Updates!

It's about time that I update some of my older posts of WIPs (works in progress.) 

Remember this picture? 

Well, as I had mentioned before, I ended up frogging that red circle to the far right, and as much as I hate to admit it, the birdhouse still looks exactly the same.  I have decided what I'm going to do with it though, but I need a few supplies and so progress on that one has stalled a bit.  The other red thing turned into this...

Chili the Pepper

I love how this pattern takes into account the wonky shape of a real chili pepper!

This guy was for a swap, but I plan to make more for myself (someday.)

The pink and white swirly thing at the bottom left of my wip photo is this little painting:

Painting white fur was much harder than I had imagined.  

I love drawing and painting, but it is one of those things that I really need to concentrate to do.  I can crochet in bits and pieces in between diaper changes, sandwich making, and dish washing and such, but in order to really draw or paint something, I need to commit my time in a way that has been difficult for me since my first son was born 12 years ago.  Needless to say, I am out of practice!  

Anyway, so I have decided to spend at least a half hour a day on the weekdays doodling in my sketchbook and hopefully strengthening my drawing skills.  So you can look forward to more artsy projects from me! At  least I'd like to think so!

That's all for now, but my next post will include some more updates!

TTFN!

A couple of droids

Remember the cupcake and sugar skull felt badges that I posted a while back?  Well, here's a couple of felt badges for my fellow Star Wars fans.  I made these for a swap.  Remember that these are limited to 3x3 inches. (I should really remember to throw a ruler into the shot for size reference.)

I really struggled with C3P0, because he just wouldn't stop complaining while I was stitching him up, but I'm happy with how he came out.   I just hope that he isn't annoying his new owner too much with all his chatter! 

I've always loved R2D2!  He's noble yet spunky at the same time!  He's one of my favorite characters second only to Yoda.

It was only a matter of time before they started arguing,
so I'm glad I've sent them off to a galaxy far far away (Canada actually)!

May the Force be with you!

A colorful morning

This morning I finally got around to organizing all that colorful embroidery floss that I was talking about.   I am new to embroidery, and only recently started collecting floss.  Most of it I picked up from thrift stores, or received from fellow crafters.  Eventually my collection became a ziploc gallon bag of floss, half of which was all tangled up.  So, I bought a little plastic box that came with a bunch of little plastic cards to make a bunch of little spools of colorful color.  Well, I got about this far along... (happily humming I might add!)

when I realized that I wasn't going to have enough of the little plastic card thingies.  So I decided to cut some more out of an empty cereal box!

First I traced.  Then I cut.  Not forgetting to cut the little notches!

Here's a peek at how I spent my morning!  Cup of Joe (with lots of cream!), a pair of scissors, and lots of colorful floss!  What more can a crafty girl ask for?

All done! Yay!  So therapeutic.  I think it's a good start.  Now to get every color under the rainbow!

AND,  for an extra dose of color, here's a peek at what I'm currently working on.

Monsters!

No, I'm not talking about my kids, or the rude customers I recently had to deal with at work.  I'm talking about some monster stuffies.  My partner received her goodies, so I can now show you the rest of the things I made out of that jumble of yarn and fabric that I posted last week.

Presenting finished item number 2.  She's inspired by Danger Craft's knit monster chunk.  Actually "inspired" may not be strong enough of a word.  I basically copied it to the best of my ability, but in crochet since I can't really knit (yet!).

I named her Blossom because I had the idea of making her eyes in the shape of cherry blossoms.  I used some chenille yarn for her body which makes her so soft and fuzzy!
Here she is with my hubby for size reference

Here's finished item number 3.  My very first sewn stuffie!

She is hand sewn and has crochet arms, legs, ears, and face.  Yes, yes, I know she is all crooked and wonky and probably a slew of other sewing terms that I don't know for things I did wrong, but hey, she's cute and that's what matters.  Right?  Truth be told, I am not a sewer (seamstress?, sewist?).  Sewing machines intimidate me to no end!  However, I am determined to conquer my ridiculous aversion to sewing.  Even if it's by stitching one crooked little hand sewn stuffie at a time.

So, there you have it!  I know it didn't look like much at the beginning, but that pile of yarn and fabric has been transformed.  I hope you enjoyed the transformation.  I sure did!
TTFN!

Sneaky Peeky!

I'm working on a post that is not quite ready to publish yet, but here is a sneak peek.

Stay tuned!

Hello OctoKitty

Remember that pile of yarn and fabric that I claimed was a bunch of projects in the works?  Well presenting finished item number 1:  Hello Kitty as an octopus, or as I prefer to call her, 

Hello OctoKitty.

I recently received an interesting request from someone who had seen this octopus I made,

for a similar octopus, but as Hello Kitty.  

I thought it was a great idea and agreed to make it.  I really like how it turned out, and I hope that she will too.  I find that I really enjoy bringing other peoples ideas to life.  Of course I also have my own ideas, but there is something very satisfying about taking someone else's concept and magically making it real.  Okay, so it's not really magic, but they don't know that! wink, wink ;)

You can see the bow a little better in this picture.

I just like how neat the legs look in this picture.  :)

Now, I am off to do some more crocheting.  Tonight I'm going to be playing with some RED yarn!

Projects, projects, and more projects

So you may have guessed from today's title, but I have a lot of projects in the works!  I love having lots of projects going at the same time.  My husband...not so much.  Who can blame him when I have projects in the kitchen, living room, and back porch?  Well, I guess I should explain that we live in a two bedroom apartment with our three boys!  So, when my projects spread out a little too much, they really tend to take over the whole house!  So really, I think my husband is a pretty good sport about it.  He's special that way!

Anyway, I can't really post any of the things that I've finished yet (boo!), because they are for various swaps that I'm in right now, and I really ought to wait until my partners receive.  BUT, I have some in progress pics I can share!

These are my supplies for three different projects that I'm working on.  Well actually, two of them are already finished!  OKAY, so it's not an actual "in progress" shot, sorry.  I just got so into my crafting that I completely forget to take pics along the way. Doh!  

These are some actual in progress projects.

I had to smudge out the item in the bottom left corner because its for a swap, and I did end up frogging the red circle thingy at the far right.  The birdhouse was made by my son at a Home Depot workshop about 5 years ago!  I've been asking him to paint it for the longest time, and I've finally come to terms with the fact that he simply isn't interested.  :(  He can draw, but he's currently in those difficult teen years where he's only interested in "cool" activities.  This is going to be a difficult stage for me!

I didn't even take pictures of my porch adventures because they are more like homey improvementy stuff which although oodles of fun, they fall just a tad short of being crafty enough for me to want to blog about.  Eh.

Next on the list?  Organizing my embroidery floss!

(probably another "eh", but oh the colors!)

In the meantime, here's a picture of something I made many many moons ago.  By the time I took this picture, it had had many years of love behind it, and I only had my very outdated cell phone with me.

She was a present for my baby niece, who as you can see, isn't a baby anymore!

Thanks for stopping by!