the well behaved Chrsitmas Elephant.

Barry had a work Christmas party and the spouses were supposed to bring ornaments to exchange. I propably should have just bought one, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So, I broke out my Japanese craft book and made the elephant I’ve been dying to make.

She’s very festive with the snowflake on her dress, her hairbow, and of course her sign to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. She has a red string on the top of her head so she can hang from a tree.

The recipient wasn’t quite as excited about her as I had hoped. Just another ornament. She will be missed. Brenna really played with her as much as she could before we wrapped her up. There will definitely be more elephant making around here, (but I might not get to fit it in ’til Christmas Eve, yikes).

So, she’s made with gray upholstery velvet, which is really great for tiny toys because it doesn’t fray. Her dress and bow are from a felted wool skirt, with a hand emboidered snowflake. The sign is just muslin, embroidered with iron on interfacing on back to make it a bit sutrdy and sewn to a little twig snapped off the berry garland on top of my amoire. Glass loop back eyes, jointed head, thread jointed limbs. About 3 inches tall when sitting.

or should it be hexapi?

The green one got sent away today…

He’s going to Lark Books, and if all goes as planned, he will make an appearance at a bookstore near you sometime next spring. Is that cool or what? The pattern will be available and all the crafters out there can fill the world with hexapi!! Hexapi, hexapi, hexapi!! (can I type that enough?)

I knew the red one would be lonely here without a pal, so I had to make another

and she is the most talented by far. As soon as she could see she whipped out the Prismacolors and got to work. Brenna was a little upset that her piece of paper got stolen, but they quickly warmed up to each other and were inseperable the rest of the evening.

Anyone else want a hexapus? Go ahead and send me an e-mail. (jessica at seedpodbooksandart dot com) They’ll be $35 including shipping. You can make a vague request as to color (like, bluish or greenish or DEFINITELY NOT PINK), but other than that you’ll just have to be suprised. My kids toss them around and twist their legs all over, so they do fine with children. Just be aware that there are buttons that could be pulled off, so they are not appropriate for children under three. Expect it to arrive about 10-14 business days after I receive payment.

He’s green, but don’t let that scare you. Despite his formidable appearance, he’s very sweet.

(This one is made from upholstery velvet with great textures.)

This little guy is fun to have around. Closely related to the aquatic animal, the octopus, a hexapus is a playful land animal with 6 legs. Watch out when you hold him–you may get caught! His twisting legs are stronger than you think.

The hexapus is a very adaptable fellow. He’ll gladly grace the top of an amoire and gracefully twist his arms to wave “hello,”or he’ll play gently as toddlers toss him around and yank on his legs, and he’s just as willing to sit on a craft room shelf and become a pin cushion, gripping pencils and scissors with wonderous skill.

(Details: This hexapus is sewn from recyled wool skirts, stuffed with lentils and polyfil, and his posable legs are made from flexible hair curlers. I was pretty proud of my epiphany to go to the beauty supply store as I was walking around Lowe’s looking for something to make my hexapus legs posable.)