[Home sweet home!!!]

The cupcake:

The filling:

Home sweet home!!!

We were totally inspired by Craftster member fjordtjie woven cat baskets (link) & decided that our little one needed her own. Starting out with blue funfur & foam from our stash, we cut 1" wide strips of each attaching the foam end to end to create a thick 'piping' to weave the funfur around.

As things began to take shape we knew it had to be a cupcake! At about half way up we switched & continued with white shag fur. The 'cherry' was woven using red funfur. Multi-coloured popmpoms were hot glued on to add 'sprinkles". Our cat Key loves sweets (especially lollipops), so we made a purple fleece blanket embroidered with candy & a turkey (we like to call her our turkey) for the floor.

The house itself is pretty big & we aren't sure where we are going to put it yet, but it amuses us to no end when Key gets inside it. We gave it to her today & since she has only left to eat we'd say Key thinks it's pretty sweet!!!

[ONLY]

As of June 1st, the city of Toronto now requires a 5 cent charge for all plastic bags. Now in addition to helping save the planet we are also saving money by carrying our reusable shopping bags!!! They are quite ample & tuck into themselves for easy transportation in your pocket or purse!

*This pattern is for personal use ONLY.

Draft pattern onto paper using the diagram above.

Cut pieces from fabric placing the body of the bag on fold. Also cut 2 strips of fabric 2"x45" for binding.


With right sides facing, sew the body of the bag & the top of the handles. Fold the pocket top to bottom & sew along sides. Overlock all seams for durability.


Turn the bag & pocket right side out. Iron the pocket flat. Center the open end of the pocket against the bottom of the bag. Stitch along the sides of the pocket as close to the edge as possible being careful to only attach to 1 side of the bag.
 

To make binding, take fabric strips & fold & iron outside edges to center. Fold in half & iron to complete binding.


Bind the opening & handles of bag.


Fold handles in half matching the bound edges. Continue the fold downward to the bottom of the bag creating a 'pleat'. The bag should now be rectangular.


Bind the bottom of the bag catching the 'pleats' & pocket. This completes the bag.


To tuck the bag into itself:

1. Fold the bag into thirds away from the pocket
2. Turn the pocket inside-out bringing it from the back to the front.
3. Fold the bag in half top to bottom then fold handles back up.
4. Tuck top half into pocket.

Enjoy!!!

[LGBT & Friends gallery]

LGBT & Friends gallery

If your name is in green, you have sent.
If your partners name is in blue, your partner has received.
If your name is red, you have notified us that you will be sending late.
If your name is glowing , you must contact us immediately!
If your name is struck through, you have received feedback.

Destined To Fail <---> pinokeeo
Destined To Fail <---> EowynUlysses
TheSapphireMoon <---> Toby82
cookie7704 <---> calluna
elociNNicole <---> crendon
myklia <---> Sandra22
crazyred <---> beelisty
Persephone Hazard <---> kali_akash
RondaS <---> selkie
Innaura <---> chibi neko

[All participants in this swap will be expected to post once a week in this thread & post pictures in the swap gallery.]

Swap name: LGBT & Friends
Craftster member who is organizing this swap: Destined To Fail
Sign-up date range: Mar. 1 - Mar. 14
Date to send item by: Apr. 6

Limited to a certain number of people? (optional): No

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? No

Age requirement? 13+

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: Yes
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: Yes
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: Yes
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: Yes

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: Yes
- Has posted at least 15 times: Yes
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: Yes
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: Yes
- Does not have any negative feedback: Yes
- Participant has agreed that he/she is at least 13 years old: Yes
- Participant lives in the United States: Yes
   - If yes, understands that Delivery Confirmation number is required for this swap: Yes
   - If no, understands that a mailing receipt copy is required for this swap: Yes

Details of swap:

Craft 1 medium & 2 small items. If possible, please include stuff like pamphlets, safe sex info, local zines, community newspapers, etc. from your area. Have fun & show your pride!!!



If you want to participate, information to send to organizer:

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Name of swap: LGBT & Friends
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address including the country:
Would you be willing to ship to an address outside your own country?
Confirm that are at least 13 years old (yes/no):
How do you identify (ie, gay/lesbian, bi, trans., straight, queer, etc.)?
What pride symbols do you like (ie: pink triangle, rainbow, male/female symbols, etc.)?
Anything you do not like or offends you?
What crafts can you do?
What kinds of crafts would you like to receive?
Do you smoke or come from a smoking household?
Do you have pets?
Any allergies?
Do you have access to a camera?
Can you post pictures?
Anything else you would like your partner to know about you?

All participants in this swap will be expected to post once a week in this thread & post pictures in the swap gallery.

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE & NOT REPLY WITH IT HERE.

LGBT & Friends gallery

Sweet tree-ts!

We made this set of ornaments as a gift for our sis/sis-in-law! They are crafted using polymer clay & are placed in a small paper liner. The 'cherry' on top is a wooden bead. White micro-glitter was sprinkled on the 'frosting' to give them some extra Christmas sparkle!!!

Yum!

Since we rarely get visitors, we thought we would show all you craftsters a couple of the murals we have done in our apartment!!!

We began these projects when we moved in (Dec. 2005) & they took about a year to complete along with painting the other rooms. Drawing is not our strong point so we used our trusty projector to blow up images we found online. Both were painted using latex paint.

This is located in our living room. Some alterations had to be made to the original image to fit our wall

This is located in our craft space. We removed our judy, craft table, & a bunch of other stuff for the photograph which is why the area looks so bare. This image was a line drawing that we coloured to fit our tastes.

We love colours & patterns & looking at these murals everyday really brightens our world!!!

This fabric was bought back in October for a Halloween project. It features all sorts of spooky motifs such as ghosts, trick or treat bags, jack-o-lanterns, &...candy canes?!?!? We just had to make an ornament for our tree!!!

It is done using the quilt method & has black ribbon & huge orange rick-rack around the center.

The charms were made in the shape of a lollipop, candy corn, & candy cane using polymer clay & attached with thinner black ribbon.

We added a small metal brad featuring the cutest little spider on the bottom & the top of a cheap ball on top for hanging.

Even though Halloween seems long gone, it is fun to be reminded of all the scary good times!!!

This is our new pal Hunni <3...we created her for the Little Visitors swap!

Partners haven't been announced yet, so we don't know where she will be traveling to, but she has already started getting ready for her first trip!!!
Here she is with some of her accessories:

Detail shot:


As you can see, Hunni is quite the little hipster!!! We custom printed the fabric for her hoodie in our favorite 'splash' pattern & crocheted her a scarf; it is getting chilly here in Toronto! Her oversized bag is perfect for traveling...or shopping! Hunni can't wait to jet off to her destination (wherever that may be) & have all sorts of fun adventures!!!

XOX...Hunni

We've been on a cupcake binge lately and we thought we would share a great recipe for Cupcake truffles.

Step 1: Prepare a boxed cake as directed.  We used Devil's Foodcake, but any chocolate flavour will do.  Ours are in 2 8" pans.  Cool the cakes completely (ours were cooled on a wire rack, hence the lines).



Step 2: Crumble the cooled cake into a bowl.  We used our hands.  If you have access to a food processor; use it.



Step 3: Add a can of vanilla frosting.  Mix really well.  Chill the mixture overnight if possible.  The colder the better.



Step 4: Take a small amount of the mixture and form into a log.



Crush the log in a cookie cutter so that the bottom half gets an impression.  Form the upper half into a dome.



They should look something like this in the end:



Chill the truffles again until they are very cold.  20 minutes in the freezer will do the trick.

Step 5: Melt chocolate and dip the tops of the truffles.



Step 6: Decorate to your liking.  We used buttercream frosting, M&M's and sprinkles.  Place in individual truffle cups and enjoy!!!



This recipe should make about 60 truffles.  As much as you will be tempted, you will not be able to eat all of them yourself.

GREAT FOR SHARING!!!

Cupcakes seem to be popular around here lately, so we thought we would jump on the bandwagon! Ours are made with Betty Crocker's 'Mini-Muffin Magic. This machine makes the tiniest cupcakes ever!!! We used a basic box mix & a can of french vanilla frosting. This got us about 50 cupcakes.



We're sure they will be gone by the end of the night!