Weekend Crafting

These are the crafts I finished this weekend: a needle felt tofu, a mini Totoro amigurumi, and a strawberry mochi plushie.

I had gift cards to HB so I decided to try a new craft, needle felting. It is fun , but disastrous if your fingers get in the way.

I used a different size hook for the Totoro (size G) so he is smaller than the one I made for my mother for Christmas.

The mochi plushie was from a tutorial I saw on youtube. I think it would be easier to make using a sewing machine >○<

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Until next time >____<

Fun with Felt

Please excuse the horrible photo!

While I was at Michael's this month, I saw a fun kit for making a felt cell phone case! I couldn't resist buying it as I had a great coupon, which made the kit only $3. Isn't it cute? One advantage to these felt kits is that they are perfect for kids who want to learn how to sew by hand or create something using felt. The kit comes with instructions on how to backstitch and blanket stitch.

Definitely check out Michael's selection of felt kits! Well worth the investment and it gives your child an hour or so of fun creating something!

Until next time ^___^

A panda birthday package!

Hi, everyone! This Monday was my friend Amanda's 30th birthday! Since I was busy with house repairs and yard work over the weekend, I didn't have time to drop off her birthday package until Tuesday.

Since this was a special birthday, I included a lot of handmade presents amongst all the fun things I bought for my crafting best friend ;)

And you thought I was being lazy last month! LOL No, I was crafting away, but I couldn't post about any of it!!!


Pattern: Panda Amigurumi by Tamie Snow
Hook: Size G
Yarn: Red Heart Worsted white and black
Notions: Safety eyes/nose and felt, ribbon, and coin bead
Start/Finish: July

First off, I made this super cute panda. The pattern actually called for crocheted eyes and nose, but I opted for safety eyes/nose and felt. The only drawback to amigurumi is my stuffy. I didn't stuff it enough and didn't realize until I had the head and body attached. (sigh) It's still cute though ;)


Pattern: Two-Tiered Cake by Yummi 'Gurumi with strawberry by Ana Rimoli
Hook: Size E and F
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft white, red, and limelight
Start/Finish: July for cake and August for strawberry

Secondly, I wanted to make her a birthday cake. I found a pattern for a wedding cake in one of the amigurumi books I got for my birthday and thought I'd use that, but I'd change it a bit. Instead of crocheted flowers and icing, I made a strawberry to top the cake and added red ribbon and heart buttons.

Isn't it cute!? Love it ;) The only thing I wish I had done when making it was inserting a lid or something to stabilize the plushie.


Pattern: Snail by Knotty Designs and Mushrooms from Ana Rimoli
Hook: Size F and G
Yarn: Red Heart Worsted white, cherry red, turqua, and buff
Notions: Felt, embroidery thread, and heart button
Start/Finish: August



This might be my favorite! I had the idea of doing a 'snail mail' amigurumi to celebrate our friendship over the years using the post office.

I found a cute pattern online for the snail and used one of Ana Rimoli's books for the mushroom pattern to make a postman/snail and two mushroom houses. I used felt and thread to make windows and doors on the mushrooms. I even made a cute little mail bag for my snail and embellished it with a red heart button ;)




Pattern: Cupcake bear by All About Ami
Hook: Size F
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Party Teal Sparkle
Notions: Safety eyes and nose
Start/Finish: August 30, 2012

This was a last minute gift that I made to add to her package. Using the pattern that Amanda used for a cupcake bear, I thought it would be cute as a large charm for a keyring.



More panda goodies! I made her a panda felt pincushion and beaded scissors fob.





My friend Kristina made something too, a sweet cross-stitched panda.



She wanted me to make her design into something for Amanda. As all of us are big readers, I thought a bookmark finish would be perfect. I used lace in my stash of notions and backstitched it to the edges of the design.

Other things included in her package:


A box of 1980s candy!


An alphabet mug!


Notepads and sushi magnets!


Two jewelry kits ;)


Crafting books on amigurumi and felties


Chocolate-themed puzzle

Darling, I hope you liked all your craft goodies and gifts. I had fun making things for you!

Until next time ^____^

Star Tree

My project for the day, a hot pink tote bag embellished with a die-cut tree iron-on transfer! Too cute!

Strawberry cake!

Hi, everyone! This was my project over the weekend.



A strawberry cake tissue box cover. It was a fun project, but I will say that it took quite a while to cut and stitch up all the strawberries! I found the idea on a blog that luckily had a tutorial on this finish ;)

Until next time ^____^

Musical hearts

I stitched up two new hearts this evening. I love Japanese and Korean pop music and thought this would be a cute idea for hearts. I used backstitching on the lettering ;)

I hope you are enjoying your day!

Until next time ^____^

A little bit of sweetness

Good afternoon! I stitched up this little cake roll a few moments ago while watching episodes of DS. What do you think? I got the idea of using a strawberry on the sides of the roll by the creme swirl from Tammy's tutorial online, but the template comes from another website tutorial.

I think it is a cutie, but I need to work on the creme swirl. It is suppose to be longer, but I got a little bit carried away with the scissors O_o"

In other news, today is my sister's birthday. She had fun going through her presents from our mom and me. She received a Blu-Ray set of The Pacific and Band of Brothers, a Labyrinth t-shirt with the Fiery Gang on it, a Momo plushie (from Avatar), a raccoon tote bag, an iTunes gift card, Starbucks gift card, and an awesome pair of hot pink Converse shoes with blue laces ;)

Last night, she and I celebrated her birthday by going to the Hard Rock casino in Biloxi. We didn't win any money, but we had fun playing a lot of different slots. Our favorite I think was the Ghostbusters one! The seats rattle and the screens are 3-D. Perfect for the appearances of Slimer!

By the end of the night, we stopped by Ben & Jerry's in the casino to get ice cream. We were in line debating between all their different flavors and ways to eat it when a lady in front of us told the cashier that she was picking up our ice creams!

O_o"

Of course, we protested, but to no avail. She leaned over to my sister and said, "Sometimes you just have to pay it forward."

Wow! How incredibly nice of that lady. She didn't have to buy ice cream for complete strangers, but she did. It was so incredible that we were talking about for at least half of the ride home! My sister and I both agreed that the next time we come by the casino we would do the same ;)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Be safe in those areas of the US with bad storms!

Until next time ^____^

I Love Milk!

This was my experiment for the night. My friend Amanda had sent me a cute milk carton plushie cell charm (on left) recently and I thought I'd try to replicate it (on right).

LOL Her oversew stitching is so much better than mine and not to mention that her milk carton template was better. I ended up tracing around her plushie to get the correct shapes for my plushie. I need to ask her for her template! O_o"

I backstitched the lettering at the top and added a cute heart button that I had in my stash. I also used some blush under the eyes.....with disastrous results. Never use your finger to apply it to the felt or you will get a big mess! I should have used a Q-tip!

Otherwise it was quite fun stitching this experiment. I'll have to work on my oversew stitching ;) Since this little cutie isn't my best attempt, it will go to live on my bookshelf!

Until next time ^____^

Snow Rabbit

Pig Rabbit!

My friends and I are K-drama geeks and one of our favorites is You're Beautiful starring Jang Geun Suk. I found a tutorial for making the pig rabbit doll from the drama and had to try it for myself.

I finished this cutie last night. I'm not impressed with my stitching when it comes to adding the additional parts, it's hard to be neat when stitching them on. This morning I found some tiny safety pins to attach the plaid fabric bows. It is a temporary look for the pig rabbit until I can go by the store and find some plaid bows or some decent ribbon to make them.

Once I've done that, this little guy will be a gift for my friend Kristina since she absolutely adores anything and everything that Jang Geun Suk stars in!

Until next time ^_____^

The week's felties

St. Patrick's Surprise!

Good morning! I thought I'd put in a quick post before heading off to work today. In the package that Amanda had sent me last week there was an envelope which read "Do Not Open Until March 17th". Well, my lovely friend gave me permission to open it early and I decided to open it today since I won't be at work tomorrow :)


Envelope and front of card


Inside of card and a cute surprise

Isn't that little shamrock just the cutest? She made me a shamrock feltie brooch! I'm so glad to add this to my collection of brooches as I have only three St. Patrick's Day themed brooches!

Since I'm not going to be at work tomorrow, I plan on wearing this cutie today and show him off ;)

Why am I taking the day off tomorrow? Well, my family and I decided to all take the day off from our jobs to head across the bay to see the Fairhope Arts and Crafts show together.

I need to remember to bring my camera. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and views of beautiful azaleas. We had a bad storm on Monday that destroyed our azalea bushes so I'm hoping that Fairhope's azaleas have survived to bloom another day.

Thanks Amanda for the little shamrock cutie. I've named him Lucky ;)

Until next time ^___^

Addicted Much!

LOL Here is my progress this week. I can usually get maybe three felties stitched after I get home from work ;)



18 felties.....Quite a few as you can tell! I didn't think it was that many until I got them all together to take a photo.

I got a few of the books I ordered through ILL at the library yesterday....it only took them a month to get here.....they came all the way from Illinois and Arizona! I didn't think they would come from a library so far away! O_o"

I tried my hand at one of the designs from Nelly Pailloux' book called Felties. While the design for the panda is quite cute, my stitching is absolutely horrid. After working exclusively with oversew stitches on that design, I have come to the conclusion that I don't like to oversew stitch.....at least not when it is used to attach two pieces to one another like this design.

I think if I attempt this design again I will use a blanket stitch and leave room at the bottom of the head to insert the body before stitching it closed. Far neater than the instructions for that pattern.

At the request of my friend Amanda, I decided to take a photo of my box that my felties call home. I found it at Target on sale for about $5.



Cute, huh?

Well, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday despite the time change!

Until next time ^____^

A little kitty

Feltie Weekend

Between yard work, laundry, dishes, etc., I was able to make a few felties.

I made a design for a mustache feltie and a cupcake feltie. I'm not fond of the cupcake, I combined the happy cloud for the top and the toast as the bottom to make the cupcake. It's not too bad, I think the cloud top needs to be smaller though.



Charms made:

1. Toast with butter
2. Totoru
3. Purple breakfast pastry with blue seed beads
4. Mustache
5. Red cupcake

Is it bad that I don't want to go to work tomorrow? I'd rather stay home and craft ;)

Until next time ^____^

Totoru Love!

I think this is my favorite plushie so far! I found a sewing template for a Totoru and thought I could use it on a smaller scale as a felt plushie! I decided to cut out a heart and attach it to the tummy of the Totoru ;)

Until next time ^____^

Wishing On A Star

Pastry

Another pastry feltie tonight. I tried a white background with blue frosted seed beads. Sadly, you can't really see the beads against the white felt. In the future, I'll try a dark color for the 'frosting' so the beads show up well against it ;)

Until next time ^____^

English Pudding

I wish I had a holly button for the top of this one! Or maybe even a cherry button. (sigh) I really need to build a nice stash of buttons for my finishing :)

Until next time ^____^

Let Them Eat Cake!

Well, not really, but you get the idea ;) This is my experiment at a pattern in Jeanette Lim's Big Little Felt Universe book. The only thing I didn't do was the cardboard insert which would have given my feltie a bit more stabilization.

I wish I had a thread color that matched the brown felt more precisely, but it's all I had in my stash of DMC threads.

What do you think?

Until next time ^____^