Big Plans and a Mushroom Scarf for 2011!!

Hi! How've you been? I've been....up to stuff. Stuff that I had a lot of fun making. And stuff that I will be sharing throughout the course of this weekend and next week!

For instance, stuff like finishing the mushroom scarf.

And playing outside

while wearing the mushroom scarf.

I have big plans for 2011 and the list is growing all the time. Which reminds me--I really do need to sit down and write the list down before I forget it...

Stay tuned for more posts and projects in 2011. More frequency, more fun, and more ninjas and mushrooms! This is one of the things on my list. What's on yours?

Holiday Beat Down and Mushroom Scarf Progress

Is this holiday season kicking anyone else's butt? Because I lost another week and have no idea where it went. At least I'm not alone. It's been crazy for just about everyone, I think. 'Tis the season, right?

I'm wrapping up all sorts of projects, but since the projects I'm working on right now are gifts and I'm pretty sure that some of the recipients read this blog, I can't share any pictures. Lame. But, with that said, don't leave just yet, friends!

You see, I have a sanity project* that I'm working on for myself that is coming to a close, so this isn't going to be a completely picture-less post! The project is full of mushroomy goodness and it's definitely one of my favorite projects so far. Hopefully you like it, too.

The mushroom scarf! 

Here it is (with a nice helping of me trying my hand at a teaser picture for my Twitter feed):

Sidenote: The picture seems kind of run-of-the mill as WIP teasers go, though. Going to have to work on that!

The mushrooms are all made and put together. Now it's time for the spots. I'm aiming for a double sided scarf so I'm doing a lot of sewing between the stitches right now. The method is great for hiding stitches, but not so good if you're in a hurry. And since this is a sanity project instead of a working project, it's not a priority right now. Even if I'm super excited to see the finished project, there are holiday gifts and other things that need doing now!!

Update: Here's a better picture

I got the idea for this scarf from TwinkieChan. She crochets all sorts of food related things and is well-known for her cupcake scarfs. They are totally cute but I'm not a cupcake kind of person, so I made one that's more my style. With that said, I think my favorite scarf that I've seen from her is the pepperoni pizza slice. Talk about super creative!! If you have a chance, I recommend that you check out her blog and shop for all sorts of cool food related stuff. And (as though that isn't enough!), if you're up to making some of her food themed ideas, she has a book of patterns out, too! I'm hoping that Santa brings me a copy!! *hint, hint, Santa*

What have you all been making in your free time?

*Sanity project: A mini-project (or not) to work on when the main project is pissing you off or otherwise bores/annoys you. Usually for fun, silliness, and yourself. 

I use these projects as a release for when I'm feeling burned out on a project or crocheting in general.

Works in Progress

Some ninja heads

Mushrooms!!

Surprised? :)

Spontaneous crafting

My husband replaced a part of the sound system in our living room the other day. After he was done, my son found about 10 inches of speaker wire laying on the floor where he had been working.

Rather than throw the plastic coated wire away and grumble about how it got left behind in the first place, I had a bright idea.

Why not bend it up into the shape of a mushroom?

Three minutes after I had this bright idea, I was pinching the bottom of a four inch mushroom shape closed. But why stop there, really?

We happen to have a bunch of different colors of electrical tape just begging to be used for a project like this.

So, I grabbed the tape and wrapped up the mushroom shape to get this:

Ten minutes of spontaneous crafting and I've got a cute little wall hanging.

(And, for those of you keeping track, I just saved 6 inches of wire from going to the dump. Eco-friendly craftiness, anyone?)

Keep in mind that while the tape makes the wire shape a little bit more sturdy than bare wire, this shape isn't indestructible. In fact, it is quite destructible. So if you make one too, then you may want to use it as a decoration.

What's Your Creative Style?

As you know from my Blogtastical Goodness page, I read the How About Orange blog pretty regularly. It's a fabulous blog with posts that usually contain something that you can take away into your own creative life. Font types, projects, labels, tutorials, or even quizzes like the one I'm going to share with you from Psychologies magazine. (Plus, the blog celebrates the color orange. I support supporters of orange.)

Because I took it.

And it seems to be pretty accurate.

I mean, the title for my results is: Creativity enriches you

Yep. That sounds about right. 


Here is some more of what the What's Your Creative Style? quiz had to say about my creative style:

Creativity is separate from the real world for you. But it’s a magical world in which you like to immerse yourself. When you’re involved in it, you get the wonderful sensation that there are no limits, that anything is possible...

Mushrooms and ninjas, anyone? Maybe we could throw in a little "Fa la la" there to represent the third sentence, too. I think this explains my obsession with them a little bit, though.

You know, mushrooms that are commonly used in scenes depicting magical worlds and ninjas that are just generally fabulous and also magical.

Did you rush off and take the test? What was your result?

Weekend of Fun

I didn't Wreck This Weekend. Next week, my pretties. This weekend I took the kids to the State fair instead.

This was the boy's first year riding rides and playing games like the big kids. So that's just what we did.

And we saw mushrooms...

This would be the fun house. I know, I know. This picture makes it look like the happiest prehistoric jail on Earth. Alas, it's just a fun house.*

...and fellow ninja supporters.

You can't help but to admire this person's commitment to their support of ninjas.

It was a good time. :)

What did you do this weekend?


* Never thought that I would EVER write those words in a sentence ever. "Alas, it's just a fun house." It just doesn't seem like those are words that should go together...

Happy Mother's Day!

I have been saving these for Mother's Day so the surprise wouldn't be ruined.

This year was a homemade kind of holiday.

Here are the presents before I wrapped them up:

My mother got her ninjas
(and a picture frame like my grandmother's below)

My grandmother got a picture frame with a picture of the kids and some of the batik fabric that they painted and a necklace with their names in shrink-a-dink. 

Sorry no pictures of the necklace--I made it about an hour before we left for lunch on Sunday. 

And since my sister's birthday is May 10th, I brought presents that I made for her, too!

Mushroom in her favorite color: purple

 

Credit card case made out of the tester batik fabric
(the other one is for me)

Everyone was very happy with their gifts. Surprisingly happy, if you ask me.

Is anyone else ever surprised at the appreciation your family shows about receiving your handmade gifts? I don't know why, but I always doubt my presents until the recipient actually opens them. It's weird. I love getting handmade gifts so why wouldn't I expect others to love getting mine? I don't know, but it makes for some sweaty palms until the gifts are opened! That's for sure.

How did you show your mother how much you love her?

More babies? More mushrooms.

There were a pair of babies born into our circle of friends and another friend's child turned 2 years old in the last couple of weeks. So I went to my go-to young child design and personal favorite: The mushroom.

Have you made anything fun lately?

Bob Marley Mushrooms!!

Late on Sunday night, it seemed like a cool idea to crochet a rainbow patterned mushroom.

Then it seemed like a good idea to make a reversed rainbow patterned mushroom.

So I did. (Yay for insomnia?)

I didn't realize that they remind me of Bob Marley until the next morning. Especially the reverse rainbow patterned one pictured on the right.

And with all that color, they're perfect for a post on Cinco de Mayo!! Don't you agree? :)

More mushrooms and half an octopus

I made 3 little mushrooms for a friend's baby and started an Amigurumi World style octopus for my son this weekend.

When I first started making amigurumi again I made a mushroom for this baby, but I stashed it away instead of mailing it as soon as it was ready. I'm kind of glad I did now because a month later after MANY mushrooms made, I would be embarrassed to send it now.

For a beginner, it's not too bad. The stitches are loose and I hadn't quite perfected the pattern or art of the color change yet, so it's just a mess by my standards today.

What's a crafter to do?

Why, make 3 more mushrooms to replace it, of course!


I'm quite pleased with how they came out. I got to play around with some of my bright colored yarns some more which is always fun. And I decided to do a sort of counting theme with the spots on the mushrooms. So you will notice each mushroom has a different number of spots for counting and are different colors for color identification.

The baby's only 3 months old, but we're starting her early. :)

What have you made in your free time?

Project Completion - Crochet

I finally finished the mushroom bag!!


<--Head banger mushroom here is supposed to represent how happy I am right now.


Actually, the whole family is pretty excited and that even includes my husband. I'm excited because it's done and pretty much what I thought it would look like. My kids are excited because it's for them. And my husband's excited because he thought it was "a cool idea." And because I was so excited about this last night that I took pictures so I could share the completed project with you.

With that I present to you--in all of it's glory--the mushroom bag!!

This is the bag all closed up:

And this is the bag open with some of the contents pulled out:

And here is a view from above:

Now I have received a request to make dragons for at least two people. And I still need to make a purple ninja for L and a pair of ninja heads for my mom's mother's day present. (Yeah...she's that kind of mom.) So it looks like I will be posting more crochet projects that I made in my free time very soon! Hopefully some more patterns and tutorials, too.

Two mushrooms and a bracelet

Since I bought some new colors of yarn recently, I decided to make a couple of funky colored mushrooms.

I know, I know. I finally got my crochet hook back so I should be working on the mushroom bag. Well, I am. But I get bored of working on the same thing for hours and hours on end. Especially when the stitch I'm using is not the most exciting...

So when I get bored while working on one of my bigger projects, I make a small mushroom. They only take about an hour from start to finish which makes for a nice, quick gratifying project. It's almost like it resets my mindset to keep the boredom at bay.

As long as it helps me to complete the big projects so they don't just sit in the WIP bag forever, I think it's a handy method. We'll call it the distraction technique. As in you are distracting yourself with a small project.

I also made a bracelet using some prefabricated stuff I picked up from the craft store. But I couldn't pass up the snake clasp and with my love for snakes I had to throw a heart on there, too.

It's nice and light and goes well with the new necklace that I bought from Lisa Leonard Designs. For those of you that haven't seen Lisa's work, take a look around the website. My necklace is perfect and makes me want to buy more of her stuff. Seriously.

So that's what I've made in my free time recently. What have you made in yours?

It's been a crochet kind of weekend

I've been crocheting like a mad woman this weekend!

It all started early on Friday night when my husband rescued my F sized crochet hook from our evil couch. Overjoyed at our reunion, I got the bright idea to make a pair of amigurumi bunnies for the kids for Easter. One for the boy and one for the girl.

Considering my children are both under 4 years old, their toys generally get dirty pretty quickly. Because of that, white bunnies were out and I wasn't really too keen on the idea of making brown bunnies. So that led to the creation of our bright yellow Jelly Bean Bunnies! Come back on Monday evening when I will post a pattern for the Jelly Bean Bunnies.

By the end of naptime on Saturday I had made enough bunny body parts for two bunnies and by this morning, the Jelly Bean Bunnies were completely assembled. The kids are going to be so happy when they see them!

With that project out of the way, I was left with the rest of a perfectly good Sunday for crafting and other miscellaneous family fun.

So a little bit later on while the kids were napping (and their Dad stayed with them), I went to the craft store and bought some supplies to do the kid friendly batiking from That Artist Woman's blog. And after the kids got up from their nap, we completed stage one of the process. Now we wait until tomorrow after work and daycare when we will paint!

Next, I made a mushroom for myself. It's the first one that I've kept and I think it's my favorite so far. Purely by coincidence, but what a happy coincidence it is.

The last project of today was to put some more work into the crocheted mushroom bag. It's substantially bigger than any other mushroom that I have made to date. And I'm not going to stuff it so the shaping of the mushroom is a little bit less forgiving than what I'm used to. But it's taking shape. Slowly. At least it actually looks like a mushroom now instead of a hat. So that's a step in the right direction...

And that's what I have made in my free time this weekend. How about you?

More fun with Shrink-a-Dinks

As the title suggests, I pulled out the Shrink-a-Dinks again tonight.


Made a couple of things that are destined to be magnets and key chains for the most part.

The main reason for this post is to show that you actually can mold the Shrink-a-dink plastic. If you look closely at the picture, one of the trinkets is twisted. I think that one will make a cool little pendant.

I played around for about an hour tonight to create these and a few other things. The longest part of this process is drawing stuff out on the plastic. Baking takes like 30 seconds once the oven has warmed up.

A new tip I would like to share is to bake your creations in batches. And make sure the pieces in each batch are of similar sizes. This will ensure you don't over cook anything. I think I came close tonight...and it was smelly...avoid over cooking at all costs.

Made in my free time: Imagine what you can do in yours!! :)

Shrink-a-Dinks: Not just for kids anymore!

Today was fun with Shrink-a-Dinks!

I happened upon them while at our local craft store and couldn't help myself.

A few of the things that I made today

Do you have about 30 minutes to an hour of free time? Then this project is right up your alley!

I didn't take any pictures of the process but it basically goes like this:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees (F)
2. Stamp, draw, and/or color your desired images directly onto the textured side of the Shrink-a-Dink plastic
3. Punch a hole in the top if you want to hang the finished product
4. Cut out your image making sure to leave clean edges
5. Place the cut outs on to a baking sheet lined with a brown paper bag
   
6. Bake for anywhere from 1-5 minutes until the plastic lays flat on the baking sheet plus 30 seconds (the 30 seconds is to cure or set the plastic)*
   
7. Pull out of the oven and press flat with a folded up piece of paper to ensure the plastic is completely flat. You only have 10 seconds to do this. If your finished product isn't the right shape/flat enough after it has cooled, then return to the oven until the plastic heats up enough to flatten down and reshape again. **
   
8. Allow to dry completely.
   
9. Use as desired. I think that a pair of tiny mushrooms might make for some really cute earrings. Most of the things that I made today are going to be keychains and zipper pulls, though.
   

*The Shrink-a-Dink plastic will curl and twist and move while it shrinks. This is normal! When it has shrunk as much as it will shrink, it will lay down flat on the baking sheet.

**If the plastic isn't flat after you've cooled it, please do as instructed here and in the directions that come in the package. If you try to force it down, the plastic will crack/break and all your work will be ruined. Yeah...I had to find that out the hard way...argh...

One of my creations in action

I mean, if this was all made in my free time, then imagine what you could do in yours!

Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Mushrooms!

I love mushrooms.

As a teen, I used to spend hours drawing/coloring mushrooms to hang on my wall. I'm not sure where it all started, but I love them.

So naturally, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to crochet one.

The first amigurumi pattern that I ever created was a mushroom. In fact, here is that first mushroom right after I made it:


I didn't have a pattern, the right sized crochet hook, or the typical mushroom colors (red and white), but I did it anyway. It measures about 4 inches tall by 2 1/2 inches wide or so. My kids love it.

The process went well, so I bought a smaller sized crochet hook and I made another mushroom. Then another. And another.

Since the creation of the first mushroom in the beginning of February, I've made tons more.

I perfected the pattern so that the mushroom will stand up on it's own and I've even reworked the mushroom pictured above with a smaller crochet hook.

Here are a few more of them:

I've given them away as gifts and I have even made a trade in which I got a really nice soy candle in exchange for a mushroom.

I've also made a mushroom trivet for my Grandma:

And some mushroom afghan squares for a blanket that I will make for myself *one day*:

The sky is the limit with mushrooms! I've made all of these projects in my free time since the second week in February.

If I can do this in a couple of hours a night here and there, then imagine what you can do!

Polymer Clay

I'm having so much fun finding new mediums to craft with.

Today I'm going to discuss polymer clay.

I have used polymer clay in the past and had a lot of fun with it. In kindergarten, my best friend and I used to make all sorts of odds, ends, widgets, and other treasures with it when I'd go visit her house. I think I even still have a little pink pebble shaped lump that she gave me floating around my house somewhere.

The thing is, as a young child, polymer clay is cumbersome. You can't do it right unless there's an adult present and willing to run the baking portion of polymer clay treasure making. You could leave it and wait until and adult is ready, but kids want instant gratification! I was more of a do it on my own kind of kid. Plus my parents were always really busy. So I found other crafts to play around with and forgot about polymer clay.

That is, until a few days ago.

I picked up some polymer clay (Sculpey was the brand that I used) and my husband and I made some mushrooms for my terrarium.


I didn't have any varnish to seal them with so they haven't been put in the terrarium yet, but they look very nice on my windowsill next to my plants.

Some polymer clay making tips:

• Like many humans, I use my hands when grasping and shaping things. So because of this, most of my projects were "textured" with fingerprints. The fingerprints didn't bother me, but if they bother you then you can wear some gloves. Polymer clay tools may also be helpful.
• Some of the color on the clay will come off on your hands. This is significant if you roll up, say, some red clay and then go grabbing for the white. Soon your white will become pink! To avoid this, you should wash your hands between colors. At the very least work the lighter colors before moving to the darker colors if you don't feel like washing in the middle of your project.
• Large products may crack during the baking process. I didn't have this problem with the stuff that I made, but I've heard others talk about it being a problem. Apparently Sculpey makes a polymer clay that is supposed to be resistant to cracking like that, but I live in Interior Alaska and our craft stores don't seem to carry that version. At least I can't find it. Though I didn't really look that hard either--just a quick look over the polymer clay section at each of the 3 small stores in town.
• You can paint polymer clay. Not happy with the colors of your project? Only have white clay when you want to make a blue bird? No problem! Paint works great on these. I didn't paint mine, but it can be done.

In about 45 minutes, I made these mushrooms. Most of that time was spent sculpting.

These were made in my free time: imagine what you could do in yours!