Moriah Elizabeth style 'Squishy Makeover' (A DIY Project Showcase)

Moriah Elizabeth, for those of you who may not know, is an art Youtuber who is probably most well-known for popularizing the idea of “Squishy Makeovers”. Squishies, or squishy toys, are typically made from either foam or silicone. According to my online research, squishies originated in Japan, and first reached the US market in 2017. They were initially designed as stress relievers, sort of re-imagined versions of the stress balls that became ubiquitous for a time in the late 80s and early 90s. However, squishies can be found in a wider variety of shapes than the earlier made stress balls. Some of the most popular themes for squishy toys are food and animal designs.

Youtuber Moriah Elizabeth posted her first “Squishy Makeover” video in 2018. The whole squishy makeover concept involved taking worn and faded, or just cheaply made, squishy toys and repainting them using fabric paints, to give them a refresh. Fabric paints tend to be more flexible than acrylic paints, so they’re less likely to crack or flake off over time. Also, the flexibility of the fabric paint helps maintain the original squishy-ness of the toy.

Moriah Elizabeth started out her squishy makeover series by simply repainting squishies, but over time she honed her skills to incorporate more advanced techniques. These techniques include attaching smaller squishies to larger squishies as accessories, repairing damaged areas of a squishy with fabric glue, and even replacing missing parts of a squishy with memory foam before repainting. I’ve been watching Moriah Elizabeth’s Youtube channel for some years now and, since I’m easily inspired by craft projects that I see in books and on Youtube, I wanted to try a few squishy makeovers myself. However, I didn’t want to use any full-sized squishies for my projects. The last thing I need right now is another useless collection that I don’t have space for sitting around and collecting dust. I also reasoned that a smaller project would be simpler to accomplish and would take less time to complete. So, I purchased a sampling of squishy toy keychains on clearance at Michaels craft store, planning to add the finished projects to my existing keychain collection.

This Orb Odditeez macaron was my first attempt at a squishy makeover, and it’s pretty much as basic as they come. It’s not even a full repaint. I just repainted the cream filling and added a painted chocolate drizzle on top. I did have a bit of trouble creating a consistent drizzle with the fabric paint. But trying to fill in the gaps with a dotting tool just made the paint job look worse. I may attempt to do another touch up later on.

I also added my own ‘artist signature’ to the bottom of the squishy, just like Moriah Elizabeth does in her makeovers. I came up with the signature design back in my schooling days, after I was inspired by a book I’d read. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the book’s title, or the bulk of the plot for that matter. But all in all, I think this makeover turned out decently for a first attempt. And since I still have a number of other squishy keychains left, you may be seeing more of these projects in the future.

Signed, Treesa