As part of my New Year's goal to begin to make custom plush toys, I made this toy from one of Stella's drawings. Stella is 5. All her friends are boys and when she draws she draws boys. This is one of her typical guys.
Again, I wasn't sure how this would go and again it was breathtakingly fun to make.
This toy will be part of another New Year's goal: to design a shop window. Like many downtown areas right now, downtown Wellesley has quite a few vacant storefronts. A local arts advocate had the idea to use those spaces to showcase local art while the landlords wait for new tenants.
My local artists group will be showing our work in one of the prominent, large shop windows in the center of Wellesley this spring. We chose the spring months to coincide with Wellesley College graduation and another townwide event that takes place over Memorial Day weekend.
For the show I am going to create a series of toys from children's drawings (my own children and my four nieces) and show them alongside enlarged versions of the original drawings. My hope is that they'll be eyecatching for kids and adults alike as they walk through town and that they'll bring a smile to a few faces.
I will also begin to take custom orders for plush toys made from children's drawings. I'm really excited to take these on and I hope it is something that appeals to other people as much as it appeals to me. More details on these later on, once my book manuscript is completed.
When Stella saw her drawing jump off the page as real toy her eyes got big and she gave it a huge hug. I hope there is a child in your life that might want to that same experience!
