Here's my latest, and so far only craft-themed tattoo... It also combines my love of Harry Potter. I actually got it with the money I made from selling my hair bows at the Harry Potter convention, on the evening of the final movie opening!



It was my idea and I handed a rough sketch to my tattoo artist, who made my vision come to life. He even said it was one of his favourites!

Yay, me! lol I love it so so much.

I received from AlmostDawn! yay! Our package was waiting on our doorstep when we got home this evening! YAY! The hubs was excited - his first swap... dawwww hehe

On to the l00t!

There was a brochure from Blizzcon on the top, which DH was VERY excited about hehe


I really am sorry I such took awful photos! Between my excitement and the fact that DH kept rifling through everything it was a tricky task this round haha. Also, there was catnip included in the package, so the cats IMMEDIATELY went bat-sh*T crazy ;P


EPIC HOODIE with my fav. quote on it!


Felt gadget pouch! This puppy is mine! hehe Keeps my camera nice and safe, while reppin' with an awesome cutout of the Horde logo!


RECIPE BOOK! I cannot wait to try and make some Delicious Chocolate Cake!


Hearthstone mat, in it's home - our "office" where we do our gaming.



The extra goodies were a little "archeology" kit, which is like a rock that comes with tools so you can get the fossil out - so cute! Some cat nip and cat treats for my "pets" , some "D.O.T.S" heheheh, and a growing frog! w00t! Oh! Also this rad book that she rescued from the book store where she works [jealous]! It's already disappeared... coincidentally, so has DH.... hmmmm...

Thanks sooooo much - everything is awesome!

Apparently, my post man is a ninja! My package was sitting outside my front door when I went to take my dog out this evening! Haha. He must have come when I was in the craft zone [aka: sewing with my headphones on!] Needless to say, it was an awesome surprise! 

Anyway, on to the goodies! GrindHouseHussy19 REALLY spoiled me and I love her for it! 

Group shot:



Scrabble tile awesomeness!!! This keychain is SO going on my "vampire" purse - along with the fang button! And I just LOVE this "I <3 Alcide" magnet set - It's going on my computer, where I play Warcraft as a hunter with my Spectral Wolf pet, Alcide!


V! Don't worry kids - I swear it'll stay in those bottles And a really cool little knitted face scrubbie!



EPIC RECORD BOWL OF AWESOMENESS!!! SOOOO COOL! I LOVE IT! My husband was very impressed, too, which is impressive in itself haha. It even has a bite out of it, too


SUPER SEXY framed Eric photo  *drool* Unfortunately it didn't survive the long journey from Ontario, Canada to Orlando, Florida - but nothing I can't fix!


And last but not least, my personal favourite - an Eric t-shirt! The front is a stencil of Eric himself in all his sexiness, and the back says "I <3 ERIC" I love it! Now I get to sleep with Eric everynight - eat your heart out, ladies! 


She also spoiled me with really thoughtful extra goodies: a manicure set, super soft socks, cool shoelaces, a black banddana [a staple in the summer!], and yummy nom nom choccies which I have already started on I can't help it, I LOVE white chocolate!

Thank you sooooo much GrindHouseHussy19! Such an awesome swap package! <3 <3 <3 <3

Hello fellow crafters! Been a while since I've posted anything... So without further A-do:

I have wanted to learn embroidery for EVER, so I bought myself the "Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To" and learnt! It's a great book with fantastic patterns, so I highly recommend it! The following is my VERY.FIRST.EMBROIDE RY PROJECT.EVER!

The blue TARDIS, for my best friend's husband/my friend/boss:

[flash and sans-flash]

And the pink TARDIS for my best friend!

[flash and sans-flash]

They are birthday presents, since their birthdays are two weeks apart. Both of whom are BIG Dr. Who fans, and got me addicted as well. Speaking of addictive... Embroidery? SUPER ADDICTIVE! Lots of my friends are receiving embroidery this Christmas... hahaha. These pieces are almost entirely split-stitch, with a little satin stitching. I may have broken some rules, but whatever. I'm a rebel with a needle! ;P Both are smaller, about 3 inches tall, and once I got crackin', only took me a day or so.

Thanks for looking!

oooo yes! I wanted to go soooo bad, but I just couldn't spend that kind of money

Me neither, I won my tickets!  Here's some crafting inspiration for you...

HOLY SEXY PARTY!!! Dang! To think all of those sexy beasts [har har] were in my city just HURTS lol.... *sigh* Congrats on winning the tickets, though!

Here it is! Are you ready for it?! Annchen and her fiance put together an AMAZING package that I am just completely blown away by, so gird your loins ladies!

Total loot pic [minus "big" item]

There's Swedish candy with cute little game-type cards [which I cannot wait to try]; band-aids [for core hound nips and evil needle pokes - which we both had our fair share of over the course of this swap, haha] a postcard, a letter, a washcloth with the Horde logo illusion knitted in it, and wait, what's that up front?

IT'S MY VERY OWN PRECIOUS CROCHET KURKEN! Mine's named Wybert [true to game], and I simply ADORE him! I told Ann that as a hunter I am very proud of my pets, and that my favourite at the time was my beloved Core Hound, Wybert [he's still my favourite to PvP with - VERY intimidating, no?! In game I usually use the elusive Skoll spectral hound now, since I spent seven hours waiting to tame him lol]. I'm amazed! He's got glittery sequins down his back to resemble his smoky sparkly aura, red sparkly eyes to resemble his blazing red eyes, and even his silver bracers and leash! I love him. I LOVE HIM! I.LOVE.HIM! Did I mention I love him? hahah

Here he is in his new home, my gaming corner!

And finally, the big mac daddy item:

Isn't it AMAZING?! It's a black messenger bag with a leather Horde logo, fur trim, and AMAZING hand-made chainmail by Annchens fiancee! My husband loves it, I think he might steal it... he can try! I might have to set mini-Wybert on him! Here's a close-up of the detail because it's just amazing:

I am just SO pleased by the whole package. I giggled and squeed at all the Swedish goodies like the stamps and post things [I even kept one of the bags, haha], but I damn near skipped around the room with my goodies. I've shown EVERYONE my precious Kurken and kick ass bag. I might just bring lil Wybert around IN the back when I'm rocking it at the mall! ;P

Thank you sooooooooooo much Ann and Gustav! <3

My lovely partner Annchen received her package in lightning time, but she's really busy right now so she asked me to post my pictures, and promises to post "Action shots" when she can I'm a little intimidated because I really don't feel like I did enough in comparison to everyone else's amazing packages, but here we go:

First, Thrall's Diary Journal:

But alas, it's no book at all! It's a secret hiding space for things Thrall doesn't want anyone else to see!

Turns out, it's full of souvenirs sent to Thrall from Jaina Proudmoore on her trip to Walt Disney World! [The postcard has a photo from parade I work on at Disney's Animal Kingdom - "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, heh]

Here's the loot note:

Next up!

Bracers of Pwnage!

I'm a little sad I couldn't get a good photo of the detail in the paintwork. I tried to make the Horde logo look somewhat 3D and there are black swirlies behind everything.

Finally, a t-shirt:

It's got the quest giver exclamation mark on the front, and the horde logo smaller up on the back neck area. The loot note warns the wearer that even though wearing this shirt entitles them to give orders, rewards might be expected.

I threw in a Minnie Mouse from Animal Kingdom for Ann, since everything was for her fiance ;P And, of course, since everything was packed in Disney bags [they are all over the house lol]

So that's it 

A good friend of mine, and follower of the Church of the SubGenius practically BEGGED me once he found out I had a pattern for their icon, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. He didn't care what, he just wanted something! I wasn't prepared to devote myself to making an entire sweater, so I just made a bag... a huge, oddly oblong bag.

The pattern came from the Domiknitrix book, which you can find more about here: http://www.domiknitrix.com/

It was the first time I had tried knitting an image and the first time using multiple strands of different colour yarn... and it just might be the last. hahaha. In all seriousness, I'm glad I did it. I proved to myself I COULD, and know I have that knowledge under my belt.

Since it was the first time I was attempting translating and knitting an image, I wasn't even going to try and adjust the size... The original size being intended for a man's sweater. So, it was HUGE, took [what seemed like] forever, and made for a VERY odd shape. In hind-sight [which of course is always crystal clear], I should have just added more stitches to the sides and just embraced a MASSIVE, but proportionate bag.

The other thing I will never, EVER do again is use a sewing machine to sew something that took me weeks to knit. I just can't stand the pressure! My machine [Betsy] decided to have a hissy fit THE.SECOND. I started sewing the lining to my knit piece. I froze. I cried. I CONQUERED!

(back, after sewing up side seams)

BUT! I finally finished it! It's not perfect, but all things considered.... *pats self on back*

(I swear the top edging isn't as wonky as it looks)


(I added some pocket-age)

There you have it! Whatcha' think then??

My wedding anniversary is on Halloween [hehe], so I needed a gift for my husband! I've been trying to keep with the traditional gifts, i.e. first anniversary is paper; 25th is silver; gold for 50; and the third anniversary gift is leather. My husband's wallet is falling to pieces, so I decided to get him a new leather wallet, but I wanted it to be more special so I googled around and found out how to PAINT leather!

Eventually I came up with the idea to paint MY version of his tattoo, which is a Day of the Dead Sugar Skull that he got a few months back in memory of his mother. Since Day of the Dead is also the day after our anniversary, it just worked out perfectly. So I prepped the leather and went to work with my acrylic paints! I tried to transfer the image of my husband's actual tattoo with graphite paper, but it BARELY showed up so it ending up just giving me general ideas of where everything should be, instead of me just being able to paint over every single line. Every website I checked said that there was no real way to "Seal" leather, only to wax on the glossy coating that you strip off with alcohol - If anyone out there knows any tips, please let me know

I know that it will crack and wear - that's what it's supposed to do. I don't mind - it only took me a few hours and it was more for meaning than anything. So anyway, on to the pictures!

Progress Shots:






Finished Detail Shots:





Finished! Side by Side with the Original Tattoo:

I gave it to him on his birthday, which was the 28th, instead of waiting for our anniversary. Mainly because his gift to me on our anniversary is a CRUISE so we didn't want to do an awkward one-present gift exchange haha. He seemed to really love it, even said that this is how he wanted his tattoo to look [he wasn't happy with the tattoo artists lack of colour shading]... I can tell he's afraid to actually use it, too lol

So, I'm making a dress from a vintage 50's reproduction pattern for our anniversary cruise - it's going to be slightly nautical in navy with white accents and a red and white striped lining through the whole thing. I have the perfect shoes, and even got some vintage white gloves! Only one problem - I needed a purse!

I ransacked my closet and the closest thing I found is this one:




But, of course, it doesn't match at all!

So, I used some of my scrap fabric left over from the dress and made it into this:








I'm trying to find some anchor buttons or something to add a little flair to the dress, so if I find some, I might put one on the purse too.

When I'm finished with everything and I'm home from the cruise, I'll be sure to post some pictures of the whole outfit!