Introduction Post!

[froodle]

Hello all! I'm Froodle, also known as Cat, which is why the DW I set up to keep track of my crafting is called Cat's Chimerical Creations.

I create frankenBeanies by mix-and-matching old Beanie Babies into new and interesting shapes. I got started in February of this year, having been inspired by some very talented people on Etsy, and my first creations were two of my favourite mythical beasties, a Jackalope and a Cerberus.

I don't have a sewing machine or any specialist knowledge/experience, so they're all held together with the sort of hand-stitching that comes from a hotel repair kit and the level of skill it takes to reattach the odd button and not much else. I do think I've gotten better, but I've definitely had to go back and perform emergency repairs on several of my little dudes.

My aim when I started was to try and have one frankenBeanie a week up to the end of the year, but thanks to lockdown I passed that point a while back. My next goal was to see if I could hit 100 mix-and-match monsters by December 31st: now I'm on 98 and quietly asking myself if any of my potential ideas are "good enough" to be the Big 100, so I may need to rethink things...

I have a few Beasties that I'd like to try my hand at making - I'm a big Krampus fan and would love to make a beanie baby anti-Claus of my very own, and there's a much-abused sheet of A4 at the bottom of my bag that has various combos mapped out for future consideration - but I also love tipping out my big storage bin of babies and just going through them to see what strikes me.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

I believe I've seen a few of your inventive creations! I don't sew well, so I applaud you for doing something so unusual and creative. You must go through a lot of beanie babies.

I'm not sure how you'd go about creating a Krampus though. Good luck with that!

[froodle]

:D I do post some of them to the Eerie comm, which I see you're also part of!

and yeah, I get through a fair amount - when I first started out, I bought a couple of cheap joblots/bundles of old Beanies off eBay, but I've got a stash now that's large enough that I mostly only search for specific beanies if I need them for a project!

[badly_knitted]

I joined for the rewatch and them somehow failed, life got in the way and I only watched the first ep.

That's a good way to get craft supplies, I've bought a few craft joblots, back when I had money to spare.

[froodle]

:D life has a tendency to do that! I keep thinking I should promote the comm and the research elsewhere but we're halfway through now and still didn't get around to it, mostly due to non-dramatic but still time-consuming life stuff!

[badly_knitted]

It's a sad but true fact that real life has to take priority.

[darkcedars]

Hi! That's so fun, and you've made 98!!!! Wow

[froodle]

Thank you!

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

OMG, I love the Manticore! You did a gorgeous job on him!

Awwww!!! Lavender's so cute! He looks like my last cat.

[froodle]

Ahhh thank you! For some reason that particular Bushy the Lion had such a concerned expression, so he needed to look extra badass.

[bunn]

!!! The Cerberus is epic! What a great idea.

[froodle]

Thank you! He was my first time removing/reattaching a head and I'm honestly still kinda proud of the stitching!

[moth2fic]

I love the jackalope! He's like the German Wolpertinger! I used to make toys like that when my daughter was small, and I sold some at Christmas fairs. Her favourite (not sold) was a velvet octopus with huge kissy lips. For my grandson I made a Shroom monster when he was collecting all the monsters from an online game but they didn't do Shrooms. You're very industrious and talented!!

[froodle]

Jackalopes are so awesome, I actually got started on this because the world simply was not producing enough jackalope and Cerberus toys to keep up with my need for them so I decided to make my own.

Oh my gosh, tiny me would have LOVED that stall! And teenage me and current middleaged me would have loved it but with more disposable income! The octopus sounds DELIGHTFUL.

[moth2fic]

He went all the way to the south of France on a camping trip once, acting as a car pillow just to show how multi-talented he was. He got his own song that we chanted in the car:

When Octopus went to the Med
All that water went straight to his head.
As the sand on his tentacles tickled his toes,
'I'm happy to be here,' he said.

And by the way, apart from the kissy lips and the big eyes he was green velvet.

[froodle]

That's ADORABKE omg! I might need to try my hand at an octopusfriend in the near future!

[nagi_schwarz]

That sounds so cool! I went and looked at the pictures and they were really awesome. So lovely to meet you!

[froodle]

Thank you!

[m_findlow]

Wow, those are so cool. So many clever people out there!

[froodle]

:D thank you!