Now! I see that the head of the monkey tilts up higher and this position no longer works because one cannot see his eyes. Need to redo the set up so I am shooting down from above. I found, behind some books, that grape vine twig that was covered with cobwebs. I do not know what that has to do with a monkey but I loved this evidence of my bad housekeeping.
The summer sun comes in the window at such a sharp angle that I cannot get the background and the surface of the backdrop to light up at once. I think I will have to take it all down and reposition it for these two months of 'high summer.' Will probably find more cob webby stuff!

After I filled in under the chin of the monkey, as as I waited for the sun to get to my photo set-up for his official portrait, I sorted through all the tweenie beanie babies I had. Naturally having bought from several auctions I ended up with many of some of the animals and only one or two examples of others. So I bagged up according to kind (all the "Bones" dogs in on bag) and kept the rarer items in other boxes. Now I know what I have to experiment with. I found it funny that I was 'ready' for a more colorful animal - or one with wilder colors - when I found several "Inch" the worm. Not having legs, wings or feet, this is going fast. Perhaps I am simply at the half-way point where self doubts nearly undo me, but I am not satisfied with him either. I want to make one really wild worm!

Almost got this finished last night. Just a bit under the chin that needs to be filled in. And I need a much better photo. I am pleased that I had the courage to add the purple tail. Then it seemed I needed a spot of color on his front side so I added the tiny red heart.

Now I am eager to do a wild animal with the wilder colors Mother Nature never got around to using. I need to go through all the teenie beanie babies to see which ones I have duplicates of so I can mess with the colors on them.
The voting is going on at the Etsy Monthly Challenge (http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com) but my chicken is not much appreciated. . .

The only thing that keeps me going with these too-close-in-color beads is the idea to do the tail in purple. At first I was unhappy with my decision to bead the arms lengthwise (so much harder than going around as with the legs) but as I am doing the back side (which you cannot see here) the arms fit into the lateral beading there. Only after doing the face, following the original thread nose, did I realize it is on crooked. I don't mind it when I make something crooked but everyone had better have their work done straight.

Finished the frog last night and immediately started in on the monkey. Sorry his nose got so smashed in the scanner. I felt so rich with my box of animals to chose from. I will admit, that in addition to loving this tiny being, I am also interested in finding one that is easier and faster to bead. So far they have all taken 5 - 7 days. I am still debating whether the 15s are a good choice (does the extra work makes the animal look that much better?) I felt the frog did not need the 15s on its hands and feet. I was almost tempted to dig out another frog and try it again with all 11s but my heart was captured by the monkey so the frog will have to wait. I did not realize, until I saw the bear-like beanie babies in the job lot I bought on Ebay that I have had one sitting on my computer for years. To hide the wires I had paired a little blue bear with a lion to sit just under my monitor. The BB is Issy the mascot for the Four Seasons Hotel in London and the lion is a Boyds animal. The Boyds animal has the very short 'fur' of the teenie beanie babies that works best. The regular sized beanie baby bears have 'fur' that is too deep to cover well with beads. I feel so lucky to have found these tiny animals that are so well made.

I ran out of thread on the needle just as the clock ended my night. I got this close to finishing the frog before I had to quit to go to bed. Doing the face in beads made such a difference. The eyes were made with the yellow fabric but I decided to put transparent white beads over the color and I like how it turned out.
I love this little guy. Isn't that pleading look touching. It takes on more appeal when you see the needle stuck in his tummy! If I do him again I will not use 15s on his feet. Way too much time got sucked up there. His feet could have / should have been made smaller but perhaps they had to be this large for ease of sewing. I also want to try putting patterns or designs on him instead of following nature's coloring. Am eager to do another frog. The box with more animals came from Ebay so now I have duplicates. Richer and richer. . . and it is only Monday!

In only two days of beading the frog is too dimensional to fit in the scanner. Here he looks as if he is embracing the needle that adds his beads. I love how he rears up on his beaded legs and am so eager to do his eyes. I am not sure which color I will use. I have a transparent yellow in 11s (used on the chicken legs) and 15s (on the leopard's belly). All I can do is try them out to see what works. I love working on and looking at this little beast. Again I am finding that the designers did an excellent job of creating the face and body with the cut of the fabric.