Champagne tastes on a beer budget

I am a huge fan of bunnies. I am also a very skilled needlepointer (when I have the time) as are all of the women in my family. As I plan for the arrival of Les-ward or Ed-lie, I really want to make one of these bunnies for the baby's room as a decoration to sit on a shelf and become an heirloom:

For a boy:

For a girl:


Sadly, I come to find that the handpainted canvasses alone are $460 each. That does not include the fibers needed to do the actual stitching (which could cost more than the canvasses) and the cost of finishing to construct the canvas into the animal. This thing, that I love so much could cost close to $1000 by the time I am done.

The thing is, I know I can do it and do it well. Im insane. Im trying to find a way to justify doing this, when in my heart, I can't spend that kind of money for a craft when I have a child on the way. DH knows how much this will cost. This was his reaction------>

Does anyone else have something they would love to go completely nuts on money-wise with no good reason other than "I just want it!"???

Re: Champagne tastes on a beer budget

I wish I were as talented as you are!! My mom is a master knitter and my favorite auntie is a master quilter, so I come from a line of talented women!! Is there anyway you can search for the canvasses online for a discount? Ebay or another site perhaps? It does sound pretty outrageous to pay all of that $$ for a stuffed animal, but to be honest, I would probably find a way to buy the canvasses and make it. I think handmade pieces are exquisite; moreso coming from the mommy!! I wish I could help out in some way! I hope you can work it out somehow... I would love to see pics of the finished product!!!

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It is hard to find them on Ebay and if you have the time to follow the auction, there are some hardcore stitchers who will follow it down to the second - not sure if I have the time for that.

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Do you have Auction Sniper? It does the work for you...it will make your bid a few seconds before the end of the auction so you can win. I have used it a few times and have won each time!!

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Auction Sniper!

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If someone actually put one of the canvasses up for auction I would do it. Its pretty rare to see them.

Most of the time, needlepoint stores have to have a decent stock from the designer or order them for you. It is likely that they are custom painted. I have some time to think about this since I dont know what I am having yet. I may ask my mom to split the cost of the canvas for my birthday. As for the threads, I have a ton of leftovers from other projects and so do my sisters. We share with each other to keep costs down.

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Well, that sounds like a great idea! And if you can get the thread from other projects and from your sisters then the cost should definitely be under $1000!! Go for it! Maybe your mom will surprise you and buy the whole thing for your bday!! Good luck!

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I cant in my heart ask mom for too much. She plans on buying our furniture and has very little idea how much it could cost. We have to do lots of shopping around to find the best bang for the buck. I just cannot take advantage. Time to start playing Mega Millions.

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I hear ya! Well, Mega Millions it is! Maybe a rich uncle will drop off a bag of money at your doorstep!

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Posted by twinkletoes807

I hear ya! Well, Mega Millions it is! Maybe a rich uncle will drop off a bag of money at your doorstep!

Re: Champagne tastes on a beer budget

I feel ya
Its lovely

My obession is The Beatles
and my baby 'dream' is centered around the characters in the movie "The Yellow Submarine". I've already got myself my baby's first toy which is a stuffed Blue Meanie doll. Now I want to figure out how much money I want to spend to have a blankie made with the image of the Yellow submarine sticked in. I think I may have to learn how to embroider!!!!

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I just found the "girly" one of the canvasses for $290 on a website. Its still expensive but manageable - now all I have to do is wait. If we are having a girl and its still on sale, I'll snap it up. If not, then I will wait it out and hope for another sale.

Re: Champagne tastes on a beer budget

oh I have champagne tastes alright ... but in a slightly different direction from you.

I love ultra modern furniture / architecture / design and modern art. I've been blessed by coming from a family of art collectors and having a best friend who's an up and coming artist, so I've received some pretty outrageous art as gifts.

as for the furniture / decorative elements, I have been known to spend $300+ on a single italian plastic chair and over $2k for my modern potset.... conisder it to be an 'affliction'.

for Crumb, I have lucked out BIG TIME. There's a recent trend towards all things modern in baby nurseries... and target / walmart have collaborated with modern companies to make affordable versions for us 'beer' people. I'm getting our crib and changing table from walmart (baby mod.... aka 'beer' Dwell) with Dwell for target bedding.

If it weren't for this modern nusery fad, I'd be right there with you, looking at the 'champagne' Dwell linens (upwards of $300 per crib sheet set) and oeuf cribs (upwards of $1k )

I wonder if you could buy some of those supplies yoiu want on a lower budget in the fashion/textile district in NYC (close to penn station). If you could reduce your 1k bunny to a $300 bunny, it would be a happy compromise between budget and style

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I was lucky enough to find the bunny on a website for a lot less, but I wouldnt buy it unless I was having a girl. They dont have the boy one. The threads can be done inexpensively if I shared with my sisters and bought SOME of the stuff at Michaels - BUT being the "thread-snob" that I am, I tend to prefer high end materials otherwise the whole project is a waste. Between the three of us (actually 4 since Mom needlepoints too), we could come up with probably 1/3-1/2 of the threads. The only thing that would not come down in price, is the cost to turn it into the animal. And thats where you dont want to go on the cheap. The stitching alone is HOURS of work and an inexperienced finisher, would destroy it.

Damn me and my projects.

I added an album of past projects:

OLD PROJECTS

Re: Champagne tastes on a beer budget

It is beautiful, and would make a wonderful heirloom...however if I told my DH I wanted to spend that much on a bunny, he'd

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oh I totally understand.... what's the point of investing all that time if your supplies aren't top notch.

I misunderstood, I thought you were also making the bunny.... I agree, you need an experienced person... otherwise, it would be like taking a wedding gown to the drycleaner down the street for alterations.

I will say, though, I bet with a bit of research, you can find a skilled person somewhere to make that bunny for a little bit cheaper.... I found an affordable / skilled calligrapher for my wedding invitations down south (probably becuase overhead was lower down there than up there). She was about 40% cheaper than similarly skilled people in NY.

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