All Things Crafty

Happy Valentine's Day - New Take on Gumdrop Roses

2012-02-14T11:43:00.005-06:00

Daughter and I waited 'til the last minute on her Valentine's cards for school, again. If you read last years post on our Stash Buster Cards, you'll know that we've made the decision not to buy store bought cards. We brainstormed for days before I finally remembers a project my own mom and I made for a school treats when I was my daughter's age. They were gumdrop roses.

Originally made with large gumdrops and toothpick stems, the daughter and I took our own approach and made a few improvements. Couldn't find jumbo gumdrops, but the slices work just fine. We replaced the slightly dangerous toothpick stem with a pretzel stick and planted the rose in a bite-size Reese's Peanut Butter Cup pot. It's the perfect pot!

This was then incorporated into our Valentine's Day card display container made from a single serving yogurt cup and a clear 9 oz. plastic cup. We were pondering how to keep the roses from getting smashed in their paper sack "mailboxes". We were just going to use cardboard circles inside the upside-down plastic cups, but had a stroke of genius at home when we tried the yogurt container under it. This gave us the additional space below to store some extra candy for those who didn't want to eat their roses.

We covered up the Yoplait label with our own which included two different short poems.

"Poppies are pretty. Daisies are dandy.
No Flower's as sweet as this rose of candy."

or

"What can beat a Valentine treat
made with sugar so it's sweet to eat?!"

The daughter didn't want anything mushy. So, we kept them about the roses. :) We printed them in black and white and colored with markers.

I won't go into all the details of how to make the roses. There are an abundance of free tutorials online with many different options for forming the petals. The real trick is to use lots of sugar when rolling out the petals and leaves. Pressing the candy in the sugar frequently while rolling will keep it from sticking.

Butter knives work really well for cutting the flattened gumdrops. Doesn't have to be sharp. Besides that, be gentle wrapping the pretzel stems. Pre-drilling the holes in the top chocolate layer of the pots with something pointy helps, too.

This really is a fairly simple and fun project. And, the best part is you get to eat the mistakes! Mmmmm... I made it a point to mess up on quite a few Peanut Butter pots. ;)

Can't believe we hadn't made these in over twenty five years. My mom was shown how by a wonderful neighbor we had when I was growing up. She was a great lady. She always used to make us the best cookies and other treats all year round always happy to share her recipes and was always there when we needed her. Being a forgetful "latch key kid", I was frequently locked out of our house. :) I also remember my sis and I inviting her granddaughter, a year younger than me, over to our house to play whenever she was visiting. She introduced me to daddy long-leg spiders and chewing on raw spaghetti noodles. Those were some good times. :)

If you'd like the label we used for the cups, you can find a layout of 4 including both poems here. Thanks for stopping in! And have the happiest of VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

Voodoo Doll Pincushions Revisited

2012-02-01T21:54:00.005-06:00

Recently, among my many other projects, I've been helping my mom make some pincushion dolls. We've finally got around to these that my sis was asking for after she saw Frankie. He's the one we made for a Halloween swap here.

The pincushion voodoo doll hangs on around your arm by his scrunchy elastic arms while you sew or pin a hem. If your sewing table is small like ours, this helps keeps large projects from pushing the pins off the table.

There's a metal plate is in his back so the pins won't poke all the way through. And, there is a small pocket on the back (on this one it's his pants! tee hee!) to put needle threaders among other things.

His body is made of t-shirt material with either polar fleece or felt pants/hair. Though some of the construction was accomplished on the sewing machine, I'd say much of it was hand sewn.

We made this greener one before the other. He's more like the original, but the hair is more of a flat top style.

He also has a pocket in back. I didn't make a pattern, so it was really difficult to remember what I did. That was probably a good thing, because it made us rethink a few of the details which I really like. She's working on some other ideas including some other characters. She's got it in her mind to make a zombie, mummy, and perhaps a pirate.

As far as other projects. I've got some outfits we whipped up for and event a few other things to show soon. Need to start planning this years Valentine's cards, too.

Have a crafting time!

Piecing a Costume Together from Secondhand Finds

2012-01-25T09:20:00.000-06:00

Had a wonderful time at Clockwork Con this past weekend in Austin. Met many great steampunk'rs and saw some amazing gadgets. Also got to show off the awesome hat and a new dispenser belt for my "bustle bar", aka "rum bum" that my sweetie made for me. I think I'm going to have to look into why he's being so nice these days. ;)

For this post, I want to share the progression of my first attempt at a Steampunk costume. You may remember it debut in this post. This particular outfit has gone through the most drastic transformations of any of my pieces. And, it's been doubling as a Victorian ladies day dress and (if you've seen my post about the medals here) a unique military uniform for what I'm now calling a Major General character. I like the later character especially because there seems to be an overabundance of airship captains and sky pirate about. I can now say I outrank the captains and can commandeer their ships for my own purposes. Muwahaha! :D

This outfit actually started as two knee length (80-90's style?) professional dresses (neither of which were my size to begin with) that I had originally bought for the buttons when I needed them for a pair of arm warmers Crafterella knitted for me here. :) I liked the colors and print of the dresses so much that I decided to use them in a costume. And, I surprisingly did very little to alter this costume, really.

I thought it would be nice to make a short jacket that wouldn't cover up all the detail of the corset. If you have an existing shirt, dress or jacket, it is pretty simple to convert it to this style. I cut the smaller of the two dresses into the jacket just below my bra in back. I used bias tape to finish off around the bottom edge.

I liked how the upper portion of this dress was much more fitted at this small size. Modern clothes tend to be a bit baggy and untailored in fit. It did make the sleeves short, but I have noticed that there are many pics of Victorian ladies wearing their sleeves at 3/4 length like this. I like this due to keeping them out of the way of gadgets like my NERF dart bracer.

I opted to leave the shoulder pads in to make it more square at the shoulders. The epaulette on the shoulder was made from the black velvet sleeve cuff of the other dress. I had planned to add them to both shoulders, but thought it looked more interesting with just the one. I just ripped out the shoulder seam wide enough to add it in and sewed it back together.

The second matching dress, which was much too large was made over into an over-skirt to hide my drink dispensing "bustle bar" that I discuss here. (It's gone through some changes as well that I'll have to share another day, including the belt I mentioned above.) I really like how the style of the front of the skirt turned out. I may have to revisit this idea for another outfit at another time.

Putting the neck of the dress at my waist, it hung pretty well over the tanks without much alteration. Just some adjustment of the hem and removing the darts and waist ties. I sewed the ties to the collar so I could tie the skirt on in front under my corset.I used the leftover scrap fabric from the first dress to add a gathered draping front panel using the existing button holes down the front of the dress as a button up design element on the sides (I had to add matching button holes to the opposite side.)

I turned the sleeves to the inside of the dress and sewed the ends shut making really long pockets on my sides that I hide with another ruffly black bustle skirt (made from the skirt of yet another 2 piece outfit) that ties over the over-skirt to and adds fluff. Being super deep pockets, they've come in really handy for holding sodas and other odds and ends.

BTW, not wanting to waste, I made this easy capelet from the shirt of the 2-piece black set by ripping out the seam from the sleeves down the sides. Then, with a little trimming, sewed the sleeves open to the sides. Trimmed the whole bottom edge even and added some trim.

The black under-skirt with the silver stripes started life as three knee length skirts that I reconstructed into one longer fuller skirt. Originally made for my belly-dancing outfits, I thought it looked rather nice with the shiny silver in the corset.

I guess the point of detailing all of this construction is to make a point. Many costumers just design an outfit, buy/draw up patterns and make it from scratch. But, you can make a decent costume out of things you may have or can find around, and it doesn't take a lot of sewing experience. Actually one great benefit is deconstructing garments to see how they were put together. I really enjoy re-purposing discarded and out-of-date things, too. This outfit could, I'm sure, be made (and perhaps better) from scratch. But, I get much more reward using existing items. Nothing in this entire outfit was purchased new (save my under garments and tanks under the skirt) . All the buttons, cord, fabric, leather, metal were reused and what I purchased totaled less than some people would pay for just one simple shirt. And, another great part is that I may just have enough printed fabric left for a nice bow in the back or on my hat.

Thanks for taking a look. I'll have to get some pics of the new drink dispensing belt for the bustle bar. My man really outdid himself on the belt. With many SP gadgets only being props, lots of folk were very surprised to hear that this one was completely functional. :)

Little Black Riding Cap

2012-01-02T21:31:00.008-06:00

What'cha think of my new riding hat?! My man finally made me one of his cool leather hats! I super LOVE how it turned out!! The shape is perfect!

You'll have to excuse me while I catch my breath. Whew! Just returned from a brisk horse ride and photo shoot in the spooky woods... NOT!

We took these pics right in our yard. Looks convincing, though, right? I can just see me sitting up in the saddle as we stroll down a eerie windy path with owls hooting. One of the few times when there's a benefit to living in the sticks. :)

We made this hat, a tankard cover (for mom) and a top hat (for him) all out a piece of black leather we got at the local flea market when we bought a couple felt cowboy hats. All for under $20!! We may just have enough for yet another small hat, too! That hatband was a chain belt we recently found secondhand. I had just enough left to make a matching choker necklace (not pictured). I will be posting about the other hats very soon.

I was playing around with my makeup and photoshop for this quick shoot. Was going for a dark mysterious ghostly pale look. I think looking just plain lost in the woods is what I might've ended up with. ;) I really hate editing photos on the laptop. The monitor messes with my eyes. Didn't notice how overexposed the faces were until I got them over to a different monitor. I looked much different on the other. Grumble, grumble...

Anyway, love the hat, and it's been fun working on it together. I got to help design my hat. He doesn't know it yet, but I had the forethought to draw up the pattern in Adobe Illustrator while it was flat so that he can make me and my friends more in every color. Hee hee! I also have cardboard prototype half assembled that I may go ahead and finish out. I'm less inclined to now that this one is wearable. :)

Did I mention, of course, this one's not quite finished, yet. Never is. I'm still tinkering with the embellishing. I had planned on adding a large silver ornament to the front and back and some feather on the middle front. I'd also thought about coloring the contrasting raw edges so they don't stand out so much. But, I'm worried about overdoing it or screwing it up. Any thoughts?

Until next post, hope your new year is an improvement upon the last!

A Very Merry Twistmas with Handmade Moshlings

2011-12-30T15:38:00.006-06:00

I repeated my homade holiday plan from last year, which is to only make my gifts for the daughter from what I had around in my craft stash. It wasn't too difficult to decided what to make. She and her cousin are heavily into Moshi Monsters these days. I thought I'd attempt some of their favorite Moshlings. I made the daughter an Oddie and a Squidge. Then, I made her cousin a Liberty.

Oddie was the easiest of the three. I used polar fleece remnants for most of it except the black of the eye and the feet, which are both felt. The sprinkles are cheap plastic beads.

I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, even if the eyes are a wee bit crooked. He turned out to be her favorite of the two.

Squidge was made like the Pygmy Puffs on my knitting loom with the same yarn as the Puffskein. He has shank button eyes and nose. I used my dremel to grind the nose closer to shape. The feet, ears and wings are remnant polar fleece. I didn't have any of the orangy gold-ish yellow that her feet are, so I cut portions out of a printed scrap piece. :)

Squidge was a tough one. I had the most concern getting her paired parts (eyes, ears, feet and wings) to all align properly. I was glad to see that I succeeded pretty well when finished. I did fail to add the eyelashes, but I wasn't sure they would show up anyway on the furry yarn.

The most complex one was the Liberty that I made her cousin. She is also made mostly of polar fleece, except for the black of the eyes and the dress. Oh, and her nose is a tiny brown shank button. The dress was made out of a striped shirt. You may recognize this fabric from the legs of our rag doll witch from a long while back. The crown and dress are both removable. I put it on an elastic band. I wasn't sure if she'd like it to come off, but she really likes to dress/redress her dolls, so I thought it would be fun for her.

Her body is an alteration of the pattern I used for the polar fleece monster dolls. But, I changed the shape of the body making it smaller. I attached the arms right out of the head, which was actually a little easier, but made the head flop back and forth a bit being so big and with the added weight of the crown. I kinda wish I had done this for the Pet Society Zombie Bunny. It is more closer to what it should look like.

I ran out of time to make the ice cream and wish list. I will be making them and sending them on when I get a chance to. However, all in all, the three moshlings were a success. They both loved them. If it hadn't been for the Moshling Collector's Guide she received from Santa, these would have been the daughter absolute #1 gift this year. Curse you, Santa! :)

Have a Happy and Crafty New Year! I'll be back next year with some more Steampunk projects, including a few more hats!

Daughter's Many Litters of Super Cute Felt Critters

2011-12-27T09:45:00.007-06:00

Daughter turned her interests to some hand sewing just before Christmas when she found a book entitled "Super Cute" by Parragon. The owl was her first project. In no time, she was trying different techniques and making all kinds of felt characters for our enjoyment. A few lucky friends and relatives got one for Christmas. Her cousin got the bunny in the lower right. She made the little bear on the top left just for me. Ahh, I feel so special. My bear was the first one she attempted to turn inside out to hide the seam. She figured out how to put the ears inside correctly all by herself! I was very impressed.

Grandma got the dark green one in the bottom right of the pic above.

Aren't they the most adorable things you ever saw?! Okay, I may be a tad biased being her mom. But I still think you have to agree that she's quite a talented and creative 9 year old. :)

Some even have removable clothing. I'm loving the "Madeye Moody" eye patch!

She was thrilled to receive a new sewing kit Santa. I hope to see many more of her creations this coming year. I'm trying to get her to make me some Potter Pal Puppets. Haven't convinced her to give it a try. . . yet. ;)

Next up, I'll be posting what I made the daughter and her cousin for Christmas. I kept to last years homemade holiday plan of only using what I had around. Stay tuned to see the results!

New set of Pistachio Hair Falls

2011-12-20T10:56:00.005-06:00

Finally posting a new pair of super long pistachio hair falls. From loop to the tip of the tassels they're at 30" long. The shells on these were an experiment in transitions with the Kool-aid and food coloring dye used in my previous falls.

I soaked the shells half immersed in the dye. The red color separated and bled up the shell giving a three-toned transition from purple to red to natural. I strung them so that the shells also transition from heavily purple to natural with green shells at the top to resemble leaves. It created a lovely flower-like effect. I also strung small clusters of green and purple above to look like buds and a small green and natural bud at the tassels on the bottom.

I sealed these shells with satin acrylic spray paint, so they have a little shine to the shells. I used some scrap yarns to fill in the tassels. Though not pictured, I also created some green feather dangles that can be clipped into the tassels.

Because they were part of an experiment, I absolutely have nothing in my wardrobe that goes with these falls. So, I'll either need to start a new outfit around them (woohoo!) or I'm pondering offering these on Etsy.com if anyone is interested in owning them. After the Holidays I hoped to get started making a few pair in a sorta snaky scaly pattern.

Not sure if I'll be posting any more projects before Christmas. Though, we do have a hat in the works that I'd like to show the WIP on. Until next time, have a Crafty Holiday!

Sew many have slipped by...

2011-12-18T18:49:00.004-06:00

...without mention. Even a couple Harry Potter themed projects. I feel really bad about that, because some really do need to be shown off. So, I thought I'd share some my mom had made this past year that didn't get the praise they deserve.

Back in August she decided to try my cushion critter (pillow pet clone) pattern available on the post here to make the kids some smaller cushion critter bunnies.

My daughter received this red/tan/black polar fleece one printed with Scotty dogs. Grandma also made her matching pants and red shirt. I failed to get pics of the set, as well as the set she sent to my niece. It was pink with flower print.

I think they turned out adorable at only 6x8" in size. It's a great pillow for car rides.

Back in early October, the daughter had talked Grandma into attempting to recreate a "Skelanimal" bat from an image that she had on a pair of gloves.

He's so cute! And, also made from the remnant polar fleece. I was so impressed that she made the pattern all by herself. She usually has low confidence on that type of thing. But, she did a fantastic job! Way to go mom!

And lastly, I haven't posted these items we sent my sis and her daughter back in a Harry Potter personal swap we arranged like two years ago! Yikes, has it really been that long!? I spaced and forgot to get pics, so waited for them to finally send over a few.

They each got a Cornish Pixie with a large cage to keep them both in (not pictured). They are like the ones we made here. But, each was an experiment in using a different fabric. As you can see, the polar fleece stretches making the pixie much larger and thicker than the ones made with less stretchy fabric like the velour.

And a "Ginny Weasley" rag doll with cloak ready for her trip to Hogwart's. I helped make the cloak and dress, but mom made the doll. She is based off the pattern we used on these that I posted about a LONG while back.

Next up I'll be posting about some more pistachio falls I finally got around to finishing. And, after the new year, I'll share some homemade Christmas gifts and more custom hats.

More Monster Dolls and a Zombie Bunny

2011-11-28T10:50:00.001-06:00

I'm really behind posting some of the crafts we've been making this year. For instance, long before Halloween, my mom had made some more monster dolls for my daughter. So Batsy has friends!

Meet the werewolf named "Wolfina" and a frankenstein-ish doll named "Victoria". They were made using Batsy's pattern that I created last Christmas.

Their polar fleece hair is removable via Velcro. So, all of them can exchange hair colors and styles along with their clothes. I wanted to put faces on both sides, so you could flip it over for a different expression. But, the daughter was too excited to start playing with them for me to sew them on.

We really need to get busy on some more clothes. The daughter has been helping. She made Wolfina a shirt out of a bright fuzzy red sock. She's also made a hat out of an old pocket (not pictured). Kids are so clever with upcycling. :)

To reward the daughter for making Principle's Honor Roll again, I also not so recently made her a Zombie Bunny.

It's inspired by a costume she dressed her pet in on Pet Society on Facebook. She has named this one "Stitchy Buttons".

We've got a couple other sewing projects around here that mom has put together. I'll try to dig them up. This is one trouble with making things for the daughter. She runs off with them, and I never get to take any pics. ;)

Until next time, HAPPY CRAFTING!!

Having a Ball with Eyeballs

2011-11-25T19:50:00.002-06:00

Juggling Eyeballs!!
Yep. Eyeballs you can juggle made from balloons! How fun! We had to try it. Though, I can't take credit for this project idea.

We just celebrated my daughter's birthday this past week. We didn't do anything fancy this year. Just some homemade cupcakes and crafts. There seemed to be a running theme of eyeballs. This would be partially due to the eyeball candy and cupcake wrappers we found in the clearance bins after Halloween. But, the daughter likes eyeballs and other creepy things. Which is probably rather odd. And, there is some irony in this, too. The irony being that all her dolls nowadays have button-eyed. Hmmm...how strange. :)

Anyway, we had lots of balloons left over after b-day decorating, so I remembered this tutorial for making Juggling Eyeballs I'd seen on Michele Made Me. The balls are made simply with balloons and uncooked rice. And the cool part was that they were giant EYEBALLS! Really easy kid friendly project. So, we scouted out what we had; found three plastic bottles and some long grain rice (since we didn't have short); and made a couple. A few minutes later, we had juggling balls!

I must say, substituting with long grain rice didn't work very well. The rice holds it's flattened shape when dropped. And, being new jugglers, we dropped them a LOT. So, we made a second attempt with some expired peeled yellow "mung" beans in the back of our cabinet. They worked much better than the rice.

After making our eyeballs, we also used the balloon necks that we cut off to cover some additional juggling balls. They remind me of billiard or pool balls.

Now we just have to learn how to juggle. It's going to be lots of practice to be able to juggle three of them! I just can't seem to get more than two going at once. :)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and/or scored some bargains this Black Friday! I'll be posting some more sewing projects shortly. Later!

Guessing Game: Time to Reveal Steampunk'd Items and Winners

2011-11-22T08:54:00.006-06:00

If you missed my last post, we were having a little guessing game to figure out what everyday items I made some costume bullets out of. Big THANK YOU to everyone who participated. So many answers were so very close. It was difficult choosing the deserving winner. But, we have!

Now to find out what they really are!.....

If you said pen parts, you were correct, but only partially. Some of the many bullets I made were indeed made from different pen parts that I salvaged from assorted dead pens. However, I knew it wouldn't be difficult for some of you to recognize these. This is why I said to "be specific" on the two bullets in the challenge. The trick was that the bullet cylinders of the chosen two weren't actually made with the pen itself.

It was the caps that made up the cylinder portion. To be precise, it was Bic Round Stick Pen Caps. Both of the bullets in the challenge, as well as all the bullets pictured in the top row of the 2nd image of this post, were made with these caps. The second bullet did use the joint that holds the internal writing portion into the barrel from the same pen. As for the tips, I used 6mm Plastic Spaghetti Beads that were given to me. A third of a bead was cut down for the very tip of the second bullet.

Bic pens are truly fabulously well designed and crafty pens. Inexpensive and sufficient to write with, too. I wondered if any of you had noticed my frequent use of them in my projects. I have used them to make my adjustable knitting loom, a polymer clay covered pen, and some Harry Potter inspired writing quills. We use the internal ink parts left over to refill our other pens. So, no part of the pens have gone to waste here. :)

Here's how it was accomplished...

First, we cut the open ends off shorter. Two reasons for this. To remove the skinny clip part and to remove the "Bic" logo around the lower band. The plastic is soft enough to cut through with an exacto knife, or even a sharp pair of scissors. You can use a small flame, like a lighter, to smooth any burrs on the edge after cutting. Also, remove the center from the tip of the cap. You don't need to do a clean job. The little nubs will help the bead to stay in place better.

For the simplest version, we just crammed the spaghetti beads into the top. I used a tiny amount of glue around the rim to secure the bead.

For the longer bullet, I used the tip joint part thingy. It is also stamped with the logo, which can be removed with a little sanding. Just wrap a 150-200 grit paper around the tip and rotate it to wear it down. You'll also need to stretch the hole on top of the cap to get the parts to fit. I forced the opposite end into the hole to stretch it out. Turn it back around, and it should just pops right in.

Then, I tried various paint. The caps already have a texture that will help paint stick without need of sanding. Shooting them with a light coat of spray paint will help acrylic paints stick better. However, the best results, I think, probably came from good old gold/silver "Rub n' Buff". The fancy filigree on some of the bullets is actually just short scraps of lace that were painted.

One last minute clever thing I discovered using all the assorted pen parts, is that you can make the bullets into tiny containers! (The image above is of four of these containers.) How cool, right?! They could hold small pills/capsules, tic tacs, or even secret messages! ;)

Now for winners...

With so many similar answers, we decided we'd pick two winning guesses as well as one random winner. We scored them one point for each part guessed right and one point for being the first to guess a particular part.

Kudos to Creepy Creations, our highest scorer! She not only guessed it was pen caps and beads, but also the brand of pen! Great eyes! Our second place winner is The Cardboard Crafter for being first to mention the bead and for callin' out the pen tip! Congrats to our random winner , Jana_Ellena, chosen by random.org, who also just happened to be the first to guess pen! And, for being a good sport letting us borrow her challenge idea for this, I'm sending Mich in LA a bullet necklace, too. So great of her to come by and guess! Thank you so much!

That should wrap this up. I'll be notifying the winners via email shortly. Please send you snail mail addys ASAP, so I can get these to you. Thanks, again, to everyone for coming over to play!

Next up, I'll be posting about a quick fun project we tried this week. It was a ball!...or three! ;)

Guessing Game: What Everyday Object Are These Made Out Of??: Steampunk'd Vampire, Werewolf and Zombie Bullets

2011-11-14T14:29:00.020-06:00

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Want one of these bullets for your very own? :) Well, good news! I'm giving away not one...not two...but THREE of them! You could receive one just for guessing! Read on!

Awhile back, my man was making a Steampunk'd ammo belt hatband for his red leather hat, but it was looking pretty empty and sad without any bullets in it. We looked around for shells to use, but frankly, they were hard to find. And, what we found was kinda expensive, not to mention right down heavy for his hat. So, after running short on time for faire, I got to looking through my craft stash and came upon some everyday items that, when put together, made amazingly perfect bullets!

Just take a look at some necklaces I put together after I finish the simple ones for his hat:

I was pretty proud of my own cleverness on this. So I thought I'd share a quick and simple tutorial with all you empty ammo belt wearers out there. Now, at this point, you may be asking yourself, "So, where's this tutorial? I don't see a tutorial here." But, to make it fun, I have something else in mind first. Muhuwahaha!

Mich L. in L.A. has a regular "Guess the Mystery Thing" on her blog. She has such clever posts and pretty items. I thought it'd be fun to host a similar challenge and invite her to be on the other end of the challenge for a change. (I hope to stump her, as well.) ;) And, you're all invited to play, too! But, don't worry. This one is really easy. It shouldn't be tough for someone to guess it right off.

*******UPDATE 11/22/11*******
Voting has ended for this challenge.
View the reveal and winners here.
*******************************

We're going to limit guesses to the two painted bullets at the top of this post. The first one is made in two parts like those in his hat. One part is the everyday item and the other is a common craft supply. Or, try to guess specifically what the second bullet is made out of. It is made in three parts.

You could win one of the bullet pendant pictured below (with the chain attached):

Now take a guess. For more of a challenge, don't be tempted to peek at the comment section til after you guess! You just need to take a stab at what objects the two bullets in the first image on this post are made of. You've probably already figured it out. But, please be specific, because the best (most accurate) answer wins (judged by my mom, my daughter, and me). Don't fret if you have no clue what it is. I'll also pick a random winner for one, as well.

THE RULES: Just comment with your guess. That's it! Oh, but be sure your email addy is in your profile or comment where I can find it to contact you. If I can't find it, I will chose a new winner.

And, while we're on this topic of the Mystery Thing Challenges, it's taken me an embarrassing long time to share an awesome item I won from Mich L. in L.A. Check out this really cool rubber grape ring. Yep, that's what I said. Rubber grape ring. I got it by participating in Mich's challenge here.

That's all for this post! Thanks for stopping by and GOOD LUCK to those who play along!

Skull fun for Dia de Los Muertos

2011-11-02T12:49:00.005-05:00

Just thought I'd share a little last minute Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, dabblings.

So, I was experimenting with some makeup the other day to wear to faire for All Hallow's with my ever-changing steampunk garb. I used some black and white eyeliner I had on hand and a little frosty white eyeshadow on top of the white liner, which made a cool shimmery effect. I was really impressed at my first attempt's results and pretty proud of myself. Especially for using what I had already in the makeup box. Unfortunately, the family was creeped out by it and talked me out of wearing it in public. ;( In hind sight, I should have just thrown caution to the wind and worn it anyway. Ahh, well. It was fun and I do plan to experiment some more and wear it at some point.

And, just for some extra giggles, I'd thought I'd share a Calavera poem I wrote while working on the old spellbook during one of my past craft swaps this year:

"A Crafty Calavera"

Here lies (whats left of) Mieljolie...
who made little things to delight you and me.
The life she spent crafting discarded waste,
we wanted to honor with scissors and paste.

Yet, none possessed notable skill,
to take on the task we wished to fulfill.
The problem perplexed us to no avail.
Our attempts at solution continued to fail.

“Waste not want not”, she repeatedly said.
But what do we do, now that she’s dead?
After much deliberation and thought,
our minds were set to waste her not!

Her bones for a chair were adequately able.
And her skull was used to level the table.
We wept as we swept what was left to her grave,
in the trash with all the junk she managed to save.

And, if you didn't know, the custom of creating Calaveras, which are humorous epitaphs or poems written for the living mainly to poke fun at the persons traits and habits, started around the late 18th during the festival known as Dia de los Muertos in Mexico.

Hope you've enjoyed my little contributions!

And We Have Winners!

2011-10-25T12:07:00.004-05:00

Time to announce the winners in the Star-crossed Lovebirds Witch BOO't giveaway!

I attempted to make videos of the drawing to show they are on the level. However, I'm no director, so they are what they are. :)

I'm going to share the tutorial drawing results first for suspense, even though we actually drew the boot winner first. My daughter did the honors of being our hand model. There were seven entries for the Witch BOO't Tutorial/pattern, of which 2 were for sharing links.

1. Hullabuoy
2. Creepy_Creations
3. Leah
4. MissingWillow
5. The Cardboard Crafter

bonus entries for shares:

6. Creepy_Creations
7. Leah

And the winners were...

...Creepy_Creations and Leah!! Congrats to you both! Must say sharing links paid off for our tutorial winners. :) I'll be sending your links over to you sometime tonight.

And now for the BOO't! We had four entries for the boot. They were:

1. Hullabuoy

The wind in your feathers, a skull at your back
Highlight your eyes so sexy and black
But alas my love,soon we must fly
For in full scope of these cats we certainly shall die
So beckon our wings to depart from this wall
For our fate shall be written in blood should we stall
And Raven and Ravenette will no longer be
But a pile of bent feathers of you and me.

2. Creepy_Creations

Two little birds kissing on a gate
Along came a cat and...ate!!!

3. Leah

Resigned to our fate We sit upon this gate.
While under the eyes of the moon I will sing a lover’s tune
As we wait for black to announce Their presence with a pounce.

4. MissingWillow

There once was a gal named Miel
Who made witch boots particularly well.
You best keep your money
She won't sell you one, honey
She's giving one (but don't anyone tell).

And...the winner of the drawing is...

...**drum roll here**...Hullabuoy!!! Yay! Congrats to Cathi! Please send me you shipping info and I'll get the boot out to you ASAP. I'll have the printable image ready hopefully tomorrow and will send instructions for retrieving it to each of you via email.

I sure hope these videos are viewable. This is my first attempt at posting my own from my camera. I had to clip it in half to get them to upload.

House Elf Needs a Good Home (Find him on Ebay)

2011-10-18T10:15:00.003-05:00

Do you think you can handle your own House Elf?

One of mom's House Elves has been running a muck, and we've decided he needs to go. Under that sweet looking innocent face lurks a total terror. He's getting harder to handle than a freshly caught Cornish Pixie and has sticker fingers than a barrel of Nifflers! You may recall back when I posted about the triplets. We hated to separate them, but this one just isn't playing nice with the other elves here. So, we've decided to find him a family of his own, who can give him the attention he needs to straighten him out.

If you've got what it takes to adopt him, head over to our eBay listing. It will end Sunday, Oct. 23rd in the early evening.

Witch BOO't Giveaway!! Enter now!

2011-10-15T10:47:00.009-05:00

WIN THIS BOO'T!!
Or a copy of my Paper Mache Witch BOO't Tutorial!

So, you know how I like to write short poems for my paper mache witch boots? Well, I think it would be cool for all you loyal followers of this blog to take a stab at it this time. Come on, it'll be fun! Don't fret if you're not a wordsmith. It's not a competition. Just give it a try, and I promise you're hard work will be rewarded. You'll even be entered for a chance to win this very boot!

I'm going to have a two part drawing:

WITCH BOO'T DRAWING
One lucky winner chosen from a drawing of all who create verses will win my "Star-crossed Lovebirds" Witch BOO't. Just put a few words together in any poetry form of your choice. I have an additional prize for all who take the time to submit a verse. Not only will you be entered in the drawing for the boot and tutorials, but you can receive a printable digital copy of the "Star-crossed Lovebirds" boot image with a copy of the verses submitted as my personal "Thank You" for being such a good sport. Don't forget to include how you would like your name to be credited on your poem.

Example poem:

"The raven is black. The moon is white.
The birds on this boot better take flight tonight!"
- by mieljolie

TUTORIAL DRAWING
Every follower who comments on this post by either submitting a verse, or by simply letting us know you're "in" will be entered for a chance to win one of two PDF copies of my paper mache witch BOO't tutorial. Those who share a link on their blog or social networking site and comment with the location here, will get an extra entry in the drawing.

This GIVEAWAY will end in one week or Monday, Oct. 24th.

RECAP OF THE PRIZES:

One lucky winner will win THIS BOOT for submitting a verse!
Two different winners will receive one of two PDF copies of my paper mache witch boot tutorial just for commenting.
All poets will receive a digital copy of the image depicted on the boot with a copy of all the verses just for playing.

Okay, so here is what you need to do:

Follow this blog (if you aren't already).
Comment on this post in any combination of the three ways below before the deadline (Monday, Oct. 24th 2011 midnight central time):

A short verse/poem as long or short as you wish (include your name or your Blogger username will be used)
A link where you're sharing this giveaway on a blog or social network like FB, Google+, etc...(for the extra entry in the tutorial drawing) You may use images of the boot or the badge found below.
A note to let me know you are in for the tutorial drawing only.
All of the above

Have your email address available in your comment or profile for me to contact you if you're a winner. If I can't find your contact info, and you don't contact me within 24 hours of the announcement of the winners, I will draw a new winner. Also, if I don't have an address to ship to within one week of the announcements, I will also choose a new winner.
By posting, you give me permission to display/distribute you creative writing (with credit given) for free in this post and in print for the other persons who participate.

Here is a badge you can use to share the GIVEAWAY:

Hope that covers everything. Sorry I'm so late getting this posted. Good luck to everyone!

Miss Witch's Annual Party - Witch BOO't

2011-10-13T10:30:00.007-05:00

Miss Witch's Annual Party
created by Tiffany Hinnen (mieljolie)

On the top of a hill is the Mortal family's home,
where they're tucked in their beds, cuz they do not dare to roam.

They leave the lights on, even though they're fast asleep
to ward off those who haunt and things that like to creep.

For the spirits prowl tonight. From their coffins they arose,
for a night upon the town in their best Sunday clothes.

Mr. Bones has been waiting for this special night about.
He'll pass through the graveyard as he makes his way out.

He'll visit Miss Witch and her flighty fairy friends,
who host an annual party every decent spook attends.

There'll be black cats and spiders and a crazy bat or two.
Even the Devil may drop by when he's finished chasing YOU!

As you may have noticed above, I've been giving all my boots nicknames and occasionally write quick rhymes for them inspired by the scenes. It was a challenge to incorporate all the elements into the poem for this one. But, I think it's one of my fave poems.

This witch BOO't is a vintage-inspired commission for someone who has been waiting patiently since last year. This particular boot was interesting because she requested specific imagery. A lot of which couldn't be accomplished well with only silhouettes, which I normally use. So, it took me a lot longer to layout and paint. But, I aim to please. There is a witch and some fairy-like creatures on the left sides brewing a potion. A dapper skeleton, Mr Bones, is standing in an arch on the back with a friendly crow on his shoulder. On the right side is a cemetery scene with a spooky house on a hill in the distance.

In front there are eyes peeking out of the laces and "Wicked!" written on the tongue with tiny JOL pumpkins dotting the "I" and exclamation.

On my concept drawing, I had sketched little coffins with skeletons in them, but when she saw them she saw the reverse as corn shocks, which gave her the idea to include a devil chasing some veggie people like that which was popular imagery on vintage postcards.

Thought I'd never get this boot finished with all the detail and the chaos going on here. Sorry, I didn't get any listed for purchase this year. I know some of you have been asking. I had planned to, but you know how life works. It just didn't happen. But, if you can wait, I will have a few for next year.

Thought it might interest some people to see how I went about painting the various stages of this boot. After applying the primer and base coat, I started roughly drawing in the design with pencil. Then I painted all the yellow portions being careful to erase any pencil because it would show under the thinned yellow paint. Then I applied most of the big areas of black before going back and detailing with a small brush and marker. After that, I stepped back to look at the overall layout and color distribution. I added in some black areas to balance out and fill in things a little. Then I was able to apply the varnish to seal it and add the laces and dangling star. Since I had already painted the heel black before drawing out the concept, I went back at the end to paint it. That is why the black under coloring of the yellow is different than other yellow parts on top but matches the lettering on the tongue.

And for my loyal followers, I'm finally going to host a GIVEAWAY! Yes, that's right! I've been promising to post about it for ages. The prize will be the small witch boot in the image just above that I'm calling "Star-crossed Lovebirds". It's an experimental illusion piece, which is still in the process of being painted. I have a wee bit to finish up tonight including adding some stars in the sky and finishing up the birds on the tongue. So, if you're interested in owning this small boot or a copy of my witch BOO't tutorial look for the giveaway post sometime tonight or tomorrow for details!

Hope all of your own annual Halloween parties are as hair-raisingly fabulous as Miss Witch's!

Our Yurtle Got a Face Lift

2011-10-10T15:35:00.004-05:00

That's right. Our yurt, which I've been calling "Yurtle", has been undergoing some cosmetic enhancements. You may, or may not, remember the post about building it here.

I've been wanting to paint the white camo top since we finished it. I'd been planning to paint it to resemble a blue turtle shell like those found in the illustrations of Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle" children's books. However, I was out voted by our family (mainly the daughter) who all wanted a giant mushroom, instead. Oh well, I can be flexible. So, we went with inspiration from the Super Mario video games and painted a red/white pattern loosely based on the Amanita Muscaria.

We also painted the frame red to match, which really livened up the inside. This is actually pretty traditional. We see quite a few yurts online with the red frame.

Additionally, we now have nice wall-to-wall carpet over our tarp floor, when an aunt decided to rip out her carpet to put in hard floors. Score! Then, by pure fortune, I found an awesome bargain on a lovely 10 yard black/gold piece of upholstery fabric for $5! Double SCORE!! :) It is now the inner lining wall. It's getting to be quite a load to hall in our Jeep with all the fabric and such, but I love it. It was wonderful to sleep in this past weekend.

I had stuck little round stickers all over the white patterns in the camo print on top before priming the whole thing in black. Then, I painted the white and red over it. This helped to eliminate the camo print glowing through when we light the inside of the yurt. It turned out really cool. When inside in the daylight the dots light up like white and red stars. And, the outside at night faintly shows the dot stars when the lantern inside is on.

Now, I just need a pretty lamp to hang, instead of the propane Coleman eye sore. I'll also be attempting some mattresses made from the aunt's carpet padding. :) I used some of the padding to make the cushions ontop of the milk crates stools in the second pic above. I'll be covering those with some of the sixty upolstry fabric samples I acquired from another thrift store for another $5. They are beautiful! Should look really cool in the yurt, too. And the crate stools double as containers for our gear.

Can't wait to go camping again here in a couple weeks at TRF. Hope to have the mattresses ready by then. Until next time, happy crafting!

Putty...Paint...FIRE!! - Flintlock Pistol Update (as promised)

2011-09-21T15:48:00.006-05:00

Just wanted to show the results of the repairs to mom's Flintlock pistol I posted about for "Talk Like a Pirate Day". She didn't like the hole exposed by a missing chip where the fake barrel cuts off under the wood. So, I sculpted the missing part for her with some wood filler putty. I had some of this stuff left from a past repair we made to one of our doumbek drums. It's truly amazing stuff. After letting the putty dry, I went back and sanded it smooth and added a little paint, marker and such to match the color of the wood.

You should always ALWAYS have good lighting when working on stuff like this. I failed to notice some small nicks in the putty. You can see the small nicks around where the putty meets the wood. But, anyhow, I think it makes it look more like a knot in the wood or something. Oddly, the color match is really better in person then on screen. Hmm..hate that. :)

The last quick thing I did was grind of the annoying "MADE IN CHINA" stamp on the top of the barrel. Why they put it there of all places is beyond me. I put a little paint over the spot to match the aged pewter, since it would take WAY to long to let is age on its own. :)

Now we just need some butane to fill the lighter with!

In other news, we're making some ongoing improvements to Yurtle, the yurt. It's getting a face lift. And, I got some awesome bargains on upholstery fabric and some free carpet. I'll have pics of that project hopefully sometime at the beginning of October. **knock on wood putty** Should have some new Witch BOOt pics to show, too. Until then, thanks for stopping in!

Ahoy, me hearties! I be ARRRmed and dangerous!!

2011-09-19T14:32:00.007-05:00

Aye, tis true! Fer Talk Like A Pirate Day, I be repairin' me dear mum's flintlock fer faire this October. So, pard'n me fer soundin' a squiffy n' butch'rin' me up some landlubbin' pirate speak. (I'm terrible at speaking pirate, if you can't tell.)

This pistol was found in a shop whilst belayed in foreign ports (the local flea market). She nay be a workin' weapon, but she be a fine beauty of a torch all'da same, she is. (Actually, it's a cigarette lighter.)

Shiver me timbers! Feast cher scurvy eyes on that bleedin' hammer thar! Me mum be 'bout addled in 'er brain after spyin' it. She be likin' her elephants, she be.

It be havin' a bit of a chip missing off the starboard corner that I be fer fillin' with wood putty.

Still need to sand 'er and make 'er pretty. Avast... that be all fer now. I'll be fer showin' the finished piece when I make port again.

Now, bring me that crafty horizon! ARRR....

House Elf Triplets and More !!

2011-09-11T20:57:00.008-05:00

We had a request to make some House Elves for a little boy's birthday. He and his brother are big fans of Harry Potter. Being very difficult to find house elves in stores, his mom had an even more difficult task of finding one that could be played with safely. And, his mother wanted two to have an extra just in case. (Smart mom!) We couldn't say no to her request, so mom got busy making some like our own Dobby and Kreacher with a more suitable fabric for the rougher play of a young child. We were worried about having the two elves turn out completely different. Mom decided to make three for her to choose two from. Besides, it should be fairly easy to find a home for the third. :)

Well, of course they turned out completely different in expression and/or personality. So here are the three:

The Angry Elf - Must be a long lost descendant of Kreacher. Grumpy and persnickety as can be, he's the leader of the group, and he's the oldest.

The Sad Elf - As a middle child, he always gets overlooked. But, he's eager to prove himself as a good servant.

The Shy Elf - We think this one is a girl. But, it's tough to tell with house elves. She seems to be afraid of crowds, which is odd coming from such a large family. But, once she warms up to you, she's very friendly and helpful.

Mom put these elves together pretty much all by herself. I was very impressed. I love her toes. I helped her with the eyes, which turned out to be the least successful part of these dolls. As I mentioned, we used a different fabric, and it was difficult to get the eyes just right.

Mom also made two other house elves of other remnants she found while at the fabric store. One is thin and vinyl-like with a wrinkled texture, while the other is faux suede with a thin layer of padded backing. They're the top middle two in the pic below. They turned out really cute. She's still working on their outfits. Please excuse the left ones nakedness and the right one's chef design (It was the leftover part of the towel she used to make the other outfits).

Above are all the house elves we have here at the moment (minus one that's living in Kansas with my sis and her daughter) including the one that elwynceltic made for us in our Harry Potter Holiday Potter Craft Swap (right end on the top row) . He's the one that started this all for us.

If mom keeps this house elf making up, soon we should have enough to fill the staff in the kitchen at Hogwart's! Thanks for stopping by!

Witch BOO't Tutorial/Pattern FINALLY Available on Etsy.com!!

2011-09-07T16:47:00.003-05:00

By request, I put this tutorial/pattern together to help those who'd like to try to make their own paper mache witch boots. Yay! It's been a looong time in the making, but it's finally one more thing off of my todo list.

I'm going to keep it listed on Etsy.com here at least until Halloween is over. Not sure if I will keep it available much longer than that. It will depend on the demand for it. So, if you want it, go and get it. I'd be happy to answer any questions that may arise.

To celebrate this tutorial's completion, I will be hosting a giveaway of a small boot. So stay tuned in the next week or so for the details. And, thanks so much to everyone who has dropped by and commented on my witch boots. If I could, I'd distribute this tutorial for free to all of you. But alas, my family won''t let me. :) So, like the tabistry tutorials, the money goes to pay for the daughter's college education.

Take care and happy crafting!

Kickin' Around Some New Witch BOO't Ideas

2011-08-30T19:30:00.004-05:00

I've begun painting a few more paper mache witch BOO't for this season. One is a commissioned boot that is to have a vintage Halloween feel. I created a concept to work out the placement. Sorry, it's a bit scribbly.

Since this boot has a lot of details, I chose a nice wide one with ample space to paint on. It's a slightly darker orange than I have worked with in the past. I'm in the process of painting on the yellow spots. Then, I'll go over it with black.

There will be essentially six scenes to be painted.

The left being a witch behind a cauldron with her arms up surrounded by fairy-like creatures, and
The right side will have a cemetery with a gate leading off to a spooky house with a witch flying by on her broom.
The back will have a pumpkin-headed skeleton wearing a top hat and holding a cane. Though, I believe I am going to move the cane to the opposite hand where he will lean on it.
The heel has been changed from the original concept above. Instead, it will have a corn shock with a devil chasing a strange veggie-like creature around it.
The toes will have the customary moons with faces
The tongue is still undecided. It may have eyes peeking out. Not sure, yet. But, there will most likely be words on the tip of the tongue.

I have another concept in the works for a small boot involving birds, cats and the moon. I'm hoping I can get these and a few others finished within a reasonable amount of time. I'm still working on a tutorial for these boots, as well. Plus, I still have some shoes over here that are half painted from last year! Wish me luck (and lots of time)!

BTW, you may be seeing a giveaway on this blog very soon! So keep an eye out! ;)

A Little Self Promotion of a Different Kind

2011-08-21T14:23:00.009-05:00

The little time I have these days for costuming, I've been squeezing in time for what I hope are improvements to my Steampunk outfits. June seemed to be all about hats. This month is awards, medals and other adornments. I'm thinking I'll promote myself to something like "inspector" or "detective lieutenant". After all, someone has to keep all these sky pirates and time bandits in check. :)

For my uniform, I made an epaulette on just one shoulder and an aiguillette-ish type thing, or braided rope on my right shoulder, with some gold cord I had picked up in a clearance bin at our hobby store. I used my macrame skills and tied a chain of square knots.

I also made three medals, so far. More accurately I should say that I reassembled these medals. All the parts were found secondhand. These are so easy to make out of all the junk jewelry parts I hoard. The metal parts were pendants and other found things. I'm even using old hat bands and ribbon scraps and some slightly used pin backs I found a bag of at a thrift store that someone evidently saved. (I love lucking out on little things like that!) I've got a few more medals just about finished. But, I think I've run out of room on my jacket. :)

The two upper ribbon/pin portions of the two on the right were found pretty much intact. The blue one in the middle was a high school band medal from Florida. I replaced the medal and attached a Boy Scout pin that reads, "Be Prepared", on the top. The far right medal was missing the lower metal pendant part. The ribbon colors of this particular one are similar to, but a reverse of, a Navy and Marine Corps Medal awarded for:

"Distinguishing oneself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. For acts of lifesaving, or attempted lifesaving, it is required that the action be performed at the risk of one's own life"

Yes, I was curious and looked up military awards for inspiration. I still haven't decided on the stories for how each medal I now have was earned. :)

If they look familiar, the "pips", or stars on my collar, are pins from Girl Scouts. I was a Brownie/Girl Scout for a short time when I was young. I lost my sashes and badges, but some how found these two stars in some old jewelry parts.

I also put together the above badge. It's pretty large being 3 and a half inches wide and slightly heavy. You can see me wearing it on the middle of my shirt in the pics below.

Still reworking the overskirt that matches this jacket. For now, I'm wearing this tan skirt instead. I'll post more about the jacket/skirt when I'm happier with the skirt.

We had a wonderful evening this past weekend at Marquis of Vaudeville's Musical Menagerie in Deep Ellum. Got to dress up in our fineries and listen to some great live music.

Until next post, have a crafty time!

Turtles! - Personal Craft Swap with rottenlittleboys

2011-07-24T13:26:00.008-05:00

Made a new pair of falls for a personal craft swap. My partner is in tribal bellydancing and requested some of our pistachio hair falls. She likes turtles and fish so that is the theme I went for.

From the top loop to the end of the tassels, these falls are about 28" long. I added a black hair elastic to the loop to put around a pony tail.

I have to say I'm not fond of photographing these long falls. It's difficult to get the whole length in the pics. So, let me chop them up for you. :)

I had planned to decorate the falls with some fish charms, wooden beads and silver bells. But, while I was stringing the shells on the top section of the falls I got this great idea to also make some little turtles out of the pistachio shells. I used some shells that I dyed with Berry Blue Kool-aid for the turtle backs. The Kool-aid made a nice bright turquoise blue (and smell great). Then, I went back over it with a dark turquoise and black fine Sharpie marker to draw some shell pattern and covered them with clear gloss spray paint to make them shiny. The turquoise color contrasts nicely with the burgundy beads.

The falls are strung with brown and black acrylic yarns. The wooden beads were taken from some secondhand cranberry Christmas garlands. They're a realty pretty burgundy color. The feathers were leftovers from a bunch I tore apart for the little felt pirate hat I posted about a while back. I put the feathers and the fish charms on clasps so that they are removable. That way she can wear them in other ways.

I really like how these turned out. Might just be my fave pair, yet. I've been making all kinds of colors of shells, but I seem to prefer the look of stringing the natural ones and using the dyed shells as accents. I've got a few more pairs partially finished. But, I'm going to be taking a break from them to paint some witch boots. If all goes as planned I should have some boots posted by the end of the month.

And, now on to what I receive in return:

My swap partner, littlerottenboys, sent me a really nice 12" locker hooked turtle rug that mom and I plan to enlarge to use in our yurt for camping. You can check out the personal/private swap gallery for more info and to see larger images of the rug.

I LOVE getting mail!

2011-07-22T15:21:00.003-05:00

There's nothing like going to the mailbox and pulling out packages! :) Today I got two! Yippee!

The first is a prize I won in The Cardboard Crafter's blog giveaway. I won this adorable pillow case dress that she sewed for me! DOn't you wished you'd have entered?! She did a wonderful job on it. I love the fabric choices. I'll be giving this dress as a gift to my cousin for one of her twins. I think they're going to love it. I know my daughter did when I put it on her giant Barbie doll for the pics. She didn't want to take it off :)

TCC's fairly new blog is entertaining and informative with posts about crafting and being a mother. I look forward to reading more of what she posts in the future. She seems like a very cool mom.

I also received some awesome Ameraucana rooster feathers from Connie at Missing Willow Farm. She's another great blogger with the most picturesque farm I've ever seen! She sent these feathers to me from her roosters to decorate some hats I''ve been making. She's so kind and thoughful! The pic doesn't do them justice. They have a beautiful greenish iridescence to them in the light. They're going to look great when I get them trimmed and cleaned up.

I've been enjoying Connie's blog since she started it just after we did a Craftster.org craft swap back in August of last year. I have to mention that not only does she and her husband raise chickens and other farm animals, they do it all! She even keeps bees! I really don't know how she keeps up with all of it and finds time to regularly post such nice pictures and interesting stories and info about farm life. She's always posting their clever solutions for managing a farm. I'm very excited because we have plans for a future craft swap around November. The daughter and I look forward to her handmade soaps!

Thanks so much for sending the great packages! They really made my day!

gRABBIT - The Bunny-eared Plastic Bag Saver

2011-07-10T15:40:00.010-05:00

A-BAG-acadabra!!

Tada! Well, it isn't a cute fuzzy bunny I pull out of this hat, but it's definitely more useful! I'm constantly looking for ways to use/store our huge supply of plastic grocery bags before resorting to recycling. Here is a very simple, but useful, project I think you will enjoy!

These are reusable plastic bag dispensers that keep those proliferating plastic grocery bags stored compressed out of the way, yet ready to use. We've dubbed them "gRABBITs". These particular ones are meant to look like a magician's top hat with bunny ears sticking out. If you hadn't guessed, the dispensers are made with nothing more than paper towel or tp tubes. Even the decoration is cut out of the cardboard tube.

These can be stored conveniently in the car, by small trash bins, or in a purse. Or, take them camping. Anywhere bags might be needed. The tall tube holds 10 bags, while the short holds five. But, we really had to cram them tight to get them in. We closed off the bottoms to keep the bags from pushing their way out the bottom.

The bags are interlocked through the handle loops so that when one is pulled out the next pops up kinda like a Kleenex box. Clever, huh? I have to admit that this has to be the most useful and "green" idea we've come up with. Though, I must apologize for taking so long to share it.

We've been using these beside our own trash bins and in the car for years (shamefully undecorated). Back when our daughter was in kindergarten, she started drawing bunnies on the tubes so that the bag handles appear to be the ears. Oddly, I awoke just the other morning with the idea of these magician hats. So, we made a couple just for fun. The black one pays homage to Frosty the Snowman and, of course, the other is Steampunk inspired.

Looking for other ways to use the plastic bags? How about as stuffing? Awhile back, I used them successfully when I posted about my duct tape dressform. In the future, I also plan to post about some flowers we made with the more colorful ones.

BTW, the clothes pin dolls went over so well for the daughter that she is now wanting to try selling our gRABBITs in the bunny and hat bag styles, too. She's intent on saving up some money to buy her cousin a really nice Christmas present this year. I'm pondering whether to make these available in my Etsy.com to help her out. Is this a good or bad idea? Any takers? ;)

Evolution of Pygmy Puffs

2011-07-04T21:27:00.005-05:00

Since the first mention of pygmy puffs in the Harry Potter series, we've had to try making one. Okay. I mean a few. :) I thought it would be entertaining to share our progression since the first one.

In order from left to right meet "Nibbles", "Lolo" (Nintendo nod) and last, but not least, Ginny's "Arnold". They were all made using knitting looms. And, these pygmy puffs are unique in that they are hollow with an opening to hide things in. We added hair clips inside each one that poke through the knit to clip them to our shoulders. I started with the largest one, Nibbles, which was created on the Blue KK loom. Nibbles is the only one with an opening at the mouth, which makes him have an adorable frightened or surprised expression. The eyes are just large black beads. You can read about him and and a puffskein I made for a HP swap here.

Lolo, which was originally called "Arnold", was second puff. I made him after the 6th movie "HP and the Half Blood Prince" came out in theatres. He's has had a facelift since (before) then because I wanted to create a body more like what was in the 6th movie. Then, I read somewhere about brushing yarn to make it more hairy. So, we changed out the face on Lolo for large eyes at the daughter's request and put the polymer clay face on the new and improved Arnold.

Arnold and Lolo were both knitted on our DIY flexible loom which is much smaller and finer than the KK loom. The polymer clay face has glass beads embedded for eyes and is glued in place. Daughter thinks he looks kinda mean. Even the Arnold in the movie was not quite as cute as we had imagined by the description in the book.

My daughter and I are kinda partial to Nibbles, our first puff. Guess it's sentimental. When we go to the final movie, she wants to escort Nibbles and I get Arnold perched on my shoulder. Which leaves Lolo for Grandma. :) So, which one do you prefer?

This will probably be my final Harry Potter themed post before the movie comes out. Hope you've enjoyed them. If I have some time to tinker with the Cornish Pixie wings some more, I'll post my results. I've got several projects I need to get moving on. And, it's just about time for me to start painting some more witch boots.

And now, back to our normally scheduled crafting! :D

Peskipiksi Pesternomi!!

2011-07-02T15:57:00.009-05:00

Help! Our home is infested with Cornish Pixies, again!...

...And, we're encouraging it! :)

You may remember Frankie Pixie posted about a long while back. He was mom's first attempt at Ghilie's "poppet". And, mom chose to make a pixie like those in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He's still with us (as you can see in the pic below), though not zooming around getting into mischief as much as he used to. He's pretty tame now. Since then, we've also spotted two others that got away before I could catch them for some pics. They stowed away to Kansas to pester my sis's family and Geezer, the house elf.

Now, finally we've caught a fresh one to share with you. We're naming it "Pesky". We had to "clip" his wings to keep him from escaping. (Seriously, I just haven't been able to get the wings just right. I've tried so many techniques, but nothing working for me. I'm up for suggestions. The ones in the cage pics were the best of my experiments made with wire and white glue. Still not sure how to attach them.)

I think this pixie is a wee larger than the last few. Not sure mom used the right version of the pattern. We've gone through a few. His torso seems much smaller than the arms and legs. :) (I think the pixies have been in my pattern box.) Anyway, the original poppet is a great doll pattern. We've used altered versions of it many times to make the pixies, house elves and a few other dolls. The pixies are a much smaller version. We just shrunk the pattern down, altered the ears and nose, and added antennae. We've found the easiest antennae are made using chenille stem. You can curl it up out of the way while sewing. And, what luck! I had this lighter blue "terry cloth"-like pipe cleaner that matched the pixie in my stash for a while.

Let me just nip him back into the cage we found at the flea market. We see these cages quite frequently in our bargain hunting expeditions.This one is a bit small, but our larger wooden cage is housing Hedwig at the moment.

There, that's better. Don't want him tampering with the computer. I think this one broke our modem just the other day leaving me without internet for 4 days! The horror! I'll have one more Harry Potter themed post about magical creatures coming up soon. Again, it's not really a new project. Just an improved one (I hope).

House Elves and Hallows

2011-07-02T14:09:00.006-05:00

Deathly Hallows - part 2 is just about here! Yippee!!

I'm busy getting some tabistry stuff finished up, but I thought I'd celebrate the last Harry Potter movie coming out this month with some HP-themed projects mom and I had set aside about 90% finished. The next few posts will be dedicated to the magical world surrounding Hogwart's. Yay!

Remember back when we introduced you to Geezer, the House Elf? He went to live with my sis and her daughter. Now, meet "Dobby" (pre-clothes) and "Kreacher". ( I must say, it was a real challlenge getting them to sit in the pic together without hurting each other.)

Mom did most of the sewing on these. I really only helped her with pattern alterations and the eyes. You may notice that the two elves have different eyes. For one, Kreacher's eyes are milky looking. I wanted an old cataract-ridden look for him. I accomplished this with white acrylic paint thinned really well with a waterbase gloss varnish. I should have painted the eyes yellow, though. Not sure why we used blue. Also, I decided to try gluing the eye backing to the face on Dobby. This eliminates the stitch rings around the eyes. Much easier to do, too. :)

You may be wondering what happened to Kreacher's ears? Merlin's Pants! Why are they so freakin' long?! Well, there is a perfectly horrible reason. Instead of going back and watching the movie for accuracy, we went by this pic I found online:

Curse them!! Boy, were we wrong about the ears! :) But, you have to admit, it does look like it continues down his back, right? Well, we liked them and we aren't going to change them! :p

There are a few additional things I will be finishing up. The toes and fingers on Dobby need to be stitched. And, his tea towel needs some aging and distressing. As for Kreacher, I think his outfit is a wee too baggy. I'll probably take it in just a hair.

We plan to have these little guys ready and with us at the last movie. Don't worry, though. They won't be taking up any additional seating. They are strictly lap elves. :) BTW, we agreed not to take them to the last movie, even though they were almost finished. I'm sure that Dobby would have been traumatized to find out what happens to him. And, of course, Kreacher wouldn't let him forget it. ;)

Have fun with the fireworks this weekend! I'll be posting another Harry Potter project very soon!

Can't leave well enough alone...

2011-06-17T10:14:00.005-05:00

...when it comes to crafting. Nope, just not possible.

We decided to try dying the tan felt pork pie pirate hat I posted about with black hair dye! We convinced ourselves that the tan just wasn't an appealing color on us. But, after hindsight, I think I should have just wore it with my tan/blue tabistry corset and saved myself a whole lotta trouble. :)

Below is a pic just after the dying:

Don't get me wrong, I like it now much better than it started, but some ideas just don't turnout as you hope and can cause a mass of frustration. The dying worked alright, but I don't recommend it unless you're desperate. We only had one bottle of the hair dye and ran out on the inside. You can;t really tell in the pics, but since there wasn't enough to really get it soaked through, it has a kinda old faded brownish gray look to the top of it. It shrunk quite a bit too (as you can see in the before and after) while I was trying to rinse all the excess dye out. And on top of all that, it really smells bad. :) Not sure how long that will last, but I'm sure it will fade (along with the color) in time. :) The upside for the hat, though, is that the shrinking made the felt much stiffer and sturdier, now.

I continued fussing with this hat some more. I added some lace around the edge. I sewed it to the edge with a zigzag stitch in gold metallic thread.

The rooster pin was an after thought. I'm calling it a "cock"-ade. It was a pin we found a long time ago at the same flea market the hat was from. And, the hat pin sticking out the back of the second pic is another project we are currently working on.

We got the idea to make Victorian-style hat pins out of wire hangers and bits of stuff we have lying around. It has to be the thinner flimsy hangers. You don't want to put huge holes in your hat. But, you also don't want the pin to be so thin it becomes bendy and won't stick through the hat. I grinded the tips with the dremel. I should have polished off the yellow coating on the wire, but I kinda liked the gold-tone.

For my first attempt, I used some acrylic red beveled grapes my mom bought and some cheap beads. The second attempt, I used cheap artificial flower parts and a piratey button.

Still planning to make the dice beads I mentioned in my last post. Guess I have to go find my own dice. My daughter has some, but won't let me have one. ;(

Clothes Pin People (with instructions)

2011-06-16T20:30:00.005-05:00

The 8 year old daughter has been obsessed lately with trying to come up with things to sell to earn some extra money. She came up with these:

Clothes pin people. Aren't they adorably ingenious! They were a big hit with her friends, whom she gave her first ones away to before the school year ended. I didn't get a chance back then to get some pics. Now, she's made a new batch.

If you want to make your own, you will need:

- a clothes pin (for the body)
- scrap fabric (for hair and clothes)
- masking tape (for the head and to secure the hair)
- two twist ties (for arms)
- a permanent marker (for the face)

Here is what she does to assemble them:

1. She cuts a small piece of fabric about 1x2"; folded it in half and cuts slits to make hair. (We've found that if you use a knit like polar fleece or t-shirt, it will curl if you pull it gently.) She then pinches this between the clothes pin. She folds it until she gets it all to fit between the tips.

2. She wraps about a 2" piece of masking tape around the tip to secure the hair, making a flat surface to draw the face on.

3. She cuts another scrap of fabric of varying size to wrap around the middle of the pin just below the edge of the tape to form a dress. Using one twist tie in back and one in front about 1/4-1/2" down from the top edge of the fabric, she secures the fabric to the pin by twisting the ties on both sides to form each arm.

4. Lastly, she draws her face of choice. To her, it is of the utmost importance to wait to draw the face. This is so she can judge the personality of the individual people after they are fully dressed and make the perfect face for each character. :)

Hope you've enjoyed this little project. Being a tad biased, I'm totally impressed at her cleverness coming up with this. Makes a crafty mother proud. :)

Meet the new sheriff in town

2011-06-14T12:49:00.006-05:00

Yep, mom's working on a new steampunk costume for herself! Well, I mean she's got me working on one for her. ;)

Remember the felt hats we reworked a couple posts back? Well, we found another hat we couldn't pass up. We got the hat, a Styrofoam head and a hat box all for $5. I'm using the head to put my paper mache steampunk hat on so the brim won't get smushed and deformed. Ironically, the hat we bought is too wide for the box. Go fig. That's okay, though. I'm sure it will make a nice home for one of our many new hats.

Yay! I didn't forget the before shots! The pic above was after all the dust and everything was cleaned off. Honestly, I might not even have noticed the hat sitting in the corner of the shop covered with another pillbox style hat and a half inch layer of dust on top of it. After cleaning, the hat turned out pretty nice, but didn't do anything for either my mom or me. It just kinda hung limp and lifeless. I was planning to just trim the brim shorter and more contoured to make it a more hip twenties style hat. However, my mom loved the brown pork pie western hat we came up with last time so much, that she wanted a black one for her future gambler/sheriff outfit shes working on.

So into the sink it went to come out an extra wide brimmed pork pie like the brown one. I had to soak the hat in a mixture of one small bottle white school glue and water to stiffen it up more.

She found this sheriff badge at the flea market along with a "stinking badge" that I got to keep. (I couldn't resist. I just love movies like "Blazing Saddles".) The hat band was a belt we found at a secondhand store for 5o cents. I shortened it to fit, and we had some left over to make her an armband like the garters dealers wear to hold their sleeves up. The cards came from an old deck of cards I had that were getting marked by all the heavy use. (With no TV, cards are a popular family day activity in our house.) BTW, I used some of the lower cards of this same deck in my tablet weaving experiments a long time back.

We're currently planning some Victorian-style hat pins. Mom wants to have some with clear red dice on the tips. I think that will be a really cool idea. Now, just have to get it made. :)

Until next time!

Steampunk Cereal Box Hat

2011-06-02T12:09:00.004-05:00

If you couldn't tell, I've been all about making hats this past month. First, I made another pirate hat with pop tabs. Then, we reworked felt hats. Now, I'm showing you a hat made from cereal boxes covered in paper mache and tissue. You should not be in want of inspiration for headwear on my blog.

I wore this hat to the last weekend of Scarborough Faire. There was some confusion as to the actual "Day of Wrong" traditionally held on Memorial Day weekend. We took advantage of this and chose to dress steampunk for Sunday. ;)

I was trying to urge my SO to make a prototype for his second leather hat (I will post this soon) out of cardboard, so he'd have a pattern to work from. But, as usual, he decided to just wing it. That got me thinking that I could just make a wearable hat with the cardboard. The hat went together fairly quickly. The toughest and most time consuming part was deciding on a color to paint it. :)

This hat is made from a large "family-size" Frosted Flakes cereal box. Never thought we'd finish that cereal, the box was so big. But, it was just the right size to make the brim in one piece. This was important to avoid having an unwanted crease in it. I chose to piece together the crown of the hat.

The ribbon hatband is the only part of this hat not made with the cardboard. It is really long in back. I think it's a nylon or polyester fabric used in sheer curtains. My mom had kept this large piece back from her bellydancing days in the 70's. I ripped off a narrow piece and hemmed it with the sewing machine. I got the idea from the hatband scarf Joanie Stubb's wore on her gray hat in the HBO series "Deadwood". However, mine hangs down to my calves. I should mention that this isn't very practical. Being so breezy at faire that day, I had to tuck the end into my belt to keep it from reaching out and strangling passersby.

It was SO's idea to make it slant down in the front. He also came up with the idea to make the fake hinges on top when I was inspired to create a trunk look with the keyholes. The brass nails are just paint. I can't count how many folk asked me if it opened. Sadly I had to reply that it didn't. Next time, I will make one that opens. I'm always for functional garb and perhaps some ventilation up there. :)

Hope you've enjoyed reading about my hats. You should have seen the photo shoot my mom and I had outside the other day. We hung a white sheet from a tree and I played musical hats. :) That's why we get occasional dappled light on the hats. I really have enjoyed making and wearing these hats. I'm tempted to just wear them everyday. It makes me surprised and saddened that traditional hat styles lost there fashion appeal for so long. I hope they make a permanent comeback in everyday wear.

Old Dusty Cowboy Hat Makeover

2011-06-01T20:57:00.005-05:00

I stumbled upon the niftiest idea the other day on Youtube.com! What'cha think of our new future steampunk hat? It cost us about $2.50, since I bought two felt hats for $5 at a flea market.

The other day, I came across inspiration in a video of this guy making a felt cowboy hat into a "Buster Keaton" hat. (Yes, he says the name "Buster Keaton" an annoying number of times, at least 34 times, I think, during the tutorial) But, the idea is a fabulous way to revamp an old felt hat to give it new life.

BTW, don't ask me how I found this tutorial that inspired me. I frequently get sidetracked at that site spending time that I should be doing other things watching video after video about anything that pops up in the right sidebar. :)

This one started out as a sad looking dusty old typical cowboy hat made with beaver felt. An expensive hat in it's day, it was looking pretty pitiful. Living in Texas, we see these Stetson-style hats everywhere. (I wish I'd taken before pics.)

I had to remove the lining and sweatband, trim off the edging on the brim and clean it like the dickens. After that, we essentially made what is referred to as a "porkpie" hat, which got it's name from the top of the crown resembling (what else but) a pork pie, by soaking an existing hat in a sink and reforming it. If you rework a hat, you really don't need to fold the crown in like the pork pie as we did. Though, cowboy hats tend to be very tall on top making it a nice way to change the look. If we find other bargain felt hats, we may try some different style crowns.

I should mention that there was a tiny hole in the top of this one that I had to plug with a small piece of felt scrap I cut off of the brim. I basically needle-felted the hole until it was filled in adequately. Can't even tell there was a hole there! Gotta love felt. :)

How about a porkpie pirate hat?! Yeah, that's what the other ended up. It was a softer and floppier women's wool hat. We intended to starch it with the Keaton's sugar recipe. But after playing around, we rather liked the piratey look. Bet no one else at faire will have a pirate hat like this one. ;)

There's a little more info about the original recipe to remake a hat at the Buster Keaton Society page. It was really a quite simple and rewarding experience. If you try this, I'd love to see/hear your results.

When I get the chance, I'll be posting yet another hat, this time made with paper mache on cardboard. Until then, take care!

Steampunk'd Maverick Gun

2011-05-25T19:12:00.004-05:00

This is our take on a Nerf Maverick REV-6, which is probably the most commonly Steampunk'd gun of all and a first project for many a budding gadgeteer. We couldn't resist this one that we found at a thrift store for $1. To our delight, it still functioned. And, of course, we chose to keep it that way.

I'd planned to delay posting this Nerf gun mod until I had some pics of the leather holster that was made for it. But SO hasn't got around to repairing a strap that fell off the holster at the Scarby Faire Steampunk Invasion, yet.

Ours is pretty simple. No frills on it. Mostly just paint and a few of the typical nerdy mods. (If you want to mod your own Nerf gun, youtube.com and the many Nerf forums are loaded with ideas.) The first step is always to sand, clean and prime the outer parts. I used flat black and rust spray paint primer painted/stained with waterbased acrylic paints, and sealed with clear acrylic spray paint.

We opted to do the barrel mod so that it would be easier (and funner) to load the darts. And, I also altered the "air restrictors", which is supposed to improve the power. We noticed a somewhat increased range. I also sanded off all the logos and such. Some of them had been damaged by rough play of the previous owner.

The only big alteration was the cutting out of shapes on the barrel and trigger. This was an attempt to lighten up the bulky look of this model. The cutouts on the outer casing of the barrel were done with the Dremel tool with drill and grinding bits. It's turned out pretty cool and didn't effect the working of the gun. You can see light and the pin though the center of the gun barrel. Wish we'd taken off a little more.

Upon reflection. I wish I'd painted some of the interior parts. I failed to coat the bright orange pieces in the center of the barrel and the pump. So they stick out like a soar thumb when you flip the barrel out. Ah well, I'll do that another day. Don't really feel like taking the whole thing apart again any time soon. :) SO may do some more alterations to this gun at a later date, as well. I'll post the holster as soon as he repairs it. We didn't manage to get any pics of it at faire.

I've future plans of my own to work on a couple small Nerf guns and a cap gun. Wish me luck, and time!

Pistachio Nut Shell Hair Falls for Daughter

2011-05-13T18:44:00.006-05:00

The daughter and I made another pair of hair falls using our dyed pistachio shells. This pair is for her, but they ended up longer than mine. oops! :)

Here's a close up of some of our dyed shells in red, yellow and blue to look like flower petals and green for leaves. If I'd have planned better, I would have turned the last row of each group over. I think it would have made a better transition.

We knotted a simpler variation of what I did on mine (sans beads) at the top section. The lighting was playing tricks on me. The white yarn matched the shells until I got out into natural lighting.

After daughter was complaining about the difficulty she was having stringing the shells, I devised a makeshift needle threader that is just a piece of fishing line taped together at the ends. Instead of poking the yarn though the shells hole, we are now poking the threader into the hole after running the yarn through the loop. We're now able to string more than one shell on the yarn at a time and just slide the extras down to the end of the yarn to hang while we braid and tie the knots. Wish I'd have thought of this on the first pair. :)

These are so fun to make together while sitting around and such a great use for all the shells and scrap yarn I've accumulated, though I'm running out of dyed shells. I have mostly purple left. I experimented on some of the shells by dipping only a portion of the shells into purple dye. The red color bled up the shell making an interesting effect. I plan to use these for yet another pair of hair falls in the future. I'm sure you will see a few more pairs of these among other things before we are finished

Pistachio Nut Shell Hair Falls

2011-05-06T09:31:00.005-05:00

If you'll recall last post when I mentioned making something with my dyed pistachio shells, I finally have some pics of what we did with some of them.

I made a pair of hair falls for my tribal bellydance outfits. Granted this pair doesn't really contain many colorful ones, I do plan to make some with more of them. I just wanted to experiment first. Daughter is still planning a bracelet, but we haven't got to it, yet.

The general construction for these falls was inspired by a great tutorial by bellygoddess. The same tute is also available here. The main body of the fall with all the shells is "macrame'd" in square knots while the top and inbetween portions are braided in a 4-strand round plait. I used some beads and scraps of yarn I've kept.

In a close-ups you can better see the orange-ish dyed shells I sewed on as an after thought. I wrapped the transitions with a rose colored embroidery floss.

The tassels are just extra yarn bits. Yes, I keep all the tiny bits of yarn even. They come in handy for this stuff. :) And, those tassel caps are from an old jacket's pull strings. :)

I also managed to finish a pop tab fall I'd started probably last year. It's kind of a sampler to see how I should weave the tabs in. You can see more about this one and future tabistry hair falls on my other blog devoted solely to tabs at tabistry.blogspot.com.

What to do with all that leftover Easter egg dye

2011-04-30T13:31:00.008-05:00

Egg Dying is one tradition our whole family enjoys, and will probably never be given up no matter how old we get. This year, since it was just my daughter and me, we decided against buying the kits. Instead, we just made our own using ordinary food coloring, vinegar and water. It's very easy. The mix we used was:

10-20 drops food color
1 tablespoon vinegar
about 1/4-1/2 cup of water

I put the dye into individual plastic ice cream sundae cups. If you try this, you'll want to put your dunking cups in a larger container or baking sheet to catch any overflow and drips. You'll really only need to make the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. Redipping will produce other colors. We used the "magic" crayon from one of our previous years egg kits to add some designs. It's just a clear wax crayon. A candle should work just as well. The eggs in the pic were refrigerated after dying, which mottles the colors some (I kinda like the effect, myself). The condensation will make the dye stain your hands, so be sure you let the sit for a bit to warm and dry off. Wipe excess moisture away with a paper towel.

After we dyed our eggs, we still had quite a bit of dye leftover. We wanted to use it up on something else. There are many things you can dye with this stuff. We went ahead and poured some of the dye from each of the three primaries into three more cups to make the secondary colors of purple, orange and green to dye some pistachio nut shells. This was a great way to use us the rest of the dye. We also tried dying some cotton crochet yarn, but cotton doesn't take dye as readily and we're letting it sit longer in hopes it will eventually set.

After soaking overnight, the shells are very brightly colored, fairly permanent and ready to use in some crafty projects. Stay tuned for what we make! :)

And, to add even more resourcefulness to this day, the paper we used to dry the shells on will also most likely wind up as end sheets in a hand-bound journal. With a little forethought, they made a very nice pattern. Another sheet (not pictured) turned out even more unusual when we blew the dye around with a straw (as I'd learned to do in grade school).

Hope your Easter was a good one!

Goggles - A Steampunk's Essential Provision

2011-04-29T10:37:00.006-05:00

It seems, to most people, you aren't "Steampunk" unless you sport at least one pair of goggles or some type of eyewear. :) Actually, I think they are so popular because they're the perfect quick way to make any outfit scream steampunk. But for me personally, I haven't found a pair small enough to fit on my mini top hat. ;)

My SO and I have created three pair of goggles so far in our attempt to adorn ourselves in gadgets. These were all HIS ideas. I merely assisted where asked to. I've posted his first, more complex, pair in a previous post (also glimpsed in the last pic of this post). They are still my fav, probably due to sentimentality. But, they are very unique, too. I've never seen a pair like them. This last pair are pretty impressive, too. However, they used the typical welding goggle base that you see just about everywhere steampunks gather. :)

The above pair are the most recent attempt displayed on the hat also his creation. He found a used and rather beat up pair of welding goggles at a fleamarket. They cost us $3. If you look closely at the pic, you can just barely see the deep pits in the lense where they saved the previous user's eyes.

I helped on these by cleaning, sanding and painting the hard black plastic frames. I sprayed them with black, silver and gold paint and applied a little metallic Rub 'n Buff to the high spots for a nice aged feel. He then made the strap and applied the gears and other tid bits.

He also whipped up a matching hat band for his hat while making the strap.

BTW, I just love his hat. I'm still in awe of how this was just about his first experience working with leather. He plans to make another shorter one in the near future. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Here is another pair of simpler goggles that we experimented on just before making the others. He hasn't added any doodads, yet. I tried to paint them to look like wood. I think I'd like to antique them a bit so they don't look so new. Does the shape in the lens look familiar to you? If it does, you're showing your age. ;) It's inspired by the piece used in the center of a vinyl 45 record.

This hat was one of mine. I've had just about forever. Though it was a wee big, the daughter wore it and this pair of goggles to Scarby (ren faire) for the SP invasion. She looked adorable, if I do say so myself. She had no less than three people actually identify the lens. :)

Grandma wore SO's original goggle masterpiece on her Indiana Jones hat as a last minute attempt to put something together. She was a good sport for participating in the SP invasion with us. She still isn't sure what "steampunk" actually is, bless her.

Stop by Craftster.org and vote...

2011-04-10T21:57:00.004-05:00

... for your favorite entry in the "Back to Basics" Craft Challenge!

Daughter and I entered a Craft Challenge. We submitted our "A Fan-tailed Spider-fish Dragon". It's actually two projects masquerading as one. ;) I tell more about it at my Tabistry blog and on the submission post.

2nd Craft Swap with Crafterella

2011-04-08T20:44:00.006-05:00

Crafterella (oohmybees on Craftster) and I decided to another personal swap this past March. We agreed to make three items for each other. I think by looking at what we sent each other that we kinda broke the rules a bit. ;) I should correct it to AT LEAST three.

If you haven't already seen my posts, the items I sent are:

Crazy Quilt Binder Cover with Pen

Cinderella's Fairy GodPumpkin

Ladybird House #2

Skelly & Kitty Witch BOO't

I also recieved from her today! Yay! You can see all the awesome goodies she sent me at the Craftster's Personal Swap Gallery! You must go see the wonderful knit and crochet pieces as well as her awesome "instant cemeteries"!

Skelly & Kitty Witch BOO't

2011-04-08T20:13:00.003-05:00

My final project of this past craft swap with Crafterella was another witch boot by request. When I asked her what she'd like on one, she mentioned skeletons and black cats. So that's what she got. And, a lot of them, too. ;)

I did something different, again. I ran the diamond black/while pattern around the top and lace edges. Then, made arches around the ankle of the boot to frame in the three scenes. Both sides have a black cat and JOL pumpkins on an iron fence. One with a hanging spider and one with bats.

The back is a skeleton juggling more JOL's. And, on all around the heel are three skeletons who look to be holding up the shoe. More skulls are dotted around the bottom edge wrapping around both sides.

I even managed to squeeze another juggling skeleton on the tongue peeking out from the ribbon laces which I wrapped the ends of with copper wire.

I painted "Happy Halloween on the tongue with some crossed bones under it and put a skull and crossbones custom polymer clay bead dangle on the toe using some more copper wire. The copper should age in time to a nice darker orange to match the boot.

Well, that's it for this swap! I'll be posting a final post to link all the individual items and show then all together.

Ladybird House #2

2011-04-08T15:05:00.007-05:00

The third project I sent my craft swap partner, Crafterella, was this tiny "Ladybird" House similar to the one I posted on my last swap. I made two at the time. They are called that due to the size of the hole that only a ladybug could probably manage to get into.

It's almost made entirely of cereal box cardboard painted, stained and lightly touched with some gold Rub n' Buff in places. The roof and back have some shingles and random details all done layering the cardboard. The chains and jewelry tid-bits were all from my stash.

The top slides up along the chain like the first one so it can hide little secret treasures.

I'll be posting one more project from this swap. Hopefully you'll get a "kick" out of it. :)

Mom's "Fairy Godpumpkin"

2011-04-07T23:19:00.004-05:00

For this past craft swap, I was stalking my partner, Crafterella. I was browsing her wist for ideas and came across something that must just have been fate. I had just the thing sitting over here.

She had wisted an adorable set of pumpkins wearing witch hats. Coincidentally, my mother had started one very similar awhile back while playing around with some air-drying clay she had. Her pumpkin was so adorable, I just had to get her to finish it up. Just look at all the detail she put into it! I'd say that is amazing considering the medium she chose was very disagreeably to work with in this way.

I helped her glue it to a resin base that she had found at a secondhand store while visiting my sis in Kansas. It was actually three books fused together, but she had my sis's husband cut them apart. This one is a book labeled "Cinderella" on the front. I think that was just perfect for her little guy. We painted and stained it to go better with the pumpkin's colors.

I was so terribly nervous about this item making to it's new home with Korinne in one piece. I'm so glad it did make it. Yay!

The next item I'll be posting about is much less fragile. It will be another wee house for tiny birds of the six-legged variety. :)

Crazy Quilt Binder Cover

2011-04-07T15:48:00.007-05:00

Another craft swap has been sent out. One item my partner, Crafterella (oohmybees on Craftster), requested was a Teesha Moore inspired Journal, or 3-ring binder, cover. She described the style she was looking for as "Goth-hippie". :)

I asked my mom to help out on this one since we had planned to try making one awhile now. I threw a pile of choice scraps in front of her and let her go to work. She didn't follow the thorough directions that TM has on youtube. Instead, she just winged it. I let her go at it until it was large enough to cover the binder. Then, I trimmed it down to fit and backed it with some polka-dot fabric.

We used a removable button-on strap closure to hold the book shut. It was a strap off of one of my mom's coats. Not sure why she removed it when she bought it, but it worked great on the cover.

I tried my hand at personalizing the cover with her name sewn with some of my pathetic freehand embroidery work. I must admire those with enough patience to embroider. I can only tolerate it in small doses. :)

Inside I added two pen/pencil holders and a zipper pocket for other tools/supplies. I thought she could put her hole punch in there if she liked. It also makes a nice place to store the strap when the binder is in use.

I decided that if it's going to have a pen holder, it needs a pen to go with it. So, I made one out of polymer clay according to a tutorial I found on youtube where you roll the clay over the plastic pen barrel. What I liked was that the inner pen part can be replaced if it runs out of ink. I used a Bic Stick Pen like the tute, which are pretty common and easy to find. After completed, I'm not certain about the durability of the pen. There were suggestions that different brands of clay are stronger, but I used the colored Sculpey that I had. It should be alright. **Knock on wood**

Up next, I'll be posting a little something my mom made.

Steampunk Time-Turner

2011-04-02T15:48:00.006-05:00

For a friend's birthday SO and I made a steampunk necklace for her. I'm calling it a "time-turner" (like Hermione's in the Harry Potter series). Who wouldn't want a portable time machine? But, according to my SO, it has another function that I won't go in to here. ;)

It's almost entirely made from broken clock parts. The center piece of the pendant is a "balance wheel" that is still intact and can be animated by movement or by finger.

Various gears and other parts were used here and there. The black metal pieces spaced along the chain were brackets that I flattened out with a hammer.

The rest of the parts of the necklace were just bits, rings and chain pieces I had in my stash.

Clockwork parts are so interesting. It's amazing how all these complex shapes all go together to tell us the time. Too bad these particular parts will never tell the time again. :)

I enjoyed putting this piece together. I think I'll attempt another for myself at a later date. Though, I'm sure it will end up looking nothing like this one. I never seem to make two of the same thing very often.

Thanks for taking the "time" to check this out! Later!

Personal Swap 2011 with Cackle

2011-03-29T12:32:00.009-05:00

The last five projects I've posted all belonged to a swap with Lora (Cackle on Craftster). She saw the items I made MissingWillow and requested a boot and spell book of her own along with a few other items of my choice. I've posted each item that I sent in its own post so I don't overload one post with all the pics.

There are five items:

Witch BOO't

Spellbook

"Ladybird" house

Sugar Skull Mask

"Skull Bird" Earrings

I received my package this past Wednesday. She really went all out and made some wonderful things including an "Aura Detector", a "Household Dragon", silver bracelet/earring set, ornaments, and many other items. You can view the items she made in the Personal Swap Gallery on Craftster.org.

I'll have more craft swap results in a couple weeks after I finish up another swap with Crafterella. There will be another witch boot and some sewing involved in that swap.

Birds or Skulls?

2011-03-28T21:06:00.004-05:00

This was an unusual project inspired by a tutorial I found at michele made me. She used clear plastic packaging covered in packing tape to create some adorable greenhouses. I decided to try drawing on the plastic with sharpies before applying the tape. It was difficult at this tiny size of a little over 3/4 inch tall.

My craft swap partner collects skulls, but warned me that she can be pretty picky due to the number she's already acquired. I wanted to make skull items that she would not already have anything similar to. :) So, when I decided to put some little birds in the house/cages, these birds were not going to be ordinary birds. If you look at the one on the left facing backward in the pic above, you'll see what looks like a skull on it's back. The one on the right shows the birds profile. It creates a kind of illusion. They dangle from swings on chains inside made with bent paperclips.

This is the last of the items I made my swap partner. Thanks for lookin'!

Sugar Skull Paper Mache Mask

2011-03-28T20:52:00.006-05:00

For this past craft swap my daughter, mom and I made a Sugar Skull mask for my partner whose birthday happens to land on Dia de los Muertos, or "Day of the Dead" on November 2nd.

My mom made the mask by forming aluminum foil over her own face and covering the shape in paper mache . Once it dried, she removed the foil, cut around the eye and nose holes and put some extra coats of paper mache. Once completely dry, I sprayed it with black paint and applied a crackle medium so the white paint would crack. Then, I sealed it and passed it off to my 8 year old daughter...

Daughter then applied some decorative patterns in metallic paint all over the mask. I had to fill in some places and add a jewel at her request, but most of it is her art. I used a hole punch to make the holes in the mask. I then cut a skull shoelace in half and melted the ends tied in knots to make the strings. My partner can remove the laces in case she wants to hang it on a wall.

Really enjoyable project. Especially with the family helping. Daughter had fun painting. I think she did a great job.

Hang around for project #5, which will be some unusual earrings.

"Ladybird" House

2011-03-28T20:31:00.004-05:00

I'm calling this a "Ladybird House" because that's about all that could live in it. The house itself is about 2 1/2 inches tall. It's made out of cereal box cardboard except for the chains, dangly key and doodads, and the BBQ skewer perch. I forgot to get a pick of the back where there is a smaller decorative keyhole.

This was really fun to make. My partner had wisted a similar smaller silver pendant. I made it after being inspired by a tutorial at Mich L. in L.A., which has a secret space under the roof to hide tiny treasures.

Up next will be project #4 that my daughter and mom helped with.

My 2nd Spellbook

2011-03-28T19:51:00.007-05:00

This is a spell book with various removable recipe and poem pages created by request for a craft swap to match a witch BOO't. It is similar to the one I made for Missing Willow a while back.

There is a moon with a spider on top of it on the front and a spider on the back. It is made using cereal box cardboard covered in tissue paper and painted over. The cutout designs on the front and back are something new I wanted to experiment with. I used nail polish remover to transfer b/w laser printouts of drawing I made in Adobe Illustrator to the covers.

I believe there were 32 pages in this book. All pages were printed on a laser printer and colored by hand with markers, colored pencils, and a white paint marker. I aged the pages with watercolor paints.

I took a small sampling of what is in our own family spellbook that I've been working on since before 2006. I wrote most of the poems myself, including the one above entitled "Stingy Jack" based on an Irish folk tale. The left page is a pumpkin carving ritual and directions for baking pumpkin seeds.

The page above is for preparing bugs for food and a couple recipes. This practice is known as "Entomophagy" and is common in some countries. I wrote the humorous poem bordering the instructions.

The above pages were created/included for my craft swap partner whose birthday happens to land on Nov. 2nd, which is the Mexican holiday "Dia de los Muertos", or "Day of the Dead". I wrote my own epitaph known as a "calavera", which is a holiday tradition. Sugar skulls are a very popular decoration in these festivities. So, I also added a couple recipes and instruction for making her own. I also included a page for a wonderful recipe (not pictured) for "Pan de Muerto", or Dead Bread, which is really good.

The pages are removable like some scrapbooks with a ribbon tying the pages into the cover. Right now there aren't a huge amount of pages in her book. But, I'm hoping she will make many more for it with her own recipes.

I'll be posting project #3 next up. It's a teensyny house for teensy living things.

Art Nouveau Inspired Witch Boo't

2011-03-26T14:22:00.011-05:00

Yes, it's yet another paper mache witch BOO't to add to the series. This one was created for a craft swap. Knowing this and a couple other swaps would be coming up, I started a stash of boots back at the beginning of this year with the help of my mom and daughter. I took progress pics as we worked to use in an upcoming tutorial. So, you will be seeing many more boots on my blog before October arrives.

my partner liked Art Nouveau style. So, I thought I'd try something a little different with this boot. I did many new things including cutting away parts to make windows, adding brown to the color scheme, texturing the brown parts with tissue paper, lacing the ribbon with beetle beads, and using a transfer technique to apply a few of the images like the lettering and the images repeated on a spellbook cover.

There is a witch reaching up to a swarm of luna moths on one side and a rabbit next to a caulron on one side. There are also moths and lady bugs on the heal and tongue. I glues cardboard leaves around the cutout frames. It also has a hand-painted polymer clay spider hanging on the toe and three beetles on the laces.

Above it a close up of the beetles laced into the ribbon to give the appearance of wings, which I did one other time on a different boot. Most of the imagery is hand-painted. Though, as I mentioned, I did use a transfer technique using nail polish remover to apply the praying mantis and luna moths to the corner cutouts and to apply the lettering for "Cackle" to the tongue, which was inspired by an old vintage postcard.

Later I will be posting about the matching spell book that I made to go with the boot. There are be five items total that I created for this swap. So, stay tuned for item #2, which will cover something that is also witchy.

Yay! Finally reached over 100 blog followers! (And a teaser!)

2011-03-11T10:49:00.011-06:00

Starting this blog has been an enjoyable adventure. I've been at it for a few years now. Thank you kindly to everyone who has taken and interest in my work (and my ramblings) and stuck with me so long. And, welcome to all the new followers who have just discovered my little crafting corner of the net. I hope to have many new projects to show.

Speaking of new projects, I've got a heap of new things finished that I can't post quite yet. I must wait to send the items to their new owners, first. But, have patience. I will get to it. In the meantime, here's a teaser of one of the items I've recently finished:

Thanks again for following me on my crafty adventures!

My Steampunk Gadgets, so far

2011-03-06T13:07:00.006-06:00

I've been slowly getting some accessories made for my own steampunk outfit. My gadgets aren't nearly as unique as my SO's stuff. Below are a few I've managed to fit in between my other craft projects.

This unassuming arm bracer is actually sporting my revamped Secret Strike Nerf Dart gun. Every steampunk'r needs a weapon, right? I didn't want anything that would be too obnoxious and bulky to lug around. So, I opted for discretion and concealment. :)

The gun is removable from the bracer. I haven't had the SS gun very long, but didn't want to take a chance that it would break and need to be replaced.

I've sorta chain-stitched the gun to the bracer. There is a hook on the back end that the last loop attached to secure it. My SO should get the credit for assisting me with this project. All those rivets are a bear to get attached. He also did the stitching.

I removed the housing of the stock SS before painting it. It didn't really serve any purpose as far as functionality. I also changed out the regular darts for an off brand of chalk darts that I'm storing in clear floral tubes. They leave your choice of pink or blue dots on your victims. I used a little rub and buff to cover the red and blue tips on the darts. Red is now gold, and blue is silver. (Please note that these darts do not work in regular Nerf guns.)

I mentioned in my previous post that I made my sweetie a pen. Below is the results. This last outing, I stole his tool pouch, so ended up with the pen, too. :)

If you can't tell, it's a solder gun that had broke. Makes a great pen barrel. With the screw in the tip, it could also be a potential mechanical pencil.

One last item I had time to make was a reworked bottle. It's an existing bottle that I added a brass candle holder to. I used silicone to seal the neck before covering in suede leather scrap leftover from one of SO's projects. :) It holds liquid successfully. Yay! I probably won't use it for fluids, however. I will most likely store candy or something in it. I'm thinking nerds, pop rocks or tic tacs. Hmm...

I added a small chain to the champagne cork topper, so I won't lose the cork. I'm planning to replace the gold key rings holding the bottle to the chain, as soon as I find more large brass wire to make some rings with.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope I've inspired someone to attempt their own gadgets. Don't forget to check out my SO's Steampunk Gear at:

http://mieljolie.blogspot.com/2011/03/sos-steampunk-gear.html

Later!

SO's Steampunk Gear

2011-03-06T09:57:00.005-06:00

Since my sweetie and I started on accessories for our Steampunk attire, my craft room has started to resemble a salvage or junk bazaar. I've got dismantled broken clocks, bits and hunks of leather and assorted brass fixtures and thing strewn across my workspace. :) But, I can't complain. The SO is making some pretty awesome things.

My usual tendency is to re-purpose existing things I find. My scatterbrain will see something and say to myself, "Wow, that would make a great....". But, he takes a whole different approach. He likes to build what he plans out in his head. And, where I insist on functionality, he is all about the essence of the piece and his "story". I'll let you hear what each thing does from his mouth. Otherwise, I think it loses something in the translation. :)

This is an ear piece, hearing aid kinda thingy. It was the first piece he attempted and was 1 year in the making. ;) It really didn't take that long. He just kept putting it aside. :)

Then, he started on this arm, wrist watch doo-hickey. (I'm not sure what he's calling these things.) :) The clock actually still winds up and ticks, and you can push the exposed spring-loaded buttons at the bottom

He made some goggles, next. They're seen here stacked on top of an elephant mask he made for a Steampunk'd Mardi Gras party we just attended this past Friday. He's managed to cover up most of the cool details on the mask. It's a sight to see on it's own. The goggles were attached to the strap using some metal parts salvaged from the huge headphones that were attached to a device used to test hearing. I plan to use the box for a backpack in the future.

My favorite piece he has made is this top hat. I was amazed it is made from scratch. He got some help on it form a tutorial on the web. If you've explored any steampunk on the interent, I'm sure you've seen the leather top hats with the lacing up the sides all around. At the last minute he decided to attach the black strips to close up the slits instead of the lacing. I really like it.

The last thing that has come out of our workshop is this leg device. He is claiming it is a pedometer of sorts. The pressure and temp guages don't actually function. :)

He also made his suspenders and I helped him with the bow tie and a pen (not pictured). In the future he plans to make a holster for our Maverick nerf gun that I'm supposed to paint. I've already researched and performed to usual nerdy mods to improve the gun. I have a few other ideas I'd like to do to it before the final paint.

It's nice to do crafting as a team once in awhile. And, the biggest upside is that he can't complain about my overwhelming craft supply stash. 'Cuz he's using it too, now. Muhuhahaha!! ;)

Stash Buster Valentine's Cards

2011-02-15T14:15:00.005-06:00

This Valentine's Day the daughter and I decided to use some of our existing craft stash to make her school Valentine party cards, instead of buying the typical cards that kids just toss in the trash. We found some spare pieces of cardstock, loose pom poms and various google eyes. So, we made "love bugs". She wanted them to be removable so the kids could play with them.

We wrote up the poem in the car on our way home one day. And, with a little help from Adobe Illustrator's stock brush borders and a nice font called "Algerian", we designed a simple card the night before her party.

After printing the cards she colored and cut them out herself. Instead of trying to cut the circle for the bugs to fit in with scissors, I showed her how to punch out most of the circle with a regular hole punch. It took us three well aimed punches to remove enough of the circle. She signed the backs to pass them out. I put another small circle at the center top of the heart to be hole punched for a possible ribbon to be strung through. But we didn't end up using it.

Feel free to use this card for your own personal St. Valentine's Day cards perhaps for next year. A pdf of a 9 card 8.5x11" layout is available here.

YAY!! Craftster Best of 2010!!!

2011-01-22T10:00:00.002-06:00

I'm a Craftster Best of 2010 Winner!

My witch boots were not only featured awhile back, but they've been chosen in the "Craftster Best of 2010" Holiday Category!! What awesome birthday news! Thanks to everyone who liked my post enough to "rock it"!!

House Plants for the new house

2011-01-10T11:24:00.006-06:00

This past weekend our family got together to play with some Crayola "Model Magic" clay my daughter received from Santa on Christmas. We tried to make some plants and furniture for the cardboard house that daddy made.

It was the strangest clay to work with. It's kinda spongy. Dried really fast, which made it wrinkle and crack. I don't recommend it for any serious sculpting. You had to know what you wanted to make before opening the package. And, worst of all, it doesn't save. We did find that coloring it with marker was cool. Not only could you change the color easily, but it made the clay softer and last a little longer.

I attempted the three on the left (a bromeliad, cactus and some sorta fantasy succulents) and the middle front one (an aloe). Daddy made the large paddle cactus in the middle back that he didn't color. And daughter made the two on the right. I think her cactus is adorable. Grandma also attempted some, but smashed them before we could get them away from her. It really was frustrating clay to work with.

After the others got overly frustrated and gave up, I continued to make a hermit crab with log and decoration out of the scraps.

And, lastly, before the clay was too unbearable to work with, a top hat that looks like it's seen better days:

We may use what she has left to make some cushions and pillows for future furniture. Other than that, we won't be buying any more of this stuff. :)

Cushion Critter Pooka - DIY Pillow Pet Clone

2011-01-04T21:14:00.007-06:00

My daughter has finally flipped out and joined the Pillow Pet obsession that is sweeping through her elementary school. If you don't quite understand what all the fuss is about, they're these stuffies that convert to pillows. I believe that another company is making some I find actually cuter called "Zoobies". Basically the concept is to fold your furry pillow (with a head on it) in half like a taco...

...so it can stand on all fours like a chubby animal.

When the Velcro'ed strap is undone, it lays flat so you can sleep on it.

My daughter received the Monkey for Christmas. However, for some absurd reason this past week, she decided she wanted to spend her holiday money on ANOTHER Pillow Pet. :0 I just couldn't bare to see her forking out $20 on one (let alone a 2nd one!). So, I made her a deal. I told her if she didn't buy it, but instead put her money in her college fund, I'd make her one however she wanted it to look. I had her draw up her dream pet. After a little brainstorming, she came up with this:

If you can't decipher this image, it turns out she wanted a black bunny with brown feet and blue ears, eye patches and tummy. Oh! And I forgot the green tail. Yep, that's what she asked for. Oh boy. :) Off to the polar fleece remnant pile to find it. She was in luck. We had matching colors and enough to make it.

We later opted to make the green tail a pom-pom to match the body and ears with leftover scraps of black and blue. Waste not, want not, right?

It took one evening to whip up what we are now calling a "Cushion Critter". If you'd like to attempt one of these for your own kids, I'm sharing the pattern and a brief tutorial with all of you for a limited time. You can find it at: http://www.box.net/shared/o76leau9xb

You'll need to be able to enlarge the pattern to 400%. I set it up on one letter-sized page is PDF format. If you try it, please let us know how it works for you by commenting. It was very easy to make. Especially using polar fleece, which is nice to work with and easy to care for. She decided she didn't want the doll eyes we had planned to put on it. And, I didn't want to mess with hand-sewing the head on. (My luck I'd get it all crooked and wonky.) So, instead I sewed the head into the body, which made it kinda buff in the shoulders. :)

She has named it "Stitch", due to it's resemblance to the cute little blue Alien in the "Lilo and Stitch" movie. It was actually meant to be a "pooka". I'm doing a swap with a person who mentioned liking the movie "Harvey" about a giant pooka. Daughter wanted to know what they were, so we looked it up. Turns out I think "Totoro" is also one. Though, his name is supposed to be a mispronunciation of "troll" in Japanese. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade Holiday - Part Two

2010-12-25T12:27:00.005-06:00

In my previous post I showed the dollhouse that our daughter received from her father made out of cardboard. Now, I'd like to show you the plush stuffy and accessories that I made her. It was a real challenge not to buy materials for this challenge.

If you have kids, she may look very familiar to some of you. My daughter's been wanting the vampire, "Draculaura", Monster High plush doll for some time now. I just couldn't see buying something I can make. So I attempted Draculaura's close cousin, which my daughter named "Batsy", and her pet "Batley".

She and her clothes are almost entirely made from remnant polar fleece I already had around. Even her hair is thin strips of fleece. I made her a two piece black dress, red dress, black coat, apron, and a spare skirt. Batley's body was made out of a pom pom with red button eyes and polar fleece covered chenille stem wings. (My daughter said the bat looks like the crystal bats from the Jim Henson movie "The Dark Crystal". I hadn't thought of that 'til she said it. :) )

Polar fleece is great to work with. It doesn't fray and my messy stitching doesn't show too badly. :) However, there is one thing about it that I could do without. That's the shedding. I had to take the lint brush to everything several time before I was finished.

Here hair is a removable wig that is velcro'ed to her head. I will probably make her a few different hairstyles/colors to mix and match with her clothes, in the future. She has button eyes and embroidered mouth and teeth. I even added some bite marks to her neck. The necklace was a wine bottle charm my sister had given me a long while ago. She thought it might come in handy for something, and it did!

The coffin was made of cereal and other cardboard boxes that were covered and painted. I added the remnant satin lining. The lid has a pocket for her accessories.

Well, that pretty much wraps up what we did for Christmas. Hope you've enjoyed taking a peak and are inspired to try this yourself next year. :) Happy Homemade Holidays!

Homemade Holiday Dollhouse

2010-12-25T10:44:00.009-06:00

Daddy and I made what I think was a challenging decision this year for Christmas. Since "Santa" was getting our 8 year old daughter popular name brand items, we thought we'd try something a little different and make her gifts. This wasn't new to me. I 'm accustomed to making my gifts for the holidays. But, for us both to only make gifts and not buy anything was the challenge. It's always nice to have a backup gift just in case your idea doesn't actually work in reality. I'm glad we made this decision, though. It was interesting to see her reaction this morning. She really did prefer the homemade gifts more than the store bought ones. Probably won't be the case when she's a little older. :(

So daddy, being an architecture major in college, set out to create her a cardboard dollhouse inspired by a $250+ dollar plastic Calico Critter Manor house.

It folds out just like the original version. Forgot to take a pic of it closed. He started building it 2 weeks before Christmas! I must admit, we (mom and I) didn't think he'd have it standing in time. But, he brought it thru the door at 10pm Christmas Eve. :) Whew! Time to spare! ;D Of course, it needs some paint and details still. He wants her to help him out on the colors and furniture. :)

It has lots of large windows, and the little doors actually open! Pretty amazing for cardboard.

He still has some supports to add at the corners in the interior. They'll be needed to withstand the weight of her plastic furniture pieces.

The Calico Critter families couldn't wait to move in to their new home (even if it's not finished, yet). :)

I really liked the spiral staircase. It looks so delicate, but is surprisingly sturdy. I'm really proud of him. This was a LOT of work to take on. But, she loved it. Making a unique gift like this is truly worth every bit of the effort. I'm sure she will treasure it for years to come. This is Samedi's first year to make gifts. He doesn't really even give gifts. Being Asian, he really doesn't celebrate Christmas.

I'll post about my gift to my daughter next. And, I'll be sure to post some progress pics as they start decorating. Until then, Merry Christmas!

***** UPDATE 01/06/11 *****

Just wanted show a small addition to the house, I posted this image on Craftster, so you may have seen it already. He won't leave well enough alone. He finished the front balcony railing and a round attic window. I'll keep you posted when more improvements are made.

The Lowdown on the Steampunk Drink Dispensing Bustle

2010-11-05T11:46:00.005-05:00

I had a request to show the drink dispensing bustle I wore with my Halloween Steampunk costume. I discussed it briefly here. I warn you, it isn't pretty. I was short for time and it is nothing but functional at this point. :)

Here is a close up of what the cutoffs would look like under the lacing of the corset:

All that could be seen of the dispenser was the cutoff knobs, bicycle pump and a tiny bit of hose. Well, and my larger than normal bum. I know, it wasn't very steampunk of me to hide everything. You'll see the reason I chose to conceal most of it under my outfit in a sec. :)

There are three cutoffs shown. Though I had only two functioning for this maiden voyage. The third was to be an air tube for weapons and other gadgets. But, after testing the tanks for weight problems on my back, I may just add a third tank!

The bicycle pump pushes air to all three cutoffs. But, air will only continue through the open valves. So, I had to remember shut all but the one I wanted to use. For wine, this air then travels to the tanks in back pushing down on the liquid in the tank and pushing it up through the dispensing hose that ends on my left hip. The water is the same, except that it ran through the right sleeve of my dress. I will eventually have a water gun attached to that one.

All together I had about $30 in the whole setup including the dresses. The brass cutoffs were the most expensive parts at about $6 each! I used 1/4" tubing and garden sprinkler parts for most of the inner workings. The hose connectors on the tanks are actually gold plated coaxial cable connectors that I found. I had to melt out the plastic to use them. I don't condone using unapproved parts of unknown origins, but I'm not using this everyday. And, most of the parts do not come in contact with the liquid in the containers. I made my own "O" rings out of wide rubber bands. It worked really good to seal the connectors.

I was really please with the results of this project. After a few minor improvements, I may make a smaller version as a regular accessory for my ren garb. ;)

Halloween Steampunk-style

2010-11-04T15:04:00.003-05:00

Yay! I barely got my steampunk Halloween costume wearable in time. But, I finally did manage to finished the tabistry underbust corset and a mini top hat I'd had planned for my outfit (see my post on my tabistry blog for more info on the corset and mini top hat). But then, I went and forgot to bring my shoulder straps for the corset with me. Darn it! We had a blast, though. Yes, I know we attended a "renaissance" festival, but it was Halloween and pretty much anything goes for Halloween weekend.

For those of you who don't know the details of my evil plan. I hid two 2 liter tanks (wine and water) under my bustle and created a drink dispenser . I had cutoffs (shown in the first pic) poking out between my corset laces on my front. I just switch to the tank I want and pump my bicycle air pump (seen above on my right hip) to dispense. It worked like a dream until the connection to my pump broke midday. I went back to camp for a quick repair and tank refill. I also had two extra large pockets on each side that carried soda bottles for the others. I used, what else but, can tabs to create a half length cage bustle frame that covered the tanks to keep the shape right..

I had a third cutoff that was an air line, to power a future weapons and gadgets like a fan blade parasol. Maybe next time I'll have some weapons to play with. Muwahahaha...!!

Yurtle, the yurt in progress

2010-10-25T21:27:00.004-05:00

Over a few weeks ago my sweety was slaving away building me the frame for our dream home away from home. Is my man a provider, or what?! :)

Looky here! Even has a sky light. :)

Umm, well...okay, so its not exactly a dream home. But, it's pretty cool to me so far. :) It's called a yurt. And, it's based on traditional portable nomadic dwellings used for hundreds of years. Go look them up. You'll be amazed at what is being done with them.

If you've ever tried roughing it the primitive camping way, sans electricity, etc..., you might understand the important of quality shelter. My man is just over 6 foot tall. And most tents just won't due for him. Plus, the weather here can vary drastically from day to day from extreme heat and humidity to down pours of rain to freezing and the very rare snow fall. Well, this baby has 6 ft walls and an 8+ foot center ceiling. We decided to make our first attempt a decently sized 12 foot diameter. And, these yurts are designed for long term shelter in extreme temperatures. They ventilate very well keeping it warm at night and cool during the day.

Additionally, we camp on grounds that can get pretty crowded and crazy with people on walk-abouts tramping though your site tripping on your neighbors guy lines (drunk traps) and into your tent. Our yurt shouldn't give way to the average-sized drunk. I like that I can hang things from the ceiling (like a chandelier if I wanted) without too much worry of it collapsing. I'm going to find myself a full length mirror for dressing when I can manage it.

I sewed the walls and roof covering myself on my vintage 60's "Carl" heavy duty home sewing machine. It did a fantastic job going through all the layers of canvas without a hiccup. Though it was pretty tricky getting all that fabric through the machine, I was even able to flat feld the roof seams (like you see on jeans) to make them stronger and more water tight. :)

We've got a lot to finish on our yurt still. But I thought I'd show you all the progress pics, anyway. I need to add some grommets to the roof cover, finish the flooring and decorate the interior. I plan to paint the coverings to a more traditional look, I think. The camo print just isn't doing it for me. :) But, it was a bargain and kept us dry in the light showers we experienced, so I can't complain too much. We still need a floor over the ground tarp and an inner lining for the walls would be nice when it gets a little colder.

We camped in it twice so far. The pic above was taken our first trip without a finished roof. The frame all fit easily on the roof of our Jeep Cherokee. So far, we average about 2 hours of setup time. Most of which is spent tinkering on things that didn't get done. It was really comfy to sleep in. Even taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon was comfortable in the Texas heat. It was cool to look up at the repeating pattern of the roof members, too.

Looky LOOKY what I received from Dfly Creations!!!

2010-10-19T18:33:00.005-05:00

My sister recently put me wise to an awesome blog called Dollhouse Mini's by Dfly Creations created by the wonderful and rather too generous Lorraine. She makes some amazing and very tiny miniatures with crazy details. And, I was one of the winners in her guessing game giveaway organized to celebrate her blog reaching 100 follower! She sent me this adorable little blue wand and box! (There are clearer and more detailed pics on her blog here.)

I'm so amazed at the details! I can really appreciate the effort that goes into these miniatures after working on my tiny witch boots. You really need lots of patience and a steady hand. There is even a label on the side of the box. My daughter spent quite some time trying to make out what it said. :D

While I was snapping off some quick pics, a visitor stopped by to check out the wand. This wolf spider ought to show the tiny scale of the wand pretty well. :)

It decided it wanted to pose for a few shots. :) Who am I to argue?! I was starting to worry that it might run off with my prize!

Thank you so much for the awesome prize, Lorraine! My mom is working on a miniature witch cabinet that this will be displayed in with pride.

Pirate Sunbrella (and a witch boot update)

2010-10-18T20:47:00.007-05:00

So many things I want to finish this month! Oh dear, what's a girl to do?! I've been so busy trying to get my steampunk costume going that I've not been able to finish painting the witch shoes. But, more on that later. Right now I'd like to share a revamped paper sunbrella I painted for past opening weekend at TRF.

I wanted something pirate-style for my outfit. And, I got a bit of insomnia just before we left obsessing on all the things I would forget to bring to faire with me. That on top of being stumped on how to continue painting the witch shoes. I distracted myself with, what else, but a new project. :) I'd been meaning to try this one for a long while now. Not sure what possessed me to buy this pale pink paper umbrella with my SO in chinatown back while I lived in near Los Angeles, California. I've had it for over 10 years now. But, it started calling to me to paint it. So, I did...in just one evening!

I'll have to get some better pics of the details. His eye is actually bloodshot and it and the dot border are the only things bright white. The eye is kinda funny. It looks more like a telescope bugging out that way. Maybe it should have been more steampunk than pirate. :)

It came in really handy that sunny faire weekend. After I got back here I gave the umbrella to my mom for her garb. What can I say? She wanted it. And I just can't say no to her. :) Good news is that I have another of these bamboo framed umbrellas that needs to be totally recovered thanks to my daughter when she was young. I want to put silk on that one, but don't think I'm ready to attempt that one just yet.

***** WITCH SHOE UPDATE *****

Anyone wondering what happened to these? I just haven't been feeling up to painting the shoes. I've been stumped. I think I have the two smaller ones figured out. But I'm not happy with them just yet.

The small orange one is the furthest along just needing something on the green band, heel and perhaps the orange toe. And, I haven't found a dangly spider just right for the toe, yet.

The orange/purple shoe with the JOL's and flames has really stumped me. It's really busy and is making it hard to think up what to paint on the purple. I have a bonfire on the heel area and was going to paint some demons dancing. Not sure if that will turn out the way I want.

I've started the moon toe of the large green shoe. I want to add black cats to the large green shoe. For some reason I just can't stop pondering on painting them. One the other hand, I keep thinking of Frankenstein when I look at the shape and color of this shoe. Which should it be? Zombies or kitties? lol

Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck that I get these shoes finished before Halloween along with my costume!

It was an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny orange and black painted booty...

2010-09-30T20:30:00.005-05:00

...that we made this past week. Actually there were more than one attempt. But, this is what you get to see. :)

Just a few posts ago, I showed you my "A Little Batty" paper mache witch boot above. I called it a "mini" boot. Well, today I have TEENY TINY miniature version. And, it's a pair! Finally a pair that match! Sorta. See those two tiny things in the right of the pic above?

My mom was attempting to make some miniature witch boots to go with her curio cabinets that shes been working on. (She already has the hats and spell books down.) And, I'd also coincidentally had a request to try a tiny size version. So, mom and I worked it out and came up with these.

It was all a matter of getting the pattern pieces right. The less we have to fuss with the shape, the better chance we have of them turning out similar. :) These tiny terrors stand about 1 3/4" tall and 1 1/4" long from toe to heel. They're not completely made of paper mache as before, though. This time we had to add in some clay stuff my sister recommended to get the toe curl. We also used the clay to spackle over the tiny holes smoothing it out. The painting was a real challenge. I knew I had shaky hands before this. But I didn't realized just how bad until I started to paint with my one-haired paint brush. I also tried an ultra-finepoint sharpie for some black details. I think I prefer painting the original scale.

It was also a slight pain to lace them, as well. But I managed it without too many curse words. Had to use a fat needle to make the lace holes. And, since the laces were too thick to double over, I had to dip the ends in glue to stiffen them. Then, I could poke them through easily.

I really admire miniature artists who have the patience for the meticulous details they work with. I've heard that all artist have their own scale they work best in. I'm not sure what mine is, but I'm certain it isn't 1/12th. :)

Thanks for lookin'. And, stay tuned. There'll be more frighting footwear to come in the next few weeks!

My Amazingly Crafty Sis

2010-09-30T10:12:00.005-05:00

My own sister, Jamie Moore at Creepy Creations, has been up to some awesome things lately. She's been a busy girl with Halloween just around the corner. But, she managed to participate in the Halloween Queens' month long giveaway! 31 prizes in 31 days!! Can you imagine! Click on the banner to go to their blog for official rules! Drawing starts tomorrow, October 1st, until the 31st where there will be a grand prize! She has donated a really cool Jack O’Lantern charm bracelet that will be given away on the 23rd!

On top of that, a couple of pieces of her work have been featured in the 2010 Fall Issue of Celebrate 365 The page spread is loaded with awesome Halloween folk art! If you don't believe me, go check it out by clicking the image below!

And best of all, she finally has her Etsy store, creepycreations, stocked with her fantastic work! I've been hounding her for months to get her stuff on there. She just started listing items at the end of August and already has 4 sales. That's awesome! Go follow her blog at Creepy Creations, so you don't miss her new work available. Can't wait to see what creepy cool items she posts next!

Tim Burton Inspired Witch Boot on Ebay!

2010-09-28T12:59:00.013-05:00

"Every Halloween night, when the moon is just in sight,
Place pumpkin lanterns on your porch to stay.
They are not very bright, with just a candle for a light.
But they frighten all the dark things away." - Tiffany (mieljolie) 2010

The last Paper Mache witch boot is on eBay here. It should end Sunday evening.

I was trying new things, again. So, the heel is a different shape than the previous boots, tapering in at the bottom instead of flaring out. And, the ankle top is a little shorter. Looking at the stance and shape of this boot really made me think of something in the world of Tim Burton. I love his movies, so I wanted to pay homage to his work (without copying it blatantly). I thought it needed an unusual color to go with the shape, so I chose the purple, which reminds me of a dark spooky night scene. The trees are stylistic, almost cartoony, to go with the creepy mood. I was going to paint some skeletons, but I thought too much white would take away from the toe and heel. Then, when I was painting some branches on the trees, a face started to appear at the bottom in the purple background. It later became the large pumpkin above. Maybe now, some will believe that these pieces do tell you what they want to be. :) That or, I'm just bonkers.

The left and right sides are painted similarly. The left moon is asleep while the right is awake. And, they are wearing a striped nightcaps.

Experimenting with the laces, I relaced this one at least six times in different ways before deciding to add the polymer clay skulls. I was getting bored of just black laces and wanted something unusual. But, the ribbon was too wide and covered to much of the tongue where I had painted another creepy tree. What do ya think? Daughter commented that they looked like little winged skull butterflies. :) I think she's right on there.

Hope you like it! Now, to get busy on some shoes!

"A Little Batty" Boot Available on Etsy!

2010-09-24T17:53:00.004-05:00

Just listed this little orange paper mache witch boot on Etsy.com. In the spirit of this boot, I wrote a quick little rhyme about it for the auction:

"As the full moon rises in the midnight sky,
above a lonely graveyard the ghosts fly by.
They've come to greet the boisterous bats,
and scare the fur off the lazy cats." - Tiffany (mieljolie) 2010

It's a mini-sized version standing 6 3/4" tall and 6" long, that I've named "A Little Batty". The size was based on a tracing of one of my daughter's shoes when she was 6 years-old. Yes, she has large feet for her age. She's going to be really tall. :)

The right side of this boot is of a ghost in a graveyard with an owl looking on in an old tree.

The left side has a group of bats flying in front of a full moon above another section of the graveyard with a scared cat and two other ghosts.

I added more bats to cave scene on the heel and the tongue. And, added a few "fiend"-ship pins to the waxed cotton cord laces.

Hope it captures the spirit of the holiday. Have a great Halloween!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57232042/original-vintage-style-halloween-witch

"Bewitched" BOO't available on eBay!

2010-09-21T18:07:00.008-05:00

Just finished the largest one of the three sizes of original boot styles I posted about here. This is the green one with the grayish heel and tongue. I hope I've improved upon it since the base coat pics. :)

I've added a few "fiendship" pins to the top right of the laces with a JOL pumpkin attached to one. The boot has two witch scenes.

The left side has a witch stirring a cauldron with a cat batting at the steam. And, an owl in the tree. I put some some handmade polymer clay skull bead dangles on the laces to match the random ghostly skull faces on the heel.

The right side is of a haunted house with a witch flying high on the sky on her broom. (Guess she's off to the 24-hour Potion-Mart get more ingredients for the brew in her cauldron.)

I tried something new with the laces of this one. I decided on the ribbon I use to weave my "tabistry" favors. It has a kinda mummy-like quality with some eyes peaking through the laces. The lettering on the tongue took me awhile, even using the paint pen instead of the paint brush. But, if you've seen my everyday handwriting, you'd know it is barely ledgible. :)

I wrote a quick little rhyme for the boot:

"A witch stirs her cauldron in the murky moonlight,
while the woods around her settle in for the night.
"EGAD!!", she shrieks as she grabs her last jar
of "Dr. Pimply's Most Amazing By Far Beauty Restoring Tar".
In a flash she's off on her broom like a dart
to get more tar from her nearest Potion-mart." - Tiffany (mieljolie) 2010

Please check this Bewitching BOO't out at my SO account on eBay here! It should end sometime Sunday evening. Thanks for looking!

Have a SPOOK-tacular Halloween!

The loveliest, sweetness thank you!!

2010-09-14T21:31:00.003-05:00

Just this past Thursday, my mom, daughter and I received the nicest "thank you" surprise ever. If you're up to date with the last couple posts I've made here, you'll know that I did a craft swap with MissingWillow. Little did I know that my family would help me out so much with it. Well, to say thanks, my dear swap partner sent my mom the most amazingly beautiful tribal necklace, my daughter some adorable banana scented ducky soap and a cowrie shell necklace, and my sis what I'm guessing is also soap. She even sent me an awesome kuchi pendant so I wouldn't feel left out! :) I just had to share a pic of these wonderful items that aren't making an appearance in the swap gallery.

Mom was giddy and couldn't wait to wear her necklace, so she wore it out to eat on Saturday night just for fun. She said that on her way back to our table from the restroom, a couple of girls complimented her on it. We also have a local ren faire, Middlefaire, coming up this weekend that she is planning to show it off at with her tribal outfit. I'll try to get some action shots of her. I'm probably going piratey, but I'm determined to incorporate my pendant into my outfit somehow. :)

Her homemade soap looks and smells wonderful. She said it's made with milk from her own goats! I don't have the heart to use the ones I received in the swap. But, my daughter didn't seem to have the same qualms about it. She's been using her ducky soap at bath time and loves it.

Just have to say THANKS,again, to MissingWillow for the very unexpected and absolutely wonderful thank you gifts. You've been such an awesome swap partner!

New Witch Boots (and SHOES!!) WIP

2010-09-10T14:46:00.007-05:00

Here are some sneak peaks of what I've been working on this week. I had so much fun decorating the last paper mache witch boot for my swap that I decided to take some time to make a few more experiments. This time I tried some low cut shoes, too. I haven't decorated any of these past the base coats, yet. But, I can't wait to start painting the scenes and adding the little extras. Still deciding what to paint on them.

Above are a few more of the original style boots. The orange one is a mini, while the other two use the same regular footprint. Though, being hamdmade, they tend to develop a personality all their own as they come to life.

I've been experimenting with the height and shape of the heels just a little. And, I've also added a lighter purple to my palette. I think I'm planning to creep this purple one up with some skeletons and maybe a graveyard.

This orange shoe turned out so cute it may wind up my favorite of this bunch. Not sure what I will paint on it, yet. Probably some JOL's, I think.

I've got a couple more that are in various stages of completion. The tall boot just above was an experiment in trying a more Victorian style. I want to put buttons on the sides. It sure didn't want to cooperate with me, so far. :)

The shoe will have laces in front instead of a buckle. I haven't decided what color it wants to be painted.

I was hoping to get all of the boots and shoes finished before the end of this week and available on either Ebay or Etsy to those who'd like one, which isn't looking possible at the moment. I don't normally offer my crafted items for sell. But, having so many on hand, I'm trying something new. So, hopefully sometime next week these boots might make the market. I'll post as they are finished and available. If you want one, don't delay. These spooky paper footwear will most likely be a limited time offer that will disappear along with ghosts and goblins of Halloween.

Thanks for dropping by!

IYP Swap 2010 - Halloween Themed

2010-08-30T20:05:00.004-05:00

Connie (MissingWillow) invited me to participate with her in the "Invite Your Partner" Swap on Craftster.com after seeing my boot from my first swap. She used to be in tribal bellydancing and sent me the coolest stuff (as you can see in the gallery) from a tribal tassel belt and candy corn pantaloons to neat halloween cookbooks. She sent really early in the swap. So, I wanted to thank her by trying my hardest to return the favor with some addtional items from her wist. Little did I know the whole family would get involved on this one! I'll break the items down in individual publishing this post to help separate pics and make pages load faster. Here's a pic of everything I sent.

Looks like a mess of chaos in the photo, huh?! Guess I'll show a pic of each item. Above was the customized Paper Mache Witch Boot. (Click the link to see more!)

Mom's awesome Miniature Witch Curio Cabinet. (Click the link to see more!)

The next item is my Spell Book. (Click the link to see more!)

She had also wisted some Halloween Wine Charms. (Click the link to see more!)

She had wisted a Gator Eye Ring that I thought was kinda neat to make and from the movie "Beetlejuice", a Beetlejuice Keychain. (Click the links to see more!)

Miniature Witch Curio Cabinet

2010-08-30T19:47:00.005-05:00

I know this is supposed to be MY craft blog, but I just had to show what my mom contributed to the IYP Swap I just participated in. She made a miniature witch curio cabinet like some in my swap partners wist. I think Mom did a great job. She was inspired to try decorating one when she came across the cabinet at a thrift store. I guess it "spoke" to her. :)

She made most of the items while visiting my sister in Kansas. She made a few of the books and the witch hat herself from scratch. My sis also contributed one of her popular JOL pumpkins that she decorates her unique up-cycled jewelry boxes with. It's sitting in the second shelf on the left. My daughter also pitched in on a few items like the scroll in the cabinet just under the pumpkin and the label on the potion bottle.

Most of the potion bottles are made from glass beads and the doors are covered with painted tulle to resemble chicken wire.

Mom made the wand, leather spell book and hat on the lamb. I added the "Spells" title for her to match the large spell book I made for my swap partner.

She must really like making the miniature books. We're getting quite the wee-sized library over here! She's working on a couple more cabinets. One for my sis and the other for herself, I think. I'll get some pics when they are finished.

Back to the main swap page

Beetlejuice Keychain

2010-08-30T19:42:00.005-05:00

My partner in the IYP Craft Swap mentioned liking the movie "Beetlejuice". I hadn't seen that movie in a very long time myself. Too long, in fact. So, we got the VHS tape out to watch it. In my mind, I kept coming back to the face that the husband makes to scare off the intruders. So, I attempted to make a charm of it out of polymer clay. Wound up a bit large, so it became a keychain.

Back to the main swap page

Spooky Halloween Wine Charms

2010-08-30T19:35:00.003-05:00

For my 2010 IYP Swap, which was Halloween themed for me, my partner had wisted some wine charms and a really cool lampshade with charms all around it. I wanted to make some charms to help her get started on her own lampshade, but I winded up settling for these eight polymer clay wine charms after my recycled food container "shrinky dink" experiments weren't as fruitful as I had expected. :) You'll be glad to know, I'm not giving up on the shrinking plastic. I just need to hone my skills a bit.

Back to the main swap page

Wire-wrapped Adjustable "Eye" Ring

2010-08-30T19:06:00.007-05:00

This project was more difficult than I had expected. I was inspired by a few wonderfully talented artists on Etsy.com like Twisted Sister Arts and Kim's Jewels and the wire wrapping techniques used by Passionate Jewelry Designs. Though I don't condone copying someone else's art, as a learning experience I wanted to figure out how they managed what the did. After three varying attempts, I realized I really need to practice working with the wire. :) I managed to come up with this one on my last attempt. :) I must say it takes a lot of skill and patience to create the piece they make. And, after attempting this, I have even more respect for their talents. I don't think you'll be seeing any wire wrapped items in my own etsy store. :)

For the eye, I use acrylic "cat" doll eyes that I had leftover after some projects. I achieved the mottled effect to look like a "gator" eye by scratching and poking the paint off the back of the eye with a pin and other sharp objects. Then, I painted over the scratches with assorted darker paints.

Back to the main swap page

Spell Book with Removable Recipe Pages

2010-08-30T18:33:00.006-05:00

For the swap I just finished, I also made a spell book for my partner with removable pages. A few years ago I started a spell book called the "Witches' Enchanted Book of S.P.I.D.E.R.S. (Spells, Potions, Incantations, Divination, Enchantments, Rituals, and Superstitions)" for our family, collecting up all our favorite family and holiday recipes as well as poems, songs and useful info on assorted topics. When I mentioned the book off hand to Connie, she liked the idea. So, I decided to start her a condensed version for her. This was motivated mostly by a need to get our own family books more presentable. So I did some experiments with different techniques for aging paper and inking the illustrations, which were all printed on a b/w laser printer.

I used brown paper bags and Fabri-Tac glue to cover the layered cereal box cardboard cover before painting and staining it. I made the pages removable like a scrapbook so new recipes can be added easily. I used the same brown paper for the end pages just for consistency.

The pages of the book are inked with permanent marker, colored pencils and a white paint marker. I aged the pages before coloring them with watered down burnt and raw umber watercolor paints.

Many but not all of the poems and illustrations are my own creation. Some of my poems like the two included above are reworked nursery rhymes and folk tales. One of my aunts who passed away recently was a poet. Her passing really made an impact on me that influenced me to try my own hand at writing something. Though my rhymes pale in comparison to her clever word play, it does give a sense of satisfaction to complete one.

The page spread above is a sort of replica from wicked stepmother's spell book in the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". But, I've added a recipe for baked apples where the sleeping potion would be.

As I mentioned before, the pages are removable in the same way many scrapbooks are constructed. The cover is in three pieces held together with the pages using a ribbon so she'll be able to add her own recipes and info.

Back to the main swap page

Papier Mache Halloween Witch Boot

2010-08-30T18:09:00.006-05:00

Well, as you can see, I've made another paper mache witch boot. I have to say I think the shape of this boot is an improvement, and the best so far. I tried a few new things on this one. For one, it is two-toned green with orange. The addition of the buckle, which is new, was an annoyance to work around that kept getting in the way of my painting and the lacing. And, since the toe didn't curl around as much as my first one, my SO helped me with the suggestion of a swirl shape, which I made of beads on wire.

The scene on this boot was inspired by a story the new owner mentioned about how she named her farm. Her husband had bought her a 15ft willow tree as a gift, which disappeared shortly after it was planted. They thought it might have been stolen as a prank or something, but later found that a beaver had cut it down and dragged it off. How crazy is that?! She also raises her own sheep, goats and chickens, so I tried to include them in the scene, as well. Though, I think my sheep looks more like a small calf. :)

The evil beaver after the aftermath. :)

I added the initials "MW" in the center of the buckle for "Missing Willow". My daughter helped me make some more "fiendship pin" to hang on the laces.

I'm thinking of trying to make a few more boots to offer in my etsy store for those who want to purchase one. I'm having so much fun with these, I'd like to make some more of the mini-sized ones and perhaps some low-top shoes, as well. Wish me luck!

Back to the main swap page

Renaissance Shirt and Skirt from Bedsheets

2010-07-06T17:21:00.007-05:00

I was overjoyed that a bedsheet challenge was annouced on Craftster. A few years ago we gave a new life to a damaged set of printed pinkish color King Size sheets.

When we had just moved into our house here in Texas, we temporarily used the flat sheet as a makeshift curtain on our sliding back door until we could find something suitable to replace it. The sun was brutal to the sheet, fading it badly in a some places. Mom was going to pitch it. But, the upcycler that I am, I stopped her and decided to use it as a test run for a custom pattern for a renaissance chemise shirt.

I liked how the shirt came out so much, I was always meaning to finish a matching underskirt. This challenge gave me the perfect motivation to get these undergarments finished to go with my mom's black bodice and overskirt. So, having a huge King fitted sheet to work with, I cut a giant circle skirt. Mom sewed on the casing for the drawstring waistband. Very simple project. I used a strip of the edge of the flat sheet as the string. The skirt came out really long. Perfect full length skirt that used just about every inch of the sheet.

I loosely based the top on Simplicity's 9966 Costume Pattern. But, I changed the shape of the sleeves and added fullness to the whole thing. I added drawstrings to the sleeves at the neck, upper arms and wrists.

We still have the 2 extra long pillow cases that will become some baggy bloomers to go under the skirt. Each case will be one leg of the bloomers. Just have to cut the end seam apart and cut out the crotch. Then, I will just sew them together and add a drawstrings at the waist and knees.

So, we've used just about the entire sheet set. I still have some scrap from the flat sheet that will most likely be made into a pouch, hanky and possible coif-type head cover thing.

Come check out the all the bed sheet challenge entries. I'd really appreciate a vote! Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations!

Snakeskin Peyote Stitch Seed Bead Bracelets

2010-07-03T14:35:00.007-05:00

I was looking through my jewelry box the other day and found some projects I hadn't shared. I made these bracelets back in 1998, I think. I use to sit on my lunch breaks while I was temping and didn't know anyone I worked with. I had a lot of curious folk asking me what I was doing. I really like the feel of these tiny seed beads against the skin. It is very similar to actual snake skin in some ways being cold and smooth.

This black, gray and white pattern was inspired by a diamondback rattlesnake pattern. I found as I was working that the cheaper black beads were larger than the others causing a slight warping in the weave.

This brown, black and off white one was inspired by the pattern found on Burmese pythons.

Beadwork was a good project to travel with. All my supplies fit in a tiny box about 6"Lx4"Wx3"H.

The bottom section of the box has narrow bottles that hold the more expensive rarer beads, while the top section holds some wider bottles of cheaper beads, my needles, bead string, clasps/findings and a gum eraser that I like to fashion into a bowl or "finger" to hold or pick up beads with. Most of the time I just stick the needle into the bottle to string the beads. I received the nice tiny screw top sample bottles from a project manager that I helped write VBscripts for some of her Excel files when I temped at a water testing facility.

I'm using what is called a "Peyote Stitch" to make these bracelets. It's very easy, but time consuming to do.

I start with a strand of beads. Then, add a new bead through every other bead across to create a new row. Then, you just keep repeating this until it is the length you desire. I found a basic Peyote Stitch Video Tutorial or a Text Version for those who want a better explanation of how to make your own. Enjoy!