In Progress - Mushroom Cottage Dollhouse

Ever since I made my first paper toy, the gnome mushroom cottage I've wanted a to make a dollhouse version. This tiny dollhouse is part of a series of paper mushroom cottages I hope to finish soon. Gnomie the gnome lives in this red capped cottage complete with paper furnishings. I just love the wood grain furniture and all the other details of the house. I 'm thinking some of Gnomie's animal friends and a vegetable garden will complete this playset. :) I've included the original rough sketch of my idea to show some of the process involved when I create new toys.

What The Duck at Home

Lack of updates lately.. WTD lounging at home after arriving in Singapore from US

Ever tried being interrogated by a mean-looking duck with pouty lips?

WTD meets the yet-to-be-named Tuna Sushi Plush Toy for the first time and resists the temptation to dip it in wasabi.

Trying to reduce the love handles with OSIM uZap Mini.

Sinister Assessment of The Blog

Soft toys make friends online
By JOY FANG

excerpts

Dr Lee Boon Ooi, a psychology lecturer at the National Institute of Education, said the toys represent something that the people long for or lack in their personal lives.
The behaviour is normal and a part of their psycho-social development, he said.
"If (playing with) a stuffed toy represents a personal need to nurture someone, the person may grow and develop in this aspect of personality," he said.
He thinks a sense of emptiness and poor quality of social support can also cause people to seek companionship from inanimate objects.
Ms Portia Searle, a counsellor at The Counselling Place, suggested that such Facebook accounts might be a form of escape from negativity or pain in an individual's life.
People with negative self image may create an alternative reality by "recreating themselves or masking themselves as their pet or toy", she said.

I do not disagree with some of the probable assessment of the psychological drivers for creating any form of social media accounts for stuffed toys. But so what if it's truly escapism through inanimate objects? How is this different from a love for fictional characters, and desire for inanimate fashion/lifestyle products and brands for all that matter? At least the toy persona is entirely your own creation and manifestation of your own creativity and cognition of the world ;) So I say, blog on!

Cupcake Cottage Favor Box

Yay another item checked off my list of toys to make! The cupcake cottage favor box can be used to hold novelties or even as a cupcake box. The best part of this photo shoot was getting to eat the cupcake at the end. :) Available as a PDF download in my Etsy shop.

Bentworld Vandals (Sold)

Bentworld Vandals by Kidrobot



Availability: Sold

Price:

Description: Designed by MAD. ~3" tall

Any questions please email me :)

SchoolGirl (Available)

SchoolGirl by Kidrobot



Availability: Available

Price: £4 (GBP)

Description: from the Nathan Jurevicius City Folk mini series. ~3" tall

Any questions please email me :)

Eddi Buka (Available)

Eddi Buka by adFunture



Availability: Available

Price: £10(GBP)

Description: Buka series chase figure based on adFunture's owner Eddi. ~3" tall

Any questions please email me :)

Sawtooth Mugs Bunny (Available)

Sawtooth Mugs Bunny by StrangeCo



Availability: Available

Price: £5 (GBP)

Description: Luke Chueh's Mugs Bunny Sawtooth variant from the Vivisect Playset. ~3" tall

Any questions please email me :)

Mini Goon (Sold)

Mini Goon by Wonderwall lab



Availability: Sold

Price:

Description: Mini Goon dragon designed by Touma. ~3" tall

Any questions please email me :)

Sewing Machine and Friends

A couple of weeks ago I posted a sneak peek of this set and now its finished and available in my etsy shop. Meet happy sewing machine and his friends the iron and tomato pin cushion. Eventually I'd like to do more with these characters. I'm thinking a little paper tea set would also be cute in this style. Right now I'm working on two other paper toys that should be finished shortly.

SkullyBoom PVC Entry!

Hallo Leute! (That's 'Hey guys' in German...)

So, last month Lief over at Delicious Drips invited me to take part in the Skullyboom PVC (Poly-Vinyl Cranium) show/contest; so of course I jumped on it - despite the somewhat short notice. I was asked to choose a Skullyboom DIY skully and make some magic happen ;-) The result: "Octo's New Home"!!!! This toy was inspired by a small acrylic painting I did - some time back - of a little purple octopus - 'Octo.' Now octo has taken up residence inside a glow in the dark skull! He's even got some barnacles and a starfish to keep him company. YAY!

If you've got a moment, please head on over to the following link and vote for 'Octo's New Home'! It's quick and easy :-)

http://deliciousdrips.com/submissions/submission.php?i=407

This guy was sculpted onto using armatron wire, Super Sculpey and Kneadatite, masked and splattered with spray paint, then finished off with many many layers of acrylic paints, washes and inks - plus a little glow in the dark paint on the eye. I'm psyched on the results! The tentacles feel like they have good movement going on, and the GID plastic contrasts well with the purple tentacles - don't you think? Enough chatter - here are the pics!

The requisite Toy-Full-Frontal-Shot! YAR!

Detail of the eye and skin texture - that's 5+ layers of purple and pink!

Barnacles!!!!!

He GLOWS!!!!

Thanks for checking in! As always, there are lot of things going on in the RAMPAGE TOYS universe. I'll be releasing some print art for sale soon, and designs are near complete on a production plastic toy that will be manufacture in the USA!!! That's right - keeping it national! Head on over to the RAMPAGE TOYS flickr page for updates and A LOT more RAMPAGE TOYS and ART!

Day 160: Gumby

Gumby is a green clay humanoid figure who was the subject of a 233-episode series of American television which spanned over a 35-year period. He was animated using stop motion clay animation.

Gumby's principal sidekick is Pokey, a talking pony, and his nemeses are the Blockheads, a pair of humanoid, red-colored figures with block-shaped heads, who wreak mischief and havoc at all times.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Gumby toy.

Tell us what toys you like to see by visiting our Facebook Fan page.

Day 159: Gromit

Gromit is a fictional character from the "Wallace and Gromit" series of stop motion animated films by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. An anthropomorphic intelligent dog, Gromit is the companion of Wallace, an absent-minded inventor from Wigan, Greater Manchester.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Gromit toy.

Tell us what toys you like to see by visiting our Facebook Fan page.

BlowUpDolls (Available)

BlowUpDolls by Jamungo



Available: Aluminium BUD £5 (GBP)
Sold: F-Bomb BUD S1 chase

Description: BlowUpDolls ~3" tall.

Any questions please email me :)

Day 158: Wallace

Wallace is a fictional character from the "Wallace and Gromit" series of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. All the characters in the films are made from moulded plasticine modelling clay on metal armatures, and filmed with stop motion animation.

Wallace, an absent-minded inventor from Wigan, Greater Manchester, is a cheese enthusiast (especially for Wensleydale). His companion, Gromit, is an anthropomorphic intelligent dog.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Wallace toy. Watch out for Gromit next!

Tell us what toys you like to see by visiting our Facebook Fan page.

Dazzled by Zazzle

How cool is this! Zazzle.com has got to be the funnest website to make products from your own illustrations. It features hundred of items to place images on including t-shirts, skateboards and even shoes! Its really high tech and it allows you to see the product as it would look finished. It does however require the latest flash update to properly function.You can even set up shop and sell products with your images and get a percentage of the sale. I'm slowly getting use to the site but eventually I'll have items available in my Zazzle shop. What do you think? Should I design more products?

I spent the whole day playing and I came up with a few items. A tote to carry all your crafty purchases with my newest pin cushion character. Or a pair of Matryoshka slip-ons for your little girl. Don't forget the two tone coffee mug with cute mushroom cottages. Imagine the possibilities!

Toys From My Collection

These are some of the toys I've picked up through the years. Some are vintage, some are new and some are made by me and other artists. I've always been attracted to old toys. I believe thats the reason I started making toys because good antique toys are difficult to find and rather expensive.This particular collection surround me at my computer desk and hutch.

My grandmothers doll, Steiff kitten, Steiff hare hand puppet and miniature White Rabbit doll made by me.

Clown Moody Doll, Steiff duckie, mechanical dancing clown handcrafted by me and Pinnochio miniature doll also made by me.

A mixture of old and new kitschy items I couldn't live without. Some of the toys are picked up on my travels and some are made by toy artists. My favorite happens to be the vintage Charlie Brown in the top left corner. I had seen that doll in a book of mine and wished to have it and year or two later I found in a shop that sold old toys. A Tracy Mcman push puppet and Erica Daley spool dollie are some the artist toys I've purchased.

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Pom Pom Bunny and Mushroom Egg Tutorial

Just in time for the Easter holiday, a simple and sweet Easter tutorial! This has to be my easiest crafty tute so far. The young ones will be delighted with this cute little bunny and mushroom egg.The bunnies are made with three different sizes of pom poms and a bit of felt. I purchased the wooden eggs for the mushrooms at Michael's. The wooden eggs are great because they're already painted white and they have a flat bottom to stand upright. You could also use blown eggs which can be a bit messy and quite tricky. Another option is to put a string on the mushroom egg to hang from your Easter tree.
Have fun and Happy Easter!

For personal use only. Commercial use prohibited.

Download Instructions and Pattern

Materials Required

Red, White, Pink, and Black Felt
1/2”, 2”, 1 1/2” Pom Poms
Wooden or Blown Egg

Instructions

1. Print pattern and cut out pattern pieces.
2. Pin or trace pattern pieces onto felt scraps and cut out felt pieces from pattern. Use a paper punch to punch out bunny nose and eyes.
3. Glue ears to back of 1 1/2” pom pom. Assemble bunny together using 2” pom pom for body and 1/2” for tail. Glue bunny face to head.
4. Create mushroom cap by overlapping access to create wide cone. Glue felt spots to mushroom cap.
5. Finish mushroom egg by gluing felt cap to wooden or blown egg.

Don't forget last years Easter freebie!
Download Printable Easter Cone