A faux furry and funky surprise

At the beginning of this year I joined the Etsy Plush Street Team, just in time to sign up for their plush swap. This year in honor of Leap Day. And last night I received my Leap Day Swap Surprise from Green Elevator in a large box with some promising decorations:

I excitedly but carefully opened the box and something furry started climbing out:

I squeeled with delight when I met this funky monkey in one of my favorite color combinations, Dunkin' Donuts' pink and orange:

Oh, and check out his fabulous tail:

He is so stunning, incredibly well made and really soft. I couldn't stop hugging and touching it. He's made of some amazing faux fur fabric that's making me want to get some for myself and start creating with it! But first I have to get ready for next week's tiny on campus craft fair at my husband's school, then I'll hunt the city for some faux fur to experiment with.

Bear couple

I made a cute couple of bears for a cute couple of humans. These were a thank-you-present for friends of mine who took really good care of me last weekend. I hope they like their bears.

A thank-you bird

My husband is a graduate student and he's working on his Master in Psychology. And last month, he had to conduct play therapy with a child for his studies. I came along to see him play with his friend's two year old daughter. That little girl was really sweet and adorable, and she did so well that I made her a bird, in her favorite colors, to thank her for playing with us.

I heard she loves the little felt bird and calls her 'One Eye'. And my reward was this lovely thank-you note from her and her mom. Isn't that just awsome?

Her mom drew the lion on the purple card and pasted the monkey sticker on it. I love it too, because it's so applicable. My birthday is in four days, so I'm a Leo, which we simply call 'lion' (leeuw) in Dutch and my Chinese zodiac is a monkey (which is where 'eleventh monkey' comes from). Anyways, it's fun to give gifts and to get wonderful thank-you cards!

Louana the Second

My sweet mother is in the hospital now awaiting surgery on a tumor in her spinal cord. It really sucks that I’m so far away and can’t really be there for her. She has already forbidden me to use my frequent flier miles to come home... Several times. She wants me to save them for her 50th birthday in two years, which she deems a much better occasion to come home for. 

So I needed to think of another way to be there for her in this terrible time, so I’ve created a mini-me:

She’s actually much prettier and cuter than me and the only things we really have in common are our long brown hair and the mole next to our noses. I’m a little jealous of her and she gets to travel really cheaply, her plane ride to the Netherlands was less than $10!

Yasu really likes her too, so it’s a good thing I sent her to my mom, so that Yasu doesn’t have to divide his attention between us.

My mother opened her package with mini Louana in it today, in her hospital room in front of the Skype camera (hospitals these days are pretty modern). And she loved the doll - it took her a while to recognize who she was, but the mole did the trick - and she even cried when she read the purple note hiding in the doll’s tummy pocket!

My mom has never been the over-emotional type, but ever since she’s been in the hospital and on lots of morphine she has no problem sharing her feelings with us. She’s become quite sentimental. It’s a bit funny but I like it. And now my mom has a way to hug me whenever she wants.

Translation of the purple note: “My name is Louana the Second, and I love my sweet mom very, very much. Unfortunately, my mom is in the hospital right now and not doing well physically, so she needs many hugs from her daughter (Louana the First). But Louana the First lives quite far away, but don’t worry, there is a connection between us, kind of like an invisible USB cable, or WiFi, or even better LouFi! So when you hug me really hard, the hug will travel through LouFi and be received by Louana the First just moments later! Oh, kisses will travel through LouFi as well!”

A special pillow

In Japan they have the yes-no pillow. On one side of the pillow it says “yes” on the other side it says “no”. Ladies can use it to show their men whether they’re in the mood or not. Before bed, he checks which side she has put up for the night and he knows what to expect.

As a wedding gift for our manager my coworkers suggested I make a very special yes-no pillow for her. One that fits her unique personality better than a conventional yes-no pillow. This is the “yes” side:

This is the “no” side, or rather the "no hell yes!" side:

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to her wedding because it was on my last day in Japan and I was a little busy. But I hope my pillow was featured during her wedding night...

Weird monkeys

Other monkeys I made when I was still in Japan are the Weirdos. Which have huge bulging eyes that make them look rather weird (hence the name), but still cute in my opinion.

They were mostly going-away-presents for my lovely coworkers. Obviously, I couldn’t leave them without leaving a bit of eleventh monkey with them.

On their backs a little reminder of who made these monkey badges for them, just in case they’ve forgotten all about me in a while.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Japan today, I was even imagining how it used to be prepping for classes. Wonder when this desire to go back to Japan will dissipate.

Weirdos for my coworkers

All right, that was it. My last day of teaching is over, I am no longer an English teacher... It's hard to wrap my mind around it, really. Right now, I'm saying goodbye to the last students and soon all the teachers and staff will have a little dinner picnic on the floor of one of our classrooms. I'm going to have to say goodbye to my coworkers now and I suspect it's not going to be easy. Of course, I made everyone a little gift to remember me by and this is what they look like:

Monkey badges with oversized button eyes, one for each coworker and one for me. They look a little weird (hence the name), but I like them they fit right in with the rest of my family of slightly awkward 'eleventh monkey' creatures. I hope my lovely coworkers will wear them proudly and like them as much as I do. A lot of love went into making them anyway!

Mrs. Chantal

She did it! She got married! Congratulations Chan :). Enjoy the honeymoon.

My mom took a few quick pictures for me to get an idea of her big event. As you can see, I was present through my wedding monkeys and Chantal looked beautiful in her dress. Can’t wait to see more pictures.

Congratulations, Chantal & Henk!

Chantal is my mother’s younger sister and I’ve gotten used to thinking of her as my hip single aunt. She’s only twelve years older than me, and I’ve never even called her ‘aunt’, just Chantal. A couple of years ago she hooked up with Henk and they’ve been inseparable ever since. And after today she’ll no longer be single, because she’s marrying her hunk Henk today!

Unfortunately, I can’t make it to the wedding, because I won't be home until next month. Which is a shame because I'd love to see Chantal get married in her cream colored dress, but I’ll just have to see it on video. To celebrate her special day, I’ve made some wedding monkeys, because Chantal's Chinese zodiac is monkey, just like mine. I hope the bride and groom have a wonderful wedding and make today one of the most precious memories they'll have.

Onigiri Guido

Guido is celebrating is 45th birthday today so I designed him a little penguin. My mom told me he loves penguins and I know he loves the color green. A little bit of drawing and sewing later Guido the Penguin was born.

The real Guido loved his little namesake, which kind of resembles an onigiri (a Japanese rice ball), which he loves as well. We actually made some onigiris ourselves during my last visit home, and sometimes he likes to dress up like one. Happy birthday Gui!

A new year

The Japanese year starts in April, that is when the new school year and business year starts, so lots of things change. For our school that means Sachi is leaving and being replaced by a new Japanese teacher. Of course, we had to have a farewell/welcome party to celebrate this!

Of course, I’m sad Sachi is leaving but I’m excited for her and her new job. And I made her ‘Sachi the Panda’ to accompany her on her new adventure, and she really seems to like the little panda. And it’s always fun to get to know a new teacher and I’m sure Yuka will fit in well at our school.

A monkey for a generous student

Last month, one of my students surprised me with a bag full of felt and embroidery floss! Isn’t that sweet and awesome of her?! So I made her a little present to thank her for her gift, a monkey brooch.

Unfortunately, she hasn’t been to class ever since she gave me the bag of felt... I guess she’s busy, but as soon as I see her again, I’m going to give her the green monkey. I hope she likes it!

Thanks Gina!

When I got home last night I found a package from my swap partner in the States! She sent me a beautiful card, an embroidered sushi embellishment (which happened to be one of my favorite stamps), a stamp pad and of course the enormously awesome stamps.

I love everything, but of course the stamps are my absolute favorite! I’m going to use them on all my shop correspondence. And Gina also got her butterfly in the mail and I’m happy to report she loves it! Craft swap: completed successfully!

Look at this!

So I just checked my craft swap partner’s blog and saw this:

Wow!!! Awesome stamps which I know I’m going to use a whole lot! I can’t believe how well-made they are! That monkey stamp is just insane, so good! And yes I know that ‘eleventh’ is misspelled. Gina discovered that herself after stamping it and made a new and correct one. She just forgot to take pictures before sending it to me. But I will take a lot of pictures when they get here! Thanks Gina!

Of course, Gina also has an Etsy shop where she sells her hand carved stamps, and you can even order a custom stamp. These are a few of my favorites:

You should really check it out, because her stamps are amazing! I’m so happy she was my craft swap partner!

Craft swap

Katie from Skunkboy Creatures organized a craft swap this month. I had no idea what it really was, but it sounded like fun and I wanted in! I emailed Katie and she partnered me up with Gina from the States. I was so excited that I already started working on my creature for the swap before I knew who my partner was. And this is what I made:

The first big butterfly I’ve made and of course she’s named after my craft swap buddy. She’s the eleventh monkey’s 52nd creature and about 12.5 cm (5 inches) tall. Oh and apparently she likes some of the same things as the human Gina.

I really hope Gina will like her felt butterfly and I’m very curious to see what she has made for me!

Eri the Ape

Another farewell party tonight, this time at Ninnikuya. A restaurant that puts a lot of garlic (ninniku in Japanese) in all of their dishes! Delicious, but smelly. We were saying goodbye to Eri this time, and I made her this cool neon-black ape, to accompany her on her new adventure of starting her own business.

Eri is quite a tough chick, who sometimes seems more like a guy than a girl and even drives her own motorbike! So I didn’t want to give her something too tooty fruity. I think this ape suits her well!

A hard day's work

All day today, I’ve been working on two new designs, one of a little cat and one of a little monkey head. I turned both of them into brooches. They’re so small (they fit in the palm of my hand) that it’s hard to believe it took me a whole day, but it did!

My mother commissioned me to create a very small black cat brooch, to cheer up one of her coworkers who just lost her cat. And because my mom is my best customer, and the sweetest in the world, I made her the monkey brooch in her favorite colors. Hope she likes the brooches!

Kumiko the Bear

I made another gift for a friend! It seems like I’m only sewing presents these days, yet I can’t stop doing it because it’s so much fun to make people happy with some handmade goodness! This time I made a bear with different colors in the front than in the back, just to try something new.

I’m sending her to Inuyama to live with Kumiko, one of my dear Bon Jovi friends. I met her at a Bon Jovi concert in Nagoya, when she was practically sitting next to me and turned out to live in the same little country town as me! I’ve been missing her a lot since I moved to Osaka, and I just wanted to let her know that I still love her! I hope she likes the little blue and white bear.

Keiko and Tomomi the winking love birds

Giving presents is fun. Giving presents that I made myself is even more fun! During the last days of my winter vacation back in Japan I was sewing a couple of winking love birds for two very special ladies.

I’m happy to report that both Keiko and Tomomi loved their little felt friends! I heard them say ‘kawaii’ (cute in Japanese) over and over and that’s always a good sign.

A bizarre horse and a tough bear

I have a few more new creatures to share. I made a Christmas/birthday present for my old roommate from Emory. A horse in a combination of colors that makes me think she stepped out of one of my frequent bizarre dreams. I hope she doesn't scare Jungwon...

The new bear is the first creature not made entirely out of felt. The shiny brown material is artificial leather. My mom sent over a whole bunch of artificial leather earlier this year, and I was excited to use it. But the thick fabric has been really tough to sew, and really painful on my fingers. Finally with the help of some leather needles I ordered online, Tully the Bear was born.