cars will look like that.

Pirate ship and a mystical creature

2011-11-22T00:10:00.000-08:00

by Benjamin, age 7

by Morgan, age 5

Whew, it's been a long day. Just finished answering e-mails - I try to get to them as often as I can or they start getting too numerous and unwieldy. And before I toddle off to bed, I want to post about a couple of recent projects. Colleen sent me drawings by her nephew and niece as well as several footnotes. The pirate ship is pretty straightforward, but I sure was glad for the clarification of the drawing by Morgan. It's a mystical creature, with black spots on its body, like a cow, multiple legs, whiskers around the mouth and a bunny drawing on its back (like a tattoo?) Now, I could have told you it was a unicorn, but then a preconceived notion or an image might have popped into your head. If you look closely at her drawing, you can see another, fainter drawing of a horse-like unicorn in the background - done by someone else, showing her how it's done? Clearly, that's not what young Morgan had in mind. When she unwraps it at christmas, ooooh, I wish I could see her reaction. Will this softie satisfy Morgan's imagination adequately?

Cyborg and DJ turntable

2011-11-16T23:26:00.000-08:00

Thomas and Calvin are twin boys, 9 years old, with very different interests.

by Calvin

by Thomas

I think it's a really good thing, that they have such disparate interests. Not only because it's less likely that they'll fight over their toys, but also because they probably respect and appreciate differences in themselves and in others.

All you need is love

2011-11-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

What does love look like to a child?

by Caroline, age 4

I used my favourite cuddly pink fabrics, which made this softie even more huggable.

Fredrick and Tobias

2011-11-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

by Connor, age 12

Every so often, I get an e-mail from someone asking if I could make them Calvin and Hobbes softies.

Bill Watterson, the creator of the characters and widely syndicated cartoon strip, was staunchly against licensing Calvin and Hobbes products for many reasons, but the main one being that he felt it would in some way demean the art of Calvin and Hobbes. From the beginning, this has always been his unique position in the matter.

I don't make licensed or trademarked characters, mainly for two reasons: 1) I'm not really allowed to and 2) it's soooo hard to make them.

However, if Bill Watterson, himself, were to contact me and ask if I could make him a Calvin and Hobbes, I'd certainly reconsider my position.

In the meantime, I made Fredrick and Tobias for Connor who publishes his cartoons in his school paper.

Beet Boy

2011-11-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

I really like getting drawings by older boys. Because I have the challenge of making a ~~doll~~, ahem, softie for a BOY. How do I make sure that the final product looks "cool" enough for their discerning taste?

Well, you have to start with a cool drawing:

by Jackson, age 9

"Beet Boy vs Licorice Man" got Jackson top prize in a school art contest. I love that he created a superhero with a root vegetable - how imaginative is that? Note his beet-like helmet and his arsenal of beets. Luckily, I found a great cotton print with lightning that looked almost like roots.

Don't mess with Beet Boy!

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

2011-11-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I have "followers"! Over there in the right bar, there's a collection of little photos of people who've joined this blog and are smiling at me, wondering, "what does she have to show us today?"

Or, what does she have to say?

Once, things used to be pretty quiet. I'd average about 200-300 monthly visitors to my website, and I'd receive maybe 5 orders a month, if I did some marketing. At one point, I began looking for another job.

Last month, I had over 70,000 visitors. I never expected this. My family never expected this. My web host never expected it. I've had to turn away orders, or ask them to come back in January. I'm working away like a mad-woman, in a self-imposed sweatshop. I haven't figured out how to hire help, because it was so all of a sudden.

I also hear that Child's Own Studio has been in national newspapers in other countries, and recently was found in the corner of The Approval Matrix in The New York Magazine (in the right corner!). All the nice comments that people send me are making my head swell up so that soon, I won't be able to fit through a door.

So, it's a good thing that I'm busy sewing up softies, because I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

At the same time, I know that this is just my 15 minutes of fame. What I've been doing for the last four years is a fresh and novel idea to others, something that they are just hearing about. But sometime, next month, next year, it'll be old news. Or, others will start to do the same thing, custom making soft toys in countries where labour is cheaper: I can already hear them oiling up their sewing machines in eastern Europe. And then I won't be able to compete. And the deluge of e-mails from almost-desperate people with their drawings will abate. And once again, it will be quiet.

drawing of cat by Mauro

Little Boy Blue

2011-11-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

by Lucas, age 6

Lucas lives in Taipei, Taiwan. His mother sent me his drawing. I clarified that the yellow thing in his right hand was actually his hand and that the red rectangle in front of his tummy was his clothes. She asked that he be made holding a musical note.

My parents are from Taiwan (I was born and raised in Canada). Although I make my toys just like the drawings, I knew that I should not make the boy's hair white nor his hands black. I e-mailed his mother to ask about the hair colour. "Blue," she answered," like his clothes."

Little Boy Blue, come play your music.

Child's Own Studio in the News

2011-11-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

A lot of blogs and papers have been posting about Child's Own Studio and from what I've seen, they do a great job of explaining what I do. However, sometimes it doesn't come out right.

Ben Miles from Newsteam, a press agency in the UK recently contacted me, with a whole bunch of (thoughtful) questions for a news story. I took time and care answering these questions and sent a photo of myself, thinking: well, this is serious stuff. I didn't know that some journalists and editors will edit and shorten answers to make their story. And he used a photo of me from this blog (one where I look bored.) So, the story that came out in The Sun is just awful. ( http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3905344/Kids-are-drawn-to-unique-cuddly-toy-maker.html )

The byline is Making Money is Child's Play for Wendy Tsao - she makes toys from the pictures kids draw.

Is that what people think? That I'm making a ton of money doing this? (My husband is snorting right now.) There's a reason why there aren't or hasn't been many others doing this idea. Making a plush toy from a drawing from scratch, i.e. without a pattern takes a lot of time, more than I care to admit.

And I am not bored, like it seems in the photo, when I am working. I love what I do.

So, if you're interested in really learning about Child's Own Studio, here are the questions and my answers and the "real photo", for the record. You can compare this to the story in the Sun, and also learn, like I did, how some newspapers work.

*How did you come up with the idea?

About four years ago, when my son started kindergarten, the school asked parents to send in a comfort toy to be put in the emergency preparedness kit. At the time, my son didn't really have one. And even if he did, I couldn't imagine sending it off to be stored away in the school's kit. But I understood and appreciated the need for something that my son would find reassuring in the event of an emergency. So, the idea came to me to make something that he would recognize, maybe something that he "designed" himself. And that's when I took one of his self-portrait drawings and fashioned a stuffed toy from it. He recognized it immediately when he first saw it. He said something like, "hey, that's my guy."

* How long ago did you set up the business?

At that same time (4 years ago), I was in the process of returning to work and I was focusing on the idea of starting my own business. Because of my decorating and faux-finishing background, I was considering making and selling custom-made toy boxes and other children's furniture. I even had a toybox in my carport that I was working on as a prototype. But after I made this soft toy from my son's drawing, I realized I had hit on a really good idea.

* Can you talk me through the process of making a child's picture into a toy?

Someone sends me their child's drawing. I look at it, and take in all the details, the different colors and the spirit of the drawing. Sometimes, I'll e-mail back to ask the artist for clarification of a detail. Then, I estimate how long it will take me to make it, and I provide the customer with a quote. If they're interested in proceeding, I send them an invoice. Once the invoice is paid, the order is put on track for completion.

It's taken me many years of practice to figure out how to make these soft toys from a 2-dimensional drawing, and every dollmaker probably has different ways of approaching the projects. I usually start by picking out the fabrics I want to work with, then drawing a pattern out on newsprint and then cutting out the pieces, and finally sewing them together. I often have to make alterations to get it to the right shape. Sometimes, not often, when it's not working out, I even have to start over again.

* How much do you charge?

My custom made soft toys usually range from $60 to $130 CAD plus shipping, depending on the number and level of details in the child's drawing.

* How long does it take? What has been the longest time you have ever spent on one toy?

It usually takes me from one to two days, to make a soft toy. Usually. Once, I spent about 5 days working on a soft toy, because I was following someone else's pattern and because I made some sewing mistakes. It became almost like a private little battle between me and this soft toy. But in the end, I won!

* What is your main inspiration for making these?

I really like how children's imagination and their fine motor skills produce drawings that are unaffected and simple and yet filled with expression. Mostly, children draw to please themselves. They don't care if the arms are too long or the legs are too skinny or if the eyes are mismatched. They're more interested in the message of the drawing. These drawings are often very original. As adults, we can't draw like children anymore. Our grown-up perspectives and our aged hands produce slick, strong lines and slick sketches. I can tell when a stick figure is done by an adult. When someone sends me a drawing that is "slick and perfect", I feel less excited about making soft toys from these drawings.

* Do you any children of your own?

I have one son, aged 9.

* Do you have a favourite one?

No, I don't really. The funny thing is, once I've finished a soft toy and taken a photo of it, I am ready to send it off to its home. I don't form any attachments to them, which is probably a good thing.

* Which one was the hardest to do?

The one that took me 5 days, which was Toothless or Night Fury from How to Train a Dragon. I didn't enjoy the frustrations I experienced during the process, but I learned a lot from that project, which I appreciate now. By the way, I will not make trademarked characters, anymore.

* How many have you done?

I haven't counted recently. But it must be around 300 now.

*Have you ever been sent one that you've never been able to complete?

No, if I am sent a drawing that I don't think I can handle, then I tell the customer, sorry, but it is beyond my skill level to do it.

*Do you get to see the kids reactions once they receive them? What customer feedback have you had?

No, unfortunately, I rarely see their reactions, but I hear about them sometimes, when the parents write back, describing how they were received. I've had tremendous feedback and I can and do get "high" on that kind of stuff.

*Other biographical info. eg, where you live, age, occupation (is this a full time job for you?) married, etc?

This is a full-time occupation for me. I get a lot of satisfaction from these projects. It works very well for me and my family. I live with my husband and son in Vancouver, BC. I studied architecture in university, but I was always more interested in art and drawing.

Hi there!

2011-10-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

You might have been on your way to Child's Own Studio at www.childsown.com, but have instead ended up here, at my blog. That's because my bandwidth limit was reached, twice this month, and I asked my web host to redirect the traffic here until the first of November, when the bandwidth level starts at zero again. I'm sorry if you're disappointed that you're not at the website, but you can look around here a bit, and you can see the Child's Own gallery by clicking on my Flickr photostream, over there, in the right bar. (Click on the changing photo under FROM MY STUDIO, then click on Child's Own Studio Photostream.)

I also have to let you know that unfortunately, I am not taking any more orders now, as I have reached my quota for the rest of the year. Please contact me again in January 2012 with your drawings. I look forward to seeing them!

In the meantime, you are probably wondering about some things. Like how much do they cost? Do I ship to your country? How long does it take for an order to be completed?

My custom made soft toys based on a child's drawing range from $60 to $130 depending on the number of details in the drawing, plus shipping. If you are in North America, shipping is $15 for one soft toy. If you are in Europe, shipping is $20 and $25 elsewhere, for one item. All prices quoted are in Canadian dollars.

Normally, a drawing is sent to me with the child's first name and age, and I provide you with a non-binding quote for a custom made soft toy. If you are interested in proceeding, I send you an invoice. Once payment is made, your order is on track for completion. (Unpaid invoices and orders will be cancelled by me after two weeks) Then, please allow 2 to 4 weeks for your soft toy to be completed.

If you have any other questions, you can contact me at info@childsown.com. It may take me a while, but I do answer my e-mails.

Mutant sheep

2011-10-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

by Sophie, age 9

This is X-sheep, the little-known mutant ungulate that liked to graze in the field surrounding a nuclear power plant.

"nice, little sheep."

The wolves stay well away from X-sheep.

2011-10-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

I was up until midnight last night answering e-mails. This morning, I turned on the computer and there were 50 more. My quota was reached a couple of days ago, but I didn't have the heart to announce it. Especially because lots of people are just finding out about Child's Own Studio now, and sending in their drawings, and their children's drawings are so darn cute!

But if I don't say "stop", things will get very messy later on, and someone is going to be very hurt or annoyed or angry that their order didn't make it in time for Christmas. And the customer is going to be upset too. Seriously, I need to make the boundaries, so here it is:

_____________________________________________________

(this is a line, I know, but someone has to draw it.)

My Days

2011-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

"Are you going to be working like this from now on?" asked my husband, the other day.

"What?" I asked, not looking up from my sewing. But I heard him. My glasses are perched on top of my head because lately, I can't focus on near objects with them, things like needlework. I don't have the time (or truth be told, the inclination) to go get a prescription for some needed bi-focals. In front of me on the table are littered scraps of fabric, thread, and wisps of fibrefill. I, too, am covered with scraps of fabric, thread, and wisps of fibrefill. They cling to my clothes, like cat hair.

Behind me, my husband continues to stand there, watching me work.

I look up.

"Well, um, yeah, I guess so, probably-definitely until December."

"Working like this" means right after dropping my son at school, I head home to my "studio" to work on softies, which may include walking to the nearby store to buy fabric, answering e-mails, taking photographs of toys, writing out receipts, wrapping up toys, labelling parcels, and blogging-all day, every day including the week-end. It's been non-stop softie-making for the last couple of months. Sometimes, when I finish an order, I relax a bit and revel in the feeling of a job done before I start looking at the next child's drawing.

But I like it. Every aspect of it. I like working at home, alone, while listening to the radio. I like the projects, each one different, each one with a beginning and an end. I like interacting with people from around the world via e-mail and the Internet. I like looking at the drawings, figuring out how to execute certain details and watching the soft toys take shape. I like making customers happy and I like feeling that I've brought some joy to them. And although I may not like as much softie flops and less-than-satisfied customers, I have come to appreciate these as valuable learning experiences. I like seeing my handiwork get better and faster over the years. I like it all.

My family, on the other hand, is a little concerned. My son worries that I'll get stressed by too many projects or that I'll forget about him. He is right to be worried, because I have forgotten to pick him up from school, a couple of times. But now I set an alarm. Because the day flies by and suddenly it's time for me to go and pick up this smiling boy from school. We chat about our day over a snack or while he works on his homework. And when he goes off to play with his friends, I head back to my studio to resume my softiemaking.

robot and cat drawing by James G.

If you know Eleanor, don't tell her mother about her Christmas gift.

2011-10-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

by Eleanor, age 5

When Eleanor sent me her drawing, one that she did over twenty years ago, I commented on how nice the family looked with their colourful ear muffs. She then replied that they were not earmuffs, but actually ears! She went on to explain that the set of dolls would be a gift for her mother who has always loved this drawing, especially the detail of one of Eleanor's father's leg being shorter than the other, following surgery for an injury during the war. Finally she added that whenever her mother used to comment about the lack of arms, Eleanor would reply that they were behind their backs.

So, I had a great time making these dolls, with the ears, shortened leg, and arms behind their backs. Her father who had passed away, used to be "a demon for polishing (his shoes) all the time." So I made his shoes with black shiny satin.

Dinosaurs Are For Girls Too

2011-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Even as a tomboy, I never really cared for dinosaurs when I was a kid. My nephew, for a while, was really into dinosaurs and he had clothes, pajamas and bedsheets covered in the dinosaur theme. He'd pretend he was a Tyrannosaurus Rex as he chased his little sister around. After our summer trip to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller and the Dinosaur Provincial Park, I realized I was being a dinosaur myself for thinking that dinosaurs were just for boys. Charlotte sent me a dinosaur drawing, and now here's another girl's drawing:

I called her Gloria.

Inebriated Giraffe

2011-10-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

by Charlotte, age 7

Charlotte likes to draw. And she drew some very fine animals which she showed her mother, explaining that she wanted these for Christmas. "She had even offered a few ideas about how these animals could come to be, hoping at first that they might be found in a store and then suggesting that a relative or I could sew them." (Caroline, mom)

Her mother found me...

They all came out nicely, except the giraffe. Because of its long body and thin legs, it had a tendency to swoon or slip down into the splits, like it was sloshed. (Maybe that's why the animals are smirking) I didn't think Charlotte would appreciate an unsteady giraffe, so I undid the stitches and reinforced the legs with some wire, and now the giraffe is firm on her feet.

Don't they look like characters in a story?

Chicken Little

2011-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

by Naomi, age 5

Isn't this a cute drawing? This is the kind of drawing that I get excited about.

Until I had to figure out how to make the legs support the chick's bodies...hmmm.

Wire? Reinforced fabric piping? No, wood. I took a clothes pin, snapped it apart, drilled 5/32 holes and glued the hardwood dowels into them. Then I connected the top of the two legs with another small piece of wood (taken from an old yardstick.) The top little chick's legs are made of paper-wrapped floral wire.

Happy Birthday Naomi!

Christmas orders

2011-10-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

13
50

That's the (lucky) number of orders I have on my plate now. In the last couple of months, through facebook and other social networking services and blogs, lots of people have been finding out about Child's Own Studio. And since I'm a one-person enterprise, I need to let everyone know when I can't take any more orders in time for Christmas. There's no last order date, but a last order number. So, without further ado, here is The Child's Own Studio Christmas Orders Counter (over there, top of the right side bar). When it reaches the number 50, then that's it, the elf will not be taking any more orders for Christmas. If it doesn't need to be ready for Christmas, then please contact me in January 2012 and I'll be very happy to look at your drawing then.

Thanks very much to everyone who has visited my website, blog and facebook page, and sent me your kind comments and enquiries. Thank you! Although it may take a while, I do reply to all the e-mails I get.

*Update* Just realized that some people might be checking the number on this post as the Christmas orders counter. So, I'll keep updating it too.

***LATEST UPDATE*** I have just reached the quota. Please come back in January with your orders. Things will be quiet and calm, and it'll be a fresh start, and I will be sooo much more relaxed and nicer to deal with :)

Red camo sheep

2011-09-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

"A fire camo sheep. You know, in case the sheep is caught in a deadly fire and has to escape stealthily."
(Shaune Reynolds)

This is a drawing by Shaune's girlfriend, and he wanted to surprise her with a custom made soft toy. How romantic!

I ran around Vancouver looking for red camo fabric, without luck. Then I found it on-line, from a distributor in Los Angeles. It would have cost $50 to ship it to Canada, so I had them deliver it to The Letter Carrier in Point Roberts, WA. It took me (only) 2 hours to drive down in bumper to bumper traffic and pick it up and get back home, where I then had to scramble to get this order finished and shipped out.

How romantic, indeed.

Two More Child's Own Softies

2011-09-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Brenda's Muppet

by Brenda, age 5

Brenda's mom, Nancy, asked me to use my "artistic license" to make this character cute and cuddly. For some reason, I thought of Sesame Street and Jim Henson's puppets. I think it was the little bun of hair on the top of her head. I got the softest pink fabric I could find at the fabric store, and it made the doll so soft and cuddly, that my heart kind of melted while I was setting her up for the photo.

Jill's Sloth

by Jill, age 5

Jill drew this for her aunt while they were at a doctor's office, with a ballpoint pen. No crayons around, her aunt got her to describe the colours and details:

" His body is brown, his spots are purple, his 'blindfold' is black, and he has blue hair."

He looks like a happy, floppy sloth who has a thing for grape jelly.

The Owl and the Pussycat

2011-09-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

Cat by Ilaria, age 5

Owl by Marina, age 7

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!

How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?'

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

poem by Edward Lear

Are they hands or are they feet?

2011-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Peter drew this when he was nine. It's a terrific monster with crooked teeth, hypnotizing eyes, an organic shape and some stripes. Were the limbs hands or feet? His mother who placed the order couldn't ask Peter, now 26 years old, because it was meant to be a surprise. If they were hands, the monster could look like it was reaching out for a hug (or a strangle):

or with the arms folded, it could look bored and unimpressed:

In the end, we decided to keep them the same size as drawn, and they could be feet:

or, they could be hands:

Back from fishing

2011-09-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Whew! I'm glad these little guys are done. And I'm glad to have finally dealt with all the e-mails in my inbox. Hopefully I didn't overlook anyone. These days, Child's Own Studio is still getting a lot of attention and visitors from around the world (cool!) - my bandwidth limit was reached again on Sept. 10th, but my very kind superhost at Cheeky Penguin added some more bandwidth for me - grazie mille George!

I've also been getting a few enquiries from people who send me their own wonderful designs of characters to be made into soft toys or dolls. In the past, I undertook a couple of these projects, and I have found that making a toy from an adult's drawing, which is very detailed and full of specifications, is not as enjoyable and rewarding (for me), in fact, it's usually more labour intensive and stressful, as I strive to make it turn out exactly proportioned as per drawing. A child's drawing leaves me room for my interpretation as well as room for pure whimsy, and that's why I much prefer working from children's drawings. And I also believe that the creations from children's drawings are what most visitors are interested in seeing when they come by my website or this blog.

I have also, in the past(even recently) made a couple of trade-marked characters, which is very likely a legal no-no. While these projects are great learning experiences for me, I have to say that I also feel the same way - I don't enjoy doing them as much. So, why do I do it? Suffice it to say, I have a soft spot for children with special needs.

So, please. Kind people, please send me drawings of original subject matter by your children - children do have great imagination. And together, we can make wonderful things!

hunter green "minky"

2011-09-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

I found it in the "roll ends" box at the fabric store; they bundle up the remaining 1 or 2 yards of fabric on the rolls, discount it and throw it into the box where there's a "buy 1, get 2 free" deal. It was about 2 yards of hunter green minky and I took it because I thought: for sure, something will come up for this. That was three years ago.

But something finally did come up. This is Tung," the fantastic frog boy" from the Dex Hamilton series.

in a swamp

2011-09-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

I need to call a time-out. I've been getting a lot of enquiries and orders since Reddit found me, which is a good thing, of course, except it's a little overwhelming and I also have those 10 lumpsucker fish for Parks Canada to deal with. So, I'm sorry to say that I won't be taking any more new orders for September. Please check back in October!

Sorry!

His and Her elephants

2011-09-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

I kinda like a little friendly competition between mates. Lisa sent me two drawings of elephants, one by her and the other by her boyfriend, using MS Paint. They wanted to see who could draw the better elephant.

I wasn't asked to be the judge, thank goodness. Only to turn them into softies. I didn't even know who drew which elephant. Then I wondered if women/girls would prefer the elephant drawn by Lisa and men/boys would choose the boyfriend's elephant.

What do you think?

Lex's bunny and Reddit

2011-08-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail that my Child's Own Studio website had reached its bandwidth limit. Someone had posted www.childsown.com on reddit.com. I contacted my host server who looked into it, and we weren't sure if the traffic was due to the reddit effect or if someone or something had (mis)used my site as a portal. Anyway, my web host increased my bandwidth and my site was back up and running.

A customer who found me on reddit, sent me a drawing by his five year old daughter, Lex.

Along with the drawing, he sent a simple request. That the soft toy be her most beautiful creation, with eyes filled with peace, and that it would help encourage her to keep using her imagination and creativity. So, I did what I could!

Then he posted the bunny on reddit.com and I got another e-mail saying that my website's bandwidth limit was reached.

oh well...

Sarah's slug

2011-08-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

I hate slugs. Ugh. They wreak havoc in my garden, shredding my hostas and putting polka dot holes in my other plants. They're slimy too. Have you ever touched one? I once did, when I tried to put one on a fishing hook. Ewwwww!

But Sarah Cloke, age 11, knew what she was doing when she drew this slug.

So, even though I can't stand slugs, I really like this guy. He's so cute, I'd even cuddle him.

how to train your dragon

2011-08-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

At some point, I almost gave up on Toothless. I began working from a pattern by Katy A, but in the end, it didn't look quite right, so I unpicked the stitches, made some modifications, re-stitched it, found it still not right, unpicked more stitches, made some more modifications, and restitched it (all over the course of a few days), then made a couple of mistakes, and flung the wretched toy across the room. Then, I tidied up my sewing table and went to bed. The next day, a bright, sunny Sunday, while my family and friends went on a hike (a favourite activity of mine), I stayed in my studio and faced off with the dragon. This time, I stayed calm, and even whispered sweet words and promised it a fine fish if he came along nicely. In the end, he did.

Girl with a big heart

2011-08-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

by Allison, age 4

This is a self portrait, and a very sweet one at that, with a big red heart and a big smile on her face. I made the doll with a little more hair than shown in the drawing, because I really wanted it to look like her (the artist).

mouse and pig

2011-08-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back from vacation, which everyone agreed had been a wonderful time! We saw a dinosaur dig, visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum, did a fair bit of hiking and saw quite a lot of wildlife, including a black bear that loped across the highway right in front of us.

And now, back to the sewing table!!! I have a number of soft toy orders that I must start.

Here is a pig and mouse that I took with me to work on in the cabin in the Rockies. A while ago, I did a giveaway for this blog, and one of these softies is the winner. So, this mother got two softies for the price of one.

by Victoria, age 10

by Elisabeth, age 7

On vacation with Instagram

2011-07-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

On Vacation

2011-07-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

On the road to Alberta! Have seen the Three Pigs' homes, Old Mother Hubbard's cottage, the old woman and her shoe house. In the next few days, will visit Dinosaur Provincial Park and see dinosaurs in Drumheller.

See you later!

The Bombing Boys' Club (or Camp Wendy)

2011-07-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

What do you do during the summer holidays with a kid who doesn't like daycamps? A couple of years ago, he didn't complain about daycamps, but now, Luca baulks at them and just wants to stay at home, where he could while away a considerable amount of time with Youtube or video games.

So, I came up with the idea of hosting our own daycamp, and inviting a couple of friends who were still around and available. And it's been really fun so far. Camp runs from 9 to 12, and they are kept busy with the activities that I plan for them, and the morning just flies by. One of the activities was getting them to start a blog and you can check out their blog and see what they've been up to here.

Killarney Slice of Summer Fair

2011-07-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

Do I look like I'm having the time of my life?

For the first time ever, I showcased Child's Own Studio at a local community centre fair. I don't know how other crafters do fairs. I tried working on some lumpsucker fish, but I found all the visitors and noise to be quite distracting. Yes, I am a Classic Introvert, especially when I work. So then I gave up and just greeted people and explained what I did, and some of them were kind of interested and took my card, and a couple of them were quite intrigued. Most of the children got the idea right away and entered the draw.

And the lucky winner is:

(I rubbed out the number for this posting. ) I have yet to contact this lucky person; I called once, but the line was busy. I will try again tomorrow, you have my blogger's word!

More lumpsucker fish for Parks Canada

2011-07-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Parks Canada has asked me to make 12 more lumpsucker fish which will go into their visitor centers and be used to educate children (and adults) about these little guys. Here are the first two of the order, and the rest of them will have to wait until mid-September, when the summer holidays are over.

Po's panda doll

2011-07-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Luckily, Kung Fu Panda 2 was still playing in the cinema, so while the world went to watch the premiere of the Harry Potter finale, Luca and I sat in a nearly empty theatre and, we were not disappointed. I found it to be even better than the first one - funnier, with more thrilling action and a more villainous villain. I also liked the sub-plot of Po's search for his true identity and inner peace and the movie's little moral. But most of all, I liked the little panda teddy that got found after so many years, all dusty and worn. And I came home with the idea to make myself a panda teddy, just like Po's. I searched online for an image and found one. I didn't have burlap, but used whatever I had, which was undyed cotton and crafter's felt.

Wish I could say that I whipped up the little guy, but he was more work than I expected, only because I wanted to get him as close as possible to the original. I made the body twice and the face three times, and even now, he's not exactly like the panda teddy in the movie, but he's certainly good enough for me.

summertime

2011-07-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

blue sky, dusty country road, croaking froggy ditch, honeybee buzz...

Curb Appeal

2011-07-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

This storage bench sits just outside my front door. I built it about 6 years ago, with fir 1x6's, 2x6's and some 2x2's. I used fir because it was the cheapest and I was going to paint it anyway. It was painted green up until two days ago when I re-painted it this colour, Dusty Country by CIL- a kind of dijon mustard-khaki. Inside are stored toys, garden tools and fertilizers, an extension cord, and other outdoor paraphernalia.

Every spring, everything gets covered with yellow pinetree pollen (season of the yellow powder, my husband calls it) and then the cottonwoods over by the river unleash their pods of drifting white fluff. With the yellow dust and white fluffy cobwebs, spider poop on the bench, my front entrance was looking like a corner of a deserted ghost town. Finally a cat came and vomited in the corner of the patio (ewwwuck!).

So, I hosed everything down, put two coats of new colour on the bench, found some cottonwood branches to decorate the wall, and voila: I pulled my patio back from the living dead.

Lumpsucker fish

2011-07-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of a lumpsucker fish? I hadn't when Lori McNulty from Parks Canada contacted me. These ping pong ball-sized bottom dwellers have wart-like bumps on their bodies and modified pelvic fins that resemble an adhesive disc which the fish uses to stick to surfaces. They dwell in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic and most of the species are found in the North Pacific.

Little is known about these fish, probably because they are so hard to find (due to their tiny size and very effective camouflage). Here is a short video that I found on YouTube. They seem almost too cute to be real.

I had fun making the toy lumpsuckers and I'd like to thank Lori McNulty for the opportunity.

Manning Provincial Park

2011-07-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

Luca and I spent a few days at Manning Provincial Park, 26 km from Hope, BC. We swam, paddled a canoe (not too successfully), hiked, kayaked (more successfully), saw wildlife, including a bear(!) and had a great time together, just the two of us, a mom and her growing 8 year old son.

Patchy Patch

2011-06-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Forty years ago, before I was attending school (that's telling something), I'd watch Mr. Dress Up, The Friendly Giant, and Sesame Street, back to back episodes provided by CBC, on our little black and white tv. There were also a couple of other children's programs like Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo on the american networks. Today's children have a hundred more programs to choose from, and they can watch them via cable television or the Internet. There are dedicated networks for children and a vast array of edu-tainment options, which include programs from other countries.

I watched a couple of Toopy and Binoo episodes on the Internet to check out Patchy Patch, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the storytelling - very cute and imaginative.

What programs did you watch when you were little?

***update*** Sorry, I will no longer make Patchy Patch or any other trademarked or licensed characters. Please send me your child's drawings instead!

Picnic in the Park

2011-06-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Why are these kids running, you ask?

Yesterday was my son's grade 3 class picnic. Since kindergarten, the families have been gathering every year in June for a potluck picnic at a nearby park.

We had a fine day. Sunscreen was slathered and we ate, played soccer, flew kites and had a scavenger hunt which is why these kids are running.

The hunt was fairly easy to set up. Earlier in the day, I went around the park and used the macro lens on my camera to shoot close-ups of some ordinary things you find in the park, printed them out and then hid the photos at the various sites. I gave the children the first photograph clue which they had to identify and locate to find the next photograph clue, and so on. The kids ranged in ages from 3 up to 11, and everyone was running and figuring out the clues. They were only stumped by this clue, and a parent had to give them a little hint.

Do you know what it is?

Mouldings Check!

2011-06-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

(before)

I rented the mitre saw from the Home Depot. It scared me, but I was mighty careful as I used it. I realised that my original plan of using 1 1/2" L-shaped pre-primed mouldings and gluing them to the top of the cabinets was a bust only after spending the whole day cutting all the pieces. I even began to suspect about halfway that it would not work, but I only admitted defeat at the end, after cutting all the strips and gluing them. Carpenter's glue does not bond (well) to painted surfaces.

Sooooo, I went back to the Depot to pick up some 2x3's which I cut after supper, and then I screwed them to the top of the cabinets. This method worked much better, but it meant that I had to empty all the cupboards which I had hoped to avoid with the gluing method. But, I made more work for myself in the end. Ha! Lesson learned.

TA DA!

corrosion

2011-06-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

I took these photographs after coming across a series of beautiful photographs of corrosion on the Internet by Stephen Reed. I was inspired to go out and find some of my own examples of corrosion. After taking the shots, some fiddling with filters and cropping, you end up with some interesting textural images!

home improvement

2011-06-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

I live with my husband and son in a little red townhouse near the river. There are 36 homes in the complex, as well as lots of birds, dogs, cats and a family of raccoons. That's my son playing with his best friend, who lives next door. There's my husband, Gio, barbecuing, and there's me in front of the door working away with a mitre saw. What the heck am I doing with a mitre saw, you ask? Well, it's time for home improvement projects! There are 3 things in our little home that have been bugging me lately (really, there are more, but these three are at the top of The List of Nagging Items) and I'm going to tackle them in the next little while.

The three items are:

1) See the gap above the cabinets? My kitchen is missing the crown mouldings. Four years ago, we renovated our little kitchen, hiring a handyman (Greg Ross) and various subcontractors and doing a fair bit of the work ourselves, and it just went on and on. Finally, we ran out of steam and said we'd do the mouldings later...that was 4 years ago!!

2) The futon in our tv room is a sagging, tired old beast. Time to buy a replacement? Or what could I do to revive it?

3) Finally, my dining room needs help. It's a bland room, with heavy, formal-ish mahogany furniture. It feels dark and during the winter, it's a cold, cold place.

So there we have it. Three projects. One person on a mission.

Off I go!

Cushions!

2011-06-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

Would you believe that these cushions were created by over 55 working pairs of hands? Lorna contacted me with the idea of making cushions as end of year gifts for her sons' teachers. The image was taken from a plate that the school children had illustrated with self-portraits. The hand-drawn faces are so sweet.

I used Strathmore iron-on transfer sheets to reproduce the image on fabric. The little face is Lorna's younger son's self portrait and I hand-embroidered his name (for Lorna's cushion), but for the teachers' names in the center, I enlisted the help of Carole Conlin, a crafty lady with an embroidery machine. I'm not a quilter nor a seamstress. I like making soft toys, which is a somewhat different activity, but I also enjoy learning new crafty things. I really liked that this project was the sum of many parts.

Time for a giveaway!

2011-06-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

It's time! Here's the first giveaway from this blog (the first of many). Would you like to see how your child's drawing will look as a soft toy? In honor of Happy Goat and Elephant Bird, I'm going to establish the theme for this giveaway to be Animal. Interested? This is what you have to do:

1) ask your child(ren) if they want to participate.
2) ask them to make a sketch of their favourite animal (or maybe they have one already done)
3) take a photo of it (with handheld device is fine) and share it with me on facebook or send it to info@childsown.com

On July 1st, one will be randomly selected and using your child's drawing, I will handcraft the animal soft toy for your child.

Have fun and Good Luck!

Purple goop cupcakes

2011-06-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if he was, really, sick. Although he had no fever and looked fine, I've learned that when Luca groans about being sick, he really is or will be at some point later that day. I know there will be a day that he does a Ferris Bueller on me - was it today? Hard to tell. So I left him with his grandmother, while I went off to my volunteer literacy tutoring. When I came back a few hours later, he looked slightly more wilted. After lunch, I worked on some cushions for a customer, and listened to him play quietly by himself. Later, I took a break from my sewing and suggested we do some baking.

After we made a marble cake, Luca asked if he could do some freestyle baking. This means he gets to mix whatever he feels like, no recipes. It’s a step up from mud pies. In the past, he's added leaves from outside to his batter and made "duck cake", (when we took the creation down to the river and offered it to the ducks, they weren't interested). We used to do a lot of baking together when he was younger, and when anyone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he’d say, "A Chef !" Recently, he’s changed his career plans to geologist, which may be a good thing, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Luca's final ingredient is food colouring. Then into the oven for 20 minutes.

And voila: purple goop cupcakes.

And if you want to know how they taste, then go here.

Natural play structure

2011-06-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Some children love to climb trees. Maybe it's a morphological behavior that hasn't become vestigial yet. Some parents don't like their children climbing trees (it's not safe, dear), and we have playground structures to meet their needs. But it's not the same thing, is it kids? Well, here's the next best thing: a nearby land development has brought a gnarly wood play structure to our neighbourhood and it's awesome.

I used to climb trees too when I was a kid and I like how Warren Brubacher's structures provide children with a similar, perhaps safer, activity. My son loves climbing the structure, pulling himself up and around the gnarly limbs, developing his grappling and toehold skills.

Warren Brubacher, a wood artist, gathers his medium from forests. He goes with a permit into an area that is to be logged and takes the stuff that logging companies don't want - the twisted snags, stumps and limbs, and uses them to build house features, furniture and lampstands.

His play structures are fantastic (he's built one in Whistler, Richmond and now this one), and they're brilliant not because they're uniquely beautiful pieces of sculpture in the landscape, and not because they're totally biodegradable and sustainable, but because they can lure boys away from computer games and get them outside, to climb and play, and keep those arms and legs from becoming vestigial.

Mixed blessings

2011-06-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

If, one day, you came across a magic elf, and he offered you his two-sided gifts, and they were:

the gift of talent PLUS
the lack of conviction

or

the gift of focus PLUS
a lack of patience

or

the love for nature AND
pollen allergies

or

a thing for whimsy and serendipidity AND
a neurotic need for order?

What would you do?

And what if you were born this way,
What would you do?

Pooch

2011-06-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

This drawing came to me from a fellow in Herefordshire in the UK. I finished it last week and then drove across the border into Point Roberts, WA to mail it, because of the impending Canada Post strike (we won't talk about his carbon footprint). He's a fine little friend, and he's both excited and a little nervous about his journey across the Ocean.

"lovely home, lovely home, I'm a lucky dog."

"eh, wot's that you say?"

"I'm going over to where?"

Isa's softie

2011-06-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is Isa when she was three.

When she was three, she drew this picture, for her nonna (grandmother) who then lent it to me, but not before making me swear I'd handle it carefully and return it.

King Elephant Bird is a likeable guy, always in good spirits and never forgetful. He'll never forget your name, your birthday or your favourite ice cream flavor. And he's the kind of character who likes to hang out with friends, and will insist on leaning a bit on them. But Happy Goat doesn't mind.

10 minute cookies

2011-06-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well, okay, it doesn't really take ten minutes, especially if you include the setting up of cookies, wooden bowls, flour, chocolate chips, etc for the artsy photo shoot (I'm learning to use my camera) but, at least after it's all done, I can relax with a cookie...

you know the recipe, don't you?

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (at least!) chocolate chips

Oven at 375 F.

Cream shortening with sugars, egg, vanilla. Add flour, salt, baking soda. Fold in chips. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Happy Goat and gift certificate

2011-06-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing Luca made when he was four and one of the first softies I made. Since then, I've made over 200 softies, which means I'm a little better at it now. I decided to make another goat softie, the 2011 edition, and it's going to be sitting on the auction table this Saturday at my son's school picnic, as a sample. I'm donating a gift certificate for a custom made softie from Child's Own Studio.

My mermaid

2011-05-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

The other day, my son and I went to the pool, and both of us noticed a boy laughing and swimming there. "He has green hair," said my son. I nodded," like a mermaid boy."

And I went home, thinking of mermaids...

Mermaids

2011-05-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some drawings of mermaids by girls ranging in age from 4 to 8, and the softies that came out of them. Mermaids are mythical creatures that exist in the folklore of many cultures. They are renowned for their beauty, their hair and their enchanting voices that can lure humans into their watery world.

Shawna

2011-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

The sun throws us glittering days
asks us to make peace with glowing wounds
the unhealable
the impatient spaces between
what is and is and is.
-Shawna Lemay, Against Paradise

This is Shawna. She is a poet. A wordsmith. She loves handbags, old typewriters and bacon. When she's not at her desk, turning words into cathartic imagery, she's out with her camera capturing poetry in colours and calm things, or she's hanging out with her family and her lovely black lab.

You can find her at http://shawnalemay.blogspot.com/

Skeleton Guy

2011-05-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Skeleton Guy was drawn by six year old Ella after her brother had some x-rays taken. He's made of soft cuddlelicious fabric and his arms are upholstery trim. His little brain can pop in and out of his skull.

Sara

2011-05-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

This is Sara. She's in grade 3 and likes soccer. She also sings in the school choir. She has to wear a uniform at school, but when she gets home, she likes to change into her jeans and flip flops. Then she kicks back with nonna's home made pizza and a glass of cranberry-grape juice on ice.

My son's school fair

2011-05-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

My son's school is having their annual picnic/ spring fair in a couple of weeks, and I made a little doll to donate to their silent auction. She's 11 inches tall, made of something that feels like merino wool, and I found some red knitted fabric to make her sweater and some plaid that is pretty close to the school's uniform tartan. I was planning to make two, and I have the second body ready to go, but I haven't had the time to get to it, so she might end up being one-of-a- kind!

Pink!

2011-05-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

spring days

2011-05-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ava and Laure

2011-05-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

Ava and her friend Laure had just finished putting their blueberry muffins in the oven and they sat down to wait.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Ava.
"How about wax scratch pictures?" suggested Laure.
"Takes too long. What about a game of Pick Up Sticks?"
"Didn't we use those sticks to make shish kebabs?"
"Oh yeah, scratch that. Want to bead something?"
"No, not really... when are those muffins going to be ready?"

Ava

2011-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

This is Ava.

Ava was embarrassed with her arms. She thought they were too skinny, and she would wear long sleeve shirts or sweaters just to cover them up. She never knew that other girls secretly envied her ballerina body, and no one knew that she didn't like her arms. One day, Ava found an orange scarf at a yard sale, and she bought it for fifty cents. On the way home, people kept looking at her. Some nice lady on the bus told her she was very pretty. Ava couldn't believe she heard right, but she was too confused and shy to ask for clarification. She ran home and looked at herself in the mirror. It's the scarf, Ava thought, it must be magic.

If your name is Wendy Tsao, please leave a comment.

2011-05-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

I just found out that there are 11 people with the name Wendy Tsao in the United States. After the initial shock of realizing that I wasn’t unique (at least in name), I came to feel quite amused and then curious about these other Wendy Tsaos. According to the White Pages search engine, they range between 18 and 63 years old and the majority live in California. Presumably, they are also Chinese, but I wondered, are the other Wendy Tsaos interested in art and craft? Do they like to travel? What’s their favourite colour, tv show, food to eat? What makes them tick? Maybe we should start a Wendy Tsao club, a facebook page, maybe have an annual conference in our hometowns, with each one of us taking turns hosting. We’d have an oath, swearing that we would not do anything that might discredit or blacklist our name. At the very least, if one of these Wendy Tsaos wanders into my blog, I hope she leaves me a comment, identifying herself, maybe provide a little bio. That would be cool.

The power of girls

2011-05-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at my son's track meet, I saw his teacher consoling one of his classmates who was sitting alone and crying. Apparently, in front of 700 on-lookers, she had sprawled flat on her face in the 100 m dash. She had a scraped knee and an unenviable insight on humiliation that no band-aid or teacher was going to make better. The teacher asked me, "where are the other girls?" and when they came, they immediately knew what to do. They didn't say much, with their sympathy and companionship, but a few minutes later, the girl was up and running as if nothing had happened.

Act I, scene 2

2011-05-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

The bulbs have been amenably taking their cues to provide some colour to my postage stamp garden. First, there were the crocuses and primroses, followed by the violets, daffodils and hyacinths, and now the various tulips. After Vancouver’s drab, wet winter, I welcome each and every one of these flowers, sometimes like an old friend making its perennial appearance or, as new kids on the block, like these tulips. Luca and I planted them last September, and I am really enjoying their creamy pink heads. The flowers don’t stay around for very long. “My turn!” they seem to exclaim as they take center stage for their moment of glory, joyful performers of color nodding in the wind, before they take their bow and go.

More nature letters

2011-04-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

A, C, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, O,P, R, T, U, V, W, X, Y are the letters I've found so far with my camera. Hmmm, what phrase can I make with my super Scrabble senses?

Mini Me

2011-04-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Over the Easter holidays, I sat down and began making a body for the painted doll's head I made a few weeks ago for my profile shot, the one you see in the right bar. This here is a leg. I found this brown cotton print that is covered in flowers. I liked the colour ( which is really close to my skin tone) and the idea that the doll's body would appear to be covered in floral tattoos.

Two legs, two arms and one torso, ready to be sewn up together.

Finally, attach the head, and that's Me, done. In a few days, I'll make some clothes for Mini me. In the meantime, I'll just hang out in my floral birthday suit.

How to Make Lithuanian Easter Eggs

2011-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

What you need:

1) a Lithuanian with expertise,

2) a thingamajig,

3) beeswax,
4) prepared dyes - these were made from boiled red cabbage(blue), onion skins (brown) and lake (red),
5) a hot plate for keeping the wax melted, and
6) eggs (hardboiled),

7) some fine motor skills.

Create designs using nail head dipped in wax. Then when the design is finished, soak the egg in dye bath for about two hours. Towel dry the eggs and then using a fingernail or a paring knife, scrape off the wax. The eggs can then be rubbed with some vegetable oil to give it a sheen or left matte.

Easter was a bit colder this year

2011-04-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

From my sketch book

2011-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

"Quicksand!" panicked Luca before he went floundering in the shallow water. Luckily, I had brought a change of clothes. Unfortunately, they were in the trunk of the car, at the top of the stairs, some 473 steps way above us.

In front of the museum was a table set up with a glass container filled with water insects around which clustered a group of twenty kids. This did not include Luca and Michael. The leader then explained that they would be passing out little nets for hunting insects in the pond nearby. Unfortunately, she had only 12 nets, and these were snatched up fast by 12 kids. This did not include Luca and Michael.

When we got back home, we played a game of sardines, but it wasn't much fun with only the three of us. Finally at 4 o'clock, I let them play Wii. And the day was salvaged.

2011-04-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry, Luca.

Should have is the modal auxiliary past form that is used when regretting or speculating about past actions, and is one of the most regrettable usages in the English language. It’s worse than four-letter words because should have has the power to make one feel guiltier, sadder, sorrier, more regretful, and more frustrated and more ashamed than is necessary. Should have can lead to depression. Should alone is okay. Should is handy to teach, inform and reassure, like "you should eat breakfast, because it’s your fuel to start the day." Or, "I should be home by 7 tonight." But should have? "See, you should have eaten breakfast, then you might have passed your math test!" :-C

The thing is, my parenting started out with should, but along the way, it turned into should have, which doesn’t help Luca at all. It’s just me commentating and making him feel like a failure. So, today is the first day of Change For The Better. And instead of saying I should have kept my mouth shut, I will stick with the simple future tense and say, “I will shut up and I will trust Luca to learn from his mistakes.”

I Love My Cat

2011-04-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

When children are playing alone on the green,

In comes the playmate that never was seen.

When children are happy and lonely and good,

The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

(R.L. Stevenson)

The Boy

2011-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

My boy is 8, and he’s already starting to play mind-games with himself, where he’ll sometimes cheer for an outcome that he really doesn’t want. For example, if he’s playing a soccer match, he’ll say, “ I hope our team loses.” It’s just a coping strategy, I know, for taking the edge off any potential disappointments. It’s a slippery slope, that one. He runs the risk of becoming perverse, and if he gets really good at these mind games, he might end up confusing himself and accepting or even going after the wrong things. I know because I’ve done it myself.

Honey, it’s best to know yourself, believe in yourself and follow your heart. Be honest with yourself, always. And whenever you get knocked down, learn what you can, get back up, and keep going after the things that are really important to you.

2011-04-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

1. Eloise Trigg (b2005) Mermaid with juice box, 2010

In her search for meaningful context beyond that offered by contemporary abstract realism, Eloise Trigg has traveled to the West Coast and Quebec, looked at primitive cultures, surrealism, Picasso archetypes, and she has freshly created a kind of joyful new form of animalism. Yet, by allowing her forms and effects to evolve, as in process-oriented modernism, from medium and the act of working with it, Trigg has also succeeded in producing an art ripe with a sense of now - a certain complex, technological now, that is. Longing for renewed contact with a primal instinct, Trigg uses colour to establish the ubiqitous inner conflict of nature vs nurture and leaves viewers breathless with her tongue-in-cheek reveries.

Says Wendy Tsao of Child's Own Studio," I just love working with Eloise Trigg - she has an insight beyond her years and an energy I envy madly."

Sometimes it's right in front of my face...

2011-04-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Laure's softie

2011-04-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

I made a deal with Laure: help me with my website redesign and I'll make you a couple of softies.

So she did. And she made it the way I wanted: nothing fancy, just clean and to the point. She was a reliable designer, always available, ready to tweak and offer insightful comments, and she regularly checked in on me. So, when it was my turn, to make her softie, she gave me a drawing she did when she was four.

"What is it?" I asked.
"I actually don't remember," she said,"...maybe a hedgehog?"
"And what's that thing on its nose?"
"I don't know," she laughed, "you decide."
I worked on it, happily, because it was a happy creature. And because I had come to know and like Laure, I made the thing on its nose a friendship bracelet. And when I gave it to Laure, she was happy too...

More ATCs

2011-04-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Had another bout of the Artist Trading Card Syndrome and came up with these.

"Kiney"

2011-04-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of a kinesin motor protein? Well, I didn't know what it was when I received an e-mail from Mr. Maloney, a PhD student from the University of New Mexico, working in a lab in the Astronomy and Physics department. He sent me a drawing of a cartoon character he and colleagues made of this cellular enzyme. Apparently, a kinesin motor protein has...uh...feet-like extensions that fit into grooves along the microtubule path and are responsible for the movement of chromosomes during mitosis. (got that?)

So, this kinesin motor protein, named Kiney, wore green Converse runners and a gold chain necklace and carried a boom box - yo, he was some bad cruisin' rap dude!

They sent me some photos of Kiney at the lab - He looks like he's happy working there. see Kiney at lab

If you would like to learn more about motor proteins, you can go here and learn all about them.
http://www.scivee.tv/node/9347

Mini collage work

2011-04-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

ATCs or Artist Trading Cards are miniature works of art the size of baseball/hockey trading cards (2 1/2" x 3 1/2" or 63mm x 89mm). They can be produced in any medium and are usually traded or exchanged, rather than sold. They can be stored in standard card collector pocket sleeves or sheets (sure beats having to find places to hang or store large canvases!). The ATC movement was started by a guy named Stirnemann from Zurich, Switzerland, and today, you can find ATC exhibits and trading sessions throughout the world and on-line.

There was a short, intense period where I whipped up some small ATC-inspired canvases, using photos of my friends' kids. Then, for whatever reason, I stopped, tidied away the glue and paper and moved on to other things.

Space Boy

2011-04-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

So, my latest Child's Own project was sent from a lady in Alberta, Canada. It was an astronaut drawing by her nephew. I learned that you CAN make a decent helmet from crafter's felt (just use pattern to make a ball, then cut out opening for face).

I also came across Roberta Bondar, first female Canadian astronaut in space /environmentalist/physician and scientist/photographer and author/oh..just superwoman extraordinaire. I thought about her while I sewed together the astronaut. Teachers could just use Ms. Bondar as a teaching aid for health and career education; they could cover so many possibilities!

Mmmmm muffins!

2011-04-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Did I say "no recipes"? Well, I've changed my mind. These blueberry muffins are sooo easy and fast to make, it's almost like you waved a wand, man.

Stir together in a bowl:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar

In another small bowl, beat with fork:
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Fold wet ingredients into flour mixture, add 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries. Fill muffin tins. Bake at 400 F for 20 min.

Makes 8 large or 12 small muffins.

Told you so. Easy.

Is your kid into Pokemon cards?

2011-04-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

www.mypokecard.com

(this card by me)

I found this neat site where you can make your own Pokemon cards. It's in a template format, quite easy to do and Luca made one in about ten minutes. You can either introduce your child to this site or make a card yourself as a surprise for him or her. Just print it out and paste onto an old Pokemon card or cardstock. Some understanding of Pokemon cards required.

(this one by Luca)

how to make a sock monkey

2011-04-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.supersockmonkey.com/catalog/howtomake.html

This link will take you to printable instructions for The Sock Monkey and where you also can-if you're interested-read the history behind this 100+ year old charmer and the company that manufactures the genuine Red Heel socks, (the red heel part becomes the monkey's mouth), but needless to say, you can make a sock monkey from any sock and decorate it in your own way.

The sock monkey made me do it

2011-04-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

(made by me 2011)

He looks like he's got a lot of attitude for a sock monkey. My nephew Jack calls him Zeus and I hope he's not getting too much trouble from him.

2011-03-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

(Wendy Tsao 2009)

You know how we sometimes see shapes in clouds and faces in rocks? Sometimes I see "letters" on my walk in the park, sending me small subliminal messages.

I Like To Make Stuff

2011-03-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Not another blog! And it's not even like I can promise you a GREAT blog full of nuggets of wisdom, or mind-boggling creations, or knee-slapping LOL humor. I won't be giving you the latest on celebrity gossip or politics or sports. You won't expect to find nifty inventions for the environment or great recipes or book reviews. Don't look here for news of the weird - you know what I mean: Man's Finger Bitten Off At California Health-Care Protest. No, nothing like that.

I just like to make stuff. And if you're interested to see what I've been working on, well, then make sure you drop by, often or once in a while, whenever, I'll be here.