San's Little frog

On break.

2012-01-31T13:56:00.002-10:00

Little frog is on break till mid February. Contact by email or phone.

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-06T14:12:00.002-10:00

Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Wishing you the best 2012!

More pictures...

2011-11-08T14:36:00.003-10:00

Here is one of my newer dino hats. I decided to give it orange spikes.

My apologies for not having my dot com updated with my new designs. I hope to get my Picasa albums updated soon. I've been only adding new designs to my San's FB albums.

What is this?

2011-10-28T11:49:00.004-10:00

I frequently get the question "What is this?" "Is this a (fill in the blank)?"

But I must say the best one this year is from this hat. What is this...

Well I heard a few guesses. A bug. An alien. I even got someone asking me if it was one of the teletubbies. Which made me think what are the colors of teletubbies. Red and purple were the only colors I got correct before I started naming random colors. Also I for some reason thought there were 5 tubbies. So I was guessing blue, orange, yellow, pink...

If you really want to know there is a red one with a circle, the purple is the one with the triangle. I think the purple one got the most publicity. A yellow one with what looks like a miniature bayonet shaped thing. I had convinced myself there was no yellow at one point, since the sun that has the baby face is yellow, why would they have a repeat color. The last one is green with a single spike, antenna looking thing.

In the picture above is a fold style android. Which was requested in a custom order. The one I have on display at my booth was a no fold style.

There were a few people that didn't not know what an andriod was.

Wow, it is so easy...

2011-09-22T13:13:00.003-10:00

...to forget about writing a blog. I'm not much of a person to write.

It is already September, it seems this year went by faster than the last. So many things that happened, did not happen. Now comes the crazy cramming of things to be done by the end of the year!

A new year for Little frog

2011-02-09T15:53:00.002-10:00

Wishing everyone a happy new year.

Little frog on the Great wall

2010-12-30T23:32:00.003-10:00

China was sooo cold. We even got to see some light snow. Walking on the wall was scary. Not only was it cold it was also windy. I was clinging to the rails in fear of being blown off the wall.

This is me at the start area the most famous part in the back ground. Even then I thought I would not walk the whole part.

Here I am debating on climbing to the tower(I think the 8th tower) in the back ground.

On the way back with less stops and more thoughts of actually taking pictures. I was very tired at the end. We had to wait for the next train to arrive so we went to a KFC! KFC is a very popular fast food place in China. Like many of the other ones I saw in China the one near the great wall had a second floor seating. I was just glad to sit down and have some hot milk tea.

At Aliiolani

2010-12-08T12:08:00.002-10:00

Angry bear found a home and a short while after Lonely cat did also. Which makes Lonely cat the winner of who lasted the longest.

Lonely cat v.s. Angry bear

2010-12-02T14:09:00.004-10:00

Lonely cat has been the last one standing for a while now. This is the first sock cat that I made. He has sadly sat alone as other socks found new homes. Not to worry though since Lonely cat has a companion now.

Angry Bear. I did angry bear's eyes first. They got pinned and rotated many times before I decided to place them on the way I did. A smile just didn't match so I used a short lined mouth. I like Angry bear, I hope some where out there, someone will also like Angry bear.

Brown cow.

2010-11-19T01:48:00.007-10:00

As I was thinking if I had my portfolio updated, I realized there were pictures that I have not placed in it and things I've not blogged about it yet. I'm not a writer, so I do not know what I was thinking when I decided that I would do a blog. I should have known I would slowly find it to be more of a chore than some where I would just freely write my thoughts or stories.

Since it is late, or shall I say early morning... I will stop my rambles.

I think the reason I did not blog/ post this was because of the sign. I was debating on blurring the words.

Thanks Mark for ordering a brown cow, and for taking an interesting picture. I should wear a chicken hat and hold a sign saying eat more cow.

grin

2010-10-27T18:00:00.007-10:00

I can not help but smile when I make these sock animals. The colors of these socks just screamed to me sock animals!

I used scrap pieces of fleece to make their scarves.

I wanted to give them a bit of variety so I started to make bow ties.

I didn't just want to make monkeys so I attempt a cat. I gave it pointed ears a nose and whiskers.

Second try at a cat. The faces came out a little sad looking.

I was trying to make a bunny but I think it sort of came out as a very long ear dog.

Fur

2010-10-25T09:13:00.006-10:00

I got a request for an Alot. This link was sent to me.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

After reading the blog about the Alot, I wanted to try to include a few features. In my mind I was already seeing something with a shaggy fur, I did not find the faux fur I was looking for, but found something that I could work with. I also wanted to incorporate a snaggletooth.

snaggletooth

Horns were another thing. I was on the fence with the eyes, but felt it was necessary since I wanted to include the snaggletooth and the imaginary line I was drawing was low on the Alot head.

horns and eyes

I made it long in length. This was so it could fold up and have a mouth that frowned.

The last detail was the mouth which was in a frown. The frown was created with a seam.

Things I would change on it... making the horns wider, the eyes further apart. And maybe a different fur. I'm still not sure giving the eyes a bit of poof was the right thing or not.

Monster red, Monster blue...

2010-10-22T22:53:00.003-10:00

I decided to do some monsters this year. Eyes were just for my frog towels, but I decided to try some other things with eyes. This is how my Monster red came out.

With Monster blue I was trying out a different style of eye. It will be left to the imagination of the user of this towel to decide what it is. I think piranha when I see it. I also started to think... hmmm maybe walrus. I got told it looks like a snake. What does your imagination think?

Additions to Little frog products.

2010-10-22T08:33:00.008-10:00

I decided to do a little towel hood. These are smaller than my original hooded towels. They have some of my original hooded towel designs as well as some newer looks. I started with monkeys and pandas when I made them.(More to be posted soon)

One thing that has been stuck in my head this year, like one of those songs that you cannot stop humming, has been sock monkeys. The tall human sized Sock Monkey and friends that can be seen in a car commercial make me smile. I actually had not been a fan of sock monkeys but some how they have grown on me. One day I just could not help it, I took an old pair of socks and just started cutting and stitching.

My cat does not find this white sock monkey to be his friend. Of course white sock monkey does karate chops/ kicks and flying attacks on him. Which leads to a wrestling match of cat v.s. sock monkey.

I found some socks that had interesting colors and patterns. More pictures of sock animals to be posted.

I'll be at Neal Blaisdell this weekend!

Yes, yes, I know...

2010-10-14T17:26:00.004-10:00

*sigh*

Once again the year has gone by without my realizing. My lack of web posting is just dreadful. I'll have to figure out which pictures need to be posted. As well as updating my dot com. Which is still in a remodeling phase on my computer.

I'll be the Season's Best craft fair again at the NBC. This year it is the weekend before the trick or treating.

The Snow Frog

2010-03-30T12:49:00.006-10:00

It all started with a piano... but let me skip to the part where I was given three choices and one of the choices was I could have a snow-San made. The thought of having my image in snow made me grin. What would it possibly look like? My thoughts then went to the pictures of snow bunnies my sister sent to me. Which made me think Snow FROG!

I was lucky enough that Dwight was willing to attempt a snow frog. Dwight and Claudia also sent me more picture of themselves with their Little frog hats. Thank you! The snow frog even came with a story I found to be delightful.

This was a serious snow construction which started with the making of a blue print.

It also involved a little volunteer named Iris. It seems Iris was curious of what was being made and abandoned her parents(who were building a snowman near by) to help in the snow frog construction. All I can say is what a wise little girl! Who would not want to make a snow frog?

Iris was the creative decorator of the 'horns' on the frog. Which gives the frog its own personality.

I am thrilled to have a snow frog in my collection of picture. Thanks again for the snow Little frog.

Custom panda

2010-03-11T21:37:00.005-10:00

I have velcro on the customized cat and bunny eared hats.(Which can be seen in previous blogs labeled velcro.) I also add velcro upon request to any of my ear flap hat designs.

Here are pictures of a custom made medium sized panda with ear flaps.

For velcro orders, I add some extra length to the ear flaps. I sew on the velcro after cutting out the ear flap pieces. Then sew the flap pieces together. This way most of the stitches are concealed.

A Froggy Day.

2010-02-25T16:20:00.007-10:00

Have a Froggy day, be hoppy and make a large splash!

I haven't been in a blog writing mood. Just been spending my time sewing and sewing. I want to update my www.sanslittlefrog.com soon. Next upload will hopefully be a semi-large one.

I am asked every so often why I started Little frog ®. There are actually many reasons, I normally go with the simple one of it starting with a frog hat. Today while doing a check on my USPS tracking, I started to think about the boxes that would come in the mail when I was younger.

I had grandparents that lived on a different Island, so my grandma used to send things by mail. We would occasionally get a box filled with various things she had made or bought for us. Bags, coin purses, clothes, blankets, toys, cookies, candies, etc. And during the summer we would visit them and go to the Obon festival. My siblings and I would wear the Happi coats my grandma made for us.

The bags and purses that my grandma gave always came with a bell. A couple years ago my sister and I were cleaning out the things at my parents house, and I was getting rid of an old purse of mine. My sister stop me and took off a red bell and said "that's a grandma bell." That red bell on a purple string(from the purse I discarded) is what I sometimes carry with me, and with every jingle I think of my grandma. I still have a small collection of bells that came from my grandma.

Funny how a little thing like a jingle of a bell can make you smile and remember someone you wished was still around. This is one of the many reasons of why I created Little frog ®, it too reminds me of my grandparents and all the things my grandma made.

Bath Time Frog

2009-12-27T18:35:00.008-10:00

This is David (15 mo.) using a Little frog hooded towel. I hope bath time is a little more fun with the towel.Thank you Ben for sending me the four adorable photos and allowing me to use them.

Happy holidays to everyone. Have a safe and joyous time with family and friends.

Frog.

2009-12-14T14:30:00.004-10:00

This customize created towel has a larger hood and uses the Dino towel's green. Currently I will just do larger hoods by request.

It was another year of interesting craft fairs. I am partially glad I did not sign up for more shows/ fairs. I have not really started on Holiday shopping and plans. Half the month has flown by again with out my realizing.

Flower

2009-12-07T22:57:00.004-10:00

I'm not sure why I used pink and white when I made the original Flower hat. Especially since there are several combinations that would work. I got a request for a black hat with a white flower.

The thing with custom orders is, if I want to see a particular item in its completed form or if there it is something that requires making a new pattern or recalculating dimensions, I seem to forget for a moment that I have prioritized list of Things-to-do that I try to follow. The white flower on the black hat is quite striking.

Reindeer...

2009-12-01T14:23:00.005-10:00

I'll be at Aliiolani this coming Saturday(12/5) in the cafeteria again.

I've sketched this over and over again. Pondering the color combination... the antler shape... etc... There are different shaped little antlers scattered in my work space. I had antlers pinned onto the mannequin head so that I could see how they would stand up.

The time in between the end of the year craft fairs that I attend leaves me little time to create and make new creations. But I really wanted to have these available this year.

Moo, moo, moo...

2009-11-23T15:38:00.004-10:00

I finally took the time to make a black and white cow. I decided to use the stumpy horns. To make it different from the brown and white cow, I made one ear white and one ear black. Both ears have a inner ear color of black. The horns are an off white color.

I was at Aiea Elementary School this past Saturday. The day started off on the cooler side but soon became hot. There was a slight drizzling rain that made the day humid.

The next craft fair I will be at is in Kaimuki. There is a craft fair at the NBC this weekend, hopefully I will have time to go as a shopper.

Ivory cat.

2009-11-20T14:05:00.002-10:00

I made the cat in an off white color that I will call ivory.

What is it?

2009-11-19T12:30:00.005-10:00

I just realized I did not post my pink(melon colored) towel here. I created to be a pink/ melon colored cat. People have guessed it to be other animals. The bunny is another one that people tend to say it looks like a dog. Which is one of the reason I am hesitant when people ask me what it is. I feel it is the imagination of the individual to see what they want in the things I make. This is one of the reasons I stay more on the abstract side and not add details like eyes.

Because of the inquiries I decided to stop procrastinating on making a dog towel. I was trying to figure out the type of ears and how to make the coloration different than the other towels. Kent suggested making the ears one color and the rest of the towel another. I happen to like floppy ear dogs, so I gave it beagle like ears. I'm thinking of making one in all dark brown to be more like a dachshund.

Pock

2009-11-16T17:31:00.006-10:00

Aliiolani this past Saturday was interesting. The weather was not as cold as I would like. It rained a bit but all that did was make it a little more humid. The cafeteria is on the cooler side and my table was close to the doors where occasionally there was a nice breeze.

I have two hats that I have not had the time to post about...

Mouse

A mouse in gray. The mouse was sitting in pieces as I was still debating on making it light brown or gray. Then there was the shape and size of the ears. I went big with the ears with a slight fold to give it some dimension.

Chicken

I had the same issues with the chicken, color of white or brown. And the shape and size of the comb. I went with white and a small red comb.

Monkey

This last picture is of the monkey hat. I've been using the picture of a small size monkey which does not fit on the mannequin, this will be the updated picture. I've also decide to change the look of the ears. It will no longer be dark in back and light in front. The ears will be all light colored on both sides.

*I almost forgot to explain my title. I grew up with chickens. And I have always thought they said pock pock. I know people will usually say cluck cluck or bwak bwak. If you have the chance listen to a chicken, and see what you think. *grin* *pock pock*

Craft fair at Aliiolani November 14

2009-11-09T10:14:00.003-10:00

I'll be in the cafeteria at,

Aliiolani School(6th & Waialae Ave.)

Nov. 14 8 a.m- 2 p.m.

SBC @ NBC October 2009: Day 2 & 3

2009-11-04T13:05:00.006-10:00

Towel display

I'm placing day 2 and 3 together because I find that the three days are actually all blurred into one. Or maybe it is just that my memory isn't as good as it once was. *sigh*

The second day was +10 hours at the Neal Blaisdell Center. I met many interesting people. A few people were dressed up for Halloween. I also saw shoppers that I remembered/ recognized from last years craft fair. I had some repeat customers, thanks for coming back and shopping at Little frog's pond.

The day went by quickly as I said "Hi" to people, and I watched as their faces changed to a smile. Those smiles really make the day go by faster. I did get a few people saying to me "it's too hot here," or gave a 'you're crazy' look. But as I've said before I use my hat or scarf instead of a jacket. The air conditioning in the NBC would have made me cold if I wasn't wearing my hat. But it seems most of the shoppers were feeling hot walking around.

Last year I didn't see the almost empty room, since I had an easy pack up and was able to leave right away. This year as I was waiting with my last load of stuff, I got to see the curtains being taken down. And the +200 vendors leaving. The room seemed vast in its emptiness.

All the booths packed up and leaving

SBC @ NBC October 2009: Day 1

2009-11-03T13:39:00.004-10:00

This is my second year at the Season's Best Craft fair at the Neal Blaisdell Center. The day did not seem as long this time, because this time I had an idea of how time can stretch out longer than it is when sitting in a booth. It also helped that I knew where I was going since I was in the same booth as last year.

I actually do not remember much of the first day, just that it was a whirl wind of packing up things and trying to fit everything in for transportation. I also had a bunch of other things that I just realized the day before that I had not done. Like redoing my Photo book.

Yawning frog

I got a new picture for my collection and photo book. What a cute frog. Couple months old in an Extra Small hat.

OPEN: Little frog Web Store

2009-10-29T09:57:00.010-10:00

Little frog Web Store is no longer closed for construction. The store uses PayPal. It is also in the process of being expanded. Any hats, towels, etc. not seen can still be ordered by email. Also custom designed hat orders can be made via email or phone.

Thank you Kent! For all the help in getting the Web Store working. HTML, DW and all the other things used to make a Web Page is not as easy as most people say.

End of October

2009-10-28T08:56:00.007-10:00

I'll be at NBC this weekend. Hopefully I have the fair hours correct.

Neal Blaisdell Center

Oct. 30 5 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Oct. 31 9 a.m.- 7 p.m.

Nov. 1 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.

October seems to have flew by. This year my items will be packaged. My brother bought me clear bags while he was in Japan. I've been looking for something to package my hats in. I wonder if I had mentioned it to him or he just read my mind.

I also will have a new item. I made a stocking stuffer coaster. If you are looking for that little something to add on to a gift or something to stick into a stocking. Below are just some of the colors and prints that will I have.

"...Toothy..."*

2009-09-18T10:36:00.008-10:00

Custom dragon and shark

I received photos in my email inbox! Thank you Kelani and Kehanu for these pictures and for becoming Little frog hat owners. Hope you had a great time paint balling.

When people mention paint balling to me, all I can think of is the time I went paint balling and got shot on the palm side of my wrist. I had on long sleeves, but the impact was strong enough to break my skin. Which left me bleeding and with a fairly sore wrist. So please be careful out there.

* This blogs title is taken from a comment by Winky(I have assigned him a new nickname, we will see how long it will last or if it is rejected.) He called these hats toothy... which they are. When I hear the word toothy it makes me smile. Thanks Winky!

A horse of course...

2009-09-15T18:08:00.003-10:00

Horse(front view)

I was looking through my hat photos and came across this. This horse was created after much pondering on which colors to use. I made it with brown, black and tan. It has been a while since I have seen a horse up close, so hopefully I have captured the shape of the ears correctly.

Horse (side view)

I went with a light color mane because I wanted it to stand out. This is the first one I made, and I am still not sure if I want to decrease the strands in the mane or not. It has been packed away for a while now. I think it is time to take it out and rethink the design, or maybe just create more like it in different sizes.

Bear... hood.

2009-09-09T12:57:00.004-10:00

I just realized that I posted a picture of the bear hooded towel, but did not write a blog about it. I only made two of these bears. Using the same color as the monkeys I decided to try something different.

I am still debating on making more of these. There are four ears that I was going to use that are sitting on the side because I decided I wanted a different shape and color combination. These big ears remind me of a mouse. I guess it could be a big brown mouse. I will just leave it up to the viewers imagination...

Custom dragon.

2009-09-02T19:58:00.009-10:00

Sketch of spikes

I have had requests for dragons before. People seem to just ended up with Dino hats. So when I was presented with a finalized order for a dragon... I just could not resist the challenge and spent the last few days finishing it. I managed to cram in pattern making, cutting and sewing. Luckily during the order process I was already working on the patterns.

Custom Dragon(side view)

And although it is not completely finished I took the final pictures of it. The final hand stitching is of the lining. That will happen tonight or tomorrow morning.

This hat has a lot going on. It has custom spikes that have detailing stitches to create a web look. Two rows of spikes that form a V pattern. And teeth on the earflaps. Even though I thought it would be too much on the hat, I went with what was requested. In the end I really like how it looks.

Custom Dragon(back view)

I'm so happy how it turned out that I really wanted to blog it today!

Dino request

2009-08-22T09:46:00.006-10:00

Teeth... I am debating on making this a regular item. I still remember when creating the original Dino hat I was conflicted of what to put on it. I recall going with a simple spike design. Recently I had a request for teeth to be added.

Custom Dino with teeth

I really like how it came out. I wanted the teeth to be a little more chunky, but I wanted to get it done by a deadline and did not feel I had time to redo the teeth. The teeth did get replaced once and I was happy with how it looked on the second time attached. I do not mark any angles for the teeth so each tooth has a different shape. I start with a large rectangle of material and run it through the machine moving it based on what I feel will be the right angle. The earflaps were done a little longer by request.

Web store

2009-08-18T16:01:00.005-10:00

I have yet to finish creating my web store. I finally decided on a banner for the store. This time I made sure to mark my colored pencils. The scanner does not always scan the colors like they appear and I spent a while trying to figure out which ones I used for "Pond under Construction" picture.

More sharks...

2009-08-04T12:51:00.004-10:00

When I got the request for a great white hat, I envisioned a hat similar to the ear flap ones I make. But the creation(July 30, 2009 post) turned to be a cap with a visor. I recently got another inquiry of a shark hat. So I once again pulled out my sketches and what I had been working on and started to finish an idea that was set aside.

It is not what I had envisioned. Still when I look at it I feel that i see a shark.

I think I got the blog bug. Or maybe I just need a break from other things. I do have a back log of things I would like to write about. I just rather not place it all in a long blog.

Quack

2009-08-03T11:38:00.003-10:00

How did August sneak up on me? I feel as if I am still in June.

I remember having ducks when I was younger. Ducklings were so fuzzy and cute as they swam in the water. Ducks can also be mean. I still remember the pain of being bit by a duck. And all I was doing was feeding it some lettuce.

Duck hooded towel

As I fondly remember yellow ducklings, I created a duck hooded towel.

I debated on doing eyes on this towel. I went with my normal philosophy of simplicity and allowing the imagination of the view to interpret my creation.

Shark cap.

2009-07-30T23:11:00.003-10:00

I sent a picture of my work to my brother to get his opinion. He told me that it looked scary. But doesn't a shark instill fear in people?

I like how the front turned out. I think if I were to make this again I would change the back a little and the lining would be different.

Chomp chomp!

2009-07-28T14:04:00.005-10:00

A few months ago I was asked if I could make a great white shark hat. I sure hope it wasn't an order being placed because I treated it as an inquiry. I seem to get quite a few people with suggestions which makes me think of thinks in different ways. So, I pondered of what would make a person think 'shark' since most of my creations are semi abstract.

I personally think of the famous great white in"Jaws" and the big open mouth full of teeth. But the more I thought about it, different aspects of a shark came to mind. Working with pictures of great whites and a sketch sent in to me, I did create a hat, which I will later blog about.

Right now I am engrossed in hooded towels. So why not a shark robe?

Shark hooded towel

When I first saw this blue I knew I wanted to do something with it, I just didn't know what at the time. Chomp... an idea... a shark! I decided to go with teeth and a fin as distinguishing marks of a shark. This hood was on my mannequin for a few weeks as I pinned and re-pinned.

Shark hood

Chomp... Chomp!

Ideas...

2009-07-23T14:44:00.007-10:00

hand painted panda

Funny how images and ideas look different in my head, then sort of mutates onto paper then into creation. I have used pandas in the past, I still have a panda mug I made in high school. There are the panda hats I made. And the hat I made for my cat. So... here they are panda towels!!

Panda hooded towel

Why did this take so long? The search for black towel materials to work with was always something I have been looking for. I was also hesitant to work with white towels, which is one of the reasons I made a brown bunny instead of a white one. I like the black and white contrast of a panda, and originally wanted more black on the hooded towel.

Panda sketch

I am happy with how it looks. Maybe I will change it later, but for now all white with black ears is what it will be.

Trademark(ed)

2009-07-14T13:30:00.004-10:00

Not many posts lately. But I thought I would post this.

What is it? It is one of the two United States Patent and Trademark certificate of registrations that I received. After months of waiting and sending in applications, I can now officially add the ® to Little frog. I wasn't using TM but maybe I should have been.

I chose not to do any of the craft fairs in the first half of the year. But I am looking forward to doing some of the ones that are coming up.

PM blanket

2009-05-12T11:42:00.005-10:00

One quality I like about a blanket is softness. This is a fleece blanket with a satin trim, which makes it soft and smooth.

I decided not to do the back in flannel because Hawaii can be hot. The fleece was printed but looked okay on the reverse side. The trim is about two inches in width. I do not recall the size of the blanket, I think I made it ~50 x 60, but it might have been smaller.

The trim was done over several days because I hand-stitched it and wanted the stitches to be small. It was the first time I worked with this particular type of satin. I was careful when cutting in to the yardage, as well as making sure I ironed and pinned it carefully. I have done embroidery in the past, so I did an embroidered name on the trim using a backstitch.

Snowy slopes

2009-05-04T16:51:00.024-10:00

Yay! I really enjoy getting pictures of Little frog items being used. Out of the pictures sent to me, I narrowed it down to eight and then looking at how long this blog would get I finally settled on five.

Ears a flapping

Hopefully ears were kept warm while zooming down the slopes in Tahoe. It makes me smile when I think of the Jack's ears flapping in the breeze.

Pink meow

Snow boarding looks fun. Unfortunately I have never tried it myself. The only snow I have ever encountered was up on Mauna Kea.

Dwight wearing the Jack

Claudia wearing Pink cat

If you are lucky enough to go up to Mauna Kea(elevation 13,803 ft) when there is snow, you will of course see guys shoveling snow into trucks, with their beverages chilling at their feet. They will be wearing normal clothes(jeans and a shirt, possibly shorts) and they might have even taken off their jacket or shirt. People put the snow into their yards and build snowmen that quickly melt in the warm day. There are warning signs posted about the rocks that can be found at the bottoms of the hills. Yet, people still ski and even slide down the slopes with their boogie boards.

Shadow of Jack and Cat

I think this is my favorite picture out of the ones sent to me. If you look closely at the shadow you can see what I think is a single Jack ear flapping in the wind.

Thank you for the great pictures!

Spikes

2009-04-29T18:52:00.006-10:00

No ears this time, it is spikes on the hood. I played around with the way in which I made these spikes. I am thinking of making the dino hat in the same manner.

Dino hood

This towel has been in my to be blogged about pile for a little while now, really nothing to say about it but.. raaawr!

Dino hooded towel

The other day I was thinking about how as a child we associate sounds to animals, monsters, insects, etc and use the sounds instead of using the names they have. But as an adult we tend to use the name if talking about the animal, monster, insect, etc. I think sometimes the sound associated with the thing is all you need.

Rawr.

Adorable kittens.

2009-04-21T19:39:00.010-10:00

I got some pictures sent to me tonight, and got the 'okay' to use them. Jordyn(2y 10m) and Jacie(~1 y-o) are so adorable wearing the Certain(one of my custom made hats.)

Jacie

I think out of the pictures I could choose from, this is my favorite picture. Jacie is playing with her toy, but still posing for the camera.

Jacie

The hat was ordered for Jacie, but Jordyn is enjoying it also.

Jordyn

I hear there is a photo of Jordyn's and Jacie's dad in the hat. Maybe he will send it in? Thank you for the pictures and allowing me to use them.

It is nice to see this hat on a smaller head. I designed it without a model and it has been changed each time I make one. I am still looking for a child sized mannequin head to work with.

Floppy ears

2009-04-14T10:49:00.003-10:00

A floppy ear creation.

Bunny hooded towel

Trying to keep the towel from being too difficult to dry, I decided to make the ears a single ply of material. It took on a worn bunny look, which I like.

Bunny

When choosing the color I decided to do this light brown instead of a white. But like all my creations it might end up being made with another color.

A small break from towels...

2009-04-07T22:26:00.006-10:00

There will be more towels in the collection that I have created. But an inspiration hit me to finish doing a two colored cow. I have what might be called an obsession with seams. I like hidden seams, with minimal details. And I did not want to use a cow printed fabric. Those are only two of many reasons why this cow has been just an idea and not a reality until now. Originally in my mind it was a black and white cow. What I produced was a white and brown cow in Large.

Calf (white and brown) Fd

It was then time to scale it down to a Medium. The Medium hat did not turn out as I expected it to. A white stripe down the center was not what I wanted. And after pinning on the white ear flaps I decided I rather have it brown. I reworked the Medium pattern and will have to see how it comes out when I make another one. The next one will have a color change too.

Calf(white and brown) Fp

These I am calling Calf because of the stubby horns I gave them. Moo moo moo.

Green mood, color mood...

2009-04-02T18:14:00.007-10:00

Well here it is... it was only a matter of time that this would appear.

Frog hooded towel

The hooded towel collection would not be complete without a frog. I stuck to a soft green. For some reason light green has become my color of choice. I would not call it my favorite color, since I have never claimed to have a favorite color. It is more of my favoring certain colors. As I think about it, I tend to like muted earth tones like grays, blues, browns, greens etc. But I have been in moods of more vibrant tones of yellows, oranges, pinks, reds... I will attribute the whole purple and lavender mood I sometimes get into, to my sister. She once gave me lavender corduroy short pant overalls, which were very comfortable. That lavender got etched into my mind as being a comfortable color.

Frog

There were three or four choices of greens. I want this to be my primary hooded towel frog color. Deciding on the eye color took a while too, the eyes are not the normal black. I was going to make them blue or even a green but finally decided on a dark brown.

Monkey towel

2009-03-29T18:09:00.005-10:00

The towel(in the picture below) I made last year, the first one that I placed ears onto was a monkey. It will be a one of a kind since I will not be attaching ears in the same way.

Monkey 2008

I decided to lower the position of the ears. Still haven't decided if I will change it later, but for now that is where they will be.

Monkey towel

Start of my Spring 2009

2009-03-25T15:59:00.011-10:00

I am still here! My posting have been few and far apart. But they are about to start again, as I begin on my newest addition. Hooded towels.

The first hooded towels that I made were in 2007. They were gifts for my friend's two sons. I have always thought hooded towels were a great thing. You can just set it on your head and your hands are free to do other things without worrying about dropping the towel. The towels I made in 2007 were just plain towels with a hood. Last year when making another gift, I added ears to the towel.

I was out shopping earlier this year and saw striped towels and thought... tigers! It was at that moment I knew I was ready to embark on creating them for Little frog. I excitedly got a bunch of towels in gray and yellow. And started on creating the tiger hoods.

Gray Tiger

Yellow Tiger

More hoods to come in the next few days...

Dino attack!

2009-02-27T16:32:00.005-10:00

You ask who would wear a dino hat? It seems there are people that will.

The more I look at this Dino hat, I think it looks better in the blue green color. Maybe I should think about making a purple dino. Haha, maybe not.

Matt wearing a dino hat.

rawr rawr rawr...

2009-02-13T11:52:00.004-10:00

Is that a smile? Maybe... maybe not.

Cat and Dino.

2009-01-29T14:12:00.004-10:00

Dean and Gina at the Honolulu Airport.

New Year

2009-01-12T18:44:00.010-10:00

Fremont street

Did something different this year. New year's day was in Las Vegas. Left in the afternoon on the 31st. And although the flight was delayed and arrived ~90 minutes behind schedule, we got there a couple hours before midnight. Fremont street was filled with people, there was a live band playing on the stage and video being played on the canopy. At midnight there was live fireworks under the canopy and playing on the canopy was a video firework/ light show.

Not as fun as playing with fireworks. But still a little scary since the sparks falling were just above us. Everyone had a hat. We were a group of cats, dinos, tiger and frog. There were other people walking around in New Year hats. I saw a person with a spiky hat that had stars dangling from each spike. I think I want to make something that has something like that.

Wage and I

In Caesar's Palace there is a toy store with a large trojan horse. Outside was this person in an Ugly Dolls costume. It was very amusing watching the Wage dance and interact with people. When I walked up to get a picture, Wage stood next to me then started to inch away. When I walked away Wage followed me.

The tower at the Paris is a little difficult to capture.

It was a nice change from my normal New Year's day and tons of fun.

Little frog

2008-12-23T11:08:00.003-10:00

Today is actually January 10... I was told to update my blog and found I had this unpublished one from December. I deleted the content and am writing a shorten version of what I was going to post.

Happy Holidays!

I will be on a trip to Las Vegas. Hoping it will snow again while I am there.

Made a new hat for the trip.

Blue

2008-12-19T14:31:00.003-10:00

A couple weeks ago I made a cat hat in a blue. The blue is for a special request on a hat that I am still working on. This cat will probably be a one of a kind.

Cat in blue

Pink

2008-12-16T11:46:00.011-10:00

Another Duck!

I was asked what is the cutest hat I had. I am not sure what would be the cutest, but I know which is my favorite at the moment, because it seems to be the softest fleece I have.

Richie- Cat pink

This pink cat is going to Japan. I am hoping for pictures of the hats in Japan. Ear flap Bunnies and Ladybug are making the trip also.

Bunny white Fp

Ladybug Fp

Names

2008-12-15T11:25:00.005-10:00

I've noticed that I seem to name things by what the color reminds me of. And it was pointed out to me that I seem to associated colors with different foods.

The last one was Rye because of the color of dark rye. I happen to prefer dark rye. I was going use Cookie as a name but it just did not seem to fit.

I like caramel. Candies. On desserts. In coffee and other drinks...

A color change request.

2008-12-12T16:04:00.003-10:00

I have not made the flower hat in any other color up to now, but I got a request for brown and pink.

Flower brown/pink

It had been a while since I made a flower hat so it took me a while to get the flower to be the right size. I have a basic pattern that I had drawn out from the first Flower I made, but it is just a guide line for me. I like the freedom to cut and alter a creation. It also helps to be a little flexible since the fleece are of different textures. I use whatever I find. Some of the fleece have a soft feel, others have a rougher texture. And then there are some that have a more polished smooth look to it. I have also notice that the color varies too. I guess dying is not really a consistent thing.

Mon... Key

2008-12-10T14:16:00.004-10:00

Last week I got a request for a small monkey. I do have sketches of monkeys. I actually have a collection of stuff/ plush monkeys. I knew I would have to make the ears lower down the sides. Unfortunately I did not have enough brown to make a small sized hat. So I had to first hunt down some brown fleece. That took a couple days, a few phone calls and a long drive.

My first attempt I tried to keep the ears sewn with the crown part of the hat. And after the decision of making the back of the ears dark brown instead of a completely light brown ear I made something that did not quite look like a monkey. Which will now become know as Rye.

Rye

The second one required some extra cuts and measurements to ensure better placement of the ears. Now I will have to work on some larger ones so that they will fit the mannequin heads.

Monkey

Aliiolani

2008-12-09T13:36:00.009-10:00

Aliiolani cafeteria

Here I am in the Alliolani craft fair. The cafeteria tables are made for young children so they are fairly low. I should probably stand and greet people, but seated I am able to get to my boxes of hats more easily. Due to the limited space I have only a few hats on the table for display.

Apple

2008-12-01T16:47:00.004-10:00

Writing the blog the other night made me realize it had been a while since I created a new hat. So just like I wrote in the last blog it all starts with a pencil sketch. More like a doodle, I have a habit of just scribbling on things, just little pictures that come to my mind.

Pencil scribble of an apple beret

Then color brings it closer to life...

Color sketch

And we get a hat. I personally like to wear the beret tipped to one side.

Apple

But when the mood strikes me I wear it in a puffy look.

Apple

Nothing much. Another fair coming up.

2008-11-30T23:01:00.005-10:00

Really not much to say lately...

Just been busy restocking the different hats. I think I have been doing fairly well keeping up with any hat orders that I have gotten.

Working on sketches. I usually do a pencil sketch that evolves over time. Then I do a few color sketches. I do my hat creation process(make a pattern, cut and sew) and do a few more sketches of the hat.

Also did some drawings for my Website. Yes, I have been taking sometime to work on my website. I still have not decided to change the banner or keep it as it is. And although my E-store is not yet in working condition, I do take orders and will be using PayPal. PayPal works for me right now since I will be able to send a pay button by email.

Ponds

This coming Saturday I will be in Kaimuki again. I will be in the Aliiolani cafeteria, the table I will be at is more toward the center of the room this time.

Small differences.

2008-11-19T17:10:00.003-10:00

Slight changes to some designs....

Beyond cute!

2008-11-16T16:13:00.012-10:00

I finally created a quick way to preview the different hats I have. I placed a slideshow on this blog and at sanslittlefrog.com.

Beyond cute!

I was happy to receive these pictures last night. I think Mindy is so cute and adorable in her hat. Julio took these pictures of her at what I am guessing is Ala Moana Beach Park.

The Coal Bunny with earflaps looks great on Mindy. I think I only cropped one of the photos. I really like Julio's picture compositions. And although I only wanted to post two pictures, I just could not choose only one Bunny. There were a total of eight pictures and I managed to only eliminate two from the collection.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures!

Craft fair at Aiea.

2008-11-15T23:12:00.004-10:00

Today was the craft fair at Aiea Elementary. I was on a lanai space. Which is basically on the sidewalk outside of the classrooms. There was a tent in the grassy area in front of me selling very nice prints of sea life. The lady was named Rita, and I do not remember her husband's name. He was the artist of the prints.

Once again I failed to take pictures. I do not know what happens to me. Maybe I should stick notes on various things that I bring with me to the craft fair, that say "TAKE PICTURES."

I talked with many interesting people. Many buying hats as a gift for someone in colder climates. I still get the "you are crazy" looks from people. As well as many more people saying 'cute.'

Many people asked about my website, which I have been neglecting to create. And it was brought to my attention that when doing a search of San's Little frog it shows the url of my banner page(and only the banner.) I will hopefully be able to fix this soon.

I also received pictures by email tonight. I will be posting them tomorrow.

A Certain white cat...

2008-11-13T12:29:00.007-10:00

You know what I am talking about, or maybe once you see the picture you will know...

I have been asked more than once if I make a certain white cat. I have said that I would be able to make one, but nobody has yet ordered one. So here it is, I took it as a challenge to try to make one.

I studied some pictures, did some sketching and rolled out my brown paper. I set some guide lines on the brown paper and drew in a pattern, hoping it would turn out okay. In a last minute decision, I am not sure why, I removed an inch from the pattern. I originally wanted it to have a circumference of 19 inches but in the end it became 16.5-17 inches. Seems that I should have added an inch not taken it away.

Certain

I also added velcro so the straps could be secured under the chin. I gave the bow two crease grooves on each side of the circle. I might have to play with that and make it to have only one crease. Some of the ear lines might have to be adjusted to be rounder. I think it turned out quite well for a first try with out adjustments.

Halloween picture.

2008-11-12T09:24:00.004-10:00

Last night I received a great picture that was taken on Halloween.

Frog, Jack(brown dog) and Bee(not a Little frog creation)

Upon asking what the dog was dressed as I got the reply 'a bee.' Antenna were not on though. Hope the three of you had fun on Halloween.

Thank you for sending in the picture. It is a nice change of pace to The Creepy Lady(female mannequin head) and the male mannequin head. Yes, I only named the female one. When I first bought the heads I was a bit hesitant because the eyes looked a little creepy. I remember when I went to the warehouse to pick up my order of the mannequins the guy there called it scary lady. Which I found to be funny. I have the two different heads because the MMH (male mannequin head) wears a medium/large and TCL(the creepy lady) wears between a medium and a small. I am currently looking for a doll to model my extra small hats.

Another Soot

2008-11-10T13:17:00.003-10:00

This is the first bunny that I made with ear flaps. I think it looks good on the mannequin. Long ears and ear flaps is a lot going on for one hat.

Soot

Hopefully I will receive a picture by email soon of its new owner wearing it. *hint hint* And they will be okay with me posting it in my blog.

Kaimuki

2008-11-08T17:09:00.003-10:00

I would like to start this post by thanking all new and returning Little frog hat owners. NBC craft fair was a whirl wind for me and it took me a little while to recognize a few of you that came to visit me again. I hope those that are going on trips have a safe and fun journey, and that your hats keep you warm.

Today was the craft fair at Aliiolani. Once again I failed to remember to take pictures. I did not even take out my camera. *sigh*

I would like to warn all you new crafters out there doing craft fairs... if it is at a school and says 9 am that is not really when it starts. Hehe. The instructions I got said that all unloading was to be done before 8 am... which is actually early for me on a Saturday. My plans were to get there at about 7:50 am, figuring I only needed a few minutes to set up. I was able to carry every thing in with Kent's help. I took a smaller amount of hats with me, being that it was only a five hour craft fair and I had a table inside the cafeteria. To my surprise there were already shoppers walking around browsing when I got there at 7:55 am.

Many people said 'cute' today, but the hats were not able to bring as many smiles to people's faces as at the NBC fair. Maybe because I was not the silly girl in a frog hat. Today I was wearing a pink beret that I beaded with one line of seed beads to make it a little sparkly. I must be one of the few people that feels cold in Hawaii. I like using my hat instead of putting on a jacket or sweater. Sometimes on a rainy or windy day I wear shorts and a tank top with a hat or scarf. I used to work at a place where the air conditioning was set at a low temperature and would use pants, a sleeveless shirt and one of the yarn scarves I knitted. I find using a hat or a scarf to be less bulky than carrying around a jacket or sweater.

P.S.

Thank you, Julio and Mindy for stopping by and ordering a bunny hat, and for the short chat break.

Caramel

2008-11-07T12:56:00.004-10:00

Moo!

Caramel

Got the light brown cow done. Tried different horns on this one. Seems like it does not photograph as well as the thicker ones. I wanted a cow with floppy ears, although the ears sticking out is growing on me.

Pepper

2008-11-07T09:26:00.004-10:00

Here is another hat that initially in my mind was a different color. I was in search of maybe something black and white. Which I might actually do eventually. Then I thought dark brown, and it was suggested I call it Hownow. (Yes, maybe a chuckle, how now brown cow... I am sort of against Hownow.) My color indecision continued when I found a lighter brown.

At last, be it that I am still seeing red...

Pepper

Here is Pepper. I had been working on the horns for a while now. And working on the red horn hats inspired me to finish up my horned cow. I have not decided to make more in red yet or not. Pepper here might be a lonely red cow.

Berry

2008-11-06T13:33:00.004-10:00

It seems once I start working with a color I like to keep working with it for a while. I originally bought red to make a strawberry and ended up making ladybugs. I did not have the right color green for the stem so I kept putting it to the side. I wanted a dark green, but ended up using a lighter green.

Berry

Over all I like how it turned out. I might work on the stem a bit more. Maybe even make the seeds more visible.

Close up of the Berry

Craft fair at Aliiolani

2008-11-03T17:39:00.004-10:00

Another Craft fair is coming up this Saturday at Aliiolani Elementary. My pond will be located in the school's cafeteria.

I have been working on orders and have not really sewn any new hat. I did make a red devil hat that was ordered.

Horns

I also found a different green to make frogs with. So hopefully I will be able to get a few more things done before Saturday.

My F.C.F.- Part four: Day three, Neighbors, Bun Bun, etc.(4 of 4)

2008-10-29T09:04:00.013-10:00

On Sunday I think I started to calm down and think about making a list of things to remember to do. Such as... Maybe asking for pictures. Personalizing my bags.(Decided to do this on the second day.) Taking orders (For the first two days I had forgotten I had printed some order forms.) Changing my table layout.

Neighbors

Julitsa in the Nilma Hunter Creations booth.

There were many vendors around me. I mainly spoke with the ones adjacent to me. Next time I will have to wander a bit more out of my pond. The booth on my right was Nilma Hunter Creations, Julitsa, Nilma and Kaleimaeole sell jewelry and paintings. If you click on their names it will lead you to their websites/ products. Julitsa's painting is located on Nilma's site, scroll down to the bottom of the page I linked to her name to see her paintings.

Julitsa

Julitsa was dressed as Audrey Have-a-burn(Hepburn) I got a great picture of her. On Saturday she was wearing a white dress and a veil.

Allen

On the other side of me was Eiselin Imports, Allen sells curtains, table runners, photo albums, etc. The curtains are cotton in a linen weave. I thought it was linen when I first saw it. But the feel is definitely cotton. The loops are velcro, but the decorative buttons make it seem like they are buttoned on to the curtain rod.

On the last day Shabri of Hawaii, Inc. gifted Kent and I with some cookies. I opened the chocolate chip one yesterday. It has large chunks of chocolate and macadamia nuts. Without realizing it I had three of them. I had to store them away or I would have ate the whole bag!

Bun Bun

There were color request for the bunny. One in black(Soot) and the other in brown(Chocolate.)

Soot

I rather not refer to the hats by color(i.e. black, brown, etc.) So I am going to try to name them all. This might get confusing, I will have to just test it and see.

Chocolate

I was going to name the brown one Coffee but it reminded me of a chocolate bunny. Which made me think of how people like to start by breaking off the head or ear, of those chocolate bunnies at easter, to nibble on. Maybe I should name it Nibbles.

This is the last of my long posts about my first craft fair. I am sure I will alway remember it.

My F.C.F.- Part three: Day two and more(3 of 4)

2008-10-28T11:38:00.016-10:00

I forgot to mention that the last item I sold on day one was a Jack.

There were so many more things that happened on the second day. The first day was open to shoppers for four hours. The second was ten hours of shopping time. I did think ten hours sounded like a long time. But until that day progressed I did not realize how long it really could be.

Kent and I

Black Cat in London

My hat will be visiting London! I find this to be quite amazing. A young lady came to my pond looking for something warm to wear for a London trip. She decided on a black cat with ear flaps. If you are out there reading this, could you please send me picture of yourself in London with your Little frog hat? Have a safe and fun trip!!

Friends and Family- Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Me(San) on Day one

Days 1-3

Matt and Dean were in booth 221 selling their merchandise. Matt sells DVDs, games, game accessories, etc. Dean has cards and other collectables.

Diana came by all three days to keep me company in my booth so I would not be alone. She brought her son Sean on day two. He was helpful in modeling my hats for those people that were not sure about a child's hat size. Sean is almost five but I think his head is on the larger side.

Kent was at the fair for the majority of the time. On Friday I sent him to pick up my camera and a couple thing I had forgotten. Saturday was the e-waste recycle at UHM campus. Where he was able to safely dispose of a computer monitor and a few old UPSs. I am not sure if he had an okay time or not. I appreciate his support in my venture. He helped keep my tables in order. He also sold one hat on the last day, while I was walking around looking at the other booths.

Day 2

Jon came for a short bit.

Val stopped in for a chat and she did some shopping.

Kent's parents came by and insisted on paying for a hat. (frown) I hope Kent's niece enjoys the frog hat.

Last visitor on Saturday was Mom. He snuck in to the craft fair. The picture above of Kent and I was taken by Mom with his phone's camera. (There is no 'mom' in his name, Mom is just a nickname that I gave him.)

Second to last hat sold for day two was a Jack!

Day 3

We saw Mark, Erica and Allen(I think that is his name, Mark's roommate) walking around the craft fair. They probably came to visit Matt. Mark was wearing one of Matt's badges. They were in their nursing scrubs so maybe they were on their way to work.

Gina(Dean's wife) came to look at my booth. The night before at dinner she was asking me about the craft fair. She thought I was sharing a booth with Matt and Dean. When I told her I had my own booth she was surprised because she had walked around and had not seen me.

Roni and wife(Kim) showed up while I was taking an order so they came a back few minutes later. Another Little frog- frog owner! Kim ordered a frog.

No Jack was sold on Day 3. But I think that was okay since the Jack original owner came by.

My F.C.F.- Part two: The Booth and First day(2 of 4)

2008-10-27T10:14:00.016-10:00

I would like to start the day out by thanking everyone that has become a Little frog hat owner, as well as the soon to be owners. I am working on completing those hats as soon as possible.

The Pond

The Booth

I had no idea of how long it would take me to set up so I arrived around 3:00 pm. Set up time started at noon, but I was still sewing and running around preparing for the show. I think it took me less than 30 minutes to do my table set up. So I sat there till 5:00 pm (when the show started) sewing bunny ears.

I really wanted to have a bright light green table cover, but as life is you do not always get what you want. The fabric store did not have enough of the light green for me to cover two tables. So I went with a light blue. The length was about four yards short of what I would have liked. Which made me decide to also get the dark green. It took me about half the day to make my table covers and pads. And in the end it all came together, because I think I created something that I liked more. I got a pond like effect. My hats sit on green lily pads on a pool of blue.

First Day

The first hat to sell was a black cat. I really should have gotten a picture. I wished I has taken pictures of the people buying hats or asked people to send in pictures. This is something I will do for the next fair I am at.

Another person that made an impression on me was a nurse that bought a pink cat hat. She told me about her costume she wore last year. She had seen a T-shirt at the San Deigo Zoo of a Zebra painting all the animals with black and white stripes. But the Giraffe was too tall to have his neck and head painted. So she had on her scrub as her shirt and wore a giraffe head, with a zebra striped skirt and black leggings. I wish I could have seen it.

What I enjoyed the most is how my booth made people smile, laugh, or chuckle. Some people as they walked by and smiled said 'cute.'

I think I need to make a new sign, since many of the people seemed surprised when I said I sew all of the hats myself. Yes, it is a bit crazy that I sew so much.

My First Craft Fair- Part one(1 of 4)

2008-10-26T18:27:00.005-10:00

San's Little Frog

Here I am at my first craft fair. Kent took this picture right after I set my tables up. I am going to blog about the craft fair over the next few days because today was the last day of three, and I am sooooooo tired. I think it was more than twenty- three hours of craft fair in the last three days.

I had funny watching the people walk by and smile, point, or tap a friend. I also met some really nice people. Some friends also came by to see my booth. Tomorrow I will write more about it.

White

2008-10-21T15:06:00.008-10:00

It has been all things white for a while now. I made some white cats, which I will be calling Snow kitty.

Snow kitty

One with just a folded band and the other with ear flaps. Anything without long floppy ears gets made in the two different band types.

Snow kitty

Also, finally decided on the final look of the ghost cap. My sister sent me a picture of the ghost beanie she made to wear last Halloween. I changed it a bit. Took me a while to get the look of the hands to be smaller than the one my sister made. I am still not happy with the way it looks.

When my sister was here, I showed her my work in progress. All she said was "that's scary, that's not cute." My response was, "I do not make cute." So I changed the eyes and mouth to look more friendly, like the one she made.

Boo

Below is the one my sister made. Which I guess you could say is more cute. It has a cartoonish look to it. Fluffy... almost marshmallow like.

Ghost beanie

Spots, spots and more spots.

2008-10-20T23:08:00.010-10:00

On one of my trips to the fabric store I saw red and was inspired. Well... my original idea has not materialized yet. Instead I ended up with this~

Lady bug

The spots nearly drove me insane. I did twenty hats with six spots on each hat. Yes... that was 120 spots. I am not sure what I was thinking when I cut those out to sew on to the hats. The Lady bug hats turned out okay. It does not photograph as well as I would like it to.

~Visiting two more Ponds~

Aliiolani Elementary

December 6 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm

Aiea Elementary

November 15 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm

Leafy leaf

2008-10-17T17:30:00.011-10:00

Hooray...

I will start this off by telling my story of mailing this particular beret.

Black leaf beret

I was all ready to send off the hat on Monday. I actually had it in the envelope the previous week all ready to go. But I knew I would have time Monday morning to go to the bank and the post office.

The morning of October 13 came along and it was raining. I really did not feel in the mood for walking in the rain. I decide to do my errands in the afternoon right before going to lunch with a friend. My friend called and said he was running late. I thought, "Great, more time for me to run my errands."

So, I headed off on my walk to the post office. I used my normal route, but encountered a very large puddle. I did not realize it rained so much that the path I usually walk was flooded. I back-tracked and took a shortcut through a little community park.

When I got to the post office, to my surprise the desk was not open. How disappointing. Discovers Day... okay so it seems I do not pay attention to federal holidays. Here in Hawaii it is not a state holiday. I believe they replaced it with observing Martin Luther King Day. The post office closed, the bank closed... my day was not looking so great.

Lucky me there is an automated postal service. I started to enter information into the machine. My phone rings which distracted me and the screen timed out. I had to start again... oh what a day. Not to mention that they do not leave the AC on, which made it like a sauna in there.

Here is what the hooray is about. I get another Duck. The beret that created the adventure for me.

Mike the sprout

Mike showed interest in having a black leaf beret. He insisted he had a Tarutaru sized head. Being a little doubtful I made one with the estimated measurements I was given, these were not calculated with a ruler or any measuring device. It really was an extra large beret. I had to pin it so I could take a picture of it on my mannequin.

I am wondering how Mike got it to sit on his head. Duct tape? Paper clip? Safety Pin?

Thank you for sending the picture.

P.S. I forgot to say less than three Vivian for sending the cap picture.

Dino

2008-10-16T09:52:00.005-10:00

With so much green fleece. I began thinking what else could I do in green. I decided to make a green spiky hat. Like the spine of a dinosaur or a dragon.

Dino

On a side note, since it took me a while to decide on the proportion of the spikes on this hat. It makes me think of how there are so many other things in the creation process. Some of which I have yet to figure out how to construct. My sketch book contains drawings of things I have yet to make. Sometimes I stitch a sample of something and it sits on a mannequin head for days. I look at it everyday trying to decide if I like it or if it needs to be changed. There are a few things that I placed on the side because looking at it was not helping. Other things I have on the side because I have been searching for the right construction materials.

Jack

2008-10-14T01:17:00.008-10:00

Finally I got a reply from Roni that I could use the picture I took of the Jack. By far this was the most difficult Duck to shoot. Maybe the hesitation was because it was a work environment. And when I finally did get him to place it on, everyone in the other cubicles peered over to see him in the hat.

Jack

I guess it could pass for a floppy eared kangaroo. I was trying to convince him that he should wear it at work. It would make for a great thinking cap.

What is a Duck?

2008-10-11T13:51:00.011-10:00

I was asked the other day "what is a Duck?" I paused for a moment before answering because I was going to say it was a bird that goes quack. I have been making up my own labels in which I categorize things. Ducks are people that are willing to let me take a picture of them in the hat. A sitting duck which I shoot. Okay my sense of humor is a little odd.

I am quite happy with the U.S. postal service right now. I mailed a hat this past Wednesday, and the postman told me 3-5 days. Today the hat was received which makes it 3-4 days depending if you count Wednesday. The bouns is I get a new picture to post.

Viv with her new sleeping cap!

When I first started making my first panda hat, Viv mentioned that she liked the Naruto sleeping cap. I finally got around to making one. Like normal I feel it is far from perfect since I did my normal cut and sew. The band seems a little too wide and I think I placed the eyes too high. The eyes also look a little angry. But all that matters is Viv enjoys it.

Angry eyes

I was a little worried that it covered the mannequin's eyes.

Mannequin in cap

Little Sleepy Panda Cat.

2008-10-10T13:32:00.004-10:00

Maybe my cat does not look too sleepy. But here he is as I bother him yet again to wear one of my creations. I caught him while he was napping on one of his current favorite spots.. If only I could teach him how to smile.

Panda Cat

After refusing to pose with a nicer expression, he decided to try and remove the hat. I was hoping to get a ferocious picture with fangs, I unfortunately missed the shot.

Grumpy Panda Cat

Rawr Kitty.

2008-10-08T15:57:00.000-10:00

RAWR!

Last month I went to The Yard House with a few people. Of course I had a little surprise with me. Let us just say I hit another Duck. The picture is off focused, I really need to remember to set my camera for low light areas. Mom Panda's picture is a little blurry, but this one is almost fuzzy.

Rawr... Kitty!

Another request on a blurred face. You all look scary with your faces blurry. Thank you for placing it on in the middle of the bar. Bonus of that is the waitress did say "That's hot!" Yes, she was blonde, and seemed a bit ditzy.

Panda

2008-10-06T09:52:00.001-10:00

I mentioned before that I was creating a Panda hat for someone. Well here is Mom. I blurred his face out like he asked. One ear is flopped down but I still think it looks adorable on him.

Mom panda

A group of us went out to Shokudo. When Mom arrived I took out the hat and slipped it on his head. I found it amusing that he did not protest and was wearing it. I should have gotten a picture of the Leaf hat and Panda hat together. Panda and Leaf were sitting together for a while outside of Shokudo as we waited for our table.

Introducing... The Jack

2008-10-01T13:45:00.000-10:00

One day after a chat with someone, I decided to create a brown dog hat. I am not sure if he told me when I gave it to him or if it was after, but he said that it looked like a donkey, dog, kangaroo or some brown animal. This hat could be any brown animal with floppy ears. My wish is that whoever wears it, enjoys wearing it. So because of this I will name this hat Jack (this is in response to the donkey comment.) And all brown dog hats will be called Jack. It might have been because the ears were sewn differently than the one in the picture below. Or the way he wore the hat.(Maybe I can get approval to post the picture of the first Jack.)

Jack

The first Jack was a one of a kind creation by San. What I like to call a reject hat. It was a sample, instead of using temporary stitches, I used a regular stitch that I was not going to take it apart. The first Jack also had the first label placed on it. Below is a label that was hand sewn on to the Pink hat with white flower. I had to hand sew on labels to all hats that were made before these labels were created.

Little frog label

There are three items that I stitched the logo on to. Below is the first froggy hat I made. This was the first logo I stitched onto a hat. After doing the third item to have a logo placed on in this method I decided I was not crazy enough to do this on all the hats I made.

Little frog logo

Bunny

2008-09-30T01:52:00.001-10:00

Bunny

I had pink fleece which was the first color I purchased. And I had white from making panda hats. So it developed into a bunny hat. I almost feel like making one in a tiny size for my cat.

Bunny cat

My cat has his own bunny ears. Here he is my sleeping with his bunny ears. Or maybe he was just pretending to sleep in hopes that I would leave him alone. I made these last year. They are constructed out of white crafting felt, a black pipe cleaner, and two pink pipe cleaners.

Leaf

2008-09-24T11:02:00.000-10:00

Leaf beret

There an online game call Final Fantasy XI that has a monster called a Mandragora. This beret is modeled after it. I only made two of these berets. One for me and one for a friend. Sort of my experiment in custom made hats.

Froggy

2008-09-17T15:23:00.000-10:00

Froggy

Here is my frog.

After spending a long time looking at the colors of green I decided I wanted my frog to be this softer color of green. I would have liked a bright cheery yellow green, but I could not find such a color.

Jumping in.

2008-09-08T12:18:00.000-10:00

So you could say I will be going for a swim soon. I have signed up to be at two different Season's Best Craft & Gift Fairs. The first one on October 24, 25 and 26. This will be at the Neal Blaisdell Center. The second is at Aliiolani Elementary on November 8. I plan to sign up for a couple more craft fairs, hopefully soon.

Neal Blaisdell Center

October 24 Friday 5pm- 9pm

25 Saturday 9am- 7pm

26 Sunday 9am- 4pm

Aliiolani Elementary

November 8 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm

Test

2008-09-05T12:30:00.001-10:00

I wanted to make a frog, but all I had was black, white and tan sheets of crafting felt.

I took what I call the cat's paper. This is the brown packing paper that most online stores use. I like saving this paper because my cat likes to hide under it and take naps. He also steps on it, stomping it till it is flat, at which point he no longer can sneak under it. Since he can not slide himself under the paper he just takes a nap on it.

Back to the frog... So I used the paper and cut a pattern. But made a test panda instead of a frog. Patching the felt together since they were 9" x 11.5" pieces.

Sample Panda

Later I went looking for some material, but ended up buying some pink fleece. This resulted in two items a cat :

Pink Cat

and what later evolved into one with a white flower on it.

Pink hat with White Flower

A frog is born.

2008-08-15T10:19:00.000-10:00

It was a normal day in March when an egg hatched. Slowly developing into the tadpole of an idea. Little frog is still growing its legs and trying to learning how to swim.