Landen T-Shirt Gift

My husband's cousin is turning 1. I used to be super close to his cousin's wife, but our bond ended, and we're not close anymore. So, I don't know much about her life, or her son. Anyway, them being family, and it being his first birthday, we got invited to the party. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, and I wanted to be crafty. His party invitation is similar to his baby shower with cute monkey's and they call him "monkey man." So, originally, I was going to just embroider a monkey and then heat and bond it to a shirt. Well, I was on a roll when I was out looking for stuff, and found a Garanamals shirts from Walmart for $4. The only issue was it had a pocket, and I didn't want that. Workable still, though. I was going to just find a Fat Quarter fabric and embroider the monkey, like I said, but then I found this really super cute monkey material and went with that. I took the pocket off the shirt, and got set to embroider his name onto the small rectangle of fabric. See below:












I embroidered his name, then I used heat and bond (amazing stuff) to adhere it to the shirt. I still had to stitch around the edges for re-enforcement. Unfortunately, my sewing machine I have issues with (saving for a new one!) and my stitches aren't straight, and I had to back stitch for re-enforcement so my stitch edging isn't great. Of course, doing a shirt on the machine isn't super easy, and it's not easy to hand stitch with heat and bond. So, 50-50 choice in which way to go. I went with speed. That being said, I'm no expert with the sewing machine anyway.

So, here's the shirt:











And here's a close up of just the monkey business. Like I said, it's not fabulous, but it's ok for my skill level. I may just buy some buttons and put buttons on the corners to cover up the parts I don't like, and it will give it a little more pizazz.


Oh, and I attempted the chain stitch on the embroidery, but I had only chosen 3 strands of floss, so it's not super evident. Cute enough, though. Especially since I speculate he won't wear it many times anyway. Oh well. It was a fun crafty exercise.

Feb Crochet Adventures

My local library has a Knitting and Crocheting "class" every other week. My friend, the librarian, has suggested I check it out many times. I hadn't until last week. Because, I wanted to learn how to either knit or crochet a small flower. Why? Well, originally I was going to put them on the monogrammed letter shadow box. Remember from my last post? Well, I changed my mind, and just made pom poms instead. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this last time. Anyway, I went to this "class" and learned out to do it. And, then I've tried to re-create them at home. I do an ok job. Some are better than others. And, I actually can't tell which ones I made at the "class" and which are from home anymore. Some aren't quite right. But, it's way better than I had ever even imagined before. And, keep in mind, I am a very novice crocheter. In fact, I can't even remember how to turn stitches to make a new row for a scarf. So, if you're looking for a tutorial. This is not the place. Mostly, I'm just cataloging my attempts. Ergo, crocheted flowers photo:








I'm sure you've noticed I've talked about my friend a lot. You know, the one who got me those amigurimi Sheldon and Leonard from Big Bang Theory. Well, she's addicted to Granny Squares. Only, she hasn't learned to make one. Seeing as once upon a blue moon ago I had made them before, I thought if I pulled up enough tutorials, I might get it right. I was close. I didn't quite get a Granny SQUARE...more like a Granny CIRCLE! lol I like it though.

Monogrammed Shadowbox Photo Montage

Let me start out by saying, I love this!

My husband's cousin's first child is turning one in a few months. Me, being the crafty woman I am, thought I would make her something neat for her room (bright pink walls, leopard print bedding) with yarn covered letters--remember, I tried this a few weeks back with the large "L." Anyway, I've decided, I am NOT going to make a habit of doing this yarn covered letters. They are not my cup of tea. That being said, I love how this turned out. I monogrammed her name. I added pom poms to the P and F (it fixes part of the look I don't like, plus they are cute. I found this shadowbox which was the perfect size for my project. Initially, I wanted to put the letters on the inside, but there wasn't enough space to see the pictures behind (secondary focus) so pulled out my heavy duty hot glue gun and glued them to the frame of the shadow box. Speaking of which, isn't it a beauty? I couldn't find leopard print scrapbook paper, but this pink polka dot was just as perfect, if not better. So, measuring and cutting (even cutting corners at an angle) I covered the front, and sides. Then I modgepoded it for a glossy look. I hot glued pink yarn around the edges to hide imperfections, and more of a fun look. The back of she shadowbox I used modge podge to glue the pictures I chose (I'm glad I was able to mostly find 5x7 images) then modge podged over the pictures. This kept it not only onto the backing, but I like the finished look it has.

Now, the plastic in my shadowbox isn't directly in the front, there is a slight gap between the front and the plastic. And, I also needed to do something with the inside edge too. Originally, I was going to just put more of the pink polka paper, but decided just to paint hot pink. I used index cards to try to save getting paint onto the plastic. It worked OK. I like that I chose to just paint it. I had cut out strips of the hot pink, but didn't really like it. It was over-kill.

So, I realize I'm not a great "tutorial" person, or even that great for blogging so let's recap:

I had:
pictures
modge podge
2-3 sheets of the pink polka dot paper
shadowbox
3 wooden letters (make sure the last name letter is larger)
1 skein yarn
glue gun
hot glue

Decorate shadow box to your liking. I mod podged the polka paper. Then I used my hot glue gun and yarn to edge out my box.

I mod podges my pictures to the inside insert of the shadowbox.

I covered my letters with yarn.

I made pom poms for more decoration, and to help me like my P and F better.

I took out my heavy duty glue gun and glued the letters to the shadowbox.

And now, I just have to figure out what I want to put on it so my husband's cousin can hang it. I realize my letters aren't perfectly level or even perfectly evenly spaced, but it's ok. With the S off a bit, it makes it easier to see the lower picture in the middle.

And now, I'm going to abruptly end this entry.

Needy Baby, Greedy Baby

IF YOU CHOOSE TO LEAVE NEGATIVE COMMENTS IN REGARDS TO THIS POST, IT IS DISRESPECTFUL, AND WILL BE REMOVED.  IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THIS, THAT IS FINE, BUT TO LEAVE RUDE COMMENTS IS CHILDISH AND UNNECESSARY.   IT HAS ALSO BEEN BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT DR. HOFSTADTER'S NAME HAS BEEN MISSPELLED ON THE SPINE.  NOT A BIG DEAL. THE WAS SOMETHING FUN I MADE FOR MYSELF TO USE AT HOME, AND TYPOS HAPPEN.  SO PLEASE, ENJOY LOOKING, BUT RUDE COMMENTS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. THANK YOU!

Needy Baby, Greedy Baby By Dr Beverly Hofstadter

Ever since this was talked about in the last episode Dr Hofstadter (also known as Leonard's mom), I knew I had to make this book. My original idea was to decoupage it as a purse I could carry around, however, I found this journal book at my local crafts store, and decided to go that route again. Needy Baby, Greedy Baby. Who could pass this up?

So, I started out scouring the Internet for images of geeky babies, but as this is something I'm considering adapting and eventually listing on my etsy shop, and well, I can't just put anyone's baby on my, ehm, Dr. Hofstadter's book, I started looking for clip art work that would do the trick. And, although the image I chose
for my cover isn't exactly as I'd image, it works.



Now, every book needs needs an author bio, and that is what I did on the back. Again, I scoured the Internet looking for images of Dr Beverly Hofstadter. And, although there are actually plenty to choose from, finding one that wasn't pixalated so small proved to be a challenge. I settled on this one. I just did a quite to the point bio of her.
"Dr Beverly Hofstadter is a leading neuroscientist and psychiatrist. She has authored several books on parenting. She is the mother of three grown children."







Of course, every book needs to be titled and authored on it's spine, and so, I followed suit and did the same myself. And, truly, I have to say, this is my favorite part of the journal. Every time I look at it, I giggle. Needy Baby, Greedy Baby. hahahahaha
 

Big Bang Tote

And it all started with a Big Bang!





I am a HUGE Big Bang Theory fan. I live for Thursday evening when I can get my geeky nerd fix. I own every season of Big Bang Theory. I watch it on syndicate. I have the soft kitty stuffie. I have two amigurimi dolls that my friend had made for me. One is Sheldon, the other is Leonard. I have the Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock t-shirt. I have a soft kitty tee shirt. I also have this amazing Bazinga necklace I had purchased from Etsy. So, it only goes that I should embroider myself a Big Bang Theory tote. And, that is exactly what I did. Here's my work:
http://www.sublimestitching.com/transfer_paper.html
Using this amazing Carbon Paper transfer from Sublime Stitching (http://www.sublimestitching.com/transfer_paper.html) I transfered the design created off my computer onto my pre-made tote.








And, here's a my image once transfered.








I didn't have enough floss to use black, so I did my lettering in blue #311, my atom in brown #3371, pink #776, blue #3755, yellow #726, and green # 368.













This is how my bag turned out. I love it and can't wait to use it!

Monster Jam 2012

My husband and I took our kids today to watch Monster Jam at the Charleston Civic Center today. he had gone before as a child, but I've never been, and this was my kids' first trip too. It was so much fun. I knew so little about monster trucks until my son became interested in them. I didn't realize that the toys were based off of actual trucks that had competitions and things. My son's favorite monster truck is Full Boar (because he is yellow, and yellow is his favorite color.) Well, Full Boar wasn't there, but there was: Grave Digger (obviously) celebrating his 30th anniversary, Monster Mutt (the brown one), Aftershock (which ironically is the name of my Christian young adult small group), State of Destruction, and Krazy Train. We all had a great time, and I hope to go back again next year. Maybe we'll see a new group of trucks.

Trying out a Pinterest idea

I love to do crafty things for my kids' birthday's. And, I'm always looking into birthday ideas even close to a YEAR before their party. I love to make gift bags, and invitations, and cool cakes. Well, I thought my son who really like the Ohio University Bobcats, would be having a party with that theme in September when he turns 5. But, lately, he's been really interested in the TMNT, and knights, and pirates, and lots of things. I came across this really cool pirate gift bag on Pinterest that I thought I might as well try out today since we were being crafty, anyway. Here's the link to my inspiration:

http://room-mom101.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-09-25T14%3A45%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=15
Unfortunately, I'm not showing her image, but essentially it's pretty close. She used fabric for the bandana, and I just painted it on.

Here is my pirate plate gift bag:








I forget to put this on Savannah's craft page, but she wanted to do one too, and hers turned out like this:

Savannah's Saturday Morning Craft Day

And, this is what my daughter ended up crafting this morning:


She wanted to make a hat, so she took a red Solo Cup (doesn't that make the Toby Keith song play in your head now?) and painted it. I punched holes and added yarn, and ta da! A festive hat.










Happy Valentine's Day to her Kindergarten teacher! She cut out this Care Bear picture, glued it to construction paper, and then painted it.












She wanted to make puppets. So, she's got a bunny (we improvised this one. Just cut out ears, and arms and a nose), so did the same polar bear one that Jarron did, and she did a cute puppy one. I cut out brown construction paper to print out the template from here:

http://www.freekidscrafts.com/paper_bag_dog_puppet-e1493.html

Painting paper plates is a favorite in my house, and today was no exception. This one was painted two shades of green, to look like a turtle. She cut out a circle and painted a face. Once that all dried, we glued and taped the arms and legs she cut out, onto the back of the plate to complete the turtle.



Savannah wanted to make a ladybug. We've made one before, but when she decided to paint the green strip around the outside of the plate, it looked so much more like watermelon to me!

Jarron's Saturday Morning Craft Day

My kids and I woke up this morning, and decided to be crafty. I think I blogged earlier about how I had their hand prints that I needed them to paint the back side of. Well, that lead to more painting, and puppet making and all sorts of other things. Two hours of crafting with the kiddos this morning. Here's some pictures of what we came up with.

This is his polar bear paper bag puppet. This template was taken from:
http://stuck-on-glue.blogspot.com/2011/01/polar-bear-paper-bag-puppet.html









This cute polar bear craft I had found on Pinterest and wanted to do for a while. You can find a link to it here:
http://www.twigglemagazine.com/January-activities/polar-bear-craft.html









This is just a painting he made on paper.







Painting on paper plates is fun! The top two green plates are grass. The bottom orange one with the face, is the sun







Next up? Blogging about my daughter's morning craftiness.

Pinterest

My friend, the one I made the Hunger Games pillow cover for, also introduced me to Pinterest. Of course, many of you know that I'm on there, A LOT, because you've found my blog from there. But, if you've someone stumbled upon my blog, but haven't found my on Pinterest, I'm trying out their Pinterest button to see if it will, indeed, lead me back to my boards.