New Listings

I have finally got around to listing some sock creatures over at both my Etsy Shop and my Folksy Shop. There are some new creatures, as well as some you may have seen before, along with some pairs of socks.

As a sneek peek, here's some pictures of my newest creations:




I've also made this funky little creature:



But she's not for sale - she's going to be a birthday present for the boyfriend's niece. She watched me making her and fell in love with her, and as her birthday's next week it just felt really mean not to give it to her!

Today I'm planning on sewing up another monkey, and if there's time, I might sew some new socks, so keep an eye out for more listings soon!

Some Crafty Stuff

I've been up to a little bit recently, in the craft world, and I have some pictures to show now. They are bad, for which I apologise - they were taken with my phone because I've misplaced my camera again! But hopefully they'll give you some idea of what I've been up to!

First up, a new monkey:



He's the first one I've made in a while actually, and I think he's a little on the skinny, gangly side. He is for sale though. He's £12, and I can list him in either my Etsy, or Folksy shop if anyone wants him. And because I love you all so much, if you post here, or email me that you want him, I won't charge you for postage!

Next up - a sock I'm working on - it's a mothers day present for my step mother (I haven't even started the ones for my mum yet! Thank the gods I still have a week before I go to Bristol!):



I've also made another pom-pom hat, which I still need to list in the shops. Again, if you want it, I can list if just for you, and won't charge Postage. The hat is £8!



And finally, some pincushions. I've never made pincushions before, and as I'm still getting used to my new sewing machine, I thought it might give me some practice sewing in nice straight lines. I still need to work on that! These are also my first attempt at patchworking too, and I know, it's really wonky and still needs work. But on the whole, I think I'm pretty happy with them all!

Socks!

It's been a while since I made a post here...what with the new job I haven't really had too much time for crafting.

I made 2 sock monkeys for a friend, who was overjoyed with them, and has ordered 4 more for xmas, which makes me very happy. I've also got the pattern for the frock coat my dad wants me to make him, but it looks REALLY complicated, so I keep putting off actually doing anything with it. It's a much more complicated pattern than I've ever used, and it's been so long since I've done anything with a pattern I'm not even sure I remember how! Hints, tips and lots of fingers crossed for luck when I start it would be gratefully accepted!

In other news, I knitted some socks! For a year now I've been playing around with my knitting looms, and I haven't mananged to make anything except hats and scarves (things that are basically just round!). Looking at something completely different online, I found a link to a great loom knitting resource site, and from there, I managed to find a pattern for socks!

And here they are:

On the bed:





and on my feet:



They're obviously not the prettiest socks ever, but they're warm, and comfy and I totally love them. I am going to go wool shopping at some point in the week for pretty wool to make many more pairs from!

50's B Movie Swap!

Today I got my parcel from Kim who was my parter for the 50's B Movie swap! She sent me some utterly amazing things and I cannot thank her enough.

Here are pictures of what I got (they're taken on my phone, because I've misplaced my camera, so please excuse the rubbish quality of them!)

The handmade item was this gorgeous little plushie creature (who I am still trying to think of a name for!):


Next were these sweets (which I may have om nom nommed already!):


Then I had 3 crafty items - some yarn, some stickers and some pom-poms!:






There was also a very cool Horror magazine:


And finally, and most awesomely in my mind, a double feature DVD featuring one of my favourite actors - Vincent Price, and set in my favourite scary movie setting, old mental hospitals!:


I very stupidly forgot to take proper pictures of what I sent Kim, but I have some pictures I took just to show for friends!

I sent this cute Vampire Monkey:



Some stickers, much like the ones Kim sent me, some flying saucer sweets, and some "fizzy fang" sweets, and finally, some fabric which I thought was so amazing I wanted to keep it!



It was a great swap, and Meri was awesome for organising it! She's currently hosting a 1980's Fantasy Movie Swap, which I'm thinking of taking part in, if I can work out what to make before the sign-up deadline!

Wow, long post!

A Giveaway!

Well, it seems, once again, that I have not been keeping this poor, neglected place updated. So, in order to give it some new life, I've decided to have a little giveaway!

Since my original idea of embroidering my sock monkey design onto card, I've since been embroidering them onto actual cards, and so, have decided to giveaway a set of 5 lovely cards, to a) make sure I check on my blog, and b) advertise the fact that said monkey cards are now available for sale in my Etsy shop!

These cards are blank inside, for your own message (although I think they'd make awesome invitation cards, or thank you cards...or even 'I just wanted to say hi' note cards!) and they are stamped on the back with the initials DHD (for DriaHades Designs).







To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post, saying what colours you think the embroidered monkeys would look good in! This will close on Friday August 14th, so you have 2 whole weeks to enter! After that, the names will go in a hat, and I'll get my lovely boyfriend to pick one out!

So...enjoy!

Embroidered Monkeys

I've been playing around with the idea of embroidering sock monkeys on to things for a while, since I first doodled one, and then the idea suddenly hit me the other day to embroider them onto card. I plan to use them for thankyou notes, monkey birth certificates and perhaps gift cards, but I think they probably need a little more tweaking!



And this is a monkey I finished last night, who has been named Splodge.


I'm also taking part in two mini-swap type things with some friends, which should keep me busy and hopefully creative. I'm having a plushie swap with one friend, and with the other we've decided to swap something crafty with a broad heading of 'it has to be stripy'! So that should hopefully inspire me somewhat!

Big Catch Up!

I have the internet back at home! Hooray! And that means a big catch up post of everything I've made while the internet has been down!

First up: Cross Stitch.

I made a post a while back about the two big cross stitches I was working on. Without internet to distract me in the evenings, I've got some more of the Looney Tunes one done:



Next up: Embroidery

I had an idea a while ago about embroidering things on the back of underwear. And now I've done some:







I'd like some opinions on these - not so much the designs, as I was just playing around, but ideas, thoughts, constructive criticisms - I'm pondering whether to sell them, but don't know whether they would sell.

And then we have sock creatures:

I made 2 monkeys and a bunny that were sent off around the world this week, which I stupidly forgot to take pictures of first. One was a monkey for my step-sister's birthday, made from socks with pink and sparkly hearts on them, and the other was a monkey made of fluffy socks for my friends in Finland. The bunny went to Finland too - he was made from black socks with purple red polkadots!

I did make another bunny though, which my boyfriend has now claimed as the girlfriend for his other bunny. He has named her Violet, and here he is holding her:


And finally...(getting there, I promise!) Today is my lovely boyfriend 34th birthday. And so we went to Legoland! We both love Lego! Whilst there, we bought:

The Kraken Attackin' Lego Pirates set (put together by me!):


Lego Minifig shaped cookie cutters (for when I make Gingerbread!):


And a really cool Lego bag (I have a major thing for handbags of all shapes and sizes!)


The boyfriend also bought a mini Lego Bulldozer, but I haven't taken a picture of it!

Oh, and before I forget - my monkey swap present arrived too. It's a gorgeous little monkey from Mel over at Felt Me Up. He also came with a really cute banana:




And I'm now taking part in Meri's 50's B Movie swap!

Woooow, that was a long post!

Monkey Madness!

I'm on a bit of a monkey making spree at the moment, after having spent lots of time making rabbits and monsters, I've gone back to monkeys.

At the moment I'm making a monkey for the Monkey Swap, so no pictures of that yet! I'm also making a dark striped monkey, and I bought some more fluffy socks this morning which I plan to turn into monkeys, as I think they look really quite cute made from fluffy socks.

In other news, I've set up a Coriandr Shop, which hasn't much stuff in yet, but hopefully will do soon.

Also, the Pirate sock creatures I've made are up for sale in my Etsy shop. I also have some better pictures of them too:

Pirate Socks

I love Pirates. I love anything to do with Pirates. And so, when I found socks with skulls and crossbones on, I knew I had to make Pirate sock creatures. I've made two so far - a monkey, and a rabbit.

Before I post any more, please excuse the pictures. The weather here's awful, so I've had to take the pictures indoors. The light's really bad. Hopefully I'll get better pictures soon!

Here we have Captain Blacktail, the most evil Pirate Rabbit known upon the seven seas:


And here, his friend and ally Captain Bananas, who is an equally scurvy dog (or monkey, as the case may be...):


And here's one of them together:

I Am Bad...

At blogging it seems.

I seem to have lost a bit of my mojo at the moment - I'm trying to think of ways to revive it at the moment. I am still making things, but I'm not enthused by them really. I'm hoping it'll come back!

I haven't got any (decent) pictures of anything new, but I have added an Etsy Mini feature to the left, as you may have seen.

And here is a (bad) picture of the last sock monkey I've made. It's made of fluffy socks! I don't recommend making creatures from fluffy socks - the bedroom is covered in fluff that's fallen off the socks!

Sock Creature Round Up

I've been making a lot of sock creatures recently and only a few of them have had pictures taken and posted here. I have now taken pictures of all of the ones I have made, and those that haven't already been posted will be now!

First up, Monkeys:

This is a monkey made for my boyfriend's Niece - she/he/it doesn't have a name yet:


This is Spot:



This is Stripe:


This is Bruce (note the bats comic-fans!!):


And this is another un-named monkey, made for my mother:


And now, Bunnies:

This is Lilah


Springy:


And my absolute favourite-est sock creation ever - Captain Blacktail, the bunny pirate:


And then this, is a monster. He doesn't have a name really. I like to make Rawr-y noises at him though:


Some of these will be appearing in my etsy shop over the next few days! Keep an eye out for them!