Monday, December 29, 2014

2014 Christmas Cards

Now that they've been given out/mailed and likely received, I can share the Christmas cards I made  this year. I did make several more of the Kitty ones like I made last year, but made quite a bit of cards that were different. I really like that I found some ideas that can be recreated if necessary, and that's what I was aiming for since you never know when you'll need to have a card in a pinch. Here they are:


The Kitties and Doggies before I colored them

 This Santa one came about because I had made a card like this with a stencil, but did not like the way it turned out, so hubby, being much more artistically inclined for drawing than I am, drew me a Santa face, so I recreated the concept card I had made and it turned out so much nicer. I really like it! And, it's one I can recreate over and over if needed.







 This was a card I made specially for our friends who love cats. Since I liked the Santa so much, I asked hubby to draw me a kitty and he came up with this one, and I turned it into this card. I love it, I think it's so cute.
 I came up with this way of saying Merry Christmas randomly and of course had to use it with a kitty themed card! :)

What do you think? Do you have a favorite? :)

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

5th Anniversary Ornament

After looking all over stores and Amazon for a special ornament to commemorate mine and hubby's 5th Anniversary throughout this year and not finding anything, I decided to make something-I just didn't know what.

I was thinking that I wanted to make a heart-shaped version of either the Glitter Ornaments or Paint Ornaments, but I was unable to find any heart-shaped glass ornaments to fill, so that plan was out the window as quickly as it was in my head. I did, however, find a cardboard base ornament that could be decorated, so decided to make something with that. So I made this cute little ornament- a sweet memory and decoration for a sweet price of less than $5:




Isn't it adorable? Even though it's not a complicated thing, hubs and I really love it!

Here it is on the tree:
I love that you can see it clearly from even across the room. :)

(And yes, we have stockings for our stuffed animals....)

And I learned some useful information as I was experimenting while working on this: when painting things made out of cardboard base like this, Paint by itself takes forever to cover the surface without streaks or cardboard showing through. But paint + clear glue (which is what I had, I'm sure white glue that dries clear works, too) = magic. I did it as an experiment just because, but it drastically reduced the number of coats needed and the time spent working on it versus paint alone.  So, if you're ever painting cardboard, maybe this trick will work for you, too.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Painted Skully Floral Decoration

One day when shopping at Michaels for something else, I found this skull floral pick (always find things at Michaels that you didn't go for...) for 0.99 and, me being me and loving skulls, had to have it-despite not having an idea for it.

When I got home, I decided to decorate it like a sugar skull, since I do love how those look. Here's some pictures of the process to see how I did it:

Painted White with a foam brush

Here's one finished side of it

I remembered to take an "in progress" picture for this one, heh. I just outlined the design in pencil (keeping it simple since I am not really artistically inclined) and then colored in with markers.

The other side finished

Monday, November 24, 2014

Fall Centerpieces for Under $15

At the end of September, hubby and I renewed our vows for our 5th wedding anniversary (a bit early). We had a very casual, picnic-style renewal, but I still wanted to make it look nice, and we decided on a theme of "Autumn" and got plates, cups, etc. in fall colors.

I also had an idea to make some centerpieces that fit the theme, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. Luckily, I didn't have to. I made these centerpieces for less than $15 total for all 4 of them.






So how did I do it?

The vases are bottles from our recycling bin: Free
The ribbon was $0.50 each so x2: $1.00
Acrylic paint was on sale at Michaels for 6/$2, so I got 6 since you can always use paints: $2.00
Vase fill rocks were also on sale at Michaels, for about $1.25/bag and I got three of them, so: $3.75.
And the flowers/leaves were at the dollar store, and I got 8 of them to make sure the 4 vases were filled nicely, so $8.
Total for 4 centerpieces: $14.75

I knew I wanted to add some color to the vases themselves, so experimented with things like polka dots, stripes, etc., but didn't like the way it looked because then the colored rocks couldn't be seen very well, but there were ridges on the bottle, so I painted those in a pattern and really liked it. When that was dry, I connected the colored ribbons at the ends and crisscrossed them to create the multiple pattern, and then tied a bow and glued it down with a bit of hot glue. Add the rocks and the leaves, et voila! Easy, pretty center pieces that get a lot of attention. I currently have one vase on my desk work as Thanksgiving decorations and people love it-and usually comment that it looks way more expensive than it was. Hooray. :)

Sunday, July 20, 2014

J'taime Paris

Last weekend, I made a third "One Hour" Skirt. (The second being the Anchors one.)

I had decided that I don't fully like how "froofy" the skirts are when made according to Brett's directions in the book of "Take the measurement of your waist/where skirt will sit and make 2 rectangles of that" (I paraphrased), so instead when I measured my hips, I subtracted several inches (I think I subtracted 10-12 inches, total) and then made both rectangles with THAT measurement.

So, for example, if my hips are 40", I said they were 30" and made the width for the rectangles each 30", instead of 40". This had GREAT results, and I really like how it fits me. Which is good news for me because it means that I have developed at least enough skills to determine if/how something can be more suitable for what I need/want. Hooray!

And, I believe this skirt took me 1.5-2 hours, including sizing, cutting and sewing, with a few mistakes that had to be undone, so I am getting closer and closer to the One Hour mark that the author believes it should take. And I'll be making more of them, most likely, so maybe I'll hit that mark soon.

Here's what the latest looks like:

I love all the bright colors!


Zebra Hair Bow

A few weeks ago, I made this hair bow for days when I go to cheer on my favorite Roller Derby team. I like this one, but I decided it is too big to wear in the style I usually do, which is with piggy  tails. But I still have some of that ribbon left over and decided I would make 2 smaller bows for pigtails and keep this one for a one-side accent. It is super cute and was very, very easy to make. :)



Drawstring Ditty Bag


A few weeks ago I made a very simple drawstring bag, the perfect size for small gifts or carrying snacks or something.  I think, total, this took me about 15 minutes. So it's nice to know I can whip something together quickly if I needed to. :)



Anchors Away!

A couple weeks ago, I made another of the "One Hour Skirts" from Brett Bara's book.

I had seen this particular fabric at Joann for a while, and I knew I had to have it for something, but kept always not getting it. Well, one day I had a 50% off coupon and I knew exactly what I was getting, at long last.

I brought it home, washed it, and made my skirt as soon as possible. I made it the week of July 4, and how perfect it is for a patriotic look. :)

And just how perfect is it that my vintage sign about joining the Navy is behind me in this picture? :)



First Happy Customer

This isn't so much a craft I made, but it was adorable and I wanted to share it. 

I have my first happy customer! My friend Suzanne came over at the end of June to visit, and wanted to buy one of the bags I had made that I plan on selling. So after she picked out which one she wanted, I grabbed a picture of her with her new bag. 

Isn't she just adorable? :)


Ground Control to Major Shaun

I recently made a second pair of Pajamas for the hubby, this time in a space themed fabric he picked out. (The first pair, which was my first-ever sewing project, can be found here.)

On one of my (just about weekly) trips to Joann Fabrics to wander around, Shaun was with me and saw this space themed fabric and loved it. I asked if he wanted more PJs from it, and he over-eagerly said he did. After seeing that Pluto was included,  (Sorry, Mr. Degrasse Tyson, Pluto IS a planet. ;)) I willingly agreed and we got the fabric.

It was about a week  before I got started on them, but had them finished within just a couple days. Much faster than the first time they were made, but that's the advantage of continually practicing and making more projects: Things start to make sense. :)

Here are his spacey pjs:



Straight Against Hate Shirt

I've been bad and not being consistent at updating to keep track of everything I've made, even though I've been actively crafting. So, there's going to be a few posts in a row again. Oh well...

Starting With...

My Pride T-shirt. Portland's Gay Pride Weekend was June 14/15, and I went with my friend on 6/14. I had always planned on making/buying a shirt, but he didn't believe me when I told him I was wearing a Tutu-which made me laugh when he showed up and was like "Oh, you really are wearing a tutu!"

Anyway, I made this design in my photo editing software, and uploaded it to Zazzle (you can buy my design here if you'd like :) and there's also buttons and stickers if you want), but I didn't want to risk it not getting to me in time, so when I discovered I could make my own iron-on transfers, that's exactly what I did.

I used a transfer sheet and added my design to a plain white shirt I had bought, and then did Sharpie Tie-Dye on it. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that you're supposed to use rubbing alcohol to get it to fade/run, and only used water, so it didn't run as much as I would have preferred, but I still like how it turned out overall.

I didn't get pictures of the back on accident, but it's basically full of doodled hearts  for the most part, Here's what it looks like:

Yes, that is the first tutu I made.



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Tutu Times TwoTwo

Just a quick one to show my latest tutu.  I updated the tutu I made last week and made it fluffier.  So here's what it looks like now:







I also made a second tutu for when I go to cheer on my roller derby team, so I made it in their color scheme-Pink and Black-which is convenient because those are my favorite colors! That's actually how I chose my team once we moved to Portland. Anyway, here's what that one looks like:





Thursday, June 5, 2014

Tough Tutus!

This past weekend I made a no-sew tutu.  I don't know what made me want a tutu, other than they're very fun, but I had seen a tutorial for a no-sew tutu and decided to go for it. In almost all of the tutorials you'll find, they say to take elastic and tie the tulle around it, and voila, tutu.

Well... This is true, to a small degree.

I did that, and it was an unstable ball of mess. The knots didn't want to stay in place, the elastic twisted, and it became a tangled blob of tulle. I don't recommend this. Here's what THAT looks like, in case you need a visual:

Not Pretty. 


So I decided to head back to Joann and see if inspiration struck to make it better. And it did. I found some stretchy ribbon-esque material that was like lace in that it had defined holes in it. Others may have thought of this as well, but I didn't see anything in any of the (dozens of) tutorials I saw-they were all just tie-tulle-around-elastic ones. But this worked out well because it gave the tutu a defined top of the waistband, and also gave it  a decorative touch.

Here's what my Tutu looks like as of now. I may end up adding more tulle to it to make it more fluffy, though.

As always, click the pictures for larger images.


My pretty ribbon accents. 




Since it's so easy, and tutus are so fun, I think I will make a bunch more for other things! :)