Long Time No Craft

I know... not doing so good on the post-once-a-week resolution. Well, it has been tougher than I thought. I did finish my first crocheted sweater, though I can't manage to get a decent picture of it. I also have made a few ATCs wich are put away and ready to be packed. Did I mention that we've been preping to move back to the U.S.? It takes time away from the crafting. That and reading too much instead.

I have done a few things latley though. I got all the inchies framed from a swap last year. I left room for another 50 I may receive in round 2 but missed the sign up. More waiting then. I was the custom framer on an Army post in Hohenfels, Germany so the matting and frame are custom built for the job. I must have had a slow week to want to do all the math for that mat cut.

Mike and I got a little obsesed with our Nintendo DSs this last month, too. They realy have come a long way since they first came out and only had weird games with convoluted use of the stylus. Plus Mike seems to be learning Japanese from his. Anything we use this much must be worthy of a customized case. After doing a little research I took bits I liked from lots of designs and drafted a patern. Two prototypes later we have one of a kind awsomeness. Haley, my coworker's daughter, also got one cause she rocks and drew a bee for me that I will someday get tattooed. Thnaks Haley!



Here are a three Pretty Little Pin Cushions. I made them as samples for my last class with Katie. Top one is made of scrap cotton; middle is silk ties; bottom is squares from Angie. Angie got the bottom one as a gift for finaly coming home from visiting her familiy.

P.S. I had a pain in the butt posting these pics just now. They kept wanting to be choped off by the minimum pixel count for this lay out. Thanks to The Blogger Guide for the HTML help. I'm useless with that kind of left brain thing.

Photos, Phinaly

Oh my, I've done it. My new camera is up and running. You will probably be able to see the difference in the quality of between old and new camera. The Fuji was getting a little senile and taking strangely colored pics. Now I have a Sony Cyber Shot. New and cute and small and black and new and 10 mega pixels and new. So now to those crafty things.

Ok, Claus isn't crafty. But he dose deserve a little memorial. He was a good fish. Don't cry Lonnie. He was given a beautiful ceremony (down the toilet)



First real craft up is Poppy. I made Poppy to make sure that the pattern we were using in sewing class would be fairly easy and well designed. It was neither. We still made it. (see Katie with Emily in past post) I was so frustrated with the pattern that my version say around naked for months. I finally promised Katie that Poppy would have some proper clothes, not just a tutu.

The black and gold dress was down sized from my old dress. I had fond memories of it and just couldn't throw it away. Now Poppy can wear it to a Halloween party thrown by her future husband. (we never got those fire works to explode the toy tank). I also crocheted a little hat and scarf for the cold winter months we are now experiencing.

Time: 10 hours for doll and clothes
Cost: Free, all scraps and recycled material

Next is a tiny cross stitch pattern that the shop had about 50 of up until this Christmas. We finally got so sick of seeing them that they were given away as a "gift with purchase." I bought some glitter and yarn and picked of this delightful (read "gag me") creature. Of course I had to twist it to my tastes. Originally the thing was supposed to be tossing snow balls. Now it is throwing its own decapitated head. Trust me after seeing these things and counting them in 2 yearly inventories you would have done the same.

Time: 5 hours of killing time

Cost: Freebie and a small part of my soul

My obsession with all things Japanese and kawaii has led me to collect bento boxes. Historically, they are small lacquered (now plastic) that the Japanese carry there lunches in. Rice and other food is shaped and arranged to be pleasing to the eye as well as the stomach. I got bored packing all four of mine this week. After some cute flowers out of veggies and baby birds from hard boiled eggs I couldn't resist something more twisted. Enjoy Evil Hello Kitty Monster.

Eggy brains fall out of teriaki meat face. Glowing red tomatoes for eyes and a cheesy grin. So yummy and so scary.

Time: about 2 hours for all four boxes of food and arranging

Cost: mostly left over and I already owned the boxes

Lots more going on this week and plenty of time to work on it. I will have 2 days in the waiting room at Landstuhl while Mike gets his first exam for eye surgery. I also have a couple of commissions to do all while sorting and prepping the house for an overseas move in 3 months.

No More XMas

Yeah! Xmas is over. Anyone who has ever worked retail will understand my pain. Crazy busy for two months and now there is virtualy nothing to do at work. Except make myself look busy.

Good news is, I have definately gotten back to crafting. I made the hat for Mike as discussed in the last post and even started on the sweater. I completed a few small projects and have plenty on my list still. Hopefully now that dear Katie has her own sewing machine I will have Mondays to sew for myself now. (we'll see how that pans out). Meanwhile, Mike is back on a miniatures kick. There is an entire army of WWII dudes waiting to be painted in my living room. I miss painting minis to so there is also a small contingent of elves and pegasus. Oh, and he bought me Pokethulhu minis for Xmas that I started on tonight. The large Pikatulhu took more resculpting of the metal than any other pewter cast I have ever seen. I also have three small and one GINORMOUS dragons to paint. So much to do, so little time. *sigh*

Along with all of that the house is slowly getting cleaned and reorganized due to the moving in 3 months thing. I will be without my craft supply collection for months! At least we will be back on planet USA and near some great craft stores. As though I need more.

----new pics next post, I swear. maybe even tonight if they are easy edits------

Early Thanksgiving and Busy At Work

I know. I keep making excuses not to update. But seeing as a few people actually said they check this thing I suppose I should put up some info.

I was going to bring home a bunch of pics from classes at work. But then, out of nowhere, the Army got a virus. We are not allowed ANY external memory devices. Thumb drives and even burning a CD are right out. It will take millennia to email myself all the photos so it may be a minute until those go up.

I have been sewing and crocheting a bunch. I made 5 little wrap around skirts for the Irish Dance recital last month. Someone must have pics of that somewhere.... I'm also trying to finish up a granny square tote bag that was started at the beginning of the year.

Early Thanksgiving for Drew was fun. He is going down range so the neighbors had dinner a week early. Stay safe dude!

On my list of things to make:
1 crocheted turtle
1 quilted turtle
1 hat for the hubby (got camo yarn for it already)
1 crochet sweater (lots of patterns, no patience)

After 2nd Thanksgiving this week and on the road to Mike’s eyesurgery I will have plenty of time for the hooking. Pics to follow (especially if I go buy a new camera)

Lots Of Work

Who decided to make work so much .... WORK? It is really not that bad. I just like complaining about my boss leaving me to run the shop by myself for three weeks. I also get to be the bad guy and tell people that their orders can not be completed untill next month because the woodshop guy is out on vacation (also my boss). There is only so much I can do in one day and I kinda refuse to learn carpentry so I don't have to take up that slack too. Good news is, the new jobs have been posted (I hope a bagillion peope applied) and I have a few people volunteering. They get to be my slave labor and push a button every 6 minutes to help engrave 250 beer glasses. I couldn't do it this month with out them. Thanks AP and TT! *hug*

I got all my homework finished and my final exam is complete. I now should have much more time to do actual art instead of just learning about its history. That is of course if my neighbors let me be a hermit. How can I make stuff when they keep cooking me dinner and making me drink German beer? Have you ever tried to crochet drunk? Bleh. Don't do it. Oh, and all this in time for Mike to come back from a month in Romania. *squee* He said he has been drawing some tattoo designs. I've been hoping he would get back into illustration so I can use his drawings for my art. (I'm so selfish) His hand drawn stuff translates well into embroidery and sometimes art quilts. I'm tottaly in love with Ed Hardy's stuff and think Mike's designs would look great on some shoes or a hat. I'll paint em if he draws em.

The good thing about working so much lately is all the creative stuff I've been able to do for customers. Lots of standard plaques and framed art but also neat engraving and intersting shadow boxes. I spent most of my day hand stitching a peewee football jersey so that it would lay flat. Then I had to stitch it to the background mat board. Chalanging, but time consuming. I'll take some pics of work stuff since personal atr seems to have gone out the window last month. And I missed sign ups for this round of Alphabet ATCs. Pooh, I'm gonna miss out on JKL. Personal Swap anyone? I need some thing to work on.

OMG! BEING A GEEK

Yes, that is Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris in a Joss Whedon mini web show. It is curently down loading (ever so slowly) onto iTunes. I will post later to tell you how much you should drool and if it was worth my $6.

Grrr, Arrrrgh
_________________________________________________

Edit to add....

DUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!! Posibly the best $6 I have ever spent. And I know this isn't strictly craft related but really I wouldn't be a craft nerd without all the other nerd bits too.

So, should you buy this? Yes! Is Joss a God? Yes! Does Nathan Fillian look good in a tight shirt with permanently erect nipples? Always! (though I'ma sucker for the under dog so I was totaly into Dr. Horrible)

Ok, back to crafting.

Some Day

Some day we will hire another person at work and I won't be beat when I get home.
Some day I will do homework on time so I don't have to cram enough reading for 2 quizzes into one day.
Some day the tech department will learn to ask "is it plugged in?" before telling me there must be major problems in the phone line.
Some day people will stop flaking on me and I will be able to have faith in people.
Some day I will be my own boss and be able to do it MY WAY.
Some day I will have plenty of time to blog once a week. Its a goal of mine, really.

Untill then here are 3 paper quilled flowers on ATCs for the Alphabet swap part GHI.

(pics to follow as soon as I down load them from the camera, duh)

As Promised

Its been a whole week but I am doing as promised and posting lots of pics today. The only ones I'm missing are from the Monster Sewing Class. Those photos are still on the comp at work.

First today is Kattie and her finished doll, Emily. At least that was her name last week when she left. This poor doll has been in pieces for months now and its so nice to see her with arms and legs. After I post today I need to go draft a pattern for some clothing though. Nobody wants a naked doll.

Next are the ATCs I sent out for the latest part of the Alphabet Swap. Much to Mike's shagrin, I signed up for another swap before finishing the Pirate Flags but I simply can't miss a letter now that I started. All cards use a bit of my favorite new product, Diamond Glaze. I beleive it was designed as a glue but it can also be usde like resin and add demension to paper craft and mixed media.

D is for Dinosaurs. Using Wash's monologue grom episode 1 of Firefly as the background. My partner for this has a Fruity Oaty Bar avatar so I'm sure she will appreciate this.

E is for Evel Knievel. I did a 3D thing here layering differant sections of Evel to make him stand out on the card.

F is for Favorite Things. I know way to many songs. This is my first collage style card with as many things from the song as I could fit. Unfortunatly, I couldn't find any appetizeing picture of schnitzel and it seems to not be served with noodles anymore, just fries.

Lastly, two crochet projects to post. Crochet seems to be my grove right now. I even have a small group of ladies meeting at the shop to play with yarn a chit chat. We can't call it a Stitch and Bitch though. Stoopid Army is boring.

A totaly nerdy guitar strap for my fake Fender. I play fake guitar really well on Rock Band and felt that my instrumant needed to be crafted up a bit.

This is P.P. For Pirate Panda. I made him for Mike after he squeeled seeing the picture in the book. Made from a pattern in Cute Litte Animals (ISBN 1601404670). Mike liked him well enough with no arms or legs so thats the way he is. I used Caron Simply Soft for the body, head and hat and Lion Cotton for his shirt. The different weight of the cotton makes his shirt look 3D. Totally not planned but oh so awesome.

Well back to sew flags and making doll clothing patterns. I can't wait to be finished we these big commisions so that I can get back to crafting for me (and maybe a few swaps too).

Resolution Broken

I really truly wanted to post at least once a week in this blog. Seeing as my last post was over a month ago I guess I messed that one up a bit. I could blame it on work or my husband or just lack of time but that would most likely by a lie. I suppose I have just slipped into lazyness. I have finished one and started a second swap with no pics posted. I also haven't updated my swap journal for a loooong time. I am now in total awe of those people who blog daily much less weekly.

I promise (cross my heart and hope to die) that I will post pics and more by the end of the week. I have tons from the latest class of kids sewing monsters and my one on one class, we finaly have a doll with arms AND legs.

The rest of the night will be spent finishing my ATCs for the DEF part of the swap. And the rest of the week will be for finishing up the 8 more pirate flags on comision for Mikes soldiers. I'm bored to death with them but its good money so I shouldn't complain.

Please drop a coment in the box if you enjoy my site or have any ideas about its improval (other than posting more-I already crossed my heart)

Fat ATCs and Legos

First some ATCs for the Alphabet Swap. I went with a phobia theme and wanted to do some interactive pieces. You can force the chicken to cross the road and get vertigo from falling down some miniature stairs. The bookshelves in Bibliophobia are 3D on an acordian pleat. All of the ended up WAAAAAAY fatter than intended but they are architetual masterpeices. I am going to make a set for myself with out all the writing on the later. Sorry about the fuzzy pics. Aparently I forgot I had a Macro function on my digicam.

My partner in One Tiny Thing has recived her Lego Earings. Balue loves green and had some Legoy things and nifty earings on her wist. I think these worked well for her. She seems to genuinly like them. I made a blue and white set for myself which I imagine myself wearing with a formal dress and high heels for some odd reason.

One more tid bit.... I am totaly hooked on a podcast called Craftcast. It has been around for a few years but I just recently stumbled across it. If you don't know about it yet visit the site or subscribe on iTunes. This is an amazingly insprational and informational cast. Learn about new techniques and products and feel good about craft and art. It makes the artist in me smile big. Thanks Alison Lee for all the good stuff.

Hyatus Over!!!

Today is Hubby's last day of vacation. While I will miss him around the house it means more crafting time. So its not all bad. I would have done more crafting this week but we have been cleaning/rearranging/remodeling the house. Lots of new Ikea furniture has transformed the living room into a grown up place. We are slowing moving out of the dorm room phase of our lives. Don't get me wrong. We still have the wall scrolls and anime figures displayed in the stairwell. The stuff we chose to display in the living room is more collectible and of course much of it is our own art. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is still the framed art on the walls. This will probably never change. Comic books as fine art is just ironic enough to withstand the test of time.

My parents and I have been brain storming the last couple of weeks about opening an art studio near them in Pahrump, Nevada. It is tough for me to do anything from all the way in Germany but the inspiration has been rolling. Dad even asked how big of a place I might want as though he is looking and Mom may have found our first kiln and pottery wheels. It may be a couple years until me and Mike are at a place where we can help but it gives me such hope for a future of not working for other people and doing what I love. Besides, how cool would it be to teach and be around creative people all day. It will be a cool place for our (in the distant future) children to grow up.

Much crafting this week for swaps and commissions. Plus I really need to get started on Angie's baby stuff. She's about ready to pop. Many pics too I hope!

Much Swapage

I finished up a few swaps just before my hubby got home from his long trip to fight the bad guys.

First was the Reading Rainbow Swap. Partners sent each other a tote, a bookmark and a good book. How very appropriate since I'm SUCH a bibliophile. I crocheted the tote and made the bookmark from the same fabric as the lining. My partner had slightly different tastes in books so I sent her a blank book to use as a journal with a remade cover. I used suede mat board and inlaid a rose using the laser engraver to make the vector cuts. Then I found a copy of The Princess Bride at the PX and thought she may enjoy that also (plus it matched the tote so well). And as a bonus I included a couple book bracelets 'cause I had a few beads left over from the huge set I made earlier. [16 hours]

Next comes the Friend of Craftster Secret Swap. We didn't know who was sending to us and we could only stalk our partners without asking any questions. Unfortunately my partner was MIA for most of the round and not as easy to stalk as I could have hoped for. With her two themes, 8 Bit Theatre and Dragons, I came up with these projects. Some crossed stitched sprites with magnets on the back and a reverse stencil dye discharged dragon t-shirt. I cut out a silhouette of a dragon from freezer paper, ironed it on and sprayed a 50/50 bleach water mixture on the shirt. When the dye is bleached out I got the amazing reddish color underneath (much preferred to the off white you sometimes get on black shirts). Also included are some beer stickers because of her hobby of brewing and a couple iron on transfer pencils from her wists. Gwenyvarr has received her package but has not posted or informed me and the organizer that she has. More frustration ensues but I hope nothing tragic has happened to her. [6 hours]

Now that Hubby is home I'm back to crafting more stuff. I'm totaly addicted to crochet right now and am much closer to the crocheted tire cover for my Jeep that I have been dreaming of. I'm also teaching sewing to the kidos again. Weekly classes with K and an upcoming class with Girl Scouts and SAS. Plus ALOT of people are asking about crochet classes (more than quilting amazingly). Lots of work to do at the real job after this nice 4 day weekend I gave myself. More projects to follow this week.

A Long List

To do this weekend:

Swaps:
*Buy t-shirt
*Take pics of Reading Rainbow package
Print pics of previous swaps to put in journal
Mail Reading Rainbow and Mom's box

For Classes:
*Make sample for embroidery with many differant stitches
*Go through pamphlet and pick best stitches for class
Take pictures during class
Ides for SAS Sewing Club

For Me:
*Monster hoodie (make extra teeth, knee in jeans is gonna rip soon)
*Welcome home sign
*Get together poly-clay and embroidery stuff for overnight
*Cook Gidget a casserole
Start Angie's Baby shirts
clean (optional)

Commisions:
More Flags
Tayloring for V.C. (by Wed)

Blowing Off Some Steam

I have yet to have a mad rant but I think now is the time. First let me say that I mean no crafter or web site or wonderful moderators or voters on said site any disrespect. That said, I'm a little disapointed in the current leader of the Crafster Craft Challange #24. Now in full disclosure, I did enter this contest (with no thought I would have a chance of winning) but I don't appreciate losing to someone who didn't follow the rules.

The purpose of the challange was to create something to help you fulfill a New Year's resolution. I.e. if your resolution is to be move environmentaly aware then you could make reuseable shopping bags. The current vote leader's resolution was to use her fabric stash. Her entry is an item using her fabric stash. This is NOT what the contest is about. There is even lengthy discusion in the challange thread about this from weeks before.


snowyangle: "My resolution is to use up my fabric that seems to keep piling up all the time! I hope that counts."
~~~~~
sweets4ever: "As long as your challenge entry is something that helps you achieve that resolution (a fabric organizer, a calendar charting out all of the projects you're going to work on, plans to build a house out of fabric, etc.), it
counts."

LATER

sweet4ever: "We never disqualify people/projects, so if someone didn't follow the challenge concept/rules, they might be included in the list, but I'm sure they'll get less votes in the end."

Can you at least understand why I'm sooooooo frustrated by this? I don't mind losing but I hate to lose to someone who clearly didn't read the rules or thread of discusion before entry. And obviously nobody voting read the rules either no matter what we would like to belive. I'm sure most of this is total PMS but I think I'm justified in this argument. I just didn't want to post on the original thread and to stir up trouble.

No Internet

I was without internet at home for almost two whole weeks. I never realized just how much I need the net to keep in touch with the outside world (read: sites work doesn't block). Fortunatly, all that down time let me craft my butt off. Along with a tote bag for a swap (pics after partner receivs) I finished up an Amigurumi Octopus, made a bunch of beads from a book and did my first entry for a Crafster Challange.

Here is Davey. As in Jones. It is a fitting name since I made him while watching Pirates of the Carribean and because he is "all tenticle-y." Some day I hope to make him a hat. Once I get a good human patern I want to make a Tia Dalma too. The pattern comes from PepperKitty on Crafster.

Family Photo: Luau the pig looks nervous and Cthulhu looks like he found a long lost relative.

Originaly I was going to cut up my junk mail to make these beads but it didn't have enough text. I LOOOOOOOVE words. I love them individualy, together as language and simply as texture in arty things. The simple black and white print looks great with some faceted beads, don't you think?

Lastly, my entry to Crafster Challange #24. The theme was to craft something to help with New Year's resolution. I want a tattoo so I decopaged and giant pickle jar and a blank book. The jar to help me collect some money and the book to keep track of ideas and sketches. There were some left over cut outs that I made into magnets.

Angry Hampster

Jacques is a little angry because someone stole his favorite yo-yo. So much anxiety in such a small critter.

He is made from a pattern in Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful. His face is embroidered cause I have no safety eyes. He is my first officially finished Amigurumi animal.

This is a cute little flower made from one of the free patterns on woolcrafting.com. I used it as a sample in a crochet class I taught. It was perfect for showing the differences in stitch height and how to put many together to make an object. I will totally wear it in my hair.

Wiccan/Pagan Round 6 Swap

SoulAssylum has received her swap box so I can finally put up some pictures. These are all inspired by the Goddess Persephone. She has two very distinct aspects. In her stay with Hades she is the queen of the underworld and has been described as "she who destroys the light." On the other hand, as she comes out of Hades in the spring to visit her mother, Ceres, she becomes the Goddess of spring growth and rebirth. As a symbol of this I decided to go with her symbolic pomegranate. The fruit represents both sides of Persephone.

SoulAssylum specifically asked for some runes. These are wood burned with the Elder Futhark runes. The edges are finished off with green foil and a light coat of clear seal will protect them.

The first pomegranate I did is on this zipper pouch. It can be used to hold the runes or as a little wristlet purse. The motif is hand embroidered. Oh, and its from a sketch I did. I didn't pirate this one from anybody.


Everyone can use an extra blank book. They are especially nice to keep a record of what your runes tell you. The cover matches the fabric and lining of the zipper bag and also has an embroidered pomegranate. A few of the pages have been block printed with my very first lino-cut. I super love the way it all came out.

These little bits were made from an extra bit of wood from the runes. The rune is Algiz and stands for protection. Another little pomegranate is made out of polymer clay. Do you think I over did the theme? The Pentagram was inspired from my partners wish list of fairy furniture and encorporates her favorite colors of red and bright green. It is made from bits of the bush in my front yard that so kindly shared its stems with me.

A quick photo frame with her avatar photo inside. The glass has a cat engraved on it to kept watch over whoever is in side. I built the frame with some help from the wood shop guys at work. and it comes with extra mat colors if she changes the pic.

Lastly, as I was looking for my packing stuff, Ozzy begged for a trip around the world. Since I don't have a window to put him in here, I gladly obliged. He is a stained glass sun catcher I made a few years back. He now has a happy new home.

Team Apache In Unforgivable Terrain

Up until now I was unable to post any pics of my husband with his pirate flags. But since these are PUBLISHED *squee* I guess they are safe.

This is actual proof of my hard work flying right over Afghanistan by 3rd PLT. These pics can be found in the December 16th, 2007 Stars and Stripes Mideast Edition. The color picture is on the front page. The whole article can be seen here by clicking the date of the issue.

I'm so proud of the hard work my darling husband has been doing these last few months. I'm also so selfishly proud of my work being on the front page of something. OMG!

My Computer Totoro

My work computer was acting up today. I figured it wasn't happy. So I gave it a smile Miyazaki style. Of course my coworkers just shook their heads and muttered "only you."

And if you look close at the top you can see my homage to Wash from Firefly. "CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL"

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

I've been so wicked busy at work that most of my crafting time has been spent on the few swaps that I've let myself do. I have found time to squeeze in a few small projects.

I desperately needed stitch markers for doing crochet projects that are all WIPs right now. I can never keep count with my plain colored ones. I have been brain storming ways of putting numbers on them when I remembered the ancient Risk game upstairs. I melted some holes and added some beads. I hope DH isn't too upset about it. :)

I also made up a bunch of earrings right before Halloween. The bats are from Hallmark's mini ornament series. All the Legos came from one small kit. I love the way the bad guy looks like he wants to stab the skeleton in the eye. The wooden squares were cut on the laser engraver from some scrap press board. The burn marks were intentionally left 'cause I love them. They still smell burnt up too.

Lastly, the makeup bag in my purse has fallen apart after who knows how many years. I love the zipper bags made from chip and ramen bags. I found this beautiful bag (and tasty ramen) to use. I also made a business card/mini wallet to match. I was glad to find a use for the many yards of vinyl I have in my stash. The bag is lined with a beautiful black fabric with silver kanji.

All other crafting has been swap based. I will happily post these pics once my partner has received.