Refinishing and reupholstering: The monster tasks

The past few months I've been a busy bee. For the most part, school and work have occupied all of my time, but I have snuck a few DIY projects in!

Number one monster task: First time reupholstery.

I have an ancient desk chair.

It's AT LEAST fifteen years old. The arm rest fell off on one side whilst the other looks as though I took a knife to it in an enraged fit (I definitely didn't). The chair itself is stained and the old blue fabric looks outdated and, quite frankly, hideous.
Since I could not purchase a new chair, I decided to reupholster. First step was to find a fabric that I love. Unfortunately, we are short on decent fabric stores around these parts so I settled for some outdoor fabric from a nationwide chain store. Can you guess which? har

I took apart the chair and fought with my electric staple gun. I nearly broke the back of the chair and questioned by decision to take on such a project in the first place. But I persevered! And earned a snazzy looking "new" chair! (Excuse my foot for sneaking into the before shot).

I also decided to repaint my nightstand. From white, chipped, and blah to blue and beautiful! I love it. It adds so much more personality to my bedroom furniture.  However, in the future I will invest in an electric sander or at least a helpful tool instead of going at it with the sand paper on my lonesome (hello, sore arms!).

Painted Turtle

I did a little iron on turtle stencil on a shirt and painted over with fabric paint.  Simple and cute.

Chocolately Body Butter!

This recipe is sooo delightful. I got a few 4 oz tubs of cocoa butter to use on my skin, but was really annoyed that I had to heat it every time I wanted to use it. So I decided to try a body butter recipe. Slightly altered from several I found when I googled. It's totally delicious smelling and nourishing. It's the consistency of thick soft butter. It melts on contact with skin so it lasts! Recipe below the pictures!

Recipe for thick and creamy body butter (4 oz):
1/2 cup cocoa butter
1/4 cup coconut oil (solid)
1/4 cup of olive oil (or another liquid oil. almond and jojoba oil were recommended by various people)
optional: essential oil, vitamin e oil

Melt the cocoa butter and coconut oil over a double boiler. Add the olive oil and mix together until well blended. Turn the flame off and once the oil has cooled a little, add any essential oils or vitamin e drops. stick it in the fridge (or freezer if the room you're making it in is hot) for 10-20 minutes until it's a thick goopy sort of texture. Then whip it in a blender until it's light and fluffy. Stick it in the fridge if you are in a hot climate!

Kanye the Shark coming to you in pastel

I wanted to make a humorous post card to send to my friend. So I asked another friend to tell me what to draw, and this is what he suggested. I think it turned out fabulous.

It's on pastel/watercolor safe card stock. Done with water pastels.

Embroidered Bag

I started this tote months ago and finally had time to finish it on summer break.

Embroidery floss is a mix of Sublime Stitching and DMC. The bag and pattern itself is from Sublime Stitching. Go check them out if you are interested in embroidery :)

More posts to come through the week!

Embroidered Tote and Card

So I finally gave my friend her Christmas gift and now can show off what I made!

This tote bag I embroidered with an owl pattern from Sublime Stitching:

And this card, which goes with the others I made (here, click click).

Scarf number ONE! Finished

Yay. It only took about 2 months :P But I finally finished my first knitting project ever. A 50 inch long scarf with long fringe.

I followed the pattern exactly, but in my opinion it's way too short for me as  a scarf. I like them really long. But I am excited to have finished a project.

I am working on an embroidery also and started another knitting project. Trying trying trying to keep up with crafting and university. :)

I Can't Think of a Witty Title for Knitting!

...Though I really wish I could...

Anyway, my brother got me knitting supplies for Christmas, as well as this book that teaches knitting. Thus far I am still on lesson one. However, I totally know how to knit now! Or at least do a garter stitch. And I am making a scarf.

I started it over like 3 times, but it is finally nearing completion (it's sadly not completed yet because I forget to work on it a lot) and knitting is a slow-going process.

I definitely recommend the book that I linked "The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting" if you want to teach yourself. It has a few practice patterns and goes by lesson on specific stitches and patterns. They're all beginner patterns too. And the book covers just about all you need to get started.

I really like knitting. It's quite relaxing and like 10 times easier for me than crocheting. (I really don't like crocheting. It hurts my fingers and I always mess up the patterns I'm doing).

Anyway, here is what I am working on. Just a basic scarf ;)

Also, I updated my post of my first embroidery. I cleaned the blue pattern ink stuff off and stuffed it! Check it out. 

Oh yeah...and I'm back in school! More classes this quarter than before so my crafting will once again be sporadic, but I will try!

Hand Embroidery!

First, a note on my Christmas projects. I ended up not seeing one of the people I made some things for so I have no idea when I'll be able to show those items. Perhaps not for a while :/

So on to other things:

In the past I've tried machine embroidery (which you can see here *clickclick* and here *clickclick* on my attempt at a 365 craft blog), but never had I tried hand embroidery.

...Never before a couple weeks ago! When one of my good friends got me a very exciting Christmas gift. All the supplies I needed to start learning how to embroider by hand!

I believe everything that I used was from www.sublimestitching.com. I spaced out and didn't keep track of the specific floss colors I used, but they were from the "Parlour" and "Flowerbox" pallets which you can find on the website (some of the colors were not in those pallets...I found them in a box I had or got them from my friend without packaging, so I have no idea what brand or colors. Oops). And of course, this pattern was from Sublime Stitching. It's called "Shy Boy" and it comes on a pillow case (which I plan on stuffing with a pillow and displaying on my bed). I have "Shy Girl" as well and plan on finishing that as soon as possible!

Sorry it's very wrinkly. I have yet to wash it and get a pillow for it. You can see, some of the washable pattern is apparent beneath my stitches. But overall, I'm happy with the results. It was fun to experiment with different methods of color use. I really like the colors I used in the mask. It started to become somewhat peacock themed! I think I'll get more experimental with Shy Girl.

P.S. My friend who got these embroidery supplies for me is, herself, an awesome embroiderer! She does some amazing projects. Stay tuned for updates, as I may direct you at her blog (if she ever gets around to making one) or other places you might be able to see what she's done when and if she decides its time to display it. ;)

UPDATE:
Here it is, ink cleaned off and stuffed with a pillow!

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!! :)