With Easter coming up, I decided to make a drawing of a Mars Sock Monkey on an egg hunt. I even put a peep in his little basket! I’m really looking forward to making more holiday themed drawings starring the sock monkeys. Let’s see, next holiday is Cinco de Mayo. Woohoo! Maybe there’ll be a charro monkey or a monkey wearing a sarape!
Easter Bunkey prints, t-shirts, postcards and more available at deviantART, CafePress and Zazzle.
I encourage you to download as well under Creative Commons License. :)
Tags: basket, bunny, cafepress, cute, deviantart, Drawing, easter, egg, hat, holiday, hunt, Illustration, kawaii, mars, monkey, postcard, print, sock, t-shirt, zazzle
I recently volunteered to make a cartoon for a friend. I was glad because I hadn’t drawn anything in a while. The drawing had to consist of a cartoon girl you know with eyes in the clouds thinking about something.
The girl in the first sketch I made was too young. She’s about 8 years old and at the time I was craving marshmallows. The second drawing was more on the mark. The character is a barista and while she thinks of her bunny in a far away place, she spills coffee all over the counter! I grabbed the bunny graphic I did for a sock monkey sweater and I had the girl hold it with arms extended above her head. They’re cute together!
The image inside the thought bubble was not required. It will actually be left blank and used for changing content. I just couldn’t resist adding something in it. Now they could use some color. :)
Tags: barista, bubble, bunny, cartoon, character, coffee, cute, Drawing, girl, imaginative, marshmallow, sketch, thought
I’m excited to be working on my own sock monkey! I’ve named her Xochitl, meaning flower, which is perfect because her sock print has lots of pink flowers. For her sweater I wanted to come up with something totally new and challenging. I also want something that I can take off easily. Yay, removable clothes!
When I was thinking of ideas I remembered this sweater with zigzags I used to have when I was small that I really liked. I actually found a photo of me wearing it! And as I was looking online I found something that I thought I’d like to try that would look really cute.
This is funny: the sweater design I found online and my old hooded sweater! They are somewhat similar.
This is what the design above looks like fitted for a sock monkey. It’s a hooded cardigan! Now I have to decide what colors to use. Stay tuned! :)
Tags: cardigan, clothing, cute, design, flower, hood, hooded, monkey, removable, sock, sweater, xochitl, zigzag
Cassidy is very hot pink with black. I love bold combinations. I thought the pink yarn I used for her sweater and hat were bright, but Cass is much brighter! She rocks!! She’s also lucky monkey number 7 because she’s the 7th sock monkey I’ve made since the beginning of the year. Seems like I haven’t stopped making monkeys since then.
Cassidy Mars Sock Monkey is wearing a new Star Sweater, which comes with tiny stars on the sleeves-uber cute. I also made her a pink hat with black pom-pom. If you’re interested in making pom-poms, see my post called How to Make a Pom-Pom. They are very fun to make! :)
Tags: 7, black, bright, cassidy, color, cute, fashion, hat, hot, howto, knit, lucky, make, mars, monkey, pink, pom pom, sleeves, sock
The Mars Sock Monkey summer collection is finally here! Say hello to Robert, Mona, William, Eileen and Ulysses!
Inspired by some world renowned graffiti art, the newest monkeys are representative of the vibe and culture that buzzes in the streets of East London. Here the neighborhoods are splashed with innovative street art and people with styles and fashions that are something out of this world…or the 80s, 90s, and even 70s. With bright colorful patches of paint, the streets seem to come alive. East London is why the Mars Sock Monkey summer batch is bright, funky and as colorful as the art displayed on the city walls.
These new monkeys sport some innovative knitting techniques in terms of doll fashion. In addition to the use of the popular polo style sweater design, I’ve added a style of knitted fabric which has a blended gradient color effect, mixing stiches of different yarn colors together gradually to become what I call the “gradient sweater”.
Another style of knitting new to the collection includes cables, which are the strands of braided fabric that run up and down winter sweaters to thicken and add a decorative touch. From this fabric, I created an outfit based on the v-neck sweater vest and undershirt combination. I’ve combined it with the traditional European hat, the flat cap (or golf cap), so popularly worn in England. Very cute on a sock monkey by the way ;)
The final contribution to sock monkey fashion wear is a cap with a brim done in the same style as the gradient sweater…simply put a baseball cap!
New finishing touches include opposite color edging on the sleeves, sweater and hood, some ribbon and a big heart pattern. Making their return from previous monkeys are rib knit edging, puffy short sleeves (for summer!), hoods, beanie with pom-pom, a pocket pouch and original star design from the very first days of the Mars Sock Monkey.
I’m really looking forward to making the next group of sock monkeys…hopefully there will be some surprises and new innovations. The next batch will be inspired by an interesting piece of the London nightlife. Stay tuned for the Fall MSM Collection!!
***
Each sock monkey from the Summer 2008 Collection is for sale at Etsy and DaWanda. If you’re interested in a custom order, please email me at 
.
To view the full photostream, please visit the flickr feed. Please note that no actual monkeys were used in the capture of the graffiti art, so they are perfectly clean and in top-notch condition. :)
I now present the Mars Sock Monkey Summer 2008 Collection!
Robert Mars Sock Monkey
Robert comes with a newly designed short sleeve gradient sweater with hoodie and pocket pouch in light/dark purple and green. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Mona Mars Sock Monkey
Mona is dressed with a short sleeve hot pink and black sweater with star design and matching color beanie with pom-pom. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
William Mars Sock Monkey
William sports a newly designed green cable vest sweater with brown bow and white undershirt. He also sports a lovely matching flat cap. True to the Englishman style! For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Eileen Mars Sock Monkey
Eileen wears a striped short sleeve hot pink and bright yellow sweater with hoodie and heart design. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Ulysses Mars Sock Monkey
Ulysses comes with a short sleeve light yellow/hot pink gradient sweater and matching sports cap with brim…baseball cap! For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Graffiti art is not associated with Maribel Made and belong to its respective owners (City of London and graffiti artists). A good reference to graffiti artist’s names can be found here.
See the previous MSM collection:
Spring 2008
For more info on my exclusive line of sock monkeys see, Sock monkeys + knitted sweaters = Mars Sock Monkeys.
Toys, original and manipulated photos are copyright Maribel Castellanos.
Tags: 2008, animal, art, attire, baseball cap, beanie, brim, cap, clothes, clothing, collection, collectors, colorful, cute, east, england, etsy, fashion, flat cap, funky, golf cap, gradient, graffiti, heart, hood, hoodie, jumper, kawai, knit, knitted, london, made, maribel, mars, monkey, pet, pom pom, sale, shop, signature, sock, star, stuffed, summer, sweater, toy, undershirt, vest, vibrant
Like the unveiling of a spanking new fortune 500 company product, I give you the newest in independent crafting technology, the new and improved collection of Mars Sock Monkeys for the Spring of 2008!
Seattle/London raised Mars Sock Monkeys pictured from L to R: Stella, Frankie, Sheena and Lulu.
Stella and Lulu come with newly designed sweaters, modeled after the ever so popular polo shirt. For these, I chose a short puffy sleeve and non-ribbed finishing to add a feminine touch. They also have a small heart on the left side as opposed to something large taking up the front of the sweater, also to add a delicate touch.
Another new addition to the sock monkey fashion wear are knitted hats, which I learned to make especially for the occasion! I had already been making crocheted hats for people so I thought why not make them for the monkeys as well! The only problem I ran across this was that the crochet pattern didn’t work so well on a small scale because it looked too bulky, that is why I learned to knit them instead. The hat made for Stella has a crocheted flower attached to the side and the other made for Frankie sports the cutest yellow puffy pom-pom I’ve ever made!
Stella comes with a polo style, puffy short sleeve light pink and grey sweater with small heart design and same color beanie with flower. For sale, at Maribel.etsy.com.
These are the best sock monkeys I’ve done so far and I must say that my knitting skills have improved quite a bit since I made my very first monkeys last year. The construction hasn’t changed all that much (it is a sock made monkey after all), except that I’ve switched from sewing with a cotton thread to a more elastic invisible thread and I’ve replaced the plastic eye backings to metal since the plastic ones were tearing from the pressure of the front eye piece. Anyway those are all minor details, but I guess you could say that it has improved the quality of the product. You could almost even say that these monkeys are indestructible ;)
Frankie comes with a long sleeve brown and yellow sweater with duckie design and same color beanie with pom-pom. For sale, at Maribel.etsy.com. SOLD!
I’m going to keep the amount of time it took to make these four monkeys including “jumpers” a secret because it’s still a process being worked out. The most I can say is that I was right on schedule and I got photos and marketing done within my specified amount of time. No wonder I’m beat! Next up is more painting and digital drawing. Yay!
Shenna comes with a striped sleeve hooded black and purple sweater with a skull and crossbones design. Party hat included! For sale, at Maribel.etsy.com. SOLD!
If you would like to adopt one or ALL of my cuddly monkeys, Stella, Frankie, Sheena and Lulu are for sale at Maribel Made DaWanda and Maribel Made Etsy.
Lulu comes with a polo style, puffy short sleeve hot pink and brown hooded sweater with small heart design. For sale at, Maribel.etsy.com. SOLD!
See other Mars Sock Monkey collections:
Summer 2008
For more info on my exclusive line of sock monkeys see, Sock monkeys + knitted sweaters = Mars Sock Monkeys.
Toys, original and manipulated photos are copyright Maribel Castellanos.
Tags: adults, animal, baby, black, brown, children, craft, crossbones, cute, doll, duckie, flower, hat, heart, hood, hoodie, hot, indie, jumper, knit, knitted, mars, monkey, pink, polo, product, purple, skull, sock, socks, striped, stuffed, sweater, toy, unveiling, yellow
Entry to the 2nd Annual Softie Awards officially closed last Friday and I got there just in time to enter Jebby the Whale under the CUTEST FACE category. Other categories included: PICNIC FOOD, ELEPHANT TRIBUTE, PINK OR PLAID and EMBROIDERED TO DEATH. So what would my chances of winning be if there are 482 entries in this category?
Softies Central - A Handmade Hip Experience
2nd Annual Softie Awards Flickr group pool
Jebby the Whale is for sale on Etsy and DaWanda.
Tags: animal, cathodon, cotton, cute, edition, felt, jebby, kawai, limited, mammal, physeter, plush, print, purple, satin, Scalamandré, silk, soft, sperm, stuffed, toy, vintage, whale, white
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