Winner of the giveaway!

I just did the drawing of the giveaway for this little guy. :) He's probably one of the cutest little guys I've ever made, and I can't wait to send him on his way to his new home!

Stephanie, who commented on my blogger post from Family Jules, was the winner. Send me an email to LuandEdCreations@yahoo.com to claim your prize! :D

Fan Mail Friday!

I decided I'd have a day designated to posting fan mail for everyone to read! Fan mail is the greatest joy of being a small business owner! I love to see and read about my monsters traveling the world and making new friends. Check out the latest:

From Rissa B. (from Kansas City):

"Great way to get your kid to clean their room: don't tell them to go clean their room. Tell them to go feed their monster so it doesn't get hungry and eat them LOL. We love our Monstors!"

From Kelly B (from Texas):

Thanks for sharing guys! :D Keep the fan mail coming! You can post it to our Facebook page or email us your monster love letters and photos to LuandEdCreations@yahoo.com. Have a wonderful weekend, and don't forget to enter our MONSTER GIVEAWAY that is ending today at 5pm!

Lu & Ed Monsters Now at Scrivner's!

Yup! You can now buy Lu & Ed Monsters at Scrivner's Creativity Center in Leavenworth, KS. Stop in and support local artisans! They have so much quirky and crafty stuff, I just kept saying "amazing" and "awesome" to the point I'm sure Cricket, the owner, thought I was daft. The talent of those ladies is just mind blowing! I know my monsters will enjoy their stay there, though I doubt they'll be there long before they are adopted out!

The lower level of the shop is a dedicated craft and music studio for children. She has classes daily with children of all ages, and the class room enthralled my son. He took right to Cricket and loved the colorful studio covered with hand prints and art work of her students on the ceiling tiles! The (hour long) drive home he kept begging me to enroll him in her craft and music course.I agreed! Haha! It was awesome! :D Visit their website for more information about classes.

I left with a beautiful watch Cricket had made on my wrist - the watch head comes off and you can inter-change the bands so they match whatever you are wearing. I'm not even normally a watch fan, but dude, these tie-bands are the most comfortable things ever. I forgot I had it on and almost washed pots with it on my wrist tonight! >.<

Cricket is the best and I really love Scrivner's after just my first visit there and I hope you get out of your house and go check it out if you're in the area - it's worth the trip!

Fan mail!

I got had this waiting in my inbox when I woke up! :D What a great thing to wake up to! Now I'm inspired to hit the machines!

 

PS - Did you enter the Monster Giveaway yet? We're giving away this little guy on April 29th! All you have to do to enter is pop over to that post, and let me know what you would name him if you won him! :) There are more ways to enter listed on the post, too! :D 

Monster Giveaway!

I'm feeling particularly generous today and decided to set up a Monster Giveaway!! :D Hoorah!

What lucky monster am I giving away, you ask?

This nameless little guy I found hiding in my fabric! 

I think he's hiding in there because he's shy.

Here we go! Convinced him to come out for a photo shoot!

Uh-oh! Um, how'd this photo get in here?? He's normally not so destructive! I promise! 

 How to enter:


Mandatory entry You must leave a comment either here, or on designated posts on our Facebook page with what you would name this little guy if you win him!

Additional entries (MUST leave a comment here or on DESIGNATED posts on FB for each that you do):

Share our online store link on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Blogger.

"Like" and share our Facebook link on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Blogger, and for each new FB fan who says that you sent them will earn you another entry into the drawing. 

Follow this here blog. :)

And there you have it! I am accepting entries from now 9:30am 4/25 until 9:30am 4/29, so get to naming this little guy and sharing the giveaway with your friends!

Happy Earth Day!

You may not know it,but I'm sort of a hippie and kind of obsessed with saving the Earth. And I bring that into everything I create. And being Earth Day and all, I thought I'd share a bit with you about the Lu & Ed Green Movement!

Obviously, being environmentally conscious with Lu & Ed is really important to me. I started my green movement small, by dicing fabric from each monster into tiny bits and blending it with Poly-fil before stuffing the monster - meaning no waste from our monsters going into landfills - so you can feel as good about your monster stuffie purchase as I do!! :D

Then, Jess and I began to scavenge for high quality fabrics at flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales - turning gently used materials into fun and colorful monsters!

All three of these monsters were made from one pink fleece blanket found at a thrift store!

Repurposing a shirt, blanket or yardage of fabric, to me, means I'm not buying bulk-made fabrics that are processed in high energy production plants, then shipped to distribution plants which then repackage and deliver to individual stores - which translates to my hippie ears as a lot of energy usage, fumes, and packaging waste. So, though I still shop for new fabrics regularly, every thrifted and repurposed find does a little bit of good to Mother Earth! :)

My most recent efforts to reduce waste is perhaps my most favorite yet - turning cardboard food boxes into shipping boxes for monsters! This cut shipping costs for a wee little baby monster from $5.95 to just $1.39 in most cases! Amazing savings for buyers! And it's giving a new life to an existing box (which I hope they are getting recycled when they arrive at their destinations! ^_-  ).

Every day I try to find new ways to make a smaller impact on Earth. Reusable bags when I go shopping for materials, putting my sewing machine by the window so I don't have to use the overhead lights during the day, small little things like that, over time, will make a positive impact and I hope inspire other crafters to make green choices for their businesses as well!

What green efforts have you made this year?

I ♥ Thrift Stores

I picked up some amazing finds today at a thrift store - some fuzzy blue fleece and this super amazing TROLL fabric! I also obtained a little white thing that holds about 15 spools of thread, which helped tame the clutter of the sewing area a bit. :D

Eye couldn't wait to do something with the spotted fleece. :) I'll finish this guy up tomorrow. I've sewn so much in the past two days my own eyes are crossing. I need sleeeeeeeep.

More fan mail!

Thanks for letting me share your photos, Kelly! ♥ Brandon looks like he's having a good time nom-ing on it's limbs! :D

I got flooded with orders today! I spent the better part of the afternoon working on them with lots of help from the protege. One ready to stuff, 2 cut out waiting on faces, and two waiting on their turn to crawl out of my brain.

♥

I love days like today.

I ♥♥♥ Fan Photos!

♥ Much love to Melanie for sharing some photos of her monster collection with me last night! :D I love to see the monsters I made in their new homes, and the people who adopted them enjoying them! It gives me inspiration and drive to keep pounding monsters out!

Melanie's custom ordered car trash monster! Lined with vinyl so it's easy to wipe out!

Melanie's first two monstors from me, nomming up their recently adopted monster stuffie friends! ♥ She set the record for buying that orange monster within 8 minutes of me listing it! :D

Her latest Mon-stor with a mouthful of extra monster goodies!

And here is her beautiful, lovely, wonderful latest addition, Alaina! She's just a few weeks old! You can read her amazing home water birth story here. It's so inspiring. Oh! And, though you can't tell in this picture, but she's is lamenting how much she loves her new monsters to play with and how cozy the quilt I sent along is! ♥ Hehe!

If you have some fan photos you'd like to share (because I seriously, really, honestly would love to see them!) email them to me at LuandEdCreations@yahoo.com!

New stuff(ies) listed!

I listed a few new stuffies today! Pop by the shop and check them out! The new baby monsters have been a huge hit so I'm working on more of those today! :) Cheerio!

Shop now!

Shop update!

I had put off updating monsters in the shop until after our big show, but that's over now and I just finished adding some I'd had hidden away to the shop. :) Pop over and check them out!

Click here to shop!

Now to get started making monsters for Scrivner's of Leavenworth, KS. I can't wait to get my monsters in her incredible shop!

Eye See.

What I learned at the craft show Sunday: I become emotionally attached to my monsters. I give them names, personalities, interests. I think of where they came from and which monsters in my studio are likely to get along. Watching them get 'adopted' and travel off to their new homes was an inspirational experience for me. And to think, they all start as just some fabric. I add creativity and love and personality. I put twinkles in their eyes and smiles on their faces. I love my job! I am so inspired to push harder and reach different venues so more people can experience monstrous joy. :D I have a meeting later this week in Leavenworth to drop off a few Mon-stors and stuffies at Scrivner's. I am beyond giddy to see my monsters hanging in a store. :D It astounds me to step back and realize that I am a small business owner, halfway successful and very happy with my life!

Monster eyes, starting out as just circles of black and white..

Add some color! Almost adorable, just a little bit more...

Twinkles! AH! CUTE OVERLOAD!

I (eye) can see now that this is what I want to do with my life. Maybe I'd like to upgrade into owning my own store one day to sell quirky handmade items from. But for now, this it where it's at. It brings me great joy and satisfies me. My hope is that anyone else who has this dream, to drop their day job and pursue something they love to do, will have the self-confidence to do so and the resources and support to make their dream come true!

$1 Mon-stor Raffle! --- Closed

Want to potentially score a Mon-stor for $1, and help a great cause? From right now until Friday at 5pm, you can buy a Ralph L. Ticket (haha, punny, eh?) for $1 and be entered to win this monster! Sweet, eh? 

All you got to do is click HERE and buy a raffle ticket. If your name is drawn Friday afternoon, you will get this monster in the mail plus an extra little surprise! :D ♥

All proceeds from this raffle with be donated to Camp Encourage, a summer camp in the KC Metro area for Autistic children.