Paper + sewing stuff = Very cute card. Check it out:

It’s a nice any-occasion card. Nice and bright and colorful. And the buttons are a nice touch (though I guess you have to hope they don’t get caught on the postal machine if you happen to be mailing one of these cuties!).

Several styles are available at Nissa B’s Etsy store. Nissa combines paper, fabric, buttons and other sewing materials to create all sorts of paper goods, from tags to cards.

She also makes pillows and stuffed animals, like this owl:

Maybe you can get a gift and a card at the same time. How convenient!

indie*galore is back from vacation, and bringing you some really, really cute animals to look at:

These roly-poly lovelies are the work of Laura from Cupcakes For Clara. Cupcakes for Clara is based in England, and you will find plenty of cute plush toys, all of which are made to order and individually numbered. The plush toys are limited edition collectibles.

You will also find stationery and finger puppets in the shop. But the animals — they are quite irresistible.

With the dog days of summer approaching, you may find yourself feeling hot and bothered. Maybe you could use some ice cream. But if it’s not available, maybe you can crank up your fingers and your imagination and this could carry you through a hot spell:

Too bad it won’t cool you down, but it is pretty to look at.

This bowl of goodness is brought to you by Melbangel Crafts. Note that the actual bowl of ice cream isn’t for sale — it’s the crochet pattern. (Hence the cranking up of your fingers.)

There are a whole host of cool crochet patterns available at Melbangel Crafts — some dolls, some animals — but the food ones are especially cool. If you’re feeling dessert-y but don’t ice cream, you could always try some cake:

You could have a veritable bakery in your house!

It always amazes me what sorts of goodies can come out of a sewing machine (because I can’t sew to save my life). So I enjoy looking at the work of those who sew.

Like this little gem:

This little mouse (meeces?) is from one of the Sacramento Craft Mafia’s newest members, Lauren of Speckled Hen. You will find many sewn and fabric-related goodies at Speckled Hen, including purses, smocks, hairpins and pouches.

You will also find lots of pincushions, because all good sewing people need them, right? But I thought this pincushion was just ingenious:

Perfect for someone who’s a chocolate lover and sews! (They come in lots of colors, too.)

One of these days, I would like to live in Heidi Kenney’s plush world.

Heidi is the fabulous gal behind My Paper Crane, home of all sorts of unique plush toys. If it can be made into plush, Heidi has probably already made it.

Heidi makes plush toast, used tissue, and houses.

She also made these trees and vegetables:

That was just a small portion of the My Paper Crane table at Bazaar Bizarre! She even had plush tampons, which just proves plush toys aren’t only for kids anymore (so a sign said at her table).

If you want something one-of-a-kind and whimsical, definitely check out My Paper Crane.

Across from the Sacramento Craft Mafia’s booth at Bazaar Bizarre this weekend was a lovely plush seller with a family of owls. You may recall seeing the family of owls in the original post about BazBiz (scroll down a little bit).

The owls were made by Devon Industry, run by Devon, a sweet girl from San Jose.

Not only did Devon sport some seriously cute plush at the show — she’s got birds, elephants, dogs, whales and owls, oh my! — she also had some art prints.

I bought this lovely whale named Humphrey:

Devon’s work is really whimsical, cute, colorful and fresh. It made me feel happy.

Maybe something you like from her Etsy shop will make you feel happy too.

I am — unabashedly — a meat-loving girl. I’ll take my slab of prime rib medium rare, thank you.

But meat can be a problem. It can make you fatty. It spoils. You can only dry age a rib roast for so long.

When you want meat without the calories, there are always these tasty options:

Ham, anyone?

Mmmm, slab o’ ribs.

Can’t forget the T-bone.

These delectable delights are from Meat is Sweet. All their plush pays homage to meat. There are even stuffed sausages. And mini meats that serve as catnip-filled toys.

Meat is Sweet was just across the way from the Sacramento Craft Mafia booth at Bazaar Bizarre this past weekend. Several of us at the booth admired their meats from afar.

Alas, there wasn’t a mini hambone. But the plush was cool, nonetheless.

Oh, and there is even a stuffed tofu block for the non-meat eating folks. Sweet.

Mushrooms are wonderful things. They are good in pasta and pizza. They can be cute, kind of like Toad from Super Mario Bros. or those cool red power mushrooms and green 1-up mushrooms from the game.

They make cute toys that are guaranteed to brighten up some shelf in your house:

Now, you probably don’t want one of your really little kids or your dog/cat/otherwise possibly violent pet messing up this Mushroom Cottage Playset from Fantastic Toys. (It’s $75.) Besides, there are small parts that could prove hazardous, like the accompanying gnome finger puppets. But it is bright, cheery and unique … and it even has a mushroom outhouse. Yeah, that rocks.

There are several other whimsical plush characters available at Fantastic Toys, including birds, gnomes, deer and even a grumpy mushroom. It’s a great site for lovers of unique plush toys and collectables.

I was a vendor at Handmade Parade on Saturday and met some pretty fab people and had a great time.

I also managed to pick up the cutest stuffed owl I have ever seen:

(I bought the brown one on the right.)

The owl was courtesy of Bethany of Bitter Betty Industries. She dubbed him “Proto-Owl” because he was the first one she made and the basis for the others. He is made with the sleeve of a felted sweater, and everything else on the front is needle-felted. He also has a light lavender scent. So he smells delicious and is cute too. And he’s the Proto-Owl!

Bitter Betty Industries also has wonderful clothes on sale, from utility obis to jumpers to t-shirts to cute kids’ clothes. Bethany also makes soldered necklaces as well. Check out the Bitter Betty blog for more pictures of her awesome stuff. You’ll even find the owls there … but act fast, because there are now only two of them left in the nest.

If you leave Bethany a comment or send her an e-mail, she may be willing to make something you like on her blog if it’s not in your size. There’s more stuff on her blog picture-wise than in her shop, so you may be best served looking at the blog first.

In a perfect world, all animals would be cute and squishy, kind of like this:

These toys were made by Lauren over at laurensmash @ Etsy. Lauren was one of the fantastic folks I met at the Pleasanton Craft Mafia show last week (and my other booth neighbor).

She creates all sort of cute animals besides the cat and pig above. She also makes kangaroos, skunks, monsters and some people. What’s great about her plush toys is that she names each one and attaches a tag to each that tells the toy’s story. Some of them like coffee and help elderly ladies across the street. The animals are whimsical and just plain fun!

You can tell your kids to do that with this play set:

This lovely felt creation can be found at Little Boy Blue Boutique (where they’re not just partial to boys … there’s stuff for girls too!).

All the play food is wrapped up in a cute tote that also serves as a reversible tablecloth. There are even felt folks and spoons!

Not feeling like eggs and ham? There’s a dessert version, too. Donuts, eclairs, cake and pie … yum!

There’s more than just fun felt toys at Little Boy Blue Boutique … there are also cute baby shoes (made with felt too) and other lovely baby gifts.

Mohair is a nice thing. It makes nice scarves/hats/sweaters, is soft and all-around fun. And it can make cool things like these:

You can’t tell from that cropped picture, but it’s a mohair bunny! And it’s made by Missy Ballance at Mohair Circus.

Missy makes all sorts of stuffed mohair animals. You can see the bunny in his floppy-eared glory on her site. I just liked the carrot bag — that’s a really nice touch.

(As an aside: Missy is also a fellow member of the Sacramento Craft Mafia! Woohoo!)

Keeping with an animal theme today, I guess ….

Like this cat:

This lovely critter (and more) can be found at Crafty Alien. The shop sells patterns and kits for making animals such as squirrels, raccoons, hedgehogs, rabbits and even a skunk. It’s a pretty ecletic collection!

The siamese plush in the picture is the only animal available in its ready-made form. You’ve got to make the others.

There are also some cute notecards, magnets and pushpins featuring all the above critters.

Anyway, go and make some cute little animals. All the kits/patterns are very reasonably priced … at those rates, you could afford your own little menagerie.

Admittedly, I don’t like pickles. Too sour for me. But this is a pickle I can dig:

Or how about a pickle on a bike?

These wonderful characters are the work of Jack and Rita over at Mr. Pickles. The intro illustration/animation to their site alone is well worth the click — I’ve never seen a better-looking lime in my life.

Mr. Pickles has shirts, cards and even mugs featuring the cast of characters. There is even a plushy section where you can buy a stuffed t-bone steak for the favorite carnivore in your life. (Ham and lamb shank also available.)

Besides the shop, there are games and the blog to keep you entertained at the Mr. Pickles site, so go over there and ogle the food already.

Seriously, can you resist this?

But this owl has many more friends over at Gifts Define!

Gifts Define’s tagline is “unique lovable indollgences,” and that there’s plenty of. In addition to the animals — turtles, lions, monkeys, puppies, giraffes and more — there are cute girl dolls, wedding dolls, dolls holding up sayings such as “congratulations” and “I love you” and even a bannerama option where you can have a number of dolls spell out a word.

I was fortunate to get a Gifts Define turtle in an edition of The Sampler, and I hope someday to add to my menagerie (unfortunately, cash is kind of short).

But if cash isn’t short for you (or even if it is), you should find room for at least one cute animal to brighten up your room/cubicle/locker/space you happen to occupy. Or get the owl and have it be a conversation piece … or use it to tell your friends/coworkers/boss that you happen to feel a little loopy today.