Move Over Etsy….

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….there’s a new craft business taking the world by storm!

Okay, so maybe it’s only taking Australia by storm.

Okay, so maybe it’s just my town that’s getting stormed.

Okay, okay, so it’s only my immediate circle of friends and family.

And there’s no storm.

It’s not even a business.

It’s just MOSY Creations – my new initiative to explain the weird handmade gifts I like to give to people.

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I have, for many years, rather enjoyed making things as gifts. I’m pretty sure there’s still a couple of small framed watercolours I gave my parents for Christmas when I was about 13. I know. You may pity them.

I especially like making things when babies are born.

I went through a period of making animal gift baskets with themed baby items including embroidered singlets. eg, a duck basket with ducks embroidered on socks, singlets, etc.

Then, each of my nieces and nephews received a handmade teddy bear for their first birthday. (The absolute tragedy of this commitment is that I never did the same for my own children. I still feel bad about that.)

Then, in the throes of raising my own children, I got a bit slack. My apologies to any friends whose babies received a store bought present. I owe you one.

I did, however, keep my hand in by making costumes for my kids when required for various school events.

The Youngest Son dressed as some explorer whose name escapes me for a ‘Wax Museum’ exhibition of his work. Some of it made from scratch, some just a clever use of what was in the wardrobe. The jacket was a lucky find in an op shop that just needed the sleeves adjusted to look like they had cuffs. (Smoke and mirrors, people, smoke and mirrors.)

But recently, I’ve been reinvigorated to make things again, inspired mostly by a creative friend whom I knew would fully appreciate a handmade gift.

First it was Mr Snuffleupagus when her son was born.

A year later, I dragged out the knitting needles for the first time in about ten years to knit him a beanie. (It’s Rowlf, for the Muppet-uninitiated.)

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And there have been capes and wallets and Muppet Money (very valuable on the Puppet Exchange).

But the thing about all these creations is that I really had no idea what I was doing and was mostly just making it up as I went. Snuffy was based on an elephant pattern but I had to adjust his head. And his trunk. And his tail. (I think it took three trials to get the tail right.)

The beanie was made up of four different patterns.

So they’re never perfect. There’s always a slightly dodgy element to them all. But I never really thought of giving them a label until recently.

Another friend was expecting her first baby this year and she’s a Doctor Who fan. So, it occurred to me that a really cool present would be to make a Tenth Doctor doll (David Tennant being her favourite Doctor). I figured I’d try and knit one but when I went looking for patterns, I didn’t like any of the knitted ones. I did, however, love a crocheted one I found:

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Image courtesy of Allison Hoffman at craftyiscool.com

In typical fashion, I took to this project with gusto despite not actually knowing how to crochet. (Sometime in my deep dark history I must have learnt because it felt familiar but let’s just say YouTube is a wonderful thing….)

It was far from perfect. I honestly had no idea what I was doing. So, this time I really felt I needed to attach a tag to clearly indicate that this was made by a Jack of All Trades who definitely had not mastered crochet. And thus MOSY Creations was born. It seemed easier to declare at the outset that this was something you would not find on Etsy or Ravelry or even some sort of “Crafties Have Talent” excruciating audition episode. “This is just between you and me”, it says. “It’s not perfect but it’s made with love.”

I was still pleased with the result of my efforts. You know, in that “Gee, that was hard, but I did it” kind of way. And as long as I didn’t keep going back to look at the picture of what it was supposed to look like….

I should perhaps explain that this is a baby-friendly version of the pattern. The original required a piece of dowel in the neck and wire in the limbs. These were obviously omitted in this rather wibbly wobbly Doctor.

My dear friend loved it and she paid me the ultimate compliment. On opening the gift she exclaimed, “Where did you find it?!”

Oh, in a very exclusive establishment.

A Boy and his Doctor (Photo used with permission.)

A Boy and his Doctor
(Photo used with permission)

 

 

 

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70 thoughts on “Move Over Etsy….”

  1. Oh MOSY, I am so impressed. Your Doctor doll is wonderful and I’m sure the tiny recipient, who is a cutie, will love him. Over the years, I’ve made many gifts for family and friends and I love receiving a hand made present. It’s such a privilege to own a gift made with love.

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  2. Oh my, Mosy. Oh my. I think you outdid yourself there with crotcheting the Dr Who doll. It looks so lifelike, and actually has an uncanny resemblance to the other one that you didn’t make. In fact, yours has quite a happy face, a friendly face you would go up to for help if you get lost somewhere. I hope the kid takes good care of it. Maybe you would like to check on the toy in a few years…

    I really like homemade gifts, both making and receiving them. For instance, I like to personalise cards with things like stickers and all things shiny, and if I have time I will make them from scratch. As for receiving handmade gifts, I feel all fuzzy and warm inside 😀

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    • Oh, gosh. Thank you, Mabel. Such a beautiful comment. And thank you especially for your comment about his face. The original has a clever raised eyebrow look that I didn’t even try to replicate so was part of the ‘imperfect’ aspect of the gift. But I really like your view that a happy and approachable face is much more useful to a small child so I’m pleased with his face as is. 🙂 As for taking care of it – all my gifts always come with a lifetime warranty for repairs. 😉

      That must be so fun to make your own cards or decorate one to make it extra special. And I agree, receiving handmade gifts is really wonderful.

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      • You know, I actually had to scroll back up to the original doll that you did not make, and do a double take. You really are very good 🙂

        A lifetime of warranty for repairs. Now that makes me want to be your customer 🙂

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    • Have you ever seen those ‘Fail’ pages on the web where people put up the original picture of a recipe or craft thing and then a photo of what they actually managed? At least this wasn’t quite in that league!

      Thanks, Trent. Once I got the hang of it, I found it really fun and engaging so I’m looking forward to tackling a new project soon. (I’m in the middle of writing school reports at present so anything else will have to wait for now.)

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  8. How impressive! I have created homemade gifts in a number of ways, my latest kick being vintage style personalized signs. Sewing/knitting/crocheting are all something I have yet to tackle but I have often considered taking a class here at a local wool shop. Perhaps over the winter!

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  10. I am seriously impressed; especially by your crocheting. I regard crochet in the same way most people might think of say, building their own nuclear power station. I also love your son’s costume. I actually miss the days of having to knock up a medieval knight costume overnight — or an entire toy soldier ensemble for the year one Christmas concert. What am I thinking. Anyway, congratulations on MOSY creations; long may friends and family get to enjoy your talents!

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    • Ha! You made me laugh with your “What am I thinking” because I get the same way. Tend to get a bit “awww” because I don’t get to do it so much now and then I remember how stressful it was and give myself a good slap. 🙂

      I was a bit scared of the crochet especially when the first instruction was “make a magic loop”. A WHAT? But I just used a lot of YouTube videos and watched them over and over until I got it. (That first magic loop took me 10 goes, I reckon.)

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  12. Is there no end to your talents oh jack of all trades master of none? I love your inventiveness – shows that you are a really creative person and creating that label just demonstrates that perfectly. I stopped knitting (never did get the crocheting thing) and making things for the kiddies when they got too big that I couldn’t finish an item before they’d outgrown it. And you know you can always knit your boys a teddy bear to take away to uni with them 😀

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    • There’s no end to the things I’ll have a crack at, anyway. Whether they’re successful is sometimes in the lap of the gods, I reckon. Yes, I reached the same point with my knitting hence the reason I hadn’t done it for 10 years when I made the beanie last year. I really enjoyed picking it up again I must say. But I haven’t made anything since. I always need someone to make something for to get the juices flowing, I think.

      I have been debating whether to make them one for their 21st. It’s not quite the same as a well loved bear from your childhood but at least they’d have one. I used to make them with the whole fur, fully jointed thing. Probably why I didn’t manage it when I was actually trying to raise babies.

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  13. BRING IT ON, Mosy Creations !!! Someone with a brain like yours needs to be making stuff all the time. Of which you have so much to spare, after all. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey, in fact …
    (I am in the Big G library: I’m told I will be once again joined with everyone else online next Choosday.)
    XO

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    • I think it’s why I enjoy my teaching so much. I like coming up with activities to match the theme for the week – gets the creative mind going. 🙂

      Thank goodness for the library and free internet. Glad you have a date – I hope it comes to fruition. I handed in my first report for review today. Hoping for good marks.

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    • That’s lovely, M-J. Thank you. I’m very grateful to Allison Hoffman for creating the pattern. And she gives good clear instructions too which made the task so much easier (or less hard). I have her patterns for the full set of all 12 Doctors, the War Doctor from the 50th Anniversary special and a TARDIS. All of which I’d love to attempt. (She also has a set of Villains and Companions. Oh for more time!) None of them will look like the pictures but as long as they look kind of like what they’re representing, I’ll be happy. (My friend seemed to recognise instantly that it was the Doctor, so that’s lucky. 🙂 )

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    • My friend knew it was the Tenth Doctor as soon as she opened it so I class that as a success! I have the full set of patterns which is 13 Doctors and a TARDIS. (We’re currently up to number 12 and there’s the War Doctor from the 50th Anniversary Special.) Then she has a Villains and Companions set as well. Got enough to keep me going, I think…

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  16. I’m deeply impressed by your abilities, Heather. You said you made the David Tennant doll without even being all that sure how to crochet! That’s just amazing! At first I thought it was a shame it didn’t have one of those strings at the back that you can pull to have it say things, but then I remembered it was the Tenth Doctor and so it didn’t matter. He never said anything very quotable anyway! 😀

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  17. Very impressive creations! You are the Mistress of All Trades! Did you find crochet easier than knitting? I thought it was because there was only one ‘needle’ and one stitch to think about. Ripping back was easier too…

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    • Since this was my first proper foray into crochet and I’ve been knitting since childhood, it’s hard to make that call as crochet still seems hard. I had the most trouble with maintaining a consistent tension. Totally agree about the undoing, though.

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    • Thank you so much. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position at the moment to take on specific challenges. I’m lucky to get out any post at all! It’s a pity because I do have a number of favourite quotes that are significant to me. Maybe once the holidays arrive, I’ll give it a go! Thanks for visiting. 🙂

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  27. What a cool doctor! Marvellous, MOSY. I think MOSY’s Dodgy Creations has a certain ring to it, particularly as they’re not in the least bit dodgy.

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