Toy Society 2011 Christmas Drop, Toy # 5, Little Striped Guy

 

This is my all time favorite kind of toy to make. He is made of pieces of fabric and scraps of stuffing that 99.9% of sane people would toss into the round file. But not me! I have this overwhelming compulsion to make "stuff" out of "nothing." Thus, I save everything and throw away nothing!!! I am every neatnik husband's worse nightmare!! (Bwah ha ha ha ha!!!!)



Now She Has Arms and is Done

 

Toy Society 2011 Christmas Drop, Toy # 4

This is my unfinished fourth toy for the Toy Society's 2011 World Wide Christmas Drop. She is made  mostly from scraps, with a little of my hand-dyed fabric for her body/shirt. Her dress is made from a cut-up baby dress from a thrift shop. I look at thrift store clothing with a different eye than most: I see them as raw materials for my toys (I am partial to stripes and polka dots), whether it be a wool cat or a small doll, or doll clothes. I really don't like sewing doll clothes, so if I can shorten the process by making the clothes from other clothing, with ruffles already sewn, that appeals to me. All she needs now is arms.

She is a "keeping doll" as the pocket from the baby dress forms the front of her dress. It can hold all sorts of things: baby teeth, rings, coins, pictures, notes, etc.

Blue Sock Monkey Ballerina

I'm leaving her at Six Rivers Gallery tomorrow.

This Year's Christmas Drop Toys, one, two, and three

Here are my first three toys for the 2011 Toy Society World Wide Christmas Toy Drop:

 I thought a baby might like this silky kitty toy.

 

This chubby softy was made from little scraps of fleece someone gave me to stuff dog beds with, and some of it WILL go there, but some of  it was meant for a higher purpose, I thought.

This funny girl was made out of repurposed materials, too. Her hair is made of fleece "strings" also meant for dog bed stuffing, but hey, it made great hair for her!!

I don't spend more than a couple hours on each toy, but making something out of nothing is a habit of mine, and I find it endlessly entertaining and challenging, too. What can I say?! I'm easily entertained!!

My Third Christmas with The Toy Society

This will be my third year participating in The Toy Society's World Wide Christmas Drop. I have enjoyed doing this so much! I make small toys that I can finish in a hour or two, and I leave them around our town for people to find. Last year, a little boy found a toy I left in a supermarket shopping cart, and his mom sent a picture of him with it to The Toy Sociey. It made me feel so good to know that I'd made that little kid's day!  Here are some of the toys I've dropped before:

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/

It's a Snowman Invasion!!!

Only one snowman is finished, and I'm sure you can tell which one that is. These are fun and easy to make: just get a jar, paint the inside white, allow to dry, fill halfway up with sand, paint a styrofoam ball white, glue to top of jar. (The short snowman is an old-fashioned light bulb, covered with PaperClay.)

I made the noses with PaperClay, and I poked a toothpick up inside them while they were still soft, (and then removed it). When the noses were dry,  I glued a tooth pick inside each one, and painted the nose orange. 

When the paint was dry, I  put a little glue on the back surface of the nose, and pushed the toothpick inside the head. Using a toothpick inside the nose takes a little longer, but you will be rewarded with a nose that will not break/fall off easily.

Do the rest as you choose. Some of mine have cloth hats (toes of socks make great, no-sew hats), some have mouthwash cap hats with margarine-tub plastic brims. You can also use premade straw hats, cowboy hats, etc. You can make neat hats out of felt, too. Or you can leave your snowman hatless. I like mine to have pink cheeks, so they look healthy! I like buttons on the front of mine--you probably noticed that.

Anyway, have fun with these! Do them with kids! Everyone will have fun.