Byron's Octopus

This is the result of my toy-making adventure, attempt no. II. It's still basically an octopus. Only with longer, individually sewn legs this time, that I've left quite floppy. This gives Mr Octopus a lot more movement.



Of which Byron seems to respond to really well. The long crazy legs also seem to be quite useful for chewing on! So, at this stage the new toy is ok, but definitely no 'Mr Elephant'. We'll see how the relationship between boy and octopus develops over the next few months though...





Oh - and just because I know you guys appreciate cute fluffy things - how gorgeous is this Koala mum and baby we spotted at my mum's place today. They are so lucky to get these incredible creatures sleeping only a matter of metres from their house!

Can I do it again!?

Byron is 8 months old now and just starting to figure out how to get what he wants. A lot of the time he wants what Chelsea has. And vice versa. Pretty normal behaviour, but pretty exhausting when it happens constantly, ALL day! His latest target has been Chelsea's most beloved 'Mr Elephant' that I made for her (exactly) a year ago. Every opportunity that Mr Elephant is left unattended, and within reach, Byron snatches him and starts munching away! Needless to say, Chelsea does not handle this very well at all!

Mr Elephant comes with us everywhere. Chelsea sleeps with him, travels with him, plays with him, and is comforted by him. In fact, there are some situations when only Mr Elephant will comfort her! Not even a mummy or daddy hug will do!







I don't know what it is/was about the home made elephant cushion that became so magical for Chelsea, but with the current squabbling over him, it is time to try to work the magic again for Byron.




This was attempt no. 1. An 'octopus'. Lets just say it kind of looks more like a mutant flower with eyes! :P Byron doesn't mind it. But's it's no 'Mr Elephant'.
So I'm going to try again with a less bulky design. Fingers crossed there's still a bit of magic left!

Poppy Bear - my toy voyager

My toy voyager Poppy Bear is on her way to Hawaii!!! This is more than I could have ever imagined. She's going to see more of the world then me at this rate!

You can follow her adventures on her own special blog. The last update this morning show her all packed up and ready to fly out. Lucky Little Teddy Bear!!!

Byron chatting and toy voyager update

This is just a little video I took of Byron having a chat with me two weeks ago. It's a little wobbly, so if you get motion sickness it might be best not to view it. But it is pretty cute. (well I think so anyways, but I could be biased. I have to be, otherwise I wouldn't still be getting out of bed three times a night for feeds! But now I am getting off topic...)

I also wanted to do a toy voyager update. Just after Byron was born I made him this little teddy who was supposed to go travelling the world on his behalf. I signed up to the toy voyager website, purchased tags and was all ready to go. Then I read some of the forums. LOTS of toys get lost. I really didn't want his bear to get lost. So I chose a bear from Chelsea's extensive collection that was nice, but not so special that I'd be heartbroken if it went missing. Chelsea and I left it sitting on a bench in our local shopping centre last week.

This evening the travel log was updated! I am very excited, and so happy that someone else saw the fun in the idea as well.

Toy Voyager

In answer to the question I asked in the last posting (should I buy a commercial toy to send as a toy voyager, or make one myself?) - I ended up making one. I figured if I'm going to put all the energy into setting up the account for Byron, and sending this little guy off, and expecting other's to take him around and photograph him in their local areas, the least I could do was make him special to begin with.



He's a strange little guy with a flat head and small cotterpin jointed body. Very light weight but full of character. The design was actually inspired by some bears that used to be on bearpile a few years back. The bear artist was from Singapore, but I can't for the life of me remember her name. Some of you out there in Blog-Land might know her? She used to make little bears with big flat heads and string jointed limbs and would sell them at a very low price. I think I picked my one up for about $35, and she's beautifully made. (she's the one with the big blue eyes in the middle of this picture).


I didn't want to rip off her idea completely, so Byron's Bear is a little different, with a more football shaped head, stockier body and stranger facial expression! But I do acknowledge that there are some distinct similarities, so if anyone know's her name I'll love to publicly credit her here!

Surprise delivery for Miss Chelsea and Master Byron

Just under a year ago, shortly after I had started this blog, I posted an update about an awesome surprise package that arrived from a very generous customer for Miss Chelsea.

This week we got another one! (we have actually had quite a few in the months between then and now, but I got a bit slack with photographing everything!).



Monday morning the postie dropped off the package which contained ALL of these little critters! The monkey with the big eyes was for Mark - but has been claimed by Byron (he was fixated on it's eyes when we showed it to him), the Panda was for Chelsea (but I would have liked to steal it!), the grizzly bear was for Byron, and now sits in his cot keeping watch over him, and the two guinea pigs have been claimed by Chelsea, and now get pushed around in her pram!



And then there was this guy! Isn't he lovely. Completely handmade by a fellow estyian Plombagine, with a handmade necklace and pendant by the parcel-sending Julie as well!

I was explaining to Miss Julie that I have been thinking about setting up a Toy Voyager account on Byron's behalf, and possibly using one of these critters to be the traveller. When I was pregnant with Chelsea I set up a postcrossing account (where you send postcards to other member all over the world and get random postcards in return). I asked the members to write name suggestions for me, and now have an album full of hundreds of cards with all manner of interesting names from heaps of different places for Chelsea to look through when she is older. (no one suggested the name Chelsea though :P)

I didn't really get a chance to do this for Byron, so I was thinking the Toy Voyager could be his thing. That way he can look back on all the photos and adventures of his toy, and maybe one day visit those places himself when he's all grown up!

My only dilemma now is whether to just send a commercial toy (less effort required on my behalf!) or make one especially for the task...??

Oliver's Christmas outfit

Chelsea and I went to the shops today. For bread and milk. We came back with about ten bags of other stuff! Christmas goodies, toys, santa gifts, hair accessories... oh, and an outfit for Oliver!



He didn't really like it :P




Also finished three more SPuNGieS today. These guys are just too much fun to make!

More baby toys

To my surprise, my baby toys have been selling reasonably well. Which is great - because I love making them! They're so much different to the bears, allowing a greater sense of freedom in choosing colours and matching ribbons, but still adding a challenge (the last step in creating the SPuNGieS in particular is quite tricky!).

So to celebrate the sales, I've made a few more (now on etsy). I mixed and matched 8 different furs/cotton/ribbon swatches yesterday, and sewed two this afternoon. I don't know which one i like more!

Baby Giraffe Trio

I purchased some awesome silky soft giraffe print faux fur a little while ago, and have been trying to decide whether or not to actually make giraffe's out of it, or a giraffe print 'something else'.

I went with giraffes. They are a little cliché for baby toys, but they do work so well. I went with three different designs. One quite girly with pink tartan legs, lace mane and pink tail. One quite bright with rainbow legs, a rainbow assortment of a mane and rich green tail. And one a little more uni-sex in greens, blues, oranges and reds.

These guys are currently available in my etsy store.