The Bear

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

A little finger puppet that I couldn't bear to part with. I had such lovely memories of the bear, the bear, the bear.... that's what we called him whenever we had a story with him in it. I tried to capture the happiness of the moments we shared with him.

Straight from the camera, no textures just a few colour adjustments.

All images my own. Edited with Photoshop.

on Society6:

MagpieMagic on Craftsy

The gang is now available via 

Craftsy and Etsy

And here is the first picture of Ruben made with my pattern by Dominik in Germany. Isn't he cute?

Ruben, Marvin and little Bethany (and the rest of the crew)

 All available in my Etsy shop right NOW.

Hug

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

My son was clearing out his room, out with the old and in with the new... all grown up now. So this little piggy had to go... or it would have if I hadn't intervened and found a place in my book shelf for it. :-) So the little piggy (who is a very cute finger puppet holding a little bunny) is safe for now.

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

On Society6 below:

On Rebdbubble below:

All is not as it seems

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

This was a little toy, no bigger than an inch, that I photographed with my new macro lenses. It reminded me of Tim Burton's Nightmare at Christmas and the mood in the film which never quite managed scary but always seemed gentle and loving to me. So this is my hommage to Tim Burton, one of my favourite film makers. :-)

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

iPhone case on Society6

iPad case on Redbubble

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

Hug

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

I had a play with a toy, my new macro lenses and the depth setting on my camera. :-) I thought it would make a perfect gift for someone you care about, be it as a laptop skin, iPad or iPhone case or just a print. You can't go wrong with a hug. :-)

Part of my new series of images for licensing on Arcangel-Images - use this code: SYST-00319

Created with my own photographs in Photoshop, no stock used.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas).

Note: New iPad cases on Redbubble!

MagpieMagic Featuring Skunkboy Creatures

Below is Ben's belated birthday Narwhal from the lovely Katie of Skunkboy Creatures. Ben only told me the day before his birthday that he'd really like the Narwal or I'd have ordered it in time. However, it arrived very quickly and is the cutest thing ever. He is very pleased with it. :-)


He's all handmade and handstitched with a lovable smile.

... and his lovely stripey horn.

Narwhals are REAL creatures although they look like they're from some fairy tale. Unicorns of the sea....


And since I was ordering already I treated myself to this cute snail.

How could I (or anyone for that matter) resist this sweet shy little smile?


Katie's Etsy shop is closed this week, but check it out next week.

Chrysanthemum the Ninja Bunny

... and sometimes pirate bunny....

My latest toy creation:

Chrysanthemum

Chrys is not just any bunny, she's a special bunny with special moves and a bandanna that she sometimes wears...

... as her special eye patch, when she feels like being a pirate.


Not for the faint of heart, she is cute, feisty and a little bit wild.

She needs a very special home with a special little person to look after her.


Chrysanthemum has been made from soya (body), cotton (bandanna and embroidery) and merino Astrakhan yarn (her tail and the little fluffy bits on her ears). She is stuffed with 100% lambswool and soft and squishy. You can wash her gently in warm water with a little bit of special delicates washing liquid. Leave her to dry and she'll be good as new, but make sure you wash the bandanna separately as this has been hand dyed and might make her lovely vanilla colour go pink. She wouldn't like that. Really, she wouldn't.

Chrysanthemum is about 15cm (6") tall and she'll be waiting in my Etsy shop sometime later this week for someone to give her a loving home.

Note: This toy is not suitable for very small children due to the buttons on her face and the bandanna.

Snowy the Bear

Ta-Da - Snowy the Bear.

My very first knitted toy, made for Ben. It should have been a Christmas present but I got snowed under with request for warmers and it never happened. Have to say I felt a bit daunted by the pattern too...

The pattern is called 'Otto' and is available from Ysolda Teague's Store.

It took me about 4 days to finish the bear and Snowy turned out very cute, but I did have a few issues with the pattern. I think the nose as per pattern is too long and it caused me no end of trouble when I embroidered it with the black yarn. In the end I had to take it apart, shorten it and therefore get rid off any resemblance to a well known German dictator....

I am also not happy with the mistakes I found in the pattern regarding the legs and gusset. Unfortunately, despite the promise of pattern support I got no help Ysolda herself, nor from the Ysolda Ravelry group.

On the whole though Snowy is sweet and much loved.


A personal touch was adding the bouclé yarn embroidery around the ears. The yarn is Sirdar Juicy in White (Coconut) for the main body, Cashcotton in black for the nose and eyes and Rowan Astrakhan in cream for the embroidery around the ears. The stuffing is pure lambswool. Very squishy and soft! :)

I loved knitting with the bamboo yarn as it's lovely and silky and so smooth. Perfect for all sorts of projects.

The pattern got my appetite wetted for some toy knitting. I've almost finished a little cat which is based on my own pattern. I quite fancy making a monkey or a different kind of bear though. We'll see... I'll have to add it to the very long list of projects which gets longer by the day.

The emerald green shrug got put aside whilst Ben was nagging me to make his bear... however, that is almost finished too. AND I did some more yarn dying. Once the yarn has been untangled and wound up into balls I will show you the results.