Misfits

 It's so funny sometimes, how this world works. 

Yesterday morning I was doing my morning chores, thinking about reorganizing my storage closet and what to do with my Misfits.  The Critters I've made that I didn't care for after I made them, or the ones that no one has shown any interest in...to clear the clutter for new ides, y'know.

Along comes my bonus boy, Mooney.  His grandma wants to buy some Critters from me to take to people in nursing homes and hospitals...boom, donating my Misfits,  

I love it.  My storage gets a little cleared out, Grandma Mooney gets to go out and spread some cheer using my creations, I couldn't be happier about the whole thing.

I've made a few Easter Critters...

Peeps

Gray Hare

Brown Hare

Eggbert

All of them, and a few more cutie patooties can be found in this cool shop!  Come take a look, and if you make and sell things, you might want to look into it, too. There might even be somewhere you can say I referred you, but either way, it's an easy site, so far has been great for me!  

I have been working on some large wood burnings the last couple of weeks.  Waiting for better weather to stain, gotta do it outside, y'know.

All is Well.

Play Nice!  xxoo

Well!

In my shower thoughts yesterday, the suggestion came up to be more regular with my blogging, so here I am.  I guess I owe an explanation for my absence...maybe not owe, but maybe just an explanation/update would be the better.

I got myself real busy in October.  I started posting a new Critter almost every day.  I found a new selling platform called Ko-fi and I really like it, it has a feature where I set the lowest price I will take, the purchaser has to ability to pay more if they choose to.  So far I've only had one person do that in a major way, which just happened to come in exactly when I needed a little extra.  I love how the Universe works like that.  

So, posting every day, sharing my posts...the new selling platform...it went off big for me!  I sold 9 Critters in one day!  Granted I am charging a third of what I should be selling them for, but what good are they just sitting here gathering dust?  I am happy to sell them, the extra cash comes in handy, I count each and every sale as a blessing!   

Anyway, all my daylight hours were spent on stitching and stuffing, and taking care of the boys every need and whimsy now and then, evenings were spent leaning back on a heating pad.  Oh my back sometimes.  I sold quite a few Critters at the end of 2024, like I said, a blessing.,  

This was one of my very favorites from 2024.

I keep getting a spam notice saying my FB page doesn't meet requirements or some kind of infraction, which makes my page ineligible for recommendations.  Pffft.  I just archived everything in my FB shop, can't even tag my products there anyway, so what's the point?  

This link should take you to my ko-fi shop.  

If not:  www.ko-fi.com

I've been enjoying creating posts for my critters at Canva.  I am thinking about taking the plunge and joining over there, they do have some nice graphics and elements for designing.

So there you are for now.  Go on by and take a look at my new shop if you have a couple minutes, you can follow me over there, too.  I'm still posting on FB and Insta.

The boys, Greg and Brad, are good.  Greg still has an attitude but I don't call him the "D" word (where he can hear me) anymore, because that just pisses him off.  Brad is a big black panther, that turns into a big glop of black goo when I try to move him from where he wants to be, which is usually on top of whatever it is I am working on at the time he feels he needs some attention.  

Good boy Greg

Big Boy Brad

(I built that from a kit with NO instructions!)  

Play Nice!  xxoo

Wow!

 Hey!  Remember that Maker's Market that I had a display in for a few months?  

Turns out that guy that runs the place, has been up to no good.  From what I can gather he's been getting a little friendly with  probably under age girls that come to his arcade (which is now in the same building as the Maker's Market).  Apparently someone came forward yesterday, and you know there are usually more than one.     

I am glad that I got out of there before this came to light.  I am so thankful that I will probably not run into him any time soon.  I knew he was immature, and looking back, I can see this being a possibility.  

This also makes me realize that I need to look at people a little more closely, instead of taking them at face value.  

On another note, I have been in contact with another venue, about 30 mins from here.  From what I hear it is quite busy and quite successful.  It's in a little artsy-fartsy area, with antique/flea market type stores.  They may have an opening in December, which would be a great place to be during Shopping Season.  

I have also been working on my listings, and if you follow Handmade by Cosmo  you've seen some of them already.  

This one is one of my new favorites.  I made this one out of faux suede, with the hand embroidered and appliqued swirl patch.  I love the look and the feel of it for sure.  

Doing these listings in this way is much quicker and allows me to be more creative, which I do enjoy.

Play Nice!  xsoo

P.S.  Greg and Brad are doing well.  

(Please read to the end.)

Tomorrow is my birthday, level 65!  

Because of attaining this milestone of life, at this moment I am stuck in a boggy mire of medical insurance,  Now I have medicare but I have to pay for it, applied for medicaid but for some reason the forms I filled out at the office were not turned in.  (The girl behind the glass doesn't care for me).  Had to reapply, which takes 90 days to be approved.  No doubt I will be approved, but until this situation is handled I am a couple hundred dollars short on my monthly "paycheck."  

When something like this happens, something that is completely out of my control but has everything to do with me, I tend to retreat back into myself a little bit, to ponder about the situation, and my possible ways to resolve it.  

I had my budget pretty well worked out, and was covered by insurance with no cost to me, so what I'm needing to do is find a way to supplement that couple hundred dollars back into my pocket.  It's not much, and honestly I can get by without it, but it's a "bare bones" existence.  I'm very familiar with this existence, only recently feeling that I was doing much better.  The amount of $$ in my bank account at the end of the month was bigger every month...so, I need to do something to bring that amount of money in to continue to move forward.  I don't want to stop, and I don't want to move backwards.

I applied for a job here in town, checked in on it this week, but haven't heard from anyone,  I'm sure my age could be a red flag, but trust me, I have plenty of life left.   

So...my point.  While I ponder, I stitch.  

The first of  these are not stuffed yet, stuffing comes tomorrow.  These will all be available next week.  If you want to dib one of them now, feel free!  I'm selling them for $5 each + $6 s/h.  Just a note, I believe I can get 2 in a box without the shipping going up.  

This one is made of faux leather, that looks like its been tooled.  The brown eyes and the inside of the ears are brown velvet.  Very textural.  

 

This one, too, is faux leather, in a woven look, in various shades of blue.  Beautiful blue eyes and inside of ears are a lighter blue felt.  Again quite a nice texture.

All wrapped up with a bow on top...this one is red velvet, with white felt eyes and ears.  The appliqued gift is an ivory colored felt with a green felt ribbon.

Almost Halloween!  Black felt with bright yellow felt cat shaped eyes, orange ears and appliqued pumpkin.  

This cutie in gold velvet with appliqued felt leaves.  The appliqued acorn is pleather and felt.  

(This one is stuffed)

And this crazy little one with the tuft of hair.  Pink and black and cute all over.

I hope you have read this far, because in re-reading this is sounds like I am trying to use your sympathy for my financial troubles to make a sale.  Not the case!  Not at all.

I only told you the part about the insurance because it was on my mind and I tend to just let my fingers fly.  It was/is not intended to try to get you to buy a Critter.  I mean, if that were the case I'd be asking more than $5 each, right?  I ponder, I stitch, and the Critters pile up, you know?  I'd much rather you have a little Handmade by Cosmo cutie perched somewhere in your home and/or office that brings a bit of joy to your day!   

Financially, I'll be fine.  Not to brag, but I have been landing on my feet for 64 years and 364 days so far, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon.  

Play Nice!  

xxoo

Summer Stuff

 First, here's the obligatory, "Phew it's been so hot!" exclamation.  Get that out of the way, being Summer a person would expect this to happen, but for some reason it is announced multiple times a day.  

Yesterday and today, though, it's been so pleasant.  No A/C needed, which you know that tickles me.  

So, I took my display out of the Maker's Market, with no hard feelings on either side.  As it should be.

I have also drastically reduced my prices.  All my Critters, my Fairies, Folk and Imps are a mere $5 each, with a $6 s/h charge...

I have cleaned up my shop on FB, which for some reason was restricted exactly the day after I started cleaning it up.  I think it looks better, and I had some fun with the descriptions.  Oh, and it's unrestricted now.  No reason give for why it was, nor why it isn't.  So many glitches.

They are so much fun for me to make, and because I listened to some well intentioned advice, I had a lot of inventory here.  What fun is it to make something cool if it is just gonna sit in the closet?   

Being in the Maker's Market, I learned a little bit, and got a little exposure.  Just this week I was commissioned to make 3 small pink bunnies for a girl at the library.  They are going to be incentives for a reading program.  Hopefully they will use me for more projects in the future.  She had seen my display at the Market.  

While I was making the decision whether to leave the Market or not, I whipped up a few mini kitties.  They are going to be featured on my pages on FB and Instagram next week.  

    

 

You may wonder why I have so many (I had 90 in this house) Critters, there are a couple reasons.   

Busy hands are happy hands, and when I am pondering on things, I stitch.  I have been doing a LOT of pondering over the last couple years.  I had lots to ponder over, and thankfully, I am feeling more reconciled in myself than I have in a long, long time.  There's more about that "stuff" on another blog, if you are interested let me know.  Some of it's kinda personal, so I don't let just everyone see.  

So, if you aren't following me on FB and Insta, why not?  Probably the same reason I don't get any comments.  

It's all good.  Sometimes I just need to get some thoughts outta my head.  And maybe someday someone will read it.  I've stumbled on blogs before.  Remember "Stumble Upon?"  It used to mess my computer up, but I loved the random sites it led me to.  

Speaking of random, don't do Randonautica.  It looks scary.

Gonna have a fresh cuppa coffee, and wait for my sister to get here.  We're going to Hobby Lobby!  

Play Nice! xxoo

Handmade by Cosmo

PS, Greg and Brad and doing great.  Both had birthdays in June.  We had a big party.  

Maker's Market Update

Well!

I changed up the display, used my own stand, and got a banner..."they" keep shifting my stuff, so this is how it looked last Saturday.  

Probably going to pull my display at the end of the month.  I've broke even the last two months, and while I'm not depending on this as my living income, I would like to get a little bit of cash for my talent.  Why am I helping him pay rent, when this is how my product is treated?  

Nah, I have another plan.  

There is an online site called Mercari.  It's like any other online site, with a few differences.  I have sold quite a few items there, so I've taken some of my latest creations and listed them there.  Prices are great, if I do say so myself, and hopefully I'll be successful.  I'll keep you posted, but if you haven't, click on that link, I'm listed as Cindy Durnell Friend, come take a look!  

 

 

 

 

 

Somehow I got the idea to make something different, started messing around with some patterns, fur, pleather and felt, and these are a few that I have come up with.  There are more, trust me.  When I get started I can't stop until I am finished.  That's just how it goes.  

That's where I am now.  I have a lot of Critters made, and now I need to find good homes for them.  

I haven't added anything to my FB shop in awhile.  It's very hard to get exposure over there with all the bot-made posts flooding the view.  I'm about done with FB pretty much, just still holding on, I have a lot of friends out there that I've had for a long, long time.  Not willing to cut those ties.  

So yeah, if you are reading this, would you click here, that will take you to my FB page.  Take a look, click a like to two, but even better, share it with some friends, &/or in a group!  That would be the best!

Play Nice!  xxoo

P.S.  

 

They boys say, "Hey."

Maker's Market

 I did it.  I have a bunch of Critters up at the Peculiar Maker's Market.  And I have already sold a few.  One being a custom order that was picked up yesterday, and she loved it. 

This is my little area, mirror not included.  I do intend to doll it up a bit, of course.  I have a vinyl sign coming, and some more business cards.  

Velvet Purple Lion.  

I have my prices set pretty low...I really just want to make enough to pay for the booth rental and maybe a little more.  For me, this gives me a reason to create more.  It has crushed the creative block I was suffering from.  It also gives me a place to go that isn't very far from home.  I can go hang out for a minute, get a cup of "fancy" coffee, then come back home and create some more.  

I've made 3 new big cats, a custom dog, and have another cat cut out ready to be stitched and stuffed.  

Lot's going on in my brain these days.  So much it's hard to keep up.

Play Nice!  xxoo