Do you have a Sock Monkey?
I must be honest, when I was a kid I thought sock monkeys were a little creepy. I didn’t like their mouthes and the way they ‘smiled’, at least on the traditional ones. I pretty much dismissed them, preferring my vast collection of other stuffed creatures to line my shelves with as a child. But lately I’ve been thinking a lot about sock monkeys, and growing more and more fascinated by them. Maybe it’s the ‘reuse, reduce, recycle’ wave that is happily taking over our society at the moment, or maybe it’s just a love of all things nostalgic that is bringing designers and artists back to this benign little creature. Whatever the reason, I’m hooked, and if I can muster up some time I’m going to attempt to make a sock monkey (in my own style and with a different smile) soon. In the meantime, all this sock monkey fascination got me wondering about the history behind these toys. Here it is what I found out:
It all began out of necessity, like most wonderful ideas do. No one knows for sure when the first sock monkey was made, but it is believed to have been sometime in the 1800′s. The real notable sock monkey craze, however, began in the early 1930′s when the United States and Europe were in the throws of the Great Depression. Times were hard and families were struggling to provide for themselves the basic needs of life. There was little to no money left at the end of the day for luxuries like toys. Mothers in those days were no different than today, and their desire to provide enjoyment and fun for their children spurred them to create sock creatures out of old and worn out socks that couldn’t be repaired. Like anything creative ~ technique, style, and uniqueness took over and soon variations and preferences formed in the overall look.
In 1932 the Nelson Knitting Company began making the now iconic red heeled Rockford Sock with the intent of distinguishing their “work” socks from the many imitators of the day. This move proved not only brilliant for their work sock brand, but also locked them in as the one true sock for the creation of the traditional Sock Monkey (and that ‘smile’). When The Nelson Knitting Co. realized their socks were being used in the creation of this humble toy, they embraced the wave and started providing DIY instructions for making sock monkeys with every pair of Red Heel Socks sold. The Nelson Knitting Company was purchased by Fox River Mills in 1992 and has maintained this tradition of including the original Sock Monkey Instructions with every pair of Red Heel socks sold.
I absolutely loved learning about the evolution of this toy and I will be ordering my Red Heel socks so I can give my sock monkey a whirl. I guess I’ll need to figure out how to make that ‘smile’ work for me, but isn’t that half the fun?
Here are some resource links for you in case you’re thinking a sock monkey is in your future too:
~ Instructions for making Red Heel Sock Monkeys: HERE
~ Order your Red Heel socks: HERE
~ Order a pre-fab DIY kit here: HERE and HERE
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Big Thanks to my Ornament Exchange Friends!
Look at these lovely ornaments I received from my ornament exchange group! They are fantastic! This was a really fun way to celebrate the spirit of giving this Christmas and I feel so blessed to have three new artist friends! Thanks so much Emily, Monica, and Jeanne! You are the best! And thank you Cindy Ann for organizing this. I can’t wait to do it again next year!
Have a Merry Day everyone!
Fun Idea – Repurposed Newsprint Gift Bags
I know that a lot of you are busy making FABULOUS from the heart homemade gifts for family and friends right now, and I wanted to share with you this really good tutorial I found on making gift bags out of regular paper. I used this tutorial and made a gift bag out of an old sheet of newspaper (pictured above). I think it turned out really cute and I LOVE that it didn’t cost me any $! Yay!
Note: The lady in the tutorial goes a little fast so keep your finger close to the “pause” button so you can stop it periodically and let yourself catch up.
The making of a ‘Christmas Queen’ (Ornament Exchange), check these little cuties out!
Phewwwww – what a busy time of year this is! I was worried I wouldn’t finish my handmade ornaments by the mailing date of December 16, but I did – and in fact I’m two days early! I’m really happy with the way they turned out. In fact, I’m kind of obsessed with polymer clay sculpture now. I’m thinking about making a line of ornaments to sell on Etsy. Hmmm, one more thing to try and add to my list of things I want to do in my limited time. I’ll keep you posted on that one, but for now here are the “Christmas Queen” ornaments I created for my ornament exchange group. They’re slightly over-glittered, but seriously, is there such a thing as too much glitter at Christmastime? I think not. I hope my recipients agree.
I had so much fun making these that I decided to create a new design to give to some of my friends around here (I’ll reveal those later since I know some of you read this blog). :0)
So there you have it, Christmas crafty. It feels good to do crafty activities right now. I’ve got some amazing new Christmas collections in the works that I am excited to reveal, but for now I’m really enjoying getting to work with clay, paint, wire, and beads. Good old fashioned craft-time. I hope you are trying to eeek in a little fun and R&R in your day as well. After teaching this afternoon I attempted to get my ultimate treat – another eggnog latte at Starbucks, but, alas, when it was my turn to order the barista told me that it’d be a 20 minute wait because the guy who was in line in front of me just ordered 10x drinks! Urrrrrrrrgh. I guess my angels were looking out for me and saying that today I didn’t need the calories. Tomorrow, though – I’M GETTING ONE! I plan to finish my other ornaments then so a little candy in a cup is going to be required.
Repurpose Wrap Idea
When I was a kid it was normal for my family to use newspaper print to wrap our Christmas and birthday gifts in. Repurposing was a way of life. Probably because my parents lived through the depression years as children and learned from an early age not to waste anything. It’s an interesting twist how our society today is reverting back to those ideals. I see it in the modern art movements a lot.
There are pros and cons to this way of thinking. The biggest con is that it can make you become a pack-rat, with piles and piles of stuff everywhere anxiously awaiting the day they’ll be reused for something. But the pros, especially for an artist, out-weigh the cons in that there are always “things” around that can be used for inspiration or for a new purpose.
Mixed media art, repurpose art, collage, etc… is very in vogue right now, and I love it. It reminds me of when I was a kid trying to come up wth beautiful ways to make things out of what normally might be considered trash. When I was in college I used to make elaborate envelopes out of fashion magazines for my homemade cards and letters. I even went so far as to make my own paper stock out of repurposed paper towels and newspaper print. That was fun and I recently started that up again. I had a lot more time back then to devote to these organic crafts, but I find that when I’m committed to doing these projects, and absorbed in the activity, an overwhelming sense of calm and peace comes over me. That is what I LOVE about creating art!
I’ve been wrapping presents this past week, and this year I decided not to buy any new wrapping paper, but rather to use up the stock I have already in my closet. I also decided to harken back to my youth and see if I could be creative in the materials I used. Here’s what I came up with.
I had a big old bag of Calrose Rice. I love the material its made of – sort of a plastic and paper quality. There are some great artists who make bags and purses out of these rice bags (I bought one for my niece for her birthday last year), and it inspired me to see these bags in a new way after I used up all the rice. I’m not at the point where I can make products like purses out of them, but I did discover they make fabulous wrapping paper! Coupled with a reused Ribbon and a cute gift tag – WHA-LAH – instant chic packaging!
For my Neices and God-Daughters, if you’re reading this you’re getting a sneak peek at your gifts. :0)
Frida Kahlo Portrait in Buttons – www.lilblueboo.com
I subscribe to a FABULOUS blog – lil blue boo , and I highly, HIGHLY recommend you do too. On a daily basis I get posts profiling amazing projects, craft ideas, and art techniques. It’s sometimes overwhelming because I want to do them all but just can’t! I already have my homemade Christmas gift ideas planned out, the challenge now is to figure out how to eek out the time to execute them. How doesAshley, the owner and creative-wizard behind lil blue boo, do it on a daily basis? I have no idea! She is SO generous with her creative wisdom and shares her bounty of fabulous ideas on her site. Check out her list of project ideas and tutorials!
Just the other day this POST came up. I’m a big Frida Kahlo fan so it resonated a lot with me. Lil blue boo’s Ashley set out to create a replica of Frida’s portrait in buttons (by the way – we’re talking A LOT of buttons). As she states in her post, it took her 8 hours, 6 tubes of industrial glue, and over 2,000 buttons! Amazing! Check out the video below to see in time-lapse how she did it!
(by the way – it’s like an “I Spy” image, but look at the little skull button on the above picture . It’s in the center and facing opposite the image. Very Frida!)
(Photo above from www.lilblueboo.com)
GREAT kid project
Cole's Duct Tape Wallet Work Station
It’s four days until school begins. Sadly, summer is winding down, but I’m LOVING the latest obsession Cole has taken part in – making duct tape wallets. He just finished creating a really cool one for himself that will hold his new Jr. High student ID card. So fun! He is busy now taking orders and I can’t wait until he finishes my custom-made wallet!
In case you’re interested in making one for yourself I found some online tutorials that will help you get started – check out HERE & HERE. Cole spent a few hours looking online for guidance but found that he borrowed information from a few different places to put together his own technique. I’m thinking that might warrant his own tutorial video, but for now he’s too busy making wallets to worry much about that. When we went shopping for colored duct tape we found some fabulous colors and prints – check out Jo-Ann’s or Michaels. Have fun and happy taping!
P.S. I’ll be sure to post some pics of my wallet when its all done! :0)
P.P.S. – The Art teacher in me is coming out. Check out these incredible Duct Tape Artists: Joe Girandola and Chad Smith.
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