Copabananas

Recycled Notebooks

I noticed that I had a large pile of papers next to my printer that were the result of being printed poorly or by mistake. I think most people might have a pile of papers like that. I also have a lot of file folders and some invoices form the old store. I gathered them up with some other miscellaneous papers around and made some 4 x 6 books that can be used as notebooks or scrapbooks. I sewed the books on my sewing machine and finished them with some cool Smurf babies tape. I think they're cute and it was just the biblio-therapy I needed to get me out of the bad mood I've been in the past few days.

Labels

I had labels made and I've been sewing them into the tails of the sock monkeys. It means taking their tails off, pulling out the stuffing, sewing the label in, restuffing it, and sewing it back on. It is so worth it, though, they look great!

New Fred

This week we got a couple brand new items from Fred. The newest items are slowly coming in as they are available. The Bonechillers make skull and crossbone shaped ice cubes to keep your grog cool. And the Batter Finger is a lick-friendly spatula for when you get the urge to finish off the batter or frosting!

Indie Parade

I got a listing up on Indie Parade! Yay!

Highly Caffeinated With A Plan

I've had a good amount of coffee and I'm ready to head over to the shop now and work out a design for a sock bunny. Yay! Good long ears and some kind of bunny tail. I've got 10 pairs of sock left in my stash and they've got Easter and coffee as motivation to transform them into Copabananas sock bunnies. Pics to come, of course.

Update: Here is bunny!

Toy Fair Fun

The Toy Fair was really great today! We spent most of our time downstairs because that's where the smaller companies are and we found some really great items! A sample of what we saw: Shainsware recycled bracelets with numbers, letters, and icons to snap on and create your own words and designs; Brain Noodles stopped us in our tracks when we saw their giant 18" pipe cleaners; a great addition to our historical non-action figure collection will be the products from Jailbreak Toys, located in Brooklyn; and I couldn't resist stopping and trying out the beautiful juggling clubs at the Higgins Brothers booth.

Magnetic Personality

I'm still making monkeys and gLove Story Dolls, but this week I've been distracted with another project. I've been making simple 1.5" round collage magnets from old maps, vintage cookbooks, and other retro images. Thanks to Juliet from Mis en Scene for talking me out of the expensive pin back button/badge maker I told her I wanted to get! These are way more interesting and fun to make!

Toy Fair Coming Up

Toy Fair starts this weekend. I'm looking forward to going, it's always fun. Uglydolls always has a big booth and even though I saw the new dolls at Gift Fair I still love visiting them.

Workshop in the Works

The other day Abby had a friend hang out with her at the store for the day. The three of us made gLove Story Dolls and then they played with them for, literally, hours. It made me think I should seriously consider doing workshops which was an idea I had before but never moved forward with. We worked well together, I would sew something while they worked on another part, and we never got too far ahead of each other and it wasn't too much for me to do. I want to try it with a larger group and see how organized it can be and how long it takes to get everyone finished, including photographing and naming their dolls. I may reach out to some other people who have more space for a workshop and see if we could collaborate. It was fun and it would be great if I could make more out of a little spontaneous time I spent with my daughter and her friend.

Looking Ugly

Today I got the Uglydolls order and they look great! Now we have 2 each of the Little Uglies that are going to retire this year, the new Suntan Target and Cinko in his new color, as well as a few of the old favorites.