Born in Japan, Mizushima majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo. But after some moving around, she found she was much more drawn to craft than art. Now based in Vancouver, Canada, she describes herself as a slow crafter, with her work including needle felting, miniature collage making, and stop-motion animation videos.

As part of her work, Mizushima has been commissioned to make music videos for the band They Might Be Giants, and has made miniature collages for several book covers in Japan.

“It takes a long time to make a needle-felted piece,” she remarked in an interview with Frankie, “especially for me (I’m a slow crafter). It has also crippled me! (Seriously, I have been having a problem in my shoulder and arm for months!)”

“My work is a bit retro, twisted, fun, colorful, nerdy, and cute (but in questionable taste),” she adds. “Luckily I usually make what I want. And I hope my work can make people smile!”

Indeed, if her work doesn’t make you smile, we regret to say that nothing will.

The post Hiné Mizushima Takes Needle Felting to the Next Level appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Melbourne, her work includes illustrating books for children and collaborating with her creative friend, Isobel Knowles, under the name Soft Stories. But it’s her plush toys, or rather, soft sculptures, that really made a splash. All completely hand sewn, her pieces are made without using a pattern, so that each one is a stand-alone work.

As such, her work—though undeniably playful— isn’t meant to be played with, but rather, admired from a safe distance. “I like my work to engage a wide audience, so there are elements that appeal to young children and also an older generation,” says Rabbit. “My main objective when creating new work for exhibition is to incite feelings of comfort, joy and nostalgia – when I make a piece that encapsulates all of these elements, I am satisfied with the work!”

Her whimsical characters include a croissant-headed creature and anthropomorphized mushrooms. “I like to devise new characters all the time!” says Rabbit. “I get an idea in my head or sketch something out and am not satisfied until I work it up into a 3D character.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post Cat Rabbit Makes Nostaltic Plush Toys For Adults appeared first on MobiSpirit.

The artist is based in Melbourne, Australia, where she creates small, adorable plush toys loved by more than 150k people who follow her work on Instagram. We recently fell in love with her alpacas wearing flowers. Each of them is built the same but unique due to hand-crafted details. They sold out as soon as they were released, so stay tuned for Cat Rabbit’s future works if you want to become an owner of one of them.

See the alpacas below (swipe the first post for more).

The post Cat Rabbit’s Alpacas Wear Flowers on Their Back appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Bream uses a knitting machine to handmake her toys and finish them by hand sewing each part. The faces are embroidered, also by hand, which ensures each piece is a little bit different in the end. That makes her wonderful work even more special because when you get a toy from her you know that nobody else in the world has the same one.

Scroll down to check out her work.

The post Colette Bream Makes Toys Everyone Loves appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A printmaking graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Galletta realized there was a need for a brand like Kiriki Press after failing to find a good enough (cute enough) pattern to make her niece an embroidered doll.

“I couldn’t afford to buy her anything, but I hoped to make up for it with my time,” she explained in a short piece she posted on her website. Alas, she soon found out that it was difficult to find contemporary embroidery patterns that weren’t overly simplistic, let alone embroidered doll patterns. And so, she ended up designing her own. “As I was making Madeleine’s owls, I became fascinated with embroidery: the vibrant colors, the countless variety of stitches, the calming effect it had on me,” she writes.

A couple years later, and Kiriki Press has amassed thousands of followers on Instagram and has been featured in publications like Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Bust Magazine, and Homespun. Scrolling through the brand’s Instagram page might just get you inspired to start embroidering!

The post Michelle Galletta Will Motivate You to Take on Embroidery appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“My plush works are all handmade without a pattern, so each one is different and nice in their own way. They are not suitable for young children or rough play, as they are hand sewn and contain wire and other small parts,” the artist writes on her website.

Scroll down for the adorable koalas, sheep, and frogs going to the grocery store or just chilling with their friends. The best thing about these toys is that they can stand up on their own, which makes the photos great and kids just love them.

The post Quirky Plush Toys Dressed as People by Cat Rabbit appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Amy was working as a social assistant in a pediatric oncology unit few years ago when she felt that there’s a lack of diversity in the dolls sold in stores around the country and this made children with disabilities feel excluded and unacceptable. As she explains, kids don’t need dolls that are “perfect little plastic mannequins. Instead, they need and deserve dolls that, among other things, will make them feel better about themselves.”

Her goal is to eventually convert her business to a non-profit organization and deliver dolls to children free of charge. In the meanwhile, she partnered up with a children’s hospital, designing dolls for its patients to remind them just how amazingly special and love-worthy they are.

The post Wisconsin Doll Maker Creates Unique Dolls for Children with Disabilities appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His thought of borrowing one of Michelle’s drawings and a dog like creature named Dongler and have it turned into a stuffed plush in South Florida. From this act, the first Budsie was born and others followed.

When the company started, most of the orders were of kids’ drawings, doodles and other artwork. Nowadays, the company uses everything from a child’s first drawing, to detailed original characters, author’s book characters, sports team mascots and more.

Check out their work.

The post Company Turns Children’s Drawings Into Beautiful Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Kim lives in Edinburgh and sells her toys on Etsy. “I’ve always had a serious love of all things quirky, dog-eared and a little bit ‘wrong’ looking,” she shares. We can’t help but share that love with her — the characters she makes are just so adorable!

Check them out below and visit her online tore if you want one for yourself!

The post Artist Makes Adorable “Wrong Looking” Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Qai Qai’s Instagram posts feature her doing what any normal child will do or enjoy doing, and it is quite amazing. The fun part is that when people comment on her uploads, she replies to them and it makes her page even more interesting.

On her page, you could see her doing a handful of things from watching her grandmom Serena Williams train on the tennis court, to going shopping and checking out the doll stand probably planning a revolution to be treated as equals.

The post Meet the Beautiful Doll That Has Over 120k Followers on Instagram appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Born in Japan, Mizushima majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo. But after some moving around, she found she was much more drawn to craft than art. Now based in Vancouver, Canada, she describes herself as a slow crafter, with her work including needle felting, miniature collage making, and stop-motion animation videos.

As part of her work, Mizushima has been commissioned to make music videos for the band They Might Be Giants, and has made miniature collages for several book covers in Japan.

“It takes a long time to make a needle-felted piece,” she remarked in an interview with Frankie, “especially for me (I’m a slow crafter). It has also crippled me! (Seriously, I have been having a problem in my shoulder and arm for months!)”

“My work is a bit retro, twisted, fun, colorful, nerdy, and cute (but in questionable taste),” she adds. “Luckily I usually make what I want. And I hope my work can make people smile!”

Indeed, if her work doesn’t make you smile, we regret to say that nothing will.

The post Hiné Mizushima Takes Needle Felting to the Next Level appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Melbourne, her work includes illustrating books for children and collaborating with her creative friend, Isobel Knowles, under the name Soft Stories. But it’s her plush toys, or rather, soft sculptures, that really made a splash. All completely hand sewn, her pieces are made without using a pattern, so that each one is a stand-alone work.

As such, her work—though undeniably playful— isn’t meant to be played with, but rather, admired from a safe distance. “I like my work to engage a wide audience, so there are elements that appeal to young children and also an older generation,” says Rabbit. “My main objective when creating new work for exhibition is to incite feelings of comfort, joy and nostalgia – when I make a piece that encapsulates all of these elements, I am satisfied with the work!”

Her whimsical characters include a croissant-headed creature and anthropomorphized mushrooms. “I like to devise new characters all the time!” says Rabbit. “I get an idea in my head or sketch something out and am not satisfied until I work it up into a 3D character.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post Cat Rabbit Makes Nostaltic Plush Toys For Adults appeared first on MobiSpirit.

The artist is based in Melbourne, Australia, where she creates small, adorable plush toys loved by more than 150k people who follow her work on Instagram. We recently fell in love with her alpacas wearing flowers. Each of them is built the same but unique due to hand-crafted details. They sold out as soon as they were released, so stay tuned for Cat Rabbit’s future works if you want to become an owner of one of them.

See the alpacas below (swipe the first post for more).

The post Cat Rabbit’s Alpacas Wear Flowers on Their Back appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Bream uses a knitting machine to handmake her toys and finish them by hand sewing each part. The faces are embroidered, also by hand, which ensures each piece is a little bit different in the end. That makes her wonderful work even more special because when you get a toy from her you know that nobody else in the world has the same one.

Scroll down to check out her work.

The post Colette Bream Makes Toys Everyone Loves appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A printmaking graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Galletta realized there was a need for a brand like Kiriki Press after failing to find a good enough (cute enough) pattern to make her niece an embroidered doll.

“I couldn’t afford to buy her anything, but I hoped to make up for it with my time,” she explained in a short piece she posted on her website. Alas, she soon found out that it was difficult to find contemporary embroidery patterns that weren’t overly simplistic, let alone embroidered doll patterns. And so, she ended up designing her own. “As I was making Madeleine’s owls, I became fascinated with embroidery: the vibrant colors, the countless variety of stitches, the calming effect it had on me,” she writes.

A couple years later, and Kiriki Press has amassed thousands of followers on Instagram and has been featured in publications like Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Bust Magazine, and Homespun. Scrolling through the brand’s Instagram page might just get you inspired to start embroidering!

The post Michelle Galletta Will Motivate You to Take on Embroidery appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“My plush works are all handmade without a pattern, so each one is different and nice in their own way. They are not suitable for young children or rough play, as they are hand sewn and contain wire and other small parts,” the artist writes on her website.

Scroll down for the adorable koalas, sheep, and frogs going to the grocery store or just chilling with their friends. The best thing about these toys is that they can stand up on their own, which makes the photos great and kids just love them.

The post Quirky Plush Toys Dressed as People by Cat Rabbit appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Amy was working as a social assistant in a pediatric oncology unit few years ago when she felt that there’s a lack of diversity in the dolls sold in stores around the country and this made children with disabilities feel excluded and unacceptable. As she explains, kids don’t need dolls that are “perfect little plastic mannequins. Instead, they need and deserve dolls that, among other things, will make them feel better about themselves.”

Her goal is to eventually convert her business to a non-profit organization and deliver dolls to children free of charge. In the meanwhile, she partnered up with a children’s hospital, designing dolls for its patients to remind them just how amazingly special and love-worthy they are.

The post Wisconsin Doll Maker Creates Unique Dolls for Children with Disabilities appeared first on MobiSpirit.

His thought of borrowing one of Michelle’s drawings and a dog like creature named Dongler and have it turned into a stuffed plush in South Florida. From this act, the first Budsie was born and others followed.

When the company started, most of the orders were of kids’ drawings, doodles and other artwork. Nowadays, the company uses everything from a child’s first drawing, to detailed original characters, author’s book characters, sports team mascots and more.

Check out their work.

The post Company Turns Children’s Drawings Into Beautiful Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Kim lives in Edinburgh and sells her toys on Etsy. “I’ve always had a serious love of all things quirky, dog-eared and a little bit ‘wrong’ looking,” she shares. We can’t help but share that love with her — the characters she makes are just so adorable!

Check them out below and visit her online tore if you want one for yourself!

The post Artist Makes Adorable “Wrong Looking” Toys appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Qai Qai’s Instagram posts feature her doing what any normal child will do or enjoy doing, and it is quite amazing. The fun part is that when people comment on her uploads, she replies to them and it makes her page even more interesting.

On her page, you could see her doing a handful of things from watching her grandmom Serena Williams train on the tennis court, to going shopping and checking out the doll stand probably planning a revolution to be treated as equals.

The post Meet the Beautiful Doll That Has Over 120k Followers on Instagram appeared first on MobiSpirit.