So Many Projects…

…So little time.

Here’s a preview of what I’m working on right now:

 

 

Freshly Cut Fabric Rounds

Look at the pretty colors!

These are going to be yo-yos to be added to a project I have in the works. I’ve decided Maggie needs a proper Barbie/Princess case. Since there’s a shortage of tutorials on how to DIY one of these things, I’ve decided I’m going to post my own tute for anyone out there who’s like me and wants to make their own.  So, keep an eye out!

DIY Tinkerbell Shoes

Tags

cheap craft, costume, diy, DIY Tinkerbell shoes, halloween, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell costume ideas, Tinkerbell shoes, Upcycling, Upcycling shoes

Maggie’s dressing up as Tinkerbell for Halloween, and I’ve decided, instead of paying thirty bucks for a cheap, tacky costume, I’d make my own cheap, tacky costumes.  The dress is still in the works (only one last thing to sew together!), but the shoes are finished! (Nothing frustrated me more as a child than to have to wear my sneakers while in costume. Totally shatters the illusion!)

Here’s how I made the shoes, in case you want to make some, too.

What you need is this stuff:

You need old shoes, green acrylic paint, paint brush, green glitter, mod podge, and (not pictured) white pom pom (I made mine) and a hot glue gun.

Step one:  Clean the shoes and apply 2-3 coats of paint, letting dry between each coat.

This is the second coat, I believe.

Step two:  After the paint is dry, mix about two tablespoons of Mod Podge with about a tablespoon of green glitter. (Eyeball it!) Paint onto the painted shoes. Once dry, determine if you want to add another coat. If not, move on to the next step!

Step 3:  After it’s completely dry (I let mine dry overnight) attach pom poms just above the toe with hot glue.  Try to flatten out the pom poms on one side so you have an even surface to put the glue before pressing on to shoe.

And, there you have it! Cheap Tinkerbell shoes!

You can tell I used a pretty worn pair of shoes–see Maggie’s red scribbles on the inside of the shoe?

Tinkerbell Cupcakes

Tags

cupcake, cupcake decorating tutorial, edible fairy wings, fairy, fairy cupcake, piped chocolate wings, Tinkerbell, tinkerbell cupcake, tutorial

Today’s my youngest 5th birthday, and since she’s smitten with Tinkerbell, I decided to design her cupcakes with that theme in mind.

For my cake, I used a Coconut Cake recipe I found online. I didn’t have marshmallow whip, so I improvised the frosting a bit.

So, first of all, I found this really cute cupcake wrappers at Walmart.  The color scheme is very similar to the one used in all things Tinkerbell.

 

 

Since the outside of the wrapper looks like petals, I decided to frost the top as if it were the seeded part of the flower.  I also wanted to add something to the cupcake Maggie would immediately identify as “fairy.”  The stores have a lot of Tinkerbell candles and toothpicks with little Tinkerbell flags, but I wanted to make something from scratch. I decided wings! After doing a little research on the web, I settled on piped white chocolate as my medium. I *almost* went with gelatin wings, but I’m glad I went in this direction.

The wings were made using a template I hand drawn, first, on a white sheet of paper.  After getting the design how I wanted, I traced it on the back of the parchment paper I was going to pipe the design on.

I melted the white candy pieces right in the piping bag, following the directions set by the manufacturer.

Then I traced over my pencil marks.  The first few I did were pretty bad. My hand was shaky, and I was getting a feel for the process. No big deal, though, as it quickly hardened, and I just peeled the messed up ones off the sheet and started over.

I ate the “bad” ones, of course.

Then I took some food-grade spray paint (purchased at Walmart)…

Even though it’s “edible,” I still felt weird spraying my decorations with gold paint!

and misted the hardened wings.  The gold sheen might be hard to see in the photo below…

 

I frosted the cupcakes…

 

Added the wings, plus a few edible pearl sprinkles.

 

And there you have it! A Tinkerbell Cupcake!

 

Refinishing Old, Crappy Frames

Tags

crochet, diy, diy frames, frames, refinishing frames, sparkles, tawashi, tutorials

Small side project–refinishing frames for school pictures!

Pretty standard stuff, but in case you’re interested…

1.) Gather your supplies:

Boring frame.

2.) Brush on one coat of white to prime the surface. You may need to rough up the frame a bit if it has a shiny finish on it. Mine didn’t need it, though.

3.) Then I put two coats on of the color I wanted to use, allowing each coat to dry in between. I chose blue!

This was only after one coat of blue.

4.) After the paint dries, time for glitter!  I mixed one teaspoon of gold glitter with one tablespoon of Mod Podge. WAY too much.  I was able to glitter three frames and STILL had leftover. SO I glittered my Halloween pumpkins and my craft room’s door knob.  (I hate waste!)  Anyhow, add the glitter to the Mod Podge…

And Mix!

Brush on and let dry. Add another coat for extra sparkliness.

And, voila! Pretty, blingy frames:

And a bonus project from yesterday…Tawashi! I got the idea from East of Eden, who used this pattern. (Which is the pattern I used, too.)  Tawashi are cute crocheted dish scrubbers made from cheap acrylic yarn. Here’s mine:

Cute, no?

 

Blocking…

Tags

blocking, knitting, scarf, steam blocking, winter leaves scarf

The Winter Leaves scarf is finished! Steam-blocking….

Monday Mayhem!!

Tags

cat, cupcakes, diy, frito cupcakes, halloween, knitting, organizing, recycling, repurposing, winter leaves scarf

Eh, not really. Just another quiet day!

Work continues in the old office/craft room.  I have yet to tackle my years’ (plural) worth of magazines.  I have folded and organized the fabric, and removed much of the clutter.  It’s actually looking might nice!

Dang, that’s a lot of magazines!

We had a quiet weekend.  We did a little decorating for Halloween. Did a little reading and picked up my needles for a bit of knitting during football.  Made some kick-ass chili. (Halloween? Knitting? Football? Chili? I think it might be Fall!)

Lily blended in so well among the decorations.

I started the Winter Leaves Lace Scarf pattern by Laura Wick. A few weeks back I spied some Vanna’s Choice yarn in dusty purple on clearance.  I have a weakness for clearance deals (especially ones dealing with yarn, embroidery thread or ribbon) so I picked up two skeins of it.  For once, I decided to use my impulse buy right away, hence the scarf knitting.  Hopefully, I have enough for mittens and a hat, too, but if not, oh well! Who needs matching ensembles?  :D Here’s my progress:

Will be much more impressive after finished and properly blocked!

Also, I did a quick little craft this morning. I’m not sure if even qualifies as a craft. I had a need, so I decided to fill it.  My need was a decent receptacle to deposit my paper trash waiting to be recycled.  What better way to collect recyclables than with an empty box that was heading to the recycling center?  I took this box, removed it’s flaps (is that what they’re called?) and covered it in old wrapping paper, and, voila! A recycling bin for my office.  Eh, okay–it’s not that spectacular. What it is, though, is money (and resources) saved.

Nothing like taking a picture of something to realize how sloppy it looks!

Oh, and one last thing!  My book club met last Thursday, and I wanted to bring something special to share, so I made Frito Caramel Cupcakes.  I found the recipe here, and this is how they turned out! Impressive, no?

PMS food, if ever I saw it!

Granny Square Pillows WIP

Tags

crochet, granny squares, WIP

I promised a picture of the granny square project, and here it is. Someday I’ll finish it. (Soon!)

It’s hip to be square!

Progress…

Tags

fabric, organizing, organizing crafts

Nothing prettier than colorful, folded fabric in a basket.

Neat and tidy!

Merged

Realized just now I could merge my old blog with this one, so I did it. (Of course!) Hopefully it doesn’t screw up my feeds, bombarding them with hundreds of posts from ten years ago….(A big “oops” and “sorry” in advance, if that actually happens!)