Jen's Book Party

Once again - I realized too late... "I should have taken pictures!?" Doh.

The book party for Jen Carson was a blast! Just the right sized mini-mob showed up so we could all work on our own mini-bear head pin. Jen is an excellent teacher and coaxed us all into not only designing our own patterns, but cutting fabric and stitching up our little creatures. She started us with a very basic bear head pattern, but we all ended up morphing our creatures into everything from tiny white rats, to a made up, reversible creature, to my badger-bear.

My badger bear ended up a lot bigger than I had intended because of a little piece known as the gusset. He's the one on top of the water bottle... he is still thinking if he wants to be on a stick, like a jester's puppet, or maybe attached to a badger body. He definitely will NOT be a pin!

The workshop was a great example of why we all need Jen's book - Beyond Bears - How to draw, design and sew your own stuffed animals. I love to make stuff - but I always want to make it my OWN. I hate using other peoples' patterns. This workshop was very "Zentangle-y" in that we all started with the same basic instructions and very similar patterns, but the results were so totally personalized and distinct. Love it.

Oh, yes - and there were bear head cupcakes too!

Thanks to everyone who showed up and was willing to go with the flow and try something new. It was great fun and I hope to see you all back at the BeeHive in May for more fun. :-)