Recent Projects Pt. 2

 This Minnie Mouse cup was actually a Christmas present.  I drew a stencil on paper and applied it to the cup with sharpie.

 Wrote a cute quote on the back in Sharpie.

Then decided to color it in instead. I like the final product but I think if I did it again it would be in paint instead of Sharpie.

I went Pinterest wreath crazy this last Christmas. This is my take on the spoon wreath.  I used a foam board base.

Once all the spoons were on.  Take my advice, don't use "sturdy" spoons thinking it will be stronger. Use the cheapest ones you can find! You can cut cheap ones with scissors.  These had to be cut with pliers. 

We painted it blue and added a mirror.  With the exception of the cutting of these impossible spoons, suuuuper easy craft.

Second wreath, the book page chrysanthemum.  We went to the thrift store and got books of the same size and aging.  Then we tore them apart and rolled and stapled them.  This took forever.

Me with the completed book page wreath.

Giving the wreath to my grandmother, Christmas 2012.

Recent Projects

Here are some crafts I've been up to for the past couple months.  If you would like a tutorial on how to make them please let me know! :]

It's baby shower and birthday season around here and I've been crafting like crazy to keep up. 

This is the present I've made for Colton Shane, my newest nephew.  The details haven't been filled in yet, but he hasn't been born yet! 

This is what it looked like before the puff paint.  They went for a Caterpillar Tractor theme.  I think a regular caterpillar would've been easier to find however! I went with this gender neutral safari theme because it's one of my favorites and I had no luck with finding tractors.

This is the one I made for their first child, Olivia.  It was surprisingly difficult to write on the lady bug paper, and surprising difficult to read too.  

The same, without writing.  I took canvas and painted them, then mod-podged a stenciled piece of paper on top.  I made the bow too, but the other parts were all from Michael's.  Her theme has always been lady bugs, but she recently fell in love with elephants so I borrowed the elephant from the safari sheet and used E-6000 to stick it on.

I am in a sorority and recently it was my big sis's birthday.  Our sorority isn't crazy into drinking or anything but it was her 21st birthday and so I had to make it special, don't hold it against me. :p 

Basket with a nice martini glass, puff-painted sippie cup, 8 mini bottles of alcohol, aspirin, gatorade, and mouth wash.  It'll probably take her forever to finish it!  This was a relatively inexpensive basket to make, and I think it turned out very cute!

Then I had the idea to make my dog [the one from the Hijabi post] a plushy too since he loved that one so much. 

Buuuut my boyfriend stole it, as he LOVES dinosaurs, so I need to make him something still!

This one wasn't a present for anyone.  I have always loved Pokémon and Dragonair has always been one of my favorites!! I decided to make one on a tote bag out of those decorative garden beads! I love the result.  I've since done some flowers in the same style.

For Father's Day I made my dad a wooden box with a painting of Jasper on it, as well as some inside jokes.

 The entire top.  No, I don't really call my dad by his first name, but him and my cousin call each other "Dumb Ol'" and "Smart Ol'" and that seemed like a good enough idea to me!

 This is a close up on the Jasper painting part of the top.  I was worried about painting him because he's so black and hard to show dimension in.  I ended up putting silver [my favorite paint] in it to look shiny as well as give dimension.

 This would be a hard inside joke to explain, but yes I painted porkchops [I'm a vegetarian...lol]  around the exterior of the box. 

Rupert: Simple Needle Felted Hedgehog!

I recently went to Michael's and got a needle felting kit to make a cute little hedgehog.  It's originally $10 but I saved $4 with my 40% off coupon.

I've never needle felted before and did not quite know what to expect.  This is my first try and I am obviously no expert!

PLEASE be extremely careful while doing this kit or any other type of felting.  The felting needle is extremely sharp and you will bleed if you stab yourself.  Also, always felt on top of the provided felting mat! You could seriously damage your property or yourself without it.

This is how mine turned out.  I know it's quite different but I love it!

Back of the kit.

Included in the packet: Three colors of felting wool, two colors of embroidery floss, instructions, an embroidery needle, a felting mat, and a felting needle. It literally comes with everything you need to make it!

First thing I did was pull some wool aside for the legs, even though the first step is to make the body.

I ended up making the legs first, two long ones for the front and two shorter stumpier ones for the back.  

To make these legs, you roll the felt you want into a cylinder.  Then take the felting needle and stab where the two come together at the end.  This will keep it secure.  

Keep stabbing around the entire cylinder to make a nice strong leg.  I ended up making mine waaaay too big and had to pull them apart to make them an appropriate size again.  










    Legs, before I shortened them.

Be extremely careful while stabbing.  I stabbed myself twice more after this picture. 

Then felt the body.  My body shape ended up significantly more guinea pig shaped than the original but I like how chubby it makes him look.

Add some brown to the back and start needling it on, starting on the edges and working inward.  This way, you can better control the shape of it.  

The back.  He looks a bit like an eclair!

The ears and nose were a bit troubling for me, as they were so tiny.  For the nose, I rolled the tiniest amount of brown felt in between my fingers and stabbed it on.  The ears were similarly made, except I flattened the circles.  

I could not get the eyes to work like the instructions suggested so instead of tying knots with embroidery floss I rolled up the darker brown felt and stabbed them on.  I think they came out just as cute anyways!

Next, the quills.  The instructions suggested doing this with the provided embroidery floss.  I didn't quite understand what they were describing so I just kind of did my own thing and I think they turned out pretty good. I pulled the floss through the back, up and down the whole way.  Then I pulled it really tight so that extra hung from the entry points.  I cut those and then spread out the quills so you couldn't see the ends.   

A top view.

More of a side view.

Completed cutie!

UPDATE!: Dave has now named him Rupert!

Pusheen Inspired Kitty Plushies

For my next batch of plushies I was inspired by the cutest cartoon cat, Pusheen, seen below.  

First thing I did was make a pattern and trace it onto felt.  I always clean it up a bit while I'm cutting it out as well.  I made a few in pink as a birthday present for one of my close friends.  

After I cut them out I put stripes on their back in a different color.  I pinned them so that it would be easy to sew them on.  Be careful to not sew straight through the cat but instead just one side at a time.

This is what it looked like while I was sewing them on.  I removed the pins as I went along.

Then I started a blanket stitch around the outside in a white embroidery floss. I bought pink embroidery floss to match but of course couldn't find it when I needed it!  

Then I had these three faceless pusheens.  I haven't stuffed them or given them faces yet. 

I did try out some potential faces though.  This was my first attempt. Kind of frightening.

I didn't want to do anything permanent so I cut out two pieces of felt for eyes and puff painted a mouth on an extra piece of felt.  

And another. 

These are the faces I ended up doing.  Decided to do them entirely just puff paint.  

I used a verrrry small paint brush to get the little details done and to round out the eyes a bit.

I'm going to add some magenta stripes to the lighter Pusheen once I get my magenta puff paint, but this is what it looks like stuffed.

 This kitty is fully done the way it is!

Thanks for reading! :]

Update: I have added the magenta stripes to the lighter Pusheen.  It now lives with my friend Loren! She said she wanted a pink plush cat for her birthday, but I couldn't help but make a matching one for myself!