Christmas Cards

So I am still waiting for some people to receive the cards I made them, but here are two of the cards that were received.

These are cards that are meant for watercolor, but I used water pastels and ink to draw on them.

This card:

She absolutely loved, which is awesome, because I am happy with how it turned out. If you can't tell, it's Nessy (in a Santa hat) and a man in a rowboat. :P I wish I could have gotten the water to look more animated, but I have no idea how to even draw water.

This is the card that started it all. My friend and I were just chatting and throwing brilliance around (as always) and I just wanted to make absurd Christmas cards. She suggested something off the top of her head, a baboon with a Santa hat and elf shoes...and this was born:

It just makes me laugh. It was a lot of fun to draw. It took quite a few sketches because I had no idea how to draw a baboon--it sort of just looks like it has a dog body. Oh well...my drawing style has always been on the cartoonish side either way. The person I sent it to was not fond of it at all, which really bummed me out because I thought they would find it funny as well. But not everything is going to be a winner. I suppose my sense of humor is just weird. ah well.


Look forward to seeing more of my Christmas crafts as people get them!

Christmas Crafting

I have been a neglegent blogger and crafter. There are projects I have been working on, but still have yet to finish because I didn't have time/supplies, but I am on winter break and not working so I have lots of time for crafting. And so I have been!

These are all gifts, but a few other projects I will post when I finish. However, the gifts will not be shown until the person receives them so that the surprise is not taken away. Look forward to a few more posts this month and next month.

Print Making for Cheapies

Hey all,

Do you have any idea how hard it is to go to school every day and remember to craft regularly at the same time? No? Well, for me it is because I have a really short attention span and can't remember. I mean...I have free time that should be spent productively, but instead I just watch youtube videos. But HEY, people need their down time, right?

Anyway, these are some old things. I did this at an art festival in Laguna last summer. You just carve into foam with like a pen and it's awesome cheap print making! These are the ones I made!

Also, I would like to add that my momma is a newly published writer, and if you like historical fiction/romance, you should check out her book:

Go to her website! Buy her book! Purchase!

A string or two

I made this when I was at home last week, with my crafting supplies. I think on my next visit I should pick up my supplies, but eh...I don't really have much time for it here. The semester has started, I expect my homework load to pick up.
But enough of that...here is what I made.
It is...I am not really sure what you'd call it. Just a bunch of metallic ribbons stuck to a dowel. And beads on them. I wish I had more beads on it...but I didn't have large ones. I had tons of teeny tiny, gorgeous beads. But alas, my larger beads were dull and bluh.

But here it is...oh so easy to make.

I think I will start quilting again. My posts will continue to be spotty...here and there, but I will return again with updates, and perhaps quilts. Maybe a tutorial or two!

Patches!

Alright, finally finally I remembered to upload this picture. So these are some of the patches that I made for a get-together a few weeks ago, Called Gladiator Guild of Water Doom. A group of friends (whom I met through my good friend) have this thing every year where they joust in a pool. Super fun, super awesome and hilarious to watch. And she said they might need some extra prizes so I whipped these up in a day when I was free to do so. :)

I apologize...

...I am a slacky blogger.

I never finished my month-long challenge. I came close. But no! I didn't do it. Time flew by fast and everything got busy. I moved recently, so I have been occupied with getting all settled into my new place and getting to know the city.

I made a bunch of patches for some ...erm..sporting event? Sort of...basically just a backyard get-together. I will post pictures of those as soon as I have access to my camera again.

I will try to update once in a while and do a craft, but I am not in a living situation that allows for wild amounts of crafting anymore. My summer vacation came and went. Now I have real world responsibilities. In a whole new place. It's compounded stress!

I can do some small projects here and there. So here is a message to myself: Keep crafting, missy. You need to do something stimulating outside of school and work once in a while.

Oh Fudge

So...only a few days away from finishing my month-long challenge, I was...when life got in the way!
I got busy busy with hunting for a place to live in a new city. So I guess I never finished. Ugh. I will do more crafting soon. But after that I am wondering if I'll be able to. Huh

Day 28 BRB

I will be gone on Wed and Thurs, so my project will be haulted and I'll do my last few after that.

Until then, an MS paint creation

Day 27, Another necklace.

Day 27 craft: Some stone beads on metal thingies and on a metal chain.

Day 26, Haircut

OOh. Does a haircut count as a craft? I think so. A DIY project anyway. Because I trimmed my own hair.

Here it is:

And here is what my trashcan looks like: :)

Day 25

I made a pouch. A crocheted pouch. I'm not really sure what for, but it's practice and it counts as a craft!! :)

Day 24, flower pin

Ooh la! I made a cute blue flower pin. With a smirnoff cap for the middle part.
It can go on a bag, or your sweater (though it's sorta big for a sweater) or as a snazzy corsage for your evening out in a cute dress... because nothing says classy like vodka bottlecaps.

Day 23, A top!

Whoosh. I finally made another lovely sewing project. This haulter top!

Day 22, more clay

I don't have an oven, but that doesn't deter me from making a clay duck.

I am going to try to sun bake it tomorrow. Because apparently that works?
Well, it will be an experiment.

And because my crafts have been sooooo lame lately, here's some other clay stuff I've made in the past:

A pink elephant

Alien Cossack

Yeah...it's a clay finger (the blood is gelatine and paint)

Adorable mousey

Day 21, Cuz I almost forgot

I spent the day reading and dealing with strange thoughts due to my bad sleeping habits. Or non sleeping.

So here is a face.

Day 20, weave come this far (har har)

I made this ridiculous little wire dinosaur alien today:

He sort of looks like Dino.
But that wasn't my craft. Today I made a bracelet from bamboo cord and beads. I was going to use nuts (the hardware piece), but realized this might actually be pretty and the nuts looked stupid. So I used beads. Oh yeah. And then I decided it should be an anklet instead. I mean, I don't wear anklets...but it just looks better on the ankle.

You'll notice something. I never use the traditional hemp string. Touching it makes me break out in hives. :) You needed to know...

Day 19, Quilting!

So, I only have about 11 days left of this, but here is what I've learned. Forcing yourself to craft everyday kinda sucks in a way, but it's good in another. It's forcing me to be creative again. Unfortunately it's making me painfully aware of how uncreative I've gotten. I spend more time trying to think of what to make than making it. So, I will probably never do these again. But I will try to keep up with crafting when this is done.

ALSO I need more crafting supplies!

Anyway, back to the challenge. Today I handstitched this and quilted a bit on it. I can't decide whether I'd like to turn it into a pillow or a wall hanging. Probably a pillow cover.

Day 18, The one ringgggg

Not THEE one ring. But one ring. By itself. Indeed!

I love the look of wire against natural stuff...such as stones or shells :)

Day 17, More crocheting

I am not quite a crochet master yet, but I am getting better. I made a cute little three petal flower for the hair. Admittedly, it would be ridiculous on a grown woman, but oh so cute on a kid! I hope that soon I'll be confident enough in my skills to take on something trickier.

Day 16, Post battle fashion?

Ooh just past the half-way mark!
I have tons of bullet shells. When my dad and brother used to go do target practice, I guess they kept the shells to ...uh...not litter? My best guess as I can't be bothered to ask why. But, I stole a few handfuls. And realized I have no idea what to do with them. Rifle shells are quite large. I figured maybe a piece of jewelry. I sat for a while, staring at it, and just decided to attach it to a bracelet. So I made a chained bamboo thread bracelet (I'm sure that's confusing. Chained as in crochet chains) and put the bullet on it. Slightly masculine. Might be a cool accessory if the band was thicker. But clearly I just got lazy. (Also, completely immersed in a book I'm reading!)

Here it is :)

Day 15, Sunglasses case

Yay, success!

I decided to take on an easy project today. This really cute, super simple sunglasses case. I cannot find a cute case for my gigantic sunglasses, so I made one to protect them from scratches.
It's lined with soft cotton and has 3 layers so it provides a little padding for my sunglasses.
Woohoo.

Day 14, Failed upcycling

So, today I wanted to use a bunch of my old CDs to make something cool. I though...maybe just a little statue that you could display something on. Easy, right?


No. Let me tell you...CDs suck to work with. I have no idea how to cut through them (so I just stomped on them) and then I had to sand them down to avoid sharp edges. No fun. I had the right glue, but then I ran out of it. As you can see on one of them, I had a glue mishap and just couldn't get it off. This looks horrible. I kind of want to throw it away so I don't have to look at it. It seemed like such a cool idea and turned into a disaster. Not all of these are glued on. I could probably make it prettier, but ugh. What a pain in the butt.

Day 13, One of THOSE days.

Day 13
ARGH. I wanted to do origami today. I succeeded in making an origami piano, but I wanted to make something playing it. I tried a bunch of different birds. Finally, after an hour of trying, I finally got this penguin.
He's sort of fat and wrinkly, but he's talented at piano and has a great personality. And look at his party hat! (It's a boat, but he has fun with it).

Day 12, Felt critter

Day 12!
So I had this brilliant idea. I had a bunch of felt and I thought I'd make a little felt monster coin purse. Well, the problem is, I totally didn't consider that change is heavy and will just fall through the slit I made. So, whatever, I made this little round felt thing. If I add a zipper closure then it'd work.

He sort of reminds me of one of those frozen PB&J pocket sandwiches. But maybe one that went bad or encountered toxic waste and came alive. He looks cheerful and friendly, though, so no threats there.

I made my first felt monster last year out of a pattern I came up with on my own. It was a gift for one of my best friends and I love how it came out.
It's the Creature from the Black Lagoon....ON ICE[skates]! He's adorable and charming. Look at his little skates. And yes, he did win the gold at the 2010 Olympics. You can't see his medal, but it has a maple leaf. Authentic, Canadian, and from 2010.

Day 11, Basket

Ah, a basket. A basket made out of soda can tabs (or pop can tabs, whatever you prefer). And yarn.
Holy cow, this was tedious and I am still not done.This is where I got to after a few hours. (Maybe having a hilarious conversation while making it made my efforts less efficient).

So, here is day 11's craft for my month long challenge. I think it's cool looking now, but I want to put a more finished edge on it. But it was just too much for one day. I think here are nearly 50 tabs in this thing so far :P

Raddish earrings

I made Luna Lovegood (from the Harry Potter series, for those of you visiting from another century) for one of my best friends for her birthday last year. Late to share, but oh well. Better late than never, right? I was so thrilled with how they turned out. And pleased with how thrilled she was!

Want to make a pair of your own?
The first step is to shape the earrings using oven bake polymer clay. Insert a long steel (or preferred metal) jewelry wire through the clay balls with a loop at the top end. Make sure it's securely placed. Bring the clay down at a point at the bottom edge of the ball (where there is no loop). Bake for about 10 minutes at low heat (about 250 F). The clay should be hard and unmaleable when it comes out. It is okay if it's a little bit burnt as these are going to be painted.
The next step is to add the white root at the bottom of the raddish. I used light cream embroidery thread and stuck it on with hot glue. It helps to make a tube of glue around where the root is attacked and bring it to a pointed shape. However, this can be difficult as the glue cools quickly and you don't want to burn yourself whilst shaping it.
Once the root is attached, paint the clay ball red and then attach a faux leaf to the jewelry loop. Finally, get some steel, silver, or gold earring hooks and attach it to the look. Viola! Radishes on your earlobes.

Day 10, GLITTTER

Day ten of my 30 day challenge!

I did a glitter picture.

Admittedly, I was at a complete loss for ideas on what to do today. I spent a lot of the day thinking about it. Then I saw all of my glitter glue and remembered these awesome glitter portraits I saw a few months ago (do a quick search and you'll find lots of awesome glitter portraits).
So, mine is just of my eye, and not all that amazing. It's not done with the same method because I didn't have loose glitter. I squished out my glitter glue on a palette and painted it on.

I did a little cheat. I edited the picture to make it so the shading was really simple and pixelated and printed out a black and white version. And I think it came out pretty cool for a first try.

I will do this again, but use cardstock instead of printer paper (as you can see, printer paper got wrinkly. And maybe try it with loose glitter.
PS, the soap that I made a few days ago is awesome. Really gentle exfoliation and smells really nice. The scent is perfect for summer. I will be making large bars of it when I restock my soap supplies!

Day 9, Rum Yum

Rum? Really?

Well, not rum, but even better! Rum ice cream! Yesssss...
But speaking of making rum, that is on my to-do list starting now.

Philadelphia (no egg) style ice cream. What a stunning summer treat.
It smells a lot like rum. Let's hope I didn't go overboard and make this a drunken ice cream that won't freeze. I cannot wait until this is out of the freezer and I can try it. yum yum.

I also made hazelnut mocha ice cream a few days ago! It, of course, got eaten within two days of making it :) Let's hope this is just as much of a success. Will update after a taste test. :)

Update July 13:

Yeah well, this ice cream has a bit too high of an alcohol content. It melts very fast. I took this picture a few seconds after taking it out of the freezer. And it doesn't taste much like rum (if I do this recipe again, I'm trying dark rum), but it does smell like it. It kind of just tastes like a vanilla ice cream with an alcohol aftertaste. 

Day 8 Soap

Day 8 of my month long challenge!

Today I made soap. Or rather, added some ingredients to soap because I used a plain melt and pour base. Making soap from scratch takes way longer than a day (needs to cure so that no trace of lye is left over) so obviously I couldn't do it for my day-to-day challenge. But maybe in the future I'll make a batch!

But, back to my soap. It's an exfoliating soap with sea salt, and baking soda. It smells divine (I used cinnamon leaf oil, lavender, and mint oils), is made with all natural ingredients (even colored with some mica!), and I put some moisturizing things in it also. I love the sea-foam color it came out (they're sorta bluish-greenish gray).
I can't wait to try it!

Day 7, Ring and bracelet

I decided to keep it super simple today. Mostly because it's insanely hot and I don't want to do much :P

But I made a cute matching set of a wire bracelet and ring. With hearts! Eeeee!

Day 6 Hairband

Day 6 of my month long challenge.

It might be an exaggeration to award myself the title of "World's Worst Crocheter," but I am definitely nowhere near skilled with it. I've attempted many crocheted items and they usually never get finished because halfway through I realize I did something wrong. Last time I made a scarf, one end was half the width of the other end and curling off to one side. It looked like a malformed piece of pasta.
Why am I rambling on about how much I suck at crocheting? Because today I didn't suck at it. Granted, I made something insanely simple and just made up a pattern because I can't follow a real one, but for once it turned into something I'm proud of!

Today I made a crocheted hairband :)

Day 5 Painted Chopsticks

Trying to get creative with random stuff I have in my house is not all that easy sometimes. I'm short on sewing and crafting supplies so I wanted to do something with some random found object today.

And what did I find? A pair of brand new chopsticks from a certain fast food Chinese restaurant.
I have seen awesome painted chopsticks before, but I didn't realize how small disposable chopsticks were. Painting these made me a little bit dizzy because I had to keep twirling them around. Actually, I think they came out pretty good.

So what does one do with genuine hand painted disposable chopsticks you ask? I don't know. Obviously not eat from them. If I put a clear coat they might make cute hair accessories. Oh just decorations. Stick them in a fake orchid arrangement?

Day 4 ICE CREAM

Did I mention that crafting includes food, to me? Well it does. But only desserts because those are optional and therefore something of an artform.

Today, on day 4 of my month long challenge, I made ice cream (I made sorbet earlier in the week, but not as part of the challenge).
 I think the flavor I made is something like hazelnut mocha.

This is a very experimental recipe. I'm sort of low on essential ingredients so I got creative. I found a recipe for Nutella philly-style icecream (that means egg free...I had no eggs!) but had to alter the ingredients because I didn't have many of them. In the end, I ended up using a lot of heavy cream, chocolate, and turkish coffee (because it was there). I only tasted the mixture after boiling everything together and it was awesome. Like a mocha latte, but creamy and thick. I can't wait until it's done setting up in the freezer. Hopefully it's a success. This picture is after going through the ice cream maker. It's sort of like a slightly melted softserve. I may have to chill my recipes a bit longer it seems because this one didn't want to freeze. I'm sure it doesn't help that it's about 75* F in the kitchen or more.

Update July 8. I tried this icecream this morning after allowing it to fully freeze and oh my goodness it's sooooo good. It's really creamy and delicious. Yum. Great recipe!