robyn's craft room

Christmas Village

2011-12-14T21:36:00.001-05:00

My mother has the greatest shelf village at Christmas time. Hers is white.

This year I'm pretty proud of mine. My shelves are black. I still need to hang snowflakes. The teensy nativity was a gem to come across!

Funny thing is, most of my favorite houses were made by Mom.

Fa La La La La

2011-12-12T17:58:00.000-05:00

Tis the season! But let's just get a couple little gems out of the way first. This is a crewel sampler my other made for the baby that is too awesome not to put at the top of this post. I am in love with it. It's got centerstage on the big wall in the nursery and everything else is coming together around it. I love samplers like this where you can see each letter is composed of different stitches. The origin of the sampler goes back to when women were learning to read and count and sew, so the samplers usually had letters, numbers and a scene all composed of a variety of stitches. History lesson complete.

Ok so there's this craze going right now it seems.... I thought maybe Mom was alone but now I'm finding other craft bloggers talking about making fairy doors. Here's where we are getting ourselves all fired up: http://urban-fairies.com/

Long story short, you create a fairy room behind a door somewhere, so the kids can see where the fairy lives/enters/does business/etc. Can you imagine a kid getting a load of a tiny door and when they peek inside seeing a whole new place? Yeah. I know. Brain explosion. More on this later. So far, I've gotten as far as getting my door. We ordered ours on ebay. Check out the link to see the doors in Ann Arbor, Michigan. So cute!

Ok so here's the main project I've been working on. When I was little, my family all had matching stockings made by my mother of course. Those were quilted and simple with our names embroidered along the tops. Since I had my little girl, I realized it was time for me to get on that. So with some input from Mom I opted to make them from felted wool sweater pieces. Here's a bag of pieces I collected in Mom's hoard of already felted stuff.

(I know, I'm lucky to have stuff like this at my disposal. Basically, collect yourself wool sweaters from yard sales or whathaveyou and warsh them in hot water with extra soap and some tennis balls for extra agitation and voila! Felted sweaters to do what you please with. They have to be dry clean only to work right. Legit wool.)

Here's my work basket I have carried around for weeks with this project in it.

I also knew I would need real felt (not craft store stuff) but part wool felt for embellishment, so I ordered this pack of 6x9 pieces of all 98 colors from http://www.prairiepointjunction.com/woolfeltbundles.html

Here's the basic design of the stockings including the long piece, foot piece and a heel and toe of a different color. I cut them out with a pattern I made that originated in the Warm Fuzzies book shown in the basket above.

Then, in a trial and error fashion, I sewed the pieces together using a blanket embroidery stitch. I did Ramona's first not realizing that the stitch should be on the outside so you can see it. Oopsies. Bryan's was last and is totally awesome across the board. Live and learn.

So basically, I pinned the pieces together and worked away using red pearl cotton floss exclusively. I like things that are done exclusively in the red.

When I was finally all finished, I took an iron to them and learned something else. The hot iron applied directly to the wool will burn it! So I used a cloth napkin to protect the fibers from the direct heat and gave them each a good press.

VOILA! They are done! I'm pretty proud of myself. From left to right they are: the kitties, Romy (deer), Bryan (tree), me (birds), and the doggy.

So it took me probably a month to do these, but bear in mind that's while also trying to work and take care of the baby. I did a little bit here and a little bit there every time I got a chance. I finished on Saturday.

Then I celebrated by shoving the baby in Bryan's old giant stocking and putting the cat's reindeer antlers on her for a photo shoot for Christmas cards. Hehe.

All the while, Bryan finished putting up lights outside. It looks beautiful! Romy loves the heck out of it. Some blink and it's so bright and multicolored. What a fun Christmas this will be!

Some baby stuff

2011-12-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

So I had a baby in August, but well before that my mother started crafting things for the baby. Here's a ball my Mom made. It's crochet and has a jingle bell inside. It's about the size of a soccer ball.

And of course, Grammy's afghan. Grammy is my mom too. These are pretty complicated granny squares and the colors are GORGE.

Here are some pics from my baby shower this summer.

My mother in law made these little lemon bluebell cakes for the shower. They are from Martha Stewart and they were DELISH.

Here's the baby garden cake. So cute! And yummy.

Mom crocheted flower pins as favors for everyone. I kept one for Romy. In fact, I think I kept the red one in the center of this photo.

My sister Brooke, my sister-in-law Jo, and me.

Babymoon...

2011-12-03T14:16:00.000-05:00

Bryan, Jack and I went to Cape May, New Jersey for our babymoon vacation in May. It was days after Mona passed away. Here are a few good photos from the trip. I had just started to really look pregnant.

Jack loves the beach. This is Higbees beach.

We could see the ferry coming and going all day from the beach.

I made this little unicorn and named her May while we were there.

A few things from this past year...

2011-12-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

Mom gave me a full set of houses and trees. Oh my gosh I can't wait to get them out and put them up!

I made these gnomes and kitties and owls from sculpy. I saw them at littledear.etsy.com and went nuts and had to try to make some. Go look at hers, they are unreal!

Um, I'm sorry, how could I NOT buy these? They are Dansko, they are embroidered, and they are too tight on the top of my high arched feet. Dad got me some leather stretcher to resolve the situation. Once they are stretched, I'm living in these babys.

My Blythe dolls, Casey and Rumer started getting spoiled with their own apartment on the shelves in my craftroom. The apartment has transitioned a lot since this first one, and they have acquired more stuff to accommodate.

Mommy <3

2011-11-23T23:46:00.001-05:00

I have fallen behind in posting because we had a baby girl on August 30th this year. Her name is Ramona Marie and she's the best thing I've ever made.

My sweet kitty, Mona

2011-07-28T14:02:00.002-04:00

I said goodbye to my beloved friend, Mona this May. She was 17 and had a very full life complete with ups and downs and trials and tribulations. I got her when I was 20 and moved into a group house with friends when I was in college. She was around 2 years old then and I rescued her from the shelter just in the nick of time. She had been there for over a month and had had a cold and was going to be put down. Our time together was tumultuous. She had a lot of ailments over the years, but we always pushed through. Our relationship grew stronger and tighter than I have ever experienced with a pet. We had to work together through the struggles of the wound to her leg in particular and finally the amputation of the leg. We learned a trust and love together that I will never forget and changed me completely as a person. It was so very personal, the love we shared. And I know that everyone could see it. I miss her so much, but the idea that she's fat and 4 legged in heaven is helpful. Losing her was a great loss in my life, but having her was the greatest gift.

I love you always my friend, Sweet Mona.

Baby Martin Cometh!

2010-11-10T21:07:00.006-05:00

Kara and Dave are nearly due to have their new addition! Due date is November 23rd, but she may come early... then again, she may come late! Who knows. All I know is, new baby equals cute crocheted stuff.

So I made this mobile I found in the Crochet Today magazine:

COULD YOU DIE OVER THE CUTENESS?

me too.

She Will Sail the Seven Seas

2010-11-10T20:52:00.010-05:00

My little sister Brooke made the decision this year to go into the Navy. She worked her butt off getting in shape with a trainer all summer. She had to have her running, situps, and pushups down in particular. It was really inspiring to the rest of us. Mom was doing situps, Dad was practicing his pushups, and I was doing... well, more than usual! One day I decided to do situps with my feet anchored to see how many I could do and then I couldn't cough, laugh, sneeze, or breathe for like a week. hehe

Anyway. Her departure date to head off to boot camp was in September, so for her birthday, we threw a big fat Navy inspired surprise going away birthday party. Mom and I had a blast preparing for it. Everyone else followed suit, and the house was macked out with red, white, and blue pinwheels and banners. The deck was transformed into the deck of a ship with a giant American flag hanging off the back, streamers everywhere. And of course, we had a seafood feast of Maryland blue crabs and a shrimp boil made by Bryan.

My father in law made her a banner made up entirely of semafore flags that spelled out "HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY BROOKE", each flag drawn by hand and the letter was identified on the back. He must have spent hours, we were all very moved. He also brought his sailor cap and Naval yearbook to put on display at the party.

My mother made her a shadow box of Navy inspired treasures. Oddly, Bryan had redone their kitchen last year and inside the wall was the wooden Navy sign on the lower left side. How ironic. It was perfect in the shadow box.

Mom and I made an American flag cake made entirely of cupcakes topped with either raspberries or blueberries for the colors. It looked rad and tasted amazing!

Her coworkers at the animal hospital all came to the party and signed this lifejacket for her. One of the doctors, Dr. Schwartz, made her this oar and lifejacket. So amazingly thoughtful. They are awesome folks.

Since then, she has completed boot camp and graduated with flying colors on November 6th. Off to Florida to begin her new work on a ship there. It sucks not having her here, but the amount of pride I feel, and I know my family feels over her strength and accomplishments is an unbelievable feeling.

2010! In the immortal words of Bret Michaels "Whatsa Goin' On?"

2010-05-06T09:29:00.005-04:00

Oh boy, I sure have dropped the ball. It's totally whack how life goes through these spurts and flashes by. At least I can say that I have been busy... with all kinds of things. Not a lot of crafting unfortunately, but that is as it always is. By the second half of winter I start to get accustomed to the winter insanity, and then when there is a hint of spring, I'm like a rabbit ready to wake up from slumber and jump around all over the place. Then the plants start to grow and need attention, and that's where my remaining energy tends to wind up. You know, the remaining energy I have left after working full time, working out, interacting with my loved one, dinner, and various hobbies or socializing. Once it starts to heat up, it's not very pleasant to go out there and toil and toil in the garden, and that's when I get back to crafting again. Perhaps this year, I need a big brimmed hat. Sexy!

So this morning, I woke up to a totally gorgeous day, a breeze blowing in the window and the oscillating fan adding to the mix. All the animals were sleeping and making their little paws squeeze and release with happiness. I was able to get up and get ready and leave for work without disturbing Bryan which was nice since he's been working so hard. As I went to get in my car, I found my irises starting to bloom and took some pics. So I've decided to just post some pics from my iPhone to give a small run-through of this year. It's not everything, just a few pics I happen to have here at work. So in no particular order:

The irises blooming

I turned 34!

Spring really showed up after all that snow.

Scout helped me garden

Erin, my oldest friend, moved back to DC.

Jack got a booboo.

but it didn't stop him from maneuvering the peanut butter jar.

Scout loved Jack up.

Baby Jonathan was born to my friends Lauren and Jonathan!

haha I love this pic of Bryan. So silly.

So obviously, the blog is under construction yet again. I have some ideas that I just need to find time to implement. Not to mention, some unreal gifts from my mother for my birthday that need to be posted too.

Glitter Glitter everywhere...

2010-01-07T18:52:00.006-05:00

Well, Christmas is over and the house is all clean now. So I can finally share some of the things I made this year. But check out this photo of Jack in front of the tree. The things he does for me, I swear. What a great dog.

Ok ok, so onto the glitter I have promised with my title.

I had a lot of fun this Christmas with my glitter variety pack I love to mention. Martha had a glitter painting project featured this season that I decided to try. I started with Dad and Kathy's dog Grover and honestly, I thought it might turn out lame. But holy smokes... it was awesome! Check it out:

When the light hits it just right, it's really groovy.. or GROVIE if you will. Heehee.

I bought wall boxes, just unfinished open back wooden boxes from ACMoore for the base. Then used Martha's glitter-painting tool to print my photos and glued them to the box front. Then I filled in each colored area with glue, one color at a time and in small areas to be sure the glue didn't dry. Then just cover with glitter as you go, tap it off onto a scrap paper and put the extra that falls off back in the bottle! It looks like it took forever, but it wasn't horrible and was really fun.

So naturally I had to do one of their other dog, Ivy too.

Then I showed off to Mom, and she went nuts. So I got my hands on a picture of her dogs, Kate and Chili and did one of them.

So the pet kick started to get really fun as you can imagine, so I made these ornaments for my coworker Sandra of her dogs, Sugar and Jackson.

I just cut them out freehand, and cut the circles with my pinking shears. Tacky glue and some paint for the eyes, add a hook and voila! I made a set of 3 for my friend Kara and mailed them before taking a photo, CURSES! Hopefully she'll see this and send me a photo of them for me to post. (hint hint Kara).

I have to share this gift I got from my sister. She got it at Otakon, an anime and gaming convention she loves to go to every year. It's only about 2 inches tall and hand crafted by one of the artisans who sells things there. I have to find out who and make sure to credit them with this incredible creation. The character is the prince from Katamari who's job is to roll up anything that will stick to his ball which grows exponentially during the timed game. The ball is called the katamari and you can see it's inside the jar. Amazing!

Mom's shelves. I'm always so jealous.

I have dreamt of a white Christmas for what seems like my whole life, but this year I really got my wish! Several days before Christmas we were hit with over 18 inches of snow, breaking a record in the DC area. Jack had a field day, and the town was so quiet.

One of my favorite things to do during snow is worry about the birds. They are so fat and cute and trusting. Which is why I have to police my three cats like crazy too because I invite these guys up close to the house with birdseed and breadcrumbs.

This is one of my favorite visitors, and not just because he is called a "Titmouse".

Look how cute this guy is, during the fiercely falling snow, he found a little canopy of snow in the branches of the azaleas to keep his head dry.

It was a nice relaxed Christmas holiday after a crazy year. We are trying to get settled into the new year, but it's cold as heck! At least we have our new fireplace, the full set of Sopranos on DVD, some great recipes and our cats and dog to keep us warm.

Happy New Year!

Pre-Christmas Christmasing

2009-12-17T08:33:00.007-05:00

Well, make no mistake, I've been busy... not as busy as last year, but busy nonetheless. However, of course I can't show you with what! So that'll have to wait another couple weeks. In the meantime I've got some goodies to show.

Each year my friends Tracy and Evan have their Kwanzmusannukah non-denominational holiday celebration. This year, after having just moved into a new house and with Tracy going back and forth from Maryland to Broadway, the party was had in Baltimore on Christmas Street.

We went to dinner at Rocket of Venus! A groovy little dive hippy-dippy diner place.

The highlight of which was their Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, dipped in pancake batter and deep fried, served with vanilla icecream and caramel sauce. Literally, it disappeared in less than a minute. It was UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING.

Then we took a stroll down Christmas Street to check out the lights and the artists.

So in other news, we got the roof finished just in time for the winter and Bryan put this lovely stone-face on the chimney. We are addicted to making fires in the fireplace!

Here's our tree and the fireplace in action.

I put up my tiny silver tree along with just a few of my favorite Christmas decorations and doodads this year instead of everything. Just on this table, it's like my little shrine.
(Please note the Tiujana Christmas album on the left - ALL mariachi style Christmas music - AWESOME.)

My nephews came and spent the day last Saturday while Tito Robert helped Bryan put gutters up. We made a gingerbread village! ...sort of. Daniel REALLY enjoyed being the icing guy.

And Jaime was such a great help as always. He made the church, the hardest one to make, and kept his cool while the thing kept falling apart as they always do before the icing hardens.

IMPRESSIVE!

More to come soon!

Nine Lives

2009-11-17T11:26:00.004-05:00

That whole story of cats having nine lives is true. My oldest kitty Mona recently gave us the impression she was on her way out. We had taken her to the vet because of excessive peeing and water drinking, and took her back home with drugs. Shortly thereafter she was not moving around much, eating or drinking water and we were sure she was dying. So I went out and got her some Breyers, her favorite brand of ice cream and gave her some each day. I alerted my loved ones that she wasn't doing well and probably wouldn't be with us for long. I carried her around in a basket with me, gave her milk and ice cream, carried her to the potty a couple times a day.... she's my BFF, of course I'll do these things. She purred and loved me up and napped a lot. Seemed happy and sleepy.

Then, Sunday morning, Bryan and I heard meowing at the top of the basement stairs. We both sat up in bed and looked at eachother inquisitively. I got up, and low and behold, there was Mona, at the top of the stairs.

Hungry and thirsty.

She had gotten up in the night, taken herself to the potty and then decided she was ready to eat. She walked up the stairs on her own and asked for what she wanted. Since then, she's been eating morning and night, drinking water, walking around.

So there Mr. Reaper! I'm sure that her time is shorter than it was before, but for now, we are all living. And next weekend, we will all make a pile in front of a fire in the new fireplace together. Good thing everyone gets along... mostly.

The other kids: Jack, Scout and Emmie

Last Day to sign up for the ornament exchange!

2009-11-12T11:17:00.001-05:00

Silver Bella!

2009-11-12T10:11:00.004-05:00

Well, Mom headed out today for Omaha to attend the Silver Bella, a 3 day workshop environment where the best of the best in crafting all get together and create, socialize and share.

I must say, I am jealous. I declined back in the spring when Mom brought it up because of lack of funds, and when I wavered, the availability sold out quicker than I could make up my mind. Fortunately, Mom and her friend Betty were among the last few to get a spot. I won't make the same mistake again.

I totally can't WAIT to see what Mom brings home, hear all about who she meets, and most of all, become infected by her inspiration just in time for Christmas!

Comment link fixed :)

2009-11-10T09:01:00.002-05:00

Had some issues with comment posting, but I think I have them all fixed. Feel free to let me know if you experience any issues navigating after all my updates! Thanks, Robyn.

Nothing Could Be Better Than This

2009-11-09T14:21:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry, but this fills me with such happiness I can't stand it.

She's SO flirting. I love it. He's even got the gang signs out.

They made mashed potatoes.

Snoop Dogg and Martha. What could be better?

I also should point out that I love Whatever, Martha with her daughter Alexis and friend Jennifer. If you get a chance, make some time for an episode.

Weddings, weddings and more weddings

2009-11-08T11:44:00.007-05:00

Looks like the wedding calendar is dying down a little bit. I seem to have just gone through the whirlwind in my life where everyone and their mother is getting married! I just had my third wedding anniversary and over the past 3 years, I have been to or participated in at least 15 weddings! Amazing. The world is full of love. :)

Most recently, one of my closest friends from high school got married and asked me to make her wedding invitations. What an honor! Fortunately, she was probably the most laid back bride I have ever seen. We found a design online that she liked and I set out to create it on my own from base materials. She chose a variety of colors and pretty much gave me free reign. She said "Make it fall-y."

First I took a 12x12 square sheet of cardstock and cut two 5 inch strips and discarded the 2 inch strip remaining. Then I did some careful measure and scoring of the seams that would be folded and glued the two pieces together. Once I got a rhythm going, I was able to pump them out.

Then I got all the wording of the invitation and RSVP laid out and printed it on a variety of textured light colored cardstock.

This is my idea of a great craft day layout:

(Kindly note the horror film and kitty punishment spray bottle.)

I glued the colored center square in the middle and used a bone folder on all my pre-scored seams. Then I glued the invitation itself in the center and was ready for the whole thing to come together. So once I got ready to glue up the edges, I got a system going again with paperclips and things holding the seams as they dried.

As those dried, I got going on the RSVP cards. I found the cutest stamp and some small cards that met the mailing size requirements (VERY IMPORTANT). I could have sent her a bunch of RSVP cards that were too small to mail! That would have been bad. So I found the smallest I could that would be ok to mail and then cut just the cards down to fit the pocket in front and hit them all with the tree stamp. Inside we glued the RSVP replies and voila!

The final step was punching out the leaves that got glued randomly on the inside.

When she put them all together, she dripped sealing wax on the fold and stamped it with the wedding bells and we were all done!

Ta-Da!

I love it. So did she thank goodness. :)

Fall!

2009-11-03T19:43:00.005-05:00

The night Kara and Deanna visited, I took this picture above. It really kind of weirdly embodies fall. Note the gorgeous tulips Deanna brought, acorn squash Bryan was getting ready to cook with, and the small bottle of "Ass in Hell" our absolute favorite hot sauce. No, we do not mess around.

My mom left this gift here for Kara, with one of her signature homemade cards on top.

Inside was this gorgeous cottage silhouette that my mother cut by hand and framed in this super cute wooden frame that actually totally matches Kara and Dave's house.

Then it was my turn to give gifts. I made these for Kara because of how much she loves Halloween. The pattern is found in my current favorite amigurumi book Creepy Cute Crochet. These are the skeleton bride and groom and naturally, their names are Kara and Dave. haha!

She loved them. See doesn't the bride look just like her?! heehee

A couple weeks before their visit, I finished my new curtains for the living room. I found this fabric which completely matches my style, color scheme and new plan for the living room. Bryan is replacing the roof, and before that, he demolished the chimney and put in a real live woodburning fireplace! So my plan has been to meld both foyer and living room area into a great room of sorts. I have had issues with color in the past and now I'm trying to be a grown up and take it down a notch, so I painted everything a nice warm buttercream and left one of the orange walls orange. The couches are red and there are leaves and trees everywhere, so the color of this fabric was perfect. I ordered just enough to sew hems around the edges and used the previously hanging silk sheers for an underlay and just cut it to the same length. It now serves as a backing of sorts. I ordered the curtain rings that have clips so you don't have to slide the curtain on the rod or anything and I absolutely adore them.

I think Bryan likes them too. :)

And while I'm playing show and tell, check out this pillow my mother made from felted sweaters! It's Scout, my white kitty.

Mom goes to yardsales and tagsales and all kinds of places and keeps those eyes peeled for wool sweaters. Then she brings them home and washes them and they become felt! Then it's no holes barred. How cute is this thing? I love it and it matches the room and my style perfectly too.

And last but not least, my goofy Halloween craft was this pumpkin diorama. I took a craft pumpkin from Michael's and cut the front out with an exacto knife and then just went nuts with glitter and stuff. It really came out very girlie... not very scary... but I guess that's ok. It was just for fun. I used the little clothespin doll witch trick-or-treater my mother made for me a couple years ago and glued her in there and then went nuts with glitter and flowers. I guess she's trick-or-treating in the flowers.

And then I added a creepy cat head... it's kinda Cheshire Cattish.

I think it's cute! Sometimes a holiday craft is solely about the color and glitter. Ha! But now my little witch has a home and I have yet ANOTHER thing to take out this time of year.

So now it's November and autumn is full force! My roof is almost finished and I can almost smell the fire burning in the fireplace. Tonight, November 3rd, a commercial came on for a countdown to the Family Channels 25 Days of Christmas or something and I rolled my eyes and thought "it's so early why do they do this all the time?" and then I thought about Christmas, and then I started to get teared up. BECAUSE I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! and I'm CRAZY!!!! hahahahha. Bryan laughed and I rolled my eyes at myself.

But the truth is.... the holiday season has only just begun. And I love it. Happy Fall Y'all!

Raising the Roof!

2009-10-29T15:19:00.002-04:00

I know I was going to add more Halloween stuff, but it must be interrupted so I can link my photos from Facebook showing the roof replacement project that Bryan is currently working on. He and his crew demolished our roof on Monday and today (Thursday) the new trusses were delivered. Hopefully clicking here will take you to the album of photos.

The Halloween Queen

2009-10-20T09:28:00.008-04:00

I totally love it when my friends and family are inspired and make things and send me pictures. My BFF Kara just came for a visit and I told her about my pumpkin diorama that I was going to make at Mom's the next day and showed off some of my glitter. I have the mixed pack of Martha's super fine glitters that just makes everyone drooooool.
Kara is the Halloween QUEEN. She is all about it. Collects Spookytown, has a massive party, dresses up, the works! Here's when she was Carrie one year at her party.

So she just sent me an email and said she'd been highly inspired during our visit and went to Michael's to get the goods for a project. Glitter skulls! These will be a perfect addition to her Halloween spread.

I never get enough of glitter, but at Halloween, it seems to be everywhere. On my face, on my husband's face... on the dog. I love when there is glitter on the dog.

I wish I had the video of her Spookytown layout this year... I'll see if I can get a copy and post it. It's amazing! I'm jealous.

My next post will have more on Kara's visit including the amigurumis I made for her Halloween spread, the wedding gift my mother made for her, and Deanna's tulips.

Am I a Nerd yet? PLEASE????

2009-10-15T13:11:00.000-04:00

This is me. I'm a shaman of the draenei race of peoples in the World of Warcraft. I think that qualifies as nerdy. My sister, on the other hand, dubs herself a nerd with some kind of bragging rights because she's nerdier than me. She too, plays World of Warcraft, but she also is totally into Japanese anime. According to her rules, in order to be a TRUE nerd, you have to be into not one, but TWO nerdy hobbies. Therefore she qualifies, and I do not. I argue that crafting is nerdy. She disagrees. How about the fact that I was promoted to General in our guild this summer? Does that make my ONE nerdy hobby even nerdier??? I am crossing my fingers and hoping to God that I really am a true nerd because of the general status, and because not only do I craft, but I blog about it.

This summer, we met up with some of our guild in person, so of course we had to craft something special for the occasion. We thought about the fact that we look like this in game, with our names over our heads in bright green (if you are a good guy that is... otherwise, it's red).

So we bought black construction paper, a handful of plastic hairbands, some pipe cleaners and some glow in the dark puffy paint and went to work on the way down to the shore for the bonfire with the dweebs. The hats were hilarious! Each painted with the person's character name. They thought they were great and we got some great blackmail pictures.

We also felt the need to provide familiar beverages to our comrades, and modeled them off the basic health and mana potions we consume in game:

So I found similar looking glass bottles and low and behold, Bacardi makes brightly colored alcoholic beverages teeming with sugar that were perfect!

We had a great time and our friends were just as amazing in person as they are in game. The bonfire was huge!

And clearly, as the morning came, a good time was had by all. Good thing we never ran out of health or mana.

The Cake Topper

2009-09-22T22:03:00.003-04:00

One of the crafting highlights of Tracy and Evan's wedding for me was being asked to make their cake topper with my mother. What an honor.

I made them with the clothespin doll kits that I have been working with this year. The body is a wooden clothespin, the head is a bead that sits on top, and there is a base to keep the doll upright. We divided the project according to our strengths. I handled the painting of the faces and Mom handled clothing them. We wanted to make them look as much like Evan and Tracy as possible. What do you think?

For the faces, I felt that the eyes were the most important part to try to recreate. I practiced a lot in drawings. I'm sure someone would have wondered what the heck was going on if they had walked in and seen their pictures blown up to 500% on my computer screen so I could see every detail and try to learn the lines of their eyes.

My mother made Tracy's dress as close to the design as she could, including pulling it to the side and putting a flower on her hip. The veil is made from antique lace. Evan is wearing a lovely grey suit with a purple tie. And although you can't see it, I put a little trinket, something special to both of them underneath the dress just for them to know about to personalize it.

Look how gorgeous it looked on the cake!

Mini-Thems!

xoxo E&T. Thank you.

Polka-Dots and Chocolate and Tracy, Oh my!

2009-09-22T21:32:00.007-04:00

My BFF Tracy got married this summer and the celebrations were numerous! She had no less than 3 showers. One in her hometown in New York, one with her new in laws and their friends, and one that another bridesmaid, Lauren and I threw for friends in the area. Needless to say, she was EXHAUSTED. But she got lots of cool presents, including the oh-so-necessary and coveted for it's turquoise-ness KitchenAid Mixer. I love this picture.

The following is a collection of pictures from the shower we threw at my house.

First the invitation of course. These were sort of created as I went, which I tend to do. I found some pre-sized and cut cards with envelopes and embellished with paper, flowers held on with brads and a punched out engagement ring.

Here's the spread! God I love party food. I'm Scandinavian you know. Smorgasbord is how I roll!

Too bad I didn't get a better picture of the super cute banners Lauren made, however if you click the photo below, you'll be able to see a large version and get more detail. Lauren is the sweetest girl and so thoughtful and went out and bought the fabric for these cuties and came over. I introduced her to the pinking shears and she sat at the dining room table with me while we listened to a Doris Day record and cut them up. She then attached them to a white ribbon designed to wrap around the top and hold each triangle uniformly. So cute! Already another friend has borrowed them for a chick party due to their super cute girlness. I hope they keep circling. Now that's crafting!

My mother made Tracy a bag and put inside a cookbook and an apron (I think). The gift was accompanied by this sweet card scrapbooked together.

Finally, the favors. I bought a kit of these little boxes and assembled them all, and then used my favorite end of a chopstick paint method to put polka dots all over them. Matt, the decorating genius, figured out how to tie the ribbons so perfectly so the boxes could be opened without having to undo them. Life sucks without him in my house every day. He's like Martha Stewart and MacGyver wrapped into one.

Inside of the boxes, I put a pink polka dotted cupcake holder and filled it with little mint pearl candies and nonpareils. On the top are some white and dark mint chocolate hearts that I molded myself, along with a chocolate mint engagement ring. I was really hard on myself because pouring those things into the mold and trying to keep the colors separate was so hard. Not to mention that when I popped them out of the mold, there were all these jagged edges that needed to be trimmed and the heat from my fingers was melting the chocolate. So I had to realize that no one would care, they were so cute anyway. And I dusted the white diamond part of the ring with silver candy opalescent glitter for sparkle!

I love Tracy. This was so fun and I'm so happy I had a chance to do it!

Back in Business

2009-09-04T09:05:00.003-04:00

Good September!

After a summer-long hiatus from blogging, but not from crafting, I am back to a place where I can update on all the things that have happened during this time. I have to organize my next posts which will include Tracy's wedding and bridal shower, Andrea's wedding invitations, the improvements to the house, some garden things, the dweeb gathering and more!

Hopefully I got enough good pictures of stuff!

Stay tuned...

The Doctor is OUT... for now

2009-05-22T10:02:00.003-04:00

Well, so much for blogging more this year. It's been a weird year for crafting... mostly because there have been so many other things going on, I haven't had much time. I'm going to post an update on all those things shortly with photos so you can see what we've been so busy with.

As far as crafting goes, however, I AM working on things... it's just that they are for my BFF Tracy's upcoming wedding, so not only can I not talk about them, but I can't post pictures or anything! Until later. The wedding is July 5th, so after that, I'll have to catch the blog up on all the things that have kept me busy over the past couple months.

God I love a productive 3 day weekend

2009-02-18T08:42:00.008-05:00

What I worked on:

Clothespin dolls! I've made these before and called them Springtime Fairies and made their little outfits out of fake flowers and stuff. This time I was inspired by another craft blog I follow to really focus on those little faces. How cute are they? I haven't named the one with black hair yet, but the redhead is definitely Jessica after an old friend of mine. How cute is she?

These dolls used to come in little bags containing the clothespin bodies, little stands and a larger bead head for you to glue together and do what you wish. My mother says she can't find the kits anymore in the stores and we'll have to look online. I made their little outfits out of fabric and felt, used acrylic paints for the head and feet and attempted pipe cleaners for arms. They seem to have hairy arms, so I'm going to try some different stuff with the others I'm working on.

Oh my gosh Jessica, look at those eyes! I could just pour my heart out to you! heehee.

Here's a cigar box I decoupaged with some of my new paper from my recent craft store shopping spree. I used Mod Podge to stick and seal it on there and will definitely be hitting it with some of Anita's, my favorite polyurethane. Gorgeous!

And this is a serving tray I wanted to make for myself because I just love to bring out a tray of snacks or drinks or whatever, so I decided I need an awesome homemade tray for that, especially since I can practically taste spring coming and sitting on the porch with friends. It's not done yet. I've only Mod Podged (yes I use it as a verb) this at this point and painted the sides, but once I'm satisfied with the design, I intend to give it a hefty coating of epoxy finish to give it that thick plastic indestructible surface I love so much.

Valentime's Day

Just had to post pics of what I like to call "My Love Table". My mother made me this little Valentime's tree, all covered with little dangly hearts and stars and I topped it with a miniature fairy she made for me out of pipe cleaners and a wooden bead head.

It sits next to our wedding photo, a vintage planter that looks like a couple in love and the wedding cake decoration my mother made for our wedding.

The doll shelf

In my previous post about organization I talked about the room that is going to be a guest room and how I need to decorate it with little things I love. This is my new doll shelf for my Madame Alexander dolls I collected when I was growing up. I have the shelves divided into three scenes which I KNOW will constantly be changing and having things added or moved. The top is Alice in Wonderland, the middle is Wizard of Oz and the bottom contains my nun collection.

On top of it sit two step stools my mother made. The one on the right she sewed when I was very little and it was always in my room. The one on the left is a hooked rug she made a couple years ago. They can't sit on the ground like they should or else my naughty kitty will claw out the stitches.

The Madame Alexander doll in my nun collection is Maria from the Sound of Music. She is flanked by a whole variety of other nuns including a praying nun planter, a squeaky toy nun, singing nuns and their little choir members, 2 penguins that are trying not to be spotted, a boxing nun puppet, a tiny singing nun and of course no nun collection would be complete without Nunzilla. My mother started this collection when I went to college at The Catholic University of America. We are not catholic and never have been, but there's just something about those nuns!

Look at this face! Normally, I am of the school of thought that dolls come alive at night and try to kill you as silently as possible. But for Madame Alexanders, I make an exception.

This is the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.

And here's part of my Wizard of Oz scene. Look at the hat on that munchkin! And of course there's Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion. I also stuck some of my little scottie planters on this shelf because of Toto.

And I won't show you pictures of all of them (unless you want me to), so last but not least, here's the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

Clearly I was busy! That room is all nice and clean now and getting cuter and cuter. Good will is coming Friday to pick up the stack of stuff I put out on the porch. My craft room is crafty again and it won't be long before every man and beast in this house is covered with glitter, just the way I like them.

Valentime

2009-02-17T14:01:00.004-05:00

This picture is not the best as it was taken with my cell phone, but look at this super cute valentime my mother made for me! It's a heart shaped box with a dome window and inside is a picture of a house with a pink roof, a little deer and all these little flowers. So cute!!

Here's a close-up... again not the best picture but you get the drift:

For the record, I actually got back to crafting this weekend for the first time since before Christmas as is my habit and I had a blast! I'll post pictures this week of the things I was working on.

January is a good time for organizing...

2009-02-01T18:16:00.005-05:00

Mom says that organizing your studio is really "in" right now. Some people say that about fashion, but my mother says it about crafters. HAHA!

I've been working pretty hard this past week on reorganizing my craft room and getting it in working order. My mother validated my own thoughts that I needed better storage space, so off we went to Ikea to get some more stuff to hold all my stuff. Then I finally figured out how to lay the room out to make it the most useful. This has been an ongoing challenge over the years and has consistently morphed and changed, but now I've really got it going on and can officially refer to it as "my studio". I can work at my craft table and turn to the window to use the sewing machine. I can reach my bulletin boards and everything I need. I don't have random crap all over the place, now it's all in a particular space. It's an ongoing project.
Behold, the new storage shelves complete with perfectly sized boxes and containers for the cubbies. This shelf is the "expedit" shelf from Ikea which comes in all sizes, and is my absolute favorite.
This is my desktop rotating caddy which is all macked out now with my pens, scissors and many other items.
And the other set of shelves on the wall which hold all kinds of projects, unfinished, partially finished, and anything in between. You can see on the left that I have several clear plastic containers which are nice because you can easily see what's inside of them.
A close up of my little wooden drawers on which I printed what is inside.
And a close up of the new storage drawers as well.
This thing is really cool, each one of the "drawers" actually has a snap lid so you can't just dump out the unit by accident. You remove the drawer and then open it up. I took a picture of one of the drawers open in front of it so you can see. I organized all of my paper and put it in this thing. I got it at Target.
Here you can see I organized all of my magazines, primarily Martha and Mary Englebreit, all by date order of course!
Here is my memo board that my dear sweet mother in law made for me a couple years ago. She covered it with a red fabric and then ran ribbon in alternating styles and I just love it! With this new set up I can actually reach it, and today I tacked some pages from a magazine that I had yanked with ideas I want to do someday. I think the colors look rad against my granny smith apple green walls.
This is my paint caddy and I thought it would be important to include in my blog post about organizing because... well just LOOK at it!
And finally, here's the new 3 drawer chest I got from Target that I keep yarn and material in!

It's really important to have a good working space, because if you don't, you won't feel as free to actually DO things. I had moved things around, attempting to make another room in my house a "sewing room" which was just a bad idea because I never go in there! So now my supplies were all split up and I didn't want to do anything. Now that room is undergoing it's own transformation and remaining the guest room as it was before and needs to stay. I got some new furniture for that room too to display some of the things I love so I can still love the room, but the fact that all my craft stuff needs to be in one room remains. So I'm very happy that all my hardwork led me to having this gorgeous studio! The cable guy comes tomorrow so I can also have cable in there too! I'm a TV queen, so this is going to be amazing!

2009

2009-01-09T09:32:00.003-05:00

Well, Happy New Year! It's 2009 and I found myself feeling a bit lost as I rang in the new year. I realized that it was because for a couple months leading up to Christmas, I was working feverishly on projects and busy with all kinds of socializing and preparing. I was aggressively headed towards the deadline to finish the quilt for my sister, I was preparing to host 21 people for Christmas dinner, I was working my full time job and being horrified at the speed at which the weeks were passing. It was a crazy time. Then the holiday came and time stood still and in came ANOTHER year.

Since then, I've had time to realize that ever since I got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2005, every year has been a total whirlwind starting as early as New Year's Eve. I would drink too much champagne and know already that the year ahead would be a doozy what with all of my friends getting married and the parties they would be having, and the family vacations and gatherings throughout the year, not to mention our own personal goals for our house and yard. For example, the first year after we were married, we had four weddings in one summer and rebuilt our deck in time to host a rehearsal dinner for the last one of the season!

So naturally, it was shocking and appalling to find myself on New Year's Eve not knowing how to feel. But since that time, I've had the opportunity to reflect on this year ahead and have decided that the lack of plans gives me an opportunity, for the first time since I've been married, to work on a few select projects (wedding gifts) and really get some things accomplished in my yard, and take care of myself and get in shape, and get myself organized. I started today by thinking that finally we would be able to plan a camping trip and have ample time to invite others and make it a real vacation.

There are some really HUGE things going on this year that I'm super excited about. Hence, the header picture on my blog. I'm not gonna hide my political views on my blog, it's my blog and I do what I want. But I am beside myself about our new president and the changes that are on the horizon. I have never been so emotionally invested in politics as I have been over the past year and this is the first big huge thing for 2009, so I'm celebrating!

Additionally, my dear friend Tracy is getting married this year and being able to focus on making sure I do everything in my power to make it awesome is a fantastic thing to look forward to!

As for the rest of 2009... who knows what's going to happen? But I can promise you this: there will be plenty of crafting and creativity to post here. I will work on making posts more frequent this year.

Happy New Year to all! I truly wish everyone has a year filled with hope and joy.

Christmas is my favorite.

2008-12-26T10:51:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures from this Christmas season at our house:

Scout helping wrap presents

Emmett

The woodpecker outside the front window looking to see if we are moving around inside so he can hop onto the birdfeeder without fear.

Challah bread made by Bryan

A tiny Christmas tree from my collection made from pipecleaners

My dollop Santas on top of the TV

Part of my windowsill Christmas village

Cone Christmas trees I made years ago.

A treasured find entitled "The Lost Mitten"

A giant Christmas village house made by Mom

The Christmas train under the tree, note the Snowman and presents in the coal car!

The train running under the tree

Other side

Our beautiful tree!

Merry Christmas!

The T-Shirt Quilt

2008-12-26T09:09:00.004-05:00

This was my big project this Christmas. I have been wanting to make it for a couple years now and have had the bag of t-shirts hanging around the house, slowly growing larger and larger. So I made up my mind that this was it and sat down one night in November and started cutting the t-shirts and making stacks of squares, around 6 to 8 inches each, totally sloppy, no even edges or anything. THAT part took a long time and was exhausting, but I was able to do it in front of the TV, which is my favorite way to craft, so it was all good. Plus it got the ball rolling for the project.

I sewed the squares together into six foot long scarf-like strips and then started sewing those together to make one big piece, approximately six by nine feet. Perfection was not an option here, the idea of the blanket was to have something very homemade that a groovy college girl would love.

Bryan found me a HUGE needle in his vintage tools from his grandfather that was for sewing sails and things like that that are massive. It was like a super long sharp tapestry needle and it went thru the layers with ease, dragging the yarn behind it. I know he was nervous that I'd stab myself with it. Look at the size of this thing!

Putting the front and back together was the hardest part, especially considering it was like four days before Christmas and I was REALLY wanting to get this project done!!! I had made the back out of t-shirts as well with the intention to add batting in between, but the thing was so heavy that I thought she'd suffocate if she laid under the thing. I called it the lead x-ray blanket. So instead I ditched the batting and the back and opted for a colorful sheet instead. Bryan laid on it on the floor in the basement holding it down so I could pin it and I never did get it quite straight, but once the yarn ties went in, holding the front and back together where I wanted it to, I couldn't have been happier!

She loved it and wrapped herself up in it and stayed that way all of Christmas Eve. Mom has a photo of that, I'll try to get a copy and add it to this post.

behind

2008-12-23T10:17:00.002-05:00

ACK! I'm totally behind on posting and you KNOW I'm busy as heck considering it's 2 days before Christmas! I've been working on all kinds of things that of course I can't really mention, but I took some pictures of my decor that I'll put up shortly! Then I'll highlight some of my creations after I've given them away.

Tis the Season for Village Houses

2008-11-22T14:10:00.003-05:00

Mom hosted a small craft party last weekend and one of the projects was making these village houses. The body of the house is covered in a felted pinkish wool sweater and the roof is sheet music. She had a lot of items for us to choose from and the project just sort of took on a life of it's own. I am so proud of mine! Mom and Brooke made me feel amazing with their compliments.

I chose to use portions of different ribbon for the windows, doors and trim, and a snowflake ornament dangles from the center of the roof. The bleached white Christmas tree in the yard has a base made from a spool wrapped with music. I added teeny tiny gold beads as ornaments and another larger bead on top. The landscaping got a bit out of control but was so much fun!

Once I had the yard and gardens all glued on, I added the snow to the roof and ground and a light dusting on all of the plants. The final touch was a thick drippy layer of Mod Podge that I added iridescent mica flake to.

A house like this takes a few hours to make. But with friends working with me, a glass of wine and some Christmas music playing in the background, it really got me in the Christmas spirit!

The Bad Puppy

2008-11-16T19:26:00.004-05:00

Ok so here's my latest amigurumi I made for my friend Lauren who moved recently. She bought the yarn and specifically requested a puppy. I used a baby style soft yarn with a glossy streak for the body and worsted weight regular purple for the accents. This pattern came from Ana Pauli's book highlighted in my earlier blogs.

His head is floppy and he's very soft and very bad!

He loves to drink from the cat bowl. Bad puppy!

She still loves him though!

Halloween! woooOOOOOOooooo spooky!

2008-10-19T14:24:00.008-04:00

It's Halloween time and I'm not as hardcore as my friend Kara who is getting married next Saturday, October 25th. She collects Spooky Town from Michaels, an animated village of spooky houses and establishments. I am SO jealous! But my passion is Christmas, so I may hold off on collecting an animated village in favor of that. But I do have a few spooky crafts to show here. Like my glittered pumpkins above. I also transformed a birdhouse into a spooky haunted house complete with a "Halloween tree".

Ok now, brace yourself for cute overdose. My mother showed up last weekend with a doll pin witch she made for me, carrying a little trick or treat bag shaped like a kitty. So cute!

And as I'm currently going thru a big crochet phase, I'm particularly proud of my little pride and joy. He's the first of what clearly will be a large and complete collection of amigurumi made from my new book Creepy Cute Crochet.

NOSFERATU
bloodthirsty yes, but adorable too

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Kara's Photobook

2008-10-01T08:25:00.004-04:00

My friend Kara is getting married and her bridal shower was a couple weekends ago in Los Angeles. I flew out to surprise her. But first I emailed all her friends and asked them to forward me photos for a photobook I wanted to put together for her. I have never done a scrapbook before, so I had to wing it. I found a plain white 3 ring binder book with blank white pages inside which I opted for over the premade scrapbooks with pages in plastic sheeting because I could be more spastic and creative with it.

I covered the front with paper flowers I found at AC Moore with glue at first and then a full coating of my favorite decopaging polyurethane, Anita's. The topped the centers of the flowers with buttons and ran ribbon down the side.

I found an awesome scrapbooking pad that had all kinds of matching goodies including double sided paper, tabs, stickers, etc. which made it easy for a first timer and began cutting and pasting all sort of pictures, attempting to keep each page themed. Each girl that contributed, I made a special page for and attached a letter tab to the side.

The main pages for each of the girls also had their initial and a few great pictures of them with Kara, or sometimes, just one was enough.

I also used plenty of little scrapbooking doodads, like a little statue of liberty and a bagel and a taxi and the letters NYC and stuff. Those make it really fun! I think Kara's favorite page was the last one. She and Dave got engaged in Paris, so I made a special page just for that. Here's a photo:

I had so much fun making it and was totally emotional putting all of the pages together. Especially the one dedicated to her cat that had passed away. I cried everytime I saw it. My feet are definitely wet to scrapbooking now! But most importantly, she loved it!

Finally, the Muntee!

2008-08-28T19:49:00.002-04:00

Ok so at the beach, I slaved and slaved over this little guy for my friends Mandy and Scott's baby shower gift. She's got a weird thing for monkeys (pronounced "mun-tees"), so I decided to make one of these for her. This guy took a while because of those long limbs and the tail. But I think he turned out ok and they loved him!

And here's a group photo of all the amigurumi made by Mom, my sister and myself just in a week at the beach! (Lego was made already, but his outfit wasn't!)

As a sidenote... my mother feels that the pig turned out to be "Satan Pig" and refused to give it as a gift or alter it because apparently, it is just evil. I disagree, but it's ok I understand. The other day I was making a photo album and saw a picture of myself in which one of my pupils was HUGE and black (clearly an issue with the print) and I threw it away because it freaked me out so badly! It too, was evil. So I know how it feels to come to that decision.

The House Paint Job Finished!

2008-08-15T09:43:00.005-04:00

It's done!! The lighting isn't the best, should have gotten out there a bit earlier, but here it is!!

Mona likes it too.

The House Paint Job

2008-08-14T08:07:00.005-04:00

Ok, so we're almost done... I think one more day of work and the house painting gig will be complete. Here's a few pictures I can post now of all the hard work. I'll post a final picture tomorrow of the completed project!

Here's the house before:
Here's the house in mid green color change:

He used a paint gun which made the job go incredibly fast! He had the whole thing painted in like 4 hours! He's got that shield to keep from getting paint on the window.
Here's the paint gun apparatus:

So then the blue detail began and not a moment too soon. The light green on everything was causing me to stress out BIG time over the blandness... I felt like maybe we made a mistake. Until this blue showed up and both colors had some kind of reaction to one another and brought out all good things. Here's the blue being applied to the ceiling of the porch:And I'm working on the window trim.
Final pictures to be posted shortly!!

For all you Leos out there...

2008-08-14T07:59:00.004-04:00

My husband, sister, dog, sister's dog, friends Kara and Maurice and many other friends are all Leos. I have to admit, I LOVE leos! But I'm a taurus so of course I do. We both love "stuff" and love to have a good time. We're a good match. So of course I couldn't help but celebrate with my newest creation:

LEO THE LION

The house is being painted!

2008-08-12T10:16:00.001-04:00

For as long as I can remember, my house has been an unnaturally bright green with white trim. When my family moved in, it was a bright minty green, so we really took a step up painting it more of a deep green, albeit bright. Then in the past decade, after I purchased the house, we had it painted again and there weren't too many options offered to me by the corrupt painter. The one I chose wound up being quite bright. I call it "Flock of Seagulls/Duran Duran/80's green" and my mother calls it "Cartoon House". And of course Dad says "... I like it!"

*sigh*

So we are painting it! I have before pics all ready to go and will post once we have completed it.

For those who know me, you can bet we won't be painting it something normal or drab, it will be exciting and for the record, I too am nervous about how it will come out. But I have faith!

Amigurumi Crochet at the Beach

2008-08-06T08:03:00.004-04:00

Here's a collection of *some* of the things we created at the beach this year. I can't post the big cheese just yet, as is the case with gifts, but I will as soon as I am able!

First here's a nice photo of "Cuppy", the cupcake I made for my coworker.

My sister made her first crocheted animal on the trip as a baby shower gift. I was totally impressed by how easily she picked this up. This photo was taken just before it was finished when pins were still holding on the mouth and cheeks. Behold.... Octee the Octopus! (or so I was calling him)

And I spent a little time doting on my froggie, Lego. Now you can see he has a mouth and I made him a little green vest with a teensy pocket. heehee. Isn't he dashing? This photo really emphasizes that infamous leg, for which he was named. I swear it doesn't look that much bigger than the other one in person.... it's ... the angle of the photo... *sigh*. Whatever, I love him anyway.

More to come!

Yarn Cupcake YUM!

2008-08-05T15:37:00.004-04:00

Just got back from the beach with Mom and family, where we have our annual craft/suntan fest. Usually we totally overdo with the crafts, but this year we took it easy and did mostly crochet and needlework. I made this cupcake for my coworker who appreciated it just as aggressively as I hoped she would, despite it's small noggin. Mom (of course) made one after I did which looked a bit more even, with a small body and large icing topped head. But I love this little guy and so did my coworker. She named him "Cuppy", placed him on her desk and has been making his voice sound like a teensy tiny trumpet. Hilarious.

Porch Furniture

2008-07-23T08:25:00.004-04:00

I inherited some wicker furniture years ago that I put on my porch. It was light sort of minty green and had cushions covered in white floral vintage looking material. All of it was kind of getting ragged, but it wasn't until I tried to wash the cushion covers and they disintegrated that I decided it was time for a makeover.

Mom and I went to JoAnn's Fabrics and picked out some outdoor fabric with a pattern of hydrangeas on it and I came home and got to work! I wrapped the fabric around the cushion and measured them, then sewed up both sides from the fold to make sort of a pocket cover for the cushion to slide inside of. Then I folded up the ends as if I were wrapping a gift and hand sewed them shut. Here's the corner of one showing the machine stitches up the left side and the hand stitches on the right.

I also made 2 throw pillows with some matching blue outdoor fabric.

Then I spray painted the chair and sofa white, waited patiently for them to dry and set it all up on the porch! I love them! They turned out great. This was my first time doing an upholstery project, and discovering that it's ok to be imperfect was awesome.

Amigurumi

2008-07-23T08:09:00.002-04:00

Ok here's the new obsession I'm on board with Mom for. Amigurumi.
Mom is totally out of control, I'll be sure to get lots of photos of her work. She's insane and pumps these cuties out like crazy, especially since she broke her toe and can't walk. She just whips out all kinds of cute little crocheted creatures. I'm planning on doing some smaller ones so I too can have that level of production. The photo above is of Ana Paula Rimoli's book Seriously Cute Crochet.

So..... drumroll please!
Here is my first amigurumi:

LEGO THE FROG

He still needs a mouth as you can see which I will make with felt and sew on once I decide what color will make him look snazzy. Bryan named him "Lego" because um... well..... he was my first one and it appears that I had a couple extra rows on his right leg, so it's longer. You can tell by looking at him, but it's ok, I don't mind. He's my first one and as I always say, imperfections make it more personal!

Plants and Flowers

2008-07-23T07:23:00.007-04:00

I look forward to spring and summer so much because of the amazing foliage in the yard. The woman who lived in our house before my family bought it was an unbelievable gardener. I often wish I could have seen her in action and picked her brain, but I was only 8 when we moved here and had no idea I would care so much for her work. A lot of her landscaping handiwork still exists and one of my personal goals in life is to restore some of it someday. But I'm also realistic. I don't have the time and a lot of the plants that made it what it was are now overgrown or gone and so we are doing our best to make it our own while preserving anything that makes sense to preserve. Here are a couple treats I took pictures of with the new camera that I just had to share.

First, the random fern patch that sprouts in the middle of the backyard, flourishes in gorgeous green and then scorches in the July sun and dies, forcing us to mow it and send it back to hiding until next summer.
We have some gorgeous creamy colored lilies that have been in the backyard ever since the beginning of time as far as I'm concerned. Last year the deer ate the flowers before I could appreciate them and made me really mad, but this year they had no problems showing off as long as possible.

My vegetable patch didn't quite work out this year. The spot we chose was too humid and allowed to many wet pests like slugs, but also I got overzealous and planted too much and got too busy to harvest. It was a mess and wound up rotting (stinky!). But interestingly enough, this morning glory showed up out of nowhere and Bryan took a nice picture of it before I had to murder the whole patch.
This is a photo of the flowers that bloom on these goofy weeds that sprout everywhere in ground cover areas like ivy, vinca and some flower patches. I got a load of these blooms and said "uh oh... I've been pulling these like crazy..." So if anyone knows what they are called, and if I'm evil for pulling them, let me know! But come on people, everyone knows I would never pull them if they were sporting these cute little flowees!
And finally, this is a picture of the day lilies that are all over my property. They line the yard by the road, swinging wildly as cars pass, and sprout in various areas of the backyard too. This too is a treasure left behind by the previous owner that I look forward to all winter. This patch is along the wall around the back garden.
As much as I love the foliage, once we get into July, the growth can go so quickly that it overwhelms everything, especially Bryan and I. We spent the past week transforming the yard from a jungle into something with a bit more control. I am forcing myself to ignore the tiny spot of poison ivy on my arm as I type and my forearms are sore and limp from pruning, but it was worth it! I have some before and after pictures I'll post of the transformation soon.

Springtime!

2008-07-07T08:03:00.002-04:00

I'm into the seasonal crafting from time to time. Mom and I were making cardboard vintage houses for Christmas villages, when she discovered from some of our favorite blogs that you can make the same houses with a springtime feel! Here's a picture of 3 of them I made that are on a shelf in my living room. I need to get some closeups of these, they are so cute. The two on the ends are mounted on light wooden boxes and the one in the middle in on a small wooden candlestick with a round wooden base on top. The houses are made of cardboard that I draw a pattern on, and then glittered like crazy with super fine glitter. The trees are pompoms and pipe cleaners.

I am pretty sure we found these Springtime Fairies on the same blog page as the houses to make in the springtime. We used dollpin clothespin kits that come with the wooden clothespin, a round bead for a head and a base to let the pin stand on end. Then I disassembled fake flowers and turned them into the clothes, painted the heads and embellished with ribbon, tiny pearls and wings.

Birds and Porch

2008-07-07T07:54:00.002-04:00

From my front porch I have a nice view of my little bird sanctuary, which incidentally needs new birdhouses as has been pointed out to me lately. Here's a nice view of the massive honeysuckle bush that provides the branches and shelter for my bird village.

One of my favorite hand painted creations here is this bird feeder I so lovely named "Scout's Birdie Bar and Grill". My cat Scout loves this tree, so I play on the idea that she's like the mayor of Birdie Village or something, making sure they have plenty of housing and establishments, but really just intends to eat them. That sounds even more sinister written out.... but anyway. Check out the menu on the side of the Birdie Bar and Grill which was clearly concocted by the evil mayor herself:

Here's a Bird Gazebo that I did following Mary Englebreit's instructions. It's blatantly Mary with the color and pattern schemes. I found the gazebo birdfeeder and attached wooden finials to the bottom per her instructions. It's protected on the porch from the weather thank goodness.

Bryan and I came up with the idea of making this tree to use as our guest book at our wedding. He welded it and attached clips to the ends of the branches. We put it on a table and had many multicolored leaves on the table for people to write on. They put their names and a message and then clipped them to the tree so by the end of the wedding, the tree was all full of leaves! Now it lives on the front porch and we hung leftover wedding favors (small birdhouse chimes) all over it. At different holiday seasons sometimes I'll decorate it with seasonal decorations (snowflakes, cauldrons, eggs, etc.)

The Birdbath

2008-07-07T07:34:00.004-04:00

My newest "creme de la creme" if you will. One of the biggest projects I've done in years. My dear friends Matt and Bill got married last month and I had to do something spectacular for their wedding present. Bryan and I wanted to do something that was a compilation of both of our talents, so we decided on a birdbath. We found the basic concrete basin at Home Depot and started from there.

I laid out a basic idea for the pattern on the coffee table before doing anything (and braced myself for the reality that I knew was ahead of me!). Then I got all my tiles in coordinating colors from Michael's Craft Store (hotspot of course) and began hand snipping. It took weeks (working mostly weekends) just to snip all the tiles because once you get going on the mosaic itself, you have to keep going before the adhesive dries. We used a basic Thin Set to adhere the tile pieces in the mosaic pattern and I wound up freehanding most of the design. I also found initial tiles so I could add their initials to the design:

Bryan worked on the bottom of the bath. He created a mold out of wood pieces and poured a concrete base for the stand after I expressed concern about the bath falling and breaking or something terrible like that. I caught him just as he finished making the date out of piece of chain link which I thought was really cute.

He took a steel pipe and drew some patterns on it, and then cut the steel to create this vine-like structure. He made the metal sort of melty to look more natural. The leaves were welded on to reinforce the frame and the whole thing was painted black.

Here's a full photo of the completed bath:

Needless to say, the reaction we got from the guys was well worth all of the work. It was an amazing feeling to create something so totally from us both for 2 people whom we adore so much.

The Husband's Style

2008-06-27T09:58:00.002-04:00

My husband is totally a crafter too, but of course, he does much more "manly" things. Like welding. And carpentry. And masonry. You know, stuff like that.

He's got a bit of a medieval streak in him which is reflected in his work. He designed and welded this queen sized bed frame out of steel several years ago. It's incredibly strong and very sturdy as it's connected along the base with thick beams of steel.

(It is for sale, so if you or anyone you know might be interested, please don't hesitate to contact me.)

He's also been looking at these steel drums he's had for years, fantasizing about what to do with them. We have plans to make rain barrels with them that will collect the rain off the gutter that always overflows and have an exit valve at the bottoms so I can water the gardens by gravity based water flow. But he did have a few of them... so one day on his day off he got a brilliant idea to make a grill that's more his size and style. So he cut the drum into a base and a lid and added the base, chimney, fancy handle, grates inside and even took the thermometer off an old gas grill that was going to the dump and put it over the handle.

One grate is larger than the other, so we can remove the smaller one, put the big one in the center and put charcoal on the sides to avoid direct heat. It's much more versatile and can really heat up! He said the first test run he thought the thermometer wasn't working, but it was just so hot inside that the needle had gone all the way around back to zero!

Initial Pins

2008-06-23T11:28:00.006-04:00

I threw a garden party shower for my friend who was getting married last year and pulled furniture out into the yard, set up badminton, made a champagne punch complete with a floating star shaped red ice block served on a tea cart and asked all the ladies to wear dresses and possibly hats! It was loads of fun to plan a fancy garden party like that. I decided I wanted little favors, so I cut every girl's initial out of Shrinky Dink paper and baked them all into these hardened letters and made them into pins for them to wear.

Each initial was glittered in varying colors with fine glitter that comes in the tube at the craft store. The lady of honor's initial was detailed a bit more with a pink outline on her "E".

I glued flower gems on them for flair of course.

Here's one of the finished pins:

One lesson I learned while doing this project is to be really considerate of surface textures and adhesives. I was kicking myself after gluing the pin attachment onto the very smooth plastic back of the Shrinky Dinks with a glue gun. In retrospect, I should have sanded the spot first, or used another adhesive like Gorilla Glue because the glue gun glue tends to become very hard, very quickly and has a smooth finish to it, even on the contact point. It is very effective on a more porous or abrasive surface than something so smooth. I could have avoided the frustration of reattaching the pin backingss to the ones that came unattached during the day, or finding lost initials in the grass after the party was over. But the idea was great and the project was fun and the girls just loved them!

I love Christmas!!

2008-06-21T17:08:00.003-04:00

In my opinion, one of the best things about being a human is Christmas. It's everything about it I love. The spirit, the kitchy stuff, the music, the trees, the movies, the memories, the decorations, Santa, the kids, the food, the lights, the love. I'm totally in love with Christmas. It reminds me of how wonderful all that was when I was little and still is. Christmas crafting allows me to totally regress back to that kind of innocence with my mother and sister which is very special to me. Here's a couple Christmas crafts I have some photos of. I'm sure there are more that I'll get to.

Mom and I made these pipecleaner Christmas trees and then simulated water globes by attaching them to a wooden base and gluing a small fishbowl upside down on top of them. First we had to glitter the heck out of the insides though of course to simulate snow.

These are what I like to call "dollop Santas". I believe I got this idea from either Mary Englebreit or Charlotte Lyons... can't remember. I made the first of these when I had some left over paper mache and wasn't sure what to do with it. I just made some blobs, let them dry and then painted them red with white faces and little dots for eyes and then attached a teeny tiny beard. So cute.

I made this Nativity set for Mom about 8 years ago after college out of Sculpey. Each figure is made from the clay and then baked and the set is paper mache.

And of course, no Christmas home is complete without the most important message! I followed Mary Englebreit's example in making these letters for Mom to display at Christmas time, as she is equally hardcore about Christmas as I am.

TV Tables

2008-06-21T16:52:00.002-04:00

A couple Christmases ago I had the idea to decoupage TV tables for my family members, but there's always a problem when you decoupage with lumps, tackiness of the sealer, and durability especially under wet conditions, like a perspiring water glass for example. So after planning the style of table I would make for each person (five in all) to accentuate their personality, I talked to the husband about epoxy. The epoxy we agreed upon is what they use to make lakes in model train sets. OH MY GOD. Epoxy is amazing. After the tables were designed and decoupaged, we took them to the garage and put them on newspaper. Then I mixed the two parts together to create the epoxy and poured it over top of the tables being careful to wipe the edges and attempt to make it even and smooth all the way over the surface. The epoxy dried to a plastic-like finish and the tables are totally durable in every way.

This one was for Bob, my stepdad and has cowboys and maps all over it:

This one was for Mom and was covered in flowers and garden things:

And this one was for my sister and has an Asian flair:

There were two more, but alas, I don't seem to have pictures of them. One for Dad with pinup girls and retro pink cars and another for my stepmom with fancy vintage ladies on it. This was a great idea and really made an impression if I do say so myself.

The Chest

2008-06-21T16:42:00.005-04:00

This is a chest of drawers my mother in law purchased unfinished that I painted and decoupaged for her for Christmas a few years ago. It was a crowning achievement and one of my favorite creations. The entire thing was painted with acrylic paints and finished with many layers of Anita's polyurethane. I discovered Anita's and fell in love at once because it is less tacky than Mod Podge and for a piece of furniture like this, tackiness would not be cool. I also used Anita's for the decoupage on the top and sides. The scenes on the drawers were done freehand. This took me a few months to complete working on weekends and evenings when I had the time.

She is a spiritual person and loves music, so the sides and top were decoupaged with quotes and pieces of sheet music.

Awaaaaaayyyy we go!

2008-06-19T11:53:00.000-04:00

Well, my mother and I are big time crafters and after years of creation, I think it's about time to catalogue what I can and keep track of things I'm working on and things my mother is pumping out at a rate of 10 to 1 comparable to me. *sigh* That's ok, she's got 22 years on me and less interest in making time to devote to technological hobbies as well.

I do all kinds of needlework, painting, sculpting, crafting, folk art crafts, knitting and crochet, mosaics, and plenty more while also maintaining my interests in homemaking, gardening and playing video games and carrying a full time job.

This site will be dedicated to the creative projects I take on.

FAQ

2000-01-01T09:39:00.000-05:00

This page is under construction.

Contact

2000-01-01T09:36:00.000-05:00

Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me at badwoman589@gmail.com anytime!

About

2000-01-01T09:26:00.000-05:00

Robyn Fallow Badman
Married and living in Silver Spring, Maryland with my husband, dog and 3 cats, I am always on the hunt for inspiration. I believe that if you see it somewhere and love it, you just might be able to make it yourself. Some mantras include: Handmade gifts are always well received. Food should taste great because of knowledge of spices, but also because of the love that went into making it. Gardens, although difficult to control and keep free of weeds, are good places to think and work hard and keep company with our quietest of friends on this planet. Your home should represent who you are and be a place where you find the best kind of peace you can. And finally, laugh constantly.