Storybook Mouse

Ouida was showing me one of the original Carolyn DeAngelis catalogs and we noticed there was a picture of a pattern we didn't have called Amanda:

I figured that would be easy enough to draw a pattern from, so I saved the image.  When it came time for my mom's annual mouse ornament, I remembered this drawing and knew it would be very easy to just stick a mouse head and tail on it.  It was!

Sven

I had three of the characters from Frozen that I designed in the past few years.  Click here if you need to refresh your memory.  I wanted to do a 4th because I thought that would make a nice set.  I had decided on Sven, the reindeer, and hadn't settled on exactly how I wanted to do it.  Then I remembered something Ouida gave me years ago that I'd stuck in a file somewhere.  I went digging and managed to find it!

She sent it because she thought I might like the elves, but it was the reindeer that caught my eye!  I've hung on to that for more than ten years, but look at the date.  1977!!!!  Ouida had hung onto it for longer.  And, fortunately, she also had the black and white drawings, so that made my life much easier.  

He turned out great! 

There are a lot of small pieces, but he went together much quicker than I thought.  And it's a good thing, because I need to do another one by Christmas!

I've done another Elsa and Olaf this year, so I had them handy for a group photo:

Since that initial magazine article included directions and drawings for enlargement, I am able to share the pattern with no problem:

Little Leaguer

I wanted to make ornaments for Linus/Daniel for his birthday and he's a HUGE Cleveland Indians fan.  That was a no-brainer:  Little Leaguer.  I love the Carolyn DeAngelis sports figures.  They have nice details that are well worth the effort.  I can't believe that I'd never made this one before now, but somehow it had escaped me.  I had Tyler/Schroeder do a little snooping to find out which variation of the uniform style was Daniel's favorite and this is the final result:

He turned out great and Daniel LOVED him!  And I didn't want him to feel left out after Tyler got two ornaments for his birthday, so he also got a Pete to remind him of our time in Charlie Brown.  His got chives AND a big pencil!

That's a cuticle stick that I cut and painted, in case you're wondering!  

Pete and Robin Hood

You're probably wondering what in the world these two ornaments could possibly have in common.  It's a Charlie Brown thing.  You might remember from an earlier post that I played Lucy last winter in a community theater production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  It was pretty unanimous that our favorite song was The Book Report.  The kids have been tasked with writing a 100-word book report about Peter Rabbit and they're all toiling away in their own unique ways.  Charlie Brown can't think of anything to say . . . Lucy is counting words . . . Linus is too academic . . . and Schroeder likens Peter Rabbit to Robin Hood and gets lost in a fantasy.  It was the hardest song in the show and also the most fun to sing.  

At one point, Lucy is talking about Mr. MacGregor's garden and, in an effort to add as many words as possible, lists all the vegetables he grows.  I, in turn, had to sing that list every night.  I don't think I'll ever forget it:

carrots

spinach

onions

lettuce

turnips

parsley

okra

cabbage

string beans

parsnips

tomatoes

potatoes

asparagus

cauliflower

rhubarb

chives

And when I ended the list, "chives" was to be sung in a big, operatic way.  Spontaneously bursting into CHIIIIVES just became a running gag among the cast.  When it came time for Schroeder/Tyler's birthday, I knew just what to do:

If you have the DeAngelis patterns, that's Robin Hood and Pete.  I made a couple of changes to Robin Hood.  For starters, I gave him arms.  The original pattern has none.

I knew I wanted him to hold the notebook and you can't do that without any arms!  For this song, we all had giant composition notebooks and pencils:

  

I gave him a feather on his hat instead of an arrow and moved the arrow to his other hand.  I made a minor change to Pete, too.  I gave him overalls instead of a full jumper.  And instead of a carrot, I gave him CHIIIIIVES!!!!

Both these patterns worked up quickly and were simple to do.  And Schroeder wept when he got them.  Because he's a big sap.