There are MONSTERS under my bed!!
No wonder I feel so tired...it's hard to sleep when there are little monsters running around under the bed.
Fortunately, Doc exterminated and I can report that these monsters are no longer at our house. Phew!
But where are they now? Let's back up a little bit...
One of the most exciting presents I opened at Christmas was this kit from my sister-in-law, Jill.
Make Your Own Stupid Sock Creatures by Lark Books. The kit came with a book of instructions and patterns for about 5 different sock creatures, a bag of stuffing, and the two pairs of socks needed to make the creature on the cover. I was pumped when I opened the gift and couldn't wait to get home and start creating my own little creatures, or monsters as I like to call them. But then January became the month from hell and this fun craft project got pushed to the side and forgotten about for a while.
A couple weekends ago, when Anna was making her own bracelets and I was having to fight off the urge to use her kit to make a bracelet too, I remembered that I had a kit of my own to play with. I was way too nervous to use the pair of socks that came with the kit on my first attempt because I didn't want to screw them up. So I picked up a super cheap-o pair from Walgreens to use instead. That was a pretty bad move because those cheap socks were a pain to work with! I can't find the pictures I took when I was making my first monster, but here's the finished product.
Readers, meet Rainbow Trout:
Miss Trout has a black eye and a bad attitude. She's way too cool for school. She's also chock full of mistakes. For example, if you look closely, you can see that the orange big toe on her right "ear" is at the top, but it's at the bottom on her left "ear." Oops.
She's also not stuffed very full so her big head flops around if not supported correctly. There's a bit of a learning curve to making your own sock monsters, I tell ya.
I was feeling pretty confident that I could do better than Miss Trout, so I set out to find more socks. Toe socks are kinda hard to find. I feel like there was a time when they were everywhere, but they must not be that popular anymore. It took my mom going all the way to California to find a couple of decent pairs. It wasn't until after she bought me a couple pairs on her vacation that I flipped through the rest of the book and realized that only the first pattern required toe socks. Huh.
I stayed the night at my parents' house one night last week (Doc was traveling, Lolli had just had surgery, and I had a way-too-early-in-the-morning dentist appointment the next day) and talked my mom into going to Wal-Mart with me for a sock run. We made it home with a bag full of socks.
(The toe socks on the far right are the ones from California. All others are from Wal-Mart.)
I was especially excited about these two pairs of knee socks that already had buttons on them. Those would be perfect for eyes.
I figured no better time than the present to get started so I sat down at their kitchen table and got to work. I selected the blue striped pair to use first and laid it out heel side up, just like the instructions told me to.
Making the first cuts is by far the scariest part. I think I held my breath the whole time.
And here is how the two socks looked after making all of my cuts. You can see how the body will be pieced together.
I sewed most of what you see above using a sewing machine - the pointed head, the neck slits, the sides of the long legs. I also used the sewing machine to sew up the sides of the arms and the tail, but then I attached them to the body by hand.
This is how the monster looked at that point.
From there, it's just a bunch of stuffing and hand-work. Here's a picture I texted my mom after I had added the eyes and turned the heel into two lips.
I could call that monster D-O-N-E (at least for a while) and he took a seat in our big comfy chair.
By this time I had formed a plan of what I was going to do with this sock monster. My plan called for at least one more monster to be made, this monster couldn't do it alone.
I decided to use the same pattern for the next monster, only I wanted everything to be shorter so the end result wouldn't be so long and lanky. By cutting everything off, I was able to get all the pieces cut out of just one knee sock instead of two, and that's how the idea to do twins was born. I'll spare you all the details again and just cut to my finished photos.
First, some better shots of the first monster, who was now being called Oscar. You'll see that I made him a neck tie; I think it adds a nice touch.
And now, the twins: Pickle and Pepper. They are identical in every way except for their "accent colors."
They have tails, too!
Yes, in case you're wondering, I totally had a photo shoot with my new friends. Judge me if you want.
No photo shoot is complete without a family portrait.
I think Oscar looks great with his twin little brothers! I can definitely see the resemblence.
Ok, now back to my plan. The kids were at our house this weekend and they graciously helped me out with some of the details.
Wyatt worked on Oscar's bio.
Oscar Age: 3 years (Feb. 29, 2008) (12:00 am) (Celebrate on March 1st) Birth Name: Chauncey Pet Peeve: Bananas Likes: Jumbo Shrimp, Yoga, Basketball Oscar Fact: Chauncey is to embarrassing so, he went by his middle name Oscar. (Last Name: Finklebury)
Anna did the bios for both Pickle and Pepper.
Twins Age: 1 year old Favorite Color: Brown Name: Pickle Birth: June 30th (11:59 pm) Likes: Lots of attention and hugs Dislikes: Fish and other things under water Fun Fact: Very proper unlike his brother and likes the park. And likes bow ties. Favorite Food: Banana Peels ---------- Age: 1 year old Favorite Color: Yellow Name: Pepper Birth: July 1st (12:05 am) Likes: Toy cars airplanes and kites Dislikes: Panda Bears Fun Fact: Enjoys art and other arts and crafts Favorite Food: Chicken Bones
I found the perfect sized box for the monsters. With their bios attached, in went the twins.
And Oscar went in on top.
I sealed up the box, added an address label, and they were ready to go!
The package was put in the mail yesterday so they are en route as I type this, headed to our nephews, Henry and Nathan, in the great state of Indiana. Hopefully they'll be able to make them feel at home there.
I'm just glad there won't be any monsters under my bed tonight!