[Christmas 2010]

I think the best way to explain what's going on with this project is to present the timeline of it. So here goes...

Christmas 2010
My brother-in-law sees me crocheting slippers for myself and suddenly sits down and say, "Ok, can you do this..." And proceeds to describe an afghan that involves the logos of various DC Comic Superheros. So we discuss for awhile and come up with a concept.

January 2011
I begin working on the panels in the above pictures. I started with Batman, because I had found the graph for it some time earlier and it happened to be the right size. Meanwhile, my husband (his brother is the one who this is for) begins designing the other 3 logos.

May 2011
I finally finish all 4 panels but before I can get around to joining them together, we have to start packing up the house because we're moving. I talking a 6 hour drive move...one that requires a huge truck and for everything to be packed and moved in one fell swoop. Not an across town move that can take several days and a bunch of trips in the car. Anyway, the project gets packed away and I don't work on it for awhile.

October 2011
The house is in order, we've finally got a new routine down and I decide I probably ought to proceed with this project. I try several ways of joining the panels together, but nothing looks right. After a lengthy discussion with my husband, we decide the best option would be to start over so that the whole thing can be made in 1 piece. I had not considered doing this from the start because a) I did not have a hook big enough to do it all at once and b) I had seen several projects of a similar nature where people first made various panels and then joined them later.

However, I don't start on this right away because I know that it will never get finished before Christmas and I have several other projects I need to get done first.

Now I've finally restarted it and I have 19/280 rows done. It probably won't get done for Christmas this year, but I might have it done in time for a birthday/late Christmas combo (Feb).

Anyway, here is what it looks like so far...

The hook in the picture is not the one I'm using to make it. (It's just there to hold it open). I'm actually using a hook from a knooking kit which I've threaded a long, thin ribbon though and tied a huge button on the end of. It's really working out quite well.

Wish me luck!

Here's my entry for the RRR Challenge #1

I took a hand-me-down dress (free! hooray!) that was a little outdated style-wise and turned it into a pair of capris and a vest for my daughter. What do you think?
Before:

After:

Here's a shirt reconstruction that I did...not my first (maybe my second?) but it's the first one I've posted here. I took a Large men's long sleeve T-shirt (thrift shop find) and made it into a more fitting women's 3/4 length T-shirt. At the moment I think it is my favorite shirt in my closet.

After:


Before:

I was inspired by my recent joining of the friendship bracelet swap to create little tiny ones for this challenge. I used single strands of 6-strand embroidery thread to make them.

I enlisted the help of my daughter's Polly Pocket dolls for modeling these little suckers.



Here they all are laid out flat



Next to a full-sized friendship bracelet for scale (each color uses all 6 strands of embroidery floss)



And finally with my rotary cutting ruler over the top to show that they are all less than 2 inches long.



Thanks for looking!

My inspiration for this challenge came from both my childhood as well as the more recent history of my life and the lives of my family members. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, literally. The closest neighbor was a mile away and the closest road with lines painted on it was at least 5 miles away. When I moved away to college I was mercilessly teased for being a redneck, having grown up on a farm. There were those who accused me of having an accent, but I maintain that I do not.
Just recently 2 of my little sisters moved into a mobile home together which is located deeper in the sticks than we ever lived growing up. They’ve also taken up habits that some may view as being more redneck than not. And so this entry is in honor of my 2 little sisters and their ever-evolving lifestyles. I love my sisters and am enjoying watching them grow up.
Front view:

My sisters playing Bananagrams:

Playing cornhole:

Overall view of everything:

Summary of materials…
walls, roof, stairs, and railings, hitch: gingerbread
Christmas lights: pull-n-peels and tiny gummy bears
windows: melted Jolly Ranchers
lattice: royal icing,
stone patio: spice drops
grass: royal icing and sprinkles
antenna and roof texture: chocolate covered pull-n-peels
table and chairs and grill: chocolate covered pull-n-peels and spice drops and chocolate “clay”
bananagrams: spice drops and gummy bear
sisters: chocolate “clay”

Thanks for looking!

My dad's birthday is coming up (Sept 5) and I want to make him a simple screen  printed/freezer paper stencil T shirt. But I'm having trouble coming up with something clever/funny/cute to put on it. So I'm begging all of my clever, funny, creative, cute virtual friends here on craftster to help me out. Here's a little info about my dad:

-used to be a farmer, now retired but does lots of charity work
-loves his 5 girls, 2 sons in law (I guess:) ), but especially his 2 grandchildren (one of them belongs to me)
-likes crosswords and word puzzles
-naps a lot
-loves chocolate chip cookies
-all of his shirts that are not tshirts are either flannel (for winter), or plaid/striped/plain button downs...my husband suggested "My other shirt is made of flannel" but I'm not completely sold on it.

Oh yeah, he's turning 49 this year.

Thank you so much to everyone in advance who puts their 2 cents in!!! I really appreciate it!

If you have any other questions fell free to ask!

I made this cake for the birthday of one of my co-workers. He likes the Cubs, can you tell? This was my first real fondant cake decorating that I did.  think it turned out really well and he seemed to like it a lot. Plus, the cake was a yummy apple spice cake and covered with cream cheese frosting and a cream cheese marshmallow fondant that actually tasted really good. Thanks for looking!

A question for you...

Do you buy plain cards/paper that come with envelopes and then add your art work to the products?

Or do you have some other way of creating your own cards with coordinating envelopes?

Thanks for your time!

So I joined the Inchies Swap (Round 3) and in doing so, made my first inchies in the past couple of weeks. Here are all of mine together.

Little bitty watercolors:



A tribute to the movie "Zoolander" I saw Ben Stiller's face on Reader's Digest and just had to use it. It just so happened that Owen Wilson's face was there too:



I drink Yogi Tea and all of the tea bags come with little sayings on them. So I used some of those and then added a few choice yoga words to the others:



Polymer Clay "buttons". I drew a bunch of geometric shapes on the background:



Friendship Bracelet. I was going to do the word friendship but I ran out of bracelet and friends worked out perfectly:



Images and words taken from one of my old, unused, never-will-be-used engineering textbooks. I really love the background, it's a service guide from church:



A set of beach stamps on a colored pencil shaded background. Oddly enough many of the phrases found here are song lyrics. I didn't even realize I was doing it until I was finished and looked at the finished set:



I think this is my absolute favorite set. I am still torn between sending them out and keeping them all for myself. I don't mean to brag on myself, but I just love them! Oh yeah, they're from the Sunday comics and the background is another church service guide:



Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoy them...I sure do!