beastieVILLE

Saturday at last! At first I was a bit unhappy to have woken up early, but I've decided to use it to my advantage. I have many many things I'm hoping to get done this weekend. I must say, there's something very.. I don't know, exciting isn't quite the right word.. but hopeful maybe? With the whole weekend laying ahead of me, no real plans to speak off, and lots of potential. It's a nice little 'woohoo' feeling.


That said, here I sit, coffee in hand and a fresh stick of incense [dragon's blood.. mmm] burning, pondering what to do first. One of my vague weekend goals is to have a facebook fan page functioning by Sunday night, but I think I'll hold off on that one. My fingers seem to take longer to wake up than the rest of me does, and I have no desire to fix a hundred typos when I catch them all later. I also have a ton of cleaning/reorganization that needs to be done. My crafting stuff is kinda... everywhere. Having two people in the house that like creating [him more artsy, me more crafty] leads to EXPLOSIONS of supplies - especially since we're both bad to leave stuff out where it's more handy.


But no, I'm not ready to clean yet either. I feel like makin' stuff. I've got a custom order that isn't due for months, but I think I might go ahead and try and get it finished this weekend. I LOVE doing custom orders, by the by. Especially for critters I've never made before. It gives me a chance to try something I might not have thought of, or sometimes bumps something on my list of 'coming soon' into being a real pattern! This one is most definitely one I had not thought of, but I think it'll be a nice little challenge. If I'm feeling froggy, maybe I'll put some work in progress pictures up as I go. What is it? Ah, you'll have to check back to find out! 


So I suppose I should be off to be productive. The crisp and clean feeling only lasts so long, after all. Happy Saturday, everyone! 

I admit it, I have been a neglectful blogger! On the off chance that anyone was waiting with baited breath for an update, I do apologize. That said, I have returned! 


I wanted to share a picture of this cute little guy to the left. He was a special custom order shipped out for Valentine's day as a 'Happy Engagement' gift. Isn't he cute? I love making albino bunnies. The heart was added on at the request of the buyer to make him love themed. I hope the recipient is enjoying him!


Also in bunny-related news, Easter is just around the corner! I can't believe it's already March. Am I the only one that feels like it we just took down the Christmas tree? Geeze. Anyhow. There will be lots of bunnies and bright springy type things coming to BeastieVille over the next couple weeks, so be sure to check in! 

I should be getting to bed, but I did get my duck finished and listed on Etsy. I'm really pleased with it! I think I may make a couple more of them so he's not lonely. (It's almost kinda sad how excited I get with a new pattern. But it's good to enjoy what you do, right? RIGHT? Yeah, I know. Sad.) Anyhow. Here's a bonus picture of it. More tomorrow. Time to start the always-longer-than-intended process of getting ready for bed.

Despite sleeping in, somehow picking up a computer virus, and ending up watching the Super Bowl (though I originally had no intention of doing so) I somehow still managed to have a fairly productive Sunday! I did finish some more bunnies, which I plan to be listing over in my shop throughout the next few days. I also have a couple of pigs that I made some progress on... I keep dragging my feet with those, not really sure why. But! Most excitingly, I designed and made a new pattern! After blogging on Friday evening, I got it in my head that I wanted to make a duck. So the idea had been tumbling around in my head, but I was determined to finish some of what I had already started before I moved on. This evening, however, I gave myself the go-ahead to start it, and I'm pleased! I think the duck will be a cute addition to the Beastie Ville crew. I'm hoping to be able to get one finished and up by Tuesday. Fingers crossed that the pattern works! :)

I was far less productive last night than I had intended, but oh well. I suppose that happens from time to time. I did get rolling a little more on twitter, which I can already tell is going to be an addictive little pass time. There's a feed listed over on the side, but here's another link: http://twitter.com/beastieville. I fought the whole twitter thing for ages, but it seemed like it was time to break down and join in. There are so many cool and talented people there! I can only hope that there's some business to be found as well.

Now to tear myself away from the computer for a little while. There are bunnies to be made!

Okay, so as it has been pointed out to me, as someone who's target audience includes gift-givers, I need to start planned ahead for holidays. With just over a week left until Valentine's day, I've already missed that boat. So what's next? Well, Easter (and spring in general, really) of course. That said, there will soon be a plethora of bunnies rolling in to Beastie Ville. Last night I cut out five bunnies (two regular and three mini) and intend to cut out at least two more tonight. Last week I went shopping for good accent fabric, and am kinda pleased with the things I found. With a little luck, hopefully there will be some new postings over in the shop by tomorrow at the latest.  When I'm ready for a bit of a break, maybe I'll take some work in progress type pictures to put up. What else besides bunnies? Maybe ducks? Or I could attempt to revisit the failed lamb pattern. The first one was just.. well.. lets just say it wasn't quite what I was going for.

[As a side note, the weather is absolutely miserable here. It feels like a bit of a reach to be planning for spring and sunny skies when it's cold and icy outside.]

Stay tuned! Updates to come as the weekend progresses.

As promised, here is the story of how Beastie Ville began:
So, one night, I decided that I wanted to make something for my boyfriend as a surprise. Since he loves foxes, I decided that a little stuffed fox seemed like the way to go. Great! So all I had to do was find a pattern, right? While this might not sound like a difficult task, it proved to be an impossible one. My many searches through the wonderful world of the internets proved fruitless and I got rather frustrated. Eventually I threw my hands up and declared (quite loudly, and possibly more colorfully than I'd like to admit) that I would make my own pattern! And so I did. This cute little guy was the result. (He's also in the header at the top of the blog, pictured with a raccoon.)

When I finished him, I was pretty pleased. He turned out better than I could have hoped! Proud of myself, I took pictures and shared them with a couple of my friends and some of my family. The response was very positive! With some coaxing and encouragement, I was convinced to try to make more little critters. A couple of people directed me over to Etsy with the suggestion of setting up shop, and Beastie Ville was born. Quite a happy accident! Now, a few months later, I'm slowly stumbling through the world of being a crafter peddling her wares. I expect there to be many trials to come, but I'm excited. So stay tuned! More to come.