Am I the only one who is going through matchbox withdrawl? Can we get another matchbox swap PLEASE?

Moved from: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=104.0




I recently had the pleasure of participating in the IYP19 Fall Ball. I was invited by tapestrymlp. First off I was flattered because I adore her creations and second I got to create a doll ouitfit for her daughter. Her little one has an American Girl doll AND loves Harry Potter (as do I).


I made the patterns myself, either entirely or by adapting bits and pieces of 18" doll patterns I had on hand. The broomstick, sweater and scarf were 100% me. I used recycled materials almost entirely with the exception of the scarf.



I used the pointy tipped turkey skewers because the finished scarf seemed to be more to scale. I sanded the heck out of the points but they were still pretty sharp. Next year’s turkey will probably be upset with me as I will have to jab him pretty harshly to get the skewers through his skin.

You may want to use sock needles as these will be easier on the tips of your fingers but make sure you do a test so your scarf doesn’t come out too large.

I used Coats & Clark Red Heart Classic Crochet Thread. I found mine at WalMart but it’s a standard thread available all over. The colors I used were:

     Burgundy Color 0492       Goldenrod Color 0421
  
Here are the instructions for the scarf:9 stitches = 1 inch and 10 rows = 1 inch

With burgundy thread cast on 18 stitches.

K 1 row P 1 row (stockinet) for 15 rows.

Attach goldenrod  P 1 row, K 1 row, P 1 row K 1 row.

With burgundy P 1 row K 1 row  - repeat 1 and 2 one more time to make the
striping pattern.

Continue with burgundy in stockinet stitch for another 15 rows then repeat
the above striping pattern.

Go back to burgundy and continue in stockinet stitch for 10”.
Repeat the striping pattern at the end of the scarf, making sure you have the 15 rows of burgundy stockinet at the end and cast off.  

If desired, add fringes at the bottom out of the burgundy.

When you are finished working in all your threads from the various color changes (I worked them into the body of the scarf with a sewing needle), you will need to steam the heck out of the scarf with a wet pressing cloth. I actually added a wee bit of starch as it still wanted to curl on me. I found that pinning it to the ironing board also helped keep it’s shape and don’t move it until it is completely dry.


 I hope you like what I've done and I'd love your feed back.

Oh! Credit for the fabulous "luggage" goes to my daughter snazzlecraft. Thanks honey!

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. I love the smells and colors, the crisp air and the comfort foods I associate with it. I decided I wanted to share a pattern I designed for felt play food. I made a bunch of these for a craft fair that my daughter and I participated in. I hope you have as much fun making them as I did! 

The free pattern is available through Google Docs, here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_d-yHFSdcjrZTZlYTdiOTMtYjZjYy00ZmM3LWFiMjYtZjM4NmY2YzdhNTA5&hl=en

I recently enjoyed a personal swap with Wulf and wanted to share the Hand Bound Book I created for him. It is my first EVER attempt at this and I think it turned out pretty well.

I chose a polyester fabric for the outside cover.  I found it JoAnn Fabrics and looks like an old worn out Aviator's jacket. I then added REAL leather accents.




Wulf is a Libre and the metal for Libra is copper. I braided three strands of copper together, formed the shapes, then sewed this onto the leather with a "copper" colored thread.

The paper was torn from a roll of 100% cotton rag. The signatures after being sewn together (page groupings) were then glued together together with ribbon.



I used a crackle paper for the end papers.



I added a bookmark thong with a Wolf and an old button.


How did I do?

I recently completed matchbox 5 swap and this time I decided to try using resin.  I have been wanting to experiment with this for a while, but never seemed to have a good enough reason invest in the resin.



My idea was to create a Salt Water fish tank on top of a console so the "drawer" is the actual matchbox drawer (this way I stayed withing the swap rules).

I actually ended up using Quick Water which I found at Michael’s.  As I was working on such a small scale this product seemed to fit the bill and was more cost affective as well.

It allowed me to mix up a small quantity and the drying time is fairly fast (or at least I was supposed to be.)  This may have been user error, I am not really sure, however, the end result was satisfactory.

 I made the salt water fish as shrinky dinks. The mermaid on a rock came from an old gumball machine and I mean OLD!  She is probably from the early 1980’s.

The aquarium plants were a combination of plastic and real dried plants which I coated with fixative before submersion.

The final touch was to create the curious kitty.  She had to be an orange tabby as my partner in the swap has an orange tabby cat.



 The kitty was made of Sculpey and the details painted on after baking then also sprayed with fixative.

I made the kittty so he could hang almost anywhere.  My partner could take him to work or even use him as a plant pal if she wanted to. I photographed him on the side of a glass.


Hope you like it - comments are definately welcome.

This is my very first poppet and I am excited to share it! I have been wanting to make one for some time now and hadn't had a real "reason" until I decided to 'angel' for the TV Addict Summer Hiatus Swap (Here is the link to the swap: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=349482.0). Anywho, my "person" had more than a few poppets on her wists and once I saw pictures of Castiel from the WB series "Supernatural" I was totally inspired to create my first poppet after this awesome character!

So here are the pictures of my poppet. I hope you all enjoy them, I am super proud of how he turned out!

First, I hand-painted the eyes with nail polish and made the hair from faux fur.


Here he is in all his glory...



His clothes are all removable...from the trench coat, pants with elastic waistband, lace-up shoes and dress-shirt down to the functional neck-tie!!


Yes, that is actually a teeny, tied-tie! LOL!!


A closeup of the belt buckle, which was made from sculpy. Its hard to tell from the picture but I made two teeny D-rings so that the belt is also functional!


Another view of the waist/belt and the tiny details on the sleeve of the trench coat.


The back of the trench coat, complete with a vent!


And just for reference, here are a few pictures of the character, Castiel, from the show 'Supernatural'.




I would love some feedback....let me know what you all think!

This is my second keychain post and I would love some feedback.  I make these for my customers and give them free with their car purchase (yes I am a car sales lady ).  It has been a fun way to incorporate crafting into my job and my customers love them!! 

I let my customers pick what color they want and then I make each one based on their personality and color choice.  They really like that each one is one-of-a-kind.

This is my first contest!  Woo!  This was a fun challenge for me that I really enjoyed.


So I have made these kind of shoes years ago and its been ages since I made one.  I don't want to give away too much because I think I might make a tutorial for this and post it on craftster, but I will tell you the basics of how its made:

I found a shoe that had a cute shape and wrapped it in clear packing tape.  Then I layered buttons and sealed it with more clear tape.  The pictures here don't do it justice....in person there is little to no glare and it looks like a glass slipper with buttons fused in it!!  I love how delicate it looks and it will sit proudly on a shelf in my house as a testiment to how much I love shoes! 


Please tell me what you think, I'd love some feedback!      

My daughter introduced me to Craftster and I am lovin it!  I have been making one of a kind key chains for my clients since last year (I sell cars for a living) and thought it would be fun to share some of them.