plushies Archives - Page 13 of 16 - Ruffing’s Artist Dolls and Toys

Posted on December 26, 2011July 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

A pink bug and a blue bug, Hug Me Bug stuffed animal toys

Merry day after Christmas! 🙂 Hope you all had a great weekend. I’m back to making Hug Me Bugs stuffed animal toys today. I just finished this pink one and this blue one. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

We took Bertie to the vet today for an antibiotic injection, to help with the congestion she has. She was having some trouble with breathing. Our usual vet was on vacation, and the vet on duty was very worried about trying to examine her. Since the kittens are still overcoming their feral beginnings, vet visits are difficult. Bertie loves to be petted here, but she doesn’t understand strangers touching her. The vet and the tech were both very brave, and managed to give her an injection. No one got hurt either, which was a relief for everyone.

Hopefully she will bounce back quickly now that she has some medicine to help. I hope we get lucky and no more kitties catch the same thing.

Posted on December 23, 2011March 13, 2022 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Hug Me Bugs handmade stuffed animals and a birthday

I made some fun new Hug Me Bugs this week, in novelty fleece. I also experimented with taking their portraits on bright, cheerful colors.

I sewed up bugs with polka dots, flowers, and even pink camouflage.

I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

Others are waiting under trees for Christmas morning, or maybe they’ve been discovered and unwrapped early. I made a pink fleece Hug Me Kitten too. She’s also a gift for someone this weekend.

I had some nice gifts of my own this week. My mom made me this beautiful cheesecake for my birthday.

We ate it with strawberries on top, after having Chinese food.

I received some fancy cookies, and this super box of 100% cotton Mettler thread. There is plenty of room for even more colors. It came with a nice selection, but I will add some more too.

A few purples, light blue, and bright light green, and I think I will have a color for just about any fabric.

Hancock Fabrics had a big sale on fleece this week, and so we went to look. I couldn’t resist getting some, even though I have lots of fleece. I wanted to add to my bright colors.

I pre-washed all of it, and put it out to dry on the porch.

We had sleepy, gray weather this week, perfect for napping, and for sitting on the bed, doing my hand sewing. I was beaten to my favorite spot by cats. I kept trying to fit in around them.

Posted on December 13, 2011July 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Hug Me Bug and Hug Me Bunny handmade stuffed animal toys

I’ve been adjusting my patterns for my new Hug Me Bugs and for my Hug Me Bunnies, making them slightly fatter.

I just finished three Hug Me Bug stuffed animal toys. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

I procrastinated a long time over doing the drawing for their hang tag. I get mental blocks about some things. The drawing came along fine, but I couldn’t remember how I put it into the hang tag format I made before!

I struggled with that in Photoshop Elements. My goal is to learn more about digital drawing and painting…and remember it too! Sooner or later it will sink in, and hopefully stay in my head. I’m sure it is one of those things like riding a bike, that you just need to do enough times before you don’t have to consciously recall all the how-to details. I’m thinking about eventually getting another computer, for my workroom, so I have a place to concentrate on any writing or drawing projects I might want to do.

As you can see, my current set-up is more open to interruptions. Bertie was afraid of those fleece toys initially, but she braved walking past them to steal my popcorn. Then she draped herself nicely over the printer.

Bertie loves food. She will try anything. She doesn’t exactly like popcorn, but that doesn’t stop her from taking it.

Phoebe has been trying out my bed. I have a wonderful new fluffy blanket that is irresistible. I woke up to purring, one morning recently, and Phoebe and Bertie were both kneading my blanket.

I will be making more Hug Me Bugs in assorted colors next. I am going to keep adding as many toys as I can to our shop.

Posted on December 13, 2011July 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing — 1 Comment

Stuffed animal Hug Me Slug art toys with a donation to help cats and kittens

I have finished a few more 7-inch stuffed animal fleece Hug Me Slug art toys. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop. Right now, a portion from each sale will be going to help cats and kittens in our community, through a local cat rescue, Alley Cats and Angels of NC. There are some sock kittens in the mix as well.

I went to a Christmas party for a local cat rescue group this month. They had a beautiful tree, lots of yummy food, and a secret Santa gift exchange. I brought cat toys, thinking anyone there could use them. I also came home with cat toys. These are handmade by the rescue volunteers.

The catnip squares and cigars were a big hit. They are selling these for fundraising as well. They will ship them too, if anyone is interested in stocking stuffers for their kitties. If anyone would like some, they have an assortment of handmade catnip toys available in the Alley Cats and Angels shop. I also made a tutorial for making catnip toys, including catnip squares, cigars, and kickers, with patterns I made for them.

I’ve been sewing away, and getting behind on posting toys I finish on my blog. As you can see, slugs are coming and going around here. I’ve cut off the custom listings for now, but I still have plenty of ready-made toys available. I ship Priority Mail, within the United States, which usually takes 2-3 to arrive. I usually ship out within a day or two, giving me time to make their personalized hang tags and get to the Post Office.

People can have a name of their choice, or “For + a recipient’s name” on each tag. There is room on the back of the tags for a short message. I even went out and got some gift bags, just in case anyone needed gift wrap. The postage goes up for this, as I need a larger box, but a few dollars usually covers a gift bag, greeting card, and the extra postage.

I’ve been well on schedule. It helps not to pile up on custom orders. I will keep adding more handmade toys to my shop.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.