Recently faced with the pure horror of written final exams, I needed to find some way to take only cheerful things along for the ride. While I never understood how folks can go through these things without anything personal to support them, I am a confessing lucky-charm-dependent person.... even if I am a wee bit older

So here is what I made ... I guess it fits in the category of practical monsters

 

a pencil case and a home for the exam-approved calculator...





Made from cotton, felt and closed by velcro

And I had so much fun making the home for the calculator, that I made 2 more for classmates in blue and red. I was utterly thankful I had something to fiddle with while trying not to go completely bonkers from pure horror of exams

What do you think?

I have been chatting with people about the truly brave undertaking of hot-glueing buttons to things, which still seems somewhat of a sacrilege to me. Finally, I got a bucket of buttons for a present which has enabled me to take a walk on the wild side and give that a try. Let me tell you, I have not been struck by lightning since, so the button-gods either haven't noticed or they are ok with this....

the button-clock:

 





Incidentally, this makes for a nice and quick present: Take a canvas, cut out a hole in the middle, cover with fabric and buttons, insert clock into the hole, hotglue everything ( and earn a badge for hot-gluegun-survival while doing it) and

....

you actually come up with a present that doesn't get the "*sneer* oh, you've MADE me something!" remark from non-crafty folk, but actually gets three people fighting over who gets to keep it



What do you think?
 

Whee! I finally ended up making something! What do you think?



I gave it it's own thread here:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=421754.msg5003453#msg5003453

You ever have that happen to you: you've known for a while that you will need an outfit for a concert and the day before it, you look at your considerably large pile of clothes and discover you have nothing to wear at all?
Well, this kind of thing happens rather often to me, so this time I finally got out that old, cut up and completely boring goth-dress I've had lying in my to-be-made-over pile of clothes that never seems to shrink and did something with it.
Actually, I have been wanting to do a Gibbous-like something with it for a while- only took me 2 years to actually act on that impulse, so that's good, right? - and I find that lack of time and a certain lack of the very material I wanted to use ( the pink polka dot), actually HELPED this time

So, the only thing I kept from the original dress is the lacing in front and the zipper in the back and this is what happened:

(I put a white shirt on the mannequin, so the dress would be easier to see, it is not part of the finished dress )



I used a couple of sleeves I chopped off other dresses years ago, 2 old fishnet-shirts, leftover lining and fabric, some very old ribbons, a strange hair-pantyhose-thingy I got a while ago and a fuzzy pink stuff that also has been waiting to be used for ages. See, that is the final proof that hording instincts can amount to something and are in fact, totally justified !







and just in case you are interested, here is an action shot, worn with a petticoat underneath- the dreads are homemade and pretty old and so is the hat



So what do you think? Acceptable for a one-day-project?
 

The calendar says spring started 2 days ago and even if we still have 9 inches of snow outside, I am ready for winter to be over, so I figured maybe posting my winter-knitting projects might help.
I have neglected Craftster dreadfully these past 4 months, but now that my written finals are over, I'd really like all you wonderful crafty folk to know that I haven't been super-lazy in the craft-department. Since I didn't have enough time and leisure to actually start any intricate projects, I just carried my knitting and crocheting around with me all the time and- let me just mention that right now- it has stopped my head from exploding many a time

Ok, so here is what I've made:

a study in brown, made with the wonderful new mesh yarn:
 

one of the circular scarfs I've seen here on Craftster- and this one took 4 different kinds of yarn until it finally came out nicely :



and because I decided to use up supplies before I actually got to buy "fresh" yarn, a hat (crocheted) and a scarf in left-over pink:


and left-over sparkly red:


a shoulder wrap in unbelievably cozy greys:



and of course, some purple:


and some purple-ish leftovers:


and finally, my favourite, an actual jacket, which to my utter surprise even fits  (which is certainly surprising considering my non-existing skills in making the right size when knitting)




So, what do you think?

Oh, my bestest, most wonderful Suereal has sent me a care package to brighten these extremely stressful months leading up to my exams.. And , boy, did she cheer me up! Among all this greyness and people having melt downs and my scheduled getting screwed up pretty much every day, there is a hopeful splash of color all the way from Canada!



Look at what she sent me:
felt in animal prints- wow, I didn't even know they made this and I will have huge amounts of fun making something with that
stockings with skulls- my favourite!
pantyhose with pink stripes- fits the new dress I made over Xmas perfectly.. oh, yeah, note to self: take pictures and show this off soon...
lots of cute stickers- that will be saved in the very special box for the very special projects
a chocolate filled candy cane for the HMF- HunkyManflesh says thank you in a very hunky voice
cupcake flavoured toothpaste - now that one has me completely fascinated and I can't wait to see if this rots my teeth

AND:



My awesome and completely adorable Suereal has made me a MasterMonsterMaker badge that is currently residing right over the computer screen to serve as a daily reminder that there is a life beyond exams!

I am , as ever, completely in awe of the wonders she sent me and ever so grateful and excited about it-

THANK YOU, SUEREALEST OF ALL SUEREALS!
I love it all and especially the wonderful Spock-dog card that will henceforth help keep me rational when needed

[Googly eye tree!]

You know how when bad things keep happening to and around you, it is rather hard to get into any kind of holiday spirit? Well, this year things have been bleak and bare, so I decided I would need another kind of tree...

And born was Googly eye tree!

 

I found this light chain package that proclaimed having only white lights- and as it turns out, it lights up in all different kinds of colors, twinkles and even changes the color of the light.... the individual lights were nice and round and white and just begged to become eyes, so the "tree" started out as this:



Just a bunch of wire and the light chain and then I added some air dry clay- which I sorely lack any kind of skills for At first, it actually looked rather nice, but then the whole thing tipped over during the night, so I ended up with a super-gnarled version of a gnarly tree- but as this is just like what is going on with this year's Xmas, I just kept it like it was, put some spray paint, glitter (yeah, even this ugly little tree deserves some glitter!) and some snowball decorations on it...

And here is step two:



And then the fateful moment of lighting it up- and yeah, sad little googly eye tree warms my heart



Have a wonderful holiday, all you Craftsters out there and may there be a wee light shining on even the grinchiest of hearts!

 

Oh, Jivvy- your tree is beyond marvellous! *swooning* Every time you make something, I can't believe your skills- there is just no getting used to your level of skills

And I have to add something: I received my package from gala_apples!
So here is what she sent me:



She went with a combo of my obnoxiously american weird ornaments theme and sent:
 small - stencilled ornament sheer socks
 small - ornament cards with swedish text for the bobbles
 large - a set of tree ornaments
 and an extra of a necklace to match my favourite ugly Xmas sweater.



Thank you gala_apples!

And I really hope my wee package for you will get un-stuck from customs-limbo soon and reach you

[Meet the NOMMS!]

Meet the NOMMS!

Indigenous to closet corners and green places, the NOMMS are a shy race of free-spirited ground dwellers.

Their main strategy to avoid capture is moving at the speed of snails and thereby successfully fooling the onlooker into thinking that they are lifeless. No self-respecting carnivore would ever try to eat them. This results from their incredible ability to talk their opponents to death with mindless, neverending chatter when they feel threatened, although in their natural state when happy and content, NOMMS are shy and quiet.

The NOMMS' droppings are said to have numerous magical attributes, such as the growing of violently green facial hair, when consumed in a stiff drink. Because of this superstition, they are highly popular among the different tribes of Leprechauns and were held in captivity until it became known, that most of their owners died of chatter-caused exploding-head-syndrome
 
The NOMMS live on a diet of air and all things green. Unique individuals of this race have been found to even develop romantic feelings for evergreen plants, broccoli or green Jell-O.

Due to their worship of all things green-ish and the NOMMS' unceasing chatter at evil captors, the creation myths of their god, Gooey, the Green, prompted the early rumors of aliens as beings with green skin.

In 1912, two of the oldest NOMMS by the name of Mo and No, organized a mass-strike where all NOMMS stopped pooping and thus escaped their prisons.
Today, the average NOMMS can only be found outside of Ireland.

This was originally inspired by the incredible Green Elevator's and loveandasandwich's creations and it started as a fake swap along with the current Covert Abandoned Art Swap- but as you can see, I only made 4 of them so far and I seriously doubt that I will be able to just abandon these fuzzy creatures in the wild streets of the city. So now I have to find them loving homes...
They are all handstitched and about 8,5 inches tall and about 5 inches wide.

What do you think?
Any comments or critique are highly appreciated!

Oh, thank you Eiseldora!
I love the pin and I makes me feel like I am part of an awesome group!

And Suereal.. I think your zombie mints are working even on me! I can feel you working your way up towards my brain already

And I got another envelope from dear Suereal with even more goodies:
(see, there are good things about being home sick!)



She sent a super-funky tunes-pouch that I love and dolls eyes I can't wait to use in a project and stuffie-noses and a really cool pair of fake silver lashes that will give either me or a stuffie an ass-kicking look and purple rubber band that will be used .. ehm... probably tomorrow and funny creepy stickers! Oh so wonderful!

Thank you, my awesome friend!