Coming Soon!

I am literally crazy about making stamps (and Say What?!? A give-away!)

I just wish I could draw better.  That is something I say all the time.  But either way, making stamps is so fun and awesome.  I am especially obsessed with tiny stamps.  Almost all the stamps I've made in the last few weeks have been about the size of a nickel, or smaller.

My first attempt was with an elephant eraser I got at Dollar Tree.  I wanted something that would be pretty easy, and let me practice with the lino cutter.  I got my Speedball lino cutter and the soft printing block at Hobby Lobby.  I went looking around on Pinterest and Google for good tutorials for how to use the lino cutter.  I am still not the best at doing circles.  I need to get an X-acto knife I think.

The elephant stamp was a perfect starting practice.  I added my own touch to it in the middle, and it came out pretty cute. 

I used this as J's Valentine's Day Card

So then I had the stamp making bug, and I spent all my free time at home and especially at work, making tiny stamps.  I came across this website memi the rainbow and fell in love. I was so inspired by her work.  In only a few days I made all these stamps.

Downtime at work is best spent with hot tea and stamp making. 

As you can see, I am obsessed.  I love love love the tiny cupcake.  I attempted to make an Easter egg, and because I'm still not the best at eyes and smiles, it came out looking a little mischievous.  J suggested I make devil horns for it.  I love that I did tiny little devil horn stamps that can be added to just about anything!

That concludes a pictorial view through my latest obsession. 

Guess what else though!?!?  I'm going to do a give-away!!  I want to get some more fans of my blog, I think it will motivate me to do more posts.  I'm going to post at the end of the week all the details and pics of the item to be won!  I'm excited!  [Enter shameless plug] Please tell your friends about my blog!

Last minute Valentine's Day Crafting

Tomorrow will be my first Valentine's Day with J.  For the most part, I don't really care about Valentine's Day.  I like to show my love all year long, and hope the same from my partner.  I don't want to cram it all into one day where everyone else does the same thing.  But we will still be enjoying the day, we are going to see Spirited Away on the big screen.  It's one of my most favorite movies, and I have only seen it on DVD.  [Insert SQUEEEEEEE! here]

But I thought it would be cute to make a headband to wear around tomorrow.  I love conversation hearts for their tradition in Valentine's Day, but I can't stand the taste of them.  This is a super easy and cheap craft to make.  I think I got everything at the dollar store, minus the glue gun (I already had that). 

Supplies:
Candy hearts
Headbands
Glue gun

I simply put a dab of hot glue on the headband, starting in the middle, and just added candy hearts one by one.  Here is my awesome dog Payden, modeling it for me.

This would be a good craft for a teen girl, but make sure any kids have adult supervision and assistance with the glue gun. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

UT inspired yarnbombing

This post will be short and sweet.  I've been working on a lot of cool things for swaps and birthdays.  But Friday night ended up turning into an adorably cute date night with J.  After eating happy hour sushi, we strolled down 5th and back up 6th.  it was along this route that I placed this cute little yarnbombing.  I finally had a chance to use my awesome stamp with the cute skull.

Babies, Festivals, and Christmas! Oh my!

I'm a horrible blogger!  I have no real good excuse for not posting in so long.  But even though I haven't been blogging, I have been creating!

In October I worked hard on a crocheted version of Zero the ghost dog from A Nightmare Before Christmas.  A friend at work was having a baby, and she is obsessed with the movie.  So I thought a cute half plush, half blanket would be perfect.  I used this pattern I found through Google, Lizville.  I am still being defeated by crocheting in the round, so I didn't adhere to that part of the pattern.  I think the end product still came out pretty darn good.

November brought my most favorite music festival in Austin, Fun Fun Fun Fest!  My bff in Oregon was supposed to come out, but couldn't make it at the last minute.  Oh, the life of a college student!  So instead, I dragged J along with me!  He didn't really mind though.  We saw Slayer, The Damned, Public Enemy, Brian Posehn, Tune-Yards, Donald Glover (and Childish Gambino), and many more!  The only thing that could stand up to the music, was the awesome food vendors the festival brought in this year.  They had super yummy crepes, pancake shakes, and pumpkin empanadas that I couldn't get enough of!

 Don't you just love me in my festival get up?  They changed the location this year to a bigger park, with a big open (and treeless) area.  That, coupled with an entire summer with no rain, made it pretty dusty, pretty fast.  But we had a blast!  I was so excited to see Public Enemy and Brian Posehn.  I can't wait till next year.

And then there was Christmas.  This year I really tried hard to do a "handmade holiday" and make all my gifts handmade.  I was really close to doing it too!  Everyone got something handmade except my step-dad.  He is one of the hardest ppl to get gifts for, because he has everything he wants.  And the things he doesn't have that he wants, I can't afford!  I didn't get pics of everything I made, but here are pics of the bigger items I worked on.

J loves space invaders, and already had some space invaders he had made with perler beads in his kitchen, so I decided to keep with that theme.  I made him 4 pot holders with space invaders, and then the painted canvas.  My little bro (who is super awesome at art) helped me with the canvas.  He used a ruler, and chalk, to grid the canvas into the design.  I couldn't have finished that project without his help!
Then there is the infamous Twinkie Chan cupcake scarf.  I've been working on this one since I finished the buttered toast scarf (you can see it here) I made from her pattern book.  This was a very labor intensive scarf, but the end result was totally worth it.  My mom LOVES IT!  I don't think I want to make another one anytime soon though!

I hope everyone had a great new year!  What crafty things are you planning for 2012?

6th St Yarnbombing!

My little brother from another mother moved down to Austin, and is staying with me awhile.  This is his first time here,  so we decided to take him down to 6th St and show him around.  It was a game day, so there were a lot of drunken people to laugh at.  I decided I wanted to do some yarnbombings and whipped these up a couple hours before we went downtown.  I wanted them to get seen by a lot of people.

Little Bro approves of yarnbombing!

J in upper right and Little Bro bottom left, watching out for me!

This one is a little hidden, its not directly on 6th st!

I had to sew around the bikes, my yarn got caught a couple times.

 I really hope these stay up awhile.  I can't wait to do more.  I finished the buttered toast scarf, and have moved onto the cupcake scarf.  It was a bit challenging starting off the pattern, but I think I got it now!  I used a regular worsted weight yarn, instead of a bulky yarn, and my cupcakes looked more like mushrooms!  Cool, but not what I was looking for!  I might make a mushroom scarf later though.  The cupcake scarf will have to be hush hush till my mom opens it for Christmas. 

Works in progress

Lots of crocheting going on around here.  Finishing up a birthday present for my bff, a pumpkin beanie for an October newborn, and a yarnbombing that I just randomly decided to do. 

Buttered Toast Scarf, pattern by Twinkie Chan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost like french toast

This newborn pumpkin beanie was super easy.  I got the pattern here.  I don't know if I'll have time, but I also want to make some super cute newborn shoes that have a skull and crossbones on them for the October newborn.

Lastly, this is my yarnbombing.  It's supposed to look like a paw print, I hope it does!  I plan on adding the word "adopt" across it, and putting it up on this big huge cement pillar that is on the corner of MLK and Chicon.