I've put a whole slew of plushies and rattles and bibs and cards on sale, for those of you interested in sales and deals and things marked down anywhere from 30-50%. But why would she do a thing like that?, you may be asking yourselves. Well, if you must know, it is because I have stuff in there I want to move so I can make way for more stuff yet to come and because I hate having the same old stuff hanging around in my shop for time-without-end and because all of these plushies and things deserve to go to a good home where they can cuddled and used and appreciated.
This book is a favorite of our entire family: Cowboy and Octopus. Beeper loves it, Mr Beeper loves it, and so do I. It is also from two of my favorite authors and illustrators: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. You may already know them from The Stinky Cheese Man, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, or Seen Art?. Their illustrations are always colorful, artful, and really, really cool. Really. And their stories are dang clever and perhaps even a little bizarre with a dash of the random. But about this book... 
Cowboy and Octopus is about the oddly matched friendship between a cowboy, and, well, an octopus. Yes, strange--but they are so endearing as friends. Sort of Frog-and-Toad-like, but weirder. 
What this book is really about is friendship between two very different people/animals. It is about how they try to be good friends to one another but sometimes, since they are so different, they express their caring in ways neither of them expect--or may have chosen, if they had a choice. The story is funny, sweet, hilarious and absurd, pretty much lacking in plot--and I do think there is something meaningful in there to be gleaned, under all the wonderfully busy illustrations and ridiculous dialogue--but I will let you decide what that may be for yourselves, should you get your hands on a copy of the book.
Several little cards of hairpins and barrettes made with the loveliest vintage buttons in my shop. I love the simplicty of these. Really. They make me smile just to see them pinned to the card there. Vintage buttons--they turn me on. What about you?
Two little itty-bitty babies in my shop. Go visit them--cooing is optional.
This is what we did Sunday morning. How about you?
Hey you. I've got an all new tutorial and project download for you. That's right--for you. Because even after all this time I still like you and I want to feel like I am being a good friend to you and helping you to do a little hand-made whatnot for the holidays. I mean, I care and I don't want you to end up having to spend hours at the mall buying STUFF that is just like all the other STUFF everyone else is buying. We all know handmade is best, so all of our gift giving should feature a little handmade something or other. Not to get all preachy at you or anything, but, well, this is important. Okay?
So, anyway, about this new tutorial I have here for you. This one is going to show you how to make a simple little book of vintage french paper crafts, as well as another little book of vintage paper dolls. Because I love paper crafts and I love vintage and I love french...so for me, I am in my happy place to be blogging about this right now. 
AND, what is even better is that I have assembled these books for you in some easy-to-use PDF's, along with some instructions that show you how to actually construct the book. Super duper easy for you to make, and also economic-recession-friendly. You may have everything you need to make this project right now in your very own home, in fact.
We just recently purchased this book, The Pencil, by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman. Honestly, it was a bit of an impulse purchase at a clever little boutique Beeper and I were wasting some time in one evening while waiting for a table to open up at the restaurant next door--but in the few short weeks it has been in our possession, it has become a favorite. 
The star of our story is, well, as one might expect, a pencil. Overcome with loneliness, one day the pencil draws a boy (named Banjo, of course), then at the behest of the boy, he draws a dog (named Bruce, naturally), and, then at the behest of the dog, he draws a cat (Mildred)...and so it goes. The Pencil draws a world in which the people and things run around and then get sort of cranky at him for making everything black and white only.
So the pencil cleverly decides to draw a paintbrush (named Kitty--duh!) that fills the world with color--but does little to quell the growing grumpiness of the people and things he has drawn. They demand smaller ears, less ridiculous sneakers, NOT to be smoking a pipe, thank you very much.
So, what choice does the poor pencil have but to draw an eraser. Smart, non? Oh, but the eraser gets way out of control and mass chaos ensues--until the pencil figures out how to save the day--as the hero of the story should.
I've put a couple of sets of my plush alphabet magnets up in my shop--find them here. They each come with all the fabulous letters of the alphabet, as well as a little sack sized-just-so to hold all those lovely letters. And did I mention that the letters contain magnets so you can attach them to your fridge, boiler, car door, hot-water-heater, magnetic board, or whatever suits your fancy. 
This was the little vampire doll I made for Lucy. She had her 6th birthday party today. We love Lucy--especially Beeper. I think she is probably his bestest friend. Also, while we love Lucy, we still sometimes call her Lucifer because she has this streak of cunning and a bit of wickedness that is often surprising to observe in a kindergartener. And naturally, given her dark streak, Lucy loves monsters. So, a little vampire doll to play with and cuddle up with at night seemed perfect for our little Lucifer--I mean, Lucy.
Yes, yes, yes--I am late with this post. But here is my October Toy Society Drop. It is the Silly Snake found in the sweet book Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan. And I have to tell you this snake was a mongo hit around our house--I mean, Beeper declared the snake his own when he saw it, like they had always belonged to one another or something. So, yes, now there is a second snake in progress for Beeper. And aside from the fact that this snake plushie is big with the kindergarten reptile-loving set, it is also just BIG. I mean, like 4 feet long. With this sort of size, I am thinking it must be at least part anaconda. Which explains why I have this irrational fear of Beeper sleeping with the snake, and keep imagining the snake entwined around his sleeping body. 
But back to the Toy Society. We dropped this snake on Halloween eve, just outside the Seward Co-op in Minneapolis, on Franklin Avenue. And this is drop number 10 in my year long commitment--I know, can you believe it? You can see all my Toy Society drops from this past year right here, if you really want to. And also, don't know about the Toy Society and its acts of random plushie giving kindness?--learn more about it here--but really, the best way to learn about it is just to do a drop for yourself. You should. Think about it at least.
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