Took me forever to complete this project!!
I went to Mardi Gras this year (2013), caught a TON of beads... Crafters really shouldn't be allowed to keep things that get thrown at them!!
Anywho, I needed some way to use the beads and hang them in my house, and I thought, why not craft them? So I got a nice, basic shape (the cross, excellent straight lines!), wrapped it in black ribbon (2", satin I believe) and started gluing! I hot glued all the beads on, starting from the bottom up.

(In progress shot)
And kept going, until I reached the top. I made sure to do the tops and bottoms of the cross's arms last so that I didn't mess it all up. I used pink and blue for the center, as that represents me and my husband (pink is my fav color, blue is his). I also used soft pearly pink, pearly white and silver. I cut the beads, and individually placed these. For the purple gold and green, I left them on their strings and just bunched them together.
I have not put a high gloss lacquer coat yet, but I'm intending to so that it's easy to clean and so the beads don't fall off.
Finished product:

In total, with all the individual beads and such, this project took me about 8 hours from start to finish. It took me almost 3 months to complete because I get distracted easily, and life happens. A lot.
I am currently working on a Fluer-de-lis with smaller beads. This is taking me a LOT longer, with all the tiny crevasses and whatnot. But I'm getting all the in-progress shots that I forgot to get with this one, and I'll post that one too, and add the link to it on this post.
Hope y'all like it!

[wooden window sill]

*NOTE: pictures to come in the next day or two, when I finally get the keys. *
I am moving into a new home (well, it's an older home, but it's new to me!)
and, for the first time, I'm able to paint the walls any color I want!
the problem is, I'm out of ideas (I'm worrying about my college class that's starting in August, and all crafty ideas have disappeared )
I have, so far, decided on doing the outside-but-still-inside laundry room in bright yellow with bright white trim (it was a porch, that was closed in and made into a laundry room) and it has 3 windows and a screen door in the little 8'x8' area. (it's a bright room to begin with, what with all that natural sunlight)
the front bedroom is currently a VERY dark greenish-blackish color, and it's incredibly depressing to be in the room (can you believe that it used to be a little girl's room?  ) I know I want to re-paint it a blue-ish color, but a very bright, light blue color, with bright white trim. this is going to end up as the "big-kid's play room"- where both my darling SO and I will spend most of our time; him playing video games on one side of the room, and me crafting on the other side of the room. it's going to have a largish desk for his computer, a tv & tv stand in a corner, a couch somewhere in there, and my craft desk/table when I get one (yay! I get to UPGRADE from the kitchen table!!!), and I will most likely be nearest the closet (pictures to come, when I can get over there to get started changing everything!) so that I can store all my crafty stuff in it, and hide it away (it's a walk-in closet, so I'm excited!)
the bathroom needs to be re-done, for sure, as there is a wooden window sill in the shower I'm actually going to have a professional do that bit, because it's an older home, and I don't want to mess something up. I want to repaint the wall (what isn't tile-but I'm thinking that I want to tear the tile off and just have a regular wall- but that will have to wait for next year, or whenever I can have the money to spend again.
the back bedroom is currently a plain tan/neutral color, which is boring, and I want to repaint it too, but I don't know what color. I like the brighter/lighter colors, and I like the color pink, and my SO likes the color dark blue. but I'm clueless at this point.
the kitchen is pretty big, and eventually I want to put an island in the middle-but again- that's later. I want to paint the walls a bright, light green (think pastel neon green), but I have no clue what to do with the cabinets, which are the same ugly color as the front bedroom. I'm out of ideas for the cabinets.
and of course, the living room. I want it to stay neutral, but I think I'm going to re-do the paint on the walls, or maybe make it a little bit brighter, and of course, re-paint the trim with bright white. I'm wanting to take this idea --> http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=358033.0 and put one behind the couch in the living room (rather, where the couch will be once we are settled) and change it with the seasons-I love that idea!
*whew* I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm glad it's a pretty small house (perfect for just me and my SO).
anyway, I need help/advice/ideas, anything! I badly want to do something-I've only ever lived in apartments, so this is a HUGE deal to me-I can make it my own!
please (and thank you!) to a great crafty community! 

so I'm making these to sell at the local farmer's market and on etsy..
my mom used to make these for me and my sister every year...
she finally passed the knowledge down to me! it's pretty simple... some sort of fabric stiffener or glue that hardens when dry, wrap the soaked string around a balloon, and let dry for 24 hours (or more if you live in a humid environment. Thank you, South Texas) if it's humid outside, DO NOT hang the balloon outside, or it will never dry.I hung mine in the laundry room.
poke a small pin hole in the *ahem* nipple of the balloon, and let it SLOWLY deflate.
stand it up on a small styrofoam donut, and decorate using hot glue gun and fabric flowers.
simple.

then stuff with Easter grass and some Easter goodies (watch the weight of the goodies)

Walgreens and walmart and a local dollar store is the best place to find cute cheap stuff.
Duck-$.99
puzzle-$.69
easter eggs-$1
peeps-$.69
the glue was the most expensive (trust me, spend the extra money and get the GOOD STUFF. you won't regret it)
and the yarn was second at $2

C&C always welcome!

I was just lurking  around craftster and I came across this swap: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177492.0
and I think this would be an awesome swap to do! my mom loves watching me do all my crafty things, and would LOVE to get something crafty just for her.
but I'm not quite finished with my very first swap, and I wish I could organize this, but I'm afraid that I can't. some one else would have to organize this, but I think this would be awesome to have sign-ups in early April, craft through April, and the first part of May, and send out about a week before (US) Mother's day (allowing for snail mail slow delivery time), and for UK people and moms, a "just because" gift. (I know my mom likes to get those "just because" gifts!  )
we could send one large, one medium, and one small item, or we could go by points, 6 points total (any combo of lg/med/sm to reach 6 points).
I really hope we can kick this one off the ground! anyone up for it?

it's his house, so it counts, right? Lately, I've been obsessed with Dr. Who and started doing a normal house for this challenge, but then my friend asked why I don't just do a TARDIS gingerbread house? so I took the idea and ran with it,
BUT
This is my first-ever gingerbread house (that didn't come in a box) since 7th grade (1998). I have been learning how to flood cookies, so I decided that I wanted to cover the gingerbread with blue Royal Icing.
the door sign is made of White Chocolate and was written on with permanent marker (non-edible, obviously) and the call sign letters were written in white chocolate in my very shaky hand. (I really need to practice my hand-writing skills in icing and chocolate...)
so, without further ado, here are the pictures:
Close up of door sign:






I hope you enjoy! I had fun making it, and learning new tricks among other things, and I came to the realization that I don't care for the taste of gingerbread cookies. I'll stick to plain ol' sugar cookies!

I've had it up to here with the wal-mart brand split ring markers!
I can't work with them, no matter how hard I try, they keep falling out of my work, therefore defeating the purpose!!

so, I made my own!
I made some with a lobster claw clasp (for the lighter-weight yarns), and some with an earring-thing and formed it into a circle (for the heavier-weight and bulky yarns), plus, I have a small loop at the bottom of all these so that I can finish making other stitch markers with lobster claw clasps (with numbers!) to keep track of the number of rows, and some others for my crochet projects, so that I know what size hook to use! I'll post those pics later, and action shots!
(sorry for the very blurry pictures. my phone doesn't take very good close-up pics)
all of them together:


and a close up of the two different styles, plus an action shot

Yayness! I've finally finished my FIRST knitting project!!  It's about 35" long, and about 12" wide done in seeded rib...
I made it for my moms' boyfriends' mom who lives in Scotland. She's got Arthritis and can't knit anymore.
pattern was found here:
http://www.cocoknits.com/knit/garments/accessories/fear-of-commitment-cowl.html
 it's pretty easy, and pretty fast if you actually sit down and work on it... I can't seem to sit down for too long, so it took me about 2 months to finish (working on it 20-30 minutes at a time... I get distracted too easily!)
I didn't have to block it out at all. The weight of the buttons and the yarn itself took care of that. VERY super easy first project!
I used Lion brand yarn: Hometown USA in Kansas City Wheat (its machine washable!!! just take the buttons off... ) *note: this yarn has a lot of little "hairs" on it... it "sheds" very easily. but it's very warm and heavy.

button detail

full cowl laid out on the car. it was too dark in the apartment to take a good picture of the yarn!

I tried to make Sackboy from Little Big Planet, as me and my fiance are huge LBP fans.... and this is my best first and second try at making him (without a pattern!)... the pink one is my second one, and I think it looks a little better...   my little sackperson on LBP is always pink (my favorite color!).  

Yay! my first completed project! I made this purse for a guy I work with- his wife is from the Czech republic, and he wanted to get her something that nobody else has, something hand made. so I made her a purse that's pretty much the Czech republic flag.   I feel so proud! I have so many UFO's lying around my house.