So every year for Valentine's day my friend puts out an "Application to be my Date for Valentine's Day".
It is much less creepy than it sounds and all our friends fill it out and the winner gets free lunch. Yay!
All the questions are really random ("What is your favorite use of the invention of string?") and the last one has a big empty box under it that says "Do something creative in the box below (it must include a jellyfish)".
So this is my something creative, and I think I got that free Valentine's sandwich in the bag this year. Woohoo!




Francis the Octopus with 7 Legs

Nathan the Narwhal

Velma the Jellyfish

Velma has a dog named Scuba Doo. (teehee)

I don't know much about embroidery so all the stitches I just kinda made up as I went along. I think my favorite part is Velma's tentacles, because I stitched the yellow in like a zig zag and then just threaded the gold through it.
And this is the first time I ever actually accomplished a french knot! Yay me!
Also, I don't really like "empty embroidery" so I decided to fill the critters in with some watercolor paint. I really like the way it turned out, though I get the flinching feeling that I am breaking some embroidery commandments.
Forgive me!

The images themselves were inspired by:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/59539830/narwhal?ref=em   and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxycraft/2585030810/in/gallery-sarah_petit-72157622768376796/

I made this necklace for my little sister's birthday.



It was suuuuuuuuuuper easy!
I did a freezer paper stencil of a sketch I drew on a scrap of felt and then attached a chain.
My original sketch:



My little sister being awesome:



Luckily she always likes things I make for her! Last Christmas I gave her a shrinky-dink moustache necklace. Mustaches are big with da kids. Lol.

Way back in October 2009 I was working on tons of costumes for my work. We were putting on a carnival event and I decided that it just wouldn’t suffice unless everyone was in costume, so I put myself to work.
I did all of this and more in under 3 weeks (with school on top of that) and was a bit rushed, so some of it is more makeshift than I would have hoped.
In general, I'm real proud though.



The ringmaster!

Ruffled shirt and bowtie/cummerbund: Thrifted

The jacket was thrifted and then altered to be a tailcoat, and the red collar, buttons and cuffs were added. Making regular jackets into tailcoats is a skill I think everyone should use!
So I’ll post a tute when I get the chance.
I don't have any good pictures of the tail part I added, unfortunately. I lined it in the same fabric as the cuffs and collar, and it is my favorite part!

Here’s another one with his hat:



Next up,

The Amazing FishBoy! (Part fish, part boy, allllll man.)





Shirt: Altered thrifted sequined dress

This one was super last-minute.

His leggings are held together with staples because I didn’t have enough time to sew them.  o_O

The shorts have scales drawn on them with gold sharpie, he has green painted cardboard flippers and webbed finger gloves held together with hotglue.  If I had more time, he would probably be a less riffraffy fishboy, but hey! I think it worked out!

And now,

 The spectacular Jungle Girl!!!



This one was so much fun!

I basically went to a thrift store, got 4 different kinds of fabric (some shirts, some pants, a skirt), tore them up into long strips, and sewed all the strips together! Because one of the fabrics was stretchy, I didn’t need a zipper or anything!




Bearded Lady = easiest costume ever.

Ingredients:

1 dress
1 wig
lipstick
eyeshadow
1 hairy man

Mix thoroughly. 





The mime ballerina!

I got the tutu at a thrift store, and sewed the halter top from a thrifted tuxedo shirt.
The over skirt was thrifted silky black and red fabric cut into trapezoids and then sewn together, alternating each color.
If I had more time, I would have put some elastic or a drawstring into the overskirt.



The Amazing Stilt Girl!

My coworker provided the talent, I provided the pants.
Stilt pants are actually really easy to make.
They are like PJ’s with really long legs!



I should have posted this all in October when everyone is in the mood for costumes, but... I didn't
I think carnies are good anytime of the year though!
Thanks for looking!
 

Hey everyone!
This is my first doll!
I came up with the pattern on my own and everything!
This is going to be a Christmas present for my best friend, entitled, "The only boy you'll ever need."
The hair is from corduroy pants, the main fabric is from an old button up shirt, and the t-shirt appropriately from an old t-shirt.
The glasses are from fabric paint and a self-made freezer paper stencil.
I'll probably add more..
Like some pants maybe.
But I was super excited so I had to post it up.
When I'm all done I'll probably put a tutorial on my blog, I just didn't want to do it yet for fear my friend would see it.
SECRET!!





What should his name be?

My 13 year old sister made this for back-to-school!







She is too awesome.

So an amazing adventure involving free apples and spring break celebration resulted in me creating these:



They are Apple Pie all dressed up like a cupcake.
Or a Cupcake all fancied up Apple Pie pastry style.

Either way they are delicious and I am super proud of them.

I wrote up a recipe, let me know if it is confusing at all, I've never had my own recipe before! (Tee-hee)


http://thecraftivistshakedown.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/adorable-apple-caramel-cuppiecakes/ <- Here.
Let me know if you make them!
You and if you need and excuse, just make them to help me refine my recipe writing inconstancies.

If anyone out there goes to UCSD, I am organizing "Project Trashion" for Earth Week.
Here's the Facebook page if you are interested in competing or if you'd like to help organize!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133509670330&ref=mf
This is the first time I've organized something this big, so let's hope it works out!

I need some ideas.
And if you'd like to lend me some, I'd be forever grateful!

Here's the story:

I've got my 'love interest' -I guess you can say, because he's not actually my "boyfriend" yet
And he lives a few states away.
He's also on a Mormon mission for another 10 months.
Which means we only get to communicate through snail mail and email, and I haven't heard his voice in over a year.

We met in high school band in "pit" which is this:



Xylophones and marimbas if you didn't know.

One year on Vday (before our feelings were made known to each other) he sent me like 15 of those 'candy grams' that they always sell in High School and deliver to your classes..
But at the time I didn't believe it was him that sent them and I said stupid things like, "Look, you are apparently my secret lover! Hahaha." 
0_o
(In my defense, it wasn't in his handwriting.)

Anyway, that is all in the past, but for this year (generally "our" first Vday) I would like to send him a nice little package that kinda references our past but looks to the future.

My ideas are:
-record some message to him and recite some quotes or poetry or something and send him the tape
-something musical/marimba related
-something to make us even for that one time with the candy grams..... lol.
-something perhaps that a Mormon missionary could use? Knitted Book of Mormon cover?
-I kinda have a hankering to use my sewing machine as well..

Sorry for the life-story and long post..

but any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks 

I tend to feel selfish knitting for myself in San Diego.
Especially when I get emails from my perhaps-someday-boyfriend in Ohio about the single-digit temperatures..
So to redeem myself, I set to knitting him some warmth.
Picky as I am, I searched a reaally long time for a nice man-hat pattern.
And here is what I came up with.
You can find the pattern here:
http://stephanieknits.blogspot.com/2007/03/keeping-boyfriends-ears-warm-since-2006.html

It is really simple and quick, and it made me happy.

Here you can see the ribbing-disappearing effect:




I knitted with two strands of yarn (one blue, one cream) at the same time.




Unfortunately, I sent it off to my Ohioan boy and he has informed me that it is too small 

But he's going to send it back and I am going to ATTEMPT to lengthen it.

Anyone have any suggestions?
The only way I can think of is to pick up stitches around and just keep knitting the rib pattern...

I'll do my best.
Wish me luck!

*Update*
If anyone is interested, I made an Instructable for this project. I guess it could be pretty useful if you have one of those fancy-shmancy pro accounts where you can print it out and everything. Here it is:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Upcycled-Victorian-esque-Ruffle-Scarf-In-less-tha/
Also, it is entered in a contest on the site, so if you like it, put in a vote! Thanks for your support on this tutorial, and I am really interested in seeing pictures if anyone has made one!
Thanks!
---------------

I made this:


Into this:


I found the sweater for 2 dollars at our on-campus thrift store.
The color is really awesome, and it is all merino wool, so it's really soft.
And to add to the satisfaction, I whipped out this scarf in no time flat.

This is my first real project on my new sewing machine!! So excited.

Well... my actual first project was a tank top for my roommate's bear:


But she got angry because he's a boy bear.

I told her that bears have gender issues too and she should accept him the way he is.

Anyways, I made a tutorial and posted it as my very first blog post:
http://thecraftivistshakedown.wordpress.com/

I'm just starting out, so I apologize that the image spacing is still a bit wonky..
(That's why I opted not to post the tutorial in this thread, I didn't want to subject all you lovely people to my images barfing themselves all over your screen.)
But I will get better. I hope.

Thanks!

P.s. If you make this scarf, post pictures!!