It’s Finally Finished!

The brand new Instant Cemetery Set 2 is finished!!!
I am so excited to have it all done and listed in my store, but I also miss working on it.  I guess I should start another one.
Have a super crafty weekend!

Watercolor Backgrounds

Friday I talked about the inchies (rinchies, & twinchies) I was making and mieljolie commented that she had never seen alcohol used with watercolor, so when I needed to make backgrounds for my instant cemetery cans I snapped a few photos of the process. 

Inchies, Rinchies, and Twinchies…

…Oh My!  I am participating in a new swap on Craftster, partners were assigned on Tuesday.  This is a fun little swap that requires me to send 2 inchies (1” square artwork), 2 rinchies (1” round artwork), and 1 twinchie (2” square artwork) to each of my three partners.  It nice to be in a swap where the postage is only a stamp, one of the main reasons that I stopped swapping was that shipping was so expensive on the larger swaps.
Everyone picked several themes that they liked and we all got to work crafting.  One of my partners already sent me my set:
This lovely cupcake set is from MintDawn.  My favorite it the cannibal cupcake twinchie. 

Crocheted Sugar Skulls

I was so excited when I found this skull pattern on Ravelry.  It was the perfect shape, I bought it immediately and started crocheting.These are FAST to make!  I’m going to make these into a bunting, but I need to make two more, maybe black and then embellished with dark turquoise sparkly and red (of course).  This set is for my kitchen and I’ll need two more sets for my porch to flank the granny bunting.
I need to get these blocked so I can do the embellishing.  I might have to make some felt sugars skull too, with sequins and glitter glue!!!

Draw String Bags (Days for Girls)

I mentioned (in January) that I wanted to make some kits for Days for Girls and that was it…things came up, I was busy and I haven’t worked on any kits since.  I was really hoping to be long done with my goal of 12 kits for the year, but here I am.  So, I am going to stop beating myself up over not finishing when I though I would and just do it, the year isn’t over yet.  I originally finished 12 shields, which is enough for six kits.  Tonight I made 6 draw string bags.  Now, if I make 60 liners I’ll have 6 kits done.  The are just rectangles, I can cut those with a rotary cutter and cutting all of them out is my next goal.Tip of the Day:  One of the best time saver I’ve been using is the Straight folding template from the Scientific Seamstress.  It has really streamlined my sewing process, much better that a seam ruler.
I also want to remind you that if you have the time there are many different things that can be sewn for Days for Girls and any parts of kits are welcomed and if you don’t sew they also need panties, washcloths, and soap.

Tutorial: Braided Neckline

After seeing some braided neckline tops on Pinterest I started thinking about how I could make my own.  It really was easy once I figured out that it wasn’t braiding, but crochet. For this project you will need knit fabric(I used some t-shirts from dollar days at the Goodwill, but next time I’ll start with just knit fabric), scissors, and a large crochet hook.I started by cutting the neck band and sleeves off of my tie dyed shirt and making the navy blue shirt into two inch wide yarn (how to here).Next I cut 1/2” wide slits around the neckline of the shirt, about 1/2” from the edge.  I then cut another row of 1/2” wide slits about an inch from the edge, staggering my cuts.If you know how to crochet this will be super easy, but don’t worry if you don’t, I know you can do this.  In the middle of the back, starting with the row of slits that is 1” from the edge pull a loop of the t-shirt yarn from the wrong side through to the right side using the crochet hook. (I know there are two loops in this picture, I got carried away and forgot to take a photo of the one).Put the hook, from the outside of the shirt, into the next hole to the left and pull another loop of yarn to the right side.  You should now have two loops on your hook.Pull the second loop you made through the first loop, you have just made one chain stitch.  Continue pulling another loop through the next hole to the left and through the right hand loop on the hook.
Go all the way around.  When you get back to the hole where the first loop came through make one more chain stitch and then work the next row of slits by pulling a loop through the closest hole to the left of where you are.When you are finished tie working end to the beginning tail where you started. I know it sounds complicated, but it’s not and if you need help you can ask here or email me.
Things to remember:

• your slits don’t have to be perfect, they are going to stretch and you can’t tell if they are wonky
• This technique gathers the fabric, use a shirt that is larger than you normally wear
• crochet loosely, you want the neckline to remain stretchy
• you don’t have to used t-shirt yarn, you can just crochet the slits.  This makes a smaller, rigid braid and more gathered fabric
• after you finish the first round you can switch directions with your crochet so the rows look different (that’s what I did)
• knit fabric doesn’t fray, so you don’t have to finish the edges, but you can

I haven’t finished this top (hemmed the sleeves or adjusted the length because when I finished the edging I realized that there was a hole in the fabric right in the middle of the front, so I’m going to think on how to remedy that situation.  I might end up making this a bubble dress for Little Miss, we'll see.
Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Fashion Repeats Itself?

So I know that fashion trends are constantly recycling looks from the past.  Today, while I was browsing through my pattern collection, I found this:This is one of the first patterns I ever made, back in high school Sewing 101.  I remember I got to buy navy blue tie dyed fabric at Loper’s, the fabric store in the next town over.  It wasn’t the best sewing I’ve ever done (no raw edge finishing, sloppy sewing), but I loved it and wore it for years. I may have even wore it out, I know there was a lot of stress on the front V neck and it did start to rip.
So can I pull this look off now?, I know it probably isn’t the most flattering silhouette for my apple shape, but it would be comfortable and cool.  I am also trying to stop wearing yoga pants and tank tops everywhere, is this better?  You’ll also notice that it has pockets, a big selling point!  This is my answer for the romper trend, I’m thinking view B, probably NOT tie dye (maybe tie dye wouldn’t be that bad?), maybe a solid colored knit fabric?  Thoughts?

Weirdness and an ATC Download

As you know I’ve been working on some new stuff for the Halloween season and I’ve been having so much fun I decide to share one of the images as a free download.

  

Click on the link and you will be able to download and then print the four images (two mirrored pairs), I would love to see what you do with them, share your links in the comments.

Now for the weird, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but suddenly it seems like I have a lot more going on.  I redesigned the blog, there are a lot of new things being listed in my online shops, I have been working on some new designs, and my blog posting has been more random.  Things are weird here normally and you never know what we’re going to be doing, but it has been amplified by my husband losing his job a few weeks ago.  I feel like I am scrambling to pull things together and come up with a plan (don’t worry, I have come up with a plan).  I am also enjoying having him home, we have been doing a lot more family activities and having a lot of spontaneous fun, it’s like he’s on vacation!  Unfortunately that hasn’t left a lot of time for the random crafting and blogging that I normally do.  I am hoping to be back on a regular routine in a few weeks, please try to ignore the random chaos for the time being, there is a lot of creating going on, but I don’t want to annoy you with every little new design I finish, you’ll see them soon enough!
Another random question, Do any of you collect smashed pennies?  My kids love collecting them, but we’ve gotten all the ones we can find locally (seven different designs).  I was wondering if anyone in a different area would like to swap pennies?  Comment here or email me if you’re interested.

Halloween in July

I know more traditionally it’s Christmas in July, but not at my house, now is prime Halloween planning time.  I have been scouting around for some new Halloween Decor and accessories, it’s hard to sort through all the cutesy crap, but here are a few of my favorites.
As I mentions on the Facebook Page I have also been working on designs for a new cemetery set.  Here is a sneak peek of the one I’m working on now.I still need to add some text, but it’s almost finished.  This inspiration for this drawing was the fence picture.  I have a collection of tombstone pictures that I use as a starting point for all of my drawings.  Once the drawing is finished I scan it into the computer and do some editing and resizing and then it will be ready to go.  I am 1/3 done with the new set, if everything goes well I should have them all done by next weekend. 
Have a super crafty weekend!

The Bandanna Dress

I loved the bandanna pants so much that when I saw the 15 minute dress tutorial on Trey and Lucy I had to try it. All you need to know is if you sew and know a little girl you should make at least one of these!  They ARE quick, I made three in an hour while also carrying on two separate conversations on twitter and doing some light cleaning.  These are for a friend, I made one for Little Miss too, it has skulls on it, but she refused to model it.  I can’t believe we have already started arguing about what she should wear, I can’t wait until she’s a teenager!
I also spent yesterday editing some cemetery photos.  I going to put them in my store for the Halloween season.  I just can’t decide if I should make them into tags, postcards, or prints.  I would love to get your opinion, leave your thoughts in the comments.

My 500th. Post

This is my 500th. blog post, I have never been into celebrating blog anniversaries or post milestones, but 500?, wow that seems like a lot to me.  As you can see, I have treated the blog to a new design.  I’m still working on the new pages, organizing them and such, but the graphic elements are all in place.  So please, have a look around, click on the new buttons and definitely let me know if something doesn’t work.

I had some big plans for today, however some non-crafty complications have come up and now is just not the right time.  Don’t worry, we are all okay, we’ve just hit a minor bump in the road.  I will be taking a long holiday weekend to regroup, but I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Happy Independence Day and have a super crafty, fireworks filled weekend!