In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day coming up, I’ve been making green Hug Me Slugs in my toy shop. There are more on my desk, in progress. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop. This medium green fleece slug is admiring the first of our spring flowers,
as did his light mint green friend yesterday. The daffodils are in bloom here as well, but I haven’t weeded out the garden! Can’t have slugs posing next to dried leaves.
I was editing these earlier today, and thought this particular scene was amusing. My desktop aquarium screensaver took over when I got up to take a break, and the fish invaded my slug photos. The one slug looks very interested.
Right after I posted my light mint green slug yesterday, he (she?) was featured in an Etsy treasury of slug items! I think this is one of my favorite treasuries so far. Slug art, crafts, jewelry, even slug barrettes! And the baby hat…
I love this baby hat by xoLoveRosie on Etsy, and this photo. Even the name on the listing makes me laugh: “psycho slug alien baby from outer space hat.”
So much fun. My art toys and prints have been featured in a lot of treasuries lately, and our original one-of-a-kind art dolls are showing up in a bunch too. Be sure to check out our Ruffing’s shop if you haven’t already. We’re about to take some photos of new art dolls. I’ll get them posted as soon as I can.
It has been a long time since I put any new ready-made art toys up. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop. I finished this 9-inch light mint green fleece Hug Me Slug. He (or she, I’m not sure) is posing next to our peach tree, which is beginning to bloom.
These three little slugs went out to their new homes this week.
I had a challenge in getting them ready, as I had some booboo’s on my fingers. I usually put sports tape on my fingertips to protect them from needles, but my Band-Aids kept making the tape fall off, which made me poke myself some more. I persevered and got the slugs stitched up anyway. My fingers are all better now.
This morning, I drilled and glued and paperclayed some doll stands into existence. This is not my favorite thing to do, but I felt good about getting them ready. Max has some new, smaller sized art dolls we need to photograph, and we needed smaller stands for them. I like feeling productive.
Among my many other projects I am in the process juggling, I am going to be making clothes for my sock kittens. I want them to fit the standard 18 inch, commercially-available dolls too. I had one Daisy Kingdom Pansy doll, in that size, from twenty years ago, the little girl doll on the right below, and so I went on eBay to collect her three sisters to model doll clothes for me.
I like their vintage look.
I also went on my first feral cat trapping adventure! I tagged along with Marie and took lots of photos of the Trap-Neuter-Return process, or the trapping and returning part. I put up a mini-photo-documentary on Facebook, showing the trapping and the returning, step by step. The rescue incorporated it into a PDF, which further explains TNR, and talks about the spaying and vaccinating of the cats as well.
That’s Gypsy above. I kept him occupied with food and attention, while Marie set up the traps. Gypsy is a stray, living with a feral cat colony, in a very nice senior lady’s yard. She has possibly twenty feral cats living in her barn, and under her house that need to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated, which is more than she could afford to do herself, even if the cats were tame and she could catch them herself. Alley Cats and Angels is stepping in to get the situation humanely under control. As the cats receive vet care, they will be returned to their home, where they will no longer reproduce.
This is the safety trap, with food, and a feral cat inside. Marie put canned chicken inside, and once a cat steps on the trip plate, the door to the trap closes behind her. The first priority was to trap the female cats that were seen to have been in heat already.
They are tricky to catch. When a cat won’t go into the regular safety trap, a drop trap is used. This one is a wooden frame, covered with netting, with a door on one side. A stick props it up, and a rope is tied to the stick. A plate of canned chicken was placed inside.
This is one of the high-priority girls entering the drop trap. Marie was on the other end of the rope, waiting.
Once the kitty settled in for a snack, and was all the way under the box, Marie gave the rope a tug, and the trap came down, with our girl inside.
This is a short video of our returning the cats to their barn. They were happy to be home. Two of the girls waited for their friends to come out of the traps. They seem to look after each other.
We’ll be heading back for Gypsy. Since he is tame and friendly, he will have a separate vet day when he will be neutered and vaccinated and returned to his home as a pet.
I will try to keep getting more toys and art dolls up online. If you haven’t already, please “Like” Ruffing’s on Facebook to see updates. I’ve got a lot to do. I have some charity toys to make and I’ve been asked to contribute a Hug Me Slug or two for a counting book for children, by a professional photographer. I am looking forward to seeing them in some beautiful photos with kids. I’m not sure exactly when Cathie Fillian’s new kids’ craft show will come out, but they are supposed to make an appearance there, during the opening or the credits, as well. It’s going to be fun to see them here and there.
This is Feral Cheryl‘s sock brother, Cody II. They came from the same cotton tweed family. Cody II left for Arizona this week.
Cody II is named after the real cat companion of a very nice lady who collects sock monkeys. She couldn’t imagine her life without her beloved kitty, and so she thought it was only fitting that her sock monkeys should have a kitty companion too. I think that is an excellent idea. I’m sure Cody II is going to have great fun with his new sock monkey friends.
Cody II also had many Hug Me Slug friends. I had a rush of custom orders for Valentine’s Day, including two Hug Me Slugs for the sons of a friend from way back in high school. She sent me this fantastic photo, taken at bedtime. Slugs need rest too. This one looks very cozy, all nestled in with his new friend. I love this photo.
I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in “our Ruffing’s shop“.
I am still cleaning up from the Valentine’s Day rush, and still eating chocolate. I love this quilted fabric-covered candy box. I am saving that.
I got some wonderful presents. Above is an original, hand-painted pillow by Sandy Mastroni. I love her kitties especially. The pillow is beautiful, and the extras that came with it are adorable. How cute is that hang tag? And the bookmark too.
I also received “Francis Violet” designed and made by Sarah from Bit of Whimsy Dolls. She is the sweetest cat-girl. I got a couple of patterns too, so I can make her a dress and maybe a sister or brother. It is so nice to have handmade work by other artists and craftspeople, and see all the love they put into what they do. I hope everyone will think to try a handmade gift when the time for gift-giving comes around. There is something really special about giving and owning something unique, made by people who are invested in what they are doing. It’s inspiring.
The last one of this year’s Valentine’s Day Hug Me Slugs left on his way today. I’m assuming he’s the last anyway, unless someone asks for one of the ready-made slugs before the holiday arrives. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.
I’ve been juggling a bunch of toys at once for the past two weeks. I have one sock kitty to finish up as well, for a very nice lady who has been very patient. I never know how many people will ask for toys at once, and sometimes I’ll think I have only one to make, and then, suddenly, I’ll have a rush. I try to get them all started, and work on them each, a little at a time.
I keep waking up with pictures in my head this week, and so I sketched one when I woke up in the morning. and another the other day. This bunny is still roughly drawn, as I drew her before I even had breakfast today. Maybe I’ll fiddle some more and see where this goes. I’ve been thinking of trying digital drawing, or at least digital coloring. Not sure yet.
On Monday night, I went to see Feral Cheryl at her new job as a Demo Cat. She and Princess Marie did a great job, showing how to trap feral cats to be spayed/neutered and returned to their outdoor homes. I may tag along later this month for a real feral cat trapping.
This is Cheryl sitting on a Tomahawk Live Trap, one of the kinds of safety traps the rescue uses. Some also use Havahart and Tru-Catch Live Animal Traps. I learned in the workshop that the kind of trap you use is important, for your own safety too, because poorly-made traps aren’t secure.
Food is put under the trap, on a paper plate, and squished through the bottom grate, or a little is put inside, to entice feral cats to come inside, and once they are in and step on the trip plate, the door closes behind them. They are then left in the trap, with a blanket to cover them, while they wait for their vet clinic appointment. They can’t eat the night before their spay/neuter surgery, and so no food is left inside.
Please spay and neuter your pets. Princess Marie made the association between having several unneutered cats in your neighborhood to having a time bomb, because within just 63 days, they can each have a litter of kittens, which is a situation that can quickly become out of control. Please contact local rescue groups in your area for options available to you, and please spay and neuter any pets you may have.
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We will be posting our creations in our Ruffing’s shop, here on this website, and are in the process of moving everything here. If you are looking for something and don’t see it yet, please feel free to ask!