Things left unblogged

Warning: This is going to be a rather picture-heavy post.

My raincoat has a sleeve now! Which I forgot to waterproof after I got done teaching last night like I'd meant to. I got sidetracked by finishing up the last two rows on the chart for the back of my shrug that I'm knitting, and swatching for another upcoming project. So I guess I'll have to do that today, and not sew on this. (It doesn't really have a lining in there yet, I just stuck it on the hanger with it so I could get an idea of what it looks like.)

And since there's not much more to say about that, I remembered that there are some things I've done more recently that I haven't written about yet. So I'm just going to put these up now.

#1: Yes, I know it's February, but I'm going to post about a Christmas ornament anyway!

The backstory: For the last few years, an out-of-town married couple that I'm friends with has hosted a game party around New Year's--basically, lots of board or card-type games and usually some kind of movie or tv-show watching that has some kind of geeky twist to it. (This year, it was a bunch of episodes of The Big Bang Theory.) And one of the first years, the guy closed the email invite with comparing Sauron (the big flaming eyeball bad guy from Lord of the Rings) to Santa, because they're both always watching. So that became kind of a running joke. This year, I had the thought one day while I was bored at work that this could become a pretty funny ornament. So I approached my best friend (who is also friends with them) with the proposal, and we agreed that I'd paint the ornaments, and she'd crochet the hats. (I made 3, because of course we each wanted one too.) Since we rode up to their house together, we had some pretty amusing moments of me gluing the hats to the balls in the car and hanging them from the rearview mirror to dry! Our friends thought it was hilarious, and so this is Sauron Claus hanging proudly near the top of their tree at the party.

#2: I'm easing myself back into scrapbooking, after basically not doing it for a couple of years. Admittedly, these aren't my most creative pages ever, and I certainly wouldn't win any prizes for them. But hey, they're done! Most of these fall into the category of "I just want to get something done so I'm just going to write on these pages that I'd already glued pictures to awhile ago and call it finished."

And you can't even see the writing on most of these, but since it's been sitting unfinished in the album for awhile, it's still better than nothing! I did have fun with making the wavy paper shapes on this one to kind of go along with the way the wall was painted in the restaurant, though.

Easiest page ever, and one that was truly made recently. I just slapped the pictures from the manicures we got for a friend's wedding, oh, 4 1/2 years ago onto a piece of patterned paper and just wrote on it. I don't know why I kept putting this off.

This one had been mostly done awhile ago, except for one thing...

See that writing? Yeah, bubble letters that I colored around with a black marker on top of the paper that was already there. I don't know why I didn't finish that one 3 years ago, either.

The actual layout took some effort, due to all of the little photos....the writing falls into the category of "it's getting kind of late and I don't feel like taking the time to type this and choose a font and print it and everything." Honestly, I'm thinking I'll just have to transfer all of my fonts to my laptop, because the printer is in the kitchen, and then I can just sit next to it and feed paper into it to print things. I'd be so much more productive that way.

I'm a little more proud of this one, from a concert I went to back in 2008. Same deal, just writing on the paper myself, but the gold pen makes it more fun.

And I did enjoy doodling on the patterned paper some to go along with that paisley printed scrap of paper that already had the gold on it.


I do have another page about halfway done, but this one actually will need stuff printed on the computer before I can glue it all down. Ok, so I have several pages about halfway done, but at least I'm starting to get some work done on them now!

Aside from the laptop for writing, I'm hoping this will help...one of my major deterrents has been that my scrapbook stuff is mostly put away, so every time I want to work on it, I have to haul a bunch of stuff out and figure out what I want to use and then put everything else away and then put what I actually did use away and it just takes so much time. I like things I can just pick up and work on. But when I was out running errands with my mom recently, we stopped at AC Moore and she found these little totes on clearance. It has all of these pockets and even a pull-out drawer at the bottom, so I can store a good number of the most basic tools I use (other than my computer for typing, obviously.)

See that box? That's about 2 years' worth of photos that I recently got printed. And that's not counting all of the photos from the 2-3 years before that where I either only halfway did a page or just stuck some paper with it to do later or never started at all. Kind of overwhelming, isn't it? But since the stuff is here now, that will make it easier to start chipping away at these and actually get some more albums done. If I can ever sort out once and for all whether it would be better to organize everything after my last fully completed album chronologically or by broader categories. (My last fully completed album stops at the end of spring 2006. And there's so many holes in the chronology from photos I never finished--or started--that I'd thought categories might make it easier. Either way, I have my work cut out for me, now that I've actually been in the mood to work on this again!)

Don't open till Christmas....

I did some sewing this week.

But I can't show you yet, because it was either a refashion that I accidentally deleted the in-progress pics for, and need to re-take those before I can go any further, or Christmas presents.

So here's something shiny instead.

Every year since we finished college, one of my friends and her husband have hosted an ornament exchange party. This year, for the first time, she decided to do a theme, which is "Winter Wonderland."

I had this ornament on my Pinterest board, and decided it would be perfect. And I found a box of these blue ornaments for half-price at Joann's when I was there to pick up a few last-minute notions for the Licorice dress. I didn't want to add those red streaks that were supposed to be cardinals, because it would be way too easy for them to just look like red streaks instead. And when I was talking to my mom about it, she suggested I do little crystals instead of the dots for snowflakes. (My mom is pretty brilliant as a craft sounding board.)

I'm pleased with how they turned out overall. Though these were actually much harder to make than I'd anticipated. I had some acrylic enamel paint, which specifically said it could be used on glass, so I went for that. It took 3 coats of that, then 2 coats of regular acrylic craft paint, then one more coat of the enamel paint to get the paint to stop looking streaky! And I'm pretty sure there may be a crystal or two glued to my PJ pants from when I was finishing them last night, because they kept dropping out of the tweezers after I toothpicked the glue onto the back. And they're so tiny, I know I didn't find them all.

I did 3 altogether-- one for the party, one to keep, and one to give to my mom as a thank-you for the idea. I was going to do a fourth one to give to my brother and sis-in-law, but the fourth of the frosted-looking ornaments in the box has this huge flaw in the blue coating that leaves this dark, black-hole-like spot. So I'm going to have to figure out what to do with that, and the four shinier balls.

Speaking of that party, I should probably be getting ready to go.

A 2008 Retrospective, part 2: End-of-the-year projects!

Figured I'd better stick the last couple things I made last year up here before I get too far behind.
First up: the ill-fated Cleopatra costume. The dummy shot is the best I can do for now, until I have an opportunity to actually wear it. I made this using a lengthened version of the Minna from BurdaStyle, and the belt was completely winged. I'm glad I had the belt, because I think for this dress to be flattering on me without it, I'd have to eliminate the pleat closest to the hips. But for toga-esque costume purposes, it works well.


Besides adding the length, I also raised the neckline a couple inches, and replaced the trim with solid pieces of fabric. Which was a good thing, because this still would have been cut way too low for my comfort without it.

As I said, the belt was completely winged- basically, the waist part is one leg of those spandex pants, and the hanging down part is the other leg. The stripes are just scraps of fabric from previous projects-- the blue from my silver and blue elf-style Renaissance costume, the red from a second Ren costume that I made for Cassie, and the white is just a random scrap of some free fabric. Yay for scraps! And then it's held in the back with several hook-and-eyes.

Finally, the necklace. I finished this on Sunday. Mostly just cheap plastic beads from my and my mom's stashes.




I also spent some time on Monday making a cover for my planner for this year. Mainly for protection. Things in my bag tend to get rather beat up.

I also added a pen loop and a ribbon with velcro to keep it closed.










Finally, I also made some more of those felt ornaments for tomorrow's party. Technically I finished those today, since I had to add the paint details to the snowman/penguin/gingerbread man, but it was mostly a Monday deal as well.

I've spent a good bit of time today and Wednesday working with the knitting machine, and I do have pictures, but I'll save that for a separate post since this one's already loaded up. I'll just leave it at I think it'll be a positive thing. And I got the March 2007 issue of Burda World of Fashion in the mail today! Yay for eBay. I'd gotten it mainly for this jacket, but I also really like this blouse. And this knit shirt. And this top. And I'm rather in love with this skirt (which just also happens to be shown in a different fabric with the blouse, but you can see the silhouette better on this pic). Funny how I seem to be drawn to all the stuff shown made up in hippie style...

Anyway, I'm hoping I have some stuff in my stash that will work for some of these, because I'm rather excited about trying my first BWOF now! Whichever one that may be...

bummed.

The good news: I finished my costume for New Year's Eve on Sunday.

The bad news: I might not get to actually wear it. Got a message from the friend whose party I made it for, and she said that she wasn't sure how into the costume idea her other guests were going to be, so I might not want to go all out for it. After mentioning my disappointment at that, she said she'll see if she can talk some of her other friends into dressing up. But I'm going to be giving her a call later to see how that's going... truthfully, at this point, I'm not sure I still want to go. Since she moved about an hour away to Philadelphia, none of our mutual friends around here can make it, so last I heard, one mutual friend who lives closer to the DC area might come. Other than that, it's going to be all of her swing-dance friends from the city and then me. And I'm enough of an introvert that I know I won't enjoy a party full of mostly strangers with nothing like the fun of a costume party to temper that. Especially driving that far for one-- if she still lived around here it would be different. (Of course, if she still lived around here, I'd know more people coming too. And those friends of hers are the type that would dress up-- been to enough costume parties with them to be certain of that!) I just wish I'd known that before I spent those several days rushing to get the costume done!

The other good news: Other than slicing open a few page protectors to get access to the fold-out things beneath, my road trip album is finally done as of yesterday! So at least that's one of my craft goals for 2008 that I can say I finished.

Ok, back to work... trying to make those ornaments for Saturday's post-New Year's Christmas party.

300th post! (And Christmassy giveaway!)

Wow, I can't believe I'm at 300 already. So to celebrate, I'm going to try something new for me-- I've never done a giveaway before!

So I'm offering up 3 ornaments that I made this afternoon. They're made of felt with ribbon hangers, and about 3 1/2" tall. I doubt they'll get to anyone in time for Christmas, but should at least within the 12 days after! If you're interested, leave a comment, and I'll draw a name Monday night.

I've got at least 5 projects that I'll need to put in the next post, but I'll try to refrain from spamming this thing up until then too. ;-)

Friday Favorites, Episode 33 (last one of 2008!)

It's been a very quiet week for crafting here. I literally have not had a chance to do anything since last Saturday, other than put together a couple more necklaces for my mom's stocking and a couple pairs of earrings for a Christmas gift. I guess I should take pictures of those. Oh, and I made earrings to go with that red and black necklace I made for Mom a week or so ago, because she let me borrow it back to wear with my pantsuit for the band concert and I needed earrings for it. (Using another leftover bead and some of my thrifted jar supplies to make myself a necklace, so I'll still have something to go with it.)

But it's been a crazy busy week-- spent most of Sunday afternoon addressing invitations and planning Susannah's bridal shower, Monday was an extra-long teaching day because of adding a new student, Tuesday also ran late and by the time I finished eating dinner and showering and all I just wasn't up for it, Wednesday was the band concert (which went really well! Yay!), and then yesterday I had practice for my church's Sunday and Christmas Eve services, which I'm playing with the music team for. And then tonight I'm going to a party, though I'm hoping to have some time to work on unpicking the hem of my latest refashion so I can make it look better. I'm getting so desperate for creative time, though, that when I had some dead time at work yesterday, I sat there sketching out craft ideas! (It's not like I was slacking-- it's just the managers literally had nothing for me to work on at the moment, and I'd already cleaned the showroom. Ah, garden centers in winter.) I really hope I have time to do something tomorrow!

Anyway, on to Friday Favorites. I've decided to make this "episode" the last one of the year, since the last Friday is the 26th and by then I'm going to be in frantic costume mode in order to get things done before New Year's Eve. So I'll bring it back in about 2 weeks (I'm hosting a party on the 3rd, so between that and the party on the 31st, I'm going to have my hands full!) Anyway, I hope you've all been enjoying this feature, and hopefully I'll find lots of fun stuff to share in 2009.

Also, I'm not finished with the backlog yet, but I've started sticking all the tutorial-type stuff that I've been bookmarking on my Wists page so they're all in one place. Plus it has pictures.

Not surprisingly, almost everything is Christmas decorations this week.

Garlands: Dollar Store Crafts had a fun, colorful one of felt squares. Cheeky Magpie featured a rather intricate one of folded paper and (very carefully cut-out) stamped designs. And Whip Up linked to a paper chain link garland-- not the construction-paper version we made in elementary school, for sure! Looks so time-consuming, but the Renaissance lover in me is all, "Ooh, paper chain-maille!" (Plus it would probably be a fun way to recycle junk mail or something.)

Cards and Wrapping: Speaking of junk mail, I thought the gift bag made from it at Recycled Crafts was a really clever idea! Going back to Cheeky Magpie, I couldn't help but love her snowman cards-- Calvin & Hobbes is pretty much my favorite comic strip ever, and his snowmen always amused me. And for her blogaversary, the writer of SewDelish has free Christmas printables that would be great for gift tags or scrapbook pages or whatever.

Ornaments: The medieval-looking cd cross ornaments over at Ecologue were just stunning. I love the look of these fabric star origami ornaments at Zen Crafting. And that they can have a billion different looks depending on what fabric you use. And that it's great for scraps. Over at CraftStylish, they're showing how to revamp (or "resparkle", as they call it) those worn glass balls with charms and gems. Crafting a Green World had a nice kid-friendly ornament made from, of all things, recycled plastic ziplock bags (and some other on-hand stuff to decorate them with). And while not really an ornament, persay, I did like Creative Kismet's snowflake window.

Other: Which I suppose these would make good stocking stuffers or last-minute gifts. First one is these simple but cute bookmarks at Trail Mix. Over at Craft Apple, she made a bag from a cheap skirt found on the clearance rack. And Craft Leftovers had a free pattern for recycling sweater bits into some very cute armwarmers.

Ok, so that's everything for this week. Er, year.

One more bloggy announcement... next post is my 300th. Going to try to do something special for it. Stay tuned.

Friday Favorites, Episode 32

This one's almost entirely Christmas-oriented, so I'll categorize like that. Funny how I can never seem to set this up the same way twice...

Ornaments!

It seems I'm perpetually on the lookout for things that can be made with fabric scraps, and so of course I thought these "scrappy tree" ornaments from Dollar Store Crafts were really cute! And I like that they can fit a lot of different decor styles, depending on how the edges are finished and what sort of fabric is used. Whip Up had a tutorial for a vintage-looking fabric-covered ball that would also be a great use of scraps. This one's not a tutorial, but I couldn't pass up a mention of these metal ornaments by Creative Kismet because they're so fun and colorful. And though technically not an ornament, Recycled Crafts featured an easy-to-make (though undoubtedly time-consuming) felt tree garland created by scrapbooking superstar Ali Edwards.

Other Decor!

Also on Recycled Crafts, they have a tree skirt made from a bridesmaid dress. If this past year is any indication, it seems I'm in process of becoming the next 27 Dresses girl, so this one might come in handy! Cheeky Magpie had a pattern for a paper cone that can be used either as a fillable decoration, or flipped over as a paper tree (which she put lights inside for a really neat effect!) ThreadBanger's weekly DIY roundup featured wreaths of all different styles, made of everything from recycled fabric to ice to computer parts. Speaking of wreaths, Thimble had a small feature of different Christmas tutorials, of which my favorite was this paper wreath at the red thread. And sew it begins... featured a tutorial for an easy-to-make but complicated paper snowflake that's a great large size for window or wall decorating. And going back to Creative Kismet, she had this great paper-cut winter wall art.

Miscellaneous goodies!

Over at Quality Time, there was a tutorial for a patchwork tissue holder that would make a great stocking stuffer (and use up more scraps!) I liked this cocktail dress at Fehr Trade-- simple, but a great color. And Angry Chicken had a simple but good sweater reconstrutcion with a vintage vibe that would be good for more casual holiday gatherings.

My stuff:

I had some unexpected time off work yesterday, so I had time to go to Joann's (where I got some fabric on sale because I'm weak.) And I also did some sewing-- need a few finishing touches, but then two of my Christmas presents will be done. Hopefully will get those up tomorrow. No time tonight, since one of my friends is having her annual Christmas party/ornament exchange. I think I'm going to bring one of the poinsettia ornaments, so we'll see what I come home with!

Friday Favorites, Episode 31 (and the results of yesterday's poll)

First off, thanks to those of you that responded to my post yesterday. The vote is really close! But I've decided to go with the BWOF subscription. I am still a little nervous about trying to figure out the non-visual instructions, but since one of my ongoing craft goals (that so far I'm failing miserably at) is to reduce my stash of supplies/fabric, I need things that will enable me to use up some of said fabric stash rather than expand it, and patterns from the Big 4 don't really inspire me much these days, for the most part. Plus, since I haven't managed to find it in any of my local bookstores, the only way I can get any issues is to buy them online at something like $16 a pop. If I find things I like in more than 4 issues, it's pretty much paid for itself at that price. Plus, truth be told, I'm kind of feeling right now like getting nice fabric would be a waste of the money, since it's not like I have occasions to wear really spectacular outfits of pricier fabrics. It might just be a case of the winter blahs setting in early this year... *sigh*

Anyway, on to the link list, which I'll have to keep concise today since I have a major rush-around day going here.

First off, I'm finding Rostitchery's series of posts on how she's trying to hand-make her Christmas gifts/decorations completely out of things around the house rather inspiring. It's amazing what can be done with what's on hand. Weekend Designer had some really classy-looking ornaments made of ribbon and lavender, and on the other end of the spectrum, Thrifty Decor Chick featured a Christmas tree made of... *drumroll* Mt. Dew cans. XD (I learned about this one via Miss Celie's Pants.) Craft Leftovers has some tips for fixing broken ornaments, Sewtakeahike had a very cute ice skate gift tag, Crafting a Green World showed how to recycle old Christmas cards into gift tags, and Whip Up had a huge list of festive tutorial goodness. And on a completely non-Christmasy note, I thought the baby Princess Leia costume at Clevergirl.org was just too cute (in a totally geeky sort of way, but that's ok because I kind of am a geek.)

And with that, I'm off...hopefully teaching Cassie how to reconstruct a t-shirt tonight. Mwahaha.

Christmastime is here....

...and with it comes Christmas crafting!

From Friday night:
-Poinsettia ornaments made following the flower pinwheel pattern at Hello My Name is Heather. I shrunk the pattern to about 3" and skipped the stick.

-Snowflake ornaments--the two on the left were chipboard snowflakes I found in the scrapbook section, then painted and glittered up. And the beaded one was from a kit that we've had around here for ages. I might make some more, but it took awhile!



And then I've made four necklaces in the last three nights-- I'm in charge of my mom's stocking every year, and it's become traditional for me to make her a couple of necklaces. This year, she requested that I take her bead stash and go nuts. So more will be forthcoming, but this is what I have for her so far:

1. Monday's necklace, from a wooden pendant with a woodburned design, and wood and tiger-eye jasper beads.
2. One of Sunday's necklaces, from a shell pendant, cats-eyes beads, and silver spacer beads.
3. Sunday's other necklace, which was actually just a restringing job due to a broken clasp. I'm pretty sure I originally made this one for her, back when I was in grad school and on a trip to New Hampshire for a music competition (Mom came with me, and I brought beads to make jewelry in the hotel room. Which was nice downtime, since I was sick with a nasty cold the entire couple of days I was there!)
4. Last night's necklace-- silly to give a Christmas necklace in a Christmas stocking that she won't be opening until Christmas Eve, I know. But the snowman pendant was so cute that I couldn't resist!

No necklace tonight, most likely, seeing as how it's after 10 and I still need to get a shower and such. Didn't do it sooner because I was sewing. The good news is, the jacket is at the point where all I have left to do is attach the lining to the jacket, do the hems, and sew on the buttons and buttonholes. And then I am DONE!! I might even be able to finish by the end of the week! I'm sooooo excited to move on to other projects--maybe it's because it's something I had to do, but I just have not been able to get excited about this pantsuit, despite the challenge.

Friday Favorites, Episode 30

Happy day-after Thanksgiving!! Appropriately, most of my links this week are for Christmas stuff.

First off, even though I'm not buying anything today, I have a list of eco-friendly craft supplies, courtesy of Crafting a Green World. I'm kind of drooling over the bead collection. And wondering how my crochet friends would feel about yarn hand-spun from the seller's wedding dress...

Some fun decorations at Dollar Store Crafts. The first is Christmas ornaments made from those little metal wrappers that tea lights come in, and the second is a recycled cd decorated to look like peppermint candy. Yum.

Ok, so this one's not exactly Christmas-y. But I loved these "fairy lights" made from Christmas lights and recycled egg cartons at Whip Up. I'll have to find an excuse to make those sometime...a party, perhaps? I also had to take note of their list of tutorials for baby crafts--I think I have a couple of years until the next wave of babies, since it seemed like half of the women I know and their sister had a baby this past year, but I'm always scrounging for ideas (and ways to avoid the headache that is Babies R' Us!) so this should help.

Moving away from the holiday stuff-- I really liked this Dresden petal handbag tutorial at Quality Time. Not only cute, but a great way to use up those pesky scraps. And, well, this one really isn't crafty at all. But I also had to bookmark this list of music of interest at Angry Chicken. Because music feeds creativity, and I'm always looking for ideas of bands to hunt down at eMusic. Mmmmm, indie bands.

And with that, I am off for a night of movies and craftiness of the Christmas ornament variety with some of my friends. Ciao!