Random crafts

Oh, I have been crafting a bit, but posting pretty much none. So here's a little catch up post to get a few things I've made this month up. So in no particular order;

I made a chevron cozy for my cuppow jar

A perler/hama bead rendition of Duck Hunt

Tried my hand at painting bread (it's supposed to be a Stargate)

I made a reversible cape for my nephew (being modeled by my wooshing husband)

And last but not least we made another doll bed. This one red and yellow by request

There, there Wolf

Again some crafting fun for Craftster.org Nerd battle... This challenge was vampire vs werewolf. I chose werewolf. I went cute as opposed to my normal leaning, but I think he turned out nice. He's just a little standing pillow. Lots and lots of french knots, all of his fur is french knots!

Dalek Snowman

A little early winter decoration being made at my house. I am participating in the Craftster Fall Nerd battles and one of the challenges is to make a monster, so I went with a snow Dalek. He's made out of fimo and meant to be a snowman style Dalek.

Doll Bed & Quilt

We are having a silent auction at our church, so my husband and I decided to make a doll bed with a quilt and matching bedding. I think it turned out cute. The pillows are my favorite, they have blue ticking pillows and then cute pillow cases. We were having fun with mini pillow fights! Hopefully it will raise a nice chunk of change!

Pathfinders/D&D- What we do for our kids

I love my boys. They are getting older and really not wanting to do any of the "fun" stuff that I try to get them to do. (Making bird feeders, painting crafts, baking, etc...) So what is a mom to teen/tweens to do? I didn't know, so I asked them. They expressed that they would like me to play Pathfinder with them. This is something they just started doing with the neighbor kids.
What is Pathfinder? Well, my kids have a long explanation, but it's basically a Role Playing Game like Dungeons and Dragons. Something I figured I would never play.
I have not played it yet. I was told step one is to create a character. So I have this long sheet to fill out. Having never played it before I am a bit overwhelmed as I don't know what to pick for certain things. I'm just trying to roll with it. There is a little spot for a picture. YIPEE! This I can do. So I doodled a little character picture. Then the kids said, that doesn't look anything like the player piece you get. I looked at my player piece and I didn't like it one bit. So again, back into my comfort zone, I made my own player piece out of Shrinky Dinks. I free hand drew it, but I took a lot of inspiration from a few different artist pics I found online, so though I did draw it, it's not really original.



I'll have to let you know how playing actually goes.

Dalek Advent Calendar

I wanted to get this posted before I forget, which seems to be happening more and more frequently lately. This is our new Advent Calendar for the year (and hopefully many years.) It isn't quite finished. This is how finished it was when December 1 rolled around, and will be good enough until after Christmas. It is missing a bit of white felt up top.
What I did was cut out a silhouette of a dalek in black felt, then with fusible web, I cut out grey, and blue parts, I could only find one shade of grey I liked, so I painted some of the grey for a bit more depth. Then I fused them onto the black background leaving black around it (like a coloring book sort of) The Dalek Bumps are blue felt fused onto black felt with black numbers on the blue. Then I glued the bottom and side edges to make pockets. In these pockets we put a piece of paper with our activity for the day on.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and the kids are thrilled, even hubby was quite impressed.
I will try to get a better quality pic when it's all finished, but I figured this camera phone pic was better than nothing right!

Homemade Halloween Costumes

The one dependable post every year. Our Halloween costumes were a bit more subdued this year, but still lots of fun. The kids helped a lot more and I didn't freak over perfection as much.


Here are the Homemade 2011 Costumes


My youngest was Gordon Freeman from Half Life. The base was underarmor style black thermal underwear. The vest type thing was Grey fun foam painted, and glued. Old shin guards that were painted and put on with black elastic. The "gravity gun" was made with an Ice Tea gallon and a two liter soda bottle. We used gift wrap cellophane on the inside of the 2 liter and some battery LED Christmas lights. Then duct tape and electrical tape. My husband and my son did ALL the work on this one!


My middle son was a sparkly unicorn. We used thermal undies and the white base. We made the hooves out of fabric covered tag board that I put some snaps on so they could be taken on and off. I also stapled some elastic on the bottom of the feet hooves so they wouldn't spin on him. (They even made a clomping sound when he walked which was an unexpected bonus!) The horn is made out of Crayola model magic and glitter paint, attached with clear flat elastic. It broke the first night he wore it, but we put a big blob of hot glue under it, and let it dry and it worked great. We used a feather boa for his main and tail. (There is an inside story to his costume, and it was wonderful!)


My niece was Mary Poppins. I designed and made her skirt (black fleece) and her jacket (blue and black fleece with black frogs for fasteners). I also crocheted her hat. The umbrella my mom made by cutting the head off of a parrot beanie baby (it was in rough shape on the bottom, so it was ok,) and attaching it to the umbrella handle. My mom found a lovely Victorian style shirt and we used red ribbon for the tie. My niece's carpet bag is actually my sister's carry-on that she got when she graduated. It meant a lot to all of us that my niece was able to carry a small part of her mom with her while celebrating Halloween.

So that's it. Another year done. Clean up is taking quite a bit though. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

No Soliciting Sign

I made this sign up after having already had visits. It's that time of year, and I hope this will encourage them to pass us by.
This isn't the original wording I wanted, but this is what we ended up doing. I don't have a vinyl cutter (yet) and so I had painted it.

The original wording I wanted was;

No Soliciting

(unless it's for cookies!)

OR

Proselytizing

(not even with cookies!)

But the boys didn't think most people would know what proselytizing is and the cookie parts would have had to be tiny and I just wasn't up for that.
Now I have to some how mount it by the front door. Thoughts?

Working On

Portal Turret Sneak Peak, a photo by ezri_b on Flickr.

Here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on for my husband.
Like many households, Portal 2 has become huge in our house. Even though I do not play, I have seen my fair share.
It was meant to be a surprise for my husband, but my nosey youngest boy found it and showed him before I could stop him. So cat's out of the bag, and now he gives lots of input!

Hope Chests for Today?

My husband has been traveling a lot for work. I don't tend to sleep well when he travels. So I'll find myself up at 2 or 3 in the morning. I can't do much cleaning as I'm afraid I'll wake the boys. (Ok, that's not entirely true, there is plenty of cleaning I could do without worry that I'd wake them. I honestly think my body is exhausted, but my mind won't let me sleep.) So I tend to think. Anyone who knows me well, knows that this can be extremely dangerous!

My latest topic... Hope Chests.

I didn't have a hope chest, I didn't really know anyone who did. I don't know if it's just the area I grew up in or if it's my age (born in 1978.) I did of course know of them. They were something that women did way back when... and they were where young ladies and their families would place items for the lady's future home. Ok, there may be way more to it than that, but this was my knowledge of them.

I don't have girls, I have oodles of nieces, but in my home are boys. I remember what it was like when my husband and I first started off. We didn't have a big wedding with showers and gifts. We actually didn't get any wedding gifts. We already had our eldest son and my husband just graduated from college. It was hard! I still don't always think we've "caught up" with the people who were given many items as gifts. So when my children were born, I said that when they turned 13 I wanted to give them gifts for their future homes (or when the go off to college or whatever.) A little kick start so it wouldn't be quite so rough for them. Well, my eldest is now 14 and I can honestly say I didn't start that yet. It's not for the lack of wanting, it's I didn't have any idea what to get him. Sheets... what size will he have in the future? Dishes.... will he like the colors/pattern I pick out then? Basic utensils/cooking supplies.... maybe, but where to start? Small appliances.... they always come out with better and cheaper. I was too overwhelmed, so it was just given up on.

Now, I'm thinking again about it. Maybe I went about it wrong. I make things. I teach my boys to make things, at least basic skills. I teach my boys to cook and to sew and to clean (ok, not great by example, but I try.) I want my boys to be partners to their future spouse and to be able to care for themselves until they find the right person. I don't want them to jump into a relationship for a "mommy substitute" so someone can cook and clean for them (you all know what I'm talking about!) I want them to take pride in their home even if it's a dorm room. Maybe homey touches will help them.

I know a Hope Chest isn't traditional for boys. I don't care! Roles aren't the same as they were back in the 1800's or even the 1900's. So what now?

All this ranting and raving is fine, except, I'm not sure I'm any closer at deciding what to give/make my children for their futures.What about touches of the childhood memories for their future children, do those go in there too? Do I enlist my child's help or surprise them when they're older?

I really want to get a nice list together and get started on this. I am hoping to not only do this for my boys but for my sister's girls too. I know their fathers won't and I feel it is something I can do for them since their mom is no longer here to do it for them.

So what goes into a Hope Chest??


I did do a fair amount of Googling with very little results. 2 pages I found that had some inspiration are A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Miss Abigail's Hope Chest, please if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Halloween Come and Gone

We do love Halloween in our house. The most consistant posting on this blog is Halloween costumes. My husband and my anniversary is Halloween. It just holds a really special place in our hearts. Here are the boys' costumes this year.


My middle son is a Piranha Plant from Mario Bros. Made primarily out of fleece, fiberfil, & plastic canvas


My eldest as Luigi (he did have a mustache, but there aren't any decent pics with him wearing it) Again primarily fleece (gotta love Wisconsin Falls!)


My youngest as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. He LOVED this costume!


Hope you had a great Halloween too!

Cousin's Wedding Towel

My cousin is getting married today, and I wanted to give them something besides cash, so I embroidered them a dish towel.



You'll notice the "Aug." is a little spread out. Well, I originally put "Sept." on it, and well, that was wrong and my husband (thank God!) noticed last night, so I quick changed it.

Pictures

Some pictures from the last few months in no particular order.


Lore working his abs on the beach on Amelia Island FL


Amelia Island Florida. Levi and Liam looking for shells and Shark's teeth

The boys' favorite "Cookie" Peppermint Kisses. Recipe here

Advent calendar. Inspired by this post on Allsorts we fill it with activities. We did really great this year. We accomplished all of our tasks but one. We didn't get to gaze at the stars the night we wanted to because of clouds.

Chubby Hubby Bars (Inspired by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor which is my hubby's favorite.) Recipe here

For Thanksgiving this year, we made a Thankful Tree. And we added to it all of November.

Veterans day skydiver at the school!

Making fresh pasta with my boys was way too much fun! This is Liam and his gloppy mess.

Here's Levi's mess before he got a nice ball going.

Sugar cookies are always fun.

My niece Clover's doll in progress. She has super curly blond hair and bright blue eyes, just like Clover does!

Row Robin Quilt Signups!!--CLOSED

Sign-ups will be until Feb 28th 2009
Your first row with your Theme will be mailed out by April 1st 2009
We will be making a quilt row by row. You will have 6 weeks to finish each row. The first month you will make your own row. After that you will be adding a row to another member’s quilt each month. At the end you will have enough rows to put together a quilt. Each row will be made by a different member of the group (one by you.) The goal of this is to combine the skills of different quilters in different areas with different skill levels together to make one beautiful quilt for each of us. I want everyone in this swap to have fun and expand your creativity. The swap guidelines are specific to ensure that no one is disappointed in the end.

The Rules:
-Use only 100% quality cotton fabrics. Nothing with a loose weave and please pre-wash and press all fabrics.
-This is a commitment! This is a big swap, and no one wants to let anyone else down. Communication is key! If something happens let us know. We can always pass on the package to the next person, or come back to you. We understand, but don’t go missing, keep talking to us!
I would like every week to have some sort of communication. Either a picture on the flickr group, posting to the flickr group, or an email directly to me (faerydaydreams @ gmail.com). Something to let me know you are still with us.
-Each row should be unique. Try not to repeat what other rows have done. We want variety.
-Fabric & Rows must be placed in zip top bags. Please don’t use the slide zipper style bags as this adds quite a bit to shipping.
-Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner's name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. this will stay with the quilt rows the whole swap.
-Do not attach your row to the next row! This will be done by the quilt owner. They will be able to decide if they want sashing and what order they want the rows to be in
-Treat each quilt with respect, keeping it in a clean, dry and safe place.
-You will always pass the quilt to the next person on the list following your name. The last person always sends to the first person on the list.
-When you send you must email the organizer, owner, & person you’re sending it to.
When you receive you must email the organizer, owner, & person who sent it to you.
You must get delivery confirmation!
-Follow the Golden Rule of Quilting "work on another’s quilt like you would your own!"

Theme
We will be doing a mystery block row quilt. You will decide on a broad theme or colors for your quilt (ex: all purple, stars, Christmas, etc). The other swappers will decide on the blocks to use, thus the mystery!
Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner’s name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. Everyone will do their best to make a row they believe you will like. You should not try to dictate what is on your quilt. You can suggest or make requests, but they may not be followed exactly as you had hoped. Feel free to list colors/color schemes that you prefer. Feel free to give it a “theme,” but remember to keep it simple.
(Example 1: Colors- green, red, white, Dislike- orange, Theme- Christmas, Dislike- please no angels. [This is fairly detailed, but totally do-able by everyone]
Example 2: Colors- I only want red, teal, and yellow, Theme- I want only pinup girls in Cowgirl outfits. They all must have blond hair. [This would be really limiting, if you want a quilt like that, go for it, (I'd love to see it!) but this isn’t that type of swap])

Rows
You will make your own first row. That row will set the tone, colors, length, and orientation of the rows. We will make rows for a quilt that is either 48" to 60" long. You decide what the length of rows should be for your top. One swapper may want a top no larger than 48" and another swapper may need their top to be 60". (please note: these are 'finished' row lengths, a 60" top will actually measure 60.5" with the seam allowance etc)You may make your top Vertical or Horizontal. Do not attach your row to the previous row. Place your row in the bag with the other rows and pass it on to the next name on the list. The owner will decide what order they want the rows in and if they want to add any additional sashing, rows or borders.
You must make your rows to the length and orientation (vertical/horizontal) requested by the owner. All rows need to be between 5" & 16" wide (this is up to you.) Remember there will be a seam allowance, keep that in mind when you make your rows.
**Edited To Add- You will be supplying the fabric for each row that you make. You can use from stash and/or go buy, but please use fabric that the owner will like and use 100% cotton fabrics. If you have a fabric or two that you really would like the other rows to have you may include that when you mail your row. Put a note on your card that you would really like if they would be able to include that fabric in your row somehow.

Block Pattern & Size
You will decide each month which block pattern would be best for a quilt as it comes to you. All blocks in a row do not have to be the same pattern or even the same size. Blocks don’t have to be square. Please do not repeat blocks used in a previous row for that quilt. We want you to use your creativity and this is all part of the challenge. Be sure to use whole blocks … no half blocks, please. Keep with the theme of the quilt using your own fabric and any fabrics that may have been mailed. Traditional piecing, paper piecing, or finished applique, make the row special for the owner.

Mailing Information
The deadline to pass the quilt on will be either the 1st of the month or the 15th. The deadline to mail your first row and any theme / background fabrics is April 1st. If you finish a row early, then please send it on. When you mail out each package, please use a label and put the next person’s mailing address on the outside of the Ziploc bag that contains all the rows! If the package becomes damaged en route, then the postal people have a name and address to forward it to. *If you are mailing in the US please buy a tracking number. If you are mailing the rows to a different country than yours, please make sure the rows are sent airmail. Please be aware that there may be International swappers in your group. The earlier you can get the rows mailed if they are going out of the country the better. Do not mail your rows if you know the person you are mailing to has more than two sets of rows already, please contact your hostess for further information. Please post weekly, whenever you mail and receive a package of rows. Communication is vital to the success of this swap!

Mail dates for these rows will be;
April 1st (Your starter row)
May 15th
July 1st
August 15th
October 1st
November 15th

If you have any troubles, questions, or comments anytime during or before the swap, please ask, you probably aren't the only one. You can email me at faerydaydreams @ gmail (dot) com, or leave a comment here.

To Sign Up
Send me an email at faerydaydreams @ gmail.com (take the spaces away from around the @ symbol before sending.)In that email please include the following;
Real name
Mailing address (include zipcode & country)
email address
your flickr account (if you have one)
blog address (if you have one)
Do you mind sending outside of the USA ?
If you know already, what your color/theme preferences would be. (If you don't know yet that's ok)
Any questions or comments you may have, or anything else you want people to know

*There has been some interest from people outside the US, so I thought if enough people don't mind sending outside the States, we could include them. If not we'll do that on another round or maybe one group will have international senders and one won't.

PS. I am looking to have a button pic made up. If anyone is interested let me know!

Participants (so far)
Tab (Me)
Bobbi
Sudi-Laura
Harley
Melissa
Tracey
Valerie
Darlene
Carrie
Natasha
Lori
Angela
Robin
Marty
Margaret
Jessica
Dianne
Susan

Catch Up

Ok, I know I went MIA for quite awhile, so I may post a few things I did while I was gone. Here is my son's 8th Birthday Cake from November. Ignore the goofy expression, he had friends there and really didn't want to take this picture. I told him we were taking pictures until he "gave me happy" and I guess this is what I get for it.

It's a funfetti style cake with marshmallow fondant. It wasn't hard to make, just took a long time.

Most importantly, he loved it!

2008

A small peak into my crafty endeavors of 08.... let's see what 09 brings!

I thought I should go back a year and see what my goals were for the coming year.... now let's see how I did!?!

-Make all of my boys a mommy made quilt. well, I've started all of them
-Make a Christmas Tree Skirt and Stockings again, I've started all of them
-Make Tim things (especially a throw/quilt) I made him a checkbook cover does that count?
-Help Boys make a quilt for Grandma Wanda They kept changing their minds, so it didn't get done
-Make a window quilt (or more than one) Nope
-Help the boys make and publish a comic book We made them, we didn't get them published though
-Make dessert for the family at least 2 times a month I DID THIS ONE!!!
-Make our home more OURS (Paint Kitchen and Dinning Room, etc) Living room is painted, laundry room in process, and kitchen shelves are mine!
-Spend one WHOLE day with each of my kids individually, doing what THEY want. Stop and breathe more. YEP!
-Open an etsy shop I never seem to get enough "stock" to feel I am able to.
-Work cleaning and exercises into my daily routine. More of it yes, perfecting... not even close
-Embrace quiet Oh, I'm embracing and giving it a full on tongue kiss!
-Call my best friend at least once a month non-prompted! Every other month.... not quite up to what I had hoped, but closer.

So out of 13 goals I have 6 that I've done, 4 about half way, and the rest no. It could be worse.

2009 Goals

• Finish a quilt for each of my boys
• Form better cleaning habits
• Open an etsy shop
• Finish Stockings
• Make this home even more ours

Yep that's it. Not much. Keep it simple and hopefully do-able.

I wish you all the best in the coming New Year!

Costumes

We usually go nuts with costumes. This year we sort of took it easy.


Lore wanted to be the Doctor from Doctor Who, so I made his suit, he had his sonic screwdriver, he wore his shoes for trick or treating, but still had on his gym shoes in this picture. He wasn't cooperative at all, I call this "young doctor after a hard day of school on Gallifrey." I'm going to try to make him dress up and get a better pick, but I'm not going to hold my breath, he's been a little difficult to photograph lately.




Liam wanted to be Mario. We bought the bibs, had a red sweatshirt, we got some white stretch gloves and put little cartoon lines on them. I made the mustache out of interfacing, flannel, clear elastic and thread. I made the hat out of fleece.



Levi I don't even have pictures of (bad mommy!) but he recycled a simple black cloak and skellie mask and went as a reaper again.


Tim and I had plans to recycle one or our fav quickie costumes, that has never been photographed, but when we got them out of storage, there was a bit of mildew on it, so we scrapped that. I'm sure we'll resurrect them again, but I need to take it apart and see if it's able to be saved. So we went as Little House on the Whatever.... last minute we had it in the house from Ye Olde School House field trips and off we went. It was nice not being up until 3-4 am quick finishing it the night before. But we will have to up it next year.

Swaps Received

I've received some lovely swaps lately, and thought I should quick share


My dishcloths from Kimtastic on craftster.org


My mini quilt from taylynnsbean on flickr


and this one I made for taylynnsbean on flickr the theme was "out of the box" mini quilts. I have always wanted to do hexes, but they seem so daunting on a big quilt. I have been obsessed with wanting a beehive lately, so they sort of went together. I really like this, and may have to make one for myself. The bee was hand embroidered.

Christmas Craft List

Ok, I did this last year and it helped keep me on track to getting all the holiday gifts finished. I'd love to hear what you are all planning or have started crafting for the holidays that are coming quickly upon us.

"Baby" Cousin's Baby Girl
*Quilt

"Toddler" 1 niece, 1 nephew, 1 little cousins (1, 2, 1, )-
*will be making a fabric name book. or felt houses

"Little Girls" 2 nieces (4&5)-
*Tutus (Birthdays are right before Christmas)
*PJ Pants/Felt Houses
*I'd like to make them each their own personalized doll quilt
*Cranium Activity Books (Purchased)

"Bigger Girls" 2 nieces (11 & 8 )- Again not quite sure yet.
*PJs
*Cranium Activity Book (Purchased)
*a personalized doll quilt?

"My Boys" 3 boys (8, 9, & 12)-
*Stockings
*pj pants w/matching shirts
*?

husband (35)-
*Dr who underpants (I already started these, so he may get them for b-day instead, cuz they're cute)
*Dr. Who quilt?
*Checkbook Cover

"Old Ladies" Mother IN Law, Step MIL, Mother, Step Mother, 3 Grandmas, Aunt
*Basket With a crocheted dishtowel, embroidered tea towel, and homemade vanilla
*Pic of the kids

Dad, DIL, Grandpas-
*Not sure yet

teachers and crossing guards-
*Not sure yet

That's everyone I can think of. I'll update this as I think of or start other things.

Dishcloths!!

Well, I have been trying to get some Holiday gifts started, or worked on, so I don't go crazy at the end of November. I joined a dishcloth swap to help get me motivated on making dishcloths for my family. My husband wanted to make homemade Vanilla, and he thought that would make a great gift. Since he was actually involved in gift decisions I figured I should go with it! So we have Vanilla steeping, and we are planning on pairing that with a dishcloth and a teatowel and/or pot holder for each major family. I think tomorrow I will try to post my list of gifts (it helped last year keep me on track) So anyway, here are the three dishcloths I've made so far in the last 2 days at soccer.

The two above are a modified version of an afghan square I got the pattern from here. I made it smaller and used a smaller hook. I had to take out a few rounds and such too.

And here is my tried and true favorite dishcloth pattern. The pattern comes from Cocoa Cream's Craft Closet I made it a bit smaller. Mine is about 8"X8" and I think the first chain was 27.