24 Foot Street

No new posts for now, maybe ever...

2011-08-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all, if any of you are still reading I want to let you know that I won't be posting projects for a long while, if ever again. I became employed last month and haven't had the extra time to do projects. I might eventually learn how to balance work and play in a way that lets me do more things for the blog but for right now I'm gonna say TTFN and happy crafting.

Button up: Iron Craft challenge #29.

2011-07-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm gonna do this fast because I've got more packing to do. This week Iron Craft moved to Just Crafty Enough and the challenge this week was to make something with buttons. I didn't take this challenge literally, I decided to make pretend buttons on my project instead. I came up with a quick basic cross stitched button motif then cross stitched it in a grid on two pieces then followed the directions for a biscornu. I think it turned out cute, I might add a magnet backing on it and turn it into a fridge magnet.

Here is the first one I made for the May Flowers challenge: http://24footstreet.blogspot.com/2011/05/iron-craft-18-aprill-showers-floral.html

Iron Craft Challange #26 Camp Craft: Friendship Bracelets

2011-06-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge was to make camp crafts. I was at a loss because when I went to camp we didn't do crafts. I did a search online for camp crafts and came across several I liked including friendship bracelets. I kept them in my head while I was out running errands on Saturday. While I was shopping I swung by the crafts department and found a kit to make friendship bracelets. It came with 36 skeins of "friendship thread" aka pearl cotton embroidery thread. I thought about it for about two seconds and snapped up a kit.

My adult niece and her little boy are staying with us for a while so she and I decided to make these bracelets together. At first we were dumbfounded by the directions. I watched a few youtube videos which explained the patterns pretty well but not the method so I was still not getting good results. Eventually I figured it out on my own but it took some doing so I'm going to try to explain it a little better on here.

First off you need to measure out your thread, this measurement depends on your wrist size so you may need to experiment with how much you need. I have a seven inch wrist so I use twenty six inches of floss per strand. Cut two strands of each color for an easier bracelet or a single strand of six different colors for a more difficult one. You are also going to need some tape, a safety pin or a clip board to hold your thread as you work. I prefer the clip board but the others will do fine as well.

figure 1

Now tie a regular ole granny knot with all of the strands together leaving about a three inch tail. As an optional step to make wearing the bracelet easier braid that three inch tail and tie another knot to secure it. Secure your strands with your tape, pin or board and separate the strands by color. If you're doing three colors separate with the two strands of each color together, if you're doing six colors separate them as single strands.

figure 2

Working from left to right cross the first color over the top of the second color then under it and around it to form a loop. (figure 1) Now while pulling down on the second strand pull up on the first one and tighten it up to the top. (figure 2) Don't make your knots too tight, that causes it to buckle a bit. Tie that same knot again across each color, repeat the process for each row. When you are down to about three and a half inches of loose floss tie another granny knot with all of the strands making it flush against the knots. If you want to, braid that end as well. To wear them just tie the braided ends together.

If you are still not getting it you can use a small thread crochet hook and make yourself some granny squares to form a cuff. I've still got to add some buttons to that one bit I think it is my favorite. My nieces favorite was the rainbow one I made when I eventually figured out how to do the knots correctly. BTW Yay New York! I've got a ton of ideas for color combos in my head along with a bunch of ideas of items other than bracelets to do with these so keep an eye out for that.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-06-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

I know that most people think of fruit when muffins are mentioned but The Man is not most people. He is a chocaholic in the extreme. Naturally with all this muffin making I was bound to come up with a chocolate recipe eventually. Eventually is the right word there because I went through several trial and error recipes to get to the final one and I also learned a very important lesson, if you're trying out a new recipe put a cookie sheet under your muffin pan just in case you have a spill over. Anywhoodles we love this version and I hope you will like it too.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 tbsps melted butter
1 egg beaten
1 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp each of baking soda and powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease or line 12 muffin cups. Start off by mixing the first five wet ingredients together and then in a separate bowl mix the last five dry ingredients together. Slowly add the dry to the wet and mix it until it is just combined, don't over mix. Pour it evenly into the muffin cups and bake for twenty minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Challenge #24: Something for Him, Embroidered Handkerchiefs.

2011-06-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a project for Iron Craft in a little over a month because the past few themes haven't given me any inspiration. This week was different, I came up with an idea almost immediately after reading the challenge theme. I embroidered four handkerchiefs two for my dad and two for The Man's dad.

I like the way they turned out. I printed the monogram and phrase out and then used washout pencils to trace them onto the handkerchiefs. After that it was a matter of simple back stitches. This is the sort of project I enjoy doing. Simple items that will get used rather than looked at. Pretty is nice but pretty and functional is better.

Iron Craft #18 Aprill Showers... Floral Biscornu

2011-05-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge was to make something with or inspired by flowers. I decided immediately I was going to make a biscornu this week because I have been wanting to do one for quite a while now. I found a pattern that had flowers on it and I filled it with floral scented potpourri to make it a sachet or just a pretty smelling pin cushion.

I found the pattern on Own Two Hands as well as basic instructions on how to assemble it. It really is a simple assembly so don't be intimidated if you decide to make one. Just a quick tip though, make sure the pattern you use is filled in correctly. I found several spots on my pattern that were incorrect and I ended up having to make several corrections before finishing my project. I found several really cute patterns I'm going to make to give as gifts and even may design my own patterns for them. I don't even like cross stitching that much but I want to make a bazillion of these things.

You Never Know What or Who Is Waiting For You at a Yardsale

2011-05-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Friday morning after having been cooped up by storms for most of the week The Mom and I decided to run out and check out some yard sales. We didn't find many but we caught a couple and I found four little friends at one for just a quarter each. The first friend is a rather stern faced utilitarian frog with a soft spot for flowers. He now has a permanent home on my desk holding pins and needles in the pin cushion on his back.

My next friend is a temporarily blind squirrel. I'll be giving him eyes soon with beads or paint. The Man wants me to make him a zombie squirrel but I like him the way he is. Well I'll like him the way he is once he has eyes.

And last but not least I found two cute little friends who thought they might be helpful. They are both thimbles but neither would be all that useful. That's ok though, they are cute enough that they don't need to be helpful. They will have a permanent home with The Mans grandmother. She has a huge collection of cute little whatnots. Technically we are not supposed to give her more but these two will surely fit in there and she will love them as much as I do.

So next time you hit a yard, estate, garage, etc sale and you see a box or table with a lot of small things in it think about taking the time to check out what is in that box. You never know you might just end up coming home with a few new friends.

Iron Craft #17: Royal Wedding

2011-04-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge had me stumped for a bit but eventually I came up with the idea of doing a monogram. I dunno what I'm gonna do with the monogram but I think it fits in with the wedding theme well because a lot of people get monogrammed items as wedding and anniversary gifts. I also stuck with my theme of trying new things for IC challenges by trying out a new embroidery stitch for this project. The B is done in stem stitch, I decided to leave it that way and not fill it in because I like the look of the outline. The new stitch I learned was a padded satin stitch which I used to do the leaves, flowers and berries. Satin stitch was easy but time consuming. All of the things I used satin stitch for took twice as long as the stem stitches. I have a ton of ideas for what to use my monogram for from leaving it in a hoop as art to making it the front of a throw pillow and more. I'll post when I eventually decided what it's going to be.

Forgot to mention that the monogram pattern came from needlenthread.com.

Iron Craft #16 Taxman: Citrus Change Purse

2011-04-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge was to make something inspired by money. I'm pretty sure there are a ton of change purses being submitted so far but I decided to go with one anyway. I decided to go with a change purse because thus far Iron Craft has pushed me to do things I have never done before and before this week I had never sewn in a zipper.

I found this pretty little rainbow crocheted change purse tutorial at SparklePetal and decided that I wanted to make something similar. I liked the rainbow but I don't have scraps in rainbow colors and I didn't want to buy seven separate skeins of yarn. I didn't mind buying one skein of yarn and using scraps I did have on hand so I came up with this lime slice idea. I made mine with six single crochets in a magic ring and then increased evenly for sixteen rows. I embroidered the lime wedges and seeds with white yarn I had on hand. Then I followed the tutorial at SparklePetal to make the liner and attatch it. I gave it to The Mom because I don't really need a change purse and she liked it.

I learned that using a plain ole foot on my machine to sew in a zipper is not a good idea so I'll be buying a zipper foot as soon as I find one. It wasn't hard to do but I did it sloppily because I was using the standard foot my machine came with. I don't know why zippers are so intimidating now that I actually did it.

Flower Basket Door Ornament

2011-04-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been contemplating putting a wreath on my door but it just seemed too problematic. My problem with a wreath is that they are a bit cumbersome and we have a fairly small space between our inside and storm doors. My solution came from the dollar store. I was browsing around looking for something else when I came across this cute little unpainted wooden flower box.

I grabbed a block of foam on the same aisle and brought them home to make my door hanging. I used a paint sample I had on hand to paint the box and then put flowers I had been saving into the box. At first I was going to paint two swans forming the heart but I decided to leave them out because the flowers would just cover them up anyway. I tied a short strand of twine to the back and hung it with an adjustable hook onto my front door. I really like it and I think it should take me through until at least the 4th of July when I'll come up with something new to hang there.

Iron Craft Challenge #15: Peepcakes

2011-04-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

This week the challenge at Iron Craft was to make something using peeps. Now I dunno about any of the other crafters but there are several reasons why making a craft out of peeps was not gonna happen in my house. The number one reason was The Man, he is a marshmallow fiend, his favorite snack is those giant roasting marshmallows, there was no way I could keep peeps in the house and him not eat them. The second reason is ants, there is just no way I was going to let a sugar covered marshmallow just sit around my house to attract bugs. After all that you might think I was saying I didn't make anything for Iron Craft this week and you'd be wrong, I baked something for Iron Craft this week. I decapitated twelve bunny peeps and put their bodies inside cupcakes as they were baking then topped them with the heads. I was going for a snowball sort of cake but the marshmallow sort of evaporated and left a candy coating on top of the cake which was pretty cool too. We ate them all so they couldn't have been bad.

Peanut Butter Muffins

2011-04-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I was craving something sweet but we were out of just about everything to make goodies except for the fixings for peanut butter cookies. Well, I wavered on making them because it takes a good long while to make them and it was too hot to have the oven on for that long. My solution was to try making peanut butter muffins instead. I figured that a dozen muffins would take about a quarter of the time to make as two and a half dozen cookies. I'm going to try to play with this recipe a little more and make a PB&J muffin later on. For now the plain peanut butter muffins are as follows:

1 1/4 cups of AP flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of milk
1 cup of peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 tbsp melted butter
1 egg beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease or line 12 muffin cups. Sift the first 4 ingredients together and set them aside. Mix together rest of the ingredients thoroughly and then combine the dry into the wet. Mix them well but not too much. Evenly fill the muffin cups about a third of the way full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle muffin comes out clean. Remove from the pan immediately.

Iron Craft Challenge # 14 - Wish You Were Here Postcards

2011-04-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge theme was postcards. At first I was rather stumped because paper is not my usual medium but I tried a few things. The first ones I did were altered book pages and they are too embarrassing to show pictures of. Then I got some scrapbook paper and tried some things with it. Those are slightly less embarrassing, enough so that I can show pictures. The first is an owl and the second is a masquerade mask of an owl.

I didn't like either of them, they looked too much like cutting and pasting that a kid would do. I realized that, aside from origami, I just wasn't experienced enough with paper crafts to pull that off. I thought about just not submitting anything this week but then I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that there wasn't anything in the post on Iron Craft that said I had to make my postcard out of paper. I went through my stash looking for something suitable for a postcard and I came across my bag of felt. From there I created a scene that one might find on a post card and I liked it. There was a problem though, it was unfinished and the raw side was showing, so I made a post card backing and sewed the two pieces together to cover up the raw edges. I really liked the way it turned out so I made another one. I have yet another one in the works but it won't be finished in enough time to submit it to Iron Craft.

Book Review for Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman

2011-04-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I ordered four craft books from a book club, two of them arrived today. In my package I found Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs: 144 Circles, Hexagons, Triangles, Squares, and Other Unexpected Shapes by Edie Eckman. This is a really neat book, it is completely color illustrated with a photo of every motif. I think the photos are important, without them it is hard to visualize what you can do with a pattern. It is also fully charted which makes it a lot easier to see how something is going to come together in crochet. It is spiral bound so that it lays flat while you are working plus it is hard cover so it is durable enough to carry it around with you.

I especially like that the author includes graphs to help you create your own motifs as well as eight pages of illustrations giving ideas for interesting ways to use the motifs once you have finished them. It ain't all about the afghan in this book. On top of this being a really nifty specialty book it would be a good book for an advanced beginner. It has a glossary of stitch explanations with their common pattern abbreviations as well as a chart symbol legend. There is also a section explaining how to read charts and in general a lot of information explaining technique, yarn selection and other good to know general knowledge for crochet. On top of all of that it encourages experimentation and that is the key to making crochet your own. I usually give a one to five star rating to books I read for pleasure so I think I'll add one to this as well. It gets a five out of five.

Introducing.......... The Puppy :D

2011-04-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

The Nieces spent the night last night and when The Mom got back from taking them home she had this cute little guy with her. He is a seven week old Sheltie. At first we thought something was wrong with him because he was drooling like a leaky faucet but once he calmed down and got used to being here he stopped drooling, ate a little and went to sleep.

The Dog is interested in him in a grumpy old man sort of way and The Cat is obsessed with him. The Cat continually tries to get into the crate to mess with The Puppy and he has knocked the poor things water bowl over twice now.

I don't think I'll be making him any clothes or anything like that but I will probably make him some toys eventually when his personality develops a little more. Speaking of developing personality I think I'm going to wait a bit to settle on an official name but for now I'm liking Talbot.

Iron Craft Challenge #13 Best In Show: Steve the Snake

2011-03-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge was "Best In Show" aka pets. Since I had made a bunch of cat toys prior to this challenge I decided I didn't want to make another. I Also couldn't come up with anything to make for The Dog. He is old and doesn't play much and would rather sleep on an old pillow or blanket than a pet bed. I eventually decided that I would make a pet for myself. Yes a completely inanimate and not real pet but one that I've wanted pretty much my whole life, a snake. See The Mom is deathly afraid of snakes so I will never be able to have one. I have always been fascinated by snakes, more than likely her reaction to them is what sparked that fascination after all when you're six being able to make your mom scream like a baby is pretty entertaining.

I searched through my stash box and found the remnants of a skein of Painted Dessert Red Heart Super Saver yarn and thought it looked very snakish. I then went about searching the interwebs for a snake I could make and I landed on another amigurumi pattern, this one from Lion Brand Yarn. The Sssandy the Snake pattern was relatively easy but hard on the hands because the rounds are so small and tight. I'll not be doing another pattern like this for sixty rounds that is for sure. I also unintentionally made a cat toy because The Cat has fallen in love with Steve the Snake and has been wagging him around the house and leaving him in inappropriate places, like right outside The Mom's door :/

New Look Citrus Edition

2011-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I realized that I make a lot of things with bright warm colors rather than the darker cool colors I was using as my background. I figured I would change the look up to make it coordinate with pictures of the things I create. I have been really into citrus colors lately so this background is my take on lemon lime.

Crocheted Motif and Medallion Frame Pillow Cover

2011-03-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I blogged about a vintage craft book I received and said I would be trying one of the projects soon. Well life sort of got in the way and I didn't do the project I had set out to do. This past week I did create a project using inspiration from the vintage book.

In the book there are crocheted pillows with ruffled trims and embroidered details. I decided I would update that pillow and do my own thing. I started out making the grid with scrap colors and I liked it but a new idea came to me as I was crocheting. I set that project aside (I'll be going back to it) and I picked up some black, grey and baby pink red heart yarns.

My idea was to create a frame for a medallion to be displayed on. I used a K hook and my gauge came out to be 8 sc = 2.5 inches and 10 rows of sc = 2.5 inches. Since I want this to be a cover and not a stand alone pillow I wasn't worried about the crochet being loose. The front of the pillow works up in several pieces. There are two long strips on the sides then 4 single squares of grey and two of black that are sewn together. The middle is worked onto one panel of the three single squares with the other panel sewn on top. The back is done in two pieces one is sewn on to make a pocket and the other is sewn only onto the top to make a flap with buttons to close it. Weave in all the ends as you go.

Long checked strip make two. With color A Ch 9 sc in the 2 ch from the hook and across 8 scs. Sc across for ten rows then change to color B. Sc for 10 rows then change to color A. Change color every ten rows twice more to end up with 50 rows. Fasten off

Single block make 2 of color A and 4 of color B. Ch 9 sc in the second ch from the hook and every ch across. Ch 1 turn sc in every sc across repeat until there are ten rows. Fasten off.

Middle pannel sew three blocks together with the chain edge on the bottom in order BAB. With color A join with a sl st in the corner of this strip ch 1 and sc in each sc across 24 scs. Repeat this row 29 times to get 30 rows. Fasten off. Sew the other three single blocks together in the same manner as before then sew them onto the top of the middle panel.

Back pocket ch 41 sc in the second ch from the hook and across. Ch 1 sc across until the piece is 40 rows. Fasten off.

Back flap ch 41 sc in second ch from hook and across. Ch 1 sc across 17 more times until there are 18 rows. Ch 1 sc in the next 4 sc ch 2 sk 1 sc * sc in the next 9 sc ch 2 sk 1 sc repeat from * twice more then sc in the last 5 scs.

Assembly: Sew the side strips to the middle panel then attach the motif or medallion onto the front of it being careful not to skew the medallion. Then with right sides facing sew the back pocket panel onto the front panel on three sides and the flap onto the top with the button holes facing the pocket panel. ONLY SEW THE FLAP ON THE TOP SEAM. Sew the buttons onto the pocket flap on the 8th row in corresponding stitches to the button holes.

Challenge # 12 Iron Craft Project Curious Little Elephant

2011-03-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge theme was "Wanna Get Lucky?" The point was to draw inspiration from something that is considered lucky somewhere in the world. I had a bit of a snag at first because I wanted to do Rachel Morgans lucky charm handcuffs from The Hallows series by Kim Harrison. The problem was I couldn't find the right charms and I couldn't get the supplies to make them.

I thought for a while and got kinda ticked about it but then I realized I have "lucky" inspiration staring me in the face in almost every room of my house. The Mom collects elephants which are supposed to be lucky. Well she doesn't actively collect them everyone she knows collects them for her.

So with new inspiration at hand I ran to the store and bought some suitable elephant yarn and searched the interwebs (mainly Ravelry) for an elephant crochet pattern. I found this one from Better Homes and Gardens. I didn't add the sash and head scarf and I kinda put his head on lopsided but I think it made him cuter. He looks a little like a curious kitten this way.

I had never completed an amigurumi pattern before because it makes my hands hurt after about ten rounds. I toughed this one out and finally got all of my pieces made. Making the pieces took a lot less time than I thought they would and assembly took a lot more time than I had figured on. I went through all of Monday nights tv and a Poirot DVD to get this one done. Oh I broke my plastic G crochet hook too. I almost never use that one and I guess I'm sticking with steel ones in the smaller sizes from now on.

I'll do more amigurumi in the future but I think I'm going to stick to smaller animals. I have an adorable little bee pattern and an owl one I've been looking at for a while. I am really loving that Iron Craft is pushing me to do things I haven't done before.

Yellow and Blue Make Green Lapghan for IC # 11 "Green" Theme

2011-03-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

This week the Iron Craft challenge was the color green. I decided to make a lapghan for The Man for his birthday coming up. To go with this challenge I used Red Heart yarn in Bright Yellow, Royal Blue and Paddy Green and a simple double crochet ripple pattern. I found the pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn website, it is called Spring Ripple Throw. It was an easy pattern to keep up with because the repeat goes in threes. You double crochet for three stitches then double crochet three together then double crochet for three stitches and then increase by three in the next stitch. It became like clockwork after a few lines.

Iron Craft Week 9 Challenge "and the Oscar goes to..."

2011-03-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

This weeks Iron Craft challenge theme was movies. I took a long time trying to get some inspiration for my project. I finally realized that the best part of most movies are the memorable lines so I decided would use a line from my favorite movie The Princess Bride as my project. I cross stitched "As you wish." out and then glued it into a card. I chose to make a card because The Mans birthday is coming up and anyone who has seen the movie knows that when Wesley says "As you wish." to Buttercup what he is really saying is "I love you."

Iron Craft Week 8 Challenge "Home Town."

2011-02-23T01:11:00.000-08:00

The Iron Craft Challenge for this week was to take inspiration from your home town. I am from Chicago but I haven't lived there since I was very small.

I don't remember living in the city but I do remember countless trips there to visit family and the thing that sticks out most in my mind is seeing the skyline as we came into the city. I decided to take my inspiration from that skyline and created two projects using it. One is a card I sent to my Uncle who is ill and the other is a cuff bracelet embroidered with the skyline.

Gone Fishin' Cat Toy

2011-02-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

This is the tute for Goldie the gold fish toy I made for the Midas touch challenge at Iron Craft. The Cat loves this toy so much I have to hide it from him or he will drag it around the house and get the stick caught on stuff and knock stuff over.

I used orange felt as well as a teeny bit of black for the eyes, two orange pom poms, duct tape, one set of chop sticks but you could use a wooden dowel, A straw if you use chop sticks, three 2 yard lengths of yarn braided together, scissors, a jingle bell, stuffing, the pattern, pins and a needle, embroidery floss in a coordinating color and thread in a matching color.

You will also need the pattern which I tried to mark clearly to indicate where everything goes. Print the pattern at full page to get it the correct size which is 11 x 8.5 aka a standard sheet of copy paper.

Cut two pieces out for the body and the bottom fin and one piece out for the top fin. If you want to add scales with the embroidery floss do that now and remember that those are the right sides so they need to be inside when you are sewing.

Pin the pieces together with the fins and the yarn on the inside then sew along the area marked on the pattern in a dotted line. This is a fan tailed gold fish so she needs to have the two tail fin pieces separate. Leave it open at the tail end so you can turn it right side out then stuff it and put the bell in. Sew up the back with a whip stitch or a back stitch.

Now comes the eyes. Cut small circles out of the black felt then sew them onto the pom poms. Next sew the pom poms onto the area where the eyes would be. This gives Goldie bug eyes like any good fancy gold fish should have.

Now onto attaching her to the fishing rod. I didn't have any dowels around when I made this project but I had just eaten some Chinese take out so I had a pair of chop sticks. I secured them with the flat ends together using tape then I strengthened them with a straw over the place where they were joined. I used blue painters tape there but you could use the duct tape as well. Tape over it several times to make it stronger.

I used gray duct tape because I couldn't find my pretty duct tape but with all the crazy colors and patterns out there you could use any color you want. I taped the string down first to make sure it would be secure while I was covering the chop sticks. I put the tape on at a diagonal so it would cover the sticks with a little more ease but I still had to finesse it a bit to get it flat and to cover the sticks.

Iron Craft Challenge 7 Midas Touch

2011-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

This weeks Iron Craft challenge was to create something using metallic gold. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I don't like gold. I decided to be a rebel and do two projects one that was gold in name only and one using metallic gold. The rebellious project is a goldfish string toy for The Cat. I'll be doing a tute for it later this week so keep your peepers peeled for that.

For the other Project I stayed true to the challenge theme and used some gold yarn I picked up in a bag of random yarns at a thrift store. I had never done plastic canvas before but I had a few sheets that I used for billed crocheted hats. I decided that I would use this challenge to learn something new so I made a simple cube box using the gold yarn. I like the dimension that the plastic canvas gives and I'm going to get supplies to do some more projects in the future.

Easy Homemade Peach Cobbler

2011-02-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

I remember my aunts peach cobbler being one of my favorite things to eat when I was a kid. As an adult I have tried to mimic her recipe but the only two ingredients I know it contained are peaches and canned biscuits. I haven't ever gotten her version right so I looked up some recipes online and found that most use something like a cake batter instead of a dumpling. I decided to try my hand at something like that but I used the base for my muffin recipes instead of cake batter. This would be good served with ice cream but I used homemade whipped cream, that was The Mans favorite part.

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can of peaches drained liquid reserved (if you get halves you'll have to cut them up into spear shapes.)
1/2 cup of milk
5 tbsp melted butter
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsps granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp each of baking powder and soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350-375 degrees and butter an 8 x 8 baking dish. Mix together the flour, soda, powder and salt then set it aside. Beat together the 1/2 cup of sugar, butter, milk and egg. Now mix the wet with the dry in small batches. You want the consistency to be like cake batter so if the batter is too dry add some juice from the peaches until it loosens up a bit. Now pour all of the batter into the baking dish and top with the drained peaches. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the top and bake it for 30 - 35 minutes until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before you eat it because hot peaches are like molten lava. Top it with either whipped cream or ice cream, both are better homemade.

Crocheted Snowflake Pillow Cover

2011-02-10T03:27:00.000-08:00

This weeks Iron Craft challenge was to make something using the theme "winter." I decided to try crocheting an envelope pillow case and embroidering some snowflakes onto it. I used one skein of Red Heart Super Saver in Aran (color a) and one in Shaded Dusk (color b) an I hook and a tapestry needle.

With color a chain 51 then single crochet in the second chain from the hook and each chain across. Row 1 chain 1 single crochet in each single crochet across until the piece measures 28 inches. Fasten off and weave in the ends.

Now measure eight inches from either side and using the contrasting yarn mark off a square to indicate where the center of the pillow is. Don't fasten this yarn down because in the end you'll pull it out. It is just a guide to show you where you can embroider.

Using the tapestry needle and color b embroider your image onto the pillow. The crochet forms a bit of a grid but it isn't exact so some of your lines will end up being a little bit like zigzags but it will be symmetrical.

Now with the piece inside out sew it together. It works the same way the envelope pillow case is done. Flip it inside out and then put it on the 12 inch pillow form.

I'm thinking of making another one of these and giving them as a wedding gift. I might get stingy and keep them for myself though.

Hi, My Name Is Chris and I'm a Craft Nerd.

2011-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Most people don't get terribly excited over any kind of book, especially not a vintage craft book, but I'm not most people. Yesterday I received the book 429 Great Gifts To Make All Year Around for Just 10¢ to $10. I got really excited when I realized that was what my mail man had delivered to me. There are a ton of nifty looking projects in there that could be easily updated, some don't actually need any updating at all. I think I even found a few projects The Man might like to make. I'm going to make a few of the projects from this book and blog them because it is just too fun to not share. I think my first project is going to be an embellished T-Shirt for one of my nieces and then some toys for my great nephew.

Felt Friends Catnip Toys

2011-02-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to blog the catnip toy tute. A friend of ours was here over the weekend and The Man and I spent Sunday cleaning together. We are such and exciting couple no?

Anyway onto the felt. I took a few picks of Mr. Bun Bun while I was making him but not enough so I decided to make him a girlfriend so I could get enough pictures to use. Mr. Bun Bun is now living in sin behind the couch with Tina Turtle. To make these friends you will need some felt, a needle with a small eye, embroidery floss, good scissors, stuffing, catnip, a bell, a pom pom, some pins and your pattern.

First things first, you need a pattern. I drew one on my paint program but if you want to free hand it just draw two hearts and put them together with the pointed ends facing each other so that they look like this. Print it out so that it has the dimensions on the pattern then cut it out. The same shape works for both animals but Mr. Bun Bun gets the ears and Tina Turtle doesn't.

Now fold over your felt so that you get two layers of felt and pin the pattern so that the bottom is directly on the fold. Cut it and then remove the pattern and repin the felt together to sew. Sew it up with a coordinating color thread or embroidery floss and make sure it is sewn tightly so that the catnip can't come out at the seams.

Leave an opening near the back to turn it right side out and stuff it. Fill it up about half way making sure to pack the stuffing in tightly then add the catnip. Stuff it the rest of the way and then carefully sew up the back with a whip stitch.

If you are adding ears to the animal like Mr. Bun Bun then you would pin them to the inside and sew them into the seam. To make a face you would use french knots for eyes and whatever stitch you want for the mouths. I used a satin stitch for Mr. Bun Buns mouth and nose and just a plain stem stitch for Tina Turtles mouth. You will also need a pom pom for Mr. Bun Buns tail. Just sew it on his bottom with a good secure stitch the pom pom will hide the thread.

Now if you want to sew on any applique shapes like Mr. Bun Buns heart or Tina Turtles shell spots you will cut the shapes out and then use a blanket stitch to applique them on.

The Cat loves these things and I have a whole zoo planned for him. I think that without the catnip they would make neat little toys for kids and even maybe a good first sewing project for a youngin.

Felt Embroidered and Appliqued Key Chain or Luggage Tag

2011-02-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

These are the instructions for making the felt key chain like the one I made for The Man for his Valentines Day gift. Since I made the key chain without taking pics I had to make a new one to do the tutorial. Since he doesn't need another key chain I decided I'd make a luggage tag for The Mom because she will be going to Germany to visit The Brother and Family soon. ;) (Yes they all sound capitalized in my head as if they are titles.)

To get started you'll need some felt in various colors, a good sharp pair of scissors, some pins, a key ring, a pencil, a scrap sheet of paper, something round to make a template with, a two inch long piece of inch wide ribbon, an embroidery needle and some embroidery floss. If you don't want to free hand a design you can also find something on the internet to print or look in a coloring book.

The first thing you need to do is make your pattern. Trace your round object onto some scrap paper then cut it out. I used a candle that measured 2.5 inches across at the mouth for the key chain and a cup that measured 3.75 inches across the top for the luggage tag. Fold over the felt with enough room to lay the circle a half inch from the folded edge. I marked a notch on my template the width of my ribbon so I could make sure my tab would cover it up.

Now cut it out making sure to leave the tab connecting the two circles together in the middle. It is going to look something like a cross between a barbell and Elton Johns glasses. That tab in the middle is what is going to attach to the key ring, the ribbon is just for stabilizing it and making the tab stronger. You will want to cut out your shapes for the applique the same way only you won't use two layers.

Now you need to check your shapes and figure out what layout you want to use. I did a purple flower with a green leaf under it and an orange center. I did this so that I could make sure that all of the pieces would fit onto the circle and work out where they would go before I started stitching them down.

I used a basic back stitch embroidery stitch here to stitch the pieces down and add some design to it by putting in veins, I also used a french knot in the middle to make some dots. The more stitching you use the more secure it will be but don't go over board with stitches. I also used the same back stitch to stitch her initials onto the backside of the tag. If you are putting letters on it I recommend lightly writing them onto the felt with a marker of the same or close to the same color as the floss you will be using.

Now you need to sew the ribbon onto the key ring so that it won't move while you are stitching the felt together around it. That isn't a very good pic but you get the idea of it. The stitch you use doesn't matter because no one will see it. All that matters is that it is secure on the key ring.

Next thing you gotta do is get the ring in the middle tab there. I rolled up the initialed side and put it through the ring. The appliqued side is too thick. Now you need to stitch the two sides together. You could pin them to make sure they don't shift while you are sewing but I find that felt sticks to itself so I don't need pins.

When you are starting your first stitch with a new piece of floss you should hide the knot between the layers. I don't know what the name of the stitch I used for the tag is but a regular back stitch has a sloppy side which I figured out with the key chain. Which ever way you decide to stitch it together is fine as long as it is neat on both sides.

Also remember to position the ribbon under the tab while you stitch so that it is hidden. The ribbon makes the tab stronger than felt alone. If you were hanging heavy keys off of it or if it got pulled on often the felt alone might tear.

Stay tuned for the tutes for a felt catnip toy and the fold top felt bag.

Iron Craft Week 5 Challenge: Be Mine Valentines

2011-02-01T23:26:00.000-08:00

When I found out that this weeks Iron Craft challenge was Valentines I decided that I couldn't make just one, I had to make three. I made one for The Dog, one for The Cat and one for The Man because they all deserve a Valentine. I didn't set out meaning to use felt for all of the projects it just fit each one. I'll do tutes for all of these within the next week so if you like one check back to get the instructions.

The Dogs birthday is very close to Valentines Day so I decided that his could double as a birthday gift as well. I didn't make the doggy biscuits but I did make the gift bag they came in. I got inspired by a set of reusable snack bags I saw on angry chicken but I made mine out of felt and I hand sewed it. I made a cute red bow out of felt and sewed it on as well.

The Cat loves toys and catnip so the obvious choice for him was a catnip toy. This one is a bunny and we have named it Mr. Bun Bun. The Cat has been enjoying Mr. Bun Buns company for a few days now and I think I might make him a whole set of felty friends to go along with Mr. Bun Bun. I know he probably has a mousy friend in his future.

The Man was a little harder to find inspiration for. He is a guy after all and he doesn't really like the traditional Valentines Day sorts of things. Chocolate is always appreciated, heart shaped boxes, not so much. I wanted his Valentine to be useful so I finally decided on a key chain. I cut out a red heart and embroidered it onto black felt then embroidered I (heart) you on the other side.

I am really enjoying these Iron Craft challenges. They are fun and they make you stretch your creative muscles a bit. They are also a nifty way to share your creativity with others. If you haven't checked it out yet you should.

One Size Fits Most Water Bottle Sling

2011-02-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

Before today when I would go for a walk I would just carry my water bottle around. Now I don't have to because I made a sling to carry my bottle in that leaves my hands free to use my stop watch and my mp3 player. I just slip the handle around my wrist and go. I used worsted acrylic yarn and a J hook. Gauge isn't really important because it stretches to fit many kinds of bottles.

Ch 4 join with sl st to make a ring
Rnd 1 ch 4 (counts as a dc and ch 1 throughout) *dc in the ring ch1* repeat from * 8 times. Join with sl st in the third ch.
Rnd 2 ch4 *dc ch 1 twice in the ch space* repeat from * 8 times. dc ch 1 in the last space join with sl st to third chain
Rnd 3-12 ch 4 *dc ch1 in the next ch space* repeat 18 times join with sl st to third ch
Rnd 13 ch 1 sc in the first st then in each st and ch space around join with sl st
Handle ch1 sc in the next 5 sc ch1 turn repeat until it measures 8 inches. Fasten off and leave a long tail for stitching. Fold over and stitch it to the sc rnd several times to make it secure and strong. Tie off and weave in the ends.

Easy, Basic Tissue Cover

2011-01-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

I don't care how pretty the tissue companies try to make them, tissue boxes are ugly. I wanted to make my own but I couldn't find a pattern for a cover I like. I like things with clean lines and not a lot of frills or lace so I decided to make my own pattern.

I made my cover for the taller square box of tissues. I crochet tightly so if you make this you might want to measure your cover against the box you are going to use it with to make sure you are getting the gauge right. I used acrylic worsted weight yarn and a J hook with a gauge of 15 chs in 4 inches and 20 rows in 4 inches.

Ch 20 join with a sl st to form a ring being careful not to twist the chain.
Rnd 1: ch *1 sc in the next 4 chs, 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from * three times, join with a sl st.
Rnd 2: ch 1 sc in the next 4 scs 3 sc in the next sc, *sc in the next 6 scs, 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from* twice join with sl st.
Rnd 3: ch 1 sc in the next 4 sc 3 sc in the next sc, *sc in the next 8 sc 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from* twice join with sl st.
Rnd 4: ch 1 sc in the next 5 sc 3 sc in the next sc, *sc in the next 10 sc 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from * twice join with sl st.
Rnd 5: ch 1 sc in the next 6 sc 3 sc in the next sc, * sc in the next 12 sc 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from * twice join with sl st
Rnd 6: ch 1 sc in the next 7 sc 3 sc in the next sc * sc in the next 14 sc 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from * twice join with sl st
Rnd 7: ch1 sc in the next 8 sc 3 sc in the next sc, * sc in the next 16 sc 3 sc in the next sc* repeat from * twice join with sl st
Rnd 8: ch 1 sc in the back loop only of each each sc around, join with sl st
Rnd 9-32 ch l sc in both loops of each sc around join with sl st. On the last row fasten off and weave in your ends.

Crocheted Coffee/Cocoa Mug Cozy for Iron Craft

2011-01-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Iron Craft yet? It is located at http://theironcraft.blogspot.com/ and it is pretty nifty. Basically the site organizers come up with a challenge every week and the crafty person comes up with a way to make the project uniquely theirs. This week was challenge 4, Get Cozy aka make a coffee cozy. The Man (aka my husband) drinks a lot of coffee and I've been meaning to make one of those for him for quite a while and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get it done. I don't like coffee but in the cold months I do tend to drink a good bit of cocoa so I figured I'd make one for myself as well. I crocheted them with coffee colored yarn for The Man and a pretty pink, gray and black striping yarn for my own (I added a little bling to mine.)

I looked for a crochet pattern to make one but most of them were textured or bumpy and seemed like they would make the cup a little cumbersome to hold. The last thing I want when I'm holding a cup of scalding hot liquid is a loose grip on it so I opted to make a rather plain pattern that would be a little easier to hold. I used worsted weight acrylic yarn (about 1.5 oz) an I hook and a button, if you are using a regular button with holes you will also need a sewing needle and enough thread to sew it on if you are using a shank button you need a 6 to 8 inch piece of dental floss. I crochet tightly so measure the pattern against your favorite mug as well as keeping up with gauge. My gauge comes out to be 16 chs in 4 inches and 12 rows of the pattern in 4 inches.

Ch 4 join with a sl st to make a ring.

Rnd 1 Ch 2 9 HDC in the ring join with a sl st in the top of ch 2
Rnd 2 Ch 2 HDC in the same stitch 2 HDC in each stitch around join with a sl st at the top of ch 2
Rnd 3 Ch 2 HDC in the next st, 2 HDC in the next st * 1 HDC in the next stitch 2 HDC in the next stitch * repeat from * around join with sl st in the top of Ch 2
Rnd 4 Ch 2 1 HDC in the next st 2 HDC net st * HDC in the next 2 sts 2 HDC in the next st* repeat from * around join with sl in the top of Ch 2
Rnd 5 Ch 2, 1 HDC in the back loop only of each st around join with sl st at the top of ch 2
Rnd 6 Ch 2, 1 HDC in both loops of each stitch around
Rnd 7 Ch2 HDC in the next 35 st Ch 1 turn
Rnd 8-16 1 HDC in the next 36 sts Ch 1 turn
Rnd 17 1 HDC in the next 36 sts Ch 12 turn
Rnd 18 HDC in the 6th chain from hook (button hole formed) HDC in the next 6 Chs, HDC in the next 33 sts (if you are using a shank button thread a piece of floss through the shank and use it to pull up a loop of yarn through the shank then put it on the hook then work it like a regular HDC if you aren't using a shank button then just make a regular HDC here) HDC in the next 2 more stitches, fasten off and weave in the ends.

If you find an error or something in the pattern you don't get leave a comment and I'll correct it or explain it.

Here are some pics to help understand how to add a shank button.

Put the floss through the shank.

Use the floss to pull the yarn through the shank.

Put the loop onto the hook and finish like a HDC.

I Must Confess...

2011-01-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make, I only use acrylic and cotton yarn. I know I know, yarn snobs are looking down their noses at me this very minute. Some might even be leaving the page all together. I don’t really mind. At first I used acrylic because it was all I could get my hands on. I live in a small town without a lot of shopping resources. Since I was a newbie I didn‘t want to spend a lot buying yarn online when I couldn’t see it and feel it myself. I really wanted to try out the animal fibers and do some felting but alas I couldn’t find it anywhere locally. So this past fall I took some money given to me as a birthday gift and I traveled about sixty miles to the nearest craft store.

When I was there I found several different kinds of yarn from alpaca to wool and beyond. I thought I had hit the jackpot at first but then I realized none of these animal fibers were soft. I was expecting clouds and bunnies but I got sand paper and hay. Then when I had decided it couldn’t get worse it did, my hands started burning and turned bright red. I had never had a reaction to fabric and yarn before but I had never really handled any of these fibers either. My skin is really sensitive so much so that I avoid heavily perfumed and chemical filled products. Since I was grabbing skeins of every yarn there and feeling them up I couldn’t place which one caused the reaction.

What’s a girl to do then? I bought a bunch of soft lovely vibrant acrylic yarn to make an afghan with and a few variegated and striping acrylic yarns to play around with. I have almost completed my afghan, just down to the blocking and piecing. I used the variegated yarns to make some gifts at Christmas time. I have continued to buy acrylic yarn and I no longer look through animal fiber and felting patterns and projects. I suppose yarn snobs will always be yarn snobs but I have learned to appreciate the beauty of acrylic yarn and items that can be made from it.

Spicy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

2011-01-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ever look into your fridge and pantry and stare thinking I don't want anything that is in here? That is pretty much how I came up with this recipe. I was tired of every recipe I could make with what I had on hand so I came up with some thing new. I kind of did a smash up recipe with two different recipes. It has elements from a chicken and rice casserole and from chicken spaghetti. In the end we all loved it and I'll be making it again.

So onto the recipe you will need:
1 lb of cooked chicken shredded or cubed (I roasted two chicken breasts but you could use left over rotisserie or maybe thighs any chicken will work.)
1 lb of pasta cooked and drained (again anything will work here, I used macaroni because I had it but you can use whatever you have on hand.)
1 lb of frozen broccoli (fresh would probably work too but you might need to cook it a bit before it goes in the casserole.)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (divided equally)
1 5 oz can of evaporated milk (you could probably use cream as well)
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 10.5 oz can of cream of celery soup
1 10 oz can of diced tomatoes and green chilies drained (I'm thinking of adding an extra can the next time I make it.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix the soup, milk and mayo together well to make a sauce then toss in all of the other ingredients except 1 cup of cheese. Pour it all into a casserole dish or a large glass baking dish then top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Top with hot sauce if you want an extra kick. It makes about 8 servings.

New Look

2011-01-23T14:55:00.000-08:00

I decided that my blog needed a new look after finding five or six other blogs that use the basic blogger background I was using. So I went about getting a new look. This is a piece of my own artwork that I sent through a pattern maker in a photo editing program. Let me know what you think about the background and keep a watch for a banner coming soon.

DIY Gelatin and Pudding Cups

2011-01-22T15:39:00.000-08:00

By a show of hands who likes Gelatin? Me too. What I don't like is paying three times more for prepackaged gelatin cups than you would for homemade ones. I know what you're thinking, prepackaged is fast, easy and convenient. Have you ever actually made gelatin from the package? It takes ten minutes prep work and 4 hours in the fridge. You can make a double batch on Sunday and have plenty for lunch throughout the week. You can do the same for pudding cups as well and they take even less time. So in case you haven't ever made gelatin from a package before I am going to show you how.

You will need: gelatin of your choosing (I'm using lime) fruit of your choosing, drained (pineapple for me) 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of cold water, a large mixing bowl with a spout or preferably a large 4 cup measuring cup, 6 small 1/2 cup storage cups with lids (more on those in a bit) and a clear spot in the fridge for them to land.

First off you want to boil the water, if you don't want to stand around for hours waiting on it to boil I'd suggest using your very smallest pan to boil it in and use a lid. It takes me about seven minutes to boil water in my little four cup sauce pan. While the water is boiling set up your assembly line. Put out six of your cups, mine are made by the company with the happy name and they come in an eight pack for $2.50 but you might be able to find something similar at a dollar store in your area. Just make sure they have good tight lids.

Put about a tablespoon of your fruit in the bottom of each cup. By now your water should be almost boiling so you should do your prep for making the gelatin. Put the gelatin powder in the bottom of your bowl or cup then measure out your one cup of cold water. Once it reaches a boil measure out and pour your one cup of boiling water onto the gelatin mix. Stir it for two minutes to completely dissolve the gelatin mix then add the cold water and stir it to cool it down.

Now you need to pour the gelatin into each cup, being careful not to over fill them. The first time I did this I had five cups and wound up making a mess when I put the lids on, under filling is better than over filling. Now put the lids on the cups and stash them in the fridge for four hours.

For pudding you need two cups of cold milk and the package of instant pudding. Whisk them together for two minutes then pour them into each cup, you'll get four or five pudding cups. Fill them as much as you can so the lid sits right on top of the pudding, that will prevent a pudding skin. Stash them in the fridge for five minutes before you eat them.

My cost came out to be about $.16 per cup which is a third of the cost of the prepackaged gelatin cups. $.34 cents might seem like nothing by itself but if you eat the prepackaged cups often you could save a lot of money. If you do one in a lunch every week day in a year you will save about $90. The pudding costs about $.17 and the savings you see will be very similar to the gelatin cups.

So now that you know how easy it is give it a try. If you do try any combos of gelatin flavors and fruit leave me a comment to tell me what you did. You can also leave a comment if you have any questions about the process or any suggestions for future posts.

Long Time No Post

2011-01-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

I have neglected the blog for a while thinking we were going to have to move by December. Now we don't know if we have to move or not and I'm tired of waiting to find out so I have decided to start posting again. I'm not going to stop if I don't have to this time. I've missed crafting and coming up with new stuff to do to share on here. Anywhoodles the first tute of the new year will be on it's way shortly but I thought I'd pop in to catch up on what was happening.

Bloody hand window clings.

2010-10-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Every year the Dollar Tree has bloody hand print window clings that are really awesome. I usually buy them but they fall off of my windows several times before the holiday gets here. This year I wanted something that would stay so I mixed up some modge podge glass paint I learned to make from Gingerbread Snowflakes and made my own bloody hand prints.

You need about two table spoons of modge podge about 30 drops of food coloring to get a good red. Mix it up well with a skewer or tooth pick, it will look pink.

Now go to the window you want to put the clings on. Dip your hand into the modge podge and get it good and covered. Now put your hand on the window in what ever way you want. You could smear it but it won't look as defined.

You can also use the mix to put words on your windows. Just dip your finger into the paint and write what you want on the glass.

Ghoulish Garbage Bags

2010-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend I saw some cute leaf bags printed with ghosts. I thought they were a neat alternative to the pumpkin leaf bags so I seriously considered buying them. The big problem was that they only came 2 to a bag for $1 and we have a ton of trees thus a ton of leaves. I just couldn't bring myself to pay a whole dollar for two cheap plastic bags. So I decided I would DIY some bags.

I used basic plain white trash bags without the drawstring at the top and a king sized permanent marker. The cheaper the bag the better because the more expensive textured bags would come out looking odd.

First unfold the bag and lay it flat with the open end facing you. The picture shows the bag open slightly but only to show that it is the open side.

Next fold up at least three inches from the bottom and tuck it under the bag. This is the portion of the bag that will be tied and anything drawn here would be lost.

Next you want to draw out your design. If you are going to draw the outlines and fill them in be sure to let the lines dry otherwise you will smear them. If you smear the ink you can wipe up your mistake if you act fast using a cleaning wipe.

The next step is to fill the bag with leaves until it is full and tie it off. You can use these guys as is or you can use them as toppers. You can also stack them to make tall ghosts or goblins. The best designs are going to be black and white unless you find colored king sized markers. If you do find them colored please drop me a line to let me know where so I can buy some for myself.

Bloody Welcome Mat

2010-10-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

I recently saw a white bath mat with bloody foot prints all over it for eighteen dollars. Seriously its almost twenty bucks for what amounts to a ruined bath mat. After I picked my jaw up off of the floor I decided to do a welcome mat version of this on the cheap.

I found a good plain ole welcome mat on clearance for $2 at the Dollar General and had some red paint on hand. I talked my husband into helping me because he has skinny feet that I thought would look better but you can easily do this on your own. It is as simple as stepping into a puddle of paint and then stepping onto the mat.

I recommend doing this inside if its chilly. We did it outside which my husband griped about endlessly because it was freezing and he was barefoot and we had to clean his feet out there as well. You will need to have some way of cleaning your feet handy (lol) otherwise you'll be stuck with painted feet and no way to go anywhere until it dries.

Lumpy Primate Muffins

2010-09-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

I really like ice cream and my favorite flavor is made by those guys from Vermont. This muffin recipe mimics that flavor. It is a banana muffin with walnuts and chocolate chips and it is awesome. I ate two of them fresh from the oven and then another one once they cooled. I think this is my favorite recipe so far. So enjoy it and drop me a line if you try it or any of my other recipes and let me know how you like them.

4 very ripe bananas

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1/2 a cup of granulated sugar

5 tbsps of butter softened

1 egg lightly beaten

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (my oven runs a little hot so I usually back off from the heat. If your oven is a little cold you might wanna go for 375) grease 10 muffin cups or line them with paper. Mash the bananas really well with a fork. It should look almost like a peanut butter consistency. Thoroughly mix the banana mash, egg, butter and sugar. Mix it until it is really well combined. Next combine all of the dry ingredients together and mix them well. Add the dry to the wet and mix it just until it is combined. Toss in the chocolate chips and nuts and mix it just enough to get them incorporated. It makes a thick batter that is almost like a wet dough. Now put an even amount of the batter in the cups and bake for about 20 minutes. Baking time will vary but you will know it is done when you put a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Yields 10 muffins.

Creepy Cloth

2010-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

I've seen a lot of this stuff lately and its ridiculously priced. When you think about it that stuff at the store for 6$ a bag is basically just ripped up cheese cloth that has been dyed to look dirty. So I got some cheese cloth at my local Dollar General store and dyed it myself. All you need is some cheese cloth, left over coffee, and a pair of scissors. (A cat assistant is helpful too but not needed.)

So you start off by opening up the package of cheese cloth. For those who don't know what it is you can find it either in the food gadget area of most stores or sometimes in the craft area. It will come on a roll or wrapped around a piece of cardboard. It kind of looks like medical gauze.

To dye it to make it look dirty you just need to soak it in either tea or coffee. Coffee is my husbands favorite drink so I made a pot for him before he went to work to get the left overs. I opened up the cheese cloth and dunked it down into a bowl of coffee and let it soak for about an hour. Then I took it out and hung it up on the shower curtain rod in my bathroom so it could dry.

Once it was dry I took it down and unfolded it to its full width (about 3 feet across.) I hung it up in the door way to my library and went after it with a pair of scissors to shred it. I'll be using it as a back drop curtain kind of thing on my porch but you could use this technique to make a ghost, or a mummy or even a costume. My project is finished but you could take this idea and use it as a starting point for many other projects.

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

2010-09-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

It's official, I love muffins. This is my third muffin recipe and I'm hooked. I now look for things to try out new recipes with because I love em so much. I would rather have a muffin that pretty much any other sweet. Well maybe not chocolate chip cookies but I make those from scratch too. These are really good. They remind me a lot of cinnamon raisin bread but they are really moist. Raisin bread is always dry. I think maybe if I were being a little bad I might add a glaze to them but they don't really need it, they are plenty sweet on their own. They would also be good for breakfast or maybe even a snack.

1 17oz jar of apple butter
1 6oz package of raisins

1/2 a cup of granulated sugar

5 tbsps of butter softened

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 egg lightly beaten

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (my oven runs a little hot so I usually back off from the heat. If your oven is a little cold you might wanna go for 375) grease 12 muffin cups or line them with paper. Start off by thoroughly mixing the apple butter, vanilla, egg, butter and sugar. Mix it until it is really well combined. Next combine all of the dry ingredients together and mix them well. Add the dry to the wet and mix it just until it is combined. Toss in the raisins and mix it just enough to get them incorporated. It makes a thick batter that is almost like a wet dough. Now put an even amount of the batter in the cups and bake for about 25 minutes. Baking time will vary but you will know it is done when you put a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Yields 12 muffins.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

2010-09-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

They say necessity is the mother of invention and it has led me to invent another muffin recipe. I had a jar of unsweetened apple sauce that none of us were eating. I swear they take sugar out of that stuff because it was actually a little sour. I tried putting cinnamon and sugar into the sauce and eating it that way but it was still icky. I decided tonight to do a muffin with it to see how that turned out. I really like it. It isn't terribly sweet but it is good. They are pretty sensible so they would make a good breakfast. They would also be good to give to teachers so that it is something that isn't a dust catcher but fits with the whole apple for teacher thing. Where did that get started anyway?

1 1/2 cup of apple sauce

1/2 a cup of granulated sugar

5 tbsps of butter softened

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

Cinnamon sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (my oven runs a little hot so I usually back off from the heat. If your oven is a little cold you might wanna go for 375) grease 12 muffin cups or line them with paper. Start off by thoroughly mixing the apple sauce, vanilla, egg, butter and sugar. Mix it until it is really well combined. Next combine all of the dry ingredients together and mix them well. Add the dry to the wet and mix it just until it is combined. It makes a thick batter. Now put an even amount of the batter in the cups and bake for about 20 minutes. Baking time will vary but you will know it is done when you put a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar while they are still hot. Yields 12 muffins.

Jar o' Lanterns

2010-09-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

I dunno about anyone else but I hate carving pumpkins into Jack o' Lanterns. They feel and smell gross and they start to mold faster than the failed science experiments in the back of my fridge. I like the tradition of a Jack o' Lantern though, so I decided that I would make some faux ones to decorate my porch with this Halloween. I started by gathering up an assortment of glass jars about a month ago. I even bought things in a glass jar that I would normally have bought in a plastic jars or cans to get the jars for this project. BTW buying the glass jar is actually cheaper sometimes... who knew. Anyway the other materials needed for the project are contact paper, scissors, marker or pen, votive candles and orange spray paint .

First you need clean all the jars and scrape off the labels. I found that if I soaked the jars in really hot water with a little soap in it that I could easily scrape off the labels with a scrubber. Let them dry thoroughly before you try to paint them. Next you need to make faces with the contact paper. I held the paper up to the jar to get an idea of how much space I had to work with then I free handed a Jack o' Lantern face onto the contact paper and cut it out. Peel and stick the face onto the jar in the arrangement that you like.

Next you need to spray paint it. The paint I got is fast drying which is awesome. For it you only had to wait 1 minute between coats but for regular paint (which I couldn't find in orange) you would wait ten minutes between coats. Spray an even coat all around the jar then repeat until you have it completely coated.

When the paint is dry, mine took ten minutes but most take one hour, peel off the contact paper and look at your lovely Jar o' Lantern. I couldn't get a good "night time" shot of these but you put votive candle inside of them so that they glow like a real Jack o' Lantern.

Peanut Butter Banana Nutter Muffins

2010-08-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe came out of frustration. I had saved two bananas so that they could ripen for me to make some muffins with. When I figured they were ripe enough I went to the net looking for a recipe. I kept running into a couple of problems though. First off most of the recipes I found needed more bananas than I had. If it called for just two bananas it also called for milk which I was out of. So I thought for a while about what I could do. I remembered a basic muffin recipe I had come up with a while back and figured I could tweak it enough to suit my needs for this batch of muffins. I figured that peanut butter would be as dense as bananas so I got the jar out. The peanut butter is a stronger flavor at first but then the banana starts to come through and it winds up tasting like a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas mashed

1/2 a cup of peanut butter

1/2 a cup of granulated sugar

5 tbsps of butter softened

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 egg lightly beaten

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of chopped nuts (I used walnuts but peanuts or pecans would be good too)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (my oven runs a little hot so I usually back off from the heat. If your oven is a little cold you might wanna go for 375) grease 12 muffin cups or line them with paper. Start off by thoroughly mixing the banana, vanilla and peanut butter then add in the egg butter and sugar. Mix it until it is really well combined. Next combine all of the dry ingredients together and mix them well. Add the dry to the wet and mix it just until it is combined. It makes a thick batter and it kinda looks like whipped peanut butter. Now put an even amount of the batter in the cups and bake for about 20 minutes. Baking time will vary but you will know it is done if when you put a toothpick in the center it comes out clean. Yields 12 muffins.

Chinese spiral udate.

2010-08-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

I got some superglue to try out with the spiral and just made one with it. It doesn't seem as sturdy as the one I made with craft glue but it looks a lot neater. I think I need to get gel super glue and that it will work the best. Anyway I discovered a new tip to use while making these. If you have a few clips of any kind like clothes pins or a chip bag clips use those to hold your sets of threes and sixes together. That made it go a lot faster because while one was drying I could move onto the next instead of holding it till it dried. My clips only worked for the smaller sets though. Also I took a few more pictures of the process.


This is how you put the ribbon on. The next color goes onto that flat part of the ribbon.


Use clips and let the fold of the ribbon go in between the top two sticks.

This is the latest spiral. Feels less stable but looks neater. Will see how it looks after a few days outside.

Chinese spiral AKA Spinning twirly illusion type thing. What the heck are these things called?

2010-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00


That is my lap desk I love it it is the coolest craft tool I have.

Yesterday after I took my niece to an eye doc appointment we stopped for ice cream and a trip to the dollar store. I found all kinds of stuff to get, mostly for them. For myself I got some Huge Markers, no really that is what the package says and also they are pretty big, some regular permanent markers, some sand paper, a nifty water bottle for the dog for when we go on walks and some awesome rainbow craft sticks.

I knew the second I saw the sticks what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to make one of those spinner things I often see hanging in peoples yards. I just didn't really know how. When I got home I tried and tried to find a blog post, a tutorial or a video or something on the net to explain to me how to make one of those things. I just couldn't figure out what to search for because I don't know what they are called. So like any good DIYer I just figured it out on my own.

At first I started using E-6000 but it was too fumey and it takes too long to dry. So then I got my fast drying all purpose craft glue, got it at the DS a week or two ago. It worked a lot better but even with it drying faster this took me several hours to make. I have plenty more craft sticks though so I'm gonna try super glue on a new one, will post my results then.

So you will need some craft sticks, I got these already colored but if you get plain ones you can color them with sharpies, or if you want your spinner to be one color just spray paint it when you're done. You will also need some glue and a longish piece of ribbon.

So to start off you want to figure out how you want this to look. If you are using colors remember your pattern because this goes together in steps not one stick after the other. For example I was doing a spectrum starting at red and ending with violet so I did red, orange and yellow together and then green blue and purple together. Now you need to glue. I started off putting one stick on top of the other and after a full spectrum that took half an hour realized this wasn't going to work. The reason it took so long is because I had to hold them together for every dab of glue until it got tacky enough that they wouldn't fall off. So after that I decided I would try doing it in batches. I decided to do three because my color scheme split into three and that number would make it easier for me to get my pattern right.

First you need a hanger so just for the first part you will glue a piece of ribbon to your very first stick. I Folded my ribbon in half and put the loop end flat against a dab of glue in the middle of the stick. This wraps up and then I tied it to make my hanger. Then put more glue on the flat loop part of the ribbon and put the second stick on. Glue the third stick down. Once you have the glue on them you need to skew them a little bit. This skewing is what makes the spiral. Hold these for about a minute until it gets tacky. Do that with all of your sticks (except for the ribbon that is just for the first stick to make a hanger.) Make sure that you are skewing them all in the same direction.

When you have all of your threes made and they are dry enough to handle them without undoing the skew, you need to glue them into sixes. Put a dab of glue on and then stick the two pieces together in the direction of the skew. If you are using colors be mindful of your pattern. I wound up with a few sixes that were backwards. Again hold these for about a minute each until it gets tacky, let them dry until they can be handled again. When you can handle them again glue the sixes into twelves. Once the twelves are dry glue them all together. I used thirty six sticks but you could use as many as you wanted. If you make it longer figure out what will be a manageable number of multiples for you to glue together. Also if you're using a clear drying glue it's okay to let it leak out onto the sides. I think it might help hold it all together. Just be sure it is flat when it dries. Big globs would probably be noticeable.

So my finished product was not perfect. Looking closely you can see a few place that didn't skew right and some places where it skewed a little too far. Once it is done and all glued together and hanging you can't really see the imperfections. Now that I know what I'm doing I'll definitely be neater for the next one but this is a pretty forgiving project. Since it is so easy and I just used regular non toxic glue I think it would be a neat project for kids to do. They may need help when they get to the larger stacks because their hands might not be big enough. So what do you think?

Update: I posted this over on DSC's Facebook page asking what they are called and a poster there informed me that it is a Chinese spiral. I of course found several tutes after I searched for that. Gonna go read em and see if I did it right :D

Modular no nail art display.

2010-07-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

My husband collects comic books. There is just one small problem with his collecting of comic books, he doesn't do anything with them. He brings them home and leaves them where ever and they get trampled, some get torn and some get lost. This morning while I was cleaning out a closet a bit I found these black pocket things with clear fronts and holes on the top for hanging something. I'm pretty certain that they were meant to be used as a display of something. I just dunno what they were meant to display. Anywhoodles I figured he could use them to not only organize and protect his comic books but show them off as well.

After I saw these I got a little jealous and wanted some for my own. To display some art pages from my favorite magazine. I have been collecting them for a while knowing I would eventually find a way to display them. Alas There were only eleven of the hanger things and we have no clue where they came from so I can't get more.

I know, that you know, that I knew in a matter of seconds how I could make my own version of this and make them more personalized. So if you wanna make your own set you are going to need some page protectors that go into a three ring binder, since it is back to school season already you will probably find them cheap. I already had some. Ribbon of some kind that either matches your room or your art. I used curling gift wrap type ribbon but you could certainly use a light weight fabric ribbon. Clear packing tape and smaller clear tape (the smaller is optional.) A ruler and scissors for measuring and cutting the ribbon. And last but not at all least art, I am using these to display my collection of art pages from Realms of Fantasy magazine.

So first off you need to cut two pieces of ribbon that are about an inch longer than your page protector and two that are about an inch wider.

Next you need to cut off a piece of tape that is wide enough to go right up to the edges of the side you are covering but not go over. Place that piece onto the ribbon so that there are equal amounts of tape on either side of the ribbon.

Now you need to position the ribbon right onto the edge of the page protector without going over. Tape it down on both sides.

Now you need to tape down the flaps. This is where the smaller tape comes in handy. On the closed side of the protector your going to just tape the ribbon flap down. On the open side you will need to tuck the ribbon into the pocket and tape it to the inside of the protector.

Repeat the same step on both of the sealed sides. On the open side you work it basically the same way but instead of just folding the tape that holds the ribbon over to the back you need to tuck it in like you did with the flap earlier. It may take a bit of maneuvering but the tape should come back up easily if you need to reposition it on the plastic.

Now you just need to add your art and hang it on the wall. You hang them with the same tape you put them together with. Just make a loop with tape (see pic 1) and put one on each of the corners of the back side of the protector. You will also notice in this pic that there is a margin on the left side. If your art is smaller than the page protector you are going to have to push it over to the side that would go into a binder. If you don't do this the wall will be showing through.

Finally you just need to figure out how you want them grouped and hang them on your wall. I am displaying these in my library but the method would make a good art display for any place that you aren't allowed to use nails in the wall to hang art, like an apartment or a dorm.

Works well for comic books too.


pic 1

Look at my cute mini tape dispenser :D

Envelope pillow cover/ Awesome sewing videos

2010-07-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is an update on my adventures in sewing. I have accomplished a little bit in the sewing world so far. I read about a lot of skills in my Dummies guide but it wasn't really real for me. I realized about half way through the book that reading a book to teach me how to sew was going to work about as well as reading a book to learn how to crochet did. In a word it didn't. I was having the same problem as before. The flat drawing doesn't translate to anything tangible in my head.

So once I figure out that the book wasn't going to help me as much as I thought it would I did the same thing I did when I wanted to learn how to crochet. I found a video on youtube. A series of videos actually. They are made by Vanessa at craftygemini.com. If you are a newbie like me I recommend you go to her channel on youtube and sort her videos by date added. Start at the beginning. She shares so much useful information from pressing -not ironing- to making cutting easier. I felt pretty confident just from watching her do it. She is a really good teacher. She doesn't just make it look easy. She so thoroughly and thoughtfully explains the steps that if you follow her and listen to all of her advice it becomes easy.

I have watched all of her videos and decided that her envelope pillow cover was going to be my first real project. I tried her bib one the minute I saw the video (before I watched them all) and I messed it up. I'll be making a new one soon though, now that I know a few things.

So far I have made two of these covers. One for each of my two middle nieces, Erica and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was here spending the night when I made her pillow. She took off with it before I got a picture of it but I took a pic of a scrap of the fabric I used. Hers was a pink and black tiger print and Erica's is a purple (she calls it rockstar purple) leopard print.

I am also going to make some Elvis Presly ones. I found some fabric in the $2 dollar bin that has Elvis in various poses from Jail House Rock on colored backgrounds. I'm going to get some plain black fabric to be the backs of these. My brother and my aunt are huge Elvis fans so they will be getting a set each.

I had to make the pillows that went with this project because I couldn't find any pillow forms. I cut two 13x13 inch pieces of fabric from some white cotton I had had forever. I stitched along all sides leaving an opening for stuffing. I stuffed then I hand sewed it shut. They aren't as flat and uniform as the ones you can buy ready made. I'm sure there is a way to make them flat and uniform but I dunno what it is. If anyone does leave me a comment please :D

Felt should be a controlled substance....

2010-07-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Because it is addictive. After making Mr. Dude (my pin cushion) I decided to play around with all the felt I had. After all there were 24 sheets of it and I had to find a use for it other than padding out my supply stash right?

Anyway I took a trip over to etsy and typed in felt. Man there are a gazillion felt things on there. I found some cute little clip style hair barrettes and thought they looked easy enough so I took to cutting some felt. My first attempt was a strawberry. I used E-6000 glue for the construction. It's ok but it looks like a thing a third grader would make.

So after that I decided that I was going to have to make it a little more tailored and sew it together. That worked out a little better. I cut small flower shapes and layered them up with a pom pom in the middle. As I said it was better but it looks a little empty.

Which brings me to my third attempt. For this one I cut large flower shapes and layered them up. This one is my favorite of all the ones I've made so far. I don't think any of them are really the kind of thing an older teen or adult would wear but I think tweens and younger kids would love them. I also think that they would be really cute embellishments on gift packaging and make an added bonus to the gift.

Anywhoodles I don't think that I'll tire of these little guys for quite a while. Good thing I know and love a few tweens and little girls :D

P.S added craft tip. Out of tracing paper or dunno where to get it? Use wax paper. It is see through and a lot sturdier than tracing paper. Just be sure to draw on matte side.

Stick a pin in him cause he is done...

2010-07-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

As promised I'm delivering a fast, cute and easy hand sewn pin cushion. He is really cute and I think I'm now addicted to felt and pin cushions because I have a ton of ideas for then now :) Without further ado I give you my Voodoo doll pin cushion:

He is made from plain old craft felt that you get in packs of 12 colorful sheets that are 8X11" I believe. An added bonus is that the brand I got is made from 100% post consumer recycled bottles. So not only is he cute and functional he is also environmentally conscious. Other materials you will need are heavy thread like crochet thread, a small amount of embroidery floss (optional) paper for a template and some stuffing of your choice. The thread I used is recycled from my cat's food bags. They are sewn shut with this red thread. I have been saving it for a while figuring I could use it eventually.

So to start off you need to make your template. I'm possibly going to be adding one here but if not free hand it or find a gingerbread man shape and print one out. It needs to fit onto a piece of felt folded in half. Trace it onto your felt with a sharpie. Be sure you aren't wasting felt you can use the scrap for other projects later.

Now you need to cut it out but to make it easier pin it first. This will keep the two sides from shifting causing unevenness in your cuts. Pin inside the lines like you would if sewing so that you don't have to re-pin later. Now cut it out using good sharp scissors. Cut on the inside of the marker line so it disappears.

Here is a shot of the thread I used.

Before you start sewing you need to put his face on him. I used plain black embroidery floss and sewed on x's for eyes and a stitched up mouth. You can get creative with the face if you want. I thought about google eyes and other embellishments or drawing the face on with markers but to me a voodoo doll is supposed to look primitive. With that in mind I went with simple stitching.

Once you have the face on you need to start sewing him up. I dunno if the stitch I used has a name or not but I did it that way to keep up the primitive look. As long as he is together and the stuffing is in no danger of falling out stitch it what ever way you like. Leave a small opening for stuffing. Fill him up pretty well. The sturdier he is the better he is gonna hold onto pins. Once you have him full stitch him up and clean up your threads. Now viola you have a voodoo doll pin cushion.

Here is the template. Print it with the dimensions 8 inches tall and 5.5 inches wide.

Cocoa Krispies Treats

2010-07-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

I like baking cookies but in the summer when it is really hot no one wants to have the oven on long enough to bake 5 dozen cookies. So what's a girl to do when she wants some home made chocolaty goodness? Cocoa Pebbles (or their generic counterpart) and marshmallows came to mind today. The recipe I used is a standard Rice Krispies treat recipe. Since I'm a big Good Eats fan I'll do this AB style.

Hardware: One sauce pan in the two to four quart range. One large bowl, bigger than you think you need so that you have room to really move the cereal around when you are stirring. One silicone spatula that can take high heat. One 8X8 baking dish. And last but not least, because if you skip it you won't be getting your Cocoa Krispies Treats out of the pan, some non stick spray. Yes it is hardware since we are using it as a tool rather than an ingredient.

Software: Three cups of Cocoa Pebbles or any generic counterpart, 1 1/2 tablespoons of margarine and 2 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows.

Start off by pre-measuring everything, greasing your pan with the non stick spray and pouring your cereal into your mixing bowl. Oh and do yourself a favor and spray the nonstick stuff over the sink, it is really slick and you can slip on it easily. Then over very low heat melt the margarine completely. Next put the marshmallows in the pan and melt them completely stirring frequently. You will know that they are completely melted because it will look smooth like marshmallow fluff. Once that is done you will have to work quickly because the marshmallow will set up pretty fast. Pour the marshmallow into the cereal and mix it together well. Pour it into the greased baking dish and press it down flat and evenly with your spatula. You may need to use a clean greased spatula to get the job done if it sticks too much. Let it cool completely and then cut into 16 squares. Oh and then enjoy :D

Adventures in Sewing

2010-07-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has read my blog, if anyone has read my blog, knows that I am not trusted with sewing machines. I thought I knew how to sew. In fact I generally said "I know how to sew!" shortly before breaking the sewing machine every time I broke one (three.....or four times so far.) I did have a sort of sewing class in high school. We learned how to sew a seam and sew on buttons and basic stuff. I guess that wasn't enough though. So I recently decided that I don't wanna break sewing machines anymore and I want to be trusted with them. I picked up the book Sewing for Dummies 2nd Edition by Jan Saunders Maresh. So far I have learned a pretty good bit and I have some great ideas for very low sew projects to do to get my feet wet again. I also just came up with a neat idea for a hand sewn pin cushion which I'll be posting a tute for when I make it. My mom is going to let me sew on her machine while she watches eagle eyed over my shoulder to make sure I don't break another one. I'll be posting my progress as I learn along with my usual crafts.

Hanging Pocket Organizer

2010-06-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have been struggling with having too much junk laying on my desk for a long while now. I decided to remedy that problem recently and set about looking for storage and organization methods I could use. While I was at my favorite Dollar Tree the other day I saw a long bamboo rod and I started thinking. I then found some ribbon not far away from the bamboo and when I came across the place mats I figured it all out. I realized that I could make a modular organizer with this stuff pretty easily. I got everything at the dollar store except for the hooks that the rod is held up by. I used one bamboo rod, one roll of satin ribbon, 4 place mats and a two pack of large wall hooks.

Two of the pockets are just one place mat folded in half and sewn up on either side. The middle one with the pockets is two place mats. I took the backing off of one and ironed in a half inch seam on the top and bottom of each pocket which my mom then sewed for me (I'm still not trusted with sewing machines lol.) Then she sewed the ribbons on with a strong box stitch. She also sewed two loops of ribbons for hanging things like my husbands ginormous headphones onto the rod with. To do that you just sew a loop then sew a strip across the middle. Easy peasy and I spent eight dollars total for it.

This Is The Afghan That Never Ends..........

2010-06-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

I found this afghan kit at the good will one day in February just browsing around. I thought it was pretty and that it would make a great project to play around with. I came to hate this afghan eventually. I started it on February 20th and just finished it thirty minutes before midnight on June 12th. It was maddening. I have never had a project take so long. I have in fact made afghans similar in size to this one in just a few days. The problem with this was the size of the yarn. It was thin two ply yarn. It took me half an hour to finish just one row. I will never make anything this size with yarn this thin ever again. I will make more chevron afghans though because the pattern is so easy but so pretty. Anyway thought I would share my finished project and announce that I am finally free of that thing yay :D

Chalk Board T-shirt.

2010-06-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Remember the fad a few years ago with shirts that had velcro strips on them that you could attach velcro letters to so that you could personalize your shirt? I remembered it and was thinking my nieces would enjoy those shirts. Then I remembered how just about everyone lost the letters and how the velcro started looking a little manky after a few wears and washes. So I put that on the shelf and started thinking of different ways of making shirts that can be personalized and re-personalized. I came up with a shirt that you could write on, then erase and write on it again. I used a plain ole cotton t-shirt (I actually bought it at the Dollar Tree) a foam brush, a piece of cardboard that fits inside the shirt, blue painters tape and some chalk board paint from the craft store. I dunno if the paint in the hardware section is the same as the paint in crafts but the one I got said it would work on most porous surfaces.

Anywhoodles to get started you need to wash your t-shirt on a regular cycle then dry it. Next you'll want to put the cardboard inside the shirt and tape out a rectangle on the front of the shirt with the painters tape. I eye balled it but you can measure if you want. Make sure the tape is pressed down really well also because if it isn't the paint will bleed under it and you won't have clear lines. You can see in the pic that I had a spot where that happened. Now you just need to paint the chalkboard on evenly over the rectangle. Let it dry then do a second even coat and let that dry for 24 hours. Now get a piece of chalk and go over the whole rectangle covering it with chalk and then wash the shirt again on your gentlest cycle. After that you can write any message you want on the shirt. I wrote an ode to my favorite blog for this picture.

Fast cheap and easy framed art from the dollar store.

2010-05-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

Today was my 9th wedding anniversary and to celebrate we went out to eat at our favorite Chinese place. There just happens to be a Dollar Tree next door to said place where we walked around to build up an appetite. ;) I am working on two long winded crochet afghan projects right now but I was getting bored with crochet. Because of that I wanted a project that would be fast and not take too much time away from those things but would give me something else to do creatively. I looked and looked and couldn't really find anything that would be fast until I came across these unfinished document frames and some acrylic paints. I picked them up thinking I could do something with them but not sure what that something was. Then I found this really great gift bag with a painting of a bunch of folks dancing and having a good time outside of the Apollo. It was vibrant and graphic and I knew that I had to have it. Then the idea hit me, I could frame that art and hang it on my wall to enjoy whenever I wanted. I found a lot of bags with very interesting and pretty artwork on them. There were three or four of them with several little girls in Edwardian style clothing. They were doing various little girl things like having tea parties or playing dress up. They would be very cute in a little girls bedroom. I did two pictures that were both in a sort of music theme. The jazzy one at the Apollo and the one of a dancer.

First off, sorry for the quality of the pictures. I used my cell phone camera because the batteries in the regular camera were dead. OK you will need a frame, paints, a gift bag of course, a pen or pencil, some scissors, paint brushes and paper towels. The process was really easy. First you unwrap everything and take the frame apart. You also need to prep the bag by cutting out the string that is used as a handle (if it is made with one.) Next you need to lay the glass onto the bag and figure out where you are going to cut it. Using my paint brush program I drew a line around the glass in this pic so you can see it better here. The thing you want to do is get the most interesting parts of the picture into the frame. I think the people in this one are far more interesting than the car so I positioned the glass to show them. Next you want to trace around the glass and then cut the picture out. Cut on the inside of the lines so that you don't end up with a piece of paper that is too big for the frame. It may be easier to cut out on the sides of the bag leaving a big margin and then trim it out. I framed the picture before painting the frame so that I could make sure my paint matched the picture but you can paint it separately. To frame the picture you need to put the glass back into the frame and then put the backer onto it. Make sure that the hanger is facing up and that you get all of the tabs pushed down. (see pic 1)

Ok now for the painting. I used acrylic paint for this but I watered it down to make a stain. I mixed red with pink to get a rosier color that matches the neon sign in the picture. I used an upside down sour cream container lid as my palette. (see pic 2) To use it as a stain you need to work in small patches and go quickly. First you brush the paint on then you wipe it back off. This will make the color a little lighter so keep that in mind when you are selecting or mixing your paint. The benefit to staining is that once you wipe the paint it is pretty much dry. Once you have finished staining make sure the glass is clean (if you framed the picture first.) Then hang it and enjoy.

Pic 1:

Pic 2

Felicity Scarf

2010-05-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

Worsted weight yarn (Delft Blue super saver) size K hook. Gauge isn't important.

Ch 21

Row 1: Dc in the 4th ch from the hook. DC in the next 2 ch's* ch 1 sk the next ch Dc in the next 4 ch's. Repeat from * 2 more times.

Row 2: Ch 3 turn * 4 DC in the next ch 1 space ch 1. Repeat from * 2 times. Ch 1 DC in the top of the last DC

Row 3 Ch 3 turn. 3 DC in the 1st ch space. * Ch1 4 DC in the next ch space. Repeat from * 1 more time. Ch 1 3 DC in the next ch space 1 DC in the top f the last DC.

Repeat rows 2& 3 until scarf measures 6 ft in length. End with Row 3.

Finishing: SC evenly around the scarf working 3 sc in the corners. Slst in the 1st st to end. Weave in ends. Cut 120 16 inch pieces of yarn to make the fringe using 12 strands in each hole.

Cecily Hand Bag and Coin Purse

2010-04-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

I lucked out and found a lot of yarn at my favorite dollar tree between fall of last year and last month. I used most of it for patterns written by other people but I wrote a couple of my own to use these yarns with. This particular pattern was made from Caron Rhapsody yarn. It is discontinued, which is probably why they have it at the Dollar Tree. It is worsted yarn so pretty much any worsted yarn can take it's place. I used about 3 ounces of color A and 2 oz of color B. Gauge isn't really important but using an I hook, I measured 16 chs at 4 inches to give an idea of gauge.

Hand Bag

Ch 21

Rnd 1: 2 DCs in the 4th ch from the hook, 1 DC in the next 16 chs, 5 DCs in the next ch, on the opposite side of the ch, 1 DC in the next 16 chs, 2 DC in the same ch as the first 2 DCs, join. 42 sts

Rnd 2: Ch 3 * (2 DC in the next DC) twice, DC in the next 16 DC (2 DC in the next DC) twice DC in the next DC*repeat from * around, join. 50 sts

Rnd 3: ch 3, 2 DC in the next DC, DC in the next DC, 2 DC in the next DC, DC in the next 18 DC, (2 DC in the next DC, DC in the next DC) 4 times, DC in the next 17 DC, 2 DC in the next DC, DC in the next DC, 2 DC in the next DC, join. 58 sts

Rnd 4: Ch 3 FPDC around, join (58 sts)

Rnd 5: Ch 3 DC around join, (58 sts)

Rnd 6-17 repeat Rnd 5 (Rnd's 8, 10, 14, and 16 are worked in color B)

Rnd 18: Ch 3, DC in the next 6 DC, ch 30, sk next 15 DC, DC in the next 14 DC, ch 30, sk the next 15 DC, DC in the next 7 DC's join.

Rnd 19: Ch 3 DC in the next 6 DC, DC in the next 30 chs, DC in the next 14 DC, DC in the next 30 chs, DC in the next 7 DC, join. 88 sts

Rnd 20: Ch 1, sc around, join 88sts

Rnd 21: slst around, join, fasten off, weave in ends.

Coin Purse

(use same yarn, hook and gauge as hand bag)

Ch 21

Rnd 1: 2 DCs in the 4th ch from the hook, 1 DC in the next 16 chs, 5 DCs in the next ch, on the opposite side of the ch, 1 DC in the next 16 chs, 2 DC in the same ch as the first 2 DCs, join. 42 sts

Rnd 2: DC in each DC, join

Rnd 3-5 repeat Rnd 2

Rnd 6: Ch 4 * sk next DC, DC in next DC, ch1, repeat from * 20 times, join in 3rd ch of ch4.

Rnd 7: Ch 3 *DC in ch sp, DC in DC, repeat from * 20 times, DC in last ch sp, join.

Rnd *: sl st around, join, fasten off, weave in ends.

Drawstring: ch 101 slst in 2nd ch from hook and in all others till the end, fasten off weave in ends.

Weave the drawstring through Rnd 6, tie the ends together.

Bookmark bracelet

2010-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

I joined a bookmark swap last month with some online friends. The rules were that they could be handmade or store bought. I of course made mine (tutorials to follow shortly.) Those aren't the ones I wanna talk about today though. I got my package from the swap in and they were all really cool. One stood out, not because it was prettier than the others, because it looked like a bracelet. Once I took it out of the package and got a better look at it I realized that it was indeed a bookmark but by then it was in my head that it's a bracelet. So I decided to turn it into a bracelet by adding a toggle clasp to each end. I'm not really doing a tutorial on it since I doubt anyone is gonna come across the exact same bookmark and read this blog. I did take a pick of my materials just in case this gives you an idea for something similar that you have. I used both sides of a toggle clasp, two jump rings and a pair of pliers.

30 seconds stash bust craft: Cat toy

2010-04-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Easter. Ya'know what you get at Easter don't you? Well aside from chocolate bunnies with no ears and stale peeps...... mmmmm stale peeps...........! Sorry I got distracted for a second. Anyway you get plastic Easter eggs at Easter, especially if you have, live near or know a kid that went on an egg hunt. My niece gave me a green one. So what do you do with a plastic Easter egg you ask? You stick a jingle bell in it, glue it shut and give it to your cat to play with, that's what you do with it. I used a little dab of E600 on the lip and just shut it on top of the glue. Make sure it is dry before you give it to your cat.

Stash bust wind chimes.

2010-04-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

There used to be a very annoying set of refrigerator magnets hanging on my fridge. That is before my fridge died, shortly after my stove died. Both have been replaced with lovely new ones. (I named them, Ester is the fridge and Ellis is the stove. Don't ask I can't really explain why I name inanimate objects.)

Anyway, there were two "wind" chime magnets hanging on the old fridge. I put wind in quotes because there is very rarely a breeze flowing through my kitchen. The way they chimed was when the door would open. First there was a clang clingity clash when it opened then there was a clang clingity clash when it closed.

I am not at all opposed to wind chimes as a lovely tinkling sound in the garden or on the porch on a breezy day. I decided I would cut the chimes off said offensive "wind" chimes to make some pretty wind chimes for the porch to go with Mom's other twelve wind chimes. This is how I did it using only things that were laying around the house or that were in my stash of supplies.

You will need:
Chimes (I have seen a bunch of cheap chimes at the Dollar Tree that look pretty flimsy. You could also get them the same way I did if you have annoying cursed refrigerator magnets. You can also get creative and find other things that could be chimes. I have some bells I'm gonna try next.)

Tiger tail or fishing line

Crimper beads if your using tiger tail

Jump ring

Needle nosed pliers

Assorted beads in colors you like. Make sure one is relatively large because it will be the clanger in the middle of the chimes to make them make noise.

3 lengths of chain about one inch long. I used the chains out of a packet of key ring chains I got at the Dollar Tree but any small chain will work.

1 wine glass charm ring, I also got these at the Dollar Tree. (calling it wgcr in the tutorial.

The round end of a toggle jewelry clasp or a key ring.

A clasp from a key ring to use as the hanger

Ok first up you need to make the lengths of line or tiger tail that the chimes will be on. Either way you do this the concept is to make a secure loop that the chime will hang from but still be able to move freely. String a crimper bead, if you are using tiger tail, then string the chime. Now you want to secure the loop, if you're using tiger tail crimp the crimper bead down with pliers or a crimper tool. If you're using line tie a good knot. For either string you want to use the beads to cover up the tail you just created. To finish off leave a loop at the end and either crimp it or tie it and feed the tail through the beads to hide it. Do that two more times to have a total of three chimes. I would do more than three the ring might get really crowded that way.

Now you need to make the clanger. First you need to attach a small stopper bead to keep the large clanger bead on the line. It works the same way as adding the chimes except you will pull the line snug against the bead before you fasten it off. Now string your clanger bead and an assortment of beads after it. Make this string long enough to go right between the chimes then add about 1/2 an inch more.

Next you need to string a couple of beads onto your wgcr as spacers then one of the chains then one of the chimes then a few more beads then one of the chains etc until you have all three chains and chimes on and the ring is filled with beads. Using your pliers bend the flat end of the wgcr up and feed that part through the loop end. Then flatten that against itself to secure it. Now you need to use a jump ring to attach them to the toggle ring. You will also hang the clanger from this jump ring but it needs to hang down through the wgcr. Finally attach the clasp to use as a hanger and you are done.

Easy crochet ripple afghan

2010-04-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Several months ago I came across some Caron Bliss yarn in five bright fun colors at my favorite Dollar Tree. I bought all of it without knowing what to do with it. Well it sat in my stash for a while until I decided I had to do something with it. I was already working on a larger ripple afghan so I decided I would make a baby sized one with my Bliss. I had intended to save this in case I ever needed a shower gift for a little girl but my mom confiscated it to use as a lap blanket. I have never written a pattern down before but it is pretty simple so hopefully I didn't mess it up but we'll see.

You need 3 skeins each of Caron Bliss in (a) Snow, (b) Sour Apple, (c) Majestic, (d) Cotton Candy and (e) Mango
1 K hook

with color a Ch144

Row 1: with color a sc in the second ch from the hook, sc in the next ch, sk the next chain, * 1 sc in the next 10 chs, 3 sc in the next ch, 1 sc in the next 10 chs sk the next 2 chains, repeat from * until there are three chs left then sk 1 ch and sc in the next two chs change color when the last two loops are on the hook by drawing up color b. Cut color a

Row 2(and on) ch1 and turn. sc in both loops of the next two scs, sk the next sc, * 1 sc in the back loop only of the next 10 sc, 3 sc in the back loop of the next sc, 1 sc in the back loop only of the next 10 sc sk the next 2 sc repeat from * until there are three scs left, sk 1 sc, 1 sc in both loops of the next 2 scs, ch1 turn

Repeat Row 2 until you have 45 inches make sure you repeat the full color pattern. Crochet 2 rows of each color to make one color pattern. Crochet over the tails while you are working so you don't have as many ends to weave in. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Crochet cat toy

2010-03-27T02:18:00.000-07:00

Ok as promised I am posting a new tutorial for a cat toy. This is my cat Bogie's favorite toy. You will need 1 practice golf ball, 1 jingle bell, 1 size G crochet hook and enough scrap yarn to cover the ball completely in single crochets. (scissors and duct tape may also be needed)

Next you need to get the bell into the ball. If your bell is small enough you will only need to make one small cut on the ball to get it in there. I do it with a regular pair of craft scissors. I just find the smallest section of plastic between two holes and cut it. That should give you enough room to get the bell inside the ball. (say that five times fast) If you have to cut a large hole then you can put a piece of duct tape over it to keep the bell in until it is covered.

Now you need to get crocheting and it is simple amigirumi, meaning it is constant single crochet never joined until the end. I didn't write a pattern for it but it is simple you just increase on one side and decrease on the other to make a ball. If you don't like amigirumi you can join each round increasing in the beginning and decreasing in the end to make it a ball.

If you don't know how to crochet you can go for the duct tape option. I like duct tape and I have it in a ton of crazy colors. You can make a bazillion things with it. But right now I'll just do a cat toy. I just cut two strips of it long enough to completely cover the ball. I put one on it and smoothed it down as much as I could then I put the other on in the opposite direction and smoothed it down. Make sure you don't have any exposed sticky though. Otherwise you will end up with cat toy covered in cat fur.

I'm such a flake.

2010-03-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

I created this blog and then kinda forgot about it for a whole year. If that doesn't qualify me as a flake I dunno what would. I guess blogging just isn't second nature to me, or even third or fourth for that matter. I'm gonna vow right now to try to do better though.

I may even post a couple of crochet patterns I've come up with and some pics of things I've made from other peeps patterns. Right now I'm working on two blankets both of which will be finished three days before never. One is just a bunch of squares. I hate making squares but it is pretty and the pattern makes two matching throw pillows. The second is a run of the mill ripple afghan but the yarn is two ply and quite thin and it is taking a long time to get anywhere near the middle of this thing.

My vow last year of all handmade gifts went semi well. I gave everyone at least one handmade gift. I didn't start on Christmas early enough in the year so I didn't get finished with all of them in time. I'm gonna work on doing better this year and I'll be doing Christmas whenever I get a chance. I have an idea for really cute scarf and hat sets to make for my nieces. I just have to learn how to do Tunisian crochet lol. I'm off to my brother's house right now to make some chicken spaghetti (my stove is broken) but I'll be back later with a post...maybe a cheap cat toy.

Five minute instant gratification craft: Duct tape bangle bracelet

2009-03-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not generally an impatient person but sometimes you want something you can do right now. Here's one thing. Its a bangle bracelet made out of duct tape. With all the awesome colors out there now you could do these for church functions, pep rallies, school spirit days and a host of other events. These are the colors that I have on hand but the sky is really the limit. If you can't find the color you want you can always use permanent markers on white to make the colors. You could even make just the base of the bracelet and draw pictures on it with markers.
First you need to cut a piece to be your base. I don't measure I just hold it up to my wrist and guesstimate how much I need.

Next you need to lay it with the colored side flat and fold one end over and stick it down then the other.Next you need to cut a long strip of your second color and then cut that strip into thinner strips.

Then begin wrapping the second color around the base of the bracelet.

Do that all the way to the end. Hold the two ends of the bracelet together and tape them with another piece of tape. I used the left over from my second color.

Since there is no clasp you need to make it big enough to slide over your hand. Here is what the finished product looks like.

Using artificial lei's in projects

2009-03-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

As promised here are a few ideas for how to use the left over flowers from artificial lei's.

I assembly lined several flowers with the pom pom's in the middle of them. I was thinking you could put rhinestones or buttons or all sorts of things in the middles. I like the pom's though because they look like the middles of some flowers that are fluffy.

Anywhoodles, I put the flowers on flip flops, socks, t-shirts, and of course pillows. I'm thinking of getting some plain ole ball point pens and putting them on the ends to make flower pens as well. I got some colored duct tape that I'm gonna cover the pens with to make them green like stems. You could also put them on head bands, hair clips, and barrettes you would probably have to glue them onto those. Here are pics of what I've done so far.

These all were made according to how my niece wanted them. I made a set of green ones as well for my other niece. Both of their birthdays are in this month. This year I vowed that all gifts would be handmade. I think I'm off to a good start. Here are my nieces modeling the shirts.

Fluffy Orange Pillow

2009-03-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

So I did this project because the Dollar Store Crafts blog inspired me. I found the page linked at my book club and thought to myself, "I've gotta go to the dollar store." So I went to The Dollar Tree and wandered around for a while with no real inspiration coming to me. That is until I found the fluffy orange cloth micro fiber towels.

Immediately thoughts started bouncing around in my head. Nothing solid came to mind at first I just knew this was it. This was what I was bringing home with me. So I wandered some more and I found a set of artificial lei's with flowers that coordinated well with the fluffy orange cloth. I picked a set up. There was a bit of a snag though. These lei's are made without middle to the flower. So again I started wandering and I found a bag of pom poms. Again the colors coordinated perfectly with the cloth and the flowers.

Then it hit me. A pillow would be perfect. It would be cute and girlie. It would be fuzzy and nice feeling. It would be just the right size for a throw pillow if I got two of the cloths. Plus I had some flat as pancake pillows we were never gonna use again that I could use for stuffing. So I went back to where I got the cloth and I grabbed another one.

I used two orange micro fiber fluffy cloths, a deconstructed artificial lei, pom poms and the stuffing from an old pillow. Total I spent $4.

Sew the two cloths together fluffy sides facing each other, leaving an opening. Flip it right sides out, then set that aside and get your lei.

Cut the string and pull all of the flowers off. (Separate the colors while you do this. When they are all together its hard to tell how many of each you have.) Find the pom poms you want to use for the middles. I used coordinating colors rather than using the same color pom pom as the flower. You can do it which ever way you prefer.

Squeeze the pom pom between your fingers. You'll feel a knot in the very middle, that's where you want to put your needle through when your sewing them to the flowers. You don't have to go through it every time but its best to go through it on at least the first pass of the needle.

Now that you have the pom pom on your thread put two of the flowers it on. If the flowers have a bend to them to give dimension put it on the needle with the bend facing the pom pom. I did a couple of stitches through the flower and pom pom before I sewed it onto the pillow. I did that just to make them a little sturdier.

Next you sew the flower onto the pillow. I did it randomly but you could do a pattern. You'll want to sew the flowers on before you stuff the pillow so that you can see what your doing with the needle on the inside of the pillow.

Next I cut open the old pillow (I washed it and bleached it first to make sure it was good and clean, it had been sitting in a closet for a long time.) I took out the stuffing and sort of fluffed it up. Then I just started stuffing it in the pillow making sure I got the corners and that I wasn't getting lumps. (you can of course use stuffing from the store.) Sew up the opening with whatever color thread you used to put it together and voila you now have a fuzzy orange pillow with flowers on it.

I did a different variation of this with a blue microfiber cloth and a different lei. With it I just put three flowers on the corner because it's got a sheen to it, its hard to see in the pic. I didn't want the sheen to get lost in the flowers.

Stay tuned for the next post where I'll give you some ideas for what to do with the left over flowers.