twig mobile 003

From Sea To Sky

Inspiration doesn’t  strike often when you work a 9-6 job and have things to stress out about (jury duty), so when it does hit, I take advantage of it.

I made my third twig mobile last week after feeling restless and wanting to create something. I have a small stack of coloured paper I keep for emergencies and this was the perfect case. After cutting discs for half an hour, I spent an hour stringing them together with tiny knots and multiple finger prickings. The result: From Sea To Sky. I rather enjoy titling these mobiles based on their colour schemes and the feelings given off by the movement of the discs as single pieces and as strands.

Must procure more twigs and purchase more paper to make more mobiles. It’s a nice and comforting process.. very different from doll-making which to me is more mentally challenging because there are more things to consider as far as placement of eyes, patterns, gathering fabric to stuff the doll with, colour and texture choices.. it’s all fun and good everything I set out to make, but there is a calm to twig mobile making that I am beginning to really enjoy.

twig mobiles 001 + 002

Inspired by seashell mobiles I see in kitschy shops, I decided to make my own paper version. Cut from cardstock and hung from twigs found in my front and backyards, I have made two mobiles so far.

Borne of the Sea

Wheat Fields Cloudless Sky Golden Sun

Jack & Mote

Ava and Lucy received their members of the Cookies ‘n’ Cream Gang. Ava named hers  Jack and Lucy named hers Mote. Two of the cutest little girls ever!!

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Gang

I had been wanting to make some new pillows for a while, but if it wasn’t for a gentle maternal push from my mom, I wouldn’t have made the Cookies ‘n’ Cream Gang today.

 

 

Two of the CNC members will be arriving at a Southern California doorstep this week as I’ve promised them to two little girls as belated Christmas gifts.

 

Pillows are fun to make.

Pillows are fun to squeeze.

Pillows are fun to sleep with.

Pillows with faces especially rule.

Holiday Cheer

Greetings!

 

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving.. I ate too much of course. It’s always good to get together with everyone and have a feast. Christmas is fast approaching and I’ve been busy making little goods to go along with gifts.

 

I was inspired by someone’s blog to crochet snowflakes. After scouring the web for patterns I could actually understand, I resorted to YouTube. Sure enough, I found what I was looking for.

Video instructions! This lady is the bomb dizzle.

I’ve made a bunch of snowflakes, but I haven’t perfected the technique. The whole single crochet, slip stitch, triple sau cow, scrambled eggs vocabulary hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m learning!! Tonight, I attempted an even smaller snowflake.. and now my fingers are paying for it.

cozycloud tee shirts

The holidays are fast approaching and it’s time to start thinking about gifts! I’m all for hand-made gifts and I’ve been wanting to make proper tee shirts for everyone. I think this is the year.

Instead of going with traditional screenprinting, I’m going to hand-draw tee shirts this year. Since I’ve never done that, I decided I’d experiment and I was quite pleased with the results.

I have a bag full of tee shirts that Emily gave me, so I pulled one out and drew on it with a Sharpie. My fabric markers were all dried up.

Fun times. I am going to buy some fabric markers, some tee shirts and I’ll be getting to work during the not-so-busy weekends making gifts!

Toothy Tree

Good afternoon!

Emily and I are happy to announce that we will be posting to ONE blog instead of two separate ones so you can keep up with both of us in the same place.

 

Please follow us to: beeandbean.wordpress.com

 

New creations can be found there!

<3 Jenny

October Update

Tender Loving Empire revamped their website and it is looking mighty fine! Our dolls in a basket at their shop! They have so many awesome goods there. Next time I’m in Portland, I’m bringing home goodies!

 

My friend PS so graciously took these photos for me during his Pacific NW Sigur Ros tour!

He also purchased Rene and Chapman! What a stand-up fella! They are in the best hands now.

 

Emily has updated her site with new dolls and we’re going to be working on a new series starting this weekend. Very excited for this. There are so many things to be looking forward to this new season! We will be trying to get our dolls into more shops for the holiday season.

 

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

<3 Jenny

Tender Loving Empire

Hello!!

Quick updates: Emily is back in California for a little bit. Bee & Bean will be alive and live very soon this month! I just landed a new job so I’ll be starting that as well this week. Exciting times I tell ya!

We are also very proud that our dolls will be sold at a super awesome shop in Portland called Tender Loving Empire. One of the proprietors, Brianna, met Emily at the PDX Zine Symposium and invited us to sell our dolls there! We are so excited about this as the TLE family promotes not only artists but musicians and writers as well. Definitely our kind of people! Please show your support and visit TLE when you get a chance! Also, their website lists a lot of the events they participate in, so you can check that out here: www.tenderlovingempire.com.

Hope everyone had an awesome summer! Looking forward to fall and cooler temps here..

<3 Jenny

PDX Zine Symposium

Hi!

Emily and I will have a table at the PDX Zine Symposium happening this Saturday and Sunday! We’ll have the new Seafarers as well as some others who still need happy homes. Please stop by and check us out!

Thanks!

+ Jenny